Review: The Last Summer (#1 The Wild Isle) by Karen Swan

I love Karen Swan and was really excited to read her new historical novel. It's a departure from her usual women's fiction/Christmas novels but just as fabulous!

Set in 1930, teenager Effie Gillies lives on the remote island of St Kilda, one of a dwindling population of only 36 people. It is a harsh life, with no amenities and a constant battle against the elements. Due to her elder brother's death and her father's growing frailty, Effie has become the family's main wage earner. She dresses like one of the men, hunts for their food and is one of the best climbers on the island. However, a daring stunt to win a race down the cliff-face against one of the island boys inadvertently impresses two important visitors to the island: the Earl of Dumfries and his twenty-three-year-old son Sholto. The Earl is obsessed with collecting rare bird's eggs and hires Effie to show him and Sholto the island, much to the annoyance of the other villagers. Having much in common (apart from from their class) Effie and Sholto soon become friends but will their friendship survive the islanders' evacuation to the mainland, where it soon becomes clear Sholto lives in a whole other world?

The Last Summer is a poignant story of first love. Effie and Sholto come from very different backgrounds but share a love of outdoor life and nature, particularly birds. When the islanders vote to be evacuated to mainland Scotland, it is a huge culture shock for Effie, who is used to the freedoms of island life and being treated like a man. She wears a too-big skirt held up by a bent nail, walks around barefoot and has never seen her reflection in a mirror. Now she is forced to conform and hide who she really is.

Running alongside Effie and Sholto's fledgling romance is a tale of murder and intrigue. While Effie manages to win over new friends and colleagues with her artless charm, she also makes dangerous enemies. What really happened on that last day on the island and will it come back to haunt her?

Meticulously researched, The Last Summer is one of those books that makes you believe you are actually there, from the wilds of St Kilda to a stately home in Scotland - Downton Abbey fans will love that part! The characters are brilliant and I particularly loved Effie. The only snag for me was that the book ended very abruptly, on a major cliff-hanger! Aargh! 

However, The Last Summer is a five-star read and I have no hesitation in recommending it to Karen Swan's fans and anyone who loves historical fiction with a strong sense of place.

Thank you to Karen Swan and Pan for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

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The Christmas Party by Karen Swan
The Hidden Beach by Karen Swan

Together by Christmas by Karen Swan

The Secret Path by Karen Swan

Midnight in the Snow by Karen Swan

Review: A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier

I adore Tracy Chevalier's books and couldn't wait to read this one, which jumped straight to the top of my TBR pile.

A Single Thread is set in the 1930s, when single women were considered 'surplus' because so many men of that generation had died during the First World War. Violet Speedwell lost both her fiance and her brother. After years being worn down by her mother's relentlessly negative comments and outlook, Violet realises she has to make some drastic changes to her life. She starts by moving from Southampton to Winchester and taking on a new job. At first she is lonely, as the women in her office are much younger and they don't seem to have anything in common. But she relishes her independence and soon makes friends with a group of women who embroider kneeling cushions at Winchester Cathedral. Yet soon the threat of another war looms.

While I love historical novels, I hate sewing and anything 'crafty', so in theory I'm not the target audience for this story! However, Tracy's skill at creating fascinating characters soon drew me in and I couldn't put the book down. I particularly loved Violet's fellow 'broderers'; Gilda and her sweet love affair with Dorothy, and also Louisa, who rebelled against the Nazis in her own unique way. I know Winchester and the cathedral very well, and enjoyed reading about all the familiar landmarks. The only thing I wasn't so keen on was the man Violet became obsessed with, as I didn't feel he deserved her. I did like the ending though!

I really enjoyed reading A Single Thread, which is almost a love letter to Winchester Cathedral and the unsung heroes who have worked there over the centuries. I can see it appealing to anyone who enjoys historical novels, particularly those set in the early 20th century.

Thank you to Tracy Chevalier and The Borough Press (Harper Collins UK) for my copy of this book, which I requested via NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

Review: Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

Dark Matter is a ghost story with a difference. Instead of the traditional haunted house, it takes place on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the middle of an Arctic winter - four months of complete darkness.

The story is told in the form of a journal written in 1937 by Jack Miller. Impoverished by misfortune, he feels he's missed out on fulfilling his dream of being a physicist and jumps at the chance to go on an Arctic expedition. But one by one each member of his team falls by the wayside and soon he is left completely alone in the snowy wilderness. Or is he?

