Sister – Blog Tour

The Oslo Detectives are back in another chilling slice of Nordic Noir … Frølich searches for the mysterious sister of a young female asylum seeker, but when people start to die, everything points to an old case and a series of events that someone will do anything to hide…

Suspended from duty, Detective Frølich is working as a private investigator, when his girlfriend’s colleague asks for his help with a female asylum seeker, who the authorities are about to deport. She claims to have a sister in Norway, and fears that returning to her home country will mean instant death.

Frølich quickly discovers the whereabouts of the young woman’s sister, but things become increasingly complex when she denies having a sibling, and Frølich is threatened off the case by the police. As the body count rises, it becomes clear that the answers lie in an old investigation, and the mysterious sister, who is now on the run…

A dark, chilling and up-to-the-minute Nordic Noir thriller, Sister is also a tense and well-plotted murder mystery with a moving tragedy at its heart, cementing Kjell Ola Dahl as one of the greatest crime writers of our generation..

Just when I think that the last Orenda book I read was the best one yet, she finds another book that blows me away! When I received Sister to review I couldn’t keep my hands off it – even though my TBR pile was even higher than usual. Thanks so much to the lovely Anne Cater for keeping my spirits and my TBR high during this unprecedented time in history and ensuring that we all come together to share the love for these amazing books across the lockdown.

Lots of reviewers have commented on the way that Sister defies categorisation and that is exactly right. It’s got touches of so many of my favourite genres: it’s set in Norway so it’s got many Nordic elements and it’s got plenty of elements of a fantastic murder mystery too. Add all of that together and add in the fact that it’s got a political element in its treatment of asylum seekers and you can see that I was immediately in my element as this all combined to make for compelling reading

 

Detective Frølich has been suspended from duty and turns his hand to being a Private Investigator – despite the fact that this is the latest in a series of The Oslo Detectives, you don’t need to have read the previous novels to thoroughly enjoy Sister, it can absolutely be read as a stand-alone. Although, I guarantee that if you do, you’ll be immediately tempted into buying up all the rest of the series as you will go far to find a more compelling and well written slice of crime fiction.

I love novels that transport me right into their setting and I loved being thrust into the middle of this twisty and thrilling case in gorgeous Oslo and it’s made me even more tempted to book a visit once this lockdown is over. Orenda books always make me so grateful that we have such wonderful publishers bringing us books in translation so that we can gain access to a whole new wold of crime fiction as we all know that Scandinavians do it so very well. Again, I’m grateful to Karen for working so hard to expand and develop our reading palette and I’m so delighted to read that she’s on the  mend as we’ve all been thinking about her and wishing her well at this time.

The insight into the investigation was hugely enjoyable and the combination of elements within the story – which touches on abuse as well as murder and a cold case to boot added a disturbing, dark and addictive element to this novel that was satisfyingly chilling and definitely not for the faint-hearted. If you find yourself getting triggered by subjects like this then you might find this a traumatic read – but I genuinely feel that Kjell Ola Dahl’s writing is so good that the sense of menace is never gratuitous or distasteful.

Many novels in this genre are all plot and display a real disregard for the writing itself. Not so Dahl as his writing is precise and elegant showing a real talent for spinning beauty out of bleakness and even depravity. The section of the novel which transports us across Norway in pursuit of a solution stood out for me as some of the most chillingly beautiful that I’ve encountered in this genre and made me turn the pages long into the night to find the thread linking these events to solve the mystery

The original flourishes that Dahl adds to the Nordic crime genre make for a satisfying, gripping and harrowing read that drew me in completely. I can’t wait for Mr OnTheShelf to finish reading it so we can go over elements of it together as I found its chilling and menacing atmosphere so compelling The fact that he’s also engrossed speaks volumes as he’s not generally a fiction reader and Sister had him as gripped as I was.

#TeamOrenda Bloggers have produced a series of amazing blog posts about this novel and if you haven’t read them already then you’re in for a treat. Check out the #BlogTour poster to see who else is creating the #Sister buzz

My partner on the #BlogTour today is the lovely @booksbybindu and here is the link to her fantastic review that she also published today

To buy yourself a copy of Sister, click here and join us in celebrating another book in this first class slice of Nordic magnificence.

‘Impossible to put down’ Guardian

‘Absorbing, heart-rending and perfectly plotted’ Denzil Meyrick

‘A masterclass in plotting, atmosphere and character that finely balances shocking twists with the coppers’ complicated personal lives’ Sunday Times

 

Writer On The Shelf

 

One of the fathers of the Nordic Noir genre, Kjell Ola Dahl was born in 1958 in Gjøvik. He made his debut in 1993, and has since published eleven novels, the most prominent of which is a series of police procedurals cum psychological thrillers featuring investigators Gunnarstranda and Frølich.

