Review ~ The Ghost Tree by Barbara Erskine

Harper Collins
7 March 2019

My thanks to Lovereading.co.uk for my copy of this book

Ruth has returned to Edinburgh after many years of exile, left rootless by the end of her marriage, career and now the death of her father. She is now faced with the daunting task of clearing his house.

Hidden away in a barely used top-floor room, she finds he had secretly kept a cupboard full of her mother’s possessions. Sifting through the ancient papers, Ruth discovers the diary and letters written by her ancestor from the eighteenth century, Thomas Erskine.

As the youngest son of a noble family now living in genteel poverty, Thomas always knew he would have to make his own way in the world. Unable to follow his brothers to university, instead he joins the navy, rising through the ranks, travelling the world. When he is finally able to study law, his extraordinary experiences and abilities propel him to the very top and he becomes Lord Chancellor. Yet he has made a powerful enemy on his voyages, who will hound him and his family to the death.

Ruth becomes ever more aware of Thomas as she is gripped by his story, and slowly senses that not only is his presence with her, but so is his enemy’s. Ruth will have to draw upon new friends and old in what becomes a battle for her very survival – and discover an inner power beyond anything she has imagined.

My thoughts..

Devastating family secrets forms the basis for this interesting and complex family drama.

After her father’s death Ruth returns to the family home in Edinburgh only to find that there is someone there who wishes to infiltrate every aspect of Ruth’s life and even though her relationship with her family has been difficult, and more especially with her father, Ruth is really unhappy to learn that there are details about her family of which she knew absolutely nothing. Further exploration into her family’s dark past reiterates just how many secrets have been hidden.

As with all of this author’s previous work there is a definite shifting of time and very cleverly the story moves between the present and the eighteenth century, and as it does so a dark and ghostly atmosphere starts to pervade. The author writes with authority because in creating The Ghost Tree she has dipped into her own rather complicated family history and, in doing so, has written an emotionally charged story which is based on factual historical evidence.

To be honest I found the historical aspects of the story rather stronger that the present day story but taken as a whole I thought that the content of the book had a real authenticity to it, and all credit to the author for using her own family history in order to create such a fascinating dual time narrative.

About the Author

An historian by training, Barbara Erskine is the author of bestselling novels that demonstrate her interest in both history and the supernatural, plus two collections of short stories. Her books have appeared in at least twenty different languages. She lives with her family in an ancient manor house near Colchester, and in a cottage near Hay-on-Wye.

Website

Twitter @Barbaraerskine

@LoveReadinguk

I read this book as part of the Lovereading.co.uk reading panel

You can find other reviews of this book by clicking here

Review ~ The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

Harper Collins
 2018

Thanks to LoveReading for this book to review

EVERYONE’S INVITED.
EVERYONE’S A SUSPECT.

Bristling with tension, bitter rivalries, and toxic friendships, get ready for the most hotly-anticipated thriller of 2019.

In a remote hunting lodge, deep in the Scottish wilderness, old friends gather for New Year.

The beautiful one
The golden couple
The volatile one
The new parents
The quiet one
The city boy
The outsider

The victim.

Not an accident – a murder among friends.

My Review

The Hunting Party is a clever murder mystery which takes you deep into a world where anything can happen and where the old adage, “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”, springs to mind.

Celebrating New Year in the idyllic setting of the Scottish highlands is the stuff of dreams and when a group of university friends meet up, the celebration should be the most memorable aspect of the get together. However, all is not as it seems in this remote highland hideaway and the tension between the characters soon starts to escalate.

Told from several different perspectives, what then follows is a carefully crafted murder mystery which leaves no snowflake unturned in the effort to find out just what is going on and why friendships so carefully crafted, ten years ago, are now starting to disintegrate.

The author writes well and controls the narrative with a fine for detail and an ability to create, with the addition of whirling snows storms, a really atmospheric and compelling story. Time and place come so beautifully alive that you sense the danger, feel the overwhelming chill of cold start to enter into your bones, and watch as the shadows lengthen in the eeriness of the Scottish landscape. There is much to take in, both in terms of characterisation and plot, and the twists and turns of the narrative certainly keep you guessing until the end.

