📖 Featured Book of the Month ~ The Winter Garden by Nicola Cornick

 

HQ
10 November 2022

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

1605: Anne Catesby fears for her family. Her son, the darkly charismatic Robert, is secretly plotting to kill the King, placing his wife and child in grave danger. Anne must make a terrible choice: betray her only child, or risk her family’s future.

Present day: When her dreams of becoming a musician are shattered, Lucy takes refuge in her family’s ancestral home in Oxfordshire. Everyone knows it was originally home to Robert Catesby, the gunpowder plotter. As Lucy spends more time in the beautiful winter garden that Robert had made, she starts to have strange visions of a woman in Tudor dress, terrified and facing a heartbreaking dilemma.

As Lucy and Anne’s stories converge, a shared secret that has echoed through the centuries separating them, will change Lucy’s life forever...

📖 My Review..

This clever time-slip novel combines both a strong sense of history with a compelling modern day mystery. Set during the latter part of the sixteenth century we are introduced to the Catesby family whose connection to the aptly named Gunpowder Cottage gives a clue as to where the story is going. In the present day Lucy, due to a debilitating illness, is coming to terms with the loss of her musical career and recuperates at her aunt's converted property in Oxfordshire. Gunpowder Barn shadows the original Tudor buildings and it is here where Lucy feels an affinity with those who once lived in the shadow of the Gunpowder plot.

The Winter Garden moves effortlessly between past and present without either time periods overshadowing the other. I was equally engrossed in the Tudor world, getting to know the Catesby’s and Robert in particular, whose mercurial and reckless nature, would lead him along the path of insurrection and danger. There’s a distinct air of melancholy in the Tudor sections but this is offset beautifully by the supernatural elements in the modern day mystery and especially Lucy’s determination to uncover the secrets of those who once called Gunpowder Cottage home.

The Winter Garden is an engrossing dual time story which captured my imagination from the start and as it’s such a perfect autumnal story I am delighted to make it my Featured Book of the Month for November.

🥂Best read with.. a glass of champagne and marshmallows toasted on the fire…

The Winter Garden is published by HQ on the 10th November and is available to pre-order from wherever you buy your books.

About the Author

International bestselling author Nicola Cornick writes dual-time historical mysteries that draw on her love for genealogy and local history. She studied History at London and Oxford and worked in academia for a number of years before becoming a full time author.

Website

Twitter @NicolaCornick

@HQStories