In 2000 he won the Riverton Prize for The Last Fix and he won both the prestigious Brage and Riverton Prizes for The Courier in 2015. His work has been published in 14 countries, and he lives in Oslo.

CONJURE WOMEN BLOG TOUR

 

The pale-skinned, black-eyed baby is a bad omen. That’s one thing the people on the old plantation are sure of. The other is that Miss Rue – midwife, healer, crafter of curses – will know what to do.

 

But for once Rue doesn’t know. Times have changed since her mother Miss May Belle held the power to influence the life and death of her fellow slaves. Freedom has come. The master’s Big House lies in ruins. But this new world brings new dangers, and Rue’s old magic may be no match for them.

 

When sickness sweeps across her tight-knit community, Rue finds herself the focus of suspicion. What secrets does she keep amidst the charred remains of the Big House? Which spells has she conjured to threaten their children? And why is she so wary of the charismatic preacher man who promises to save them all?

 

Rue understands fear. It has shaped her life and her mother’s before her. And now she knows she must face her fears – and her ghosts – to find a new way forward for herself and her people.

Conjure Women is a story of the lengths we’ll go to save the ones we love, from a stunning new voice in fiction.

One of the reasons that I most love book blogging and blog tours is that no two books I’m ever invited to review are the same. When I was invited onto the tour for Conjure Women I was really excited as I always like reading books that I’ve not got a preconception of before I  begin.  Discovering new favourite reads can be one of the best things about being a book blogger –  as well as hearing what all my other blogging friends thought too. It’s like a virtual book group where you are waiting every day to see what other people enjoyed about your book…

I was really intrigued to read Conjure Women as  I love novels that deal with family relationships and how different generations interact and the complexities that lurk beneath the surfaces of most families’ lives.  As soon as this book arrived,  I wanted to open it up and find out how these family members’ lives would unfold and I loved the fact that it was set during the Civil War and has drawn comments comparing it to Alice Walker – who I’m an enormous fan of meant that I was desperate to read it as soon as it arrived through my letterbox.     I loved the initial premise of a baby being born on a plantation with pale skin and this being the start of everything. I found this book totally engrossing once I’d started: I really wanted to get to the heart of this story and discover what had happened to this baby and how the other people on the plantation would respond to the shocking and unexpected news of her birth.

I also enjoyed the way that Afia Akatora’s novel allows us to see the reality of families and the complexity of relationships in this setting, rather than just the pretty vision of southern belles in the deep south that we are so often presented with and I think that this is one of the things that I enjoyed most about this book. The way that you can feel so connected to and distant from your own roots is exceptionally well-drawn and a testament to her skill as a writer that we really believe in the relationships and interactions with one another in the Big House and its surroundings

The way that Afia Akatora builds in the uncertainties about what’s really going on beneath the surface and slowly develops our understanding of what is going on in the heads of these characters is convincingly done and leads to you feeling like you can really start to understand Rue as a character and empathise with the challenging situation she finds herself in and I’m looking forward to hearing what my sister thought of her over a long coffee date as soon as possible.

The scenes where Rue is trying to deal with the ramifications of these suspicions and the impact of this on her emotionally have an incredibly realistic feel and the comparisons with Beloved and Frannie Langton  are definitely well deserved. I thoroughly enjoyed the chance to immerse myself in the intricacies of this world and found it really thought-provoking to think about what I might have done in Rue’s situation and admire her bravery and resilience in the way she dealt with such an impossible situation.

Conjure Women is a moving and immersive read as it takes a genuine look at what we really mean by ‘family’ It allows us a glance into relationships where peoples’ needs are complex and real and dares us to ask ourselves what we might have lost along the way in our own lives. Its’ setting in the Deep South is another aspect that I really enjoyed and it really made me feel like I was able to immerse myself in events where the beauty of the surroundings and the complexities of what is unfolding is deftly juxtaposed.

I always enjoy a book much more if I’m not hyping myself up before I read it and Conjure Women was exactly that. It was definitely a grower and I found myself thinking about these characters and the repercussions of their choices whilst in lockdown in my garden over the last week or so. I will definitely seek out more books by Afia Akatora and am keen to keep pushing myself to choose more novels by writers that are new to me in the second half of 2020.

