As we slip quietly into 2024 it’s time to reflect on my absolute favourite books of 2023. I used to pick three but I’ve had to up that to five as I just couldn’t narrow it down.
It’s always hard. There were instant standouts again – about 10 of them but I had to cut it down to five. I have tried to include a mix of genres but failed yet again. I read a lot of crime fiction, which occasionally make my quarterly selections, but my Top books of the year tend to be something a bit different, so here we go.
The Dictionary Of Lost Words by Pip Williams
Absolutely fantastic! Who knew that a book about compiling a dictionary could be so emotional and beautiful.
It’s a combination of fictitious characters like Esme and her father ‘Da’, and others like Dr Murray, his daughters Elsie and Rosfrith and Ditte who really existed. The author gives some of the real people more importance and personality in the story than we know as real – Ditte for instance is very central to the book, but in reality we know little about her in real life.
For my full review click here
The Fascination by Essie Fox
This is one of my favourite books of the year so far. I simply adored it. I don’t read that much historical fiction, but when I do it has to be unique and something special and this is. It’s the third book I’ve read this year which involves music halls, entertainers and ‘freak shows’, and The Fascination did not disappoint.
It’s mainly the characters – Theo Seabrook, disowned grandson of Lord Seabrook, the twins Keziah and Tilly, sold by their quack medicine-man father to the mysterious ‘Captain’, Aleski Turgenev based on real-life Fedor Jeftichew, better known as the Dog-Faced Boy, a sideshow performer in Barnum’s circus, Martha who hid her face because of a disfiguring harelip and Dr Eugene Summerwell, owner of the Museum of Anatomy in London, who becomes Theo’s employer.
For my full review click here
Salt and Skin by Eliza Henry-Jones
I’ve only ever read two books that I can compare this with, and they are She Never Told Me About The Ocean by Elizabeth Sharp McKetta and The Unravelling by Polly Crosby. They all have that same whimsical, magical unworldliness, and the first two became my top books of the year in 2021 and 2022. I have a feeling Salt & Skin will be in my top books of 2023.
It’s hard to describe what Salt & Skin is about, because it’s so much more than a story. It’s beautiful, lyrical and filled with superstition and magic. It’s about a family and their journey across the world to find a new beginning, but it’s also about motherhood, grief, love and community. It’s about the witches who were executed in the 17th century and the religion that fears them and would still persecute them if they could.
For my full review click here
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
I love this book so much. It’s gone straight to the top of my favourite books of the year – maybe even the decade. I kept thinking it reminded me of the books of another author, but it was only towards the end that I remembered who that was – Menna Van Praag.
Magical realism is one of my favourite genres, though occasionally it disappoints, because there are books which fall too much into the fantasy genre. The Lost Bookshop, however, is perfect.
For my full review click here
The Stargazers by Harriet Evans
The book is written in three timelines though Iris’s childhood only features fairly briefly. Mostly it’s about Sarah as a child in the 1950s, living with her sister Victoria, and their mother Lady Iris Fane. Their father Henry Fox (the girls have his name Fox, but Iris has reverted to her maiden name of Fane), appears to be totally absent.
Then we have Sarah as an adult in the 1970s, married to Daniel (who is lovely but would annoy me if he was my husband) and their life in a crumbling house in Hampstead. It’s a house they can’t afford and Daniel’s attempts at DIY always end in disaster. After a childhood in a crumbling mansion, I am surprised that Sarah wants to live here, but then I suppose for her it’s normal. Daniel invites his bohemian friends and half the neighbours to drop round all the time and Sarah can’t cope. I’m not sure I would be able to.
For my full review click here
It’s been a successful year for reading. I’ve read some brilliant books. My reading challenge was 130 and I read 153. A few more than last year.
This was a new one for me last year, but I do love a good list. These books were not necessarily published in 2023 – in fact Miss Benson’s Beetle has been top for the last three years.
Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce
There’s hardly a day goes by when someone doesn’t visit this review and I am not sure how or why. It was published in 2021 but it’s still top by a mile.
The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett
Again this is visited constantly. It’s a great book but it wasn’t one of my favourites, as to really appreciate the book you have to play along and I don’t want to work that hard!
It All Comes Back To You by Beth Duke
I didn’t love this as much as Tapestry, but it was certainly well visited when I posted it in 2021, and still is.
Twelve Secrets by Robert Gold (Ben Harper Book 1)
No idea why this is so high. It was really good but then so are a lot of other books which don’t figure in this list at all.
