Tag: advance review copy

#BookReview Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson @MantleBooks

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Daughters of NightAbout the Book

Lucia’s fingers found her own. She gazed at Caro as if from a distance. Her lips parted, her words a whisper: ‘He knows.’

London, 1782. Desperate for her politician husband to return home from France, Caroline ‘Caro’ Corsham is already in a state of anxiety when she finds a well-dressed woman mortally wounded in the bowers of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. The Bow Street constables are swift to act, until they discover that the deceased woman was a highly-paid prostitute, at which point they cease to care entirely. But Caro has motives of her own for wanting to see justice done, and so sets out to solve the crime herself. Enlisting the help of thief-taker, Peregrine Child, their inquiry delves into the hidden corners of Georgian society, a world of artifice, deception and secret lives.

But with many gentlemen refusing to speak about their dealings with the dead woman, and Caro’s own reputation under threat, finding the killer will be harder, and more treacherous than she can know . . .

Format: Hardcovere (592 pages)         Publisher: Mantle
Publication date: 18th February 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime, Mystery

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My Review

In my review of Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s first book, Blood & Sugar, I recall mentioning how good it would have been for Caroline, wife of the novel’s protagonist Harry Corsham, to have had a bigger role. And do you know what, in Daughters of Night I got my wish!

Teaming up with thief-taker, Peregrine Child, Caroline – known as ‘Caro’ – sets out to investigate the death of the woman she believed to be an Italian Countess but whose real identity was somewhat different.  They make a great partnership with Peregrine especially admiring of Caro’s questioning skills, likening it to ‘having Torquemada on your team’. What their enquiries reveal is that firstly, no-one in authority particularly cares about solving the murder and secondly, there are those who definitely do not want any light shone on their activities.  Despite the risks to their reputations (such as remain), to their lives and those of their loved ones, Peregrine and Caro press on with their investigation, uncovering some very sordid secrets in the process. Despite pressure from her family, Caro remains defiant to the end, managing to bring about her revenge on the culprits in her own way.

Daughters of Night positively oozes period atmosphere, transporting the reader from the bowers and pathways of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens to the taverns, coffee-houses and “fleshpots” of Covent Garden.  It was fascinating to discover the existence of things such as ‘Puss and Mew’ shops (illegal gin shops) and mixed doubles boxing matches.  Equally fascinating, but rather more distasteful, was learning about the varieties of brothels that existed in Georgian London including ‘posture houses’ where girls posed naked and ‘tableaux houses’ where young girls acted out classical scenes before audiences of men, often in order to solicit bids for their virginity.   The book reveals there existed a hierarchy of prostitutes with those at the top of their ‘profession’ becoming celebrities of their day.

Daughters of Night is another hugely impressive historical crime novel from the pen of Laura Shepherd-Robinson. Its intricate plot, with its twists and turns, kept me glued to the book until the final page. And was it my imagination or were Caro’s closing thoughts a nod to those of another famous literary heroine, Scarlett O’Hara? “There will be a plan, she told herself. I just haven’t thought of it yet. Let tomorrow bring what it will bring.” I’m sure I’m not the only reader keen to find out what tomorrow does bring for Caro.  Although Laura has revealed her next novel will be a standalone historical mystery, she also hasn’t ruled out a return for Harry and Caro at some point.  Fingers crossed from this reader.

I received a digital review copy courtesy of Mantle Books via NetGalley, although having seen the gorgeous hardcover with its fabulous endpapers, I may have to treat myself when my first post-lockdown trip to a bookshop finally comes about.

In three words: Gripping, atmospheric, immersive

Try something similar: To The Dark (Simon Westow #3) by Chris Nickson

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Laura Shepherd-RobinsonAbout the Author

Laura Shepherd-Robinson was born in Bristol in 1976. She has a BSc in Politics from the University of Bristol and an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics. Laura worked in politics for nearly twenty years before re-entering normal life to complete an MA in Creative Writing at City University. She lives in London with her husband, Adrian.

Blood & Sugar, her first novel, won the Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown, was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month, and a Guardian and Telegraph novel of the year. It was also shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and the Sapere Historical Dagger; and the Amazon Publishing/Capital Crime Best Debut Novel. (Photo/bio credit: Author website)

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#BookReview Madam by Phoebe Wynne @QuercusBooks

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MadamAbout the Book

For 150 years, high above rocky Scottish cliffs, Caldonbrae Hall has sat untouched, a beacon of excellence in an old ancestral castle. A boarding school for girls, it promises that the young women lucky enough to be admitted will emerge “resilient and ready to serve society.”

