📖 Blog Tour ~ Promises of the Runes by Christina Courtenay

 

Headline Review
13 April 2023

Runes #5

My thanks to the publishers and Rachel's Random Resources for my copy of this book
and the invitation to the blog tour

He travelled through time to capture her heart.

The amulet was still in the palm of his hand. Was it some sort of conduit to the past? The image of the anguished woman in his vision was seared into his mind. Perhaps it could help him find her?

Ivar Thoresson is desperate for adventure. As an archaeologist specialising in Viking times, he wants nothing more than to travel back to the ninth century as his loved ones have done, to learn everything he can about the era which fascinates him. And whilst his adopted family have always made him feel loved, the chance to meet a true ancestor, the warrior Thorald, is a temptation he cannot resist.

But while Ivar is preparing to go, he uncovers an amulet which shows him a vision of an arresting woman with red-gold hair. Clearly in distress, she is pleading for help. Convinced of the power of the charm and its message, Ivar’s journey takes on a new purpose. He steps back in time determined to follow his destiny – and find the woman who has called to his heart.

📖 My Review..

It's always a real pleasure to go back in time with this talented writer and this Viking series has been a particular favourite of mine especially as each story brings a new and exciting character whilst taking us back to what has become a quite familiar world. This fifth book in the series is deliciously different as it gives us the story from a male point of view.

Ivar Thoresson is an archaeologist who specialises in the ninth century world of the Vikings and he would dearly love to travel back in time in order to discover, at first hand, what it was like to live amongst his ancestors. When Ivar discovers a rather unusual silver amulet he is irresistibly drawn towards the plight of a young woman who appears to pleading for help. Armed with with only a vague notion of what time travel is really like, Ivar sets out to discover more about this ancient world with fascinating and rather unexpected consequences. 

Ivar is irresistibly drawn to Viking life and although he has some reservations about life in the ninth century, he soon begins to feel at home there, especially as he gets to know the people, their customs and their way of life. The story soon draws you in and the author's flair for detail and her impeccable research makes this time slip novel feel beautifully authentic, each chapter flows seamlessly bringing the Viking world to life in glorious detail.Nicely descriptive and with a wonderful romantic element, Promises of the Runes is another wonderful Viking adventure from this talented writer of historical fiction.

Whilst Promises of the Runes is the fifth book in this Runes series of historical time slip novels, each can be read as a standalone however, as with any series it does make sense to start at the beginning, and if you are new to this author's skilful writing you won't be disappointed.

About the Author

Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a former chairman of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014) and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the Runes. Promises of the Runes (time travel romance published by Headline Review 13th April 2023) is her latest novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).

Twitter @PiaCCourtenay

Website Facebook Instagram

@rararesources

Amazon UK

Blog Tour ~ Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

On its publication day I am delighted  to host today's stop on this blog tour

Viking
20 February 2020

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book and the invitation to be part of the blog tour.

One summer morning, a flight takes off from New York to Los Angeles. There are 187 passengers aboard: among them a Wall Street millionaire; a young woman taking a pregnancy test in the airplane toilet; a soldier returning from Afghanistan; and two beleaguered parents moving across the country with their adolescent sons. When the plane suddenly crashes in a field in Colorado, the younger of these boys, 12-year-old Edward Adler, is the sole survivor.

Dear Edward recounts the stories of the passengers aboard that flight as it hurtles toward its fateful end, and depicts Edward's life in the crash's aftermath as he tries to make sense of the loss of his family, the strangeness of his sudden fame, and the meaning of his survival. As Edward comes of age against the backdrop of sudden tragedy, he must confront one of life's most profound questions: how do we make the most of the time we are given?

What did I think about it..

There’s a real sense of impending doom as you start to read Dear Edward as it’s known right from the start that the aeroplane journey isn’t going to end well, and yet there’s a feeing of intimacy as the passengers on board the flight from NewYork to Los Angeles become, over the course of the story, as familiar as friends.

