Saturday 30 November 2019

BLOG TOUR: Stay Mad, Sweetheart - Heleen Kist


THERE’S A FINE LINE BETWEEN INNOCENCE AND GUILT. AN EVEN FINER LINE BETWEEN JUSTICE AND REVENGE.

Data scientist Laura prefers the company of her books to the real world – let alone that cesspit online. But when her best friend Emily becomes the victim of horrific cyberbullying, she makes it her all-engulfing mission to track down the worst culprits.

Petite corporate financier Suki is about to outshine the stupid boys at her firm: she’s leading the acquisition of Edinburgh’s most exciting start-up. If only she could get its brilliant, but distracted, co-founder Laura to engage.

Event planner Claire is left to salvage the start-up's annual conference after her colleague Emily fails to return to work. She’s determined to get a promotion out of it, but her boss isn’t playing ball.

As the women's paths intertwine, the insidious discrimination they each face comes to light. Emboldened by Emily’s tragic experience, they join forces to plot the downfall of all those who've wronged them.

But with emotions running high, will the punishments fit the crimes?


A pacy suspense fiction with its feet firmly in the #MeToo era. 9 to 5 meets Suits with a dash of Black Mirror.


What did I think?

I haven't read many feminist novels (shame on me) but I was drawn to this book not only by its subject matter but by its comparison to the TV show Suits.  Although the comparison is obvious, there is definitely more drama, skullduggery and ambition in Stay Mad, Sweetheart than there is in a whole series of Suits.  Stay Mad, Sweetheart would make an amazing series and I hope it gets snapped up for TV.

Laura is my favourite character as she most resonated with me.  Laura just wants to do a good job and feel valued without having to compare her worth to her co-workers.  Nothing good ever came out of opening that Pandora's box but I know that such inequality still goes on and it saddens me.  I loved how Laura went on a crusade to identify the cyberbullies who made her friend's life a living hell.  I've always said, it's not so much the person who fires the gun as the one who provides the bullets; the people who launch a virtual hand-grenade and then step back while others do the damage.  If only a real-life Laura existed who could identify these cowardly cretins.

Anger is the overriding emotion that I experienced a lot throughout the book, especially at the way Claire and Suki were discriminated against at work.  Suki in particular has to put up with blatant sexism and racism in the corporate finance world and is constantly patronised even though she is a financial whizz.  I'm a little naive sometimes so I was horrified to learn how derogatory Suki's nickname was, as I have heard people being called this in the real world.  

Now it's not all burning bras and misandry as there is a scene where Claire and her friends ogle a hunky plumber in a cafe.  It struck me as very different to how women are treated by men as the women keep their opinions within their group and the man was none the wiser.  If it was the other way round, a group of men would be wolf whistling and making suggestive comments out loud to a beautiful woman, making her feel uncomfortable.  I know this doesn't apply to all men and I'm generalising here but it just shows the difference between the sexes; men really are from Mars.

Mad by name and mad by nature; this exceptional book will incite your fury.  It's a feminist novel for the digital age and I think Margaret Atwood will be kicking herself that she hadn't written it herself; I can see this replacing or maybe accompanying The Handmaid's Tale in the school curriculum in the not too distant future.  A must read thought-provoking book that everyone (no discrimination) should read.  

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:


Buy it from Amazon
Buy it from Red Dog Press




About the author:

Heleen Kist has been fondled, patronised and ordered to smile by random men. So she wrote ‘Stay Mad, Sweetheart’, a feminist tale of revenge. Whilst her professional knowledge of technology start-ups fed the novel’s setting, its theme of harassment and workplace discrimination required no research: it is familiar to all women.

Heleen was chosen as an up and coming new author at Bloody Scotland 2018. Her first novel, ‘In Servitude’ won the silver medal for Best European Fiction at the Independent Publishers Book Awards in the USA and was shortlisted for The Selfies awarded at London Book Fair.


A Dutch strategy consultant living in Glasgow and married to a Scotsman, she’s raising their son to be a good man and their daughter to kick ass.





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Tuesday 26 November 2019

BLOG TOUR: Death Makes No Distinction: A Dan Foster Mystery - Lucienne Boyce


The Rachel's Random Resources Blog Tour for Death Makes No Distinction by Lucienne Boyce is visiting my blog today and I am delighted to release my review as part of the tour.