Treat yourself to a copy of Conjure Women  here

A Stylist Best Book of 2020

You’re free to decide your future. But how do you escape the ghosts of the past?

A stunning debut novel with echoes of Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and Sara Collins’ The Confessions of Frannie Langton

 

Writer On The Shelf

 

Atakora was born in the United Kingdom and raised in New Jersey. She graduated from New York University and has an MFA from Columbia University, where she was the recipient of the 2015 De Alba Fellowship.

Her fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and she was a finalist for the 2010 Hurston/Wright Award for college writers.

Sword – cover reveal

Sword by Bogdan Teodorescu @Corylusbooks @lovebooksgroup #lovebookstours

Loving being part of today’s #CoverReveal for Sword

If you love translated fiction, you should definitely check out Sword, set in Bucharest. A twisty political tale of intrigue and machinations that you’ll totally love

Grab yourself a copy here

On the streets of Bucharest, a brutally efficient serial killer is at work. His targets: individuals from the Roma community with a criminal record. Each victim is killed with a single blow to the throat and tensions rise at the same rate as the body count. For not everyone disagrees with this vigilante killer.

With Presidential elections about to take place, and the police seemingly unable to track down the elusive assassin they’ve nicknamed Sword, the government struggles to keep control while other political figures try to stoke public resentment for their own ends.

The demons in Romania’s fractured society begin to resurface, as old distrust and prejudices grow with each new victim from the Roma community. The case is under the media’s relentless spotlight. Meanwhile, ruthless figures both inside and outside the government are manoeuvring to take advantage of the situation. But are they playing with political fire for their own purposes – are they in danger of sparking a vicious racial conflict?

Bogdan Teodorescu paints an acid portrait of a divided society in this powerful political thriller containing themes that will echo around the world.

Whirligig

 

Just outside a sleepy Highland town, a gamekeeper is found hanging lifeless from a tree. The local police investigate an apparent suicide, only to find he’s been snared as efficiently as the rabbit suspended beside him. As the body count rises, the desperate hunt is on to find the murderer before any more people die. But the town doesn’t give up its secrets easily, and who makes the intricate clockwork mechanisms carved from bone and wood found at each crime?

Whirligig is a tartan noir like no other; an exposé of the corruption pervading a small Highland community and the damage this inflicts on society’s most vulnerable. What happens when those placed in positions of trust look the other way; when those charged with our protection are inadequate to the challenge; when the only justice is that served by those who have been sinned against?

This debut crime novel introduces DI James Corstophine – a man still grieving for a wife lost to cancer; his small close-knit team of passed-over police and their quiet Highland town. He’s up against a killer who plays him as easily as a child. For a man whose been treading water since the death of his wife, he’s facing a metaphorical flood of biblical proportions as he struggles to understand why these murders are happening, and who is behind each carefully planned execution. All the time, the clock is ticking.

For the last few weeks, my Twitter timeline has been FULL of people who have been confessing that they’ve been in a reading slump – and with everything that’s going on at the moment that they are felt like they’ve been struggling to keep their mind on their reading. Well, Whirligig definitely shook me out of my inability to read and once i’d started it I absolutely could not stop turning the pages. I’d like to thank my lovely friend Kelly LoveBooksTours  for inviting me to take part in the tour and I’m so glad she did as I really loved this fresh new voice in Scottish crime.

Although I was totally absorbed in the story in Whirligig, it is Andrew  J Greig’s writing itself that makes it such a treat to read.  The story of  James Costorphine’s investigation is  so perfectly realised that it was hard at times to remember that they are fictional characters rather than real people whose lives had become entwined with mine. Costorphine is still grieving for his wife and your heart really goes out to him when you realise how much he is still suffering and unable to move forwards. The Highland setting was something that really appealed to me as I love reading books set in places that I know. Added to this was the fact that this book has such a distinctive ‘voice’  that I could almost imagine DI Costorphine’s voice as I read it and this really increased my enjoyment of this compelling and original novel.

 

Costorphine is never merely presented as the sum of his experiences, I think that it’s a testament to the strength of the writing that we are rooting for him throughout the novel as we see all of the potential within him.  His strong sense of decency and tenacious side are really brought out through the way that he works hard at solving the intricate and perplexing clues left by the killer in a fascinating and highly original game of cat and mouse that will keep you up far too late turning the pages as you get drawn into the mystery alongside him.

