#BookReview ‘The Shadows of Men’ by Abir Mukherjee @radiomukhers #crime #historical #India #Raj

Leave a reply

Calcutta 1923. The Shadows of Men by Abir Mukherjee, fifth in the excellent Raj-era crime series, begins four years after the first book. A lot has happened in Calcutta since 1919, India is evolving as the power balance changes and the country edges towards the end of British rule. And the relationship between the two policemen is shifting too. Abir MukherjeeIt is significant that The Shadows of Men switches narrator back and forth between Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant Surendranath Banerjee, and that the first chapter begins with Suren. With Gandhi in prison, the independence movement is fighting internally, local elections have enforced divisions between Hindus and Moslims, high caste and low caste, landowners and peasants, neighbour against neighbour, gangster against gangster. Unknown to Sam, police commissioner Lord Taggart orders Suren to follow a visiting muslim politician. And then Suren is arrested for murder.
Unsure who to trust, Sam must identify the real murderer to clear Suren’s name. What follows is a search for the truth, a chase west across India from Calcutta to Bombay. At risk is not only a temporary calming in Calcutta, which is a powder keg waiting to explode, but also the fate of Indian politics. Will Suren hang for murder. Can Sam unravel the tangled clues to find who is killing who. And is there a traitor at police headquarters.
In this book, Suren is given his voice and we see for the first time the depth of his passion for his country, his pride in being a policeman, and the red lines he will not cross.
What an excellent series this is. A rollercoaster of a novel with a cliffhanger ending that was most unexpected. Next is The Burning Grounds.

Here are my reviews of the first four books in the Wyndham & Banerjee series:-
A RISING MAN #1WYNDHAM&BANERJEE
A NECESSARY EVIL #2WYNDHAM&BANERJEE
SMOKE AND ASHES #3WYNDHAM&BANERJEE
DEATH IN THE EAST #4WYNDHAM&BANERJEE 

If you like this, try:-
‘Darktown’ by Thomas Mullen
‘I Refuse’ by Per Petterson
‘The Killing Lessons’ by Saul Black

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE SHADOWS OF MEN by Abir Mukherjee @radiomukhers https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8J7 via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Helena Dixon

Great Opening Paragraph 143… ‘Emotionally Weird’ #amreading #FirstPara

Leave a reply

“Inspector Jack Gannet drove into Saltsea-on-Sea along the coast road. Today’s sun (not that he believed it to be a new one every day) was already climbing merrily in the sky. It was a beautiful morning. Shame it was about to be spoilt by the Lucky Lady and her cargo – one very unlucky lady. One very dead lady. Jack Gannet sighed, this job didn’t get any easier. Jack Gannet had been in the force longer than he cared to remember. He was a straight-forward, old-fashioned kind of detective. He had no strange tics or eccentricities –  he didn’t do crosswords, he wasn’t Belgian, he certainly wasn’t a woman. He was a man suited to his profession. What he wasn’t, was happy. He didn’t want to be dealing with a dead body on a glorious morning like this. Especially not on an empty stomach.”
Kate AtkinsonFrom ‘Emotionally Weird’ by Kate Atkinson

Read my reviews of these other novels by Kate Atkinson:-
A GOD IN RUINS
LIFE AFTER LIFE
SHRINES OF GAIETY
TRANSCRIPTION
BIG SKY #5JACKSONBRODIE
DEATH AT THE SIGN OF THE ROOK #6JACKSONBRODIE

… and these short stories:-
NORMAL RULES DON’T APPLY

Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘Personal’ by Lee Child
‘Such a Long Journey’ by Rohinton Mistry
‘Perfume’ by Patrick Süskind

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara EMOTIONALLY WEIRD by Kate Atkinson https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7V7 via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘Peace and Love’ by JC Harvey @JCollissHarvey #historical

