I read and loved Rachel Rhys’ ‘A Dangerous Crossing’ so I had high hopes for this one! Thanks to Random Things Tours for my copy of the book and for inviting me onto the blog tour.
As always, opinions are entirely my own.
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Hotel Portofino’ by J P O’Connell.
Thanks to Random Things Tours and Simon and Schuster for inviting me on the tour and for the copy of the the book in exchange for an honest review.
This one couldn’t be more up my street if it tried – a 1920s setting, a murder mystery, a transatlantic crossing aboard a ship… it’s the ultimate in closed circle mysteries!
Thanks to Sarah Harwood for putting this book into my hands – I am grateful. As always, opinions are entirely my own.
The story opens with the death of an elderly gentleman on board ‘Endeavour’, a ship crossing to New York in 1926. A ship’s officer, Timothy Birch, tells the story of how he investigates, alongside a Scotland Yard officer (James Temple) also on the voyage. It’s a story that crosses the boundaries of First, Second and Third Class passenger areas, has a cast of many suspects, and is much more involved than it first seems…
I absolutely loved the setting of this. I’m always drawn to closed circle mysteries where there is a limited number of suspects and this meets the criteria perfectly. As the story progresses, we move (with Birch and Temple) between the public and private areas of the grand ship. We see the glitz and glamour of the First Class dining room, but also the cramped Third Class cabins. We see the luxurious suites occupied by the wealthy, but also the ‘behind-the-scenes’ staff areas. And it is all well-described and immersive – I found it easy to place myself on the decks of ‘Endeavour’!
We also meet a whole range of people – who between them have a whole host of secrets! Not many of them were very nice people, but that’s fine as I was convinced that each of them in turn was the killer. I honestly suspected everyone – except there’s no way I’d have predicted the ending of the novel.
The two detectives are interesting characters in their own rights. Birch is struggling with the tragic events of his own life which slowly and painfully come to the surface in the story. Temple is abrasive, rude and really quite arrogant – until events conspire to change his approach. Together, they are an unusual and stormy partnership – something that is intriguing to follow.
The plotting is clever and detailed – there’s even lots of recaps and explanations for those of us who need reminders to keep up! The disadvantage to this is that is does slow down the narrative a little at times (and it is quite a long book).
That said, I’d whole-heartedly recommend this lively and entertaining mystery. The twists are suitably twisty and the denouement genuinely surprising. The setting is vivid and the characters are well-drawn, even if you do love to hate them at times!
If you’d like a copy of this great mystery (out this week), please use my affiliate link below – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.
This was one of my most anticipated novels of 2021 – I have absolutely loved all the mysteries featuring Captain Sam Wyndham and his partner, Sergeant Surendranath Banerjee set in Colonial India during the 1920s. This is the fifth book in the series and was out on 11th November.
You’re going to need a copy of this one!
Continue reading Book Review: ‘The Shadows of Men’ by Abir MukherjeeWelcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘The Glorious Guinness Girls’ by Emily Hourican, a fascinating insight into the daughters of the famed Irish family.
With thanks to the publisher, Headline, for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The main draw for this book was the period of history it covers – primarily the 1920s. Throw in some glitz and glamour, some high society sisters from the famous brewing dynasty, lots of Bright Young Things and raucous parties and I was absolutely sold!
This book fictionalises the story of the Glorious Guinness Girls – three sisters from Ireland who were celebrated in the contemporary media for being beautiful, privileged and eminently newsworthy. They were the daughters of Ernest and Cloe Guinness and raised in wealth and luxury in Glenmaroon until the events of the Irish Civil War became a little too close to home. They then embarked on a round the world yacht trip before settling in London where the girls were ‘brought out’ as debutantes and attended some pretty wild-sounding parties.
The story is told from the point of view of a fictional cousin of the Guinness Girls, Fliss, who is invited to live with the family and so is witness to the girls’ lives in the twelve year period that the book covers. Although she lives alongside the family, it is clear that she isn’t one of them – she is not invited on the yacht trip and instead becomes a kind of companion to Cloe and chaperone figure for the girls, even though she is a similar age to them. Fliss’ narrative covers mainly her time with the family in the 1920s, although we also see her as an older woman revisiting the former Guinness estate that has now been turned over to a religious order.
I’ll admit to being unsure how this book would work – particularly how the mixture of fact and fiction would work. In fact, the story is beautifully presented and engaging, although it is slightly ironic that the character we get the most vivid sense of is Fliss, the fictional one. This isn’t really surprising though, as her personal story – including her relationship with her brother, Hughie, who is caught up in the Irish Civil War – is really the heart of this book.
Of the three Guinness Girls (Aileen, Maureen and Oonagh), the one developed the most as a fully rounded character is Maureen, so it came as no surprise to me to read the author’s note at the end of the book which explained that one of her main sources was someone who knew Maureen best. Indeed, Maureen is vividly rendered as someone who is quite spiky and willing to test the boundaries of her sheltered life – it is a clever device to place Fliss as being a similar age to her and so sharing her experiences most closely. Aileen, the eldest, is probably the most mysterious of the three, while Oonagh (the baby of the family) is mostly sweet and spends most of her time on childish pursuits.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story of the Guinness Girls as I followed them from the volatility of the Irish situation to the glamour of the Roaring 20s in London. It was really interesting to see the ways that their wealth protected them from the political situation up until the point they could no longer ignore the reality of what was happening on their doorstep. I also loved how the author presented the fact that the traditions of the aristocracy were slowly dying in the youth revolution of the 1920s – to be young and free and living life to the full was the most important thing and Maureen embodies this.
Obviously, this presents a narrow view of what life in the 1920s was like, but it is an exhilarating experience to be carried along with the beautiful people as they partied like it was 1929 (pre-Wall Street crash, of course!) The blending of historical figures with the fictional ones was also engaging – it was lovely to ‘see’ Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh and Brian Howard among others.
This book left me desperate to learn more about the Guinness Girls – all of whom had absolutely fascinating lives after the period of this book. In many ways, I really wanted this book to be more fact and less fiction – the historical figures are interesting in their own right and Fliss’ story is perhaps less compelling than the other elements of the novel. However, as a piece of historical fiction based in fact, it does work and is engaging.
I would recommend this to fans of historical fiction – fans looking for heavy-duty non-fiction will not find the detail they want here as this isn’t the intention of the book. As a fictional insight into the lives of the wealthy and fortunate in an interesting period of Anglo-Irish history, it absolutely hits the mark.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Happy publication day to this unusual tale of gay friendship!
I didn’t really know what to expect from this book, but the 1920s setting and the concept seemed interesting – two childhood friends, Bettina and Bart, decide to marry in order to hide their same-sex preferences from a disapproving world. They hope that marriage will bring them a respectability that will allow them to carry out their love affairs in private.
The story opens in 1921 when Bart and Bettina share a moonlit kiss that convinces both of them that their sexual preferences aren’t for each other! What follows is a story of a marriage that is a giant cover-up – although, to the outside world, it looks conventional and produces children. Instead, Bart becomes involved with a French lover, Etienne, and Bettina conducts her own love affairs. As the pair progress through the 1920s and 1930s and into World War II, neither have any sense of where their deceptions will lead them.
I think I had hoped that this would be a heart-warming tale in which the friendship between Bart and Bettina would mean that they have each others’ backs even through the tough times. It doesn’t exactly play out like this as both characters are spiky and tough so they do seem to spend a lot of the novel either not together or not liking each other – I thought this was a shame as it undermined what I hoped would be a message about the power of friendship. It just isn’t that sort of book!
Instead, it is funny and shocking at times and quite graphic – there’s no cosiness in this version of the past. In fact, it reads as quite modern in the social sensibilities and language used – occasionally jarringly so, but this may be because I am used to more conventional historical fiction. It is also quite sad in places, particularly the framing of the novel in more modern times.
This was definitely a novel that kept me reading – it moves through time and space at speed and there really isn’t a dull moment. I enjoyed the varied settings and the historical backdrop, from Hollywood glitz to the very unglamorous work of the Land Girls of WW2. Although I can’t say I liked either of the lead characters, their story was interesting and thought-provoking.
I’d recommend this to anyone interested in the sexual politics surrounding LGBT issues in the past – it certainly doesn’t hold back on the challenges that people like Bart and Bettina must have faced in a much less permissive society than our own.
If you’d like a copy of this book, please use my Amazon Affiliate link below – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.
Header photo with thanks to Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash.
The fifth book in our week of 20th August releases is ‘The Quickening’ by Rhiannon Ward and it is an absolutely glorious piece of historical fiction.
I had scheduled this post for later in the week, but you absolutely need to know about this now – publication day!
Well, this is rather fabulous! I came to this book expecting a bit of intrigue, a gothic feel and a solid historical tale. It delivered all that and a lot more.
The main narrative takes place in 1925 and is told by Louisa Drew, a war widow who has remarried and is heavily pregnant. In need of money, she takes a commission at the crumbling Clewer Hall in Sussex which is shortly to be sold; her job is to photograph the house and its contents for auction.
She is welcomed by the residents of the Hall, although they seem ill at ease and perturbed by her pregnancy. She finds out that the Hall was the site of an infamous séance in 1896 which is to be recreated during her stay with as many of the original attendees as are still alive. As the date for the séance arrives, there are mysterious occurrences and tension begins to build about why Louisa was selected for the commission.
Some of the scenes in the novel flash back to the original séance in 1896 and the reader begins to see how the events of that night continue to reverberate down through the years.
One of the strengths of this story is just how deliciously creepy it is! The building of Clewer Hall is hugely important to the story and it is a place of decay, mysterious shadows and uncanny events. The fact that one wing has fallen into disrepair is central – it is here that Louisa feels most uncomfortable and unsure whether to blame her strange symptoms on advanced pregnancy or something more sinister.
The plotting of this book is also intricate and clever – I felt that I was in the hands of a confident and accomplished storyteller, even as I also felt that I couldn’t see how the strands of the narrative were ever going to come together. But come together they do – and it is absolutely satisfying.
The novel is filled with realistic and compelling characters, but it is especially worth mentioning Louisa Drew herself. Louisa is a really engaging narrator and we feel – in turn – frightened with her, sorry for her, awed at her bravery and empathetic for her situation. Her tragic back-story gives her depth and should make her feel like one of life’s victims,; however, she shows so much strength in her position as a pioneer of magazine photography and courage in facing the events at Clewer Hall that she is elevated in the readers’ opinion. The rest of the inhabitants of the Hall are no less developed – and there are a lot of them with complex, intertwining lives.
This book would be absolutely perfect for those who love Laura Purcell’s books or ‘The Little Stranger’ by Sarah Waters. There is the same mix of a compelling and well-crafted story with just a pinch of the supernatural!
Overall, this is a highly recommended slice of historical fiction. It has mystery, horror and – more surprisingly – a lot of heart. I loved it.
I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you would like to buy this book, the link is below – I may receive commission on any purchases but it won’t cost you any more.
Header photo with thanks to Ján Jakub Naništa for sharing their work on Unsplash.
