Tag: bookblog

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Goodbye Birdie Greenwing by Ericka Waller

Synopsis

Birdie, Ada and Jane are all lost. Life has not turned out as they planned, and all three of them are scared to ask for help, to say yes – or to say no. To take a chance on someone else.

Birdie Greenwing has been at a loose end ever since her beloved twin sister and husband passed away eight years previously. Too proud and stubborn to admit she is lonely, Birdie’s world has shrunk.

Jane Brown hoped moving to Brighton would be a new start, away from her overbearing mother.

While she finds it hard to stand up for herself, her daughter Frankie has no problem telling people what she does and doesn’t want.

Ada Kowalski thought training to become an Oncologist in England would be a dream come true. In reality she is isolated, exhausted, the professional detachment she has had to develop now threatens to take over her life.

When a series of incidents brings their lives crashing together, these three unlikely allies find that there’s always more to a person than meets the eye.

Review

What a fabulous book 🩷

“Grief is love with nowhere to go after all”

All the feels, heartwarming, with incredible characters, strong, sensitive, caring,

You get so invested in them, just delightful.

You’ll cry, you’ll laugh, you’ll be left wondering why you’re not part of their community, and how to go about getting there!

A powerful story, thought provoking and compelling, a beauty on grief, love, family, friendship, human connections, but more importantly about life.

Just wonderful – make sure to pick up your copy and recommend it to everyone !

Out now with Doubleday Books.

About Ericka Waller

Ericka Waller is 38 and lives in Brighton with three daughters, too many pets and a husband. 

She is an award winning blogger and columnist.

When not writing she can be found walking her dogs, reading in the bath or buying stuff off eBay.

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The Innocents by Bridget Walsh

Thank you ever so much to the lovely people over at Gallic Books for sending me an ARC of this second book in The Variety Palace Mystery series! I was also lucky enough to be gifted a bonus copy of the first installment in the series (The Tumbling Girl) which I listened to in audiobook format last year!

—Synopsis—

The Variety Palace Music Hall is in trouble, due in no small part to a gruesome spate of murders that unfolded around it a few months previously. 

Between writing, managing the music hall and trying to dissuade her boss from installing a water tank in the building, Minnie Ward has her hands full. Her complicated relationship with detective Albert Easterbrook doesn’t even bear thinking about. 

But when a performer’s brother mysteriously goes missing, Minnie and Albert are thrown together once more. Then another body is found dead in a trunk, and a strange connection starts to emerge. 

The crimes will propel the unlikely duo into the shady world of illegal gambling, dog fighting and monkey kidnappings as they trace things back to a tragedy that took place fourteen years ago, leaving 183 children dead. And given that the incident touched so many people’s lives, everyone is a suspect…

—Review—

I only have one request, and it is pretty simple: please Bridget, we want more and more of Minnie and Albert! What a treat these books are, I cannot recommend them enough!

The writing is simply exquisite, you are transported straight to the Victorian times, you can hear the hooves of the horses and the carriages, you can smell the streets of London, feel the damp and the fog, hear the sounds of the bustling life from those times!

The characters are so deep, so accomplished, you cannot help but get totally immersed in their lives and invested in their fate. Their relationships are complex and engrossing, nothing is out of place, nothing is superflus.

Can they find the culprit before it’s too late? Can Minnie continue to keep the Palace afloat whilst Tansie recuperate? Is she safe? Who can she trust?

The plot is ever so clever, fast paced, twisting and turning, gripping, keeping you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.

This is definitely my new favourite crime series, so, dear reader, join me in discovering how Minnie and Albert get to solve this latest streak of murders… To be devoured!

If you haven’t read the first book in the series (The Tumbling Girl); fear not! You won’t get lost, but it is such a shame and in my humble opinion you should remedy this straight away! I’ve popped the synopsis below to tempt you a bite more!

—About The Author—

Bridget Walsh was born in London to Irish immigrant parents. She studied English literature and was an English teacher for 23 years, before leaving the profession to pursue her writing. Bridget lives in Norwich with her husband, Micky, and her two dogs. 

The manuscript of Bridget’s debut novel, THE TUMBLING GIRL, written on the MA Creative Writing (Crime Fiction) course at UEA, won the UEA Little, Brown Award for Crime Fiction 2019. She has completed the second title in the Minnie Ward and Albert Easterbrook series, THE INNOCENTS. THE TUMBLING GIRL was published by Gallic Books in May 2023, with THE INNOCENTS to follow in 2024.