About the Author

Lucy Foley studied English Literature at Durham and UCL universities. She then worked for several years as a fiction editor in the publishing industry – during which time she also wrote her debut, The Book of Lost and Found. Lucy now writes full-time, and is busy travelling (for research, naturally!) and working on her next novel.

Twitter @lucyfoleytweets

Facebook

I read this book as part of the Lovereading.co.uk readers review panel.

For more reader reviews please follow this link 

Review ~ Wrecker by Noel O'Reilly

On Hist Fic Saturday


Let's go back to ...Eighteenth Century, Cornwall

HQ
Harper Collins
14 June 2018

My thanks to the publishers and also to Lovereading.co.uk for my copy of this book

The wild and windswept Cornish coast with its rich history of ship wrecks comes alive in this story of village secrets and ancient superstition.

Like all the villagers in the remote Cornish village of Porthmorvoren whenever there is a ship wreck, Mary Blight heads to the beach to see what she can salvage, sometimes it’s a trinket or two, or occasionally, something more serviceable like a pair of wearable boots. When she discovers a distressed man in the sea, Mary risks everything to rescue him and nurses him back to health, but the villagers soon start to gossip about Mary’s motives for helping this stranger. The rescued man is Gideon Stone, an evangelical Methodist minister, who, on regaining his strength, sets out to bring salvation to this remote village which is blighted by religious fervour and age old superstitions. 

With a strong sense of time and place, Wrecker comes beautifully to life and highlights the difficulties of living in such a remote place. The superstitions which are so deeply ingrained into this harsh, and often unforgiving, community make it difficult for any stranger to get close to them and their vehement reaction to the minister’s attempt to save their souls is typical of their narrow-mindedness, whilst the way they treat Mary Blight borders on bigotry and hatred.

Wrecker is something of a slow burner of a story which I think is quite deliberate as it allows the place and its people to feature in a very realistic sort of way. The harsh realities of eking out a meagre existence in this unforgiving landscape are well described, as is the way that petty differences and scurrilous gossip are allowed to wreck and ruin lives. With a strong sense of time and place Wrecker comes beautifully to life, bringing together a strong story which is filled with a sense of destiny and which captures perfectly the spirit of this harsh and unforgiving time.

About the Author

I read this book as part of the LoveReading Review panel.  More reviews of Wrecker can be found on the LoveReading website by clicking here.

Twitter @noeloreilly #Wrecker

@HQStories

@LoveReadinguk

His Fic Saturday...The Illumination of Ursula Flight by Anna-Marie Crowhurst

On Hist Fic Saturday

Let's go back to ...Restoration, England

Allen and Unwin
3 May 2018

My thanks to the publishers and LoveReading.co.uk for my copy of this book

Ursula Flight’s journey into the world began on the night of the great comet of 1664. With this auspicious beginning, Ursula was never going to be an ordinary girl. Taught reading, writing and astronomy by her father, Ursula had a thirst for knowledge and desire for adventure which eventually sees her taking to the London stage. However, Restoration England was a brash and vulgar place and to achieve success in this world, Ursula had to use her considerable wits to survive and thrive. 

Ursula isn’t your usual delicate romantic heroine, she is bold and brave and so beautifully depicted that her character literally leaps of the page and grabs you by the hand as she explores the thespian world she so craves. A passionate writer and playwright from an early age, Ursula uses her considerable skill to tell her story with great gusto. Part narrative, part play, part diary, this unusual way of telling the story captured my imagination, and I had great fun in following Ursula’s adventures, both at her home in the village of Bynfield, and later when she makes her mark on the great city of London. 

The author has captured all the essence of Restoration England and brings this rather bawdy world to life in a very readable way. Time and place is captured beautifully and I especially enjoyed the way the story wrapped itself so perfectly around Ursula’s forceful personality. 

Really well done from the very beginning, The Illumination of Ursula Flight is a lively and, at times, mischievous journey through the whims and fancies of Restoration England. 

