This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Reviewed by Sarah Stuart for Readers' Favorite
Madeleine Purslow opens Moon Diamonds: A Siamese Cat Story with a legend about how Siamese cats were created; the root of the beautiful title, Moon Diamonds. Monica Pinto, called Monique by her French mother, Claudette, is an actress at the start of the story. Sacked by a theatrical director because her memory fails, she decides to take a break from the stage and spend time at her home in a Cotswold village with her Siamese cat for company. When she decides, lonely in the absence of husband and fellow actor, Trevor, to buy a kitten, her life changes in ways she could never have guessed.
Moon Diamonds: A Siamese Cat Story by Madeleine Purslow is Monique’s story. She has an aging Lilac Point, Theodosia, and has been an actress for thirty years until she finds her mind going blank. This is much more than a book about cats, although cat lovers cannot fail to enjoy it: it’s a brilliant study of what appears to be the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. Forced into retirement, bored and lonely, with attempts to join a book club and a choir being spectacular failures, Monique buys a Siamese kitten, a Seal Point she names Ghilly, and “Cry havoc! And let slip the dogs of war!”
This book is very well-written. The world of the theatre is vivid, and characters with the tiniest cameo roles in the story come to life. Surprisingly, given the core subject, Ms Purslow has written a comedy, and left me wondering if Madeleine’s final irony is in her second name.