"Gruhuken seems to have had a dismal past. I don't want any of it poking through."

Dark Matter is not the kind of thing I usually read (Arctic expedition, etc) but I absolutely loved it. The style of writing, the incredible detail about life in the Arctic - the amount of research the author must have undertaken! Menace is slowly built up, layer upon layer, until the shocking truth of what happened at Gruhuken is revealed. My nerves were shredded.

If you're looking for a thoroughly chilling (in more ways than one!) Halloween read - this is it. Also, great illustrations! Recommended!

Note: The book is shorter than it looks. On Kindle it ended at 85%. The remainder is made up of the author's notes (fascinating!), a Q&A, and a sample of her next book.

Review: The Lost Village (Ghost Hunters #2) by Neil Spring

I was attracted to this book by the deliciously creepy cover - I do love a traditional ghost story! At the time, I had not read the first book in the series (The Ghost Hunters) but I had seen the ITV adaptation. With hindsight, I should have read The Ghost Hunters first. I have now! There is quite a lot of past history between the main characters, Harry Price and Sarah Grey, explaining their unusual relationship - although the author does cover this in the early chapters.

The Lost Village starts in 1978 when Sarah hears a news story about the discovery of a child's remains in an uninhabited village on Salisbury Plain. It then cuts to 1932, when Sarah and Harry turn up at the same village - used as a training ground by the British Army - to investigate exactly what it is about the place that has got the soldiers so spooked.

The story was far scarier than the first one in the series, quite dark in places, and there are some genuinely chilling moments. While I loved the character of Harry Price in the first novel, here he doesn't seem quite so likeable. And although I can relate to Sarah being fascinated by such a larger-than-life character, I couldn't quite see that there was any more to their relationship than that.

Having said that, I did enjoy The Lost Village. While it didn't terrify me, it was scary enough to raise a few chills. I loved the setting of an abandoned village. There was also a spooky old house, church bells that rang themselves, séances, lots of double-crossing, and a few good twists I didn't see coming. I loved the scene at the end, when Imber's secret was revealed, although the final revelation was possibly a twist too far.

If you're in the mood for a gothic ghost story, The Lost Village makes the perfect Halloween read - but I would definitely recommend reading the first book in the series before this one, to fully appreciate the three main characters and their relationship with each other. 


Rating: 4.5 rounded up to 5 stars

I was lucky enough to read an advance copy. The Lost Village will be published on 19th October 2017.

Thank you to Neil Spring, Quercus, and Netgalley for my copy of this book, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

Related Post:

Review: The Ghost Hunters by Neil Spring

Review: The Ghost Hunters by Neil Spring

As a teenager I devoured ghost stories, particularly true-life ghost stories, and I soon learnt about Borley Rectory, 'the most haunted house in England' and the man who investigated it - Harry Price. So I was thrilled to discover this series of books written by Neil Spring (the second one is called The Lost Village), which give a fictional account of Harry Price's most famous cases.

The real-life Harry Price was a fascinating, larger-than-life character, and this comes across very well. Despite the title, the book is more historical mystery than ghost story, although there are a few chilling moments towards the end. It covers a twenty year period and, in addition to Borley Rectory, there are accounts of Harry's other well-known cases - he was famous for exposing fake mediums and 'haunted' house hoaxes. The book is packed with historical detail, and the nerd in me loved the illustrations, photographs, floor plans of the rectory, and the newspaper 'cuttings' about other ghostly legends. I loved the character of Harry, even though he was deeply flawed and (in the story) seemed to let down his friends and family on a regular basis.

Fans of traditional ghost stories and jump shocks should look elsewhere for their thrills, but if you love historical mysteries about real-life people and places, with a hint of the paranormal, then this is the book for you. Recommended - and I do love that cover! 


Related Post:

Review: The  Lost Village (Ghost Hunters #2) by Neil Spring

Review: The Faithful by Juliet West

I loved the cover of this book and the plot intrigued me. I don't read many books set in the 1930s and it's a period that I don't know much about. I had heard of Oswald Mosley and the blackshirts, and I thought it an interesting choice of background for a novel, so I couldn't wait to read the book.

