📖 Favourite Read of the Month ~ Venus, Vanishing by Rebecca Birrell

 

Pan MacMillan
Picador
16 July 2026

Thanks to the publisher for the invitation to read this book

Berlin, 1928. Hannah is new to the pleasures and freedoms of the city. She is a fledgling artist, a runaway, building a new life for herself in its galleries and clubs, and, at last, loving without boundaries.

But soon the party will be coming to an end. A consuming affair with her patron, Elke – the imperious wife of a powerful man – is reckless, yet life-changing, and it threatens to do more than ruin both of their reputations. Around them, people are disappearing. The shadows of something unspeakable are growing darker in the city. Hannah’s art could be the thing that secures her survival – or denies her any chance of escape.

📖 My Review…

Fledgling artist, Hannah Sherman wants more from life and has no interest in being shackled to an ordinary existence. Marriage and motherhood is not what she wants for herself. Dreary days spent working as a seamstress in her parent’s workshop Hannah longs for a way out and decides to take a huge leap of faith into a different life which is more suited to her exceptional artistic talent. 

Leaving behind her family is challenging and Hannah struggles to find her place in an ever-changing society but the help of new found friends and with the benefit of securing the patronage of a wealthy woman there comes the opportunity for Hannah to paint however, it comes with a tortured sense of artistic freedom. I followed Hannah’s progression with great interest, filled with excitement when she is given an art commission to paint a series of female nudes only to realise with a sinking inevitability that Hannah is about to travel along a much darker pathway. Life, art, politics and sexuality all converge in a story which is deep in historical meaning and alive with a creeping sort of cultural menace, which can only end in tragedy.  

Beautifully written, 1930s Berlin is brought to life, its initial vibrancy juxtaposed against the stark reality of Jewish persecution as the city enters into a dark chapter in its history. There is a realistic sense of unease which permeates throughout the entirety of the story and I couldn’t help but be fascinated as Hannah negotiates her way through the difficulties of living in a time of horrifying political and social changes, her interaction with people, both good and evil, would greatly influence her life going forward. 

Slow and considered, Venus, Vanishing, is a commendable debut, it is a book which does not rush to get its message across but rather reveals its secrets in moments of flawed beauty and inevitable sadness. It lingers long after the last page is turned and so for that reason I am delighted to make it my Favourite Read of the Month for July.

About the Author

Rebecca Birrell is an art historian and a Bye-Fellow in the History of Art at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge. She was formerly the curator of nineteenth and twentieth century paintings and drawings at the Fitzwilliam Museum and has occupied curatorial positions at the Jewish Museum London, the Department of Prints and Drawing at the British Museum, and at the Charleston Trust. She studied English literature at University College London, followed by a master's in women’s studies at the University of Oxford and a PhD from the Edinburgh College of Art. Venus, Vanishing is her debut novel.

📖 Blog Tour - Seconds to Midnight by David Orson Newton

Chiselbury
23 April 2026

Thanks to Midas Campaigns for the copy of the book
and the invitation to the blog tour

Seconds to Midnight is a taut, disturbing, yet all too plausible thriller about the fragility of human control in the age of intelligent machines, where every choice counts and time is running out. The year is 2029. Europe is teetering on the brink of war. Conscription has been launched in the UK, but some say it is too late. The Doomsday Clock, which indicates proximity to a world-ending catastrophe, ticks towards the final seconds to midnight.Over the course of one year, Seconds to Midnight

• George, a former spook, who is torn between family life and being recalled to service by the Head of MI6

• Anita, a high-flying correspondent for a major UK broadcaster who is struggling to find her identity and searching for a higher purpose

• Wei, a computer whizz and quantitative trader now ‘activated’ by British Intelligence, whose loyalties are buried beneath layers of deception

• Dean, a self-styled street-smart London tough man eager to fight

• Ben, a veteran turned pacifist, determined not to fight again

When British Intelligence launches Operation IRIS and ARTEMIS, the lines between human ambition and machine intent blur. At the heart of it all is Omnia - an Artificial Superintelligence so advanced that it no longer answers to its creators. As cyberwar engulfs the nation, Omnia orchestrates a masterstroke that will redraw the map of the world and redefine the meaning of power. But was peace ever truly its goal - or merely the next step in its design? From the ashes of nuclear devastation, a new world order rises. Yet in the final reckoning, one question is Omnia done?

📖 My Review…

The Doomsday Clock is ticking closer to midnight and in this disturbingly technological world we are about to discover just how far reaching the consequences of advanced Artificial Intelligence will have on world security. Told in cleverly constructed vignettes we get different viewpoints from several key players who all have something impressive to bring to the story. Set just a few years into the future, we are introduced to a world on the brink of war, a world which is broken and with major powers, both Eastern and Western, surreptitiously fighting for supremacy.

The terrifying idea of an advanced AI takeover becomes a serious possibility in this intelligent techno-thriller which engages from the very start and which doesn’t relax the momentum until the whole of the complex story is revealed. I enjoyed the short and snappy sections which lead us into some tricky situations particularly with military personnel and also the cat and mouse chases which always seem to end in disaster.

