Fearnley Fiction

Buy Here ONE P eople have all sorts of ideas about what they’d do if it happened to them. They’d tell their friends. They’d make that call. They’d leave. They certainly wouldn’t continue on like normal, banging out personal essays or temping at whatever online mag needed a freelance editor for the day.  They’d tell their family (assuming they still had family in their lives to tell), they’d keep themselves busy (pottery class! political campaigns! yoga!). They’d heal, and they’d move on, and they’d rebuild their lives. That’s what I’d always thought, too. The exit for Woodstock, New York, came into view, my eyes fl itting nervously to the rearview mirror as I quickly pulled off the ramp.  Suddenly, I was in the country, pastures and horses, run- down schoolhouses, abandoned barns, and bucolic churches sprinkled over the landscape: Rural Mad Libs. I found Shadow Creek Road at the end of a particularly snakelike stretch. I turned, so eager to get out of the car and g...

Buy Here ONE ANNIE – Harkin Croft, Kilachlan, Scotland ‘You broke his nose, Jude.’ ‘I know.’ He gives me such a wicked look of triumph I nearly let go. But I conjure myself a whiff of mindfulness and go on. ‘OK, I’m struggling to know how I can help you. Give me a heads up.’ ‘Get off my case, Mum.’ ‘Come on, you know the rules. One, talk about your issues honestly. Two, give other people the respect you expect yourself.’ ‘Yeah, right. How about three?’ ‘What’s three?’ I’m sensing an adolescent 180° slew. ‘Get off my fu –’ He’s slewed too far. My cue to be a traditional parent. ‘Hold it right there, buster. I’ll tell you what three is. Three is what you’d say if Maggie was in the room.’ His face twists, his voice is low. ‘That’s no’ fair. Using Maggie.’ Just turned thirteen, he’s learnt boys don’t cry, especially not mixed-race boys in small Scottish coastal towns. Even to their mothers. He’s also right. I am out of order. Two years on, both of us still...

Bu y Here Freeman passed him a knowing look. ‘We’ve only got one outstanding case listed in our area.’ He pointed at the bangle. ‘And this does give me cause for concern.’ He pulled out another photo. ‘We’ve enlarged the bangle to show the detail.’ Beth peered in closer at the tarnished silver, noting a tiny rabbit symbol on the edge. ‘You’re not suggesting it’s Alicia Owen?’ Nick said, incredulous. Shocked faces looked back at the board. Three-month-old Alicia Owen disappeared from her pram outside a supermarket, fifteen years earlier. She was believed to have been abducted, although no ransom note was ever forthcoming, and she was never found. The story rocked the residents of Northamptonshire to the core and when the days after her disappearance stretched into weeks and months, panicky parents set up a ‘Keep our children safe’ poster campaign urging people to be extra vigilant around infants. Beth had only been sixteen at the time, but she still remembered the blac...

Buy Here 1 Jamal Salaoui’s diary For a long time, I was unlucky. Fortune never favoured me. I came to imagine life as a huge conspiracy, with the whole world against me. And at the heart of this conspiracy was a god who behaved like a sadistic teacher, preying on the weakest kid in the class. Meanwhile the rest of the class, only too happy not to be on the receiving end, joined in. From a distance, to avoid getting caught in the crossfi re. As if bad luck was contagious. Th en, over the years, I came to understand. It’s an illusion. In life, the most vicious god you’re likely to meet is a teacher who treats you as a scapegoat. Gods, like teachers, don’t give a damn about you. You don’t exist for them. You’re on your own. If you want things to go your way, you have to keep playing the game. You have to pick yourself up and start over, again and again. Keep trying. It’s the law of probability. And perhaps, at the end of the day, of luck. My name is Jamal. Jamal Salaoui. Not the kind...

Buy Here I was offered the chance to read this as part of a blog tour. It sounded right up my street so of course I said yes straight away. This book packs a punch right from the outset. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is hard to describe without giving anything away but for me its probably one of the best books I've read in a while. I loved the short sharp punchy chapters. The story is portrayed from 3 perspectives, and it was easy to follow despite each chapter not having a heading. This later on  is a good thing as all of the characters soon merge into the chapters together. There didn't seem to be a lot of faffing about in this book. It went to where it needed to be and got to the point straight away. I thought the whole idea of the neon signs was original and creative. I haven't read a crime book in which this is the killers calling card. Neon, is very sneaky and knows exactly what to do in order to hide himself, he also has the perfect life to do this.  I ha...

Buy Here Positioned at the top of a high rise of land, not far from the southern border of Exmoor, the Victorian manor house called Mill Grange rose from the centre of a gravelled drive, taking command of the surrounding scenery. Three tiers of a once-loved terraced garden fell away from the house in tatty overgrown rows. At the foot of these gardens ran a semi-encircling band of encroaching woodland, which the Ordnance Survey map Thea was clutching declared to stretch down to the River Barle on one side and the meandering River Exe on the other. Huddled beneath her thick jumper against the sharp March wind, Thea was enfolded in a sensation of freedom and peace. The very stillness of the air, the lack of any visible overhead wires or street lighting, made her feel as if she’d driven into a Victorian time capsule. A Roman historian and archaeologist to the bone, she felt daunted by the prospect of taking on the restoration of a manor centuries removed from her field of expert...

Buy Here 10 things about Rob..... When he is working as a commercial artist he is known as Bob His most high profile work is creating the soft scuplted foam face make up and the mask for the Phantom in productions of Phantom of the Opera. [Although of course not right now] He has created award winning lifelike pelican puppets for a Kit Kat commercial which was shown in Germany. The London company Applied Arts, established by Bob, is now run by his colleague Mark, who is currently working on a new production of the musical Cats opening in South Korea in the autumn. [www.appliedarts.co.uk] Bob has judged Stage Magician of the Year for the Magic Circle. In recent years Bob has worked with both Derren Brown and Dynamo to develop ideas for their stage shows. He is married to Kate has 3 children and 4 grandchildren with another on the way. He has worked in the West Indies developing a puppet show for the BBC. After maki...

Buy Here I have previously read Katerina Diamonds books and enjoyed them. This book was no different.  I was a bit confused to begin with on where this was going, but it all explained soon enough. It flipped between the past and the present. It was all very well set out, it didn't just jump for no reason.  I did have a idea about the characters but I wasn't sure. It became clearer later on in the story.  There are some great characters in the book, you couldn't help but feel like you were friends with them. I enjoyed reading about them and imagining all the scenery that was described as well.  I don't think any review i write for this book will do it justice.   This book certainly lives up to the hype.