Afraid of the Christmas Lights by various
A random anthology which I reviewed in 2020. Again no idea though it does feature some very well-known authors.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
No surprises there. One of the most read books of the year, which has been turned into a TV series.
The Witch Farm Podcast by Danny Robins
Delighted this is so high as it’s a podcast and it deserves the recognition. Go Danny!
Geneva by Richard Armitage
The day I posted my review, the stats went berserk. And this is an audiobook – one of my first reviews of one. But then who doesn’t love Richard Armitage and the narration is just brilliant.
+ audio book, childhood, crime fiction, Detective novel, diary, fiction, friendship, murder, obsession, review, secrets, thriller
The Shadow Friend by Alex North
If it had happened to you, you would have run away too.
Twenty-five years ago, Paul’s friend Charlie Crabtree brutally killed their classmate – and then vanished without a trace.
Paul’s never forgiven himself for his part in what happened. He’s never gone back home.
Until his elderly mother has a fall. It’s finally time to stop running.
It’s not long before things start to go wrong. His mother claims there’s someone in the house. Paul realises someone is following him. And, in a town many miles away, a copycat killer has struck.
Which makes him wonder – what really happened to Charlie the day of the murder?
And can anyone stop it happening again?
My Review
This is my third Alex North thriller – The Whisper Man being one of my all time favourites. I listened to The Half Burnt House on Audible and while I really enjoyed it, it’s a complicated story and I got confused. I said at the time that I should have read it on Kindle instead.
However, having credits to use, I decided to give Audible another go with The Shadow Friend and I found this much easier to follow (though I did have to go back and listen to a couple of chapters twice).
There are three different perspectives to consider – firstly we have 25 years ago when Charlie Crabtree and his friend Billy murdered a schoolmate in the playground, in the downbeat town of Gritten. It was a vicious killing and one that has haunted Paul Adams his whole life. He was initially accused of the murder, but it was immediately apparent it wasn’t him, when Billy, covered in blood, gave himself up. Charlie disappeared and was never seen again.
Secondly we have the POV of Detective Amanda Beck, who was the investigating officer in The Whisper Man. She is actually investigating a different murder in Featherbank, in which two boys have killed their schoolmate. They are following an online forum which talks about the murder in Gritten all those years ago. Is this a copycat killing? Once Amanda has made the link, she travels down to Gritten to investigate further.
Finally, we hear from Paul Adams, now. He hasn’t been back to Gritten since he went off to university, but his mother is dying and he wants to see her. She’s in a nursing home and getting more frail by the day.
‘You shouldn’t be here,’ she tells him.
In The Half Burnt House we learned about the concept of ‘determinism’ – ‘the doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes regarded as external to the will.’ It added an extra layer to the story, and in The Shadow Friend, that extra layer is provided by Charlie’s obsession with ‘lucid dreaming.’
I first read about lucid dreaming in the novel Dreamside by the late, great, English speculative fiction writer, Graham Joyce. Lucid dreaming is the concept that you know you are dreaming when you are dreaming, and with enough ‘practice’ and keeping a dream diary, you can ultimately control your dreams and manipulate them. Charlie persuades his friends that they can even share their dreams.
I loved the whole idea behind this book. It’s fascinating, twisty and emotional and I will definitely be reading more by this author.
About the Author
Alex North was born in Leeds, where he now lives with his wife and son. The Whisper Man was inspired by North’s own little boy, who mentioned one day that he was playing with ‘the boy in the floor’. Alex North is a British crime writer who has previously published under another name.
+ crime fiction, feel-good, fiction, folklore, Ghost story, Historical fiction, List, Magical realism, review, Scandi noir
My Top 10 Books of 2023 – Part Four
Here are my favourite ten books of the fourth quarter of 2023. One or two of these might make it into my top books of 2023. Once again only a bit of ‘crime’, as a crime novel needs to be totally unique and exceptional to make it into my favourites.
There are ten this time – it’s been a good quarter – but then hey ho I make the rules! And they are in no particular order.
I normally post on the 1st January but I won’t finish any more books by then so the list won’t change.
I’ve not included any audio books in this list as they have their own post.
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
I love this book so much. It’s gone straight to the top of my favourite books of the year – maybe even the decade. I kept thinking it reminded me of the books of another author, but it was only towards the end that I remembered who that was – Menna Van Praag.
Magical realism is one of my favourite genres, though occasionally it disappoints, because there are books which fall too much into the fantasy genre. The Lost Bookshop, however, is perfect.
