Book Review: Without Her by Rosalind Brackenbury

Rosalind Brackenbury’s Without Her is a thoughtful and beautifully-written piece of women’s fiction.  Claudia is living in America where she’s approaching retirement from her job as a lecturer in film studies when she learns that her lifelong friend, Hannah, (the Her of the title) has gone missing. Claudia drops everything to fly to the south of France where Hannah’s husband, Philip, is waiting at the family holiday home for Hannah to turn up. The story is slender in terms of action but that doesn’t matter. It’s many-layered and thought-provoking, picking up on themes of social obligation, of sacrifice, of control over one’s own life. Claudia is the narrator and as she and Philip wait to see whether Hannah (who has something of a history of disappearing and reappearing) will turn up, she reviews their friendship and their fallouts, the things they did together and the things that kept them apart. 

The writing is terrific. I could feel the heat of the summer sun on the back of my neck and smell the lavender; I could sense Claudia’s emotions and feel the tension as concerns for Hannah’s welfare began to rise. The problem for me, though, was that no matter how well the book was written and constructed I didn’t enjoy it as much as it probably merited. 

The reason? I really, really didn’t warm to any of the characters, with the possible exception of Philip. Hannah was positively dislikable, an attention-seeking diva who put her nearest and dearest through stress and misery in the name of her own self-obsession, and all of those people she hurt seemed to adore her all the more because of it. The end of the book raised questions that I should have been more interested in answering than I was, but when it got to the end I’m afraid I really wasn’t invested enough to care what happened to Hannah. 

It’ a shame, because it’s otherwise an excellent book, highly accomplished. But I’m afraid I really, really wasn’t engaged enough to give it five stars. 

Thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for a copy of this book in return for an honest review. 

Book Review: Murder at Whitby Abbey by Cassandra Clark

Dark Age monastic thrillers have been around for a while, ever since the days of Brother Cadfael (and possibly before) and while I wouldn't say I’m an insatiable fan, I dod enjoy them. Cassandra Clark’s Murder at Whitby Abbey, is the first I’ve met featuring a nun, and i have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Sister Hildegard of Meaux is sent with a young monk and two seasoned older monks (veterans of the Crusades and so termed “monks militant”) to Whitby Abbey to bid for a holy relic, a lock of hair purporting to be that of St Hilda of Whitby. When the quartet they discover a monastery at increasingly violent odds with the local townsfolk, three other contenders for the ownership of the relic — and a mysterious death. The death turns out to be murder — but who killed Brother Aelwyn and why? Hildegard and her companions are determined to find out. 

The book was a slow starter and in places I found it confusing, but once the pace picked up it turned into a really gripping read, with moments of heart-stopping fear as Hildegard  faced not only an unknown adversary determined to stop her unmasking the murderer, but also risks to her own virtue in a world where being a nun was no guarantee of respect. 

Set in the late fourteenth century against the background of raucous Christmas revels and rising civil unrest, the book is full of local colour. What made it for me, though, was the characters. Hildegard is no saint, a real woman paying penance for past misdemeanours; devout Luke falls in love with a prostitute; and the two monks militant, Egbert and Gregory, were action heroes of a most unusual type. (I confess: I think I possibly fell a little bit in love with them both.) 

Though it’s the tenth in the series and I haven’t read any others (though I now will) it worked fine for me. Apart from the slow start I thought it was a terrific read and the conclusion was both clever and satisfying. 

Thanks to Netgalley and Severn House for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Book Review: The Particular Charm of Miss Jane Austen by Ada Bright and Cass Grafton

Hmmm. Maybe I should start with a disclaimer. While I quite enjoy Jane Austen I wouldn’t class myself as her biggest fan, though I read a lot around the period. Bearing that in mind I approached Cass Grafton and Ada Bright’s The Particular Charm of Miss Jane Austen with an open mind.

It’s a time-slip novel, cleverly plotted (perhaps too cleverly as there were a few places where I got confused) and engagingly written. The story is one in which Austen fan Rose, participating in a Jane Austen festival in her home town of Bath, meets a stranger who turns out to be Jane Austen herself, trapped in the present day. Rose’s task is to get Jane back so that the world won’t be deprived of the books she will one day write.

I enjoyed a lot about this book but for me there was fundamental weakness and that was the utter desperation with which Rose felt she had to return Jane to her own time so that she could write all those books. The authors set this up as if they were Saving The World but to me that felt slightly silly as (gulp) I can’t help feeling we would all have survived without Miss Austen’s existing six novels, just as we’ve survived without all the ones she might have written if she hadn’t died young.  

In theory not being a huge fan shouldn’t be a problem as one would expect a book to have a wider appeal than just the die-hard fans. (I’m not a great Charles Dickens fan either, for example, but I’ve recently enjoyed books which feature him as a character). The problem was that I felt rather as if I was on the outside looking in, invited to a party where I know a few people but they all know everyone else better and want to talk in detail about mutual (to them) acquaintances whose names I barely know. I feel a bit churlish saying this but I did feel the significance of some of the plot passed me by. 

A lot of it was very clever, though. I loved the parallel worlds, with and without Jane, in which Rose is confronted with the person she would have been if her interest in the Austen novels and their author hadn’t existed. Her online friendship with American girl Morgan, over in Bath for the festival, would never have existed and in particular I was taken with the dilemma in the romance which was failing for Rose’s in the world with Jane’s writing blossomed in the world without it — a clever touch which genuinely had me struggling to see who it would be resolved. 

I did enjoy this book, as I say, and any Austen fan will surely love it. It’s not the authors’ fault it didn’t quite touch my heart in the way I would have liked. 

Thanks to Netgalley and Canelo for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Book Review: A Dream of Italy by Nicky Pellegrino

Sometimes a book just hits the spot and Nicky Pellegrino’s A Dream of Italy did just that. Good books — even great books — don’t work for every reader and I confess I’m a bit picky, but I thought this book was utterly fabulous. 

It’s set in the small, declining village of Montenello in southern Italy where the mayor, Salvio — young, handsome, single and with a matchmaking mamma at his back — decides that the way to attract new blood is to offer some of the derelict properties to foreigners for a Euro apiece on condition they renovate them. The first three properties sold bring very different newcomers to the village. Divorcee Mimi is looking for a new start; Elise applied for the project with boyfriend Richard but carries on alone after their relationship breaks up; and middle-aged couple Edward and Gino are struggling with what they both want from their relationship.

Nicky Pellegrino weaves together these diverse characters and the village locals to create and intriguing and uplifting tapestry. As I read I felt the sun on my skin and the sweet sugar blast of cake from the pasticceria on my tongue; I saw the vivid colours of the deep Italian south and heard the lilt of the accents. 

All of the characters were well-drawn, believable and appealing and their stories drew me in, individually and collectively. As their stories progressed and Salvio’s dream of a revived Montenello (not to mention his mother’s dream of a daughter-in-law) met with bumps in the road, I became entirely absorbed in this new and entrancing world. 

It’s rare that I rave about a book quite as completely and maybe another reader will spot flaws in it. If there are any, I don’t care. It swept me along and I kept reading until it was done. A lovely, lovely read. 

Thanks to Orion and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.