Conversations at the Pond by Henry Slator ~ Book Tour Book Review
{This book was gifted to me by Literary PR in exchange for an honest review and spot on the book tour.}
ID: The book Conversations at the Pond by Henry Slator. It has a cream coloured cover with an illustration of a frog sat on a lily pad on it. The title is written in black above the frog. The author and illustrator names along with a quote from the book are in black below the frog.
Hello friends,
It’s my turn on the virtual book tour for Henry Slator’s Conversations at the Pond and I’m really excited to tell you about this short story collection and share my thoughts on it.
When the lovely people over at Literary PR asked if I’d like to review a copy of this book or another one, I’ll admit I found it hard to choose but something just kept drawing me back to Conversations at the Pond and the circumstances in which this book came into existence. It also sounded like a uniquely, interesting and fun read and so I decided to go with my gut. I’m so glad I did, because this book was just what I needed and the story behind the stories is an interesting one as well, so let me tell you about it…
ID: A selection of Cheyenne Hardwick’s illustrations for the book. These include a Newt, Frogs, a Snake, Water Fleas, Henry and Cheyenne herself.
Henry Slator was diagnosed with colon cancer in early 2020. After surgery, he was put on a few courses of chemotherapy. During his first round, he happened to mention to the nurses that he was a part-time writer and they suggested that he should write something entertaining for them and that gave him the motivation he needed to start writing again. While undergoing his treatment, Henry began to realise that the trips he managed to take to the pond in his garden became part of his way of coping and spending even just a short time sat on the bench, surrounded by nature, really helped him. Thus Conversations at the Pond was born!
The book is split into 19 unique stories, plus an epilogue. It centres' around Henry and the conversations he has with the wildlife that lives in and around the pond in his garden ~ from Frogs to Dragonflies, the variety of creatures is wonderful. I think the Newt’s were my favourite of them all and being a Northerner, I definitely had a soft spot for the Northern Newts and that side of the pond, even though Nick was a bit of a bad ‘un at times!
Henry’s writing style is easy to read and I felt like I was sat on the bench next to him, listening in on these conversations, learning all about pond life; not just about the fantastical events that took place around the pond, but also about the creatures themselves. That was something I wasn’t expecting ~ just how educational this book was. I learned about a variety of the creatures and the abilities they have, granted the bubble blowing spiders sounded terrifying, but it was still fascinating to learn about them. I’m always in awe of creation and nature and the facts contained within this book, just added to that.
Paired with Henry’s stories are the wonderful illustrations by Cheyenne Hardwick and these really add that extra something to an already uniquely special book. She’s captured the personalities of each of the creatures in the stories so beautifully and they breathe even more life into them.
“Talk to the wildlife.
It works wonders for your mental wellbeing.”
As these stories follow Henry during his cancer treatment, he doesn’t shy away from telling his friends about how he’s doing. This can be a little hard to read about but it’s such an important factor to some of the stories as many of the creatures stories of pond life, help sustain Henry and keep him going on particularly rough days. That alone just highlighted how much being in nature can help you mentally. Speaking from personal experience as someone living with chronic and mental illnesses, when I’m feeling okay enough to spend even just a few minutes in my own garden, around my pond, it gives me the lift I need mentally and that can then help me cope a little better with my physical illnesses.
Another few things Henry doesn’t shy away from mentioning within this book are the topics of climate change, religion and the pandemic. Talking about these things with his friends at the pond was interesting to read and I feel Henry handled these topics well, as they can definitely be quite controversial subjects between people. The conversations felt realistic and Henry did a great job of capturing how the wildlife may feel about these things, especially climate change, since that greatly impacts them and the Earth’s ecosystem as a whole.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this short story collection and as I said at the beginning of this review, I’m so very glad that I chose to read it. It’s such fun, informative read that will leave you feeling uplifted. I will never look at my pond and all the wildlife living within it in the same way again!
Finally, I just want to say a big thank you to Literary PR for giving me the opportunity in reading and reviewing this book.
I’ve included the details of the virtual book tour below, so if you’d like to find out what others thought, you can check out their social media handles.
Stay Safe. Read a Book.
L x
ID: A photograph taken by Louise of one of the Frogs in her pond. Just the Frog’s head is visible as it is surrounded by bright green pond weed, there’s even some on the Frog’s head.
Book Tour Details:
18th October: Kelly ~ @BouncyKelly
20th October: Esther ~ @PeacockBookReviews
21st October: Annie ~ @mylittlebookhome
22nd October: Mani ~ manisbookcorner
23rd October: Katie ~ @currentlyreads
24th October: Shelby ~ @a_cup_and_a_book
25th October: Laura ~ @books_cats_etc
26th October: Karen ~ @un_lucky_clover
27th October: Gina ~ GinaReaMitchell.com
Emma ~ @bobsandbooks
28th October: Naza ~ @naza_londoner
Owen ~ @hollifieldowen
29th October: Lesley ~ @janelesley
ID: A four picture collage of the Boor Tour details and two of the pictures that have been featured above in the main body of the review.