For my full review click here
So Now Go Tell by Susan Sachon
This started out as one thing and then became another. Poor Jenny is at a loss, divorced, and now made redundant. Then she collapses, and when she wakes up she can’t see. It used to be called ‘hysterical blindness’ I think, which sounds like the kind of nervous disorder that got women locked up in an asylum 100 years ago. It’s now referred to as a ‘conversion disorder’. Yes I googled it.
Surprisingly, she’s soon offered a job managing an old Tudor pub in the middle of nowhere, but it comes with other responsibilities. The pub used to put on plays as part of its Shakespeare Festival every summer. Now I am a massive Shakespeare fan, ever since I was taken by my primary school to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream, performed by the Oxford University Players in the grounds of Alveston Manor, Stratford-Upon-Avon, when I was about eight years old. I was mesmerised.
For my full review click here
Everyday Folklore by Liza Frank
And now for something completely different.
Did you know that house spiders are rather partial to classical music and are said to descend their webs to listen, only to climb back up when the movement has finished? That’s no more Classic FM for me then. Anyway, I’ve chosen the following graphic because I was born in November. Nothing to do with those horrible eight-legged spawn of Satan.
Everyday Folklore is not a book that you would sit down and devour in one go like a novel. It’s a book to dip into, return to and savour. I’ve picked out a few of my favourites, like Goat-e-oke and flaying a corpse (the former is doable, the latter will have you locked up, probably permanently). I have had so much fun with this. I highly recommend it.
For my full review click here
The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams
The Dictionary of Lost Words is one of my favourite books this year. I never believed another book could match it, but it did. The Bookbinder of Jericho is set in the same location – Oxford – and the main characters, twin sisters Peggy and Maude Jones are the next generation. It’s 1914 and the girls work in the book bindery, folding and stitching. The work is repetitive, but what keeps Peggy going is having a peak at what she is binding, ‘bind the books, don’t read them,’ she is told. Every now and again the folding or stitching are not up to par and Peggy can take the pages home with her. She wants more.
For my full review click here
13 Doors by GJ Phelps
I just love this book. It’s like a series of short stories, all joined together by Joe’s past and his current life. Having been made redundant from the newspaper where he has worked all his life, he decides to hold vigils in haunted locations (not just houses) and write a book about his experiences. Each vigil becomes more terrifying as he opens himself up to the spirits of the long departed. And for some reason, he is more open than most people.
His mother and his friends are worried about him, because following the tragic death of his father he went off the rails, earning him the nickname Mad Bax at school, and eventually putting him in a mental hospital for six months. He claimed to have experienced something terrible in the catacombs in a cemetery (I recognise the cemetery in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter), and they won’t let him out until he admits it was all in his imagination. But was it?
For my full review click here
The Stargazers by Harriet Evans
The book is written in three timelines though Iris’s childhood only features fairly briefly. Mostly it’s about Sarah as a child in the 1950s, living with her sister Victoria, and their mother Lady Iris Fane. Their father Henry Fox (the girls have his name Fox, but Iris has reverted to her maiden name of Fane), appears to be totally absent.
Then we have Sarah as an adult in the 1970s, married to Daniel (who is lovely but would annoy me if he was my husband) and their life in a crumbling house in Hampstead. It’s a house they can’t afford and Daniel’s attempts at DIY always end in disaster. After a childhood in a crumbling mansion, I am surprised that Sarah wants to live here, but then I suppose for her it’s normal. Daniel invites his bohemian friends and half the neighbours to drop round all the time and Sarah can’t cope. I’m not sure I would be able to.
For my full review click here
Upstairs At The Beresford by Will Carver
Upstairs At The Beresford is the sequel to The Beresford, except it’s actually a prequel. It’s darkly funny, but not in the way The Beresford is. There is still a lot of the author’s musings and philosophising, but less of the googling how to dispose of the bodies, chopping off the fingers and toes to get rid of the prints, and using drain cleaner to dispose of the digits.
In a way Upstairs is much darker, but less embarrassingly laugh out loud funny, in that twisted way that Will Carver does so well. The residents all have their reasons to end up there – it’s cheap, but it’s also a place to hide your secrets.
For my full review click here
His Favourite Graves by Paul Cleave
This is probably one of the cleverest books I have ever read. Don’t imagine it’s a straightforward crime drama. It’s full of twists and surprises, at times veering towards the unbelievable, but it’s so convincing, that you go along with it.