The eponymous Edward of the story is only twelve years old when he has the dubious distinction of being the sole survivor of the air disaster. The story takes us, with meticulous precision, through the long, slow road of Edward's recovery and subsequent rehabilitation, which is harrowing and painful, and filled with grief, confusion and sorrow. Throughout the story the impact of Edward’s struggle to come to terms with what has happened never fails to connect on an emotional level.

I devoured Dear Edward in just a couple of sittings as I didn’t want to put the book down so I carried it from room to room just so I could squeeze in extra reading time when I really should have been doing something else. It’s poetic, powerful, beautifully observed, it made me laugh in places where I didn’t think I should laugh, and it also made me cry in places where the sadness was huge.

By the end of this special story I wanted everything in Edward’s world to be better and brighter to make up for a loss so great it threatened, at times, to engulf him.



Recommended: Absolutely ✅ it’s already a contender on my ‘books of the year’ list.

About the Author

Ann Napolitano is the author of the novels A Good Hard Look and Within Arm's Reach. She is also the Assistant Editor of One Story literary magazine. She received an MFA from New York University; she has taught fiction writing for Brooklyn College's MFA program, New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies and for Gotham Writers' Workshop. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.

Twitter @napolitanoann #DearEdward

@VikingBooksUK

Blog Tour ~ A Fatal Game by Nicholas Searle

It's great to be hosting today's blog tour stop for this action packed thriller

Viking
4 July 2019

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book
and the invitation to host today's blog tour stop

A terrorist attack has just hit a busy railway station. Jake Winter was the British intelligence officer in charge of stopping the attack and now his career, and his conscience, are in freefall...

Jake's next anti-terror operation has to be a success. He has got himself a new source - a young British Asian man, Rashid, recently returned, apparently disillusioned, from battle, who he hopes is the key to foiling the next attack and to getting Jake to the leader of the network. But is Rashid really working for British intelligence, or has Jake put his faith in the wrong man once again?

A Fatal Game is the story of an organization, and a single man, in a state of panic. And panic is the last thing you need when you're playing a game like this...

What did I think about it..


It's testament to the sign of our times when this glimpse into the mindset of a terrorist organisation, both from the insider dealings of the terrorists and also from those who seek to protect the public from harm, is such a fascinating and timely read.

When a surveillance goes horribly wrong, Jake Winter, a British intelligence officer, feels the full force of public condemnation but with a heightened sense of danger comes an obligation to get it absolutely right next time. Using contacts within a terrorist organisation is a brave and determined move but is not without considerable danger and it is this dangerous aspect which is explored in detail. A Fatal Game is one of those stories in which you're never quite sure who is working for whom, or indeed if any of the undercover operatives are truly what they seem, and therein lies the strength of the novel and is what kept me guessing until the end.

The author writes well and maintains a high level of tension throughout the story without compromising on the believability in the way the plot unfolds.  Reading of the author's background of working in intelligence for many years, it's obvious throughout the novel that he is writing about what he knows and he does so without ever seeking to over sensationalise the after effects of a terrorist attack and always with a keen sensitivity for those people who may have been caught up in such an atrocity in real life.

To say too much about the plot would give far too much away, as this, like all suspense stories, is best read without any spoilers, and in keeping it that way, the full force of the ending will impact on you as much as it did to me.

A Fatal Game out now and is published by Viking.

About the Author

Nicholas Searle is the author of three novels. His first novel, The Good Liar was a Sunday Times bestseller and was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger for the best debut crime novel. Before becoming an writer, Nicholas worked in British intelligence for more than twenty five years, he lives in Yorkshire.

Twitter #AFatalGame

@VikingBooksUK

Blog Tour ~ The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be hosting today's stop on the 

Confessions Frannie Langton Blog Tour

Penguin Random House
Viking Books
4 April 2019

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book and the invitation to be part of the blog tour

They say I must be put to death for what happened to Madame, and they want me to confess. But how can I confess what I don't believe I've done?

1826, and all of London is in a frenzy. Crowds gather at the gates of the Old Bailey to watch as Frannie Langton, maid to Mr and Mrs Benham, goes on trial for their murder. The testimonies against her are damning - slave, whore, seductress. And they may be the truth. But they are not the whole truth.

