Category: family
+ abuse, diary, domestic noir, family, female friendship, fiction, friendship, lies, rape, relationships, review, secrets
Good Husbands by Cate Ray
Three wives, one letter, and an explosive secret that will change everything. He said, she said. Who do you believe? Jessica, Stephanie and Priyanka are complete strangers, but they have one thing in common: they’ve each received a letter accusing their husbands of committing a sexual assault more than two decades prior. Is the accusation true or is there more to the story? It … Read More Good Husbands by Cate Ray
+ abuse, child abuse, childhood, coming-of-age, community, cult, family, feel-good, female friendship, fiction, friendship, germany, grief, Historical fiction, holocaust, jewish history, jews, lies, List, literature, loss, love, motherhood, murder, music, nazi germany, piano, rape, relationships, religion, review, secrets, sisterhood, suffragette movement, whimsical
My Top 8 Books of 2022 – Part Two
Here are my favourite eight books of the second quarter of 2022. You will notice that it doesn’t include any crime dramas, detective novels or serial killer thrillers. While I love those genres, they rarely bring something totally new to the table and my favourites tend to be feel-good, whimsical or magical realism. Or totally original or make me cry. There are a couple of … Read More My Top 8 Books of 2022 – Part Two
+ childhood, depression, Devon, diary, family, family drama, fiction, literature, loss, mental illness, motherhood, postpartum psychosis, Psychosis, review, Scottish Highlands, secrets
Still Water by Rebecca Pert
When Jane Douglas returns to the Shetland Islands, she thinks she has escaped the dark shadows of her childhood. She carves out a simple life on the bleak, windswept island, working at the salmon fishery and spending quiet evenings at home. And for the first time in her life, she’s happy. #StillWater Twitter @Rebecca_Pert Instagram @rebecca_pert_author @BoroughPress #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour Then the body of Jane’s long-missing … Read More Still Water by Rebecca Pert
+ abuse, childhood, domestic noir, family, fiction, grief, literature, loss, love, music, piano, review, secrets, sisters
Nothing Else by Louise Beech
Heather Harris is a piano teacher and professional musician, whose quiet life revolves around music, whose memories centre on a single song that haunts her. A song she longs to perform again. A song she wrote as a child, to drown out the violence in their home. A song she played with her little sister, Harriet. But Harriet is gone … she disappeared when … Read More Nothing Else by Louise Beech
+ crime fiction, family, female friendship, fiction, friends, friendship, grief, lies, loss, murder, murder mystery, review, secrets, thriller
The Apartment Upstairs by Lesley Kara
Scarlett’s aunt lived – and was brutally murdered – in the apartment upstairs. But Scarlett is determined that life should return to some kind of normal, even if that means living with just a ceiling between her and the scene of such a devastating crime. After all, this is her home. She’s safe here. Isn’t she? Dee is busy balancing her job as a … Read More The Apartment Upstairs by Lesley Kara
+ brothers, child abuse, childhood, crime fiction, family, fiction, forgiveness, friendship, mental illness, murder, psychiatric hospital, Psychological fiction, revenge, review, schizophrenia, split personality, thriller
Lying Beside You (Cyrus Haven #3) by Michael Robotham
The thrilling next instalment in the award-winning Cyrus Haven series sees Cyrus reckoning with his own dark and shocking past. When a man is murdered and his daughter disappears, forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven must decide if Maya Kirk is running, hiding, or a hostage. Cyrus understands how killers think better than anyone; after all, he’s a survivor. Evie is a troubled teenager with an … Read More Lying Beside You (Cyrus Haven #3) by Michael Robotham
+ childhood, cult, eighties, family, fiction, lies, love, narcissist, psycopath, religion, review, secrets, Voodoo
Angel Town by Fiona Cane
What if you were born into a doomsday cult and knew nothing of the outside world? What if everything you’d been told was a lie? The clock is ticking … Wayward teenager, Lola, is stunned when, out of the blue, she is summoned by her leader. Oblivious to the resentment her promotion has whipped up and determined to shine, she enters Michael’s inner sanctum. … Read More Angel Town by Fiona Cane
+ Aussie Noir, Australia, child abduction, childhood, crime fiction, family, fiction, jealousy, lies, loss, murder, obsession, private investigator, revenge, review, secrets, sisters, thriller, twins
Wake by Shelley Burr
EVERYBODY THINKS THEY KNOW MINA McCREERY.EVERYONE HAS A THEORY ON WHAT HAPPENED TO HER SISTER.NOW IT’S TIME TO FIND OUT THE TRUTH… Mina McCreery’s sister Evelyn disappeared nineteen years ago. Her life has been defined by the intense public interest in the case. Now an anxious and reclusive adult, she lives alone on her family’s destocked sheep farm. When Lane, a private investigator, approaches … Read More Wake by Shelley Burr
+ coming-of-age, family, female friendship, fiction, friendship, lies, literature, love, Magical realism, motherhood, review, secrets, sisters, wales, whimsical, World War Two, WW2
Only May by Carol Lovekin
A young woman haunted by ghosts, magic and long-kept family secrets, in a new novel from the author of the Wales Book of the Year 21 shortlisted Wild Spinning Girls. I give you fair warning, if you’re planning on lying to me, don’t look me in the eye. It’s May’s 17th birthday – making the air tingle with a tension she doesn’t fully understand. … Read More Only May by Carol Lovekin
+ childhood, dark humour, family, fiction, marriage, murder, murder mystery, revenge, review, secrets, serial killer
A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon
A NICE, NORMAL HOUSELinda has lived around here ever since she fled the dark events of her childhood in Wales. Now she sits in her kitchen, wondering if this is all there is – pushing the Hoover round and cooking fish fingers for tea is a far cry from the glamorous lifestyle she sees in the glossy catalogues coming through the door for the … Read More A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon
+ family, fiction, friendship, grief, loss, love, mental health, mental illness, Psychosis, review, sisters
The Beautiful Ones by Julia Sutton
Caitlyn Shaw has it all. Surrounded by loving friends and family, she is excited to begin her training to become a primary school teacher. Her dream job, one which she’s been working steadily towards her whole life. However in 2008 things start to go wrong. After suffering a traumatic event, Caitlyn’s idyllic life is shattered. She finds herself spiralling into an abyss of mental terror … Read More The Beautiful Ones by Julia Sutton
+ childhood, family, female friendship, fiction, friendship, grief, literature, loss, love, motherhood, religion, review, secrets, sisters, twins
The Shadow Child by Rachel Hancox
Eighteen-year-old Emma has loving parents and a promising future ahead of her. So why, one morning, does she leave home without a trace? Her parents, Cath and Jim, are devastated. They have no idea why Emma left, where she is – or even whether she is still alive. A year later, Cath and Jim are still tormented by the unanswered questions Emma left behind … Read More The Shadow Child by Rachel Hancox
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