Everyone has an agenda, and everyone is capable of the most heinous of acts if pushed far enough. But is your own behaviour justified when the victim is also a killer and abuser of the worst kind?
Recently, teenager Freddy Holt went missing and was never seen again. Then a boy named Taylor Reed threw himself off a roof and died. Ruled a tragic suicide, following constant bullying. Lucas Connor isn’t popular at school. People think he’s weird. So they stuff him into a locker and padlock him in. But instead of being rescued, he’s abducted. His father calls the police, but they are sceptical at first. Till they find the locker has been forced open.
For my full review click here
Swimming For Beginners by Nicola Gill
I felt really sorry for Loretta at work. She’s not weird, she just likes to keep herself to herself and get on with her job. She’s not interested in the inane gabbling of her colleagues. She doesn’t want to ‘swim with the dolphins’ as her prat of a boss refers to being a ‘team player’. Then when she decides she needs to be more sociable, he says she’s taken her eye off the ball. We could all have told you that would happen.
In the meantime, however, she’s at the airport waiting to catch a flight to New York for a very important presentation. Her promotion may depend on it and she needs to prepare. But that’s when she meets six-year-old Phoebe, who can talk for England without pausing for breath. Phoebe’s mum Kate is similar. Then Kate asks Loretta to watch Phoebe for a few minutes while she goes to the toilet, but she doesn’t return. And that’s when the story really begins.
For my full review click here
Yule Island by Johana Gustawsson
You often read a synopsis which says that the book is full of twists and turns. Except you guess most of them. Or an ending you won’t see coming, though you do. Well, what can I say! Yule Island is as twisty as they get and you really won’t see what’s coming.
At one point, about three quarters of the way through, I thought what the hell? What just happened? Then there’s another twist and then another, until the whole story is turned on its head. Because you made an assumption and it was wrong. And then another, which was also wrong. When you realise, you think ‘of course’. But the clues are so well hidden, like Gustav’s secret tunnel. We trust the characters we are supposed to trust and dislike others because we are led that way. It’s so cleverly done that I was really shocked.
For my full review click here
A new list! I love a list. I have only just started listening to audiobooks, and it’s not just about the story – it’s also about the narrator/s. Which is why Geneva is the outright winner.
One of my biggest issues with audiobooks has always been the length, as I am a fast reader and I don’t have the patience to listen for, say 11 or 12 hours, when I could have read it in five. I also fall asleep when I’m listening and then I have to find where I was, which is harder than on my Kindle.
But the outright biggie is the narrator. I can tell in the first few minutes whether I’m going to like them, and if I don’t (which is totally personal) I won’t buy the audio book. I’ll read it on my Kindle instead.
Geneva by Richard Armitage
First of all let me just say that the narration was brilliant. Richard Armitage voices Daniel and everything else, while Nicola Walker voices Sarah. It works really well, but then these two are amongst the finest actors of their generation.
I listened to it on Audible. It’s not like someone is simply reading a book, however good they are. This was a performance. And how exciting it was! It was a bit slow to start with, I have to admit, as we had to get to know the characters, but I listened to the last three and a half hours on the plane back from Gran Canaria. I’m glad it got to the end before we landed. I was on the edge of my seat – literally and not just because of the turbulence.
For my full review click here
The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams
The Dictionary of Lost Words is one of my favourite books this year. I never believed another book could match it, but it did. The Bookbinder of Jericho is set in the same location – Oxford – and the main characters, twin sisters Peggy and Maude Jones are the next generation. It’s 1914 and the girls work in the book bindery, folding and stitching. The work is repetitive, but what keeps Peggy going is having a peak at what she is binding, ‘bind the books, don’t read them,’ she is told. Every now and again the folding or stitching are not up to par and Peggy can take the pages home with her. She wants more.
For my full review click here
Gone by TJ Brearton
I’ve been listening to this on Audible. I really like the narrator, which to me is very important. Sometimes less than a minute and I think I can’t stand this voice. But this was perfect.
I love a conspiracy theory, but it must have its roots in fact. I don’t believe that Elvis is alive and living on the moon with Princess Diana. We are not talking about the National Enquirer here. I have this idea that when the world population hit 7 billion, someone, somewhere, decided to release a pandemic to bring it down. Ok, maybe not, but there has to be an inkling of possibility.
For my full review click here
Sally Emerson’s compelling novel takes the reader into a dark labyrinth of physical danger and spiritual terror.
