#BookReview — From His Perspective by Lisa Keeble #Fantasy #Satire #Humour

From His Perspective

By Lisa Keeble

If it hadn’t been for an accident involving a stray biscuit crumb, a black hole and a size 7 tweed slipper, they could have stayed true to their original blueprints but, as it was, they got stuck with humanity, a complex and extremely irritating species.

As the humans blunder their way through history, trying to grapple with the myriad of emotions that were installed in the early developmental stages, Norbert and his Boss do what they can to help. Unfortunately, they frequently cause far more problems than they solve and are often hindered by the restraints placed on them by the Accounts Department, and the militant actions of Gavin who deals with Returns.

They watch as cavemen tackle woolly mammoths in order to fill their larders and provide next season’s wardrobe and quickly regret introducing them to fire. Rivers run red with blood and plagues of frogs are visited on the Egyptians which does nothing more than interrupt their laundry schedule and promote an increase in sales of sandal cleaner. The Boss has decades of sinus infections and soot covered sandals as Henry VIII and Bloody Mary take power, prompting him to create syphilis and pheromones which, in turn, cause their own problems. Wars, the industrial revolution, slavery and empire building - all it does for Norbert and his Boss is push up the overtime budget, create more paperwork and really, really get on their nerves. Not only that but the human's blatant disregard for their habitat means braving the really long ladders to make repairs to the ozone layer.

They are left doubting whether they will ever fully understand what drives mankind. More importantly, they wonder if they’re to blame. Did they add too much essence of sheep? Did Cyril make a mistake with his calculations when they decided to increase intelligence levels? Was it such a good idea to use different pigments for the humans just because it made life easier for Cedric in Tracking? Would their lives have been easier if they’d just stuck with amoebas and forgotten about human beings altogether?

In the end the Boss decides that the only way to really deal with the humans is to tell them why they were created.

“It wasn’t a piece of biscuit, just one crumb, that’s all, I promise. One tiny crumb fell into one of the black holes and then there was a bit of an explosion...”

In the beginning, there was darkness, and the Boss liked the darkness. He had spent years creating the darkness. He was very proud of the darkness. But, then Norbert sneezed while eating a biscuit and there was an incident with a size seven tweed slipper which catastrophically ended with a rather large and unexpected big bang. And the darkness was no more.

What was needed in such an unprecedented situation was tea and copious amounts of biscuits. Perhaps, after a digestive or two, they would, to their delight, discover that this happy accident was an opportunity to create something far greater than darkness, and far more significant than nothing.

Nevertheless, next time, they would stick to the approved blueprints. However, life, as the Boss and Norbert found out, had an awful habit of not staying true to its design. Suddenly, there were fish who wanted to live on the land, and a dinosaur who went around killing everything it met, and then, of course, there was man — the Boss’ most distinguished and regrettable invention.

From the beginning of time to the present day, From His Perspective by Lisa Keeble is the farcical retelling of a snack disaster that resulted in the origin and evolution of the universe, and life on earth.

From His Perspective is a book where I found myself laughing out loud, especially at Norbert and his many antics, on more than one occasion. From the first page, I felt like I was reading a book penned by Douglas Adams — it has the same comforting familiarity of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. There was the same ridiculousness in the story which was incredibly compelling and extremely amusing. From His Perspective is an easy read, and although it has a few mild sex references and equally mild bad language, I think it is a book that would highly appeal to a young adult 14+ audience. 

Keeble has cleverly crafted a caricature of the life of man. There are some notable historical figures mentioned during the course of this book — from Moses to Jesus, William the Conquerer to Henry VIII — all of which are painted with a satirical stroke of the quill. I don’t think Keeble was going for historical accuracy when she wrote about these characters but instead, she has depicted them with a rather big pinch of salt and a hefty helping of creative licence, but it does lead to some amusing anecdotes — Moses wandered in the wildness for four decades because he had no sense of direction, who knew?

With a satirical eye on creationism and religion, Keeble has penned a book that, despite all the humour, addresses some of the worst traits of humanity. The disregard for life, the selfishness, greed and corruption of the ruling classes over the course of human history from the beginning of time until now, is all carefully depicted. Throughout this book, Keeble has one eye on the message she wants to get across while having a novelists intuition about what makes a book hilariously funny.

