Dreams are a red flag for the danger-prone.

Postwar van der Holts. Sophistication sticks to Head of Music Isabel – and so does new headmaster, the mysterious and semi-dictatorial Richard Schneider. Dissent from doctorly conventionality leads Anneliese into digressions deviant even for her as she squares off not just against Susanna but a serial offender of the law. Sparks fly between old flames; new fears prove equally exciting. Loyalties are switched and cravings itched in this compendium of the forbidden driven by foreboding: a mere taste of the temptations still to come.

Treats are aplenty for the reader who prefers vicarious living in The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 3: a world abundant in the traps of passion’s shackles.

Into the higher stakes we go.

My Review

As I’ve said in my previous reviews:

‘…. it’s very different. Don’t expect straightforward historical fiction. It’s more about emotions and the relationship between two women, who even though they are twins are disparate and diverse.’ 

So here we are again. We are approaching the 1950s and the twins are almost 30 years old. I am not going to recap volumes 1 and 2, because I am assuming you have read them. If you haven’t, then you should.

Psychiatrist Anneliese is still married to barrister Stephen, though they never seem to spend any time together. But then Anneliese has no interest in being a mother or having a physical relationship with her husband or anyone.

Isabel has been apart from her husband Steven (is there a reason they are both called Stev/phen?) for a number of years, their sado-masochistic games having gone too far. They were no longer games and Isabel had to escape before she was seriously hurt. She now concentrates on her position as Head of Music at Croham Hurst girls school, where Richard Schneider is the new headmaster. Isabel is horrified that they have appointed a man. He must be a pervert.

I can’t help liking Richard even though I probably wouldn’t in real life (no not because he’s a pervert – he isn’t). He’s cultured and interesting, but what secrets is he hiding behind that oh-so respectable demeanor? Vincent, on the other hand, would give me hayfever.

Once again another nod to my mother – the tenor Gigli, who she loved, and who Richard hates.

In the meantime, Anneliese becomes obsessed with the lawyer who defended the killer – allegedly – of her psychiatrist Susanna’s daughter Lily, many years earlier. She inveigles herself into his home by helping to treat his schizophrenic young daughter, Rosalind.

Another great book in this fantastic series. It’s so brilliantly written in its own inimitable style. Many thanks to the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

About the Author

Sophia Lambton became a professional classical music critic at the age of seventeen when she began writing for Musical Opinion, Britain’s oldest music magazine. Since then she has contributed to The Guardian, Bachtrack, musicOMH, BroadwayWorld, BBC Music Magazine and OperaWire, and conducted operatic research around the world for a non-fiction work set to be published in 2023. Crepuscular Musings – her recently spawned cultural Substack – provides vivid explorations of tv and cinema together with reviews of operas, concerts and recitals at sophialambton.substack.com.

The Crooked Little Pieces is her first literary saga. This is volume 3. She lives in London.