Book Review - zo by Murray Pura

A brand new 5 star review came in for Murray Pura's semi-autobiographical, award-winning novel. The Amazon reviewer is petting a tiger in his profile picture, so it seems like a good idea to listen to what he says. That is amazing!

Review: Zo is one of the many inspiring historical fiction works by Canadian author Murray Pura.
The two poems: “My destiny” by Taras Shevchenko and “The Moon” by poet Andrii Chornavka set the tone for the entire book.

The story is set in the year 1911. The protagonist, Andrew Chornavka, is a monk. Interestingly, the author first introduces him as “Zoya’s brother.” Although the book is entirely written through Andrew Chornavka’s point of view, the book is about his sister Zoya.

The book starts off in the United States of America as Andrew Chornavka is being questioned in a monastery by an officer. The animosity that Andrew Chornavka feels, during that enquiry, is unmistakable. The officer asks Andrew Chornavka a number of questions about his sister Zoya and the readers are taken on an adventure down memory lane. This book is unlike any usual historical fiction. With descriptive scenes and strong characters, it successfully holds the reader’s attention until the end.

The book moves at a fast pace and every chapter leaves the reader wanting more. Strong characters and interesting plots leave the reader wanting more. The characters also show interesting contradictions. A good example is Andrew Chornavka’s character. Despite being a monk, he is described as someone who is “easily provoked to violence, sarcastic and spiteful.” Zoya’s character sketch is also equally captivating. Every chapter, without fail, excites and piques the curiosity and attention of the readers.

What I loved most about this book was author Murray Pura’s writing style. It is very elegant and expressive, almost poetic. His words linger with you even after you have turned the page. Murray Pura tastefully and gracefully describes a tumultuous time not only in Zoya and Andrew Chornavka’s life but also for the rest of the world. With eloquent linguistics, the author accurately sets the tone and articulately recounts events and emotion.

Most of the time, a good book comes down to three significant components - 1) a gripping plot, 2) Strong characters and 3) meaningful relationships between the characters. ‘Zo’ has an abundance of all these three components. This is one of those books that you won’t want to put down until you finish it. It is a book that makes you feel, and the feeling stays with you even after you finish reading it. You feel love when there is love and loss where there is loss and this feeling is guaranteed to resonate within you.

If you love historical fiction and stories about the Second World War period, this one story that you will get swept up into. ‘Zo’ by Murray Pura is the book for you. The relationships and plots are compelling; the storytelling is smooth and enlightening. ‘Zo’ will make you want to stay up late or stay in on a Saturday night just to read “one more chapter”. After reading ‘Zo’, I am definitely intrigued and interested to read other works by Murray Pura. ‘Zo’ is truly a great read and I promise you won’t regret it!

zo is available on all major eBook platforms and your favorite paperback sellers. You can see the review on Amazon here:

MWBooks.me/zopaper

Cover Reveal - Murray Pura

Originally published in 2008, Murray Pura is reviving one of his personal favorites.

zo is the first story in Pura's series: Saint Zoya's Dance. This novel happened to be a finalist for the prestigious  Kobzar Literary Award of Toronto in 2010. The series continues with the white birds of morning (coming soon to MillerWords) and beautiful skin.

About the book: Andrew Chornavka took on the Trappist’s cowl and disappeared from the 21st century in order to forget the century before.

Yet even at the secluded monastery in America the past finds him. A delegation from the Vatican arrives with questions about his youngest sister, Zoya, who is, to Andrew’s shock, a candidate for sainthood. Reluctant, hostile, wanting only to be left alone to his dairy herd and gardens and prayers, Andrew eventually begins to talk.

The talk takes him where he does not wish to go, makes alive again what he had hoped was dead and buried, and makes real what had long ago been lost. He knows what he has to tell is no more than a story about a family that tried to stay together, and keep love strong, when everything on earth tried to rip that love apart. Yet he also knows the archbishop wants a story about an angel who walked with God.

But Andrew did not experience a world of angels and miracles and fairy tales. And neither did his sister Zo.

Or did she?

Available in all eBook formats on January 12, 2018

and paperback soon after.

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Guest Post: Katherine Holmes

Today's guest comes to us from the wilds of Alaska and back again. Katherine Holmes makes a stop on her blog tour with some background info on her novel The Swan Bonnet.

We tend to absorb the history of our environment As it was for many, Alaska was romantic to me as a frontier, romantic while living in the city. Of a sudden someone would leave Minneapolis for Alaska. My brother went there to do legal work after he had worked with Indian Legal Aid in Duluth While he was on the south coast, I thought of moving. I read up on the state and became caught up in its history. The near extinction of swans in the United States had me thinking about settings and soon I was planning a story.

Learning about Alaska was like learning grammar through a foreign language. I've never read a history book about Minnesota though I have Midwestern ancestry going back to the mid-1800s. Mining hopes in Alaska were very similar to those on Minnesota's Iron Range in the early 20th century. The influx of people in Northern Minnesota had similarities to Alaska’s new population. Sometimes they were the same people. Like Alaska, the fur trade began Minnesota history. I'd heard much about the 1920s on the Iron Range from my mother. Boomtowns and sudden wealth mapped the region.

After being fascinated with two books of Alaskan history, I researched swans. I read how warehouses with thousands of swan pelts were discovered, more than 10,000 at a time. Eventually hunting laws were enforced and a successful environmental chronicle was documented. I began my Alaska story as a shorter fiction about an Irish immigrant couple who bought shore property where swans migrated. But soon the story led to a coastal town and characters emerged.

When I thought of the swans being killed in masses, I knew that few women were part of such a money-making venture. How much did women help such an environmental campaign in a lone setting when a particular species were illegal to hunt? It is known how women responded to Prohibition then.

I posted the book at Authonomy.com in 2009 while I began to re-work the historical detail. I was afraid the swan hat would seem far-fetched. But it wasn't historically. The West established its own dress. I actually hadn't seen Chaplin's The Gold Rush and later, when I watched the VHS, the women's fur hats were part of the entertainment.

Not until I was rewriting the book did I realize the inspiration for the swan hat. Of course, it was meant to be the white hat of the western. But I remembered from my grade school years the pheasant pelts one of my brothers brought home after hunting. He hung the pheasant pelts on the wall of his room and then in the basement. These pelts fit neatly on the head so that, with my friends, I wore a pheasant hat - until my mother found out and scared us about lice. There is some kind of method to storytelling after all.

About the author: After stints in publishing and as a reporter, Katherine L. Holmes obtained an M. A. in Writing from the University of Minnesota. Her poems and short stories have been published in many journals. In 2012, her short story collection, Curiosity Killed the Sphinx and Other Stories, was published by Hollywood Books International. She has also published a children’s fantasy, The House in Windward Leaves.

Visit the Katherine on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katherine.l.holmes

As usual, you can find me at www.FB.com/MarkMillerAuthor

The Swan Bonnet is available in eBook and paperback.

Get it on Kindle here:

http://amzn.to/197RXFg

Thanks for reading!