For the first time Frannie must tell her story. It begins with a girl learning to read on a plantation in Jamaica, and it ends in a grand house in London, where a beautiful woman waits to be freed.

But through her fevered confessions, one burning question haunts Frannie Langton: could she have murdered the only person she ever loved?

My thoughts..

In London, in 1826, Frances Langton stands in the Old Bailey, accused of murdering her employers in a dramatic and heinous crime. However, as Frannie’s sad and sorry life story starts to emege we learn so much about this complicated woman who started life on a Jamaican plantation where she once lived as a house slave. 

Never quite sure of her parentage, Frances comes to London with her slave owner, Mr. Langton, where she is given into the employment of George and Marguerite Benham. Once she is settled in the household Frannie's wit and intelligence attracts the attention of the unconventional Marguerite whose moral standards are, it must be said, rather unusual for the time. However, as it turns out, Frannie’s time with the Benham’s in their household, means that she exchanges one kind of servitude for another, with, as it turns out, disastrous consequences. 

The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a really fascinating historical narrative which is made all the more interesting for shining a spotlight on a terribly shameful past, and which then,very cleverly, links the way in which Frances, a woman who was conflicted by her gender, race and class, was forever let down by her lowly station in life. 

The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a very clever debut, beautifully written with a distinctly authentic feel,  it is one of those fascinating, but cautionary, stories which stays with you long after the last page is finished.

About the Author

Sara Collins studied law at the London School of Economics and worked as a lawyer for seventeen years. In 2014 she embarked upon the Creative Writing Masters at Cambridge University, where she won the 2015 Michael Holroyd Prize of Re-creative Writing and was shortlisted for the 2016 Lucy Cavendish Prize for a book inspired by her love of gothic fiction. This turned into her first novel, The Confessions of Frannie Langton.

Twitter @mrsjaneymac #FrannieLangton

@VikingBooksUk

Hist Fic Saturday ~ Viking Fire by Justin Hill

On Hist Fic Saturday let's go back in time

to the story of the last Viking, Harald Hardrada...

Abacus Books
 7 September 2017

What's it all about..

In 1035, a young fifteen year old Viking is dragged wounded from the battle. Left for dead, for the next twenty years his adventures lead him over mountains, down the length of Russia and ultimately to Constantinople and the Holy City of Jerusalem.

Drawn into political intrigue he will be the lover of Empresses, the murderer of an emperor; he will hold the balance of power in the Byzantine Empire in his hands, and then give it all up for a Russian princess and the chance to return home and lead his own people, where he must fight the demons of his past, his family and his countrymen in a long and bitter war for revenge and power.

My thoughts about it...

It's always interesting to have another perspective on the events that happened in that momentous year of 1066, when England faced the threat of invasion, not just from across the English Channel in Normandy, but also, from the far north, by the fearless warrior, Harald Hardrada, King of Norway.

Viking Fire charts the life of Harald Sigurdsson, younger brother of Olaf, King of Norway, from his early roots, through to the magnificence of his later years, and tells of his search for revenge, and lust for power. To say that Harald lived a fascinating life is an understatement and as this novel shows, life around this Viking warrior was never dull, nor lacking in adventure.

Bringing this fierce and ferocious time to vivid life, the author gives us a fascinating insight into what Harald's life may have been like and with meticulous research and fine attention, to even the smallest of details, combines known factual history with well written fiction, and cleverly blends both into a really good historical adventure.

Having my own preconceptions of Hardrada’s known ruthlessness and brutality, I didn't expect to actually like the man, but all credit to the author, who created such a vivid picture of this Viking warrior, that my dislike, turned into a grudging respect for a man who, driven by his principles, set his sight on the ultimate prize, that of England’s crown.

Viking Fire is the second book in this author's fascinating Conquest Trilogy which began with the story of Harold Godwinsson, in Shieldwall, and which continues in this story up to and including Hardrada's death at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in September, 1066.

