Tag: contemporary fiction

#BookReview The House by the Loch by Kirsty Wark @TwoRoadsBooks

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The House by the LochAbout the Book

From the bestselling author of The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle, a novel of long-hidden family secrets that refuse to lie buried in the past . . .

Scotland, 1950s. Walter MacMillan is bewitched by the clever, glamorous Jean Thompson and can’t believe his luck when she agrees to marry him. Neither can she, for Walter represents a steady and loving man who can perhaps quiet the demons inside her. Yet their home on remote Loch Doon soon becomes a prison for Jean and neither a young family, nor Walter’s care, can seem to save her.

Many years later, Walter is with his adult children and adored grandchildren on the shores of Loch Doon where the family has been holidaying for two generations. But the shadows of the past stretch over them and will turn all their lives upside down on one fateful weekend.

Format: ebook (384 pages)             Publisher: Two Roads Books
Publication date: 13th June 2019 Genre: Historical/Contemporary Fiction

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My Review

I think I was expecting a lot more of this novel to be set in the past and, although a good portion of it is, the primary focus is the present day and the MacMillan family: grandfather,Walter; his son and daughter, Patrick and Fiona; their respective partners, Elinor and Roland; and Walter’s grandchildren, Pete, Carson and Iona. A lot of the story is seen from the point of view of Carson and I particularly liked the strong bond she has with her grandfather and her willingness to embrace exciting opportunities.

I enjoyed the sections of the book looking back at the development of the relationship between Walter and his late wife, Jean, from their initial meeting, their courtship and marriage to starting a family. However, behind the scenes there are tensions including Jean’s domineering father, her troubled mother and the long hours Jean spends alone in their house on the remote, if picturesque, Loch Doon. How these tensions manifest themselves in Jean’s behaviour, and the impact of this behaviour on Walter and their children is heartbreaking. Even more so, when the full story becomes known.

As for the story set in the present day, it becomes gradually apparent that history may be repeating itself. Loch Doon may be a place of beauty but it has also been the scene of tragic events, including one witnessed by Walter as a young boy, and will be again.

In her afterword, the author writes, “This novel means a great deal to me. It expresses my love of Scotland and the power it holds over me, and it also expresses the complexity of what family is and the way that it remakes itself endlessly.” The author’s love of Scotland definitely comes through in the wonderful descriptions of the loch and the surrounding Galloway hills.

The House by the Loch is an emotional, well-crafted story of a family dealing with change, guilt and loss, and how – together – they must come to terms with secrets of the past and face up to the future.

I received a review copy courtesy of Two Roads Books and NetGalley.

In three words: Emotional, dramatic, engrossing

Try something similar: The Stationmaster’s Daughter by Kathleen McGurl

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About the Author

Kirsty Wark is a journalist, broadcaster and writer who has presented a wide range of BBC programmes over the past thirty years, from the ground breaking Late Show to the nightly current affairs show Newsnight and the weekly arts and cultural review and comment show, The Review Show.

She has conducted longform interviews with everyone from Margaret Thatcher to Madonna, Harold Pinter, Elton John, the musician Pete Doherty, Damian Hirst, George Clooney and the likes of Toni Morrison, Donna Tartt and Philip Roth.

Kirsty has won several major awards for her work, including BAFTA Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting, Journalist of the Year and Best Television Presenter. Her debut novel, The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle, was published in March 2014 by Two Roads and was shortlisted for the Saltire First Book of the Year Award, as well as nominated for the 2016 International DUBLIN Literary Award. The House by the Loch has been inspired by her childhood memories and family, particularly her father.

Born in Dumfries and educated in Ayr, Scotland, Kirsty now lives in Glasgow.

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#BookReview #BlogTour Wild Spinning Girls by Carol Lovekin @honno

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Wild Spinning Girls BT Poster

Welcome to today’s stop, which is also the final stop, on the blog tour for Wild Spinning Girls by Carol Lovekin. Thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Honno Press for my review copy.

41pum92q8oLAbout the Book

If it wasn’t haunted before she came to live there, after she died, Ty’r Cwmwl made room for her ghost. She brought magic with her. And the house, having held its breath for years, knew it.

Ida Llewellyn loses her job and her parents in the space of a few weeks and, thrown completely off course, she sets out for the Welsh house her father has left her. Ty’r Cwmwl is not at all welcoming despite the fact it looks inhabited, as if someone just left…

It is being cared for as a shrine by the daughter of the last tenant. Determined to scare off her old home’s new landlord, Heather Esyllt Morgan sides with the birds who terrify Ida and plots to evict her. The two girls battle with suspicion and fear before discovering that the secrets harboured by their thoughtless parents have grown rotten with time. Their broken hearts will only mend once they cast off the house and its history, and let go of the keepsakes that they treasure like childhood dreams.

Format: ebook, paperback (288 pages) Publisher: Honno Press
Publication date: 20th February 2020 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

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Purchase links*
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*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

My Review

“There is a fierceness in young women: the wild spinning girls made of loss and grief and their mothers’ best dreams.”

The author creates a really interesting dynamic between the two main characters who seem, at first sight, to be poles apart. City girl Ida, a self-confessed ‘stranger to spontaneity’ and ‘the last woman in the world to act on impulse’ suddenly finds herself alone in the isolated house she has inherited from her father. “It was as though she’d landed in someone else’s life.” She’s not used to everyone knowing her business, viewing the interest of the inhabitants of the nearest village with suspicion.

Whilst Heather roams the moors with no need of a map, Ida finds herself lost within minutes. “Ida had little faith in her sense of direction because she’d never needed it. Where she came from, streets were marked, buses knew the way and until now she’d always been surrounded by familiarity. Out on the moor, as far as the eye could see, there were no landmarks to steer a course by…” Similarly, Ida views the black birds that roost around the house as an ominous presence, whilst Heather considers them guardians. And where Ida sees the clouds that dominate the sky as bleak, Heather sees them as infused with colour.

Although both women have recently lost their mothers, it doesn’t bring them together. “Neither of them had anything the other wanted. Even their grief was different.” Heather’s visits to Ty’r Cwmwl are a way of trying to retain a connection to her mother. Conversely, Ida searches for any trace of her mother in the house and finds instead only the lingering and unearthly presence of Heather’s mother. “The ghost of the wrong mother haunted Cloud House.”

I liked the skilful way the author creates a brooding atmosphere through the descriptions of both the landscape surrounding Ty’r Cwmwl and the house itself. For example, the way in which the coming of night, seen from Ida’s perspective, seems almost physically to envelop the house. “Dusk fell, unreliable and redolent with things half-imagined.” Similarly, we have dark ‘devouring’ the house and night ‘clamouring’ at the window.” In these circumstances, I think even the most sceptical might start to consider the presence of something supernatural. “Everything – the narrow lanes, the isolation, the relentless cloud and the wild black birds – leant itself to notions of ghosts.” Ah yes, those black birds that perch in the trees surrounding the house. Shades of Daphne du Maurier’s The Birds, I think.

The two young women gradually learn, to their surprise (but I have to say not to this reader’s), that they have more in common than they might have imagined – or desired. As Ida says, “Our lives have collided and it’s not our fault; it’s a mess.” Perhaps, though, they can both find ways to honour the memories, hopes and dreams of their mothers that require no magic.

Wild Spinning Girls is a thoughtful, well-crafted story about coming to terms with change and loss, and embracing the future.

In three words: Intimate, atmospheric, insightful

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Carol Lovekin Author pic 2

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