Into its illustrious midst steps Rose Christie: a 26-year-old Classics teacher, Caldonbrae’s new head of the department, and the first hire for the school in over a decade. At first, Rose is overwhelmed to be invited into this institution, whose prestige is unrivaled. But she quickly discovers that behind the school’s elitist veneer lies an impenetrable, starkly traditional culture that she struggles to reconcile with her modernist beliefs – not to mention her commitment to educating “girls for the future.”

It also doesn’t take long for Rose to suspect that there’s more to the secret circumstances surrounding the abrupt departure of her predecessor – a woman whose ghost lingers everywhere – than anyone is willing to let on. In her search for this mysterious former teacher, Rose instead uncovers the darkness that beats at the heart of Caldonbrae, forcing her to confront the true extent of the school’s nefarious purpose, and her own role in perpetuating it.

A darkly feminist tale pitched against a haunting backdrop, and populated by an electrifying cast of heroines, Madam will keep readers engrossed until the breathtaking conclusion.

Format: ebook (340 pages)                  Publisher: Quercus
Publication date: 18th February 2021 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

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My Review

The book opens with a prologue that, to my mind, does just what a prologue should do: raise all sorts of questions that linger in your mind as you read the rest of the book and be something you feel compelled to return to and read again once you’ve finished the book.

In Caldonbrae Hall, the author has certainly created a creepy setting for a story. If I was Rose I’d have turned right around at the first of glimpse of its exterior, and certainly once I’d seen its labyrinthine interior. Since Rose is at Caldonbrae to take up the post of Head of Classics, the reference to a labyrinth, such as the one in which the Minotaur roamed, seems appropriate.

Given the school’s exclusivity and prestige as well as the fact she’s the first new member of teaching staff in over a decade, Rose might have expected some initial trouble fitting in. However, she’s unprepared for the strange nature of the school’s practices, such as the fact teachers are addressed as either ‘Madam’ or ‘Sir’ and not by their actual names, or the old-fashioned uniforms worn by the girls. In fact, the whole school feels like it’s caught in a time-warp. Rose is also taken aback by the chilly attitude, even outright hostility, of the pupils in some of her classes.

More like a prison than a boarding school, Caldonbrae has a disturbingly sentient quality. At one point, as Rose makes her way to a class, she compares its long passageways to the bronchioles of lungs, likening the school to a great monster. And in one of her rare excursions outside, Rose perceives the lighted windows of the school building as “like a thousand eyes staring out at her accusingly”. And if you thought Mrs Danvers, the housekeeper in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, was creepy, just wait until you meet the Secretaries who manage every detail of daily life at Caldonbrae – and beyond.

Rose’s discovery of what’s really going on at the school and the nature of the ‘strange, ugly destiny’ the girls are being prepared for didn’t come as a great surprise to this reader. Safe to say, it encompasses the worst excesses of patriarchy, nepotism and privilege. For Rose herself it comes with the addition of emotional blackmail and veiled threats about what might ensue should she disclose to the outside world what she has learned.

Punctuating the narrative are excerpts from classical texts describing the lives of Greek and Roman women, both real and mythological. All are examples of women who asserted their independence but died, by their own hand or by the hand of others, as a consequence. I admired Rose’s valiant attempts to pass on her own enthusiasm for her subject to her pupils and to convince them they too have other options in life. Can Rose fan the flames of rebellion in the girls or will they smoulder into nothing?

Combining elements of suspense with a distinctly dystopian feel, Madam makes for an unsettling but utterly compelling read, and an impressive debut.

I received a uncorrected proof copy courtesy of Quercus. Madam will be published as an ebook and audiobook on 18th February and in hardcover on 13th May 2021.

In three words: Creepy, intense, immersive

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phoebe wynneAbout the Author

Phoebe Wynne worked in education for eight years, teaching Classics in the UK and English Language and Literature in Paris. She left the classroom to focus on her writing, and went on to hone her craft in Los Angeles and in London. Madam is her first novel. She is both British and French, and currently spends her time between France and England. (Photo credit: Publisher author page)

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