Abacus
2012

If the Conquest years are of interest to you and you enjoy well written and gripping historical adventure then this series is a good place to start. As with any trilogy it's best to start at the beginning however, each of these books can be read as standalone novels. 

More about the author can be found on his website by clicking here

Follow on Twitter @JHillAuthor #VikingFire

@AbacusBooks

My thanks to the publishers for my review copy of Viking Fire

~***~

Blog Tour ~ All The Good Things by Clare Fisher

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be hosting today's stop on the 

All the Good Things Blog Tour

 

Published by Penguin Viking

1st June 2017

What's it all about...

Twenty-one year old Beth is in prison. The thing she did is so bad she doesn't deserve to ever feel good again.

But her counsellor, Erika, won't give up on her. She asks Beth to make a list of all the good things in her life. So Beth starts to write down her story, from sharing silences with Foster Dad No. 1, to flirting in the Odeon on Orange Wednesdays, to the very first time she sniffed her baby's head.

But at the end of her story, Beth must confront the bad thing.

What is the truth hiding behind her crime? And does anyone-even a 100% bad person-deserve a chance to be good?

What did I think about it ...

Twenty one year old Beth is in prison, she did something really terrible but at the start of the novel we don't know what crime she committed. Gradually piece by jagged piece, Beth's sad and sorry story is revealed after her counsellor, Erika, encourages her to write about all the good things she has in her life.

I found this sensitive and well written story so very, very sad. Beth broke my heart into a million pieces as she lurched from one badly made decision to another, none of which was Beth's fault but rather the fault of a system which let her down on so many levels. Naive and vulnerable, Beth could be any one of a number of susceptible young women who gets tangled in the nets of the social care system.  A system which seems to fail more times than it succeeds.

The author writes with perceptive ease and there’s starkness to the story that gets right into your bones and as the story progresses you just know it’s not going to end well. Like me you’ll probably guess what happened but that’s not really the whole point of the story. The focus is the route which Beth took to get to her point of no return and for that I commend the author’s delicate and subtle handling of a story that is so sad, it hurts.

It’s a story about a life fractured and splintered, of ruined relationships, uneasy role models and the desperate cries for help which went, largely unheard.

Best Read With...a handful of chocolate covered beans...

About the author

Clare Sita Fisher was born in Tooting, south London in 1987. After accidentally getting obsessed with writing fiction when she should have been studying for a BA in History at the University of Oxford, Clare completed an MA in Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London. An avid observer of the diverse area of south London in which she grew up, Clare's writing is inspired by her long-standing interest in social exclusion and the particular ways in which it affects vulnerable women and girls. All The Good Things is her first novel.







Follow on Twitter @claresitafisher #AlltheGoodThings

@PenguinUKBooks @PenguinViking

My thanks to the author and also to Josie at Penguin Random House for their invitation to be part of this blog tour.

Blog tour runs until the 28th June so do visit the other tour stops for more exciting content.

~***~

Blog Tour ~ Leopard at the Door by Jennifer McVeigh

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be part of the blog tour for Leopard at the Door

Penguin
July 2017

What's it all about...

After six years exiled in England, Rachel has returned to Kenya and the farm where she spent her childhood, only to find the home she has longed for in the grip of change. Her father’s new companion—a strange, intolerant woman—has taken over the household, and the political climate in the country is growing more unsettled by the day. Looming over them all is the threat of Mau Mau—a secret society intent on uniting the Africans and overthrowing the whites.

As Rachel struggles to find her place in her home, she initiates a secret relationship, one that will demand from her an act of betrayal. Only one man knows her secret, and he has made it clear how she can buy his silence. But she knows something of her own, something she has never told anyone. And her knowledge brings her power.

What did I think about it...

When Rachel Fullsmith returns to her childhood home after an absence of six years, it brings back memories which she had thought hidden. The sights, sounds and smells of her home in Kenya are just as vivid as she remembered, and yet, all is not as it once was; now there is violence and unrest in the area and, with the introduction of a new partner in her father's life, even Rachel's childhood home appears changed and unsettled. Memories linger in the shadows and Rachel is acutely aware that finding what she thought lost perhaps means losing things forever.

