And the winner is....

Congratulation Glitters : Forward This Picture

Leeswammes! Congratulations, I will be contacting you as soon as possible for your postal information.

My apologies to all for taking so long to announce the winner, I've been sick for the last week. More on that in the next post...

Giveaway Winner

Image credit: Here

And the winner is.... *drumroll*

Alessandra!! 

Congratulations! You're my first ever prize winner.

I have sent you an email, Alessandra - you have 48 hours to get back to me with your postal address.

Note: I used the awesome Contest Winner Picker to find my winner. Check it out!

The Sign for Drowning: Review

The Sign for Drowning

By Rachel Stolzman

Published by Trumpeter Books

Published 2008

ISBN: 978-1-59030-720-5

This book was sent to me as a review copy by the author who also sent me a signed copy to use as a giveaway (which is only open until midnight Monday 30th November so get your entries in now, people!!)

This book is a visceral and very real look at the life of a woman whose life has been defined by the loss of her baby sister, Megan, through accidental drowning when she was 8 years old. Anna has, since that day, been lost in a world of uncertainly and grief, ever searching for someone or something to anchor her in the world. After meeting Adrea, a deaf child who was abandoned by her teenaged parents, in her centre for deaf children, Anna's life seems to take on a new meaning but grief still looms large, refusing to leave her family in peace.

I really enjoyed this novel - the narrative is beautifully written, reflecting Stolzman's poetic background, but without being overly lyrical - I'm a fan of a well-written sentence or a beautiful image but I hate being beaten over the head with a metaphor. It's a fine line and one that Sign balances brilliantly. For example, one of my favourite sentences was this stunner:

"She saw herself, a baby mermaid, hair streaming back, a last oxygen bubble escaping from her mouth. There were monsoon rains with every turn of her neck. Earthquakes broke fault lines with each kick of her legs. Every thrashing of her arms brought forest fires somewhere. Opening her mouth caused volcanoes to erupt. 

In this way, she left us."  (Page 62)

Another thing I really appreciated about this book was that Anna's character was so well-realised. The link between her sister's drowning and her fascination with sign language - a key aspect of her character -  is not immediately obvious and I wondered for the first few chapters how it was all going to tie in together but once revealed it's ingenious. First person confessional voice of Anna allows the reader to track along with her thoughts as she copes with grief and faces the effects it has had on her life, particularly her relationship with her mother.

Mother-daughter relationships lay at the heart of this novel as it is this relationship, both as the daughter and later the adoptive mother, that define Anna. Stolzman investigates this most emotionally fraught relationship with both delicacy and a clear eye, enabling the reader to see both Anna and her own mother as both mothers and a flawed human beings - something not easily achieved as too often portrayals of mothers become one dimensional or fall into the perfect mother/evil mother dichotomy.

The only regret I had about this book was that it wasn't longer - I felt that there were places in the novel that could have been lingered over a bit more, even if only for the reader to absorb what had happened but it felt occasionally as if we were being hustled along. This doesn't really detract from the novel - just at times I wish I'd had a bit more space and time within it to really enjoy what was happening.

Overall, I loved this novel. It is beautifully written and a thoroughly enjoyable first novel. It takes on some very big issues and handles them with finesse and intelligence. Thoughtful and thought-provoking, this is one I would highly recommend that you read. It's one that will stay with me for a long time.

Image credit: Here

International Giveaway: Autographed copy of Sign for Drowning

This is my very first giveaway so I'm pretty excited - and I'm even more excited that the book is autographed by the author! 

Ok! So without further ado, here are the details of the giveaway:

Title: The sign for drowning
Author: Rachel Stolzman
Published by: Trumpeter Books, Boston
Year published: 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59030-720-5

The blurb on the back says:
"Anna has grown up haunted by her younger sister's death. In the life she constructs as a barrier against the emotional wreckage of her family tragedy, Anna settles comfortably into a career as a teacher of deaf children. But a challenge arrives - in the form of a young girl. Adrea's disarming vulnerability and obvious need for love offer Anna the possibility of reconnecting with the world around her - if she has the courage to open her heart."

About the author:
Rachel is a New York based writer. She has received her Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College - initially she planned to focus on poetry in her MFA but given that she was already an accomplished and published poet, she decided to work on her fiction writing skills. This is Rachel's first novel. For further information, please see Rachel's website.

Terms and conditions of the competition:

1) To enter, please comment on this post and tell me something about Rachel that you read on her website that I haven't already mentioned here.
2) For an additional entry, become a follower of my blog and mention this in your post (if you're already a follower please notify me of this also).
3) For another additional entry, comment on another of my posts and let me know.
4) For an additional 5 entries, put a link to my giveaway on your blog and tell me about it.
5) This giveaway is open internationally.
6) I also have a review copy of this book so your copy will be unread.
7) Closing date for entries will be 30th November 2009 at midnight Taiwan time.
8) I will announce the winner on or before 7th December 2009.
9) I your email address is not included on your profile, please email it to me so I can contact you if you win.

All images from Rachel Stolzman's website.

For my review of this book, please see here.

Coming soon - my very first giveaway!

I am very exited to announce that I will soon be holding my very first giveaway. Rachel Stolzman is mailing me a signed copy of her first novel The Sign for Drowning. More details will follow once I have it in my possession. Watch this space!

Image credit: Here