Jennifer Hamilton is alone again – alone in the big house she and her husband bought together, alone after six years of marriage. Overwhelmed and appalled by her reaction to her husband’s desertion she turns to a spiritualist who seems ready to listen. But as she is drawn out of her painful reality into the disturbing fringes of the occult, Jennifer starts to wonder if she has made a big mistake…
This is the last of six titles re-issued by Quadrant in 2021 to bring Sally Emerson’s gripping novels to a new generation.
My Review
Originally written in 1983, Listeners doesn’t feel particularly dated. However, Jennifer’s husband Martin’s expectations do. After six years of marriage, they have drifted apart, one of the reasons being that she cares too much about herself and her career, and not enough about looking after his needs. I found him boring, selfish and pompous and I cannot understand why she is so upset. I’d be glad to be rid of him.
Jennifer gets to keep the house, which is far too big for her, but she could sell up and buy a smart penthouse flat with the money. However, at the moment she is so devastated that she sinks into oblivion, unable to pull herself out of the black hole she has fallen into.
So she goes to visit her ‘friend’ the spiritualist Mrs Maugham, a strange character if there ever was one. Jennifer is seeking spiritual guidance, but is she being drawn into something far more dangerous? Is her very life under threat? Because Mrs Maugham and her brother Stephen, together with clairvoyant Lily and hospital worker Mike have some very strange views about passing over to the ‘other side.’
In the meantime, Jennifer’s mother Sarah, who left her father Edward many years previously, has returned, suffering from cancer. She’s an interesting character and Edward still loves her in spite of everything.
I much preferred the second half to the first when the author really upped the pace and Jennifer has pulled herself together and is trying to discover what’s going on
I think it might have been a good idea to make it clear that this is set in the eighties, or bring it up to date with laptops and mobile phones. At no time could I pinpoint when it is set.
About the Author
Sally Emerson is the award-winning author of novels including Heat, Separation and Second Sight and an anthology of poetry and prose. She lives in London. Her website is www.sallyemerson.com.
+ Australia, business, crime fiction, family, fiction, love, murder, nineties, racism, review, secrets, World War One
Cover the Bones by Chris Hammer – Ivan Lucic & Nell Buchanan #3
NO ONE IS EVER INNOCENT IN PARADISE.
A small town.
A closely guarded secret, stretching back decades.
And blood in the water.
A body has washed up in an irrigation canal, the artery running through Yuwonderie, a man-made paradise on the border of the Outback. Stabbed through the heart, electrocuted and dumped under cover of night, there is no doubt that detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan are dealing with a vicious homicide.
The victim is Athol Hasluck, member of one of the seven dynasties who have controlled every slice of bountiful land in this modern-day Eden for generations.
But this is not an isolated incident. Someone is targeting the landed aristocracy of this quiet paradise in the desert. Secrets stretching back decades are rising to the surface at last – but the question remains, who stands to gain most from their demise?
Can Ivan and Nell track down a killer before the guilt at the heart of these seven families takes the entire town down with it?
My Review
The story takes place over three timelines. In the present, Detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan are investigating a brutal homicide, in which the victim was tortured before being killed. His body was dumped in a canal on the land owned by Otto Titchfield, one of the ‘Seven’.
This is where it gets complicated. The Seven are the families that own and control all the land around the small town of Yuwonderie, a man-made paradise bordering on the Outback. They also control the water through an irrigation system and this has made them even richer. I’m not going to try and explain any of this because I didn’t fully understand it.
In 1994, we meet the younger versions of the Seven, all of whom were friends at school and university. Otto is there, plus Athol Hasluck, the victim of the modern murder. Technically he is not one of the Seven, being the younger son, so didn’t inherit. Then we have Davis Heartwood, who stands out as being much nicer than the others. He actually doesn’t want to inherit and decides to follow his dreams after university. Running a farm is not his ambition, so he throws the cat amongst the pigeons (apologies to my fellow pigeons) and hands over his inheritance to his older sister Krystal, which drives the patriarchs mad as the knock-on effect could be catastrophic for some.
But probably my favourite timeline takes place during the first world war, and is told totally through the letters written by Bessie to her mum. They are heartbreaking. Bessie is of Aboriginal descent, but to everyone’s surprise can read and write better than her employer. She falls in love with a neighbour, but he goes off to war before they can seal their pact and let’s just say she is treated badly by those who want her land.
The Seven (apart from Davis) are greedy and selfish and we cannot even be sure they are acting within the law. But is it enough to murder one of their own? Or are there other factors at play?
