Tag: ReadersFirst

#BlogTour #BookReview A Woman Made of Snow by Elisabeth Gifford @RandomTTours

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for A Woman Made of Snow by Elisabeth Gifford. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Corvus for my digital review copy.

A Woman Made of SnowAbout the Book

A gorgeous, haunting and captivating novel of a century-long family mystery in the wilds of Scotland, and one woman’s hunt for the truth.

Scotland, 1949: Caroline Gillan and her new husband Alasdair have moved back to Kelly Castle, his dilapidated family estate in the middle of nowhere. Stuck caring for their tiny baby, and trying to find her way with an opinionated mother-in-law, Caroline feels adrift, alone and unwelcome.

But when she is tasked with sorting out the family archives, Caroline discovers a century-old mystery that sparks her back to life. There is one Gillan bride who is completely unknown – no photos exist, no records have been kept – the only thing that is certain is that she had a legitimate child. Alasdair’s grandmother.

As Caroline uncovers a strange story that stretches as far as the Arctic circle, her desire to find the truth turns obsessive. And when a body is found in the grounds of the castle, her hunt becomes more than just a case of curiosity. What happened all those years ago? Who was the bride? And who is the body…?

Format: Hardcover (304 pages)         Publisher: Corvus
Publication date:  7th October 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find A Woman Made of Snow on Goodreads

Purchase links
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
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My Review

I’ve become a great fan of Elisabeth Gifford’s books having read and enjoyed The Sea House, The Lost Lights of St Kilda and my absolute favourite, The Good Doctor of Warsaw. I’m pleased to say A Woman Made of Snow incorporates all the elements I’ve enjoyed in previous books: fascinating period settings, atmospheric locations, a combination of mystery and love story, and a cast of well-crafted characters. I mean, what more do you want from a work of historical fiction?

The book moves back and forth in time between 1949 and a century earlier focusing on the inhabitants of Kelly Castle through the years. Caroline (Caro) is trying to balance the demands of motherhood with her desire for independence.  She finds living at Kelly Castle difficult to get used to whereas for Alasdair, away for much of the day at work, it seems so easy to adapt to its routines. ‘A map of Alasdair would have clear lines, useful for going places. A map of herself, Caro realized, would be full of shaded liminal areas, still in the process of becoming, coastlines up for discussion.’ Caro is also trying to navigate the tricky relationship with her mother-in-law, Martha, who seems to find fault in much that Caro does, whether that’s the names she calls things – ‘mirror’ rather than ‘looking glass’ – or the way she looks after her daughter.

Charlotte, Caro’s counterpart in the earlier timeline, is facing a similar conflict between the expectations of society and a desire for personal freedom: to go where she wants to, dress how she wants, to eschew marriage. Despite being financially independent, she still finds the world a place dominated by men and where double standards apply when it comes to men’s and women’s behaviour. ‘It was a bitter truth to learn, that men may wade through all kinds of muddy waters and come out smelling if not sweet, then at least acceptable. Not so for a woman.’  Charlotte’s affection for a member of the Gillan family, destined to remain unrequited, nevertheless inspires a loyalty and sense of duty that will remain unacknowledged for years.

For me, the standout sections of the book were those set in the Arctic aboard a whaling ship. These positively oozed atmosphere, capturing both the beauty of the scenery and its inherent dangers – the intense cold, the risk of frostbite or of ships becoming icebound or even crushed in the shifting ice. It also introduced me to a way of life I had limited knowledge of before, about which I’ll say no more so as not to spoil your enjoyment of the story.

As well as being an intriguing mystery and a touching love story, what I enjoyed about the book was the way it explored more serious issues such as gender and social inequality, and racial prejudice. The latter is demonstrated in the most dramatic way by an act so despicable it left me reeling.

Those who enjoy the mystery element of a story will be gripped by the gradual accumulation of clues about the identity of the body found in the grounds of Kelly Castle. Mirroring the research that goes into writing a work of historical fiction this involves perusing diaries, letters and photographs. Prepare to be surprised when the answer is finally revealed, and to find yourself a little tearful at the end of the book.

A Woman of Snow is another thoroughly absorbing and satisfying read from the pen of Elisabeth Gifford.

In three words: Emotional, intriguing, atmospheric

Try something similar: The Secret by Katharine Johnson

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Elisabeth Gifford Author PicAbout the Author

Elisabeth Gifford grew up in a vicarage in the industrial Midlands. She studied French literature and world religions at Leeds University. She has a Diploma in Creative Writing from Oxford OUDCE and an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway. She is married with three children, and lives in Kingston upon Thames. A Woman Made of Snow is her fifth novel.