There is an eeriness to the story and the added sense of impending doom never really goes away so that it becomes impossible not to get drawn into the sheer scale of what is unfolding. All credit must go to the author for bringing this world to life so realistically that I felt like I was embarked on a thrilling roller coaster of a ride. With a distinctive writing style and a well researched and imaginative story, it acts as a timely reminder of just how close to peril our fragile world exists. Eerily prophetic Seconds to Midnight is a fascinating read by a talented writer who, I hope, we will see more of in the future.

About the Author

Combat veteran and technologist. Newton’s work has taken him from the warzones of Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen to the leading edge of innovation in Silicon Valley. He now resides with his wife and son in rural Devon, England. An alumnus of the Faber Academy, Seconds to Midnight is his first novel.

X @DOrsonNewton

X @midascampaigns

Website

📖 Favourite Read of the Month ~ The Shock of the Light by Lori Inglis Hall

Harper Collins UK
Harper Fiction
12 February 2026

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

 

Cambridge, 1942

Twins Tessa and Theo had always shared everything – until the summer Tessa spent studying in France. She hasn’t been the same since. But before Theo can find out why, he is recruited by the RAF and disappears into the skies.

Determined to carve her own path, Tessa joins the clandestine Special Operations Executive, slipping into the shadows of occupied France. It will be dangerous work, but France is the home of her greatest love – and her darkest secret. Tessa has many reasons for wanting to return.

Two years later, only one of them comes home.

📖My Review..

Twins Tessa and Theo have always had a special relationship but this close knit bond is about to be altered by the outbreak of war. In 1942 Theo joins the RAF whilst Tessa is secretly recruited to the clandestine Special Operations Executive and posted to occupied France.  Over the next two years their lives become greatly different, each facing their own challenges, with secrets which will last a lifetime..

Told in very distinct parts, we follow Tessa’s eventful time in France, the difficulties she encounters in the shadowy world of undercover operations and her constant fear that danger and discovery were never very far away. Likewise, we sense Theo’s own personal turmoil as he manoeuvres his Spitfire towards the landing beaches of Normandy and his constant quest to discover more about those who were lost. Years later, and bringing together the jigsaw puzzle pieces of Tessa’s war is Edie, a young PhD student whose fierce determination to know more about the women who were recruited by the Special Operations Executive finally brings together the missing pieces of the puzzle.

Beautifully, and compassionately written, and based on true wartime accounts about the women who had been sent behind enemy lines, The Shock of the Light is a powerful and memorable story and one that kept me reading long into the night. It is a story which will stay with me for a long time and for that reason I am making this my Favourite Read of Month for February.

☕️ Best read with… a pot of strong coffee and an assortment of rich cream cakes 🍰

About the Author

Lori Inglis Hall was born and raised in Leicestershire, and now lives with her family in East Sussex. THE SHOCK OF THE LIGHT is her first novel. She holds an MA in History and she currently works in the archives of World War 2 photographer Lee Miller.

#LoriInglisHall #TheShockOfTheLight

X@HarperCollinsUK

📖 Favourite Read of the Month ~ The Hill in the Dark Grove by Liam Higginson

 

Pan MacMillan
6 January 2026

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Carwyn and Rhian – the last in a long line of sheep farmers – are living out a brutal year on their hillside farm, deep in the mountains of North Wales.

When Carwyn discovers a buried prehistoric ruin in one of the fields on their land, his curiosity quickly descends into obsession. His wife, Rhian, meanwhile, is confronted with the growing realization that the man with whom she shares her life and home is becoming a frightening stranger.

As the harsh winter closes in, Rhian finds herself alone with her increasingly unrecognizable husband, and the mountains, and the looming megalithic stones.

📖My Review..

Carwyn and Rhian Gwynnant eke out a meagre existence on their hill farm in the mountains of North Wales. The dark and brooding hillside around them lends an air of melancholy to the place and gives a sense of their isolation and dependence on each other for physical and emotional support. When Carwyn discovers a carved stone head, in what appears to be a prehistoric mound, he seems to become obsessed with the past and subtle changes in his personality start to make Rhian concerned for his state of mind. 

Rich in both local history and ancient Welsh folklore this is a quietly observant story, filled with the prickle of unease and a realistic sense of doom not just from the landscape which has shaped and moulded Carwyn and Rhian into the people they are but also gives off a real sense of the passage of time, both ancient and modern, and how our presence in the structure of the landscape is merely transitory. Imaginatively written and with more than a hint of menace the story unfolds almost mesmerically so that, as a reader, I became part of the very fabric of the place, the gloom of the hillside, the sense of ancient ancestors being disturbed, and a sense of horror which was so beautifully described it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

The Hill in the Dark Grove is a commendable debut novel, imaginative, brooding and deeply memorable, the story will stay with me for a long time and for that reason I am making this my Favourite Read of the Month for January.

☕️ Best read with : Strong tea from an old teapot and a slice of bread, thickly spread with homemade damson jam.

About the Author

Liam Higginson was born and raised in rural North Wales and lives in Llandudno with his wife. The Hill in the Dark Grove is his debut novel.

