Tag: family
+ 1960s, diary, family, fiction, grief, Historical fiction, Italy, loss, love, mystery, review, secrets
The Secret Diary of Rome by M.A. McLaughlin
A hidden diary. A story that’s waited a hundred years to be told . . . 1960, New York. Emilia Rinaldi restores broken books for a living. She knows how to bring lost stories back to life. The one story she cannot repair is her own. Then an unexpected gift from her late mother arrives — an antique music box containing a faded photograph … Read More The Secret Diary of Rome by M.A. McLaughlin
The Adventures of Dottie Daydream by Chrissy Combes
Dottie Field is an ordinary five‑year‑old girl who lives happily with her mum and dad in the little village of Swan Dopley on the Marsh. But Dottie’s imagination is anything but ordinary, and when she drifts into a daydream – which happens rather a lot – it leaves the grown‑ups in her life quite flustered, from ballet teachers to swimming instructors, from coach drivers … Read More The Adventures of Dottie Daydream by Chrissy Combes
+ child abuse, childhood, crime fiction, Detective novel, family, fiction, lies, murder, murder mystery, mystery, obsession, police drama, review, secrets, thriller
You’ll Be Sorry by Lisa Gardner
The Dixon family house was once a crown jewel of the White Mountains. Perched on a cliff with breathtaking views, it promised summer adventures, winter skiing, and family gatherings around a roaring log fire. Until late one August night, when both parents and their four children vanished, leaving behind a trail of bloody footprints, and a mystery that has endured for generations. Thirty years … Read More You’ll Be Sorry by Lisa Gardner
+ audio book, childhood, family, fiction, folklore, ghosts, gothic, gothic horror, mythology, review, superstition, witches
The Ghost Woods by CJ Cooke
In the midst of the woods stands a house called Lichen Hall. This place is shrouded in folklore—old stories of ghosts, of witches, of a child who was not quite a child. Now the woods are creeping closer, and something has been unleashed. Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965, one of a string of young women sent to Lichen Hall to give birth. And she … Read More The Ghost Woods by CJ Cooke
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
An elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter while away a summer together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland. Gradually, the two learn to adjust to each other’s fears, whims and yearnings for independence, and a fierce yet understated love emerges—one that encompasses not only the summer inhabitants but the island itself, with its mossy rocks, windswept firs and unpredictable seas. Full … Read More The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
The Beasts of the Black Loch by Gay Marris
In 50,000 acres of remote Scottish mountains and moor sits Dorcha Hall: a former hunting lodge nestling amongst ancient forests, on the shores of the enigmatic ‘Black Loch’. At night, lights glow from within, smoke curls from its chimneys, and in the forgiving murk of the gloaming, it looks magical. In daylight, its mouldering plasterwork and failing plumbing present a less romantic reality. #TheBeastsoftheBlackLoch … Read More The Beasts of the Black Loch by Gay Marris
Save Her by Abigail Osborne
Would you sacrifice your marriage to save your best friend? Bound by the traumas of their childhood, Flora and Sophie were inseparable long before they married brothers and joined the rich and powerful Cavendish family. But behind the polished façade of the family estate lurks Cecelia. The cold and controlling matriarch is determined to remind both women they will never be good enough for … Read More Save Her by Abigail Osborne
Until the Next Letter by Hannah Claire
When sisters Libby and Rachel open a letter from their late mother, they discover that it’s the first of five. Each letter asks them to scatter their mother’s ashes in a different place, and travel together to the carefully chosen locations. What begins as an act of remembrance soon becomes a journey into the past. With every trip, the sisters uncover unsettling truths about … Read More Until the Next Letter by Hannah Claire
+ 1960s, family, feminism, fiction, literature, love, marriage, music, psychiatrist, relationships, review, sisters, therapy, twins
The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 6 by Sophia Lambton
Life can be alienating. Adaptation tampers with the twins in this penultimate instalment of The Crooked Little Pieces: an edition that seals both into unnatural habitats. Domesticity daunts Anneliese as she enjoys (endures?) a liberating love. Across an ocean unfamiliar faces shun the shrinking soul of Isabel. Belligerently climbing up the academic ladder, Susanna hangs up her psychiatrist spurs to be reached… never. Homelessness becomes … Read More The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 6 by Sophia Lambton
Fifteen Minutes by Amanda Prowse
‘One last touch, one last word, one last I love you…’ Fifteen Minutes – the new novella from Amanda Prowse that will take you on the wildest emotional adventure. It gets us all in the end, time. What if I told you that time was not as unyielding as you might have believed? What if I told you it was in fact a fluid, … Read More Fifteen Minutes by Amanda Prowse
+ 1960s, 1970s, adoption, childhood, family, fiction, friends, grief, Iceland, Iceland noir, lies, review, Scandi noir, secrets, sisters
Home Before Dark by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir translated by Victoria Cribb
November, 1967, Iceland. Fourteen-year-old Marsí has a secret pen pal – a boy who lives on the other side of the country – but she has been writing to him in her older sister’s name. Now she is excited to meet him for the first time. But when the date arrives, Marsí is prevented from going, and during the night her sister Stína goes … Read More Home Before Dark by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir translated by Victoria Cribb
+ 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
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