Emma's Review: An Echo of Scandal by Laura Madeline

Reviewed by Emma Crowley 

In the dead of night, with blood on her hands, she made her escape.

Accused of murder, Alejandra flees her home, escaping to the southern edge of Spain, where she faces a life of poverty and destitution.

Seduced by the power of the rich and the anonymity that waits across the water in Tangier, Ale makes a bid for a new start. But it will come at a cost: a life of deception. Because Ale's new friends want to know what she is running from, they want to know who she is and whether they can trust her.

Fifty years later, a young American writer wanders the streets of Tangier, searching for inspiration. When he stumbles across a trace of Ale's life, he finds himself tangled in a story of scandal, love and danger that has not yet reached its end.

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The Write Stuff with... Laura Madeleine

Today it's my absolute pleasure to welcome Laura Madeleine back to the blog for today's stop on her The Secret Between Us blog tour.

The inspiration for The Secrets Between Us came from looking at a map. 

Place is important to me when it comes to telling a story; there is drama in the natural landscape itself, in the communities and cultures that have inhabited an area. Borders in particular. I’m fascinated by them. An imaginary line, cutting the land into separate identities. A gulf that can be crossed in a step. 

The kernel for The Secrets Between Us sprang into being when I read a Wikipedia page about a village called Saint-Martin-Vésubie, near the French-Italian border, in the Alpes-Maritimes. The page briefly mentioned the route de sel, an ancient road used to transport salt since Roman times, that even today can be followed all the way from the Mediterranean, across the perilous mountain passes into Italy. 

Emma's Review: The Secrets Between Us by Laura Madeleine

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

High in the mountains in the South of France, eighteen-year-old Ceci Corvin is trying hard to carry on as normal. But in 1943, there is no such thing as normal; especially not for a young woman in love with the wrong person. Scandal, it would seem, can be more dangerous than war.

Fifty years later, Annie is looking for her long-lost grandmother. Armed with nothing more than a sheaf of papers, she travels from England to Paris in pursuit of the truth. But as she traces her grandmother’s story, Annie uncovers something she wasn’t expecting, something that changes everything she knew about her family – and everything she thought she knew about herself…

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Emma's Review: Where the Wild Cherries Grow by Laura Madeleine

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

How far must you run to leave the past behind you? 

It is 1919 and the end of the war has not brought peace for Emeline Vane. Lost in grief, she is suddenly alone at the heart of a depleted family. She can no longer cope. And as everything seems to be slipping beyond her control, in a moment of desperation, she boards a train and runs away.

Fifty years later, a young solicitor on his first case finds Emeline’s diary. What Bill Perch finds in the tattered pages of neat script goes against everything he has been told. He begins to trace an anguished story of love and betrayal that will send him on a journey to discover the truth.

I closed my eyes as I tried to pick apart every flavour, because nothing had ever tasted so good before. It was love and it could not be hidden. 

What really happened to Emeline all those years ago?

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The Write Stuff with... Laura Madeleine

Today it's my pleasure to be hosting Laura Madeleine on the latest leg of her blog tour for her second book Where the Wild Cherries Grow which is out now in eBook, paperback to follow this Summer.  As both of Laura's books have featured food heavily in them she has written a piece for us about Writing & Food Memory.      

© Rachel Sherlock Photography

For me, one of the most effective ways to write about food is to evoke memory. Almost everyone can recall scents and tastes from childhood, whether it’s the gritty sweetness of a spoonful of Calpol or the malted, butteriness of biscuits after school. I, for one, can’t smell the green muskiness of tomato vines without being transported straight back to my grandparent’s greenhouse. That’s not to say every taste-memory is a good one. I vividly recall being made to drink milk at kindergarten, and hate the taste of it to this day. My sister will never forget a disastrous encounter with an exploding chicken kiev, and my aunt is haunted by memories of the grey mince served up by my great-grandmother…

There’s no telling where food memories might take us. Like the bittersweet caramel and vanilla of the first canelé I ever ate in Saint-Émilion. That little pastry went on to inspire my first novel, The Confectioner’s Tale. Likewise, my father can pinpoint the moment he fell in love with my mother, as they shared a meal of freshly baked bread, prawns and white wine in the sun one lunchtime. 