Leave a reply

Peace and Love by JC Harvey is third in the Jack Fiskardo historical adventure series but is a step aside from Jack’s story. It takes place in another century, telling the tale of the grandson of one of Jack’s rogues. I didn’t know what to expect, it is charming and short; only 125 pages. JC HarveyIn Uppsala province, Sweden in 1720, Magnus, the grandson of Jack Fiskardo’s youthful ensign, Karl-Christian von Lindeborg, is high-born, rich and alone. His bones ache. He is an old soldier with no place in the world. He drifts around his empty castle as day merges into day, emotionally shuttered to those around him. And then into his life with a bang arrives a ward, a young girl, the grand-daughter of his childhood teacher, Dr Excelsior, recently deceased. Magnus, who has never interracted with children, takes Elise into his castle, tells her she is safe and then forgets about her. Elise finds a place with the staff but feels adrift. Both know the situation is unsatisfactory, neither knows how to change it. Until one night, Elise sleepwalks and the two shy, introverted people begin to talk.
When the count’s sister arrives at the remote castle for a visit, she tells him Elise needs proper parenting as she is approaching marriageable age. And so Elise returns to Uppsala with Margrit and everything changes. The count’s life is empty again, without purpose. ‘And he missed her. No sooner was he accustomed to her than she was gone. He missed her more than if he had known her all her life; precisely because she had been plucked away when he had hardly come to know her at all.’
Peace and Love is a charming, unexpected step aside from the tales of Jack Fiskardo. There is a fleeting mention of Jack, a louring portrait in a long gallery, surrounded by his fellow fighters.
Next in the series is The Wanton Road.

Here are my reviews of the Jack Fiskardo series:-
THE SILVER WOLF #1FISKARDO’SWAR
THE DEAD MEN #2FISKARDO’SWAR

If you like this, try:-
‘Rush Oh!’ by Shirley Barrett
‘Orphans of the Carnival’ by Carol Birch
‘At the Edge of the Orchard’ by Tracy Chevalier

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview PEACE AND LOVE by JC Harvey @JCollissHarvey https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8IH via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Abir Mukherjee

#BookReview ‘Tell Me Everything’ by Elizabeth Strout @LizStrout #contemporary

Leave a reply

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout is about stories. Stories of people and the lives they lead. Stories of lost love, of childhood misadventures, affairs, strange occurrences, emotions, hate, regret. Set in Crosby, Maine, the stories told by so many characters familiar from other Strout books happen in parallel, they intersect, some are fleeting and unrelated to anything else. Elizabeth StroutThe spine of the story centres on Bob Burgess and his occasional conversations with Lucy Barton. In the way that friends do, they talk about family problems, difficulty with a brother, with a son, with a partner. They share vulnerabilities, many of which can be traced to childhood and still resonate today though Bob and Lucy are now in their sixties. They try to figure out human nature, if people mean what they say, what is thought but not said, why people are loyal or disloyal, how a child can love a parent but not like them, of the differing nature of grief. Lucy says, ‘…people just live their lives with no real knowledge of anybody …My point is that every person on this earth is so complicated, and we match up for a moment – or maybe a lifetime – with somebody because we feel that we are connected to them. And we are. But we’re not in a certain way, because nobody can go into the crevices of another’s mind, even the person can’t go into the crevices of their own mind.’
We see Olive Kitteridge in her care home, telling stories to Lucy and Lucy returning the favour. We also see Olive’s loneliness, critically at the news that her only friend in the home, Isabelle, is moving to the west coast. Bob takes on a murder case, defending a local man Matt Beach accused of murdering his elderly mother. Matt, something of a strange loner, turns out to be a secret painter of real talent, painting portraits that Bob thinks should be in a New York gallery. In the absence of another suspect, Matt appears guilty to the police who don’t know him.
Of course people don’t tell each other everything, some secrets are eventually shared, others remain hidden, even between partners some things are never told. So is Lucy right, is it impossible to ever truly know another person? Like all Strout’s Maine titles, Tell Me Everything can be read as a standalone novel or as companion to the other books. I did start reading and wonder, is this more of the same. But Strout’s writing and characterisation is bewitching in its truth, its honesty and its realism, so I quickly became lost in the stories.

