Category: grief
+ adoption, childhood, family, fiction, forgiveness, grief, loss, love, mystery, relationships, review, secrets
Her Empty Chair by Sunna Coleman
She left without a trace… not even a crumb. For student and waitress, Sylvia Morelle, it’s just another day at the French café in Covent Garden – that is, until her beloved elderly regular, Mrs Ida Laine, mysteriously disappears. As weeks go by with no sign of the glamorous Parisian, the young journalist in training begins her own investigation, only to unearth far more … Read More Her Empty Chair by Sunna Coleman
+ childhood, Detective novel, fairy tale, female friendship, fiction, grief, kidnapping, literature, loss, love, murder, murder mystery, mystery, obsession, police drama, review, serial killer, thriller, writer
Little Red Death by A K Benedict
ONCE UPON A TIME LIKE YOU’VE NEVER READ IT BEFORE . . . DI Lyla Rondell is on the case of a lifetime. Tasked with investigating a series of perplexing deaths, the only lead she has is that each appears to be based on a different classic fairy tale. Far from the stuff of bedtime stories, the press is having a field day with what … Read More Little Red Death by A K Benedict
+ audio book, childhood, dark humour, family, fiction, ghosts, grief, Ireland, loss, Magical realism, mystery, psychic, review, supernatural, superstition
Himself by Jess Kidd
Blending strange kindnesses, casual violence and buried secrets: an unforgettable debut from a dark new voice in Irish fiction. When Mahony returns to Mulderrig, a speck of a place on Ireland’s west coast, he brings only a photograph of his long-lost mother and a determination to do battle with the village’s lies. His arrival causes cheeks to flush and arms to fold in disapproval. … Read More Himself by Jess Kidd
+ crime fiction, Detective novel, family, fiction, friendship, grief, loss, murder, police procedural, revenge, review, secrets
The Only Child by S Englefield
How well do you really know the people you love? After her parents are killed in a tragic accident, Amelia Simpson retreats from her old life and moves to the sleepy Isle of Wight to be near her grandmother, her last remaining family. #TheOnlyChild X(Twitter) #SEnglefield @ZooloosBT #ZooloosBookTours #BookX #booktwitterInstagram @zooloosbooktours #bookstagram #blogtour But as the people closest to her start to die and secrets from her parent’s past are uncovered, Amelia … Read More The Only Child by S Englefield
+ audio book, childhood, dark humour, family, fiction, grief, Ireland, loss, Magical realism, mystery, psychic, review, supernatural
The Hoarder by Jess Kidd
Maud Drennan – underpaid carer and unintentional psychic – is the latest in a long line of dogsbodies for the ancient, belligerent Cathal Flood. Yet despite her best efforts, Maud is drawn into the mysteries concealed in his filthy, once-grand home. She realises that something is changing: Cathal, and the junk-filled rooms, are opening up to her. With only her agoraphobic landlady and a … Read More The Hoarder by Jess Kidd
+ crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, grief, kidnapping, loss, murder, Nordic noir, norway, police drama, review, Scandi noir, serial killer
Into Thin Air by Ørjan Karlsson translated by Ian Giles Arctic Mysteries #1
When nineteen-year-old Iselin Hanssen disappears during a run in a popular hiking area in Bodø, northern Norway, suspicion quickly falls on her boyfriend. For investigator Jakob Weber, the case seems clear-cut, almost unexceptional, even though there is some suggestion that Iselin lived parts of her life beneath the radar of both family and friends. #IntoThinAir X/Twitter @Ørjan Karlsson @OrendaBooks #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #bookX #booktwitter Instagram @orjan_nk @orendabooks @randomthingstours #bookstagram #blogtour #Norway But events take … Read More Into Thin Air by Ørjan Karlsson translated by Ian Giles Arctic Mysteries #1
+ 1930s, 1940s, fiction, friendship, grief, Historical fiction, history, holocaust, jewish history, jews, loss, love, nazi germany, non-fiction, review, WW2
The Teacher of Auschwitz by Wendy Holden
‘Haunting and beautiful. Excruciatingly vivid, The Teacher of Auschwitz is rigorously researched and true to the history, powerfully conveying what a smart, loving and energetic man Fredy was.’ Dr Elizabeth Baer, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ‘The closest possible narrative a person who did not experience those times herself, could have written… which will do justice to Fredy and all those victims.’ Dita Kraus, the real-life … Read More The Teacher of Auschwitz by Wendy Holden
+ 1950s, family, feminism, fiction, grief, Historical fiction, lies, literature, London, loss, love, marriage, mental health, mental illness, motherhood, music, obsession, psychiatrist, relationships, review, secrets, sisters, therapy, twins
The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 4 by Sophia Lambton
Curiosity can be a killer. The clock begins to tick on Anneliese’s moral compass as the sleuth-psychiatrist delves deeper into London’s social dregs – encountering a playbook too subversive for her tastes. While Isabel belittles the idea of jealousy Charles Anthony views his obsession as a Jezebel. Susanna’s (other) indiscretions are hard-pressed to rest in peace as torments old and new distort her life. … Read More The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 4 by Sophia Lambton
The Housekeeper by Sadie Ryan
My name is Linda. Most of my friends, not that I have many left, call me Lindy. I work as a housekeeper in a local hotel. I had the world at my feet once. Not any more. The first time I saw Mia was in the car park. She came over to help when my shopping bag split. There’s something about her delicate femininity … Read More The Housekeeper by Sadie Ryan
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
From the author of The Stationery Shop of Tehran, a heartfelt, epic new novel of friendship, betrayal and redemption set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran. In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless … Read More The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
+ depression, female friendship, fiction, fifties, gay, gothic, grief, journal, loss, love, marriage, mental health, mental illness, murder, obsession, psychiatrist, psychologist, review, secrets
The Night Counsellor by L K Pang
When silence dawns, only dusk will break it. In the shadowy corridors of The Beaumont, a mental hospital haunted by its dark history as an asylum, a disturbing mystery unfolds when in 1953, a woman is found mute, naked, and drenched in blood on the outskirts of West Yorkshire. With no memory of her past and no one to claim her, she is dubbed … Read More The Night Counsellor by L K Pang