When portraying the life of man, Keeble has also used political satire to great effect. Her depiction of the French Revolution is an example where Keeble has done this particularly well, and despite all the humour, this is a book that asks you to think. What is right? What is wrong? And why do we allow atrocities to occur, when we, the sheep, are far bigger in number than the shepherds who so-called look after our interests? There are some crucial questions in this book, that perhaps, on a philosophical level, Keeble wants her readers to think carefully about before answering.

The Boss is in want of a better word, a biscuit munching mad scientist, who is playing God, rather than actually being him. His side-kick is his wonderfully awkward and shy personal assistant who goes by the name of Norbert. There are no celestial beings in this book — this is not a book about God and nor does it pretend to be. The Boss, Norbert, and the other characters who live in this realm create the world that we live in and the creatures and flora that we know. They then sit back and watch as one would do a television show. We humble humans are the entertainment, and such entertainment is at times very difficult for the Boss to witness. He tries to intervene on occasions, and yet still, man does not seem to understand how to live in harmony and peace. The Boss really struggles with morality in this book. He looks down upon his experiment and wonders what went wrong? Like any benevolent parent, he questions if he is to blame — did he make man too sheeplike? Had he really needed to add hate to balance love? So many questions, and no answers. In the end, the Boss turns his back and spends several decades playing checkers, in the hope that by the time he returns, man would have caused their own extinction! Alas, they did not.

I was thoroughly amused by Lisa Keeble’s From His Perspective from start to finish. Fans of Douglas Adams, and Monty Python, will enjoy this book very much!

I Highly Recommend.

Review by Mary Anne Yarde

The Coffee Pot Book Club.

Pick up your copy of

From His Perspective

Amazon UK • Amazon US

Lisa Keeble

Lisa Keeble was born in the UK many years ago and, from a tender age, she had aspirations to be a writer so, naturally, she grew up to be an accountant. When she realised that spreadsheets really weren't doing it for her any more, she packed her bags and headed off to the South of France. These days she can be found living by the sea where she happily taps away at her computer trying to join random thoughts into something readable.

Her debut novel, From His Perspective, was born from an idea that she had in the shower one morning. It started off life as a short story and then morphed into a book with very little involvement from the author.

Connect with Lisa: Website • Goodreads.

#BookReview — Dread Pirate Arcanist (Frith Chronicles #2) by Shami Stovall #YoungAdult #Fantasy

Dread Pirate Arcanist

 (Frith Chronicles #2)

By Shami Stovall

Pirates. Griffins. A lost treasure worth killing for.

While protecting the newborn griffins on the Isle of Landin, Volke Savan and his adopted sister, Illia, run afoul of the Dread Pirate Calisto, the same cutthroat who carved out Illia’s right eye. As a master manticore arcanist, Calisto’s strength and brutality are unrivaled, so when Illia suggests they bring him to justice, Volke wonders if they’ll have what it takes to fight the corsairs on the high seas.

“End me while I can still comprehend the magnitude of my crimes...”

Luthair, a mythical creature known as a Knightmare, lived within the darkness, and sometimes so did Volke Savan, but as the young arcanist sat on the rocky cliff looking out over the Isle of Landin, Volke had no knowledge about how dark this day would become and what it would mean for a regal Griffin, his friends, his sister, and the man whom he was apprenticed to — Master Zelfree.

When the alarm was raised that the majestic Griffin ruler, Ryllin, was missing along with one of his children, Volke was, as all of his fellow arcanists were, keen to help. But when Volke finds Ryllin, things take a very sinister turn. For Ryllin has had an encounter with a Dread Pirate, but not just any Dread Pirate. He had encountered Calisto — captain of the feared Third Abyss.

Illia, Volke’s adoptive sister’s, knew all about Calisto, for that man had murdered her parents and taken her eye. Illia wanted vengeance, she wanted revenge, and she wanted Volke to help her.

But Volke knew that if they went after Calisto, it would be them that died, for Calisto was not given the title of Dread Pirate because of his hospitable personality. Convincing Illia, however, to leave the pirate well alone was a fight that Volke feared he would lose.

From a windy day upon the Isle of Landin to a daring rescue which could kill them all, Dread Pirate Arcanist (Frith Chronicles #2) by Shami Stovall is the enthralling story of Volke Savan and his desperate battle to not only stay alive but to keep Illia and his friends alive as well, in the face of impossible odds.