About the Author

Anna-Marie Crowhurst read English at King's College London and has worked as a freelance fashion and culture journalist for more than 15 years, contributing to publications including The Times, The Guardian, Time Out, Stylist and Emerald Street, for whom she currently covers books, entertainment and lifestyle, as well as writing a weekly column going out to 150,000 like-minded women every Sunday:

Her debut novel The Illumination of Ursula Flight was written during her recent MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, and was supervised by the award-winning novelist Tessa Hadley. Anna-Marie graduated with distinction in 2017. She lives in London.

Twitter @Writercrow #UrsulaTakesFlight

@AllenAndUnwinUK

Amazon UK

  I read this book as part of the Love Reading Review Panel. You can read more reviews here

  

Review ~ Ill Will by Michael Stewart

On Hist Fic Saturday

Let's go back to...Northern England, 1780

HQ
22 March 2018

Forced out of his home, at Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff travels across Northern England, searching for clues to his past, on a journey filled with darkness, danger and deceit. 

In the novel, Wuthering Heights, there is no clue as to where Heathcliff disappears to in the three years he is missing from the story; however, Ill Will provides a reasonable explanation for where he might have been, and fleshes out the violent world that Heathcliff so dangerously inhabits. 

In despair over his tormented relationship, with Cathy Earnshaw, and with the need to discover more about himself, Heathcliff is determined to escape Wuthering Heights. He changes his name to William Lee, and sets about discovering his origins. However, the journey through the northern countryside is fraught with danger, not just from the savagery of the landscape, but also from his association with Emily, the strange and, at times, other worldly companion he meets on his journey. 

In Ill Will, the author has conjured a rather bleak story. There is no gentleness within its pages, nor does the story make any apology for the coarseness of its language, which broods and grumbles throughout, and which is so much a part of Heathcliff’s dangerous personality and so evocative of his tortured life, that I came to tolerate, and understand, the need for such vulgarity. 

There is an abrasive quality to the story telling, particularly in terms of content which is disturbingly graphic, and yet, at other times, there is such a rich lyricism to the language, that the landscape and its variety of people come gloriously alive. 

Heathcliff’s missing years have always been a mystery, and there is no doubt that Ill Will gives an electrifying account of what might have happened.

About the Author

Michael Stewart is a multi-award winning writer, born and brought up in Salford, who moved to Yorkshire in 1995 and is now based in Bradford. He has written several full length stage plays, one of which, Karry Owky, was joint winner of the King's Cross Award for New Writing. His debut novel, King Crow, was published in January 2011. It won the Guardian's Not-the-Booker Award and has been selected as a recommended read for World Book Night. He works as a is senior lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Huddersfield, where he is the director of the Huddersfield Literature Festival.

Twitter @clanmike

Amazon UK

 I read this book as part of the Love Reading Review Panel. You can read more reviews here

  

Review ~ Bring Me Back by B A Paris

HQ
8 March 2018

My thanks to the Publishers, Lovereading and Netgalley for my copy of this book

When Finn’s girlfriend, Layla, goes missing on their journey home from a skiing holiday in France, the finger of suspicion falls on him, but twelve years later and with no further clues to Layla’s disappearance, Finn has moved on, but then, strange things start to happen which upsets the balance of Finn’s ordered life.

What then follows is an exciting page-turner which has all the hallmarks of this author’s exceptional writing. Her meticulous attention to the connection between people, and her fine observation of human frailty, is captured in this emotional story, which is rich in detail and alive with malice. The multiple story strands, which move backwards and forwards in time, gradually reveal a dark story of lies and deceit and as we get further into the nitty-gritty of the story, so the chill levels start to rise.

I raced through Bring Me Back at top speed as the concise chapters lend themselves to speedy reading. And as the story evolves, so the need to know more about what’s going to happen next gets more and more gripping. Over the course of the book, I tried to second guess where the plot was taking me, only to have it veer off in a completely unexpected direction.

There is no doubt that this talented author has captured the domestic noir genre to perfection and her ability to control a complicated plot whilst holding the reader’s attention, from start to finish, is to her credit.