Visit Bridget’s website
Follow Bridget on Twitter and Instagram

—About The Tumbling Girl (Variety Palace Mysteries 1)—

The first of the sharp, witty Variety Palace Mysteries, THE TUMBLING GIRL sees an unlikely duo team up to solve a grisly spate of murders.

1876, Victorian London. Minnie Ward, a feisty scriptwriter for the Variety Palace Music Hall, is devastated when her best friend is found brutally murdered. She enlists the help of boxer-turned-private detective Albert Easterbrook to help her find justice.

Together they navigate London, from its high-class clubs to its murky underbelly. But as the bodies pile up, they must rely on one another if they’re going to track down the killer – and make it out alive . . .

A gripping debut to delight fans of historical crime.

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Blessed Water by Margot Douaihy

Sister Holiday is back!! Thanks so much to Emily over @Pushkin Press for having me on the blog tour of the second installment of the Sister Holiday series!

—Synopsis—

Tattooed from her neck to her toes and sporting a gold tooth as sharp as her wisecracks, Sister Holiday struggles to stay on the righteous path. She’s committed both to taking her permanent vows with the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and joining Magnolia Riveaux’s latest venture, Redemption Detective Agency-both in service of satisfying her eternal quest for answers.

When Sister Holiday and Riveaux set out to bust a philandering husband, they instead find the body of a priest floating in the Mississippi river, and with it, Redemption’s next case.

As a torrential rainstorm drowns New Orleans for three harrowing days over Easter weekend, Sister Holiday and Riveaux follow the clues. With the stakes rising alongside the relentless floodwaters, our favourite punk nun- sleuth throws herself into the deep end yet again.

—Review—

“The rain tried to wash us away that weekend. Or bless us, hold us under until the last breath. Every end a beginning.”

Our favourite queer, rock & roll, unconventional nun continues to sleuth around, but this time it’s even closer to home…

Saint Sebastian’s own Father Reese has been murdered, mutilated; Father Nathan is now missing… Who’s a friend? Who’s a foe?

We’re back in Sister Holiday’s beloved New Orleans, still a character in its own right, but this time facing raging storm and deluge.

Can Sister Holiday do it all, can she face the challenges this Easter weekend is bringing to her doorstep? Can her sobriety, her sanity and her faith sustain it all?

Why is her own brother Moose suddenly back? What does he want?

With everything on the verge of irreparable catastrophe, get swept away on Sister Holiday’s race against time to elucidate this latest mystery, find Father Nathan and the culprit before it’s too late, before the water engulfs it all, cleanses the evidence and sins, drowns the innocents and silences the truth.

A brilliant noir whodunnit which will delight those seeking unconventional mysteries!

Out now with Pushkin Press.

—About the Author—

Margot Douaihy lives in Northampton, MA, and teaches creative writing at Emerson College. Scorched Grace, the first of Douaihy’s Sister Holiday Mysteries, was named a best book of 2023 by Apple Books, BookPage and Marie Claire, among others. She is also the author of the poetry collections Bandit/Queen: The Runaway Story of Belle Starr, Scranton Lace, and Girls Like You.

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Diva by Daisy Goodwin

Simply fabulous! I was lucky enough to listen to the audiobook thanks to Netgalley and Head of Zeus Audiobooks, and it was such a treat! 

—Synopsis—

In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas is known simply as la divina: the divine one. With her glorious voice, instinctive flair for the dramatic and striking beauty, she’s the toast of the grandest opera houses in the world. Yet her fame has been hard won: raised in Nazi-occupied Greece by a mother who mercilessly exploited her, Maria learned early in life how to protect herself.

When she meets the fabulously rich shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis, her isolation melts away. For the first time in her life, she believes she’s found a man who sees the woman rather than the legendary soprano. Desperately in love, Onassis introduces her to a life of unbelievable luxury, mixing with celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

And then, suddenly, it’s over. The international press announce that Onassis will marry the most famous woman in the world, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, leaving Maria to pick up the pieces.

In this remarkable novel, Daisy Goodwin brings to life a woman whose extraordinary talent, unremitting drive and natural chic made her a legend. But it was only in confronting the heartbreak of losing the man she loved that Maria Callas found her true voice.

—Review—

When thinking about opera, is there anyone more famous, more magnificent than Maria Callas that comes to mind? 