The story starts in West Sussex in 1935. Sixteen year old Hazel has been mainly left on her own for the summer with just the family housekeeper for company. Lots of opportunity for mischief! Her father has gone to live and work in Paris with his mistress, and her mother keeps flitting off to London with her married lover. Hazel's family are well-to-do and they live in a big house with only an old flint wall dividing their garden from the beach. When Hazel sees a group of people in uniform set up camp on the beach she is fascinated. These are Oswald Mosley's 'blackshirts', the British Union of Fascists, and when Hazel sees them parade through the town she thinks they are very glamorous.

Tom, a young working class lad from Lewisham, feels differently. He is at the camp with his parents, who are attracted to Oswald Mosley's party because of the apparent anti-war stance, but he is already starting to question the blackshirts' politics. And then he meets Hazel.

The Faithful is a coming-of-age story, about two young people who make choices and then have to live with the consequences of their actions. Because the characters were so engaging I found their story completely gripping. It is very well written and I loved all the descriptions of Sussex at the height of summer and the period detail about the 1930s - although I did find myself wincing every time Hazel lit up yet another cigarette! From my 21st century viewpoint, I also found it hard to understand why Hazel continued her association with the blackshirts after she realised exactly what they stood for. But I could appreciate she had a good reason, which I won't go into because of spoilers.

The story is divided into three parts. Part one ends just before a pivotal event, and part two continues a year after that event. It was not hard to guess what that event was, and I would have preferred to have read about it as it happened, rather than have it hinted at later in the story.

Beside Hazel and Tom, the other viewpoints are Hazel's rather selfish mother Francine, bitterly seeing her youth slipping away from her and, by contrast, Tom's mother Bea, who would do anything to protect her son. They are both flawed characters, which I always find interesting and, like their offspring, they both made choices that would affect the rest of their lives. I did feel that Francine's story could have been developed a bit more, and there were a few other issues/questions I'd have liked to have seen resolved at the end.

But I did really enjoy reading The Faithful and would certainly recommend it to anyone who loves reading historical fiction. It would probably appeal to fans of family sagas too. I'm planning on lending my copy to my mother, who loves this kind of thing - but she had better let me have it back!


Thank you to Mantle/Pan Macmillan for providing me with an advance review copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Review: A Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys

I'm a sucker for a pretty cover, and it was the cover of this book that made me download it, as I had never heard of the author*. From the vintage look and the blurb, I got it into my head the story was going to be a glamorous 'golden age' murder mystery set on board a ship. A kind of Agatha Christie meets Downton Abbey. In fact, the story is a very clever psychological suspense - one of those stories that slowly draws you in and builds up the tension until you can practically feel it closing in on you.

The story is about Lily Shepherd, who is travelling from England to Australia on the Orontes as part of the Government's assisted-passage scheme. Once she arrives, she will apply to work as a maid in one of the large houses in Sydney. It is 1939, and Britain is on the brink of war. Why would Lily want to leave her family, whom she loves very much, and travel to the other side of the world to work in domestic service - something she has sworn she would never do again?

Lily will be sharing her cabin with Audrey and Ida, two former chambermaids from Claridge's Hotel. While Audrey is friendly, Lily takes an instinctive dislike to Ida, who can't seem to say anything nice. At dinner, Lily finds herself seated on the same table as Edward and Helena Fletcher, a brother and sister who appear to have fallen on hard times. Lily is increasingly attracted to the good-looking Edward, but he seems to be obsessed with glamorous socialite Eliza Campbell. Eliza, meanwhile, takes Lily under her wing, paying for her excursions and lending her designer clothes - but are her motives entirely altruistic?

I loved the incredibly detailed descriptions of life on board the Orontes, and the places Lily visited, from the pyramids of Egypt to a Buddhist temple in Ceylon. I felt as though I'd travelled back in time and was taking the cruise along with Lily. The cast of characters, who all seemed to be running away from something, were fascinating. The author allows the reader to get to know character in turn, letting us discover their real personalities one flaw at a time. Which character's behaviour will result in their murder? Which character will be goaded into carrying out that murder?

A Dangerous Crossing is an absorbing and compelling read about an eclectic cast of characters forced into claustrophobic proximity with people they would normally cross the street to avoid. I loved it! Also, what a brilliant title!

If you love reading historicals with a bit of a mystery, or tightly-wound psychological suspense, you will love this book. If you're a fan of fast-paced murder mysteries then this might not suit, as the first murder does not take place until a good three quarters of the way through the book.

*Rachel Rhys is the pen name of Tammy Cohen/Tamar Cohen

Thank you to Rachel Rhys, Doubleday and Netgalley for my copy of this book, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

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