Bring Me Back is a taut and tight psychological thriller with more than enough suspense to keep you guessing from beginning to end.

I read Bring Me Back for the Love Reading Review Panel which you can find by clicking here

About the Author

B A Paris grew up in England but has spent most of her adult life in France. She has worked both in finance and as a teacher and has five daughters. Bring Me Back is her third novel.

Twitter @BAParisAuthor #ForgetSleep #BringMeBack

@HQstories @Lovereadinguk

AmazonUK

Review ~ The Boy Who Saw by Simon Toyne

Harper Collins
15 June 2017

The Boy Who Saw takes us into a dark and deeply troubled past. It exposes long buried secrets and uncovers painful memories which once exposed can never be the same again.

When Josef Engel, an elderly tailor, is found brutally murdered in the sleepy French town of Cordes-sur-Ciel, the investigation which follows opens up a complex chain of events which is made even more complicated by the arrival on the scene of an enigmatic stranger, who goes by the name of Solomon Creed. Creed is a multifaceted character, a man with unfathomable secrets, and when his own shadowy past becomes interwoven with that of Josef Engel’s granddaughter, their search for answers into Joseph’s death leads them into some very dark places.

This is the second book in the Solomon Creed series and once again the author has given us a fast and furious story which is filled with all the trademark complexities which are so characteristic of this author’s skilful writing. The multi-layered mystery at the heart of the novel intricately explores the rawness of dark secrets and highlights the ruthlessness of unscrupulous individuals who seek to destroy everything that is good. The clever intertwining of past and present is seamless; the recollection of the vicious treatment in the German internment camps during WW2, which is so integral to the story, is done with an explicitness which at times makes for difficult reading.

Solomon Creed, possessed of an immeasurable charm, is an enigmatic hero. Influenced by eidetic kinaesthesia he has the ability to swap, chameleon like, into any role he chooses. He is incredibly mesmeric, and with more questions about him than there are answers, he is constantly evolving as a character. That he dominates the story is without question, every page that he wasn’t in the story felt like something was missing and yet, this story is about so much more than this enigmatic hero. It’s about the rawness of deep dark secrets, the power of memory and the disintegration of values and beliefs.

Deeply disturbing in places, the story has an uncomfortable edginess which is made all the more powerful by its utter believability.

Best Read with.. Several large glasses of rustic French wine ...

About the Author

Photo Credit: Toby Madden

Website

Follow on Twitter

Visit on Facebook

My thanks to Lovereading.co.uk for the opportunity to read this book as part of the 

Lovereading Review Panel.

For more Lovereading reviews on The Boy Who Saw please click here 

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Review ~ The Stolen Child by Sanjida Kay

Corvus
April 2017

What's it all about...

Zoe and Ollie Morley tried for years to have a baby and couldn't. They turned to adoption and their dreams came true when they were approved to adopt a little girl from birth. They named her Evie.Seven years later, the family has moved to Yorkshire and grown in number: a wonderful surprise in the form of baby Ben. As a working mum it's not easy for Zoe, but life is good.

But then Evie begins to receive letters and gifts.The sender claims to be her birth father.He has been looking for his daughter.And now he is coming to take her back...

What did I think about it...

The Stolen Child is a fascinating psychological suspense story which looks at the emotional wreckage of a family torn apart by suspicion and danger.

Zoe and Ollie Morley live with their adopted daughter, Evie and small son Ben, in Ilkley, a pretty town set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors. Zoe tries to balance the responsibilities of motherhood with her passion for painting and uses the drama of the wild and windswept landscape of the moors as the inspiration for her work. Life should be idyllic for the Morley family; however, there are profound undercurrents of discontent bubbling away beneath the surface. Ollie seems to be working far too many long hours leaving Zoe to cope with the children and her burgeoning artistic career.

