Tag: NetGalley

Book Review: The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd

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TheIndigoGirlAbout the Book

The year is 1739. Eliza Lucas is sixteen years old when her father leaves her in charge of their family’s three plantations in rural South Carolina and then proceeds to bleed the estates dry in pursuit of his military ambitions. Tensions with the British, and with the Spanish in Florida, just a short way down the coast, are rising, and slaves are starting to become restless. Her mother wants nothing more than for their South Carolina endeavour to fail so they can go back to England. Soon her family is in danger of losing everything. Upon hearing how much the French pay for indigo dye, Eliza believes it’s the key to their salvation. But everyone tells her it’s impossible, and no one will share the secret to making it. Thwarted at nearly every turn, even by her own family, Eliza finds that her only allies are an aging horticulturalist, an older and married gentleman lawyer, and a slave with whom she strikes a dangerous deal: teach her the intricate thousand-year-old secret process of making indigo dye and in return — against the laws of the day – she will teach the slaves to read. So begins an incredible story of love, dangerous and hidden friendships, ambition, betrayal, and sacrifice.

Format: Hardcover (346 pp.), ebook (pp.) Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Published: 3rd October 2017                        Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Amazon.com ǀ Barnes & Noble
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

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My Review

In her afterword, the author explains how a snippet of conversation overheard whilst visiting an exhibition about indigo became the inspiration for The Indigo Girl.   I was reminded of a quote I read recently by Bernie McGill, author of The Watch House: ‘As a fiction writer, I am always looking for the gaps between recorded events, the spaces in between’. In this case, the author has taken the true story of Eliza Lucas and using historical documents, including Eliza’s own letters, filled the spaces in between to produce a fascinating book about life in 18th century America. The book includes excerpts from Eliza’s letters at relevant points in the narrative.

In case this is making it sound like The Indigo Girl is a dry treatise on the process of producing indigo dye, I can reassure potential readers that it’s much more than this. It’s also an enthralling story full of action, intrigue – even a hint of romance – with an engaging central character. In The Indigo Girl, Eliza emerges as a much more lively individual than the rather formal style of her actual letters would suggest. However, the letters give a hint of the determination and independence of spirit exhibited by the Eliza of the novel.

Given charge of running the family estate in South Carolina when her father is forced to return to their holdings in Antigua, Eliza sets out to transform the family’s fortunes by growing indigo, fuelled by her interest in botany. The only trouble is the cultivation of indigo and its transformation into high quality dye seems akin to a mystical process, the knowledge of which is held only by some of the slaves on the plantation: ‘The secret has been passed down through generations, perhaps even from ancient times.’

Gaining access to this knowledge brings Eliza into conflict with one of her father’s overseers because of his cruel treatment of the estate’s slaves. And her involvement in running the estate is looked at askance by Eliza’s mother, who is worried that it will ruin Eliza’s marriage prospects by going against the norms of polite society.   Much to her mother’s horror, Eliza is more interested in the accounts and researching cultivation techniques than in tea drinking and embroidery.

In her heart, Eliza knows that she has only been placed in charge because both her brothers are at school in England. Her appointment is one of necessity not a sign of female emancipation. However, she clings to the vain hope that if she can make a success of it she can escape the inevitability of marriage.

‘Three crop seasons to get it right. If I didn’t succeed by then, marriage was my only option. A marriage not to save the family or our land – a wealthy man could buy himself a more biddable wife than I – but marriage so my family would not have to support me any longer.’

After several unsuccessful attempts to grow indigo, Eliza eventually persuades her father to hire a consultant. However, this sets off a chain of events that will ultimately end in tragedy for some, their just desserts for others and happiness for the people who matter.

I knew nothing about the growing of indigo or the production of indigo dye and its economic and political importance before reading this book so I found this aspect of the book particularly fascinating. As a keen gardener, I could also appreciate the challenges of experimenting with different sowing times, growing conditions and aftercare in an effort to achieve success.

I now know that the export of indigo dye from South Carolina laid the foundation for the wealth of many Southern families meaning Eliza’s accomplishments influenced the course of US history.  Indeed, the author notes that, when Eliza died in 1793, President George Washington served as a pallbearer at her funeral. I’m so glad the author was able to celebrate the achievements of this remarkable woman and, at the same time, craft such an enjoyable novel. If it were needed, this reminds me why I enjoy reading historical fiction so much: entertainment and education in one lovely package.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of NetGalley and publishers, Blackstone, in return for an honest review.