Cover The Bones is long and complicated, but I absolutely loved it. And there were certainly some surprises at the end.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Chris Hammer was a journalist for more than thirty years, dividing his career between covering Australian federal politics and international affairs. For many years he was a roving foreign correspondent for SBS TV’s flagship current affairs program Dateline. He has reported from more than 30 countries on six continents. In Canberra, roles included chief political correspondent for The Bulletin, current affairs correspondent for SBS TV and a senior political journalist for The Age.
His first book, The River, published in 2010 to critical acclaim, was the recipient of the ACT Book of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the Walkley Book Award and the Manning Clark House National Cultural Award.
Chris has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Charles Sturt University and a master’s degree in international relations from the Australian National University. He lives in Canberra with his wife, Dr Tomoko Akami. The couple have two children.
A perfect paradise? Or a perfect nightmare?
On a river deep in the Mexican jungle stands the colossal villa Xanadu, a wellness center that’s home to an ardent spiritual group devoted to self-help guru Paul Bentzen and his enigmatic wife Kali.
But when Paul mysteriously dies, his entire estate – including Xanadu – is left not to Kali, but to his estranged niece Sveta. Shocked and confused, Sveta travels from New York City to Mexico to pay her respects.
#TheViciousCircle @thekatstjohn @Harper360UK #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
At first, Xanadu seems like a secluded paradise with its tumbling gardens, beautiful people, and transcendent vibe. But soon the mystical façade wears thin, revealing a group of brainwashed members drunk on promises of an impossible utopia, guided by a disturbing belief system and a charismatic, dangerously capable leader.
As the sinister forces surrounding Sveta become apparent, she realizes, too late, she can’t escape. Frantic and terrified, she discovers her only chance of survival is to put her confidence in the very person she trusts the least.
My Review
I’ve always been fascinated by cults and The Vicious Circle certainly ticks all the boxes. I am also interested in endangered animals, so I was constantly worried about the two beautiful Jaguars that live at Xanadu – one called Ix-Chel almost friendly (except when hungry), the other, Xibalba, definitely not a fan of humans other than as dinner. Sveta is terrified when she’s invited into Kali’s lair with Ix-Chel sitting by her side – I just wanted to pat its head and say ‘Hello Kitty’. But I digress.
Sveta’s uncle Paul Bentzen (known to his followers as self-help guru Shiva) has just died and Sveta is asked to attend his funeral. Unfortunately, it’s going to take place at Xanadu, a wellness retreat hidden deep in the Mexican jungle. Hence the Jaguars. Strangely, Paul has left his estate worth around 180 million dollars to Sveta and not to his wife, Kali. So you’d be a bit scared to go on your own. Kali is not likely to be ecstatic about the will.
Xanadu is the home to The Mandala, a spiritual group devoted to Shiva, but we can all see it’s a cult. And they are not often known to end well. Think Jonestown or Waco.
Sveta is shocked when she discovers she will have a travel partner and even more so when she realises it’s old flame Lucas Baranquilla. Because Lucas was Paul’s lawyer and his father was a good friend. Lucas is there to protect Sveta’s interests, but after what happened all those years ago, can she trust him. Unfortunately he may be the only one she can trust, because everyone else is definitely dodgy.
The Vicious Circle is terrifying and the cult is so sinister, you know you need to escape immediately before they start trying to initiate you, but out there in the jungle there are snakes and crocodiles and more Jaguars.
I really enjoyed it. The ending is very exciting – I was just sad that one of the relationships I was so sure was going to be one of the twists turned out to be totally wrong.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Katherine St. John is a native of Mississippi, graduate of the University of Southern California, and author of The Lion’s Den and The Siren. When she’s not writing, she can be found hiking or on the beach with a good book. Katherine lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and two children.
+ crime fiction, fiction, folklore, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, loss, murder, murder mystery, mystery, mythology, obsession, review, Scandi noir, Sweden
Yule Island by Johana Gustawsson translated by David Warriner
Art expert Emma Lindhal is anxious when she’s asked to appraise the antiques in the infamous manor house of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families, on the island of Storholmen, where a young woman was murdered nine years earlier, her killer never found.
As she goes about her painstaking work and one shocking discovery yields clues that lead to another, Emma becomes determined to uncover the secrets of the house and its occupants.