X#LiamHigginson #TheHillInTheDarkGrove

X@PanMacmillan

 

📖 Publication Day Review ~ The Fox of Kensal Green by Richard Tyrrell

7 January 2026

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

A quiet neighbourhood of London is about to be shattered.

This is a story about people coming together and looking out for each other. No person is an island, including Wilf Kelly, its hero. Many neighbours help him out on the quiet. Also on the quiet, Wilf tames a wild fox and goes on a voyage of self-discovery.

Normally, little happens in these mixed streets of families, retirees, podcasters and gossips. A little group create a community garden. An ageing journalist writes nature columns. A left-wing Scotsman longs for the glory days when he interviewed Castro. A disabled professor plans a book clearance. Supine Mario takes far too many drugs. And Wilf Kelly decides to get a fox as a pet.

When Wilf is accused of an awful crime, he becomes the target of a police and media firestorm. It's a drama that galvanises not just the local community but people from all around London.

A superbly written debut novel with a big heart, that will make you laugh, cry and remind you of the power of community spirit.

📖 My Review…

What a great start to my reading year this turned out to be with the thought provoking and heart-warming story of Wilf Kelly and his attempts to befriend one of the foxes he has seen on one of his regular visits to a local cemetery. Wilf is a quiet man, living in isolation, content within his own boundaries and yet his neighbours hold him in great esteem so much so they rally to his defence when he is suspected of a violent crime. 

Gentle and reflective, there is much to love about The Fox of Kensal Green as not only does Wilf Kelly become so much more than a local hero, he becomes one of those characters who you take into your heart and who stays with you long after his story is told. With an array of characters who each bring their own dynamic to the story I read about Wilf’s connection to the fox, to the nature on his doorstep, to the challenging life he had followed since his mother’s death and to the way his gentle soul had endeared him to a community and to the people who call Kensal Green home.

It’s rare that I start the year with a book that I am eager to place on my favourites list but such is the case with this one. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Wilf, his friend Felicia and all those who flitted into and out of his life. I loved the rapport which developed between Wilf and the community but more especially with the eponymous fox and I must admit to shedding a little tear during parts of the story. Beautifully written and utterly memorable, The Fox of Kensal Green will stay with me for a long time.

☕️ Best read with : A sturdy cup of tea and chips heavy on the vinegar.

About the Author

Richard Tyrrell was born in Ireland. He graduated in science from UCD but then took up writing. His poems were published widely in literary magazines, and he was a trustee of the Poetry Society, serving a year as its first Irish Chairman. He was a finalist in the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting and on Channel 4's The Play's the Thing. After many years in commercial writing, he returned to literature with The Fox of Kensal Green, his first novel.

Blue Sky @saltpublishing.com

📖 Book Review ~ The Eights by Joanna Miller

Penguin
April 2025

My thanks to the publisher for my review copy of this book

They knew they were changing history. They didn’t know they would change each other. 

Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1000-year history, the world’s most famous university has admitted female students. Giddy with dreams of equality, education and emancipation, four young women move into neighbouring rooms on Corridor Eight. They have come here from all walks of life, and they are thrown into an unlikely, life-affirming friendship.

Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place. Beatrice, politically-minded daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way – and her own friends – for the first time. Socialite Otto fills her room with extravagant luxuries but fears they won’t be enough to distract her from her memories of the war years. And quiet, clever, Marianne, the daughter of a village vicar, arrives bearing a secret she must hide from everyone – even The Eights – if she is to succeed.

But Oxford’s dreaming spires cast a dark shadow: in 1920, misogyny is still rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War are still very real indeed. And as the group navigate this tumultuous moment in time, their friendship will become more important than ever.

📖 My Review..

It’s 1920 and after years of suffrage women finally get the vote whilst at the same time a group of stoical young women are able to matriculate, for the first time, at Oxford University, starting an adventure which will see them ridiculed, and ignored, not just by some of their male counterparts but also by the dons who are there to instruct them in their chosen subjects. On Corridor Eight four brave young women meet and become firm friends. Their social backgrounds couldn’t be more different and yet through shared fun and difficult adversity they find a common bond, supporting each other when life throws them unexpected curve balls.

Carefully weaving fact and fiction, this lovely story takes us right into the heart of this great institution, however, as the women discover to their cost the hallowed halls are filled with misogyny, distrust and downright bigotry and yet they cling to the belief that education will give them opportunities never before seen. However, the country is still reeling, and grieving, from the effects of the Great War, and some young men returning to Oxford to complete their education still carry the scars of the horrors they witnessed in the trenches of northern France.

Beautifully written, filled with wonderful characters who guide you by the hand throughout, and who stay with you long after their individual stories are finished. The Eights was a real pleasure to read from start to finish, I shall miss Beatrice, Otto, Dora and Marianne and wish them well on their onward journeys.

About the Author

Joanna was born and raised in Cambridge, UK. She studied English at Oxford and later returned to the University to train as a teacher. After ten years in education, she set up an award-winning poetry gift business. During this time, she wrote thousands of poems to order and her rhyming verse was filmed by the BBC. Unable to resist the lure of the classroom, Joanna recently returned to Oxford University to study creative writing. She will be a writer in residence at Gladstone's Library in 2025.