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#BookReview Gallowstree Lane (Collins and Griffiths #3) by Kate London @CorvusBooks

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Gallowstree LaneAbout the Book

Please don’t let me die. Please don’t. The final words of teenager Spencer Cardoso as he bleeds out on a London street, his life cut short in a single moment of rage.

Detective Inspector Kieran Shaw’s not interested in the infantry. Shaw likes the proper criminals, the ones who can plan things.  For two years he’s been painstakingly building evidence against an organized network, the Eardsley Bluds. Operation Perseus is about to make its arrests.

So when a low-level Bluds member is stabbed to death on Gallowstree Lane, Shaw’s priority is to protect his operation. An investigation into one of London’s tit-for-tat killings can’t be allowed to derail Perseus and let the master criminals go free.

But there’s a witness to the murder, fifteen-year-old Ryan Kennedy. Already caught up in Perseus and with the Bluds, Ryan’s got his own demons and his own ideas about what’s important. As loyalties collide and priorities clash, a chain of events is triggered that draws in Shaw’s old adversary DI Sarah Collins and threatens everyone with a connection to Gallowstree Lane…

Format: Hardcover (368 pages)         Publisher: Corvus
Publication date: 7th February 2019 Genre: Crime

Find Gallowstree Lane (Collins & Griffiths #3) on Goodreads

Purchase links
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
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My Review

I haven’t read either of the previous two books in the series – Post Mortem and Death Message – but Gallowstree Lane worked perfectly well as a standalone, although when I get the chance I’d like to go back and read the first two.

Given the series title, I assumed (Sarah) Collins and (Lizzie) Griffiths were a team but in fact it turns out their paths have crossed only briefly in the course of previous cases. However, through different routes they find themselves both involved in finding the murderer of Spencer Cardoso: Sarah as Senior Investigating Officer on the case and Lizzie through the arrest of Spencer’s friend, Ryan, for a seemingly unrelated crime. The trail leads to a gang leader who is the subject of a major organized crime investigation led by Detective Inspector Kieran Shaw.

The book provides a vivid picture of gang culture and how young men, often from deprived backgrounds, can be drawn into drugs, petty crime and violence by manipulative individuals, with often tragic outcomes. Sadly, the latter can just become one more statistic, or a brief mention in a newspaper. As Sarah observes, ‘The specifics of the dead boys did not generally capture the public’s imagination. These were, in the main one-act dramas and not very good ones either; no complication, no twist to make them interesting, no learning for the persons involved.’ In some respects, Detective Inspector Shaw shares this view but only because he is single-mindedly focused on the major operation he is running. ‘His business was to catch the proper bad guys.’

I think it shows the skill of the author to make Ryan, the witness to the murder of his friend, in any way a sympathetic character. He’s a young man traumatised by what he saw and plagued with guilt for running away.  He finds himself in a situation he can’t control and is pitifully loyal to those who view him in reality as no more than a useful tool in their criminal enterprises.

The book contains meticulous detail about police procedure, no doubt gleaned from the author’s time in the Metropolitan Police Service: the extensive paperwork, the often repetitive tasks, the painstaking attention to detail, the frustration when progress is slow, the black humour, and the adrenaline rush of the sudden breakthrough when ‘the trance of assessment and action that every police officer learns’ takes over. I liked the way the book shows the impact of the role on officers’ personal lives, whether that’s the long shifts, the unsocial hours or the traumatic scenes that linger long in the memory. And, as the story progresses we see just how much of a multi-disciplinary effort an investigation can be and what impact the use of modern technology can make (although it may make you more on the look out for CCTV cameras as you stroll down your local street).

I thought Gallowstree Lane was a cracking police procedural. It kept me hooked until the final pages and I’m only sorry it’s taken me so long to get around to reading it.

My thanks to Corvus for my review copy via Readers First. Gallowstree Lane is the final book in my 20 Books of Summer 2021. Phew, made it!

In three words: Gritty, compelling, authentic

Try something similar: Payback (DI Charley Mann #1) by R.C. Bridgestock

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Kate London 1 credit Tim FlachAbout the Author

Kate joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 2006. She finished her career working as part of a Major Investigation Team on the Metropolitan Police Service’s Homicide Command. She now writes full time. (Photo credit: Publisher author page)

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