The novel’s portrayal of the murder is never formulaic – instead it feels really vivid and true to life as the team navigate some harrowing and challenging situations. You will definitely find it hard to put this book down as you’ll be so wrapped up in their story that you’ll need to keep reading and find out how it all ends. It’s safe to say that there were parts of this novel that I read with a thudding heart and sweaty palms as I was not sure how it was all going to end. Needless to say, I was not disappointed and I’m really jealous of anyone who’s yet to start reading it as they are definitely in for a treat.

I absolutely recommend Whirligig to people who really like to get their teeth into a story  that is as far from predictable as it is possible to be. In the present reading climate, many books can seem very same-y and this book certainly stood out a mile amongst the competition.  I loved the deft characterisation as much as I enjoyed the plot and I will definitely be recommending it to friends of mine who enjoy a page-turning read with a real heart. I can’t wait to hear what DI Costorphine comes up against yet as this is certainly a slice of tartan noir that I want to revisit.

I’d like to thank Kelly for introducing me to Whirligig, it’s been really hard to give no spoilers but I was determined to as I really wanted you to come to it and have the same hourney as I did and experience these fiendishly complicated clues and hints for yourself.

Buy yourself a copy of Whirligig here and enjoy it during lockdown – it certainly  managed to hold my attention in a way that very few other novels have this month during lockdown

Writer On The Shelf

iBorn in London, moved to historic Monmouth as a young teenager and escaped as soon as I could to the bright lights of Bristol where I combined the careers of sober aerospace engineering and libertine sound engineering for as long as I could juggle these disparate and separate worlds.

Now living happily in central Scotland, where I enjoy writing books, playing music and exploring the great outdoors with my best friend who happily is my wife.

https://andrewjgreig.wordpress.com

 

A Theatre For Dreamers

1960. The world is dancing on the edge of revolution, and nowhere more so than on the Greek island of Hydra, where a circle of poets, painters and musicians live tangled lives, ruled by the writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston, troubled king and queen of bohemia. Forming within this circle is a triangle: its points the magnetic, destructive writer Axel Jensen, his dazzling wife Marianne Ihlen, and a young Canadian poet named Leonard Cohen.

Into their midst arrives teenage Erica, with little more than a bundle of blank notebooks and her grief for her mother. Settling on the periphery of this circle, she watches, entranced and disquieted, as a paradise unravels.

Burning with the heat and light of Greece, A Theatre for Dreamers is a spellbinding novel about utopian dreams and innocence lost – and the wars waged between men and women on the battlegrounds of genius.

I’d like to thank Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in this blog tour and transporting me far away from the dreich weather and this interminable lockdown to sunnier climes where we can bask in the warm Mediterranean breezes and nibble on olives on the terrace – albeit figuratively…

The fact that this novel is rooted in fact really adds to the reading experience and the fact that I’m someone who’s always loved the music of Leonard Cohen, but knew almost nothing about his life outwith his music left me feeling intrigued and desperate to find out more about his life story after seeing him through Erica’s eyes

I love feeling totally immersed in the world of a book and Polly Samson creates a whole world for us that as a reader you absolutely feel part of. A Theatre For Dreamers does an amazing job of transporting you to Hydra alongside Erica and reliving this adventure in their bohemian and sophisticated household through her unworldly eyes. This novel gives us a fascinating insight into her experiences and allows us to travel back in time to this hedonistic world with her and witness these events unfolding – as well as trying to find out the truth about her parents lives and uncover all the things that aren’t being said in this freewheeling and artistically dishevelled world.

 

This is a hypnotically gorgeous and engrossing read – it was absolutely just what I needed and a real tonic from a world where the only outdoors space I’m able to get is my back garden, rather than our planned trip to Rhodes. Polly Samson has created a fascinating mixture of characters in this novel, from the famous characters of Leonard and the eponymous Marianne, to some much more ordinary folk.  I loved being able to turn to one of my favourite webspaces, Tripfiction to visit the sundrenched vistas of this novel for myself

I think that Polly Samson is just as skilful in writing about personal and emotional  matters as she is about the stunning and evocative landscapes she paints for us and the way that the trip’s impact on Erica was so  vividly depicted was a real strength of this novel. And as usual, I spent a lot of time online after finishing it, looking up Hydra and wondering when I can follow in Erica’s travel footsteps for myself.

I loved the nostalgic and dreamy atmosphere that was just the escapist vibe I needed during Spring 2020’s version of house arrest. Polly Samson has a real talent for making you feel like you are there with these characters and I had a G and T in my hand in the garden last week, madly trying to conjure up feelings of Hydra for myself as I fell so in love with the heady and fragrant atmosphere of this novel.