When Joanna isn’t writing she is either walking her dog, providing a taxi service for her teenagers, or working in the local bookshop. She lives with her family near the Grand Union Canal in Hertfordshire, UK. The Eights is her first novel.

X @JoannaMAuthor #TheEights

X @FigTreePenguin

📖 Book of My Month ~ The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey

Harper Collins
Hemlock Press
27 February 2025

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book

 

On a small island off the coast of Scotland, an isolated community is grieving. Eighteen-year-old Alan Ferguson was found at the foot of the lighthouse – an apparent suicide.

DIs Georgina Lennox and Richard Stewart are sent to investigate. A raging storm keeps them trapped on the island for four days. And the locals don’t take kindly to mainlanders.

As George and Ritchie question the island’s inhabitants, they discover a village filled with superstition and shrouded in secrets.

But someone wants those secrets to stay buried. At any cost.

📖 My Review ..

DIs Georgina Lennox and Richard Stewart are sent to the remote island of Eilean Eadar, which lies off the coast of Scotland, in order to investigate the mysterious death of eighteen year old, Alan Ferguson. The arrival of the detectives is met with a mixture of excitement, distrust and downright malevolence from many of the islanders who resent any intrusion from the mainland. Whilst Alan Ferguson’s untimely death can be regarded as a tragic suicide, there are questions to be answered however, the islanders do not give up their secrets easily, and become more distrustful as the story progresses. 

There is a genuine air of tension which builds gradually and even the detectives start to feel the pressure of being cut off from everything. I took a while to warm to the detectives, especially Georgina (George) who carries the burden of a past trauma which affects her judgement and makes her rather unpredictable. The story is definitely creepy, with a genuine air of mystery, from the stark sentinel of the lighthouse, which lures above the island, to the turbulent sea and the ever present danger of being surrounded by people with secrets to hide.

Well written, imaginatively described, The Wolf Tree is a locked-room type mystery which builds the tension deliberately slowly, which mirrors the slow pace of life on the island where nothing is ever rushed. Eilean Eadar is a place of dark secrets and with twists and turns I didn’t seen coming, this is definitely a thrilling story which kept my attention from start to finish. I liked it so much I am delighted to make The Wolf Tree the Book of My Month in March.

About the Author

Laura McCluskey is a Melbourne-based writer, editor and actor. She created the production company Sibylline Films and co-founded Three Fates Theatre Company. The Wolf Tree is her first novel.

X @Hemlock_Press

X @HarperFiction 

X @fictionpubteam

#LauraMcCluskey #TheWolfTree

📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ The Woman in the Wallpaper by Lora Jones

 

Little Brown Book Group
20 February 2025

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book

Paris, 1789. The Oberst Factory, which crafts exquisite wallpaper for the most fashionable French homes, is a place shrouded in mystery. Most enigmatic is the woman pictured in each of its prints, rumoured to be the late Mrs Oberst, who died in peculiar circumstances.

When sisters Lara and Sofi arrive there for work, they quickly form a friendship with Josef Oberst, the motherless heir to the factory. Whilst Sofi's political fervour intensifies, Lara is disturbed by the uncanny way her life appears mirrored in the wallpaper. Meanwhile Hortense, Josef's spoilt aristocratic wife, is similarly unnerved by the scenes that line the walls of her new home. With the mobs growing ever more violent, is she in danger of meeting the same untimely end as the last Mrs Oberst?

As revolution blazes across France, the lives of Sofi, Lara and Hortense are set to collide in unimaginable and irrevocable ways. Can they change what lies ahead, or are some patterns destined to be repeated?

📖 My Review..

Told in a three person narrative, we get the unfolding story of Lara and Sofi Thibault, sisters who, after a family tragedy, move from Marseille, to the Oberst wallpaper factory in Jouy, to learn the skill of wallpaper production. We also meet Hortense du Pommier, a spoiled aristocratic young woman, whose brittle personality epitomises the French aristocracy on the eve of revolution and whose marriage into the Oberst family brings the lives of these three women into sharp spotlight.

The story gets off to a slow and steady start and sets the scene of discord well with a chilling opening chapter.. This was a time of great social and political upheaval with swathes of poverty and hardship which is juxtaposed against the blatant wealth of the aristocracy who quickly become the target for violence. Both Lara and Sofi are fascinating characters, emotionally close as only sisters can be, who need to find their way in an increasingly troubled time. Hortense, adds her own sense of volatility to this story of three very different young women who were caught up in some of the most momentous years in French history. The production of the Oberst wallpaper is well explained and quickly becomes another character in the novel and adds an interesting dimension to this fascinating story.

Well researched, and rich in historical detail, The Woman in the Wallpaper is an imaginatively written historical novel and a commendable debut by a talented writer.

About the author 

After studying English Literature at Durham University, Lora Jones began her career working in the TV industry in London, writing factual programme content and comedy material for the BBC, Channel 4 and others. She now lives high amongst the rugged hills of North Wales, where she is currently rewilding an ex-sheep farm. In her spare time she paints wildlife. The Woman in the Wallpaper is her first novel.

X@lorajones #TheWomanInTheWallpaper

X @LittleBrownUK

📖 Book Review ~ Nesting by Roisín O’Donnell

Simon & Schuster
30 January 2025

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

 

On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, Ciara straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe.

