I am pleased to say that today, I am hosting the blog tour for Prize Racket by Isabel Rogers on behalf of Random Things Tours. Thanks to Anne Cater and Farrago for the copy of the book to take part today.
With a huge reward on the line, the Stockwell Park Orchestra will need to play on a whole new scale to win big…
After a brief and disastrous Resident Poet episode, Stockwell Park Orchestra is invited to take part in a TV competition for classical music. For a £50,000 prize some competitors are tempted to stretch the genre to ‘crossover’ and beyond.
Can a full concert orchestra compete with jazz bands, horn quartets, harp ensembles, and Mrs Ford-Hughes singing in Portuguese with nine cellos? Or will the competition be derailed by the poet’s return, this time sporting live Ambient Sounds? The TV producers aren’t worried: they know a good fight means great ratings.
What was supposed to be a quirky diversion threatens to take over the orchestra’s rehearsals for their own concert, but discovering a voting scam means they must fix things in the TV studio first.
I haven’t read any of the other books in the Stockwell Park Orchestra series, and this is the fourth book. Even though I haven’t read the previous books I soon got to know the characters and the storyline was interesting and kept me smiling.
The story revolves around an amateur orchestra that meets up in a school hall one evening a week. Here is were I say, I have no musical ability whatsoever, never played an instrument and can’t carry a note. That said, I did find the details that the author gives about the musical instruments and the technical side to playing each of them so immersive. I must admit, I didn’t expect this level of detail and glad I didn’t know because I may not have read the book! I must say I think the book is aimed for musicians, I was lucky that I found it as interesting as I did.
Isabel Rogers writing is really funny and the characters are very cleverly created as individuals but you see them all connect as one with their shared love of music. They are well fleshed out and this is clear in the way we get to know then as the story develops.
I enjoyed the reality tv competition, the TV set was really well written. The research, or experience shows as it really struck me with a sense of being authentic and realistic. This made it a story I found I kept saying, just one more chapter.
To say I have only read this book, I am so pleasantly surprised to say I may even read the previous books at some point too. This is one book I would have thought I would struggle with due to the musical technicalities but Isabel Rogers has made it an immersive and entertaining read.
Author Bio
The Stockwell Park Orchestra series of comic fiction, published by Farrago Books, follows the adventures of a South London amateur orchestra:
1) LIFE, DEATH AND CELLOS
2) BOLD AS BRASS
3) CONTINENTAL RIFF
4) THE PRIZE RACKET (out in January 2022, available to pre-order now)
You can also download two free short stories set in the Stockwell Park Orchestra world, A HIGH-CHOIR ACT and THE WEDDING PIPER – details at farragobooks.com. DON’T ASK was my first poetry collection, after having work published in literary magazines in the UK and US. I won the 2014 Cardiff International Poetry Competition, and was Hampshire Poet Laureate 2016.
You can find me on Twitter @Isabelwriter, and on my website isabelrogers.org. I write fiction, poetry and comedy.
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 