Two women at opposite ends of the social scale, both brutally murdered.

Principal Officer Dan Foster of the Bow Street Runners is surprised when his old rival John Townsend requests his help to investigate the murder of Louise Parmeter, a beautiful writer who once shared the bed of the Prince of Wales. Her jewellery is missing, savagely torn from her body. Her memoirs, which threaten to expose the indiscretions of the great and the good, are also missing.

Frustrated by the chief magistrate’s demand that he drop the investigation into the death of the unknown beggar woman, found savagely raped and beaten and left to die in the outhouse of a Holborn tavern, Dan is determined to get to the bottom of both murders. But as his enquiries take him into both the richest and the foulest places in London, and Townsend’s real reason for requesting his help gradually becomes clear, Dan is forced to face a shocking new reality when the people he loves are targeted by a shadowy and merciless adversary.

The investigation has suddenly got personal.


What did I think?

Having loved Bloodie Bones, the first Dan Foster Mystery, I have been eager to get back to this period of Georgian history.  Although I haven't yet read book 2, I didn't feel disadvantaged at all as Lucienne Boyce gives enough of Dan Foster's back story to fill in any blanks I may have had.

Dan Foster's story is one thread of the book and I'll come back to that in a moment, but the murders he is investigating are the main story.  Dan is just about to investigate the brutal murder of a penniless woman, presumed to be a prostitute, when a lady of higher class is murdered and his focus is forcibly shifted.  Dan isn't the sort of policeman to give up without a fight (pun intended) and it is his talent for pugilism that draws him into boxing at the request of the Prince of Wales.  I love that word 'pugilism', it makes boxing sound so fancy!

There's a lot going on in Dan's life at the moment; he has a wife and a son, although his wife isn't his son's mother.  As if that isn't intriguing enough, he is also in love with his wife's sister who has just got married.  What on earth have I missed?  I need to read The Butcher's Block immediately!  Although I have clearly missed things by missing out book 2; it didn't spoil my enjoyment one bit, it just makes book 2 all the more alluring to me in order to fully fill in the blanks.

I really felt as if I had been transported to the slums of London when reading Death Makes No Distinction.  I think with the Prince of Wales featuring and gentlemen huzzah-ing now and again, I pictured the scene somewhat like Blackadder III, with garishly painted ladies of the night and drunken madams frequenting the pubs and rowdy drunken lords patronising the gentlemens clubs.

The murder mystery aspect is excellent and there are so many suspects that I really couldn't have guessed who the actual perpetrators were.  I think it was because it was so hard to guess that I didn't really try to work it out and just enjoyed the thrill of sniffing out clues along with Dan Foster.

Death Makes No Distinction is a superb historical murder mystery with a down to earth and realistic protagonist.  I think it could definitely be read as a standalone and I have no doubt that any readers picking up Dan Foster's story at this stage will be eager to read the previous books too.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:


Buy it from:
Book Depository
Wordery
Foyles
Amazon UK
Amazon US




About the author:

Lucienne Boyce writes historical fiction, non-fiction and biography. After gaining an MA in English Literature (with Distinction) with the Open University in 2007, specialising in eighteenth-century fiction, she published her first historical novel, To The Fair Land, in 2012, an eighteenth-century thriller set in Bristol and the South Seas.

Her second novel, Bloodie Bones: A Dan Foster Mystery (2015) is the first of the Dan Foster Mysteries and follows the fortunes of a Bow Street Runner who is also an amateur pugilist. Bloodie Bones was joint winner of the Historical Novel Society Indie Award 2016, and was also a semi-finalist for the M M Bennetts Award for Historical Fiction 2016. The second Dan Foster Mystery, The Butcher’s Block, was published in 2017 and was awarded an IndieBrag Medallion in 2018. The third in the series, Death Makes No Distinction, was published in 2019. In 2017 an e-book Dan Foster novella, The Fatal Coin, was trade published by SBooks.

In 2013, Lucienne published The Bristol Suffragettes, a history of the suffragette movement in Bristol and the west country. In 2017 she published a collection of short essays, The Road to Representation: Essays on the Women’s Suffrage Campaign.