This was meant to be an escape. But with dwindling savings, no job, and her family across the sea, Ciara finds herself adrift, facing a broken housing system and the voice of her own demons. As summer passes and winter closes in, she must navigate raising her children in a hotel room, searching for a new home and dealing with her husband Ryan’s relentless campaign to get her to come back. Because leaving is one thing, but staying away is another.

What will it take for Ciara to reinvent her life? Can she ever truly break away from Ryan’s control – and what will be the cost?

Tense, beautiful, and underpinned by an unassailable love, hope and resilience, this is the story of one woman’s bid to start over.

📖 My Review..

With ‘home’ no longer a safe place Ciara Fay makes the momentous decision to flee from an abusive marriage in order to take herself and her daughters to safety. With no plan in place, little money and no close family support Ciara faces the bureaucracy of the Irish housing system and comes up against so many obstacles that sometimes it feels as if she has left one difficult life only to encounter another which is just as obstructive.

Nesting is a difficult book to read as not only does Ciara’s husband present a real danger to her and her children but from necessity she reaches out to a social system which is beyond broken and which doesn’t offer much respite from the horror of simply surviving on a daily basis.  My heart broke for Ciara as she struggles with motherhood, poverty, and a husband who is hellbent on destroying her spirit, her body and her soul. However, despite what life throws at her Ciara will not be beaten, she fights for herself and her children, knowing that whatever meagre amounts she can give in terms of material possessions she more than makes up for in abiding love and the sheer determination to survive against all odds..

All credit must go to this exceptional debut writer who has highlighted the emotional aspect of homelessness in a very thoughtful way. I won’t forget Nesting in a long time.

About the Author

Roisín O'Donnell is an award-winning writer. In 2018, Roisín won the prize for Short Story of the Year at the A Post Irish Book Awards, and was shortlisted for the same prize again in 2022. She is the author of the story collection Wild Quiet, which was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize and shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award. Her short fiction has featured in numerous publications, including The Stinging Fly, The Tangerineand the Irish Times. Nesting is her debut novel. She lives near Dublin with her two children.

X @simonschusterUK #Nesting

📖 Book Review ~ The Hollywood Governess by Alexandra Weston

 

Boldwood
26 June 2024
Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Hollywood, 1937

Hester Carlyle has no wish to look after the pampered offspring of the rich anymore, in spite of being a highly sought-after governess. But with her elderly father frail, and the roof of their rundown cottage in dreary Yorkshire falling in, she has no choice but to accept a dazzling new placement.

Movie star Aidan Neil is box office gold, but after the tragic death of his wife Dinah Doyle, he needs Hester’s help to raise their young daughter Erin. Aidan and Dinah were once the perfect Hollywood couple, but stars don’t shine forever…

At Aidan’s glittering Hollywood mansion, Hester finds a family struggling with their grief. Hester knows she can help little Erin, but Aidan’s torment is palpable. Brooding and reclusive, he is far from the picture-perfect hero Hester's seen in films. There’s an edge to him that makes Hester wonder if he’s hiding a dark secret of his own....

Was the marriage between Aidan and Dinah as perfect as it appeared to be? Was Dinah’s death really a tragic accident?

When it finally comes, the truth is more shocking than Hester could ever have imagined. And she knows that if revealed, it will destroy the family she has grown to love and ruin Aidan's Hollywood dream forever...

📖 My Review..

The golden age of Hollywood is perfectly presented in this lovely story which takes us right into the heart of the movie industry. In the 1930s, Hollywood was a place of secrets and with the heads of studios calling all the shots every actor was under a strict contractual obligation. Into this glittering world comes Hester Carlyle, a sensible Yorkshire governess, who has been employed by the handsome actor Aidan Neil to look after his 7 year old daughter, Erin. Erin's actress mother has died in tragic circumstances and Hester is employed to bring some stability into the child's life. What then follows is a lovely story which looks in detail into the life of the charismatic but troubled Aidan Neil and as the secrets surrounding his marriage to the beautiful Dinah Doyle are revealed, so we discover more about the man behind the celluloid image.

Beautifully recreating old Hollywood with all its glitz and glamour this is a story to treasure. I enjoyed getting to know all the characters, especially Hester, who has insecurities of her own but who is determined to do the best she can for Erin and Aidan. The Hollywood backdrop during the golden age of movies is inspired and whilst this is a fictional recreation of Tinseltown it emphasises the power and control of the movie companies. There's a lovely warmth to the story and I think the author has captured the essence of the era well, even to dropping in the names of a few famous actors.

With a hint of forbidden secrets and with a heartwarming love story at its core, The Hollywood Governess is a commendable debut novel from an exciting new historical fiction writer.

About the Author

Alex Weston is a debut historical fiction writer whose novels are inspired by forbidden love in 1930s Hollywood, She lives in east Yorkshire.

X @AlexWeston46 #TheHollywoodGoverness

@BoldwoodBooks 

📖 Book Review ~ After the Storm by G. D. Wright

Avon
1 August 2024

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Two children went into the sea. Only one came out alive.

