PUBLICATION IN THE US LOOMS...

The US edition of The Coward's tale is on the chocks, and comes out officially early next week, although I think they are shipping already! With thanks to my US editor Kathy Belden and the Bloomsbury team in New York.

And two US literary blog reviews came in recently. First, a site called Seeing the World Through Books. Quite a fantastic website, a goldmine of in-depth reviews of books set in countries other than the US. The owner, Mary Whipple begins her amazing review thus:

"It has been two years since I have added a new book to my list of All-Time Favorites, but that has just changed with the release of this novel which deserves a special place on my Favorites list. Set in the mining country of southern Wales, Vanessa Gebbie’s incandescent new novel captures the cadences and speech patterns that lovers of Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood have celebrated for years, and as I read the book (as slowly as possible), I felt as if Richard Burton, the Welsh narrator of Under Milk Wood, were whispering in my ear."

Please follow the link above for the whole review. I am particularly moved to see she has sourced pictures of the Gleision colliery disaster last September to underline the fact that mining tragedies are not a thing of the past.
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And secondly, a site called Tzer Island, where the review begins:

"When we take the time to look beneath the surface, people are not always what they seem to be. Sometimes those who seem cowardly are not cowards at all. Sometimes atonement is mistaken for guilt. In her unapologetically humane novel, Vanessa Gebbie reminds us of the patience and effort that is required to understand another person, and of the rewards awaiting those who make the effort."

and it ends:

"Gebbie writes musically rhythmic prose, forming sentences as sharp and shimmery as broken glass. Both instyle and content, The Coward’s Tale is an outstanding novel".

The complete review is via the link above. Another terrific website.

BARNES & NOBLE LINK - for easy purchase in the USA.