Contributions to other publications include:-

‘Not So Militant Browne’ in Suffrage Stories: Tales from Knebworth, Stevenage, Hitchin and Letchworth (Stevenage Museum, 2019)

‘Victoria Lidiard’ in The Women Who Built Bristol, Jane Duffus (Tangent Books, 2018)

‘Tramgirls, Tommies and the Vote’ in Bristol and the First World War: The Great Reading Adventure 2014 (Bristol Cultural Development Partnership/Bristol Festival of Ideas, 2014)

Articles, interviews and reviews in various publications including Bristol Times, Clifton Life, The Local Historian, Historical Novels Review (Historical Novel Society), Nonesuch, Bristol 24/7, Bristol History Podcast, etc.

Lucienne has appeared on television and radio in connection with her fiction and non-fiction work. She regularly gives talks and leads walks about the women’s suffrage movement. She also gives talks and runs workshops on historical fiction for literary festivals, Women’s Institutes, local history societies, and other organisations. She has been a radio presenter on BCfm, and a course tutor.

In 2018 she was instrumental in devising and delivering Votes for Women 100, a programme of commemorative events by the West of England and South Wales Women’s History Network in partnership with Bristol M Shed and others. She also campaigned and raised funds for a Blue Plaque for the Bristol and West of England Women’s Suffrage Society.

She is on the steering committee of the West of England and South Wales Women’s History Network, and is also a member of the Historical Novel Society, the Society of Authors, and the Alliance of Independent Authors.

She is currently working on the fourth full-length Dan Foster Mystery, and a biography of suffrage campaigner Millicent Browne.

Lucienne was born in Wolverhampton and now lives in Bristol.

Social Media Links –
Twitter: @LucienneWrite




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Monday 25 November 2019

BLOG TOUR: A Million Dreams - Dani Atkins


Beth Brandon always dreamed of owning a florist, but today the bouquets of peonies and bright spring flowers are failing to calm her nerves. Because today, Beth has a life-changing decision to share with her husband.

Izzy Vaughan thought she and her husband would stay together forever, but sometime last year, their love began to fade. They both find such joy in their young son Noah – but is he enough to keep them together?

Eight years ago, something happened to these two women. Something that is about to bring them together in a way no-one thought possible...

Thought-provoking, emotional and uplifting, this is a gripping love story for fans of Jojo Moyes and Amanda Prowse.


What did I think?

Oh my giddy aunt, this book has broken me; in fact A Million Dreams hasn't just broken me, it has shattered me into a million pieces.  I have to admit that as a HUGE fan of The Greatest Showman, I picked this book up solely because of its title without reading what it was about and, even though Hugh Jackman's not even mentioned in it, I am delighted to say that it completely exceeded my expectations.  I was absolutely floored at the end of Chapter One and continued reading with a lump in my throat that didn't go away and resulted in tears on several occasions.  

Dani Atkins has created two very strong female characters in Beth and Izzy who each have to deal with their own inner turmoil.  Beth's story is heartbreaking but she's so pragmatic that I couldn't help but admire her.  I wasn't really quite sure what was going on with Izzy; it felt as if she was pushing her husband away with no good reason to do so.  As their two stories intertwine, Dani Atkins puts the reader through an emotional wringer; not only was I predominantly heartbroken but I realised that I had also felt a myriad emotions ranging from devastation to hope.

I can't say any more without spoiling the story but seriously, take my word for it and read this book; I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed.  There are so many things to think about and I wondered what I would do in the same situation.  I know for sure that A Million Dreams is a book that will stay with me for a very long time as I've found myself thinking about it long after I finished it.  

A Million Dreams is completely heart-shattering, incredibly thought-provoking and surprisingly uplifting; I'd give it a rating of a million stars if I could as scooping the full 5 stars doesn't seem nearly enough.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:


Buy links:




About the author:

Dani Atkins is an award-winning novelist. Her 2013 debut FRACTURED (published as THEN AND ALWAYS in North America) has been translated into sixteen languages and has sold more than half a million copies since first publication in the UK. Dani is the author of four other bestselling novels, one of which, This Love, won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2018. Dani lives in a small village in Hertfordshire with her husband, one Siamese cat and a very soppy Border Collie.

Follow Dani:

Twitter: @AtkinsDani
Facebook: @DaniAtkinsAuthor






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Saturday 23 November 2019

BLOG TOUR: The Mother I Could Have Been - Kerry Fisher



Why would you walk away from the one person you can’t live without?