Personally I can’t conjure up anyone that was such a legend! And yet I found myself realising that I knew very little of Maria Callas as a person, as a woman. 

Even if this book is a work of fiction, thanks to Daisy Goodwin’s gorgeous prose and research I was able to dive into La Divina’s psyche, what was driving her, her flaws, her extraordinary force. 

She was a fierce and powerful woman, a pioneer who merged her personal experience with her work, bringing to life her characters by drawing from her own feelings, transcending her voice and body, translating her profound quest for love into her performances. A true inspiration ! 

“And what is the secret to the great diva’s success I wonder? Maria lifted her chin “hard work, plenty of it and high standards. I don’t let anything obstruct my pursuit of excellence”.
You sound like a general said Onassis licking the caviar from his lips. Maria looked directly at him: Great Art is domination. It’s making people believe for that  precise moment in time there’s only one way, one voice, mine.”

The writing is exquisite, you can hear the words sing, the notes in each phrase, and in the audio version there are also pieces sang by Callas herself which makes the experience all the more immersive! 

The narrator is fabulous and brings a lot to the story, I personally think this was perfection as an audiobook, the best way to travel back in time and meet the greatest opera singer of all times. 

it’s out on 14 March 2024 so hurry up and get yourself a copy!

—About the Author—

Discover Daisy Goodwin’s website, bio and more at https://www.daisygoodwin.co.uk

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🦋 Weyward by Emilia Hart🦋

What a stunner of a debut! I am so grateful to have had the chance to win a proof from the lovely Harper Reader’s Room Team. Last year was such a whirlwind that I never got round to posting my review, so I thought that paperback publication would be the perfect opportunity to redeem myself!

—Synopsis—

Three women, five centuries, one spellbinding story.

In the present day, Kate flees a traumatic relationship to the Cumbrian cottage she inherited from her great-aunt; but the cottage hides secrets of its own.

In 1942, Violet rebels against her father’s ideas of a ‘proper young lady’ . . . until he takes matters into his own hands.

In 1619, Altha is on trial for witchcraft, implicated in the gruesome death of a local man.

Three women they tried to cage – but Weyward women belong to the wild. And they cannot be tamed…

—Review—

Altha 1619
Violet 1942
Kate 2019
The Weyward Women… witches? Or simply women at one with nature and the elements? 

“’Sight is a funny thing,’ my mother used to say. ‘Sometimes it shows us what is before our eyes. But sometimes it shows us what has already happened, or will yet come to pass?‘”

In this incredible debut, Hart has managed to capture the animalistic nature of the bonds uniting women, especially mothers and daughters. How it is engrained in our DNA, being passed on through generations. There is no escaping it, there is something deeply magical and compelling about it. 

A feminist tale, a powerful exploration of motherhood, of the fierceness of women, their determination and their protective nature, this is a novel  that will stay with you for a long time. 

With its cleverly woven plot and character driven story, all those secrets will keep you on the edge of your seat and ensure you devour this beauty as quickly as possible.

A truly accomplished and incredible debut which was one of my favourite books of 2023!

With Love,
AGJ

Out now with Borough Press – in Hardback, Paperback, E-format and Audio.

—My favourite excerpt-–

Below is a passage from the book that really resonated with me and that shows how beautiful and compelling the writing is.

“She hadn’t known it would be like this.
Now, in the mirror, Kate assesses herself. The strong lines of her limbs, the new spread of her hips. Her belly, with its growing curve.
Her breasts amaze her – the darkening of the nipples, the veins that glow blue and bright beneath her skin. The mole on her breastbone has darkened, too: ruby deepening to crimson. Even her skin is different – it is smoother, thicker. As if she is armoured. Armoured and ready, to protect her daughter. The force of it – this love that surges in her veins – shocks her. As does the searing clarity that she will do anything, whatever is necessary, to keep her child safe.
Unbidden, the day of the accident flashes in her mind. Her father’s hand on her shoulder, rough and desperate, pushing her out of the way of the oncoming car. Had he felt this way, too? She blinks the memory away, refocuses her gaze on the woman in the mirror. A woman she can barely recognise as herself.
She looks – and feels – powerful.”