Food and memory, love and landscape are often inextricably linked. When I was writing Where the Wild Cherries Grow, I was keen for Catalan food to play a pivotal role in the lives and emotions of the characters. Their intimate knowledge of the land is their way of belonging:

“Clémence could tell where a llangostin had come from by the colour of its shell, where a goat had grazed by the taste of its cheese. She knew the town in the same way: as a collection of individuals, each influencing the complex whole.” 

Debut Spotlight: Laura Madeleine

This morning it is my pleasure to do a spotlight feature for author Laura Madeleine as part of the blog tour for her debut novel The Confectioner's Tale which was published last week.

After a childhood spent acting professionally and training at a theatre school, Laura Madeleine changed her mind, and went to study English Literature at Newnham College, Cambridge. She now writes fiction, as well as recipes, and was formerly the resident cake baker for Domestic Sluttery. 

She lives in Bristol, but can often be found visiting her family in Devon, eating cheese and getting up to mischief with her sister, fantasy author Lucy Hounsom. You can find her on Twitter @esthercrumpet.

At the famous Patisserie Clermont in Paris, 1909, a chance encounter with the owner’s daughter has given one young man a glimpse into a life he never knew existed: of sweet cream and melted chocolate, golden caramel and powdered sugar, of pastry light as air. 

But it is not just the art of confectionery that holds him captive, and soon a forbidden love affair begins. 

Almost eighty years later, an academic discovers a hidden photograph of her grandfather as a young man with two people she has never seen before. Scrawled on the back of the picture are the words ‘Forgive me’. Unable to resist the mystery behind it, she begins to unravel the story of two star-crossed lovers and one irrevocable betrayal.

Can you tell us a little bit about your debut novel The Confectioner’s Tale?
I started writing The Confectioner’s Tale about four years ago, after a whirlwind summer holiday driving around France. I was in Saint-Émilion when I discovered canelés: little French custard pastries. They have a fascinating, three hundred year history of fiercely guarded recipes, rivalry and craftsmanship. My interest in the art of patisserie started there. It’s also one of the reasons that Gui’s home is in Bordeaux.

What inspired you to set your debut novel in Paris?
Paris during the Belle Époque represents the absolute height of our romantic ideals: decadence, glamour, abundance and artistry, but it was also a world on the brink of collapse. The weight of that wealth and luxury was never going to be able to sustain itself. The city was also a place of poverty and disillusionment for the vast majority of people. The era was like a beautiful, dying, glittering creature. It was an irresistible setting. 

What are your favourite confections to create?
I love making cakes. My real passion is for flavours, scents and textures. Unlike the chefs at Patisserie Clermont, I’m not very good at fiddly sugar work or decoration. I enjoy working with flavours that trigger memory or emotion; freshly-picked blackberries and hazelnuts in autumn, orange blossom in spring, ripe peaches and vanilla in summer, sloe gin, treacle, ginger and cinnamon for winter...

Guest Book Review: Laura Madeleine - the Confectioner's Tale

Reviewed by Sarah Brew

At the famous Patisserie Clermont in Paris, 1909, a chance encounter with the owner’s daughter has given one young man a glimpse into a life he never knew existed: of sweet cream and melted chocolate, golden caramel and powdered sugar, of pastry light as air. 

But it is not just the art of confectionery that holds him captive, and soon a forbidden love affair begins. 

Almost eighty years later, an academic discovers a hidden photograph of her grandfather as a young man with two people she has never seen before. Scrawled on the back of the picture are the words ‘Forgive me’. Unable to resist the mystery behind it, she begins to unravel the story of two star-crossed lovers and one irrevocable betrayal.

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback