Tag: NetGalley

#BookReview The Tuscan House by Angela Petch @bookouture

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Blog Tour - The Tuscan House

I’m delighted to welcome you to the opening day of the blog tour for The Tuscan House by Angela Petch. My thanks to Sarah at Bookouture for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my digital review copy via NetGalley.

The Tuscan HouseAbout the Book

Corbello, Italy, 1947. A woman and a little boy stagger into the ruins of an old house deep in the forest, wild roses overwhelming the crumbling terracotta walls. Since the war, nowhere has been safe. But they both freeze in shock when a voice calls out from the shadows…

For young mother Fosca Sentino, accepting refuge from ex-British soldier Richard – in Tuscany to escape his tragic past – is the only way to keep her little family safe. She once risked everything to spy on Nazi commanders and pass secret information to the resistenza. But after a heartbreaking betrayal, Fosca’s best friend Simonetta disappeared without trace. The whole community was torn apart, and now Fosca and her son are outcasts.

Wary of this handsome stranger at first, Fosca slowly starts to feel safe as she watches him play with her son in the overgrown orchard. But her fragile peace is shattered the moment a silver brooch is found in the garden, and she recognises it as Simonetta’s…

Fosca has always suspected that another member of the resistenza betrayed her. With Richard by her side, she must find out if Simonetta is still alive, and clear her own name. But how did the brooch end up at the house? And with a traitor hiding in the village, willing to do anything to keep this secret buried, has Fosca put herself and her young son in terrible danger?

Format: Paperback (384 pages ) Publisher: Bookouture
Publication date: 31st March 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find The Tuscan House on Goodreads

Purchase links
Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

Although a standalone novel rather than part of a series, The Tuscan House is the fourth book by Angela Petch to be set in her beloved Tuscany. The author’s love of Italy and its culture is clear to see, not least in the delicious descriptions of its landscape: ‘cypress-lined avenues meandering up to hilltop villages perched on ridiculously steep rises, churches and little chapels holding ancient treasures, simple shrines by the side of the road.’ And talking of delicious, surely only in Italy could a meal such this be served by monks in a monastery: ‘A first course of home-made tagliolini pasta, with a source made from slivers of truffle sourced from the woods was followed by tripe… tender, succulent slices flavoured with tomatoes, olive oil and herbs’.

Alternating between 1947 and the final years of the war, the story is told from the perspective of three characters – Richard, Fosca and Simonetta.

Haunted by memories of what he witnessed during the war serving as a non-combatant in the Friends Ambulance Unit, Richard’s return to Corbello represents the opportunity for a new start, a way of wiping the slate clean and leaving behind the grey skies of England. I liked the way his project to renovate an old tobacco factory acted as a metaphor for his own physical and mental recovery. That recovery is echoed in the return to life in the surrounding landscape, with poppies blooming where there were once trenches and fields cleared of mines returning to cultivation.  However, the impact of the war still remains, not just in the damaged buildings but in the fractured minds of people, the rifts that persist between families, the recriminations for actions taken, and the witch-hunts against those suspected of collaborating with the enemy.

The parts of the book told from the perspectives of Fosca and Simonetta powerfully depict the horrific realities of war, such as the harsh winters when food and fuel was in short supply, and the village was cut off from the outside world by deep snow on the perilous mountain roads.  The dangers of working for the resistenza, or even assisting its members by offering shelter or gathering information, become all too apparent and will have lasting repercussions, especially when not everyone can be trusted.  Fosca’s and Richard’s search for answers to the mystery of Simonetta’s disappearance is sure to keep readers glued to the book until the very last page.

The Tuscan House is a skilfully crafted story demonstrating that not only does courage come in many forms but so does love.

In three words: Emotional, immersive, dramatic

Try something similar: The Secret by Katharine Johnson

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Angela PetchAbout the Author

Angela writes: “I’m an award winning writer of fiction – and the occasional poem. Every summer I move to Tuscany for six months where my husband and I own a renovated watermill which we let out. When not exploring our unspoilt corner of the Apennines, I disappear to my writing desk at the top of our converted stable. In my Italian handbag or hiking rucksack I always make sure to store notebook and pen to jot down ideas. The winter months are spent in Sussex where most of our family live. When I’m not helping out with grandchildren, I catch up with writer friends.

