The drowned Phoenician Sailor by Lesley hayes

Having read and enjoyed a number of Lesley’s short stories, I thought it was high time I read one of her novels and it didn’t disappoint. I gave this 5 stars.

The Drowned Phoenician Sailor by Lesley Hayes on Amazon.com 

I admire the way Ms Hayes construct a sentence and she has a lightness of touch that stops this work from sinking into melodrama or becoming heavy. Her lightness and sense of humour makes this book very readable and enjoyable despite dealing with serious issues such as loss, abandonment and emotional abuse. I know the writer is a psychotherapist and it show in how she approaches her characters. Her main protagonist Kaya/Fynn we get to know as she finds her own therapist dead when turns up for their regular session. Fynn still has a lot of issues to sort out and maybe this is why the therapist manifests itself as a ghost. I found it at times uncomfortable as we got such an insight into her life. (Like listening at the door of a therapist session in progress) At times the pace dropped a little, but I put that down to relating more to some characters than others. (I think Jack would be someone I would hide from in a pub, for the fear of him dragging me into a deep philosophical discussion.) Lesley Hayes has written a beautiful book that will appeal to most, as the number of emotions explored, are many and I think every reader will recognise themselves at some point. 

In other news:

I'm pleased to announce that Blood Ties Language in the Blood book 2 is now also available on smashwords at $2.99 keeping it at the same price as Amazon.

Book 1 has been free now for a week and without any advertising, 150 copies were downloaded. I hope Amazon will follow suit, but for the time being please feel free to report it to them. (I'm also free on Itunes, Barnes and Nobles, Kobo and Fnac to name but a few.)

The Oscar Dossier by Lesley Hayes

I have the great honour of soon to be sharing the pages with this author in the upcoming anthology: You're not Alone. I look forwards to reading her contribution to this. Here is the review to an excellent but very short collection.

The Oscar Dossier by lesley Hayes

I recently came across two stories by this author. They were so well written and clever that I was more than keen to try another selection of shorts by Lesley Hayes. The Oscar dossiers didn’t disappoint. I do love an English eccentric, and Oscar is a fine specimen. Flamboyant and loud but also riddled with insecurities. He always falls for the same type, thin broken women that are oddly robust in blocking his advances. This is a book of four short stories, about Oscar, a parrot and some of the people in his life. The stories are well written, witty and entertaining. If I have one quibble it would be that the book is very short and that a larger than life character like Oscar could have generated more material. I do hope Lesley will revisit this character and add some more pages to the dossier. However this book left me very hungry to read some more of this author.

Highly recommended, if you like colourful characters and a quick, easy read.