When Zoe discovers that someone, claiming to be Evie’s birth father, is leaving hidden messages for her little girl everything suddenly changes. What then follows is a tight and tense psychological suspense story which, very quickly, gets right into the fragile heart of a family going through a really difficult time. Zoe’s fear and uncertainty is beautifully expressed, as is the mercurial nature of seven year old Evie, for whom life is challenging. The convoluted plot holds the imagination really well and there is a palpable feeling of panic and alarm when the true nature of the story starts to be revealed in dramatic detail.

This fascinating psychological suspense story kept me guessing right until the end.

Best Read With...Scones and tea

About the Author

Sanjida Kay is a writer and broadcaster. Her second thriller, 'The Stolen Child', is now published in April. She lives in Bristol with her husband and her daughter.

Follow on Twitter @sanjidakay

My thanks to the team at Lovereading.co.uk for the opportunity to read this as part of the 

Lovereading Review Panel.

More reviews of The Stolen Child can be found on the Lovereading website by clicking here.

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Review ~ A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton

Windmill Books
5th May 2016

A story of a mother’s immeasurable love which is set against the background of overwhelming family secrets and devastating tragedy.

Firstly I have to say that I find the cover quite stunning. I love the peeping Geisha which reminds me of Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, which is one of my all time favourite stories.

When the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945 Amaterasu Takahashi lost everything that was precious to her, including her daughter Yuko and her grandson Hideo. Many years later, Amaterasu is a widow living in America when a young man claiming to be Hideo shows up on her doorstep, but Amaterasu has too many demons in her past and believing this person is who he says he is means that Amaterasu must revisit everything which she has, so very painfully, hidden away.

Within the story there is much to take in and the author succeeds at observing different perspectives, by the use of diary entries, so that we get the thoughts of those who are not present. The story is powerful in its simplicity but also quite anguished and harrowing in places, particularly in the early descriptions of the fall out after the atomic bomb, and of the destruction of Nagasaki, which shows very clearly the turmoil and agonised suffering which went on in the aftermath of such powerful destruction. Amaterasu’s life, and that of her daughter, is dissected in fine detail which emphasises the significance of the mother-daughter relationship and of how the burden of an illicit love affair can send shock waves reverberating throughout time.

I especially enjoyed reading the snippets of quotations which head each chapter; they are quite intriguing and for me, became an integral part of the story telling.

Best Read with...Steamed dumplings from a street seller and cool glasses of sake

About the Author

A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding is former journalist Jackie Copleton's debut novel and is inspired by her time living in the beautiful city of Nagasaki in the 1990s. It is a Richard and Judy book club pick for summer 2016, was long-listed for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2016 and was a Radio 2 Book Club pick in 2015.

Website

Twitter @JackieCopleton

Amazon UK

My thanks to the publishers for my review copy of this book and to  Lovereading.co.uk for the invitation to read this book as part of the Love Reading Review panel

More reviews can be found here

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Review ~ The Last of Us by Rob Ewing

The Borough Press
21 April 2016

The Last of Us is a heart-breaking novel about courage, survival and the overwhelming power of hope over adversity.

When a violent pandemic wipes out a community on a remote Scottish island only a handful of children remain. They fend for themselves, but are always looking for a means of survival. They scavenge food, store water, search for medicines which will aid their survival, and whilst they seem tough, underneath the bravado they're as vulnerable as kittens. Elizabeth is the sensible one, she cares and cajoles, gets them to attend an improvised school, and keeps an eye on the youngest, Alex, whose dependence on daily insulin, is just one more problem for them to face. With food running out and morale low, petty squabbles break out amongst the group and when two of the boys attempt to usurp Elizabeth, the tenuous link which holds the group together is broken.

This is a difficult story to enjoy as the prospect of a pandemic wiping out a community at first seems beyond belief but like any dystopian story, the truth is in the believing and the author does a really good job of making sure that the children's story is frighteningly truthful. I found the story immeasurably sad with a bleakness which is, at times, quite upsetting but such is the power of the story telling, that despite my misgivings, I found the story utterly convincing.  I read it very quickly as I didn’t want take any respite, as to put the book down felt like I was abandoning this intrepid band of little warriors to an unknown fate.