As a child, Vicky Hall never had the sort of family she wanted. The least important person in her new step-family, ignored by her mother in favour of her two younger half-siblings, Vicky was always an afterthought. Sitting alone at her graduation ceremony at the age of twenty-one, she vows to create her own family and her own life, one which is full of the love and attention she has always craved.

When Vicky meets William and falls pregnant in Greece that summer, it isn’t planned. But the two of them believe they can make it work, showering their child with the love which they believe should be enough.

But when her son Theo is two, Vicky leaves him in the care of her mother-in-law, walks out of her front door and drives to a hotel where she takes a room for the night. She doesn’t return.

It’s unthinkable.

What kind of mother does that?

The kind who is hiding a story you can never imagine.

The Mother I Could Have Been is a heartbreaking story of impossible decisions and second chances, from the bestselling author of The Silent Wife and The Woman I Was Before. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Liane Moriarty and Diane Chamberlain.  


What did I think?

I love Kerry Fisher books so I couldn't wait to dive into her latest novel, The Mother I Could Have Been.  I experienced a wealth of emotions whilst reading this book; predominantly anger at the way Vicky is treated by her partner's mother, in fact I was absolutely raging and don't blame Vicky one bit for walking out.  Of course I can say that as I am not a mother, but I'm sure many people wouldn't be able to understand her walking out on her two year old son, Theo.

Oh Vicky, what can I say?  Vicky felt very pushed out when her mother had two children with her new partner; we'll never know how much was in her imagination but it affected Vicky so badly that she went to Corfu after her graduation and never saw her mother again.  Vicky meets William in Corfu and I really felt that she was just searching for the love that she was missing from her mother.  Be careful what you wish for, Vicky, as when she discovers she is pregnant she ends up moving in with William's family and his mother, Barbara, doesn't half like to take over.

I really wanted Vicky to stand up to Barbara, although William doesn't seem to manage it.  I knew this was going to end badly when they let Barbara talk them out of the name they had chosen for their son.  It gets even worse than that though, ending up with Vicky feeling like her son doesn't even like her, let alone love her.  So many things happen that you wonder how Vicky managed to stay in Barbara's house for so long and I could even understand her thinking that she was doing the best thing for everyone by walking out and never going back.

For a change of pace we are introduced to Caro and her family and I wondered how she would fit into the story.  Caro not only gives Vicky a job in the family business but she welcomes her into the family.  Despite having a tumultuous relationship with her own daughter, who I wanted to shake some sense into, Caro gives Vicky the unconditional love she has been craving and finally helps her to see what she has been missing.

This kind of story would make an amazing TV drama; it has all the drama of Dynasty with Barbara in an Alexis Colby style role contrasting with Caro as the motherly Annie Sugden from Emmerdale Farm.  Kerry Fisher has written an extremely emotive and highly explosive family drama that had me reading at the speed of light to find out how it would all play out.  Heartbreaking and moving one minute and heartwarming and uplifting the next, The Mother I Could Have Been is very highly recommended.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:


Buy it from Amazon



About the author:

Kerry Fisher is the bestselling author of five novels, including The Silent Wife and The Secret Child. She was born in Peterborough, studied French and Italian at the University of Bath and spent several years living in Spain, Italy and Corsica. After returning to England to work as a journalist, she eventually abandoned real life stories for the secrets of fictional families. She now lives in Surrey with her husband, two teenage children and a naughty Lab/Schnauzer called Poppy. 

Links:
https://twitter.com/KerryFSwayne  







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Sunday 17 November 2019

BLOG TOUR: The Raided Heart - Jennifer C. Wilson


As a fan of historical fiction, I have been hearing about this much-anticipated book for quite some time so it is my absolute pleasure to take part in the Rachel's Random Resources blog tour for The Raided Heart by Jennifer C. Wilson.  Not only do you get to read my review of this fabulous book, but you also get the chance to win an e-copy of The Last Plantagenet?, which I absolutely LOVED.  So make sure you scroll down to enter the giveaway after reading my review.


