PETROL SCENTED SPRING, A

I came to this book through Ajay Close's enquiry to my late brother, then to me, about our Great Aunt Dede, aka Bill Bellairs, one of the book's pivotal characters. That the author has captured the essential eccentricity and devil take the hindmost spirit of this colourful and much loved late member of our family is a remarkable achievement in itself, But then I was left to read a novel by an author of whom I had previously never heard and about whom I would have not given a second thought had I seen her output represented in Amazon. It has been revelation. This novel captures a remarkably vivid period of history - and in Scotland, not in England where suffragettes are usually portrayed - with astonishingly vivid precision. The story is at times grittingly horrific (force feeding described in detail) and at times movingly poignant (especially the last chapter). But it is a page turner.and a read which I can thoroughly recommend. i am sure that Ajay's past experience as a journalist on The Scotsman newspaper will have lent much to a sense of immediacy in her literary construction: short but flowing sentences which carry the reader forward with ease. I read on her website - an interesting resource - her Scotsman interview, published some years ago, with George Galloway in which she caught the essential humanity of a man who we all love to ridicule and dismiss. And then I understood why she has based this novel on real people with histories and interactions that skilfully develop what might have been. And this is one of this fine novel's secrets: this is how it would have been in Perth in the years leading up to and during the Great War when, as with Syria, ISIL and refugees today, society was faced with the daunting and apparently insoluble problem: at that moment, the prospect of rebellious women demanding the vote. A Petrol Scented Spring is a terrific read, and an enlightening one for those who enjoy snapshots in time and people's lives, and I commend it to you. I look forward to devouring the rest of her novels!

This was a book group choice which I was very happy to read because of the association with my home town of Perth, Scotland. In the book group, I am the one who creates notes on my kindly and prints them out so that we always have something to discuss. As I can never do that on a first read through, it means I read the book twice in about 4 weeks. On the second read through, I always found my heart lifting when I realised the chapter was narrated by Hilda, whose very irreverent view of the world really appealed to me. This starts off as a light-hearted skip of a book but it really does not stay there. The effects of the force-feeding of suffragettes spread out like ripples on a pond through many years and lives. I am not sure I exactly enjoyed the book but I was very intrigued by it and will be reading it again.

Whilst I persevered with this book - I don't like to give up - I found this book really heavy going. It did not really read like fiction - more like a documentary on force feeding! It started off well enough but soon got bogged down with the methods used. There was little said about the suffragette movement itself beyond the initial comments. None of the characters were likeable - they were all unpleasant in various different ways. This made it difficult to read - I do think it important that the reader has some empathy with at least one character. This book certainly made that impossible. I think it would have been better written as a comment/documentary on the effects of force feeding because it certainly does not work as a novel!

Ajay Close's fourth novel is a fine, shrewd study of characters who collide with history. Hugh Ferguson Watson is a repressed, inhibited prison doctor in Perth, Scotland in the years before the First World War.. Arabella Scott is a challenging, determined suffragist, an arsonist on hunger strike who Watson must force feed in a horrible ritual reminiscent of waterboarding. Donella Atkins, who Watson meets a few years later, resembles Arabella so much that, like James Stewart in Vertigo, he transfers his obsession with one woman to the other - the outcome is as ghastly as one expects. As with her excellent previous novel, Trust, Close layers character (in this case drawn from real life), history and the many crossroads of life into a powerful account of emotion and human choices. Her descriptive and narrative writing is a constant pleasure. She's as good as anyone I've read in recent years.

This is a beautifully crafted book that takes us back to a turbulent time in British history and paints a multi-faceted picture with insightful, thoroughly-researched period observation and exquisitely written dialogue. Ajay Close steers clear of the predictable in her construction of the narrative, forcing us to think about what we are reading and to bury ourselves in a tale of violence, despair - even futility - and love. This book will live with you for a long time.

This book was so unexpectedly gripping that I read it over two days when I really should have been working. It is carefully researched and written and I learned much beyond fact about the treatment of suffragettes. Of course I have read the history books but the raw narrative of this novel gave me an horrific clarity of understanding that I had hitherto lacked. Ajay writes so well that at times I could feel the terror of Arabella whilst admiring her fight for self as the story unfolded.

Ajay Close has excelled on the book. It is an engrossing story which combines history, intrigue and romance. A number of characters find their lives interwoven, although many never meet. The story starts prior to the First World War and focuses on the suffragette movement and the political response to it. A number of themes run through the book. It is easy to empathise with many of the characters, whilst being thought provoking. Hard to put down. I recommend.

This is a brilliant book, beautifully written, cleverly crafted, that swept me along, kept me turning those pages, putting off doing what I ought to have been doing - and now it haunts me. Now I've ordered all her others, so if you're expecting to hear from me or see me - forget it.