I was utterly enchanted with Knightmare Arcanist (Frith Chronicles #1), and I could not wait to find out what happened next to Volke Savan. Well, Stovall has done it again, Dread Pirate Arcanist was everything I had hoped it would be, and then some. It is in all ways an undeniable success.

Not only has Stovall penned a book that is so utterly enchanting that at times I lost myself so thoroughly that I forgot where I was, but she has also written a book where the realism is almost tangible. The magical world, which is fit to bursting with every conceivable mystical creature, has been written with an impressive sweep and brilliance. I loved every word, every sentence, every syllable. Dread Pirate Arcanist is a brilliant novel from start to finish.

From the backdrop to the characters themselves, this novel is as rich in detail as it is in adventure. Stovall has inked a wild yet strangely familiar landscape in which to set her story, and she has given her readers such a diverse range of characters to root for, that there really is something for everyone in this book. And although Dread Pirate Arcanist is written with the Young Adult audience in mind, I feel that this book, this series, is one that an adult audience would enjoy as well. I know I did!

Volke, whose leads this story through the cleverly crafted first-person narrative, is a character a reader can certainly get behind. He is honest, open and kind. Volke is also at times, painfully shy, especially when it comes to the opposite sex, which made him incredibly endearing. Volke is also the kind of character that inspires trust. Even Master Zelfree shares things with Volke that he has not shared with anyone else. I adored Volke in the first book of this series, and he has continued to capture my attention and my heart in the second.

We learn more about Volke’s “sister,” Illia, in Dread Pirate Arcanist. Illia has a traumatic past which culminated with the murder of her parents and the loss of her right eye. Illia has many reasons to hate, and her anger and her desire for revenge is understandable, but unlike Volke, who overthinks and hesitates before he acts, Illia has no such obstacles in her way. Illia is confident of her abilities, but her judgement is often clouded by her desire for revenge, and because of this, her relationship with Volke changes during the course of this book. She directs her anger at him when really, she is angry with herself and her own inability to achieve what she so desires, which I thought was very moving. Volke is, however, Illia’s one constant in a world that she does not understand. Through her actions and Volke’s interpretation, it is apparent that her feelings for Volke have also changed. She no longer considers him her brother, and although Volke does as he always does, and overthinks their situation, Illia does not. They are not siblings. They were two lost souls who were brought together by luck and circumstance when they were children. I am looking forward to seeing how Volke and Illia’s relationship changes and develops throughout this series.

Another character that I felt I got to know more about in this story is Master Zelfree. Master Zelfree is a master arcanist of The Frith Guild. On the first encounter, Master Zelfree came across as a drunk. He is abrupt. He is rude and yet, this front he puts on hides a broken heart and a shattered soul. I loved Stovall's depiction of Master Zelfree. He is a character that has certainly captured my fascination. He is courageous. He is willing to sacrifice himself. He is a very noble, and a very kind man who is stumbling his way out of the darkness of his grief and daring to live again.

There are several extraordinary magical creatures in this book — from the noble Ryllin to the plague-ridden gargoyle. With the inclusion of Dread Pirate Calisto and his crew, Stovall introduces her readers to some very dark mythical creatures. The Wendigo, with its frosty presence, is the thing of nightmares. It appears malnourished, but the Wendigo’s hunger is never satisfied. Likewise, Calisto’s eldrin, the Manticore, is a genuinely terrifying beast whose powers are immense and seemingly unstoppable — a worthy eldrin for Calisto and his blood-thirsty crew.

Another mythical creature that captured my attention but for all the right reasons was Master Zelfree’s eldrin, Traces, a shape-changing Mimic. In her natural form, Traces is cat-like, but she can mimic jewellery and any of the mythical creatures, which makes Master Zelfree quite powerful, but it, in turn, makes Traces very vulnerable. I adored Traces. She is a sweet-natured creature who is utterly devoted to Master Zelfree. I loved reading about Traces. You never knew what she was going to turn into next!

Although Dread Pirate Arcanist (Frith Chronicles #2) stands firmly on its own two feet, you would be doing yourself a disservice if you did not start with Knightmare Arcanist (Frith Chronicles #1). The first two books in this series have an awful lot to recommend them, and I, for one, cannot wait to get my hands on Book #3. Stovall has mastered the art of writing thoroughly enchanting stories.