X(Twitter) #YuleIsland @JoGustawsson @OrendaBooks #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours
When the lifeless body of another young woman is found in the icy waters surrounding the island, Detective Karl Rosén arrives to investigate. Could this young woman’s tragic death somehow hold the key to the first?
Battling her own demons, Emma joins forces with Karl to embark upon a chilling investigation, plunging them into horrifying secrets from the past – Viking rites and tainted love – and Scandinavia’s deepest, darkest winter..
My Review
You often read a synopsis which says that the book is full of twists and turns. Except you guess most of them. Or an ending you won’t see coming, though you do. Well, what can I say! Yule Island is as twisty as they get and you really won’t see what’s coming.
At one point, about three quarters of the way through, I thought what the hell? What just happened? Then there’s another twist and then another, until the whole story is turned on its head. Because you made an assumption and it was wrong. And then another, which was also wrong. When you realise, you think ‘of course’. But the clues are so well hidden, like Gustav’s secret tunnel. We trust the characters we are supposed to trust and dislike others because we are led that way. It’s so cleverly done that I was really shocked.
The story is told from the point of view of three of the characters. Art expert Emma Lindahl is working alone at the manor house on Storholmen island to appraise the artefacts, antiques and paintings of one of Sweden’s richest families, the Gussmans. Detective Karl Rosén is the police officer who investigated the ‘hanging girl’ murder in the grounds of the house nine years ago. It was never solved and now another dead girl has been found in the ice, killed in a very similar fashion. Viktoria is a housekeeper for the family living there. She is worried about her daughter Josephine and her relationship with the teenage son of the owners. He is obsessed with mythology and folklore and ghosts coming out of the ground.
It’s very sinister and terrifying. Emma is amazingly brave to work in the house on her own. She is on a very strict schedule and is not supposed to visit at any other times, which also seems a bit bizarre as there is never anyone else around. The owner Niklas Gussman met her when she arrived and was rude and distant. But she makes friends with the residents of the island, like Anneli at the Ett Glas cafe, Lotta who brings people over on the boat, and Lotta’s husband Björn, who has worked at the manor as a handyman for decades.
I loved this book! The Bleeding was one of my favourite books of the year, and Yule Island is now too.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46, Keeper and Blood Song, has won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte, Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in 28 countries. A TV adaptation is currently underway in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding – number one bestseller in France and the first in a new series – will be published in 2022. Johana lives on the west coast of Sweden with her Swedish husband and their three sons.
About Orenda Books
Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.
One girl’s quest for belonging leads to perilous secrets.
Will she uncover the truth before it’s too late? Amoura Renly is anything but average, much to her dismay. When a violent confrontation with a bully awakens her connection to magic, Amoura struggles with the realization she’s farther from fitting in than she ever imagined. Desperate for a fresh start, Amoura enrolls at Elderwood School for the Magically Inclined, tucked beneath the streets of San Francisco.
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But with a unique connection to magic seemingly different from her peers and a secret police force “disappearing” anyone deemed a magical abnormality, fitting in is the least of her troubles. As Amoura navigates the dangers of a society that fears what it doesn’t understand, she uncovers the truth about her connection to magic and the dark secrets that threaten her very existence.
EXTRACT
CHAPTER THREE
The Visitor
“Good evening, Mr. Renly. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice.” Her voice
made me think of running my fingers through warm bathwater. I couldn’t see Dad’s
face from my hiding spot, but the way his spine stretched a half-inch taller as he
greeted the stranger made my heart thump in my throat. Through the doorway came
a floating obelisk, caped in deep forest green with a slim silver cane clasped under
her right arm. Black lace crawled like creeping vines up her neck from below her
cape, a sharp contrast to her porcelain skin and painted red lips. She wore her crow-
colored hair in a simple bun high on her head, pulled so tight my scalp hurt just
looking at her. Swishing around, she inspected the foyer from ceiling to floorboard
before settling her gaze on Dad.
“I should be the one thanking you for coming all this way, Ms. Blackwood. And so
quickly!” Dad’s baritone voice took an unnaturally high-pitched tone.
“Doctor Blackwood,” she corrected, lifting her chin. Even from a distance, I could see
the electric twinkle in her sapphire eyes. “When Dean Matigan shared with me what
happened this afternoon, I knew I could be of help. And it was no trouble—a quick
half-hour trip on the skyway.”
“Oh, right,” Dad said, rubbing his bald head. “You would come by the skyway; that
makes sense.” He was quiet for a moment. “Sorry, we’re all still shaken up
about…everything.” My six-foot-one father, usually the picture of relaxed confidence,
looked like a schoolboy under the stranger’s gaze. He ran his hands over the front of
his apron, smoothing and re- smoothing non-existent wrinkles.
