Cover reveal! Dirt

Sarah Sultoon – Dirt

Well, isn’t this so very exciting? My very first cover reveal post! And it’s for Sarah Sultoon, whose previous two novels from Orenda Books were BRILLIANT! As a journalist myself I appreciated that she showed how the job really works – and she put the characters in situations that showed all the nuances and shades of grey you could want from a crime novel, adding buckets of empathy and some heart-stopping moments for good measure. Read on to see why I am so keen to read Sarah’s new novel, Dirt…

Here’s the official info about Dirt:

Belonging could cost everything…
Northern Israel. Lola leaves an unhappy home life in England for the fabled utopian life of a kibbutz, but this heavily guarded farming community on the Arab-Israeli border isn’t the idyll it seems, and tensions are festering.
Hundreds of miles away, in the Jerusalem offices of the International Tribune newspaper, all eyes are on Israel’s response to a spate of rocket attacks from Lebanon, until cub reporter Jonny Murphy gets a tip from a mysterious source that sends him straight into the danger zone.
When the body of an Arab worker is discovered in the dirt of the kibbutz chicken house, it triggers a series of events that puts Lola and the whole community in jeopardy, and Jonny begins to uncover a series of secrets that put everything at risk, as he begins to realise just how far some people will go to belong…

Now that’s whetted the appetite, you’ll want to know more. And lo! I can tell you more! All 320 pages of Dirt will be available from Orenda Books in paperback and ebook from 19 January, 2023 – and you can pre-order NOW from:

Bookshop.org UK
Waterstones
Amazon
(And don’t forget you can buy direct from Orenda Books and your local indie bookshop too!)

If you’re not familiar with Sarah Sultoon, here’s a little bit about her: Sarah Sultoon is a journalist and writer, whose work as an international news executive at CNN has taken her all over the world, from the seats of power in Westminster and Washington, DC to the frontlines of Iraq and Afghanistan. She has extensive experience in conflict zones, winning three Peabody awards for her work on the war in Syria, an Emmy for her contribution to the coverage of Europe’s migrant crisis in 2015, and a number of Royal Television Society gongs. When not reading or writing she can usually be found somewhere outside, either running, swimming or throwing a ball for her three children and dog while she imagines what might happen if… Her debut thriller The Source is currently in production with Lime Pictures, and was a Capital Crime Book Club pick and a number one bestseller on Kindle.

And if a review would help sway you, here’s what I said about her previous two novels (available now from wherever you buy your books, or purchase direct from Orenda Books):

The Source: The chapters flip between Marie, a junior producer finding her feet in news programme-making, in 2006, and 13-year-old Carly, growing up in Warchester in 1996 … Marie’s and Carly’s threads eventually collide in spectacular fashion, with scenes that are difficult to read – but the superb writing drives you to keep turning the pages; we have to know for sure what happened and why, who was ultimately pulling the strings, and why it is coming to light now. Sultoon is unflinching even in the trickiest situations, and the power this gives the narrative cannot be understated.

The Shot: The prologue of The Shot is an assault on the senses: abrasive desert sand, stifling heat, blinding light, exhaustion physical and emotional – and fear. It’s not an easy read, and neither is the novel that follows, but stick with it and you will be rewarded …  issues of morality and responsibility are brought front and centre – as is the toll that telling such stories can have on a journalist, which is often not recognised … The Shot is an often a tough read, uncompromising and unflinching in its determination to show the wide shot as well as the close-up; the 360-degree view, not just one side. But ultimately it’s a tour de force and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

I hope you’re seriously excited about this novel now – I know I am! Happy preordering and happy reading 😀