This is a really powerful story about the 1950s Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, a period in history which I knew practically nothing about. So it was with interest that I started to read Leopard at the Door. With unsettling precision, the story shows just how families were ripped apart, and of how a way of life, so long in the making, was changed forever. The author writes so evocatively of the people and the places that I felt at one with the story. Africa, with all its innate splendour, comes gloriously to life, particularly in the author’s description of the stunning landscape, with its shimmering heat and vibrant colours. Rachel’s own personal story is linked irretrievably with that of her homeland. The childhood secrets she buried so deep within herself now threaten her safety and the repercussions have a devastating effect, not just on Rachel but also on those people she holds dear.

The author writes well and although the story is at times unsettling there is intensity to the narrative which I found made it all the more compelling to read. Leopard at the Door is about the fragmentation of tradition and values. It’s about the turmoil of coming-of-age in a world made angry by fear and oppression, and, for Rachel, it’s about those secrets which have been buried for far too long and which once exposed can never be hidden again.

Best Read With...Honey, from the forest, sticky and sweet..

About the Author

Jennifer McVeigh graduated from Oxford University in 2002. She went on to work in film, radio and publishing before giving up her day job to study for an MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. She has travelled in wilderness areas of East Africa and southern Africa, driving and camping along the way. Her first novel, The Fever Tree (Penguin, 2012), was a Richard and Judy Book Club Pick and received widespread critical acclaim.

Find out more on the author's website by clicking here 

Follow on Twitter @McVeighAuthor #LeopardattheDoor

Find on Facebook 

My thanks to Elke at Penguin for the invitation to be part of the blog tour for 

Leopard at the Door.

~***~

Review ~ Children of the Chieftain : Bounty by Michael E. Wills

Silverwood Books
March 2017

Children of the Chieftain: Bounty is the third installment in this excellent Viking series which is aimed at young readers.

What's it all about..

The orphan children of the late chieftain, Sten Brightsword, have been banished from their island home after they disobeyed the instruction of the “Ting”, the island parliament. In order to be allowed to return they must bring with them a warrior’s helmet filled with silver.

The brother and sister, Ahl who is now seventeen and Ingir who is a year older, get the help of the Governor of a town in northern Russia after Ingir becomes engaged to the Governor’s son. But things go wrong for them when the town is threatened by an attack from enemies. They escape south and after many adventures Ahl and his crew reach Constantinople. At last things look better for them when the Emperor offers them work which is so highly paid that they must surely earn enough silver bounty to fill a helmet.

What did I think about it...

When I was ten or eleven I loved reading historical adventure stories and I am sure that if the Children of the Chieftain books had been around at that time I would have devoured them just as eagerly as I did the work of Alan Garner and Leon Garfield.

I’ve followed this series from the beginning and have seen both the story telling and the characters grow in confidence, and as each story comes along there is a clever continuance of the historical adventure which unfolds in every story. In The Children of the Chieftain: Bounty the young crew of the Viking ship, Eagle set off on a new adventure, on a journey which will take them to new and exciting places, and which will be fraught with danger and cruel mischance.

As always the author writes a really good, rollicking adventure and never compromises on accurate description nor does he patronise his young readers by omitting the dangerous aspects of this time in history. The historical research is as ever impeccably achieved and there is a real feeling of authenticity to the story which those who have read the series from the beginning will recognise as typical of this author’s fine attention to detail.

Whilst Bounty may be read as a standalone historical adventure, as always, my advice is to read any series from the start, as that way you notice the progression, and the story becomes far more meaningful when you become emotionally invested in the characters.

For younger readers who may struggle with some of the terminology, or even for adults like me who may need some clarification, there is a helpful word explanation at the end of the book.

At the start of this Viking adventure I was informed that it was to be a trilogy of work, I am especially pleased to find that there is now to be a fourth book, The Children of the Chieftain: Bound for Home which will oversee the conclusion. Most certainly the ending of Bounty lends itself to even more adventures in the final conclusion.