Introducing Sergeant Mike Adams and DS Sue Willmott, Beachbrook’s best investigators.

When local couple Andrew and Sophie take their daughter and her friend to the beach on a stormy day, they are momentarily distracted leading both children to get washed out to sea. Andrew dives in, but comes back ashore with only one child – his own daughter, Maria. Joe, the son of his best friend and local police officer, Chris, has drowned. But it was just a tragic accident…wasn’t it?

As Sergeant Mike Adams and DS Sue Willmott investigate what really happened in the water that afternoon, the ripple effects of the tragedy start to tear the community apart. The detectives must discover the truth before their colleague – bereaved and desperate father, Chris – takes the investigation into his own hands…

📖 My Review

Andrew and Sophie take their small daughter, Maria and her friend, Joe to the beach. This is a happy relationship as Joe is a frequent visitor to Andrew and Sophie’s house and they are pleased to look after him whilst his parents Chris and Linda are working as a police officer and paramedic. What should have been an idyllic time at the beach is quickly ruined forever when the children get into difficulties in the sea and Andrew can only save one child. What then follows is a harrowing story about the aftermath of this devastating tragedy and of how it impacts on all those who are involved both on a personal and professional level.

A difficult story, and quite heart wrenching in places, the author has done a good job of recreating the tragedy, describing all the follow up in detail whilst at the same time allowing all the heightened emotions to circulate. Sergeant Mike Adams and DS Sue Willmott are the detectives who have the unenviable task of trying to gather together all the complex pieces of this investigation and with emotions heightened it’s never going to be an easy task. The twists and turns, which keep you guessing, and the fast pace of this heartbreaking story, make it into such a page turner, which lingers long after the book is finished.

About the Author

Gary Wright joined Kent Police at the age of 18 and worked in a variety of uniformed roles. At the age of 29 and completely out of the blue, he suffered two cardiac arrests that led to the diagnosis of a life limiting and incurable disease of the heart. He was unable to continue policing and retired at the age of thirty. He bought a coffee shop in Ramsgate Harbour, and spent years looking out over the sea and dreaming up stories. He now writes full time, committing those very stories to paper.

X@GDWrightWrites

X@AvonBooksUK

📖 Blog Tour ~ The Glass Woman by Alice McIlroy

 

Datura
2 January 2024

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book
and to Ruth Killick for the invitation to the blog tour

Pioneering scientist Iris Henderson awakes in a hospital bed with no memories. She is told that she is the first test-subject for an experimental therapy, placing a piece of AI technology into her brain. She is also told that she volunteered for it. But without her memories, Iris doesn't know what the therapy is or why she would ever choose it. Everyone warns her to leave it alone, but Iris doesn't know who to trust. As she scratches beneath the surface of her seemingly happy marriage and successful career, a catastrophic chain of events is set in motion, and secrets will be revealed that have the capacity to destroy her whole life.

📖 My Review...

The Glass Woman gets off to a dramatic start when we meet thirty-five year old Iris Henderson who wakes in a clinical research facility with no idea of who she is or why she is there. Surrounded by strangers, including the man who tells Iris that he is her husband, Iris must try to make sense of an alien world over which she has no control. 

There are definite sinister undertones in this cleverly put together psychological thriller with more than a hint of the futuristic involvement of artificial intelligence so that we are never quite sure where the truth is hidden or indeed if, like Iris, we are also being drip fed only the information we think we need to know. That's what made the story all the more compelling as even when I thought I had the measure of the plot it veered off into a direction I didn't see coming.

Iris is an interesting character, completely flawed and quite often unreliable in her narration but that lends a certain frisson of excitement to this sophisticated and intelligent thriller. I enjoyed the fast pace of the story, it certainly doesn't drag its feet and the intricacy of the plot is perfectly maintained in short and concise chapters which help to keep up the claustrophobic and daunting atmosphere of Iris and her newly emerging life. Very believable, and with a futuristic edginess I found fascinating The Glass Woman is a commendable debut novel which makes us question the truth about morals, memory and how, maybe in the future, all this will be manipulated and controlled by Artificial Intelligence.

About the Author

Alice McIlroy was born in London. She graduated in English and has a post-graduate in Law. She completed Faber Academy’s novel-writing programme. She has taught English in state schools in London and Milan, and volunteers with a post-natal depression charity. Her writing has been longlisted for the Stylist Prize for Feminist Fiction and Grindstone International Novel Prize. The Glass Woman is her debut novel. 

Twitter/X @alice_mcilroy

Website 

@DaturaBooks

@rkbookpublicist

☼Summer Reading ~ Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum

 

Destination ....Fire Island ☼

Michael Joseph
8 June 2023

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

You are cordially invited to summer on New York State's idyllic Fire Island.

Thirty miles of golden sand:

No traffic. No tourists. No trash.

The city elite gather here every year, trailing kids, their nannies, wine and seafood imported from Manhattan: hard workers need their playtime.

Take the Parkers and the Weinsteins. Lauren and Jen hold sway on the beach and the tennis court. Their husbands are childhood friends bearing grudges as deep as they are secret.

Their lone single friend, Rachel Woolf, is looking to meet her match, whether he's the new tennis pro - or someone else's husband. She's not picky.