She observed him, her mouth curling into an unreadable smile. “I’m sorry. May I take
your coat? Or—or cape, I mean?”
Dr. Blackwood flicked one long finger toward her collar. My hand shot to my mouth to
stifle a gasp as the cloak slid from her shoulders, spun in midair as if dancing alone,
and folded itself over his extended arm. I still couldn’t get a good look at Dad’s face,
but the smile on her lips as she floated off into the living room made me feel pretty
positive he was as surprised as I was by her floating outerwear.
“Your home is lovely, Mr. Renly,” Dr. Blackwood purred. “I’ve always loved the old
craftsmen houses of Portland.”
Dad shook his head as if to snap himself out of a dream. “Oh, thank you,” he called
back. He hung the cloak on our crowded coat rack with care. I knew he was scolding
himself for not moving some of our family’s Pacific Northwest puff coats to the hall
closet. This elegant frock shouldn’t have to interact with our common people coats,
his voice chastised in my mind. “My husband and I put a lot of love into this place.”
He followed her into the living room and out of my view. “The houses in Portland
were the reason we moved here. We knew we could never get this space in San
Francisco.”
Like a mouse, I scurried on my hands and knees along the entryway wall. You’re
acting like a child, Renly. I ignored the scolding voice in my head and sank flat to my
stomach, body flush with the wall, then pulled myself forward just enough to peer
around the corner. Dad stood rigid in the middle of the living room, his profile to me.
Dr. Blackwood stalked the perimeter, examining artwork hanging on the wall.
“You lived in San Francisco?”
“Yes, that’s where Mateo and I met. He was in nursing school, and I worked for a
tech company. We wanted to start a family, and the city didn’t seem like the right
place to do that.” He paused, shrugging. “So, we moved here.”
“And the child?” She picked up our family photo from the coffee table. “When did she
join your family?” My cheeks flushed as she referenced me. I knew I was the entire
reason for her visit, but hearing her refer to me as “the child” made me feel like a
thing rather than a person. Like a specimen under observation.
“We adopted Amoura as an infant, three years after we settled in Portland.”
“I see.” She studied the photo in her hands, and the room fell silent. I wondered if
Dad felt as awkward as I did, watching her examine our family as if reading secrets
on the frozen faces, smiling goofily back at her.
“And her gifts,” she continued, eyes still on the photo. “You had no suspicion of your daughter’s abilities?”
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Meg Kramer is an expert at writing in odd places. She penned her debut novel, Amoura Awakened, in the lobbies of her daughter’s many after school activities and appointments, and in her car outside her local bookshop.
Meg spent ten years working as an elementary educator, inspiring kids to explore their unique creativity and view themselves as writers. One day, she decided to take her own advice and wrote her book. Meg is a mother, an LGBTQIA+ ally, and an indie music enthusiast. When she’s not writing or “momming”, you can find Meg wandering the streets of San Francisco, hunting for magic in the cobwebs of the city’s oldest Victorians.
In a race against time, the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of a group of young elementalists.
With the malevolent White Queen on the verge of obtaining unimaginable power, the brave heroes must band together to thwart her evil plan. But as they face impossible challenges and formidable foes, they realize the task is far more daunting than they ever imagined.
Genre: Fantasy,
Pages: 442
Armed with only their growing magical abilities and unwavering determination, they must stop the queen from finding the hidden mana tower, learn more of the spell itself, and prevent the catastrophic spell from being cast. With two skilled wizard mentors by their side, the elementalists must push themselves to their limits and beyond. But when up against foes who can see into the future and harness otherworldly energies, will their training be enough to save the world from eternal darkness?
About the authors
Ephie (dad) has been writing his whole life. Inspired by his sixth-grade teacher to write a story every week, he enrolled in the writing program at his undergrad Middlebury College and has been writing ever since. He loves the outdoors, music, community, his family, and telling stories. He currently lives in beautiful Bozeman, Montana, where he works in software development and is active in various community groups.
Celia (daughter) is an avid book lover and packs a novel with her wherever she goes. She developed the book idea at age nine inspired by a 3rd grade writing assignment. She was born in Vancouver, Canada where her first two syllable word was “hockey”! She, along with her brother, is being raised in the mountains of Montana, where she enjoys sewing, 4H, performance art, and visiting hot springs.
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