Best Read With …smoked meat and porridge...and a foaming tankard of ale for the grownups...

You can read an excellent guest post by the author about The Lure of Miklagård by clicking here

About the Author

Find Michael on his website

Follow him on Twitter @MWillsofSarum

My thanks to the author for sharing his book with me.

Children of the Chieftain: Bounty is out now and published by Silverwood Books

~***~

Review ~ Abigail's Party by Mike Leigh

This edition 2017
Penguin Random House

Abigail’s Party is a classic pinnacle of British theatre, first performed in 1977 at Hampstead Theatre.

The play is the telling of two marriages spectacularly unravelling at an awkward neighbourhood drinks party.

This edition includes the original script, complete with a new introduction by Mike Leigh describing the play's unlikely genesis, how it came to be made and where he believes it fits within his oeuvre as one of the country's leading writers and directors.

What did I think..

I am old enough to remember first watching Abigail's Party when it was broadcast on the 1st November 1977 as BBC1's Play for Today. To be able to read a copy of the script, in this its 40th anniversary year, is a real treat.

It's rather different reading a script than a novel, and of course, that takes some getting used to but pretty soon you get the 'voice's' of the characters in your head and this social satire, so beautifully written, just flows along really well. For me, it helped enormously to still be able to hear the very talented Alison Steadman's voice as Beverley the iconic and rather sad character I remember so well from the television adaptation.

The five and a half page introduction by the playwright, Mike Leigh, really helps to put the play into context, and as he shares the background to Abigail's Party you get a real sense of the history of the time and of the values, idiosyncrasies and avid consumerism which was so prevalent during the early Thatcher years.

This tragi-comedy works works so well as a piece of literary history and if you remember watching the play on TV then I'm sure that you will enjoy reading this 40th Anniversary edition as much as I did.

Best Read With ..a cheese and pineapple savoury and a large glass of 1977 Beaujolais... 

About the Author

Mike Leigh OBE is an English writer and film and theatre director.

My Thanks to Josie at Penguin Random House for my copy of Abigail's Party

~***~

Blog Tour ~ The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be part of The Witchfinder's Sister Blog Tour

 

What's it all about ...

The number of women my brother Matthew killed, so far as I can reckon it, is one hundred and six...'

1645. When Alice Hopkins' husband dies in a tragic accident, she returns to the small Essex town of Manningtree, where her brother Matthew still lives.

But home is no longer a place of safety. Matthew has changed, and there are rumours spreading through the town: whispers of witchcraft, and of a great book, in which he is gathering women's names.

What did I think about it...

Some years ago I went to a Halloween fancy dress party dressed as witch, with my pointy black hat, long black dress and black boots I thought that I looked suitably ‘spooky’. Today we take the idea of witches in a very light hearted manner but back in the seventeenth century being accused of witch craft was a very different business.

In 1645, Alice Hopkins returns home, from London, to Manningtree in Essex where after a change in her circumstances she is a widow, pregnant and penniless. She now has the need to fall upon the mercy of her half-brother, Matthew, to give her bread and board. However, Alice finds out, to her cost, that Matthew is involved in a mysterious and unholy business, which keeps him out late and brings him into contact with some influential and dangerous people.

The book is a beautifully written observation of human nature with all its many facets and disguises. On one side, we have Matthew, who is utterly convinced that what he is doing is ridding the world of evil, whilst at the same time we have the creeping terror of women being wrongfully accused and woefully represented. There is no doubt that witch finding was a deadly occupation, and the book doesn’t shy away from the scurrilous and uncomfortable detail of how witch examinations took place and of the unwholesome justice that allowed lonely and vulnerable women to be exploited in such a dreadful way.

Time and place is captured perfectly and for the short time it took for me to read the novel I felt like I was fully immersed in seventeenth century life. The stifled and gloomy atmosphere of living at the old Thorn Inn with Matthew comes vividly to life as does the subservient nature of those women who Matthew employs to keep his home in order. Alice very quickly became an integral character and I think that her relationship with her half-brother and that of the family dynamic was finely examined and utterly believable.