Read my reviews of these other books by Elizabeth Strout:-
AMY & ISABELLE
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE
LUCY BY THE SEA
MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON
OH WILLIAM!
OLIVE KITTERIDGE
OLIVE, AGAIN

If you like this, try:-
‘Old God’s Time’ by Sebastian Barry
‘Smash all the Windows’ by Jane Davis
‘Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview TELL ME EVERYTHING by Elizabeth Strout @LizStrout https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8Ho via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- JC Harvey

#BookReview ‘The Croatian Island Library’ by Eva Glyn @JaneCable #Croatia #contemporary

5 Replies

One summer, three strangers sail a catamaran around the beautiful Croatian islands near Dubrovnik. Their joint mission is to bring library books to the islands’ children. Each member of the crew is running from something, a problem, a secret, a hidden past. The Croatian Island Library by Eva Glyn is a tale of ten weeks that changes lives. Eva Glyn Ana, owner of the catamaran, needs to earn money this summer or risks losing her boat, the ‘Dida Krila.’ Signing up for the library trial will, she hopes, win her a four-year contract and bring financial stability. If she fails, she will have no choice but to join the family oyster business. She employs two people. Lloyd, a widower and former teacher, will run the library part of the trip. Natali, a young mechanic who arrives on board with her tiny dog Obi, is so shy she seems frightened of her own shadow.
The first trip around the islands is about getting to know the job, and each other, while living in a confined space. Each person seems wrapped up in themselves, no one shares, there are tensions, awkwardnesses. When a purse is stolen near the library stall on one of the islands, there is an accusation of theft and the past comes roaring back to mess up the now. The future of the floating library is in danger and Ana, in her first role as a manager, feels out of her depth.
The hold of the past over the present is a theme running throughout the book. Ana has a decision to make when a former lover returns, seeking an answer about a deal which Ana never took seriously. Natali must summon the courage to change her life, move on from her difficult child, figure out what she wants and make it happen. Lloyd has an old mistake to acknowledge and set aside, and discover a new path forwards. No matter how Ana, Lloyd and Natali each, for their own reasons, want to forget, the past is not a forgotten world and its imprint is on every day today.
This is a story set in surroundings of such Mediterranean beauty but in the deep blue water and the green wooded hills, the shadows of war and tragedy remain. Glyn has created characters that stayed with me after I finished the book, she reminds us that love from family and friends is a gift, not an automatic right. Highly recommended.

Here are my reviews of other books by Eva Glyn:-
THE COLLABORATOR’S DAUGHTER
THE MISSING PIECES OF US
Eva Glyn is the pen name of author Jane Cable, here are my reviews of some of Jane’s other novels:-
ANOTHER YOU
ENDLESS SKIES
THE CHEESEMAKER’S HOUSE

If you this, try:-
‘The Lie of the Land’ by Amanda Craig
‘Akin’ by Emma Donoghue
‘The Girl in the Painting’ by Renita d’Silva

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE CROATIAN ISLAND LIBRARY by Eva Glyn @JaneCable https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8H0 via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Elizabeth Strout

#BookReview ‘The Indigo Ghosts’ by Alys Clare #historical #mystery

4 Replies

This series keeps getting better and better, The Indigo Ghosts by Alys Clare is so captivating I read it in twenty-four hours, picking it up at every opportunity. Third in the Gabriel Tavernier historical mystery series, former ship’s surgeon and now Devon doctor Gabriel faces an inexplicable case that challenges all he believes in, and all he knows to be scientifically true. Alys ClareOctober 1604. Called urgently by his old captain, Zeke Colt, to visit his former ship the Falco, now docked in Plymouth, Gabe walks into an atmosphere of fear, panic and superstition. The ship, everyone on board says, is haunted by a bad spirit, malevolent, making everyone ill. There have been deaths, visions, blue-skinned ghosts, a disgusting miasma that has overwhelmed the air.
Firmly disbelieving the ghost theory, Gabe is confident there will be a factual, scientific answer. But exploring the darkest, tiniest space in the hold – three paces by two – he discovers the source of the stink, finds a dead body, and sees a crocodile. Gabe returns to the Falco the next day with local coroner, his friend Theophilus Davey, and the body is removed for examination. Meanwhile the ship’s crew empty the barrel of waste and clean the area. More discoveries are made, nothing makes sense.
A trail of discoveries unveils an explanation both rational and wild. There is talk of spirits, possession, dark magic and cruelty impossible to imagine. In search of facts, Gabe traces the Falco’s final journey around the Caribbean and back home to Devon, and then re-reads the journals he kept when he was a young seafaring doctor sailing the Caribbean Sea. A solution suggests itself but seems too far-fetched to be possible. Assisted by the silent detection of Theo’s assistant, spiritual support and guidance from the local minister, and suggestions from his sister Celia, Gabe edges towards an answer.
A smashing book. The Indigo Ghosts is a tale of slavery, torture, fear and the worst that man can do to man. It’s about faith and what it can make a man do. And its about the goodness of Gaberiel Taverner, searching for the truth while defending his family and loved ones. This is a very readable series, a bit different from anything else out there that I’ve found.