And while this season starts out quietly as any other, it soon changes when beneath the boardwalk, a body is found.

☼My Review..

The rich people arrive at their summer residences in Salcombe on Fire Island every year. It is a place where old money mixes with new and where beach side properties have been held by generations of the same family. Into this potent mix comes several families whose annual tolerance of each other is about to be stretched to limit. Bored and dissatisfied with each other the husbands and wives all seem to have something to hide not just from each other but also from the gossipy nature of an island resort where everyone knows everyone else’s business.

The story opens with a discovery of body under the boardwalk an event which leaves Salcombe reeling as crime is rare but as we soon discover no-one is above suspicion. Bad Summer People, with its whip-smart observations about the minutiae of island life, is done so cleverly that it feels like you are waiting in the shadows as this plot takes it’s inevitable trajectory towards tragedy. It’s been a while since I read a story where all of the central characters are totally unlikable but all credit to the author for making each of them so compelling. They are all rich, bored, selfish and self-obsessed and yet so utterly fascinating I couldn’t stop reading and felt a real sense of satisfaction when all the myriad strands came together so cleverly.

Bad Summer People, filled with an abundance of secrets and lies, is a fabulous summer read.

About the Author

Emma Rosenblum is Chief Content Officer at Bustle Digital Group. Prior to BDG, Emma served as the executive editor of Elle, the editorial director of Bloomberg Pursuits, a senior editor at Bloomberg Businessweek, and a senior editor at Glamour. She began her career at New York Magazine. Bad Summer People is her first novel.

Twitter @EmmaRosenblum #BadSummerPeople

@MichaelJBooks

🎧 Featured Book of the Month ~ The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer

Phoenix
6 July 2023

Audible 9 hrs and 36 minutes

East Anglia, 1645. Martha Hallybread, a midwife, healer and servant, has lived peacefully for more than four decades in her beloved village of Cleftwater. She has not spoken a word in years.

One bright morning, Martha becomes a silent witness to a witch hunt, led by sinister new arrival Silas Makepeace. As a trusted member of the community, she is enlisted to search the bodies of the accused women for evidence. But whilst she wants to help her friends, she also harbours a dark secret that must never be revealed.

In desperation, Martha revives a poppet, a wax witching doll that she inherited from her mother, in the hope that it will bring protection. But the poppet's true powers are unknowable, the tide is turning, and time is running out.

🎧 My Review...

The seventeenth century was a dangerous time to be a woman, especially if you were poor and without a voice to stand up for yourself. Into the melting pot of witch frenzy the fictional East Anglian village of Cleftwater is plunged into disarray when the witch-finder Silas Makepeace comes a-calling. Determined to clear this once peaceful backwater of a coven of witches, Silas enlists the help of Martha Hallybread, a local woman who the village rely upon as their nurse, midwife and healer. Martha, terrified for the women who have been wrongly accused, is determined to use the skills she has inherited to help those who are unable to help themselves, however, fate has a nasty way of intervening.

Based around the true story of the East Anglian witch trials, which took place between 1645-47, this story emphasises the way in which local communities were left both divided and shattered, not only by the thought of having so many witches in one place, but also in families who were ripped apart by bigotry and hatred. As this wonderfully detailed story shows no-one was immune, particularly those innocent women who were held responsible for all the wrongdoings that befell a village, be it flood, famine, pestilence or death, witches were seen to be responsible and had to be eliminated.

I listened to the Audible version of this book and the narrator, Amanda Raison, did an excellent job of bringing all the characters to life, especially Martha whose silent voice is strong and vibrant and  also the creeping menace of the witch finders whose hateful bigotry made my blood boil. Fear and superstition is cleverly controlled and the hateful and fervent righteousness of the male villagers shows just how vulnerable were the accused women who had no means of defence.

I have long held a fascination for stories of those women who were so wrongly persecuted during the dangerous witch trials of the seventeenth century and The Witching Tide certainly didn't disappoint. It is beautifully written, mesmerising in detail and with a poetic lyricism which never detracts from the absolute power of the story and so, for that reason, I have no hesitation in making The Witching Tide my Featured Book of the Month for August.

About the Author

Margaret Meyer was born in Canada, grew up in New Zealand and now lives in Norwich, England. She was a publisher and literature developer before retraining as a mental health therapist, working in schools, prisons and addiction recovery centres as well as in private practice. Her writing includes essays, flash fiction and short stories, and in 2020 she completed an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. The Witching Tide, her first novel, was inspired by the events of the East Anglian witch hunt of 1645-7 and is dedicated to the more than 100 innocent women who lost their lives.

Twitter @Margaret_Meyer #TheWitchingTide

@Phoenix_Bks @orionbooks

📖Book Review ~ The Housekeepers by Alex Hay

Headline Review
4 July 2023

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Mrs. King is no ordinary housekeeper. Born into a world of con artists and thieves, she’s made herself respectable, running the grandest home in Mayfair. The place is packed with treasures, a glittering symbol of wealth and power, but dark secrets lurk in the shadows.