There is much to take in, not just about the perverse superstition of a country very much in a state of instability, as the English civil war was still raging, but also in the way that people’s attitude towards each other was uncomfortably wary and so often irrationally distrustful. In many ways this made it easier for Matthew Hopkins to go about his deadly witch finding business as communities were all too eager to point the finger of blame towards those defenceless women who had no hope of ever redeeming themselves.

Filled with superstition, secrets, gossip and innuendo, The Witchfinder’s Sister brings to life a shameful part of our past in a story which lives on long after that fabulous last sentence which made my blood run cold.

Best Read With...a platter of cut bread and cheese and a mug of ale

More about the Author on her website

Follow on Twitter @bethunderdown #TheWitchfindersSister

Find on Facebook

Beth Underdown lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Manchester. Her first novel, The Witchfinder's Sister, is based on the life of the 1640s witchfinder Matthew Hopkins. Beth's interest in seventeenth-century England was sparked by the work of her great-uncle David Underdown, one of that period's foremost historians. She came across a brief mention of Matthew Hopkins while reading a book about midwifery, igniting an interest which turned into an all-consuming hunt for the elusive truth about this infamous killer.

Blog Tour runs until the 26th March 2017 @Viking BooksUK
#The Witchfinder'sSister

My thanks to Josie at Penguin for the invitation to be part of this exciting blog tour

~***~

Review ~ Cousins by Salley Vickers

Viking Penguin
2016

The book blurb..

Brilliant and mercurial Will Tye suffers a life changing accident. The terrible event ripples through three generations of the complex and eccentric Tye family, bringing to light old tragedies and dangerous secrets. Each member of the family holds some clue to the chain of events which may have led to the accident and each holds themselves to blame. Most closely affected is Will's cousin Cecelia, whose affinity with Will leaves her most vulnerable to his suffering and whose own life is for ever changed by how she will respond to it.

Told through the eyes of three women close to Will, his sister, his grandmother and his aunt, Cousins is a novel weaving darkness and light which takes us from the outbreak of World War Two to the present day, exploring the recurrence of tragedy, the nature of transgression, and the limits of morality and love.

My thoughts...

When student, Will Tye suffers a devastating accident, not only does it shock his family but it also reopens old secrets which have been allowed to linger for far too long in the shadows.

In Cousins, the author, Salley Vickers lays bare the very fabric of family life, in a story which evolves through the narration of Will's grandmother, his sister and his aunt, namely, the three women who are closest to him and who each have a part to play in the eventual outcome of the story. The three narrators are very different people and this comes across in their individual stories and yet, their stories coalesce and intertwine to form a cohesive portrayal of a family which has been shattered into a million pieces.

What I enjoyed about Cousins was the way the story was allowed to evolve at entirely its own pace. It seems, on the surface, to be a rather slow and thoughtful story, and yet, it is no less powerful because of that, rather it demonstrates just how good the author is at getting right into the heart of what matters. The secrets at the centre of the story are perceptively written and the author writes beautifully about thoughts and feelings, and also, of the insecurities which can, so often, blight a generation. 

Ultimately, Cousins is a story about the delicate intricacies of familial relationships. It’s about the devastating consequences of love and sacrifice and of the dangerous risks that families will take in order to protect each other from the pain of heartbreak. 

Best Read With ...a glass of bitter shandy , heavy on the lemonade...

About the Author

Salley Vickers was born in Liverpool, the home of her mother, and grew up as the child of parents in the British Communist Party. She won a state scholarship to St Paul’s Girl’s School and went on to read English at Newnham College Cambridge.Her first novel, ‘Miss Garnet’s Angel’, became an international word-of-mouth bestseller. She now writes full time and lectures widely on many subjects, particularly the connections between, art, literature, psychology and religion.

  

Website

Twitter @SalleyVickers

Amazon UK

My thanks to Josie at Penguin Viking for the opportunity to read and review this novel




**While it's Christmas -  I'm giving away my read "only once" Hardback copy**

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***Good Luck ***