Here are my reviews of the first two novels in this series:-
A RUSTLE OF SILK BY ALYS CLARE #1GABRIELTAVERNER
THE ANGEL IN THE GLASS #2GABRIELTAVERNER

If you like this, try:-
‘A Good Deliverance’ by Toby Clements
‘The Last Runaway’ by Tracy Chevalier
‘The Armour of Light’ by Ken Follett #4KINGSBRIDGE

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE INDIGO GHOSTS by Alys Clare https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8HO via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Eva Glyn

#BookReview ‘Death in the East’ by Abir Mukherjee @radiomukhers #crime #historical #India #Raj

1 Reply

Death in the East by Abir Mukherjee begins as Sam Wyndham, police captain and opium-addict, is on his way to Assam to dry out at an ashram when at a railway station he sees a man he thought was dead. And so begins a two-tier murder mystery dating back to Wyndham’s time as a London policeman before the Great War. Abir MukherjeeThe story alternates between Wyndham’s detoxification in 1922 and 1905 when he was a young constable. That was the last time he saw the dead man. The detoxification procedure at the ashram is brutal and haunted by the sighting of a man he thought dead, Sam’s withdrawal symptoms worsen. The present day merges with 1905 when a young woman was murdered in the East End of London and Sam begins to distrust his ability as a policeman. Is someone telling the truth, or lying. Is the death suspicious, or of natural causes. Should he investigate, or keep quiet.
Isolated in a hillside village without transport, Wyndham is five miles from back-up at the nearest Indian thana and 70 miles away from the district superintendent. He must take the decisions, and action, himself. When the body of a fellow addict is found in a stream, Wyndham trusts his instincts that something is wrong in Jatinga. A telegram sent to his assistant in Calcutta is sent without hope or expectation of a quick reply. Wyndham is on his own, physically weak from his purgative treatment, stepping fawn-like into his post-addiction life, unsure that his instinct for reading people is working. This provides a neat parallel with his youthful self in 1905 when, determined to uphold the rule of law, he is impatient with protocol, healthy, full of energy and a sense of justice. So when Sergeant Surendranath Banerjee finally arrives in Jatinga it seems fitting when he surveys the scene and comments, ‘I have noticed… that wherever you go, people tend to die.’
I missed the presence of Sergeant Banerjee throughout this novel, underlining for me that the inter-play between these two policemen is the delight of these books. The character arcs of Wyndham and Banerjee have moved on since the first novel as the relationship between the sahibs and Indians has also altered. Death in the East is fourth in the Wyndham & Banerjee series, next is The Shadows of Men. The trajectory of the two police officers, set within the changing parameters of power and justice in Raj-ruled India, promises much for the rest of the series.

Here are my reviews of the first three books in the Wyndham & Banerjee series:-
A RISING MAN #1WYNDHAM&BANERJEE
A NECESSARY EVIL #2WYNDHAM&BANERJEE
SMOKE AND ASHES #3WYNDHAM&BANERJEE

If you like this, try:-
‘The Vows of Silence’ by Susan Hill #4SIMONSERRAILLER
‘Dead Simple’ by Peter James #1ROYGRACE
‘The Diabolical Bones’ by Bella Ellis #2BRONTEMYSTERIES

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview DEATH IN THE EAST by Abir Mukherjee @radiomukhers https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8GB via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Alys Clare