—About the author—

Emilia Hart is a British-Australian writer. She was born in Sydney and studied English Literature and Law at the University of New South Wales before working as a lawyer in Sydney and London. Emilia is a graduate of Curtis Brown Creative’s Three Month Online Novel Writing Course and was Highly Commended in the 2021 Caledonia Novel Award. Her short fiction has been published in Australia and the UK. She lives in London. You can follow Emilia on Twitter at @EmiliaHartBooks.

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Small Hours by Bobby Palmer

Thank you very much to Graeme, Headline and NetGalley for the opportunity to read in advance! This beauty will be out on 14 March and is available to pre-order!

–Synopsis–

If you stood before sunrise in this wild old place, looking through the trees into the garden, here’s what you’d see:

A father and son, a fox standing between them.

Jack, home for the first time in years, still determined to be the opposite of his father.

Gerry, who would rather talk to animals than the angry man back under his roof.

Everything that follows is because of the fox, and because Jack’s mother is missing. It spans generations of big dreams and lost time, unexpected connections and things falling apart, great wide worlds and the moments that define us.

If you met them in the small hours, you’d begin to piece together their story.

–Thoughts–

What a beautiful and powerful book! 

Isaac and the Egg was one of my book of the year in 2022 and this new novel didn’t disappoint.

Full of wit and emotions, Palmer is such a clever writer, who definitely made me tear up quite a few times!

Embark on this amazing story about one’s journey through life, finding what matters, what was lost, what we didn’t know we needed. 

Using a fox this time to help Jack find himself, navigate family, unexpected loss and reconnect with his roots, he’s there to guide him to understand the world around him, the world he left behind and the world he’s about to step in. 

As he tries to find his way back, the fox will open his eyes, allow him to find empathy and understand others.

–About the Author–

BOBBY PALMER is an author and journalist whose writing has appeared in GQ, Esquire, Men’s Health, Cosmopolitan and more. He is co-host of the literary podcast Book Chat with Pandora Sykes. His critically acclaimed debut, Isaac and the Egg, was published in 2022. Small Hours is his second novel. Visit http://www.bobbypalmer.co.uk for more news about Bobby and his writing or follow him on X and Instagram @thebobpalmer.

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Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

Thanks a lot to Tara and Pushkin Press for having me on the tour! I loved reading this book and couldn’t help but hear the song “Le Brio (Branchez la guitare)” by Big Soul during!

Synopsis

When Saint Sebastian’s School becomes the target of a shocking arson spree, the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and their surrounding community are thrust into chaos. Unsatisfied with the officials’ response, sardonic and headstrong Sister Holiday becomes determined to unveil the mysterious attacker herself and return her home and sanctuary to its former peace. Her investigation leads down a twisty path of suspicion and secrets in the sticky, oppressive New Orleans heat, turning her against colleagues, students, and even fellow Sisters along the way.

Sister Holiday is more faithful than most, but she’s no saint. To piece together the clues of this high-stakes mystery, she must first reckon with the sins of her chequered past – and neither task will be easy.

An exciting start to Margot Douaihy’s bold series that breathes new life into the hard-boiled genre, Scorched Grace is a fast-paced and punchy whodunnit that will keep readers guessing until the very end.

Review

Meet Sister Holiday. Complex, flawed, and well… a nun!

“Sleuthing and stubbornness were my gifts from God, tools They knew I could use.”

Set in New Orleans, which becomes a character of its own, lending its heat and oppressiveness to the story so well, appearances can be deceiving.

She’s definitely not your typical sleuth, but she’s determined, obsessed even, with finding out who desecrated her new home, her school and instilled fear into her Order.

Heavily tattooed, part of a punk band, queer and rebellious, she couldn’t be further from what one would imagine a nun’s background be like. But that’s the beauty behind those words, no bias, even with shame and secrets, you can find a home and a sense of belonging.

Anti-hero, sometimes unlikeable, Sister Holiday has a dark past and a short temper. Always pushing the limits, but as you get to know her, you get to understand why she chose a path of penance, and why the vengeful hunt is part of her core. But despite all of this, her heart isn’t as black as one might think.

Cleverly written, unconventional and entertaining, this book sets to break the boundaries of the genre and Douaihy has started a very interesting series here! If you want to enter the world of the Order of The Sublime Blood, pick up a copy now!

With Love,

AGJ

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The Girls, by Bella Osborne and narrated by Julia Franklin

Thank you so much to Danielle at The Reading Closet, Isis Audio and Ulverscroft for having me on this audiobook tour!

—Synopsis—

Four old friends. Thrown back together after forty years apart. What could possibly go wrong?