         

Fans of Polly Samson will love this beautifully written novel and I hope that it also brings her new readers who love strongly written literary narratives. I really enjoyed this journey to Hydra and heartily recommend that you too delve into Erica’s coming of age tale for yourself and escape reality with her on this gorgeous and sensually depicted Greek odyssey.  If you love the sound of it, you can treat yourself to a copy here and bask in the golden sunlight too.

       

I also absolutely love the fact that Bloomsbury Books have created a Spotify Playlist to transport you to Greece for yourself and I’ve been listening it whilst writing my review. – Take a look for yourself, I absolutely love this idea and hope that this becomes a trend.

Congratulations to Polly for reaching Number 2 in the Sunday Times Best Seller chart – it’s absolutely deserved!

Writer On The Shelf

Polly Samson is the author of two short story collections and two previous novels. Her work has been shortlisted for prizes, translated into several languages and has been dramatized on BBC Radio 4. She has written lyrics to four number one albums and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

www. pollysamson.com

@PollySamson

 

Mortmain Hall

Set in 1930, Mortmain Hall follows the rich heiress Rachel Saversnake as she attempts to uncover injustices and save the innocent.

Three separate crimes draw a troop of ‘innocent’ people together; a murder on London’s Necropolis Railways, a man found innocent of setting fire to his own car with a vagrant inside, a murder at a seaside bungalow, and a tragic drowning in a frozen lake. Rachel, and others connected to these crimes, are invited to a house party held by female criminologist Leonora Dobell.

Rachel has her own suspicions that the crimes are all connected somehow and can’t resist the invitation to meet the ‘innocent’ guests, as well as get to know Leonora better. But why has Leonora invited such an unusual collection of people to her quiet home in the middle of nowhere? What will happen at Mortmain Hall?

I absolutely adore Golden Age Crime Novels – and this exciting and atmospheric read drew me in from the very first paragraph and held me captivated by its setting and characters until its very final page.

Secret societies, a mausoleum railway, a mysterious and desolate house on the coast and a chain of interconnected deaths – I mean – what’s not to love. These were some of the many reasons that I was so drawn to Mortmain Hall and why I’m so grateful to Head of Zeus for inviting me to participate in this blog tour – as this book was definitely right up my street!

I love immersing myself in a fabulous historical read and this is set in one of my favourite eras and it is wonderful to be in such safe hands. Martin Edwards is the King of Golden age murder mysteries and his contribution to this era of  crime writing is almost peerless. He is the series consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics, the author of The Golden Age of Murder, which gives you a thorough grounding in the golden age of crime fiction and he has also written his very own Lake District Cold-Case Mysteries which you’ll absolutely love.

Because of his level of expertise,  you feel like you can totally surrender to this reading experience and spend a few days in a totally different world!  I really felt like I could imagine this vividly painted world and found it very difficult to detach myself from this immersive reading experience that allowed me to plunge back in time and re-live this era for myself…

Is anyone else like me and love to go online and immerse themselves in the period of the book that they’re loving, to try and really place themselves in the characters’ world? I love doing it and I found myself scrolling through pages and pages of tales of glittering cocktail parties, wrongful convictions and gorgeous and elaborate cemeteries and it was a wonderful opportunity to escape from everything that’s going on in the world at the moment

 

It was lovely to lose myself in a fantastic historical read after a few months where I’ve been mostly reading contemporary writing and non-fiction.  It’s funny that I get into reading zones and I’m now on a real Historical Fiction mission and have been drawn to exploring  The Daughters of Night – the sequel to Blood & Sugar and losing myself in another of my favourite era’s darker sides. I am trying not to give any spoilers at all as I do not want you to lose a single element of the twists and turns of this gorgeously intricate and compelling read.

The realistic characters and their situations in this exciting and fast-paced read allowed me to travel back in time with them through its pages.  I really loved the way that Martin Edwards draws the reader in and keeps them connected with the twists and turns that beset Rachel Savernake as we see the way that choices were far more limited in that era and it is so easy to imagine why things were so uncertain and dangerous for so many women in this era. The way that all of these characters’ stories interconnect and collide with one another was one of my favourite things about this book and it certainly does a fine job of not allowing you to put it down as it gives you a solid case of ‘one more chapter’

This was the perfect Lockdown read for me – and if you’re isolating and feel like everything is too much fir you and you just want an escape from it all –  then this would be a perfect book to lose yourself in , it’s so immersive!  Fans of  Golden Age novels will also have hours of entertainment reading Mortmain Hall, as Martin includes a web of allusions to other famous reads from this period. It’s a great challenge when you are re-reading it (as I’m sure you will ) to see how many you can spot.

