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Book Review – The Belladonna Maze by Sinéad Crowley

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About the Book

An old house can hold many secrets. Hollowpark in the west of Ireland certainly does. At the heart of the gardens is an intricate maze, named after a deadly poison, belladonna. If you know the way through, it’s magical, a hiding place and playground like no other. If you don’t, it’s a place of fear and sinister riddles, where a young girl once went missing and was never seen again.

Grace comes to Hollowpark as a nanny for young Skye FitzMahon. Soon the mysterious past of Hollowpark has seduced her. Who is the woman she sometimes glimpses in an upstairs window? Or the apparition who keeps showing up unexpectedly, pleading, ‘Find me’. And how can she fight her growing attraction to Skye’s father?

Format: ebook (361 pages) Publisher: Aria
Publication date: 5th May 2022 Genre: Historical Fiction, Dual Time

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My Review

I always feel dual timeline stories are a challenge to pull off successfully. Often they really don’t work for me, usually because I find one of the storylines more engaging than the other. Unsurprisingly, as a lover of historical fiction, it’s usually the one set in the past. I think the author managed it here though because the two storylines – one set in the mid-19th century and the other in 2007 – are woven together using a touch of the supernatural so it always feels there’s an underlying resonance between the two. A third storyline set in the mid-1970s involving the unsolved disappearance of a local girl helps tie them together as well. Despite being a supernatural sceptic, I was able to accept that Hollowpark, given its age and location, might hold many secrets. And if you’re going to suspend disbelief anywhere about ghostly apparations and ancient curses then surely Ireland is the place.

I liked the way the author introduced a character to enable her to weave into the story some of Ireland’s troubled history. In particular, the so-called ‘Great Hunger’ whose main cause was the infection of potato crops by blight. It reached its peak in 1847 and because so many people were dependent on potatoes for food and income, it resulted in a death toll of around 1 million. It also sparked a mass exodus with many people leaving Ireland for America among other places. This is also neatly reflected in the book later on.

The combination of history and mystery kept me absorbed in the story and there were a few good reveals which you’d expect from an author who also writes crime novels, although I did have my suspicions about the perpertrator fairly early on. There were a few creepy moments when Grace finds herself alone in the largely uninhabited house and the maze of the book’s title takes on a distinctly sinister aspect at times. Personally I found the relationship that develops between Grace and Patrick, her employer, unconvincing. Having only Grace’s point of view meant the attraction felt one-sided. I also thought it was rather too quickly and conveniently wrapped up.

The Belladonna Maze is a well-crafted story that will appeal to fans of dual timeline stories with a touch of the supernatural. I listened to the audiobook version narrated by the author. She did an excellent job, her Irish accent giving a real feeling of authenticity to the characters and dialogue.

I received a review copy courtesy of Head of Zeus via NetGalley.

In three words: Engaging, suspenseful, atmospheric
Try something similar: The House at Helygen by Victoria Hawthorne

About the Author

Author Sinéad Crowley

Sinéad Crowley is a writer and broadcaster, whose three DS Claire Boyle crime novels were all nominated for the ‘Best Crime’ category at the Irish Book Awards, with the first two becoming Irish Times bestsellers. She is currently Arts and Media Correspondent with RTE News, the Irish national broadcaster. (Photo: Goodreads)

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Book Review – Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

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About the Book

Everyone in the village said nothing good would come of Gabriel’s return. And as Beth looks at the man she loves on trial for murder, she can’t help thinking they were right.

Beth was seventeen when she first met Gabriel. Over that heady, intense summer, he made her think and feel and see differently. She thought it was the start of her great love story. When Gabriel left to become the person his mother expected him to be, she was broken.

It was Frank who picked up the pieces and together they built a home very different from the one she’d imagined with Gabriel. Watching her husband and son, she remembered feeling so sure that, after everything, this was the life she was supposed to be leading.

But when Gabriel comes back, all Beth’s certainty about who she is and what she wants crumbles. Even after ten years, their connection is instant. She knows it’s wrong and she knows people could get hurt. But how can she resist a second chance at first love?

Format: Hardcover (320 pages) Publisher: John Murray
Publication date: 4th March 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

The book moves back and forth in time, shifting between the trial of an unnamed defendant for the murder of an unnamed victim in 1960, Beth and Gabriel’s love affair as teenagers in the 1950s and the events of Beth’s ten year marriage to Frank.

There’s a wonderful innocence about Beth and Gabriel’s teenage romance through the heady heat of one idyllic summer, even if it’s not long before it is consummated. However, Gabriel’s mother doesn’t approve of the relationship. She sees a different future for her son, one that doesn’t involve marriage to a local girl. Summer comes to an end and Gabriel sets off for university leaving Beth thinking their relationship will persist. But events conspire to break them apart and she finds herself alone and facing an uncertain future. Frank, the young man who has been her devoted admirer ever since they were at school together, becomes her rescuer. He doesn’t care what’s happened in the past, he’s just overjoyed that he’s finally with Beth and they can set up home together on the family farm.

Running a farm is hard, physical work involving long hours. It doesn’t help that Frank’s younger brother, Jimmy, rolls in drunk most nights and doesn’t pull his weight. And only Frank seems able to control Jimmy’s angry outbursts.

Despite its uncertain beginnings Beth and Frank’s marriage is a success built on a foundation of love, mutual attraction and moments of joy. But it is also marked by a tragedy that has left them both with deep-seated psychological scars. Frank buries himself in work whilst Beth’s profound grief leaves her barely able to function, mindlessly completing the round of daily chores.

When Gabriel arrives back to live in the house he grew up in, Beth finds it impossible to resist the thought they might still have a future together. After all, they were supposed to have a life together weren’t they? It’s a kind of madness that makes her blind to any consideration of the possible consequences – with dire results.

I couldn’t really warm to Gabriel who seemed self-absorbed and indifferent to the consequences of his actions. And although I felt empathy with the teenage Beth and the circumstances she finds herself in, and immense sympathy for the tragedy that occurs later, I found it hard to forgive some of her decisions. For me the real hero of the book was Frank, the epitome of steadfast love, forgiveness and understanding despite bearing the burden of his own guilt. (The rural setting and love triangle gave me Thomas Hardy vibes, in particular Far From the Madding Crowd. There’s a Gabriel in that, of course.)

Broken Country is a beautifully written book that combines an intense, heartbreaking love story with elements of a thriller. It’s a very cleverly constructed book with a number of revelations kept for the final chapters. Although I didn’t find events after the trial particularly credible, they do set things up for an emotional ending that left even cynical old me slightly tearful. But then I always cry at the end of The Railway Children even though I know what’s coming.

I received a review copy courtesy of John Murray via NetGalley.

In three words: Emotional, dramatic, intense
Try something similar: The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

About the Author

After several years of living and working in London as a journalist and writing Pictures of Him and Days You Were Mine, Clare, her husband and three children moved to an old farmhouse in Dorset. The house, the ancient fields surrounding it and the farmers who have a deep connection to the land inspired the setting for Broken Country. (Photo: Goodreads)

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