I Highly Recommend.

Review by Mary Anne Yarde.

The Coffee Pot Book Club.

Pick up your copy of

Dread Pirate Arcanist

Amazon UK • Amazon US

Shami Stovall

Shami Stovall relies on her BA in History and Juris Doctorate to make her living as an author and history professor in the central valley of California. She writes in a wide range of fiction, from crime thrills to fantasy to science-fiction. Stovall loves reading, playing video games, entertaining others with stories, and writing about herself in the third person.

Connect with Shami: Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads.

#BookReview — The Year the Swans Came by Barbara Spencer #mustread #Fantasy

The Year the Swans Came

By Barbara Spencer

Ruth and Maidy have been best friends for as long as they can remember. Stunningly beautiful, rich, and wilful, Ruth has always insisted she will marry Pieter, Maidy’s eldest brother, only for him to vanish from their lives late one night.

Is his disappearance linked to the arrival of the swans, feared as cursed and birds of ill-fortune? What will happen when they return six years later, on the morning of Maidy’s sixteenth birthday?

And who exactly is the enigmatic and mysterious Zande?

Follow Ruth and Maidy’s cursed tale of love as they discover what happened to Pieter, how the appearance of Zande will affect the rest of their lives, and just how much destruction Ruth’s beauty can cause.

“Maybe that’s what I should write about; the year the swans came, and my brother, Pieter, vanished...”

No one would speak of Pieter after that. For his younger sister, Margrit “Maidy” Bader, the loss of her brother became a silent heartache, a private grief. Was he dead? Maidy dared not ask her parents. She only knew that no one was allowed to sit in his chair at the table — it was waiting, as they all were waiting, for him to come home again.

The swans which Maidy had thought so beautiful with their polished silk feathers, but her mother irrationally feared, returned on her sixteenth birthday. Was her mother, right? Were the swans an ill omen? Something evil? Maidy thought not. However, their return would bring undeniable heartache to all those whom their spirits touched. For Maidy, her life would never be the same again.

From a daring rescue of a swan to the devastating truth about Klüsta— the island of a thousand rumours, The Year The Swans Came by Barbara Spencer is the hauntingly gripping, yet enthralling story of a secret that threatens to destroy not only the swans, but the Bader family as well.

With a lusciously detailed narrative that mesmerised me from the opening chapter, The Year The Swans Came is in all ways a work of exceptional scholarship. This book, these characters, captured my imagination, and I was swept away to a world that is vivid, evocative, and utterly irresistible. Words cannot express how much I loved this book. The brilliance is in the writing. The Year The Swans Came is in all ways, an absolute triumph.

With an elegant turn of phrase and a visceral understanding of human fragility, Spencer has presented her readers with some unforgettable characters. The heroine of this story, Maidy, is a character that I simply adored. Maidy reminded me a little of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling. Maidy believes herself plain, unattractive even. She lives in the shadow of her best-friend — the very glamorous Ruth, who all the boys at college want to date. But like that ugly duckling, there is a swan, a beautiful, graceful, caring swan just waiting to fluff her feathers and step into the light. Maidy is entirely ignorant of how she is perceived by others, especially Zande, who is the male version of Ruth. However, her goodness is incorruptible — even Zande, who is free with his love, does not attempt to corrupt her. Maidy is an extremely likeable character and one I came to care about very much. This story is told from her point of view, which I thought gave this book a sense of authenticity, as well as a sense of realism.

All the characters in this book are fabulous, and each has their role to play. One of the characters that I took a strong dislike to was Ruth. Ruth is incredibly self-centred and a truly terrible friend. She is self-seeking and does not care for the pain she causes others. Ruth uses her good looks and her father’s money to get what she wants regardless of the consequences. Maidy slowly comes to realise the kind of person Ruth is, and as she does so, Maidy does not like what she sees. But even as they begin to drift apart, Maidy still cannot see how exceptional she is in her own right — Maidy still believes that Ruth is the one that all the boys want to be with, which isn’t true. Ruth is not quite an antagonist, I wouldn’t go that far, but her egotistical behaviours certainly demonstrates the goodness that is in Maidy’s soul.