The overriding theme of endurance is captured with great insight, the evocative Scottish setting, the smattering of Gaelic spoken by the children and the oppressive nature of what happens when your little corner of the world is completely damaged certainly makes for compelling reading.

About the Author

Rob Ewing is a GP living in Edinburgh. His short stories and poetry have been published widely. The Last of Us is his first novel.

My thanks to The Borough Press and Lovereading.co.uk for the opportunity to read and review this novel in advance of its publication.


You can read other reviews of The Last Of Us on the Lovereading website.



Available to buy from all good bookshops from the 21 April  2016

Review ~ At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier

The Borough Press

An imprint of Harper Collins

March 8th 2016

" The problem was, you couldn't go west of California, and Robert had never run anywhere but west..."

Black Swamp, Ohio, in 1838, is a place sinking in the mud of its own despair. James and Sadie Goodenough just about manage to eke out a living in the black mud which gives the swamp its name. Misery and desolation seem to go hand in hand, and even the simple joy of raising a family doesn’t lift either James or Sadie’s spirits. James finds comfort as a simple arborist, tenderly nurturing his Golden Pippin apple trees in the hope of securing a dream which will make the land his own. Sadie finds her own brand of comfort in the sharpness of applejack, an alcoholic by-product of apple growing, which is as tart as her tongue. The Goodenough children bear the brunt of James and Sadie’s petty indifference and for the children their only means of survival is the hope of escape.

What then follows is a sparse and beautifully written account of a moral journey which will span over fifteen years and which will see, the youngest Goodenough son, Robert, wandering throughout the pioneer lands of America always heading west, as that seems like the only place for him to go. Finding work with a plant collector, Robert discovers that his love of the land, of tending seedlings and observing the giant Californian Redwoods, brings him the peace he so desperately craves.

Part observational account and part epistolary, At the Edge of the Orchard is not just a love affair with the land and the wonders of nature, it’s also a story about self-determination and self-belief. There is no doubt that, in the hands of this imaginative writer, Robert Goodenough’s unique journey of self-discovery is both heart-breaking and uplifting in equal measure.

At the Edge of the Orchard is a story about family. It’s about the unbreakable bonds that tie people together and of the challenges that life can bring.

Best read with...Crunchy bites from a sweet Golden Pippin and several glasses of tart and punchy Applejack cider...



About the Author



Visit on Facebook
Follow on Twitter @Tracy_Chevalier

My thanks to The Borough Press and Lovereading.co.uk Reading Panel for my review copy of 

At the Edge of the Orchard

More reviews of  At the Edge of the Orchard can be found here

Available to buy online and at all good books shops from the 8th March 2016


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Review ~ What A Way To Go by Julia Forster

Atlantic Books
7 January 2016

This is an imaginative and quirky coming of age story which looks at the power of love, the value of friends, and family and the strength and courage of a wise and witty twelve year old girl.

Twelve year old Harper Richardson’s life is split between her two estranged parents. Mostly, she lives with her mum, Mary and gets to visit her dad, Pete, only at weekends. This arrangement seems to suit everyone but Harper, who, whilst she appears to be a remarkably astute twelve year old, has all the vulnerabilities of a child whose life is at odds with itself.

Set in 1988 and focusing on living life amongst social leftovers, Harper finds that growing up is a difficult business especially when money is tight and when even the prospect of buying two pet gerbils seems to be beyond her financial capabilities. However, Harper is not without resolve and with great gusto she sets about putting her life, and the lives of those around her, to rights.

There is much to enjoy within the story; Harper is a feisty protagonist, full of lively wit and perceived wisdom, and she romps through life making crisp observations about what’s going on around her, from her first teenage crush, to her mother’s friendship with Kit an unlikely champion who sleeps on a zed bed in her mother’s bedroom, or even to attending events at the Lone Rangers singles club with her careworn father.

This is a really imaginative and nicely written coming of age story, which will have you laughing out loud one minute, especially when you get to Harper's unorthodox method of defrosting prawns, and then sobbing into your handkerchief the next, when she explores the concept of grief. I fell completely in love with Harper‘s character and so wanted life to treat her kindly, whether it does, or not, is for you to discover on reading this lovely, lovely story for yourself.

