The Lost Ones

This is the first book I've read by Anita Frank and it's a quality read for this time of year.

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Book description

Some houses are never at peace.

England, 1917

Reeling from the death of her fiancé, Stella Marcham welcomes the opportunity to stay with her pregnant sister, Madeleine, at her imposing country mansion, Greyswick – but she arrives to discover a house of unease and her sister gripped by fear and suspicion.

Before long, strange incidents begin to trouble Stella – sobbing in the night, little footsteps on the stairs – and as events escalate, she finds herself drawn to the tragic history of the house.

Aided by a wounded war veteran, Stella sets about uncovering Greyswick’s dark and terrible secrets – secrets the dead whisper from the other side…

My review 

One of the best ghost stories I’ve ever read and how fitting that it’s due for publication on Halloween. Stella a VAD in the first world war, loses her fiancé. In fact he dies in the field hospital where she was stationed. She’s deemed to be unstable, even months after his death and her return to her parents’ home. She visits her pregnant sister, now staying at her in-laws’ residence, taking her strange little maid Annie.

Something awful had happened in that house. Little by little, we discover the possibilities then finally the reality. The tension mounts and little incidents from Stella Annie’s past become more important. I found this occasionally almost claustrophobic in its intensity and beautifully written. I’d recommend this book wholeheartedly.

About the author

Born in Shropshire, Anita studied English and American History at the University of East Anglia. She now lives in Berkshire with her husband and three children.

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Just a thought

Never put off till tomorrow the book you can read today ― Holbrook Jackson

Meredith's Dagger

I've never read a Debbie McGowan book I haven't enjoyed.

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Book description

Huddled in a doorway, unseen by the men passing on great horses, Meredith watched from within the hood of her cloak. The pain of the cold, wet morning impaled her, rooting her in place, even as the cat rubbed against her shins with a force that should have felled her. She shooed him away. Go home. But he would not.

She wished she had died that night. She wished she had died, for to live like this was not to live at all.

* * *

When Richie Moorcroft takes a housekeeping position to finance his studies, it means moving back to his childhood home: an ancient, almost-derelict cottage locals claim is haunted. But he never believed those stories; he knows where they came from, and in any case, he has a job to do: keeping nineteen-year-old Julian Denby on the straight and narrow without Julian realising his wealthy parents are paying Richie to do so.

Luckily, Julian’s not very astute, although the same can’t be said for their newest housemates: Richie’s bestie, Anneke, and Julian’s older sister, Tamara. Add in George, the cat who appeared from nowhere and is in no hurry to leave, and that makes five…about to uncover the sinister history of their new home.


My review -

You always get a good story and credible characters in a Debbie McGowan book.

Take a 17^th C cottage. Add four young people from widely differing backgrounds, a stray cat and a strange artefact discovered when renovating. There you have the ingredients for a gripping story with a historic layer beneath. We move back and forth in time between the Meredith of the title and the four in the cottage. There are numerous other characters involved and the story goes much deeper than its slightly spooky surface. It makes us think about a woman’s right of self-determination – then and now. Such a good story on so many levels.

About the author

Debbie McGowan is an award-winning author of contemporary fiction that celebrates life, love and relationships in all their diversity. Since the publication in 2004 of her debut novel, Champagne--based on a stage show co-written and co-produced with her husband--she has published many further works--novels, short stories and novellas--including two ongoing series: Hiding Behind The Couch (a literary 'soap opera' centring on the lives of nine long-term friends) and Checking Him Out (LGBTQ romance). Debbie has been a finalist in both the Rainbow Awards and the Bisexual Book Awards, and in 2016, she won the Lambda Literary Award (Lammy) for her novel, When Skies Have Fallen: a British historical romance spanning twenty-three years, from the end of WWII to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967. Through her independent publishing company, Debbie gives voices to other authors whose work would be deemed unprofitable by mainstream publishing houses.

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Just a thought

A good book should leave you... slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it  - William Styron

Lorraine Cannell

A new author - I like to go outside my comfort zone and it's well worth doing.

The Hollow

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My review - 

Fifteen year-old Liv knows she was in an accident three years ago and has no memories of her early years. Like her Aunt Marie, she has the gift of seeing the spirit world. She’s been seeing young women of her own age, but with their faces replaced by a rippling effect so she can’t tell who they are. They want her to find them. Then her own friend, Katie, goes missing. Her parents are over-protective and her relationship with them is strained and damaged. This gift of hers is all tied up with her inability to see her own past; to look into ‘the Hollow’.

This is a very spooky and exciting story which I read in a couple of days. It’s hard to put down. We know Liv can see spirits who need help but she herself finds it hard to get help from her own family. The feeling that, even though supposedly for her own good, things are being kept from her is well portrayed and the reader shares her frustration. This book combines the classic murder mystery with an exciting supernatural element which I really enjoyed.