Category: family drama
+ 1960s, 1990s, childhood, family, family drama, fiction, grief, India, literature, review, siblings, twins
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The year is 1969. In the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India, a skyblue Plymouth with chrome tailfins is stranded on the highway amid a Marxist workers’ demonstration. Inside the car sit two-egg twins Rahel and Esthappen, and so begins their tale. . . . Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, they fashion a childhood for themselves in the … Read More The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
+ 1920s, 1980s, art, family, family drama, fiction, Historical fiction, India, romance
The Emerald Sketchbook by Helen Sellarajah
Delhi, 1920. After five years in England, seventeen-year-old Patricia Harris returns to British India to assume a future shaped by societal expectations, and her plans to pursue her art, and marry the respectable Frederick Ward of the Indian Civil Service. Instead, she finds herself caught between two very different men, and a man with scars and secrets of his own. She is confronted by … Read More The Emerald Sketchbook by Helen Sellarajah
+ family, family drama, fiction, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, grief, lies, mental illness, review, secrets, siblings, sisters
The Hollow Garden by Natalie Grace Lewis
Seventeen years ago, Kyra Masters fled the Hollow Garden and never looked back. Haunted by fragmented memories of her friend Eleanor’s death and the events that followed, she has spent years trying to build a life far from the estate that shattered her family and left her questioning her own mind. Following her aunt’s death, Kyra unexpectedly inherits the Hollow Garden. A sprawling Victorian … Read More The Hollow Garden by Natalie Grace Lewis
+ 1930s, 1940s, childhood, family, family drama, female friendship, fiction, germany, grief, Historical fiction, holocaust, jewish history, love, memoir, nazi germany, relationships, review, secrets, sisters, World War Two, WW2
The Nowhere Sisters by Jan Casey
Berlin, 1938. One journey will change their lives forever. Twelve-year-old Margarete has lost everything — her parents, her home, and the fragile safety of the orphanage she once knew. When the Nazis target Jewish families across Germany, Margarete is placed on a Kindertransport train bound for England. She expects to face the terrifying journey alone. Until a small, frightened girl is thrust into her … Read More The Nowhere Sisters by Jan Casey
+ audio book, audio drama, family, family drama, fiction, Historical fiction, literature, review, siblings, sisters, Victorian Britain
The Household by Stacey Halls
In a quiet house in the countryside outside London, the finishing touches are being made to welcome a group of young women. The house and its location are top secret, its residents unknown to one another, but the girls have one thing in common – they are fallen. Offering refuge for prostitutes, petty thieves and the destitute, Urania Cottage is a second chance at … Read More The Household by Stacey Halls
+ audio book, audio drama, childhood, family, family drama, fiction, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, Historical fiction, literature, review, secrets, siblings, sisters, Yorkshire
Mrs England by Stacey Halls
West Yorkshire, 1904. When newly graduated nurse Ruby May takes a position looking after the children of Charles and Lilian England, a wealthy couple from a powerful dynasty of mill owners, she hopes it will be the fresh start she needs. But as she adapts to life at the isolated Hardcastle House, it becomes clear there’s something not quite right about the beautiful, mysterious … Read More Mrs England by Stacey Halls
+ child abduction, crime fiction, family, family drama, fiction, kidnapping, murder, murder mystery, review, serial killer
The Other Boy by Heidi Field
When the worst comes calling… Scott and Blair Bagby are a happy, successful English couple living in the suburbs with their teenage son and Great Dane. Life seems good, until one beautiful spring morning when a detective inspector knocks on their door asking if their son is home, unleashing an unspeakable horror that blows apart the life they thought they had. Police have discovered … Read More The Other Boy by Heidi Field
The Time of The Fire by Emma Kavanagh
Northern California, end of summer. Fire Hazard Severity Zone: Very High. A mysterious death.On the anniversary of her mother’s death, CEO-in-waiting Robyn Sandoval goes for a morning run. She knows her father – a local fire fighting hero – is desperate to speak to her, to tell her something he wants her to know before she starts her new job leading the corporation that … Read More The Time of The Fire by Emma Kavanagh
+ alcoholism, childhood, coming-of-age, family, family drama, fiction, grief, loss, love, motherhood, relationships, review, secrets, WW2
Junction of Earth and Sky by Susan Buttenwieser
A sweeping and emotional debut from a dazzling new voice – for fans of The Paper Palace, The Dutch House and Betty. Coming of age in 1940s England, Alice’s life is thrown into chaos under the shadow of the war. Forced to let go of her hopes and dreams, she finds herself uprooted to America and a life she never could have imagined. Decades later, it is … Read More Junction of Earth and Sky by Susan Buttenwieser
The Stargazers by Harriet Evans
How can you ever know yourself when you were deprived of love as a child? It’s the 1970s, and Sarah has spent a lifetime trying to bury her disjointed childhood, the loneliness of her school days, and Fane, the vast and crumbling family home so loved – and hated – by her mother, Iris, a woman as cruel as she is beautiful. Sarah’s solace … Read More The Stargazers by Harriet Evans
+ alcoholism, crime fiction, family, family drama, fiction, grief, Iceland noir, jealousy, lies, loss, marriage, murder, Nordic noir, review, secrets, thriller
You Can’t See Me by Eva Björg Ægisdótti (Forbidden Iceland #4) translated by Victoria Cribb
The wealthy, powerful Snæberg clan has gathered for a family reunion at a futuristic hotel set amongst the dark lava flows of Iceland’s remote Snæfellsnes peninsula. Petra Snæberg, a successful interior designer, is anxious about the event, and her troubled teenage daughter, Lea, whose social media presence has attracted the wrong kind of followers. Ageing carpenter Tryggvi is an outsider, only tolerated because he’s … Read More You Can’t See Me by Eva Björg Ægisdótti (Forbidden Iceland #4) translated by Victoria Cribb