Chicken Soup Murder, The

Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description

Cyfrol sy'n rhannol ffuglennol ac yn ddirgelwch llofruddiaeth, ac yn rhannol yn fyfyrdod am alar, cyfeillgarwch a theulu. Caiff nofel gyntaf Maria Donovan ei hadrodd gydag ystwythder a hiwmor gan Michael, y caiff ei fywyd ifanc, esmwyth ei fygwth gan fwlio a chan farwolaeth.

Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description

Part crime fiction and murder mystery, part meditation on grieving, friendship and family, Maria Donovan's début novel, The Chicken Soup Murder , is a coming-of-age story narrated with resilience and humour by Michael, whose cosy young life is threatened by bullying and blasted by visitations from the biggest bully of all - Death.

Dosbarthu

Byddwn yn dosbarthu eitemau sydd mewn stoc o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith, fel arfer drwy Royal Mail Tracked 48. Ar gyfer archebion o flaen llaw, byddwn yn dosbarthu’r eitem o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith ar ôl ei derbyn gan ein cyflenwr.

Dispatch

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Bywgraffiad yr Awdur / Author Biography

Maria Donovan has published a collection of flash fiction, Tea for Mr Dead (Leaf, 2006) and a collection of short stories, Pumping Up Napoleon (Seren, 2007). Her work includes stories set in Wales commissioned for anthologies such as Sing, Sorrow, Sorrow (Seren, 2010) The Wish Dog and other stories (Honno, 2014) and New Welsh Short Stories (Seren, 2015). The Chicken Soup Murder is her first completed novel and was a finalist for the Dundee International Book Prize 2015.

Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review

Better known for her short stories, Maria Donovan makes her debut as a novelist with The Chicken Soup Murder − a quietly gripping murder mystery narrated in the voice of eleven-year-old Michael. Michael lives with his grandmother, Nan, in a pebble-dashed semi in a quiet development around a green known as The Middle, where the community gathers to celebrate Bonfire Night and other events. Next door lives Nan’s good friend Irma; and Michael’s friend Janey and her family are next-door-but-one. They are a close-knit little group, forever popping in and out of each other’s homes, and the children have the run of all three gardens, turning them into one big playground. But two things happen in quick succession to disrupt the gentle pattern of their lives: Janey’s father dies of cancer, and Irma acquires a boyfriend. Irma has always seemed quite content living alone, but PC Shawn Bull very quickly moves in with her, together with his son George. Unfortunately, the Bulls are both bullies. At home, Shawn makes it difficult for Irma to keep up her close friendships with Nan and Janey’s mother, Violet, at a time when Violet is broken with grief and needs her friends around her. At school, George quite simply makes Michael’s life hell. One day George goes too far. Knowing that Michael has an allergic reaction to cheese, he forces him to eat a cheese sandwich during lunch break. Michael is so poorly as a result that he has to have the following day off school. Nan has to go to work, but Irma offers to keep an eye on him. Kindly Irma knows that what a poorly boy needs is some of her home-made chicken soup, so she pops home to make some. And never comes back. Michael dozes, wakes and wonders where Irma is, looks out to see Shawn coming home unexpectedly in the middle of the day, sees two blurred figures through the kitchen window ... When George arrives home from school, he finds Irma lying dead on the kitchen floor. The post mortem declares natural causes, but Michael is convinced she has been murdered, and is determined to prove it. And so the fun begins. The children get up to all sorts of antics to gather evidence, including consulting a make-shift ouija board and concealing the wooden spoon used to stir the soup. Is it just a child’s imagination running riot, needing to find someone to blame for a meaningless death? Or is Michael seeing clearly through a child’s eyes? Donovan is good on the different ways in which we express and deal with grief, whatever our age: from Violet’s retreat into dressing-gown-clad misery, to Nan’s determination that life must go on. There are also more secrets than might first appear. No spoilers, but be prepared for it all to go a bit mad in the final section, with unexpected revelations, madcap runaways and reunions, and some surprise answers to the chicken-soup mystery, among other things...