I have to mention Zande — Zande, with his charm and easy smile which hide a lifetime of sorrow and a soul that is trapped. He is in every way a bad-boy, the one you don’t want your daughter dating. But, Maidy sees past the facade and glimpses a deep and terrible pain that she does not understand and can never understand. I thought Zande’s depiction was fabulous. 

I could not but help the strong emotional reaction that I had for these characters, and I was impressed by Spencer’s scope and brilliance in their creation. Pieter, Hans, Tristan, Jaan, Zande, Ruth, and Maidy all bring something unique to this story. Wonderful, wonderful characterisation. It doesn’t get better than this.

  

Strangely, no dates are mentioned in this book, only that there had been a war and the community had been invaded at one point by the enemy — one can only assume it is set after World War II and that Ruth’s family are Jewish. But surprisingly, the era seems almost timeless. It matters not what the date is, only that the story is so incredibly captivating. There is magic in the words that Spencer has written, a swirling of emotions that swept me up into its warm embrace. However, as the story picks up momentum and races headlong towards a catastrophically explosive ending, I found myself screaming silently in my head the word NO! And by the time I read the last word and noted the final full-stop, I was sobbing quietly to myself. Spencer demands every conceivable emotion from her readers, and boy does she get it. Be sure to have a box of Kleenex with you because believe me you are going to need it.

The Year The Swans Came is something extraordinary indeed. This is a book that not only deserves your attention — it deserves it again and again until the spine of the book breaks and the pages start to fall out, and you need to purchase another copy. That, is how good this book is.

If you are looking for your next great adventure which will leave you gasping and begging for more then check out The Year the Swans Came by Barbara Spencer. You won’t be disappointed. I cannot wait to read the second book in this fabulous series.

I Highly Recommend.

Review by Mary Anne Yarde.

The Coffee Pot Book Club.

Pick up your copy of

The Year The Swans Came

Amazon UK • Amazon US • Waterstones

Barbara Spencer

In 1967, Barbara Spencer hi-tailed it to the West Indies to watch cricket, the precursor to a highly colourful career spanning three continents, in which she was caught up in riots, wars, and choosing Miss World. Eventually, she settled in Somerset to bring up a family. In 2010, the publication of Running, her new teenage thriller, has taken Barbara countrywide. Passionate about the importance of books in today's society, Barbara is happiest working with young would-be writers and is frequently invited into schools to talk about creative writing.

Connect with Barbara: Website • Facebook • Twitter.

#BookReview — Wayland’s Revenge by Lesley Lodge #HistoricalFiction #MurderMystery

Wayland’s Revenge

By Lesley Lodge

It’s 1647: a time of bitter civil wars in England. Wayland, the village blacksmith, returns from army service to find his wife, Rebecca, murdered and his son traumatised and struck dumb. Wayland’s overpowering desire for revenge is thwarted by the collapse of laws and a dearth of clues to her sadistic killer. Thwarted, that is, until the villagers ask him to investigate a runaway horse. Whilst searching for its rider, he discovers instead the body of a young boy, cut with symbols in the same way as Rebecca’s body had been. The clues abound and confuse with elements of witchcraft, religious hatred and the enmities of civil war.

Wayland sets out on a perilous journey to find the killer, taking with him his son Jonathan and Alun, a canny Welsh baker. But just as they find their first suspect, they are trapped in the brutal Siege of Colchester, facing ever more dangerous challenges. Wayland, Alun and Jonathan must draw on all their strengths, devise new strategies and make agonising decisions, if they are to stay alive and find the real killer before he strikes again.

“Justice is not for the likes of you to give.”

But it wasn’t justice that Wayland sought. It was revenge. If the war had not kept him away, then this would never have happened. Nevertheless, when he found out who was responsible for his wife’s death, then he would let the anger consume him, and he would be avenged. But first, there was something else he had to do. 

While searching for the rider of a runaway horse, Wayland stumbles upon a gruesome discovery. A young boy has been brutally murdered, his body defiled by strange yet oddly familiar symbols. Wayland is charged by the Coroner to find out the identity of the boy. But with a brutal Civil War still ravaging the country, Wayland must be careful. With the Royalists so close, if it were to be found out that he once fought on the side of Parliament, the consequences could be dire. 

However, time is running out, for the murderer will strike again, it is just a question of when.