Meg Mathers, the headstrong youngest sibling of a reiving family on the English-Scottish border, is determined to remain at her childhood home, caring for the land and village she’s grown up with. When an accident brings her a broken ankle and six weeks in the resentful company of ambitious and angry young reiver Will Hetherington, attraction starts to build. Both begin to realise they might have met their match, and the love of their lives, but 15th century border living is not that simple, as Meg soon finds herself betrothed to the weakling son of a tyrannical neighbour, Alexander Gray. When tragedy strikes, can Meg and Will find their way back to each other, and can Will finally take his own personal revenge on Gray?


What did I think?

I am a huge fan of Jennifer C. Wilson's Kindred Spirits series so I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy of The Raided Heart; a book that I have been hearing about at my local book group.  The Raided Heart is a historical romance, so don't expect any famous ghosts to appear although there is mention of a famous figure from history but more about that later.  

You can't live in Northern England without having heard of the border reivers but for those new to the subject, Jennifer C. Wilson has included a little explanation of key definitions at the start of the book.  This is invaluable to understand what is going on in the book; I had never heard of a bastle or hot and cold trods.  There is also a cast of characters, although I was happy to meet them as the story unfolded.  I did have a little chuckle at the cast when I saw Richard, Duke of Gloucester listed; I know enough of my Plantagenet history to recognise Richard III when I see him.  Of course, it wouldn't be a Jennifer C. Wilson book without Richard! 

Before starting the book, I did worry a little about the 'romance' part of it.  Would it be too Mills and Boon for me?  Thankfully, not!  There are no heaving bosoms or throbbing loins, it's more about the feelings growing between Meg and Will.  I think the romance part was perfectly proportioned with the historical element, as it's more the history that I am interested in but the romance helps to bring it more to life.

The story itself has many threads running through it which make it a very multi-dimensional read.  I really enjoyed Will's story and his link to Alexander Gray which felt like a simmering pot left to boil on the stove.  I also loved how close Meg's family are and how her brothers treat her as an equal and value her opinion; it made it all the more difficult for Meg to become a simpering wife and her struggle was often comical as the reader is party to her thoughts.

The Raided Heart is an outstanding story; the historical setting is vividly described and the characters are so well developed that they virtually jump out of the page.  I know Jennifer C. Wilson has been working on The Raided Heart for quite some time and I am delighted to say that it is well worth the wait.  

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:


Buy it from:
Amazon UK
Amazon US




About the author:

Jennifer C. Wilson is a marine biologist by training, who developed an equal passion for history and historical fiction whilst stalking Mary, Queen of Scots on childhood holidays (she has since moved on to Richard III). Enrolling on an adult education workshop on her return to the north-east of England for work reignited her pastime of creative writing, and she has been filling notebooks ever since. In 2014, Jennifer won the Story Tyne short story competition, and has been working on a number of projects since, including co-hosting the North Tyneside Writers’ Circle. Her Kindred Spirits novels are published by Crooked Cat Books and her time-slip novella, The Last Plantagenet?, by Ocelot Press. She lives in North Tyneside, and is very proud of her approximately 2-inch sea view.

Social Media Links –







Giveaway

Giveaway to Win 2 x e-copies of The Last Plantagenet? (Open Internationally)


*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

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Friday 15 November 2019

BLOG TOUR: Nothing Important Happened Today - Will Carver


Nine people arrive one night on Chelsea Bridge. They’ve never met. But, at the same time, they leap to their deaths. Each of them received a letter in the post that morning, a pre-written suicide note, and a page containing only four words: Nothing important happened today.

That is how they knew they had been chosen to become a part of The People of Choice: a mysterious suicide cult whose members have no knowledge of one another.

Thirty-two people on a train witness the event. Two of them will be next. By the morning, People of Choice are appearing around the globe. It becomes a movement. A social-media page that has lain dormant for four years suddenly has thousands of followers.

The police are under pressure to find a link between the cult members, to locate a leader who does not seem to exist …


What did I think?

Will Carver is another author who piqued my interest at Newcastle Noir 2019 so when the blog tour invitation for Nothing Important Happened Today landed in my inbox, I jumped at the chance to hop aboard.  What I didn't expect was such a crazy ride; crazy but brilliant and with so many WTF moments, I felt like my brain had been put through a blender when I finished the book.

A suicide cult is a very disturbing subject to write about but Will Carver takes this to a whole new level with a cult with no apparent leader and cult members who have never met each other before they turned up to kill themselves in a horrific mass suicide.  The only thing they all have in common is a letter they received in the post containing four words: Nothing Important Happened Today.

