We here at TNBBC love participating in blog tours. We especially dig being the ones to kick them off! And so, we introduce you to Janina Mathewson and her novel OF THINGS GONE ASTRAY.
Releasing in hardback and EB today, Of Things Gone
Astray sees Mrs Featherby waking up to discover the entire front wall of her
house is missing; Delia goes to the park to sit under her favourite oak tree, to
find that it is no longer there; Robert goes to work one morning to find that
his building and all traces of his colleagues have vanished whilst Marcus, a
pianist, opens his piano to find all of the keys have
disappeared.
And
in the meantime, Jake, who lost his mother a year or so beforehand and continues
to struggle with life after her departure, well, he doesn’t seem to have really
lost anything at all but he does start discovering things - and so the lives of
these characters cast in this world begin to interweave splendidly.
To help get this blog tour going, Janina has decided to participate in our Books & Booze series. Let's take a look at her characters' go-to drinks, shall we?
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Of
Things Gone Astray is a book for curling up with, and there’s no
point in curling up if you’re not doing it with, at the very
least a cup of tea. A trip to the kitchen, your favourite armchair, curl up.
Curl up tight.
Mrs
Featherby
Mrs
Featherby looks like the kind of woman who’d have a nice sherry on Sundays or a
single gin and tonic every once in a while. But, like much about her, Mrs
Featherby’s favourite drink is a long and scrupulously kept secret.
She drinks a whisky soda with a twist of lime, in very specific ratio. In her
younger, wilder days, she was known to vault the bar and make it herself if the
barman failed to make it perfectly. Now she only drinks them after dark, with
the curtains closed, when all her neighbours are sleeping.
Robert
Robert
likes cider. He likes sweet cider. He likes fruity cider made from raspberries
and strawberries, and berries in general. As you can imagine, he’s
been teased about this quite a lot so, when he was young and more sexually
active, so he used to drink normal beer on dates. And since he hadn’t
drunk enough normal beer to know which was nice, he suffered a lot.
Cassie
Cassie
is young, so very young. She’s only been legally drinking for a
couple of years so, although she’s graduated beyond the worst of the
alcopops, she’s yet to find an actual decent drink. She drinks a lot of
cava but she doesn’t really know what it is.
Jake
Jake
is a child. He drinks chocolate milk, if he can get it.
Delia
It’s be
a long time since Delia’s been out for drinks with people.
She used to drink a lot of red wine in winter and mint juleps in summer. She
defaults back to them nowadays but either her tastes have changed or she
remembers it wrong. What she’s looking for, although she hasn’t
found it yet, is an old fashioned.
Marcus
Whisky.
Neat.
To
Drink While Reading
In
hot weather, fill a glass with ice and berries. Pour in a dollop or two of good
gin. Add elderflower presse. Cool off. Relax.
When
it’s cold outside, put a healthy teaspoon of honey into a
glass with equal parts whisky and ginger wine. Add a slice of lemon and enough
hot water to fill the glass. Curl up with a rug.
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Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, Janina Matthewson
moved to London following the earthquake, an event which features as a pivotal
part of her novel.
A
trained actress, Janina has also written for the stage and screen. Her first
play, Human and If was performed at The Tea House Theatre in London, directed by
Sue Curnow. Her short film, The Other Side, was shown as part of the Rialto
Channel’s 48 Hours project in New Zealand.
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