Best read with a prawn cocktail smothered in Marie Rose sauce and copious glasses of supermarket own brand cola, clinking with ice.

About the Author

Julia Forster was born and raised in the Midlands. She studied Philosophy and Literature at the University of Warwick and has a Masters in Creative Writing from St Andrews University. While at the University of Warwick, she was awarded the Derek Walcott prize for creative writing. She works in publishing, but has also been a magician's assistant in Brooklyn, a nanny in Milan and a waitress in Chartres. Julia now lives in mid Wales with her husband and two young children.

@WriterForster

I read this book as part of the Lovereading ,co.uk Readers Review Panel.

My thanks to Lovereading.co.uk and Atlantic Books for my review copy of this book.

My thanks also to the Curtis Brown Book Club for making What A Way To Go January's book group read and for also sending me a copy of this book.

~***~

Review ~ The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley

John Murray
2015

The eponymous Loney of the book’s title is a strange and desolate place filled with ambiguous contrasts and a myriad of unanswered questions.

An uneasy group of Catholic pilgrims head for the remote shrine of Saint Anne on the bleak and windswept Fylde coast. The Moorings is a place where they have stayed before but on this Easter visit the dynamics of the group have been altered and there is an uncomfortable atmosphere which disturbs the shifting balance of those who seek true spiritual comfort.

The Loney is a real slow burner of story, expertly described by an unknown narrator, which allows a unique glimpse into the heart of a fractured family. The narrator seeks to protect his older brother, Hanny, whose mental health problem is the main focus of the pilgrimage and the reason why Hanny’s troubled parents seek a desperate cure for his disability. 

The story is beautifully written and eerily suggestive that something dark and sinister prowls in dark corners, and although the story is set largely in the mid nineteen seventies there is a timeless quality to the narrative which makes the story all the more compelling. Deeply troubling and quite unnerving in places, the story examines the power of spirituality and calls into question the subject of belief and religious fervour.

With more than a hint of the supernatural, this brilliant story conjures perfectly a dark and gloomy place and questions what it truly means to believe in a greater spiritual power.

About the author.

Andrew Michael Hurley has lived in Manchester and London, and is now based in Lancashire, where he teaches English Literature and Creative Writing. He has had two collections of short stories published by Lime Tree Press. The Loney is his first novel - it was first published in October 2014 by Tartarus Press, a tiny independent publisher based in Yorkshire, as a 300-copy limited-edition.

The Loney is published by John Murray on the 27th August 2015

I read this book as part of the Lovereading.co.uk Reading Panel

More reader reviews can be found on the Love Reading Website

My thanks to John Murray and Lovereading.co.uk for my copy of this book.

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Review ~ Dacre's War by Rosemary Goring

Polygon
16 June 2015

Dacre’s War is set in the border lands between England and Scotland. It’s a shadowy place where old memories lie deep, and when Adam Crozier, the head of a powerful border family learns that Thomas Dacre, now Warden General of the English marches and one of the most powerful men in England, is responsible for his father’s death, the possibility of vengeance lies heavy on Crozier’s mind.

                                                                         

Dacre’s War is the sequel to the book ‘After Flodden’ and sees a welcome return of some of the characters who featured heavily in the first novel. The writing is good, the plot complex and convoluted and the vivid portrayal of life in the early part of the sixteenth century is well explained. Beautifully reminiscent of a dark and dangerous time, the novel cleverly combines fascinating story-telling with acknowledged historical facts, and immerses the reader in a tale of revenge and retaliation on a grand scale. Whilst, at the same time, the story brings to glorious life, the dangerous heartlands of the border country, a land used to brutal and bloody fighting, and a place where life was cheap and the settling of old scores was the overriding principle of survival.

Overall, this is a commendable continuation of the story and although easily readable as a standalone novel, for greater enjoyment the books are best read in sequence.

My thanks to Lovereading.co.uk and Polygon for my copy of Dacre's War

I read this book as part of the Lovereading review panel and other reader reviews can be found

here

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