THE CURIOUS TALE OF THE LADY CARABOO by Catherine Johnson. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull

"Doesn't she understand her lot?" wonders young Fred Worrall, when faced with a frightened and reluctant young prostitute - before daydreaming about his own 'lot': travel, university, work as a banker - everything that's been planned for him by family and social class.

This extraordinary story of love, mystery and self-deception is based on true events. It's set in 1819 and tells how Mary Willcox, a cobbler's daughter from Devon, managed to pass herself off as a princess from the Far East, fooling not only the wealthy family who took her in, but various 'experts' who examined her.

The story begins with a brutal scene in which 17 year old Mary, alone and exhausted on the road, is raped by two men. She was on her way home to Devon from London - where the man she loved had deserted her and where her newborn baby had died. After this attack, at her lowest ebb, Mary longs to become someone else. She reinvents herself as the Princess Caraboo, speaking no English, wearing a turban, and looking everyone boldly in the eye in a way that downtrodden Mary never could. She is found and brought to Knole House, home of the Worrall family, and immediately wins over Mrs Worrall, who is an amateur student of anthropology. But not everyone is convinced by Caraboo, and before long Mary finds herself wanting to escape but caught up in a net of her own making.

The story is seen from the viewpoints of several young people: Mary herself; Cassandra, the daughter of the house; Cassandra's brother Fred; and Will, the son of the local innkeeper, who falls for the self-centred Cassandra. Young Fred Worrall is in some ways the most interesting of these characters, as he changes from playboy to someone who sees women as human beings, and in so doing frees himself.

Through these various viewpoints we see love in its pure and corrupt forms, the way society treats women, and in particular the degrading lives of poor women - but all conveyed with the lightest touch in a story that sparkles with vitality.


www.annturnbull.com






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Skin Deep by Malaika Rose Stanley: Guest Reviewer Catherine Johnson

Skin Deep is the first book in a new series about four girls which will follow their friendships, families, and problems. Thirteen year old Destiny, the subject of this first book, is pretty and confident, as well as a talented cello player.

Destiny has the usual hurdles of young teenhood, a crush on a boy at school, confrontations with class bullies, but her life is pretty sweet. In fact she wants to enter the Bright Sparks competition, a beauty pageant that values talent and brains as well as good looks to prove she is more than a just a pretty face. But Destiny’s mother – an ex model well aware of the pitfalls of beauty competitions - doesn’t approve.

But Destiny is feisty – perhaps not as feisty as cousin Keisha who will feature in book two – and with the help of friends and neighbours raises the entrance fee and enters independently. Then out of the blue, confident, Destiny is struck down with Bells’ Palsy. The illness means her face is semi paralysed and Destiny’s world crumbles.The novel follows Destiny as she learns to cope with her new self image and put her life back together.

Skin Deep is a perfect early top Juniors, or lower  Secondary school read. It is just right for girls who love the younger range of Jean Ure, Karen McCombie, or Jacqueline Wilson novels. It’s a light, quick, read, but with enough depth to make the reader laugh and cry. The ending moved me – a cynical nearly fiftysomething – to happy tears.

You might be thinking you’ve read many books where a pretty, feisty, heroine, with the help of her friends, learns to deal with whatever life throws at her. True, but it’s a theme we love reading about and this story reads like a dream and zips along beautifully. And the setting and characters mark this book out as head and shoulders above the pack.

The writer has a lovely light touch so that the Birmingham setting is invoked just enough, that the friends all have clear individual characters and that Destiny is likeable and believable. It’s well written and warm hearted and would make a perfect back to school present for a Year 5,6, or 7 girl reader.

Did I mention the cover is pitch perfect too?

THANK YOU, CATHERINE FOR YOUR GUEST REVIEW!

www.mailakarose.stanley.com

 www.catherinejohnson.co.uk

Catherine's new novel BRAVE NEW GIRL (Frances Lincoln) is published on 11th November 2011.

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