If you love an epic read, with a real insight into another era with memorable and fascinating characters and a plot that will draw you in and keep you gripped then you’ll really love Mortmain Hall and  should treat yourself to a copy – I mean, just LOOK at that gorgeous cover!

 

I absolutely loved this book and enjoyed the fact that I was savouring my journey to another time and place with Rachel and this memorable cast of characters and could really dedicate some serious hours of reading to it.  I enjoyed the feeling of being immersed in this perfectly realised world where I was constantly wondering what would happen next and where I’d end up in this fascinating read

Thank you so much to Martina Ticic  & Head of Zeus for aways recommending such great reads. 

Buy yourself a copy here and follow the tour to see what all of these great bloggers thought too

WINNER OF THE CWA DIAMOND DAGGER 2020

The Lost Child Blog tour

 

Rebecca Waterhouse is just thirteen when she witnesses her mother’s death at the hand of her father in Seaview Cottage.

But what else did Rebecca see?

Years later, Rebecca’s daughters Iris and Jessie know their mother will never speak of that terrible night. But when Jessie goes missing, with her gravely ill newborn, Iris realises the past may hold the key to her sister’s disappearance.

With Jessie in trouble, Iris must unravel a twisting story of love and betrayal in her mother’s family history.

Only then will Seaview Cottage give up its dark and tragic secret…

From the international bestselling author of THE GIRL IN THE LETTER, a gripping, heartwrenching novel of betrayal, sacrifice and a dark, long-kept secret. The perfect read for fans of Kate Morton, Lucy Clarke, Louise Douglas and Kathryn Hughes.

If you fancy something truly escapist to lose yourself in during these strangest of times, then look no further,  The Lost Child  might be your new favourite read. I love books that carry me across time, allowing us to see the way the ripples of the past ebb upon the present and Emily Gunnis manages this superbly, leading us back through time to uncover the secrets of Seaview Cottage.

I love books that transport me in time and place and I read this during the ironically lovely weather that we’ve just had across this period of Isolation– totally losing myself in the story and feeling very connected with these characters as Emily Gunnis’ fantastic sense of place is so deftly realised in this immersive read.

This book is set in two very diverting periods and I felt that they were both drawn with equal attention to detail and I happily moved between them in the novel.  I really enjoy it when books let me see  historical periods through the eyes of the same characters and the fact that we see Rebecca’s life from several different perspectives was fascinating and really kept me engrossed.

The Lost Child holds you in its spell from the start as we are caught up in the murder of Rebecca’s mother and keeps you intrigued until the very final page Her daughters’  lives are also affected by this night as their mother refuses to say a word about what se did or did not see that fateful evening.

As Iris discovers to her peril, sometimes the past refuses to be neatly laid to rest. Each of the succeeding episodes in the novel drip freed us more information about  what Rebecca might have seen that night  – and how her silence then might have had a knock-on-effect on her daughters’ life now. .  This narrative form was very more-ish and several nights kept me up much later than I’d intended with a real sense of ‘just one more chapter…’

 

The strong plotting and skilful characterisation combine to draw you into a story bursting with secrets and the stunningly evocative setting – where you could swear that you can hear the sea beating off the shore for yourself –  all combine to keep you turning the pages. I really liked the way that we are left to discover things for ourselves and the novel credits the reader with a bit of intelligence, rather than spelling everything out straight away as we follow events to their moving conclusion. It’s hard to write about The Lost Child with no spoilers, but I’ve tried really hard as this is a book that you really need to experience for yourself.

If you like a historical saga,  you’ll love this book and I know that my mum’s definitely going to be pinching it from me for her holidays. I’d like to thank Anne Cater at Random Things Tours  for inviting me to take part in the Blog Tour, I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s a fantastically enticing Spring read that will be hard to tear yourself way from once you get started, making it perfect for a Lockdown Read that will take your mind off the dreaded ‘C’ word and allow you to experience a quite different sense of feeling emotionally overwhelmed – in a wholly enjoyable and more-ish sense.

I never thought I’d love this book more than The Girl in The Letter – but I did . All I can say is buy yourself a copy as soon as you can and experience this wonderfully escapist read for yourself

Buy yourself a copy here

Writer On The Shelf

Emily Gunnis previously worked in TV drama and lives in Brighton with her young family.

She is one of the four daughters of Sunday Times bestselling author Penny Vincenzi.

Follow Emily on Twitter here