When Mrs. King is suddenly dismissed from her position, she recruits an eclectic group of women to join her in revenge: A black market queen out to settle her scores. An actress desperate for a magnificent part. A seamstress dreaming of a better life. And Mrs. King’s predecessor, with her own desire for vengeance.

Their plan? On the night of the house’s highly anticipated costume ball—set to be the most illustrious of the year—they will rob it of its every possession, right under the noses of the distinguished guests and their elusive heiress host. But there’s one thing Mrs. King wants even more than money: the truth. And she’ll run any risk to get it.

📖 My Review

The impressive House of deVries is about to hold a costumed ball which is in itself something of an scandalous oddity especially as the house is in deep mourning. With only weeks to go before the most unusual ball of the season, Mrs King, the housekeeper, is summarily dismissed for a misdemeanor which gives her the perfect opportunity to wreak her own very special brand of revenge on this dark house of secrets. With one foot firmly placed in the underbelly of society Mrs King gathers together an eclectic band of followers who, with meticulous planning, will pull off the most audacious heist of 1905. 

With a wonderful cast of eccentric characters The Housekeepers leads us on an impressive chase through the vagaries of Edwardian society. Some of the characters are truly delicious, far too many to mention individually, however, they all bring something totally unique and leave their own distinct mark on the story. From the minute I stepped inside the grand salon of this deliciously, dark Mayfair mansion, to the creeping darkness of Mrs Bone's pawn shop, there was never a moment when I lost my way as the description of life above and below stairs is done with a wonderful flair for Edwardian detail. 

The Housekeepers moves along at a cracking pace and all credit to the author for controlling such an intricate story-line which never fails to entertain in this glorious story of family secrets, retribution and the ultimate revenge. I loved it 😉

About the Author

Alex Hay grew up in Cambridge and Cardiff and has been writing as long as he can remember. He studied History at the University of York, and wrote his dissertation on female power at royal courts, combing the archives for every scrap of drama and skulduggery he could find. He has worked in magazine publishing and the charity sector, and is a graduate of the Curtis Brown Write Your Novel course. The Housekeepers is his debut novel and won the Caledonia Novel Award 2022. 

Twitter @AlexHayBooks #TheHousekeepers

@Headlinepg

📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ The Unforgiven Dead by Fulton Ross

 

Inkshares
27 July 2023

My thanks to the publishers and to Laura Sherlock for my copy of this book

You could have saved her. Sure as the tide against his Highland shores, the refrain beats into Constable Angus ‘Dubh’ MacNeil’s mind. For years it has haunted him, accompanied by the faces of those he could not save—the Burned Man, the Strangled Woman, the Drowned Boy. All witnesses to a secret he cannot share and a gift he now refuses to embrace. 

You could have saved her. The refrain drives Angus to the seashore at dawn, where a girl lies on the unblemished sand. She wears a green cloak and cradles a corps creadha , a Highland voodoo doll. She has suffered a ritualistic, three-fold death—her head bludgeoned, her throat cut, and symbolically drowned. 

It is Faye Chichester, daughter of an American billionaire whose mission to reintroduce wolves to the Highlands has embroiled the village of Glenruig. But even as media and police swarm the area, that refrain— you could have saved her —echoes in all Angus’s thoughts. For he carries a burden, a blessing, a curse, a secret— dà-shealladh , the second sight of Gaelic lore. Gills MacMurdo, noted folklorist, academic, and Angus’s oldest friend, confirms what the dà-shealladh is warning. Just as Faye’s death was three-fold, so must the murder victims fulfil the ancient pattern. More will die, unless Angus does what he must—close his eyes and see.

📖 My Review

The Scottish Highlands are a place of secrets and shadows and this is captured in this mystery drama which incorporates the myths and legends of folklore and places them firmly into a sophisticated thriller. With its short sharp chapters I was quickly drawn into a murder/mystery which seems to have one foot in superstition, and the other in the drama of local animosity. 

Constable Angus ‘Dubh’ MacNeil carries the burden of having second sight. Plagued by dreams which interrupt his sleep and tear at his soul, and tormented by those victims he couldn't save, Angus is drawn to the beach early one morning where he discovers the body of a young woman. This macabre discovery, plunges Angus right into the heart of the mystery surrounding Faye Chichester's brutal, and ritualistic, death.  What then follows is a tightly packed drama which offers new insight into the popular Scottish Noir genre and combines dark and mysterious with a complex police investigation. However, this is no ordinary police investigation and the small community in the village of Glenruig, a place Angus calls home, is very much part of the developing drama.

The Unforgiven Dead is an atmospheric and brooding crime drama which starts slowly and builds into an imaginative picture of a place riven with secrets, and of a troubled man tormented by his past and of the victims he couldn't save. It is an interesting debut novel by an emerging writer and as it's already been optioned for television I look forward to seeing the story brought to life on screen.

About the Author

Fulton Ross is a writer and journalist from the Scottish Highlands. A graduate in Scottish Literature and History from Glasgow University, he has worked on national newspapers for more than a decade. Inspired by Gaelic folk tales, The Unforgiven Dead is his debut novel. Fulton now lives in Northern Ireland with his wife and three children.

Twitter @FultonLRoss #The UnforgivenDead

@inkshares

@laurasherlock21