With a compelling narrative, crisp prose and captivating characters, all set within the backdrop of the English Civil War, Wayland’s Revenge by Lesley Lodge is the kind of book that lovers of quality historical fiction can get very excited about. Not only is it a fabulous murder mystery, but it is also a poignant story of one man whose life has been torn asunder by the terrible realisation that the one person he had sworn to protect had died while he was away fighting a war that seemingly had no end.

At times Wayland’s Revenge is a heart-wrenching read, and it left me in tears on more than one occasion. Wayland’s reaction to the news that his wife had at first been accused of witchcraft while he was at war was one of utter disbelief, as is the fact that no one dared take a stand against such an injustice. The harrowing account of Rebecca’s trial by water is devastating as it is told from the perspective of her young son. Jonathan is a character who witnesses not only his mother’s trial but her subsequent murder, and because of this he is mute for the majority of this book, but his despair needed no words for Lodge demonstrated his torment and his agony through his actions. I thought Jonathan’s depiction was absolutely brilliant. Kudos, Ms Lodge.

I adored the characterisation of Wayland. Wayland is a man who takes responsibility very seriously. He cannot stand by and see a woman abused, and he will, regardless of who the abuser is, step in and stop it. So to discover that his wife had not only been accused of witchcraft, had faced the trial by water, only to survive it, but was then murdered, almost breaks him. Wayland is torn apart by guilt and his need not only for vengeance but to understand why his wife was taken from him so brutally. He is a man seeking answers, and he will not be content until he has them. However, the war between the King and Parliament sets the pace of his investigation, which at times Wayland finds incredibly frustrating. Wayland isn’t always the hero in this story, and there are times when his anger, his hate, makes him lose all notion of reason, but Lodge always pulls him back when he is tottering on the edge. 

Wayland’s reaction to Jonathan was sublime. Wayland does not know how to get through to his son. In a time where there wasn’t therapists or counsellors, I thought the way Wayland handled it was as historically accurate as Lodge could get. Wayland really struggles, he doesn’t know what to say to his son or how to say it, which I thought was incredibly heartbreaking and had me reaching for the Kleenex. There is no doubt in my mind that Lodge certainly has a novelist eye for the human condition, for she has captured every conceivable emotion.

Wayland isn’t on this journey alone, however, Alun is on it with him. Alun is a very grounded individual who can step out of the situation and see things sometimes a little more rationally than Wayland can. Together, they make quite the formidable pair, and if anyone is going to get any answers, it will be these two.

I am not going to talk about the antagonist as I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but I would like to mention the depiction of some of the historical characters in this book. I thought Lodge’s portrayal of Sir Charles Lucas was sublime as was the portrayal of Thomas Fairfax. Lodge brought both of these characters gloriously back to life.

The historical detailing of this book has to be commended. It is painstakingly obvious that Lodge has spent many hours researching this era, for she has brought it back to life in all its magnificent detail. Lodge’s understanding of the events that led up to the massacre of unarmed women after the Battle of Naseby and the harrowing account of life at Colchester during the long eleven-week siege is diligently represented in this remarkable story of war, love, revenge, and finally, closure.

I was excited to read a book where the author had a clear understanding of everything equestrian. This may seem like a small thing to notice, but Lodge’s depiction of the horses was truly wonderful. Coming from an equestrian background, I often lament the way horses are represented in historical fiction. Lodge understands what these majestic animals can and cannot do, and her depiction of the starving animals, and there somewhat bullying behaviour towards each other, while the Royalist were under siege in Colchester was particularly well-drawn. 

I thoroughly enjoyed every word, every syllable, every sentence of Wayland’s Revenge by Lesley Lodge. This is the kind of book that I could happily read over and over again.

I Highly Recommend.

Review by Mary Anne Yarde.

The Coffee Pot Book Club.

Pick up your copy of

Wayland’s Revenge

Amazon UK • Amazon US

Lesley Lodge

Lesley Lodge now lives on a smallholding bafflingly close to Luton after many years working on regeneration projects in south London.

Lesley's historical crime thriller novel, published 2018, is set in 17th century England and features ex-soldier and blacksmith Wayland seeking revenger for the brutal murder of his wife.

Lesley has previously had several short stories published. Blues to Orange, about a farmer ruined by the foot and mouth outbreak, was a Luton Literary Prize Winner. She is a past Time Out and Jim Beam Whiskey Cult Film Buff of the Year.

Connect with Lesley: Website • Blog • Facebook • Twitter.