The Silent Land by Graham Joyce
reviewed by Trent Walters
Zoe and Jake, a married couple, take to the Pyrenees slopes early in the morning to avoid the crowds.
Shortly thereafter, they are chased by an avalanche that swallows them.
Finding a tree, Jake climbs out of the snow while Zoe, buried upside-down, has to fight for every
centimeter to crawl out. When they make their way downhill,
the land is empty of people and oddly quiet. If this scenario feels slightly familiar,
it is but Graham Joyce infuses it with his own admirable style and descriptive panache.
Memoirs of a Master Forger by William Heaney
reviewed by Tammy Moore
This is an elegant, brilliantly written novel that spins the plates of three, possibly four, different
threads with the élan of a seasoned circus performer. A compelling narrative and unique voice makes the book
almost impossible to put down -- despite Tammy's somewhat ambiguous feelings towards the main character.
TWOC by Graham Joyce
reviewed by Matthew Hughes
TWOC is British police shorthand for Taken Without Owner's Consent, and it's what British juveniles get charged with when they are
nicked behind the wheel of somebody else car that they've stolen for a joyride. It's what sixteen-year-old Matt was done for
after being involved in the taking of a silver-grey Ferrari Testarossa that wound up unhappily for all concerned.
The Limits of Enchantment by Graham Joyce
reviewed by Sandy Auden
Fern has lived a protected life with her mother, learning about herbs and helping the local population with natural remedies and
tinctures. When Mammy falls ill and is taken into hospital, Fern has to face the realities of living on her own for the
first time in twenty-one years. With no reliable income and affected by the prejudices of the close community around her, Fern
turns to the spiritual beliefs she grew up with but it turns out to be a dangerous path to follow.
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The Facts of Life by Graham Joyce
reviewed by Gabe Mesa
The story follows the lives of Martha Vine and her seven daughters in the British town of Coventry in
the years during and immediately following the Second World War. Telling the seven daughters and their husbands apart is somewhat difficult
at first, but the author quickly manages to delineate their individual characters and circumstances.
The youngest sister, Cassie, is a free spirit whose casual liaisons result in her bringing a small boy, Frank, into the world. Because he
has no father and only a partly competent mother, Martha Vine's matriarchal decree is that Frank (like a sister before him) be handed over
to other townspeople for an informal adoption.
The Facts Of Life by Graham Joyce
reviewed by Martin Lewis
Martha Vine is the matriarch of the Vine family, mother of seven daughters. Cassie is the youngest of these, "the result of a night
of careless and rough passion after the celebrations over the election of the first ever Labour government of 1924." The story
opens with Cassie waiting to give away her infant son to a stranger. Just as she is on the point of doing so, she has a vision
of golden light streaming from the three spires of Coventry.
Smoking Poppy by Graham Joyce
reviewed by William Thompson
With the ominous news that his estranged daughter has been arrested in
Thailand for smuggling opium, Dan Innes sets out for a remote town in the
northern interior where his daughter is confined under a possible sentence
of death. He is accompanied by two unlikely companions, neither of whom he
would have chosen. The mismatched trio soon find themselves in the midst of
a mystery that leads them deep into the jungles of a region devoted to
cultivation of the poppy and ruled by lawless and ruthless gangs of smugglers.
The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce
reviewed by David Soyka
The author furnishes a marvellous reminder of the inexplicable terrors that
lurk within the turbulent physical and emotional transformations of
adolescence. Those who remember it as some sort of Golden Age are
conveniently forgetting the acne, rejection, and peer cruelty that
characterizes this transitory awfulness of neither childhood nor adulthood.
The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce
reviewed by Margo MacDonald
Margo was ambivalent about this novel. On the one hand, she found it very well written. It moves
along at a tumbling pace and Joyce is able to evoke strong and disturbing images. On the other hand,
she's not sure she enjoyed spending time in the world of these young boys.
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