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

Jaffareadstoo's Guest Review...

Simon and Schuster
2014

Jaffa and I were delighted to be given the opportunity to be a guest reviewer on Lindsay's excellent blog 

at

 The Little Reader Library

Do pop across and read what we thought about

The Silversmith's Wife by Sophia Tobin 

In the winter of 1792, Pierre Renard, the eponymous silversmith, is found dead in London’s Berkeley Square. With his throat cut and his pocket watch stolen, his murder could have been the work of an opportunist pickpocket, but as the story progresses it becomes obvious that, whilst on the surface, Pierre Renard was a man of means and self importance, he had more than enough enemies who wished him dead. At the heart of the story is Mary, the silversmith’s wife, who is completely overshadowed by her erstwhile husband, and yet by necessity, must play a pivotal role in the evolution of events. It’s a time of great uncertainty, not just for Mary as she copes in the aftermath of her husband’s murder but also for the continuation of Mary’s silversmith business, when a woman alone and defenceless was seen as the ultimate weakness.

From the beginning, I was drawn into the dark and dismal world of Georgian London where the patrolling night watchmen sink their sorrow into the bottom of an ale cup and where the great and the good of the city divide their time between squandering their wealth and interfering in other people’s lives. The Silversmith’s Wife takes the reader on a journey into the complicated world of Georgian melodrama and into the hub of the silversmith trade in the very heart of Bond Street, a place where petty jealousies run rife, and where thwarted passions and long buried hostilities threaten to overshadow everything.

There is no doubt that the author has a real skill for storytelling and in The Silversmith’s Wife, she conveys an introspective story, which whilst keeping at its heart the mystery surrounding Renard’s untimely death, also looks at the minutiae of daily life and the sadness which pervades Mary’s role as the unhappy wife. Reminiscent at times of Michel Faber’s, The Crimson Petal and the White, this story oozes quiet elegance and a decadent charm, which lingers in the way the story, evolves at its own pace. I found much to enjoy in the story, the plot kept me guessing, and I was so sympathetically drawn to Mary’s character, that by the end of the novel I only wished for her a long and happy life.

I would definitely recommend The Silversmith’s Wife to those readers who enjoy well written historical fiction.

Thanks to Lindsay and Simon and Schuster for the chance to read this book.

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