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The Tuscan House

#BookReview The Drowned City (Daniel Pursglove 1) by K. J. Maitland @headlinepg

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The Drowned CityAbout the Book

1606. A year to the day that men were executed for conspiring to blow up Parliament, a towering wave devastates the Bristol Channel. Some proclaim God’s vengeance. Others seek to take advantage.

In London, Daniel Pursglove lies in prison waiting to die. But Charles FitzAlan, close adviser to King James I, has a job in mind that will free a man of Daniel’s skill from the horrors of Newgate. If he succeeds.

For Bristol is a hotbed of Catholic spies, and where better for the lone conspirator who evaded arrest, one Spero Pettingar, to gather allies than in the chaos of a drowned city? Daniel journeys there to investigate FitzAlan’s lead, but soon finds himself at the heart of a dark Jesuit conspiracy – and in pursuit of a killer.

Format: Hardcover (448 pages)  Publisher: Headline
Publication date: 1st April 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find The Drowned City on Goodreads

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Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

The author has created an interesting character in Daniel Pursglove. I liked the way small details about his often troubled past were dropped in now and again, laying the groundwork for future books. I also liked that the book was set in Bristol – the ‘drowned city’ of the title – not only because it made a change from the oft-used setting of London but also because it made sense from the point of view of the plot.

The writing was of the quality I’ve come to expect from other books I’ve read by the author, most recently A Gathering of Ghosts. Some episodes that particularly stood out were the dramatic prologue, a scene in which a Protestant mob attacks the house of a cordwainer and his family, and the New Year’s Eve masque.

Like any good hero, Daniel has some narrow escapes from those out to stop him achieving his mission.  This includes an adversary from his younger days. However, he always miraculously manages to turn up safely in his bed at his lodgings in the Salt Cat tavern. He also acquires a useful helper along the way whose knowledge of the city and ability to pass unnoticed aids Daniel’s intelligence gathering efforts as he seeks to carry out his mission but also determine if there is any connection between it and a series of murders.

No historical novel set in the period is complete without an appearance by one of the Cecil family; in this case it’s Robert Cecil. I actually felt some sympathy for him having to deal with the petulant and easily influenced King James I the author presents in the book. Although, with the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot still within recent memory, perhaps the King can be forgiven for imagining assassins at every turn and being concerned that one of the conspirators may still be at large. (I confess that until I read the historical notes at the end of the book I hadn’t realised Spero Pettingar was a real historical figure. For much of the book, I was convinced his name was an anagram!) And there are still adherents of Catholicism to be dealt with as well as the Jacobean equivalent of fake news, spread via illicitly printed pamphlets or ‘broadsides’. As Cecil warns the King, “Sire, even a superstition, if it takes hold of the imagination of the people, can be as powerful a weapon as any truth.” Indeed.

The Drowned City has all the ingredients to make an absorbing historical thriller although at certain points I found it on the slow side. However, it certainly picked up pace towards the end. As Daniel confides, ‘The art of legerdemain is to make the audience look in the wrong place’. In my case the author didn’t quite manage that when it came to the identity of the culprit whom I’d had my suspicions about for a few chapters, but I found enough to enjoy in The Drowned City to make me look out for future books in the series.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Headline via NetGalley.

In three words: Atmospheric, intriguing, dramatic

Try something similar: The Angel’s Mark by S. W. Perry

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karen maitlandAbout the Author

Karen Maitland (writing as K. J. Maitland) is an historical novelist, lecturer and teacher of Creative Writing, with over twenty books to her name. She grew up in Malta, which inspired her passion for history, and travelled and worked all over the world before settling in the United Kingdom. She has a doctorate in psycholinguistics, and now lives on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon. (Photo/bio credit: Publisher author page)

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