In the 1970s, The Girls were best friends sharing a house and good times: Zara the famous diva actor, Val the uptight solicitor, Jackie the wild child and Pauline the quirky introvert. Now they’re in their twilight years, and Zara suggests that they live with her to support each other through old age.

Initially, being housemates again is just as much fun as in their heyday. But then Zara reveals the real reason she asked them to move in with her, and suddenly things take a sinister turn.

As the women confront their demons they come under the spotlight of the press, the police and an angry parrot. With their lives spiralling out of control can they save their friendships and each other?

—Review—

Meet “The Girls”: Jackie, Val, Pauline and Zara. What a fun and endearing bunch to get to know!

Each their strengths, each their flaws, each their own agenda. But how much of it is truly their own decision? As they agree to move to France and all share a house together again; and as the days go by, it becomes clear that Zara’s hand has been more than a little helpful!

What lurks behind Val’s serious, guarded and sensible nature? Why is Jackie so loud and exuberant? What secrets do Pauline keep behind her naive but ever so sweet facade? What is Zara hiding behind the theatrics, glamour and drama?

As you untangle each of their demons, past regrets and ulterior motives, you get to experience this lovely portrayal of friendship, not always rosy but always worth it when you have the best of friends to come together with. You might have drifted apart for 40 years but when it’s real, it’s always like no time has passed, especially in the light of mystery!

This book is the perfect antidote to a reading slump, ideal as an audiobook, and great companion for walks, chores or sunbathing, whatever you lovely bunch do when listening to audiobooks!

And if you’re not an audio convert yet, this is definitely a perfect one to get started, brilliantly narrated by Julia Franklin!

With the right amount of love and quirkiness, treat yourselves to this easy, funny, sensitive and engaging listen! You will devour it quickly!

With Love
AGJ

Out now with Ulverscroft, available on Audible and other trade download platforms, on the digital library platform ulibrary, and on physical CD and MP3 both in libraries and from th website The Reading House. https://thereadinghouse.co.uk/

—About Bella Osborne—

Bella has been jotting down stories as far back as she can remember but decided that 2013 would be the year that she finished a full length novel.

In 2016, her debut novel, ‘It Started At Sunset Cottage’, was shortlisted for the Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year and RNA Joan Hessayon New Writers Award.

Bella’s stories are about friendship, love and coping with what life throws at you. She likes to find the humour in the darker moments of life and weaves these into her stories. Her novels are often serialised in four parts ahead of the full book publication.

Bella believes that writing your own story really is the best fun ever, closely followed by talking, eating chocolate, drinking fizz and planning holidays.

She lives in The Midlands, UK with her lovely husband and wonderful daughter, who thankfully, both accept her as she is (with mad morning hair and a penchant for skipping).

For more about Bella, visit her website at https://www.bellaosborne.com/ or follow her on Social Media: Twitter: @osborne_bella, Instagram: bellaosborneauthor, Facebook: BellaOsborneAuthor.

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The People Next Door by Tony Parsons

Thank you so much Tony for kindly getting your publicist to send me a proof! What a gripping and brilliant new book you have gifted me! So enthralling I couldn’t put it down!

—Synopsis—

Lana and Roman Wade have fled the city for a little corner of paradise, exchanging their flat with its unhappy memories for a small honey-coloured house among the rolling green hills of Oxfordshire. Their new home, set in a residential Close known as The Gardens, is their dream and their new neighbours are charming. 

So why is Lana feeling so uneasy?

Lana and Roman may seem like an attractive, popular couple. But they are also a couple with a secret; a secret buried in the life they have left behind, a secret they have shared with no-one. 

But their new neighbours – these charming, affluent men and women in the Gardens – have secrets of their own. Terrible secrets; unimaginable secrets that include the apparently happy family who lived – and tragically died – in Lana and Roman’s new home.

As Lana struggles to adjust to her new life in Paradise, she becomes convinced that her new neighbours are hiding something from her, something connected with the deaths of the family who lived in her house before she did, something that could put her own life in danger…

—Review—

“Bad things can – and do – happen everywhere” 

Meet Lana and Roman. 

Desperate to start afresh, and escape their past trauma, they decide to leave the city for this gorgeous house in an idyllic Cotswolds village… too good to be true? The price certainly is! 

So what does that hide..? You might have guessed it, something quite dramatic. 

As they try to settle in and meet their new neighbours, something shifts between them. 