#BookReview ‘Death Comes to Marlow’ by Robert Thorogood #cosycrime

Leave a reply

An ingenious closed room murder mystery is at the heart of Death Comes to Marlow, second in the Marlow Murder Club cosy crime series by Robert Thorogood. And no, although I had my suspicions about the murderer, I simply couldn’t work out how the crime was done. Robert ThorogoodThe friendship between the three ladies that we saw in the first book in the series, The Marlow Murder Club, is now firmly established. Crossword setter Judith Potts still goes for naked dips in the River Thames, vicar’s wife Becks is still quiet and afraid of offending anyone, and brash Suzie now has a regular spot as presenter on the local radio station. But each still has secrets and their own peculiar sensitivities, all of which figure in the solving of this crime. Sir Peter Bailey, a bigwig in Marlow, is getting married. Out of the blue, he telephones to invite Judith to the pre-wedding party. Judith, who has never met Sir Peter, is immediately on the alert that something is not right. He fears for his life and she suspects he wants her there as a witness to murder. So of course she takes her two friends with her. When there is an almighty crash of glass breaking, Sir Peter is found dead beneath an enormous wooden cabinet full of scientific equipment. Judith is immediately convinced it is murder, not an accident.
The twists and turns of this crime, the tangling of witness statements and the – decidedly inadmissible – tactics employed by the murder club enable Detective Sergeant Tanika Malik to piece together the truth. The three women are a formidable team, each bringing their own strengths to the problem-solving process. Judith looks for patterns, disruption to those patterns and glaring omissions in the vein of Sherlock Holmes’s ‘the curious incident of the dog in the night-time’, ie the dog that did not bark. Becks is attuned to social niceties, emotions and relationships. Suzie is pragmatic, with clarity she sees the nuts and bolts of the unappealing, the unattractive, and the low-life.
All the suspects have alibis. The key to the locked room was found in the victim’s pocket. There is a family feud, a missing will, secretive telephone calls and a resentful former wife. Tanika has been demoted from her acting detective role when her boss returns from sick leave and, although she believes Judith, Becks and Suzie when they shout murder, her boss doesn’t. So although the three ladies are free to snoop around and ask awkward questions, they do so without police back-up. There are plenty of red herrings, perhaps too many actually, and a secret being kept by Becks is ultimately shared.
Very clever, very entertaining. I gobbled it up.

Here’s are my reviews of two other books by Robert Thorogood:-
THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB #1MARLOWMURDERCLUB
THE KILLING OF POLLY CARTER #2DEATHINPARADISE

If you like this, try:-
‘Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley’ by MC Beaton #4AGATHARAISIN
‘Murder in the Snow’ by Verity Bright #4LADYELEANORSWIFT
‘Murder on the Dance Floor’ by Helena Dixon #4MISSUNDERHAY

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview DEATH COMES TO MARLOW by Robert Thorogood https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8FM via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Abir Mukherjee

#BookReview ‘The Voyage Home’ by Pat Barker #historical #myths

Leave a reply

A dirty, realistic, unflinching portrayal of the women taken hostage by the Greek victors at Troy, The Voyage Home by Pat Barker is unputdownable. I didn’t expect anything less having devoured the first two books in this trilogy, The Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy.Pat BarkerProphetess Cassandra, taken as war booty by King Agamemnon, is on the boat home; to Agamemnon’s home that is, not hers. After the battle, Cassandra and her maid Ritsa sail away from Troy towards Greece. Awaiting them are Queen Clytemnestra, who has governed in her husband’s absence, and his two remaining children Orestes and Electra. The post-war story told by these three women is familiar after many conflicts. Murder, abduction, rape, abuse, torture, child killing, looting, destruction, triumphalism. All have suffered during this ten-year-long men’s war. Cassandra, the priestess daughter of Trojan king Priam, may wear silk and decorate her hair with flowers, but she is as much a slave as Ritsa who was a noblewoman before her capture. Plagued by visions of her captor’s death, and her own, Cassandra is at times emotionally disturbed, at others she is defiant. Clytemnestra, full of vengeance for her husband’s sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia – in tribute to the gods in return for a fair wind to war – must smile and welcome his concubine to her home. But what a home; plagued by the long-dead voices, handprints and footprints of child ghosts, the palace is an unsettling place.
Witty and, in places, bloodthirsty, Barker writes about the abuse of these women with a delicacy and empathy that makes the pages turn quickly. I read this in two days. She writes with anger and disgust that seems modern, but these are age-old tales of men’s brutality. In a palace full of nightmares, murder is planned. These three women, slave and non-slave, are seeking retribution. But what is revenge? Is it a universal truth. Does it mean the same to each of these woman. Justice. Murder. Survival against the odds. Peace. The ability to rise each morning without fear. Does it mean striking the fatal blow yourself or watching someone else? I don’t see this as a feminist re-telling in which weak men receive their come-uppance. Barker shows the men are arrogant, conniving, self-seeking and brutal. The women can be strong, brutal, selfish and unlikeable too.
A brilliant end to this trilogy. Pat Barker brings mythology to life, making it relevant for life today. One to think about for days afterwards. Highly recommended.