The whole book feels very angry and Will Carver didn't even have to use capital letters to portray this.  I felt as if the narrator was angry at the world, especially at people walking around with their heads down, glued to their phone screens and I wondered if the mass suicide spectacle was simply an attempt to make people stop and take notice of what's going on around them.  Perhaps there's a lesson to be learned there for all of us.

Shocking, original, very disturbing and slightly crazy, Nothing Important Happened Today is one of those books that's very difficult to describe; I've never read anything like it and I don't expect that I will ever read anything that even comes close to it.  

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:


Buy it from Amazon




About the author:

Will Carver is the international bestselling author of the January David series. He spent his early years in Germany, but returned to the UK at age eleven, when his sporting career took off. He turned down a professional rugby contract to study theatre and television at King Alfred’s, Winchester, where he set up a successful theatre company. He currently runs his own fitness and nutrition company, and lives in Reading with his two children. Good Samaritans was book of the year in Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Express, and hit number one on the ebook charts.










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Tuesday 12 November 2019

BLOG TOUR: The Name Beneath The Stone - Robert Newcome


Three generations, one family, connected by an historic secret. 

1917 - Private Daniel Dawkins fights at Messines Ridge and Passchendaele. He writes home to his true-love Joyce, but reveals little of his extreme bravery, his kindness, his loyalty to his comrades and the horrors they experience on the Western Front. 

1920 - Captain Peter Harding is tasked with a secret mission to assist in the selection of a body dug up from the battlefields of Flanders to be buried in Westminster Abbey as the 'Unknown Warrior'. Events take place on that expedition that come to haunt him for the rest of his life. 

2011-Sarah Harding discovers Daniel s letters and Peter s diaries. Together with historian James Marchant she pieces together the hidden truth behind the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior and must decide what to do with it. Values are challenged and characters are tested in this gripping novel which asks what if the identity of the Unknown Soldier was discovered - and should that secret ever be revealed?


What did I think?

Oh my word, I am speechless.  What can I say about this outstanding book that would do it justice?  My paltry words will never be able to describe how simply breathtaking this book is.  Well as Yoda said, "Do or do not, there is not try" so here goes!

I knew of the Tomb of The Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey, but knew nothing of the story as to how it came to be.  The inspiration behind the idea and the inconceivable task of having to locate an unidentifiable body from the Western Front are explored in The Name Beneath The Stone.  As this is a fictional story based on fact, Robert Newcome adds an emotional story of the young men who were sent to war in 1914, many never to return.

The mystery of The Unknown Soldier caught the hearts of the nation in 1920 when an unidentified body was brought from France and laid to rest in Westminster Abbey.  Many grieving families imagined it was their son being laid to rest and in this way the soldier belonged to the whole country,  The tomb is so revered that it is the only floor tomb in Westminster Abbey to have never been stepped upon and in an act of deference royal brides follow the Queen Mother's tradition of having their bridal bouquets placed on the tomb.

Now imagine if the identity of The Unknown Soldier was revealed; the mystery would be obliterated and the whole point of the interment ruined.  The establishment will do anything to keep this secret hidden if anyone ever does provide proof of the soldier's identity.  It is on her father's deathbed that Sarah Harding hears the words 'Unknown Soldier' whispered and, with the help of an historian, begins to unravel the mystery of her ancestors.

The story of Daniel Dawkins and his sweetheart Joyce is heart-wrenching.  More so because it is a story that would have been replicated thousands of times over during the course of the First World War.  The casualties from going over the top in an attempt to push the Germans back were enormous.  Whole platoons were wiped out in seconds and I struggled to contain my emotions thinking about this devastating loss caused by war.

I had goosebumps from the end of Chapter One right the way through the book as Robert Newcome brings to life all of the known and unknown soldiers who died during the Great War.  The story is moving and poignant, never more so than when I was reading it on Remembrance Sunday.  

This breathtaking book is an absolute must read, I really can't recommend The Name Beneath The Stone highly enough; I'd give it 888,246 stars if I could, one for every military fatality of World War I.  Every once in a while a book comes along that renders me speechless and The Name Beneath The Stone did just that.  Stunning and imaginative, it took my breath away.  Absolutely outstanding and perfect in every way; this is a book I will be recommending for many years to come.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:


Buy it from Amazon




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