Who are all of those people living in The Gardens? What lies behind their friendliness and neighbourliness? What secrets does this community hold? Who can you trust?

Cleverly switching between Lana and Roman’s points of view, Tony Parsons shares with us a brilliant exploration of the human psyche in the face of tragedy. In this one entity that is the couple, even for people living under the same roof, facing the same events, their respective experiences turn out to be dramatically different. 

As much as Roman tries to fit in, going along with whatever game is being played in this street, Lana slowly descends into madness and paranoia.

Strange things keep on happening, kindness turns into control, the sense of uneasiness grows and grows. 

How does one cope when the line between right and wrong, truth and deceit, is suddenly blurred? How do you pierce behind the masks and pretenses you are faced with? Do you even try to? How far would you go for love, to fit in?

Absolutely gripping, perfectly crafted plot with unexpected twists and turns, complex characters, embedding a love story within a psychological thriller, this book is perfection!

With Love
AGJ

Out now in hardback and e-book with Century Books

—About Tony Parsons—

Tony Parsons is a bestselling novelist and an award winning journalist. His books have been published in over 40 languages and his multi-million selling novel, Man and Boy, won the Book of the Year prize in 2000. Most recently, he created the Max Wolfe crime series. Tony lives in London with his family.

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The House of Sorrowing Stars by Beth Cartwright – Blog Tour

Thank you so much Del Rey for having me on the tour!

—Synopsis—

How do you heal a broken house? First you unlock its secrets.

Alone on an island, surrounded by flowers that shine as dusk begins to fall, sits an old, faded house. Rooms cannot be rented here and visits are only for those haunted by the memory of loss.

When Liddy receives an invitation, she thinks there must be some mistake – she’s never experienced loss. But with her curiosity stirred, and no other way to escape a life in which she feels trapped, she decides to accept.

Once there, she meets Vivienne, a beautiful, austere woman whose glare leaves Liddy unsettled; Ben, the reserved gardener; and Raphael, the enigmatic Keymaker. If Liddy is to discover her true purpose in the house, she must find the root of their sorrow – but the house won’t give up its secrets so easily…

—Review—

Thank you ever so much to Marie-Louise and to Del Rey for having me on this tour!

What a triumph! This will definitely be one of my favorite books of 2022. Absolutely stunning!

“The petals of the sorrowing stars were stirring” 

16 years ago, a little girl lost her doll. Little did she know that this was Fate’s doing, or what would come of it. 

Madeleine Harwood (also known as Liddy), relishes in making marchpane with her father. Her family is set on marrying her to a man she has no interest in, so when she receives this mysterious package from a Vivienne Castellini, she knows she’s found a way to escape it all.

But who is this elusive Vivienne, and why would she send her a strange bulb to plant? What is this House of Sorrowing Stars that she is invited to?

As soon as she arrives, she knows that there is more to this than meets the eyes. 

The reader gets to discover this mystical and eerie place alongside Liddy, embarking into an enchanting, yet dangerous journey.

No day is the same, and each carry its load of discoveries. As Liddy meets her hosts and the guests, she slowly understands what this place is about: “a place for grief to go, and the chance to be free from whatever it is you carry – be it guilt, regret, fear or shame.”

Through magical and clever writing, you get to feel all the emotions, all the memories through the page. 

But most importantly you get to experience the most special place of all: the enigmatic Library of Lost Souls, and its guardian Eloura. 

“Grief is like an anchor for the soul; it keeps you safe but unmoving”

By reading the stories within, one can free the writers from their sorrows. Having nothing to let go off, will Liddy succeed in freeing the house and its inhabitants of theirs? Can she coax the secrets out of Vivienne, Ben, or The Keymaker? 

Beautiful, atmospheric and haunting, this book is an absolute gem that will take your breath away. It will suck you in from the first page, delight you with all of its unexpected turns, and I can guarantee that as you read that last line, it will not let go of your soul that easily. Magnificent.

With Love
AGJ

Out on 10 February 2022 in hardback, audio and e-format.

—About Beth Cartwright—

Photo Credit: RHUK

Beth Cartwright has taught English in Greece and travelled around South East Asia and South America, where she worked at an animal sanctuary. A love of language and the imaginary led her to study English Literature and Linguistics at Lancaster University, and she now lives on the edge of the Peak District with her family and two cats. 

Don’t forget to check out what my fellow bloggers are saying!