Read my reviews of other Pat Barker novels:-
THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS #1WOMENOFTROY
THE WOMEN OF TROY #2WOMENOFTROY
LIFE CLASS #1LIFECLASS
TOBY’S ROOM #2LIFECLASS
NOONDAY #3LIFECLASS
ANOTHER WORLD
BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN
DOUBLE VISION
UNION STREET

If you like this, try:-
‘House of Names’ by Colm Tóibín
‘Stone Blind’ by Natalie Haynes
‘Sparrow’ by James Hynes

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE VOYAGE HOME by Pat Barker https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8Gl via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Robert Thorogood

#BookReview ‘The Story Spinner’ by Barbara Erskine @Barbaraerskine #historical

Leave a reply

The Story Spinner by Barbara Erskine is an absorbing time-lapse story which combines the lost romance between a Welsh princess and a Roman general with a modern-day archaeological-investigation, all knitted together by mythical connections, visions and a disappearing dog. Barbara ErskineThere are two distinct storylines. Cadi, ‘the observer, the unseen diarist, the only witness. The Novelist. The story spinner,’ is a modern-day poet with a mystic sensitivity to the people who lived on the ancient site next to her Welsh cottage. Supposed to be writing poetry based on a Welsh myth, instead she finds herself free-writing prose based on visions of the life of Elen, a Welsh princess living in 382AD. Little is known of her life as she appears in few historical documents. So when Cadi imagines Elen as a teenager, she unlocks the story of her marriage to a Roman general.
Cadi has always suspected that the meadow next to her cottage is the site of an ancient army camp. When she starts to hear marching footsteps and the sounds of soldiers on the move, she calls in her druid uncle, Professor Meryn Jones. Their excitement at the potential discovery is deflated by the news that the unknown owner of the meadow is seeking planning permission for a housing development. Draft plans show houses built right up to the hedge in Cadi’s back garden. Bereft at losing her sense of peace and isolation and being unable to walk in the beautiful meadow, she throws herself into investigation. During the day she talks to town planners and archaeologists. At night she sits with pen and notebook writing the story of Elen’s life. In channelling the story of Elen, Cadi also discovers fascinating characters including Branwen, a wise woman.
The unveiling of Elen’s life as a teenage bride and young mother, a Welsh princess who must subjugate herself to the authority of her husband, develops alongside the modern-day investigation into the meadow. Complicating the issue is the re-appearance in the village of Cadi’s ex, Ifan, who throughout their relationship was bullying and threatening. Cadi is afraid he is stalking her again.
This is a tale with complicated connections that Erskine handles with skill. I enjoyed this very much though it’s a trifle long for me, there are sections towards the end that I wanted to move a little quicker. Overall an unusual, compelling read.

Here’s my review of THE DREAM WEAVERS, also by Barbara Erskine.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Prophet’ by Martine Bailey #2TABITHAHART
‘The Confessions of Frannie Langton’ by Sara Collins
‘The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock’ by Imogen Hermes Gowar

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE STORY SPINNER by Barbara Erskine @Barbaraerskine https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8Fb via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Pat Barker