Tag: contemporary fiction

The Glass House by Eve Chase #BookReview

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The Glass HouseAbout the Book

Outside a remote manor house in an idyllic wood, a baby girl is found.

The Harrington family takes her in and disbelief quickly turns to joy. They’re grieving a terrible tragedy of their own and the beautiful baby fills them with hope, lighting up the house’s dark, dusty corners. Desperate not to lose her to the authorities, they keep her secret, suspended in a blissful summer world where normal rules of behaviour – and the law – don’t seem to apply.

But within days a body will lie dead in the grounds. And their dreams of a perfect family will shatter like glass. Years later, the truth will need to be put back together again, piece by piece…

Format: eARC (400 pages)                Publisher: Michael Joseph
Publication date: 14th May 2020   Genre: Mystery

Find The Glass House  on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon UK | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

I’ve enjoyed both the books by Eve Chase I’ve read previously – Black Rabbit Hall and The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde (US title, The Wildling Sisters). The author sticks to the same successful formula in The Glass House (US title, The Daughters of Foxcote Manor): multiple points of view and timelines, a story involving family secrets and an atmospheric location. In this case, the latter is the slightly rundown Foxcote Manor situated deep in the dense Forest of Dean.

The book opens in 1971 with the arrival at Foxcote Manor of the Harrington family – Jeannie, her daughter Hera and son Teddy along with nanny, Rita (known in the family as ‘Big Rita’). Jeannie’s husband, Walter, is notable by his absence on business and it transpires this is no summer vacation but an enforced relocation from their London home in the wake of traumatic events. And it becomes apparent that Rita has found herself in a rather dysfunctional family and in a house whose location she finds unsettling. She experiences “an eerie watched feeling, especially at night when the house is lit up and the darkness rubs against the windows”.

The author is certainly fond of metaphors and similes, some of which work better than others. However, the depiction of family dynamics is deftly handled, such as the way in which the arrival of the baby affects Teddy, no longer the centre of attention as the youngest in the family. And there are moments of insight such as the observation on married life as “an editing process…a discerning closing down of other options…like choosing a capsule wardrobe – navy, black and cream – over fleeting extravagance, throwaway fast fashion”.

Moving to the present day, the reader is introduced to Sylvie, recently separated from her husband and dealing with domestic problems of her own, including her ailing mother and her troubled teenage daughter, Annie. For support she has only her sister, Caroline, but she lives abroad. The connection between the two storylines gradually unfolds, revealing intriguing echoes of the past and secrets waiting to be discovered.

But what about the mystery of the dead body found in the forest, I hear you ask? Who is it, how did they die and who was responsible? You’ll discover the answer to the first two fairly quickly after the event but I’d be surprised if you work out the solution to the third.

As always in this kind of story, a degree of suspension of disbelief is required in relation to some of the coincidences that occur. I have to say as well that the sections set in the past didn’t scream 1970s to me, apart that is for the cheese and piccalilli sandwiches! Having said that, The Glass House is a well-crafted mystery about family secrets and the lasting, unforseen consequences of past actions. It will definitely appeal to fans of Eve Chase’s previous books and readers of the books of Kate Morton.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Michael Joseph via NetGalley.

In three words: Atmospheric, intense, mystery

Try something similar: The House by the Loch by Kirsty Wark

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8934674About the Author

Growing up, Eve Chase only ever wanted to be a writer. After studying English literature at university, she worked as a magazine journalist, and particularly loved interviewing colourful characters and nosing around grand private homes. Her fascination with houses – the domestic worlds we inhabit, the family secrets caught within them – steeps the pages of her immersive page-turning fiction. She lives in Oxford with her husband and three children and a very hairy golden retriever, Harry. (Photo credit: Goodreads author page/Bio credit: Publisher author page)

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A Wedding in the Olive Garden by Leah Fleming #BookReview #BlogTour @HoZ_Books

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for A Wedding in the Olive Garden by Leah Fleming. Thanks to Vicky Joss at Head of Zeus for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my digital review copy via NetGalley. You can find my review of A Wedding in the Olive Garden below.

FB_IMG_1582298166464About the Book

Can an island in the sun provide the second chance Sara needs?

Sara Loveday flees home and crisis to the beautiful island of Santaniki. Here, amid olive groves and whitewashed stone villas, where dark cypress trees step down to a cobalt blue sea, Sara vows to change her life. Spotting a gap in the local tourist market, she sets up a wedding plan business, specialising in ‘second time around’ couples.

For her first big wedding, she borrows the olive garden of a local artists’ retreat, but almost at once things begin to go wrong. To make matters worse, a stranger from Sara’s past arrives on the island, spreading vicious lies. Can her business survive? And what will happen with the gorgeous new man who she’s begun to love?

Format: ebook (352 pages)           Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 7th May 2020 Genre: Women’s Fiction, Romance

Find A Wedding in the Olive Garden on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon.co.uk | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

A Wedding in the Olive Garden is a departure from my usual diet of historical fiction but doesn’t everyone need/deserve something sweet and indulgent from time to time, such as a slice of baklava perhaps?

Having really enjoyed the author’s previous book, The Olive Garden Choir,  it was a delight to return to the (alas, fictional) Greek island of Santaniki and to be reunited with some of the characters from the earlier book. My personal favourite is Irini, on this occasion transformed from mother-in-law from hell to avenging angel.

It was also great to make the acquaintance of some new characters. One of these is Sara Loveday who has her own reasons for wanting to begin a new chapter in her life, reasons which she is unwilling to share with anyone initially (including the reader). Luckily, her new wedding planning venture requires all her attention if it’s to be a success. A number of couples amongst the island’s residents have their own very special and personal reasons for wanting to get married and it’s not long before they are making use of Sara’s services. The first wedding she organises is notable for a very unexpected arrival.

With all this going on there’s definitely no place for romance on Sara’s extensive to-do list. At least, that’s what she thinks.

I can certainly attest to the publisher’s description of A Wedding in the Olive Garden as “a gorgeous, warm-hearted and uplifting novel conjuring the local colour, traditions and close bonds of island life.” Of all the weddings featured in the book, my favourite was the traditional Cretan wedding in which the whole community pitch in to help. There are also fabulous descriptions of the islanders’ celebrations of Easter and of the feast day of Phanourios, patron saint of lost and found, whose services are definitely needed at one point.

I have to mention the luscious descriptions of food such as these offerings from the lunchtime menu of the taverna run by Northern lass Mel, her husband Spiro, and the aforementioned Irini: gigantes (butter bean stew), mountain greens in oil and lemon, salad of beetroot, garlic and walnut, village sausages, and roasted vegetable salad with feta. Oh, and don’t forget a carafe of the local wine and a raki to finish. Stomach rumbling yet?

With the author’s customary skilful blend of joyful and poignant moments, if A Wedding in the Olive Garden doesn’t have you longingly browsing travel websites ready for when ‘normal’ life returns, or even planning your own dream wedding, I’ll be surprised.

In three words: Engaging, heart-warming, joyful

Try something similar: The House That Alice Built by Chris Penhall

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Leah FlemingAbout the Author

After careers in teaching, catering, running a market stall, stress management courses in the NHS as well as being a mother of four, Leah Fleming found her true calling as a storyteller. She lives in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales but spends part of the year marinating her next tale from an olive grove on her favourite island of Crete.

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