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In three words: Engaging, fascinating, well-crafted

Natasha BoydAbout the Author

Natasha Boyd is an internationally bestselling and award-winning fiction author. Eversea, her debut novel, was a finalist for Contemporary Romance in the 2013 Winter Rose Contest, won the 2014 Digital Book Award for Adult Fiction and is a LIBRARY JOURNAL self-e selection 2015. She was born in Denmark, grew up in South Africa, Belgium and England and now lives and writes full-time in the USA. She lives with her husband, two sons and the cast of characters in her head. Her work is, so far, available in English, Italian, Turkish, German, and Indonesian

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Book Review: The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

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TheWordisMurderAbout the Book

A wealthy woman strangled six hours after she’s arranged her own funeral. A very private detective uncovering secrets but hiding his own. A reluctant author drawn into a story he can’t control. What do they have in common? Unexpected death, an unsolved mystery and a trail of bloody clues lie at the heart of Anthony Horowitz’s page-turning new thriller. SPREAD THE WORD. THE WORD IS MURDER.

Format: Hardcover Publisher: Century Pages: 416
Publication: 24th Aug 2076 Genre: Crime, Mystery    

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

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My Review

Whilst reading this book, I imagined Anthony chuckling away as he wrote it and there were many times when I joined in, laughing out loud at his very funny comments – at times self-deprecating, at other times distinctly waspish. For example, visiting the scene of the crime, he observes in the victim’s living room:

‘..the thick-pile carpet with its floral pattern etched out in pink and grey…the crystal chandelier, the comfortable faux-antique furniture, the Coutry Life and Vanity Fair magazines spread out on the coffee table, the books (modern fiction, hardback, nothing by me)…’

And in her bedroom:

‘Only a week ago, a middle-aged woman would have undressed here, standing in front of the full-length mirror, sliding into the queen-sized bed with the copy of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Played With Fire that was lying on the bedside table. Well, at least Mrs Cowper had been spared the slightly disappointing ending.’

Despite his protestation that ‘it worries me to be so very prominent in these pages’, Horowitz writes himself front and centre into the book, acting as a sort of Watson to ex-police detective, Hawthorne, a latter day Sherlock Holmes with all the deductive and observational powers of that literary giant and the same peculiarly limited knowledge of other aspects of life. A running joke is that Hawthorne never introduces Horowitz when they visit witnesses or explains why he’s there – and rarely does anyone ask.

In one of many playful themes, Horowitz constantly reminds the reader that he would have written the book differently if writing a work of fiction but, of course, since this is true crime, he has to stick to the facts.

‘I looked down and noticed a stain on the carpet, marked by two more police numbers. Her bowels had loosened just before she died, the sort of detail I would normally have spared an ITV audience.’

In particular, he’s troubled that he doesn’t know enough about Hawthorne’s back story, personal life and so on to make him an interesting character in the book. After all, Horowitz is the experienced best-selling author and screenwriter, isn’t he? Surely he knows what makes a book work better than anyone?

‘If I had sat down to write an original murder mystery story, I wouldn’t have chosen anyone like Hawthorne as its main protagonist.’

But Hawthorne insists what readers are really interested in isn’t the detective but the crime – ‘The word is murder. That’s what matters.’ (Oh look what he did there, that’s the book’s title.) In fact, as if trying to push his point to the limit Horowitz goes out of his way to make Hawthorne an unlikeable character, giving him some distinctly unpalatable views.

Horowitz revels in his role as unreliable narrator:

‘It occurred to me that I could make up my own rules. Who said that I had to write down everything exactly as it happened?‘

He cheerfully admits that he hasn’t included everything that was in the notes he took of the interviews he and Hawthorne conducted and that much of what he’s included is probably irrelevant. He also makes mischievous claims to have included vital clues in earlier scenes that will have you struggling to resist flipping back pages.

At times, the references to his other works – books, film & TV scripts – felt a little too frequent, even if a lot of these were self-deprecating. I did get the sense sometimes of being a witness to a huge in-joke. For example, his rant about literary agents directed at what appears to be his actual agent.

Having said that, the book is hugely enjoyable and proof, if it were needed, that Anthony Horowitz is a very clever man. The mystery itself is well-plotted and liberally dosed with red herrings and misdirection worthy of the author’s literary heroine, Agatha Christie.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of NetGalley and publishers, Penguin UK, and chose to give an honest and unbiased review.

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In three words: Clever, funny, self-referential

Try something similar…Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz

AnthonyHorowitzAbout the Author

Anthony Horowitz, OBE is ranked alongside Enid Blyton and Mark A. Cooper as “The most original and best spy-kids authors of the century.” (New York Times). Anthony has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty. In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he is also the writer and creator of award winning detective series Foyle’s War, and more recently event drama Collision. Among his other television works he has written episodes for Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. Anthony became patron to East Anglia Children’s Hospices in 2009.

On 19 January 2011, the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle announced that Horowitz was to be the writer of a new Sherlock Holmes novel, the first such effort to receive an official endorsement from them and to be entitled the House of Silk.

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