Review ~ The Widow's Confession by Sophia Tobin

In the hope of clearing the back log of books on my Kindle I'm restarting my

 One from the Shelf series where I'll feature some of the books which have languished, unread, 

for far too long!

Simon& Schuster
January 2015

My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my ecopy of this book

Broadstairs, Kent, 1850. Part sea-bathing resort, part fishing village, this is a place where people come to take the air, and where they come to hide…

Delphine and her sister Julia have come to the seaside with a secret, one they have been running from for years. The clean air and quiet outlook of Broadstairs appeal to them and they think this is a place they can hide from the darkness for just a little longer.But this is a town with its own secrets, and a dark past. And when the body of a young girl is found washed up on the beach, a mysterious message scrawled on the sand beneath her, the past returns to haunt the town, and they cannot escape what happened here years before… 

A compelling story of secrets, lies and lost innocence…

My thoughts..

This dark historical mystery has a real Gothic feel to it and the discovery of a young girl's body on the beach at Broadstairs in Kent only adds to the sense of doom which hangs heavily throughout the whole of the story. 

The story gets off to something of a slow start and it took me a little while to start to become comfortable with the main characters but I think what the book shows is the way that women lived their lives in Victorian England. There's a nice sense of history, and the author brings to life this part of the south coast and the restrictions of living in a small coastal village. The mystery at the heart of the story is handled well and there enough twists and turns in the plot to keep it meaningful and whilst its not an all action novel there are some interesting moments of discovery which kept my attention throughout.

The air of tragedy which pervades throughout the whole of the story is one of the trademarks of this author and I remember being impressed with her debut novel, The Silversmith's Wife.

About the Author

Twitter @SophiaTobin1