Blog Tour: ‘The Continental Affair’ by Christine Mangan

I’m delighted to start the blog tour for ‘The Continental Affair’!

With thanks to Random Things Tours and Bedford Square Publishers for my spot on the tour and copy of the book for review. Opinions, as always, are my own.

From the Publisher:

With gorgeous prose, European glamour, and an expansive wanderlust, Christine Mangan’s ‘The Continental Affair’ is a fast-paced, Agatha Christie-esque caper packed full of romance and suspense.

‘Reads as if Jean Rhys and Patricia Highsmith collaborated on a script for Alfred Hitchcock; it is an elegant, delirious fever dream of a book.’

The Irish Times

Meet Henri and Louise. Two strangers, travelling alone, on the train from Belgrade to Istanbul.

Except this isn’t the first time they have met.

It’s the 1960s, and Louise is running.

From her past in England, from the owners of the money she has stolen―and from Henri, the person who has been sent to collect it.

Across the Continent―from Granada to Paris, from Belgrade to Istanbul―Henri
follows. He’s desperate to leave behind his own troubles and the memories of
his past life as a gendarme in Algeria.

But Henri soon realises that Louise is no ordinary traveller.

As the train hurtles toward its final destination, Henri and Louise must decide
what the future will hold―and whether it involves one another.

Stylish and atmospheric, ‘The Continental Affair’ takes you on an unforgettable journey through the twisty, glamorous world of 1960s Europe.


My Review:

I’d read and enjoyed ‘Tangerine’ by Christine Mangan, so it was a pleasure to be asked to join the blog tour for ‘The Continental Affair’. What’s not to like about a 1960s tale of glamour and mystery and romance playing out across some of Europe’s most gorgeous cities?

The story is told from both Henri’s and Louise’s perspectives, and across a dual timeline. In the ‘Now’ timeline, they are meeting on a train heading across Europe. It seems to be a meeting of strangers forced to share a train compartment, but we soon discover that Henri knows exactly who Louise is – and what she’s up to. The ‘Before’ sections then take us into the back-story so that we discover more about the characters and their motivations. The longer the cat and mouse game goes on, the more the tension rises…

What I really loved about this novel was the sense of place; the detail in the descriptions of the cities is vivid and sumptuous. I particularly loved the focus on the Alhambra, beautiful and serene, where the two first ‘meet’. While the visual description throughout the novel is fabulous, what’s really striking is the fact that the novel is a sensory treat – this is a world where orange blossom and creponne add tantalising smells, thumbs rub against banknotes, local delicacies are tasted and the characters move in and out of the warm golden sunlight and shadows.

It’s a world – glamorous in an old-fashioned way – that is evoked so vibrantly that it feels like Mangan has dropped us into a movie. Enhancing this is the sense of claustrophobia that Mangan weaves into the novel – although European travel is open to the travellers, their personal situations mean they are trapped in different ways, be it grief, the past, money…

I found that I was more strongly drawn to Henri at the start of the novel – although his situation is morally very dubious, I really felt for his back-story and how he had managed to get into this situation far from his home in Algeria. He seemed a much more human character than the slightly aloof and detached Louise, but this initial impression soon shifted as Louise’s back-story was explored with a key moment outside a Parisian cemetery. I really started to root for her as she – this quite reserved and naive English woman – started to relax into the European way of life and make her own choices.

I did like the fact that the story kept moving between the perspectives and timelines, although it also took a bit of getting used to. I did think it was a bit of a slow-burner – the initial sections were quite slow, but I found myself totally immersed in the story once Louise left Spain with Henri following at a distance.

I’d recommend this to readers who like tense and tightly-wound noir thrillers; there’s a simmering sense of menace within the glamorous and gorgeous locations, a seductive subtext in the interactions between characters, and mysteries and secrets at the heart of the main characters. It’s a heady and appealing mix.


About the Author:

Christine Mangan is the author of the national bestsellers ‘Tangerine’ and ‘Palace of the Drowned’. She has her PhD in English from University College Dublin, with a focus on 18th-century Gothic literature, and an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Southern Maine. She lives in Detroit.

Book Review: ‘A Lady to Treasure’ by Marianne Ratcliffe

Happy publication day to this lovely Sapphic Regency romance!

After reading Ratcliffe’s ‘The Secret of Matterdale Hall’, I was delighted to be asked to read and review this book. Thanks to Bellows Press for my review copy – as always, opinions are entirely my own.

This novel centres on American Louisa Silverton, the daughter of a wealthy businessman whose investments aren’t looking too healthy. To secure the family fortune, Louisa is sent to England to make a lucrative marriage. However, rich men – especially those who are prepared to take a risk on an American with iffy finances – turn out to be a bit thin on the ground. Instead, Louisa finds herself caught up with the Davenport family who own the extensive but struggling Kenilborough estate – and, in particular, the Honorable Miss Sarah Davenport. Sarah is unconventional, headstrong and fighting for her family’s future. Can either Sarah or Louisa afford to risk their families’ futures for love?

Continue reading Book Review: ‘A Lady to Treasure’ by Marianne Ratcliffe

Book Review: ‘The Guest’ by Emma Cline

I loved the sound of this book – I was especially drawn to the idea of a young woman grifting her way around glamorous Long Island during a hot summer (given that I’m living a chilly and distinctly non-glamorous British springtime!) Thanks to NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Continue reading Book Review: ‘The Guest’ by Emma Cline

Blog Tour: ‘Lying with Lions’ by Annabel Fielding

I love historical fiction and so jumped at the chance to read this book, set in Edwardian England. Thank you to NetGalley and Annabel Fielding for the copy of the book in exchange for an honest review, plus the chance to join the blog tour.

Continue reading Blog Tour: ‘Lying with Lions’ by Annabel Fielding

‘A Wedding in the Country’ by Katie Fforde

A new novel from Katie Fforde is always a treat – so much so that I don’t even need to read the blurb to know that I’ll like it!

Precisely because I hadn’t read the blurb, I was surprised that this book takes place in 1963 as I am used to Fforde’s contemporary romances. What a great setting! From early 1960s London – just about starting to swing – to the promised wedding in the country…this has interesting and engaging settings throughout.

The book is about a young woman, Lizzie, who moves to London to attend a cookery school. Once the course is finished, she cannot bear to think about giving up her new-found freedoms by returning home and so moves into a shabby but fabulous shared house in Belgravia with her new (clearly very wealthy) friends. This leads on to invitations to the country to stay in stately homes…and – before she knows it – her life has been turned upside down and will never be the same again.

Wow, it is hard to write about this book without giving spoilers!

I read Katie Fforde books precisely because nothing bad will happen and everything will work out fine – it is comforting and uplifting, even if it means slightly suspending disbelief at times that things can work out so fortunately. Lucky for Lizzie that one of her cookery course-mates has a huge house in Belgravia – just the first of many fortuitous events!

The characters are appealing and relatable – Lizzie is our fish-out-of-water in the setting of her wealthy friends, David is the gay character whose sexuality is closing doors to him in 1960s London, Meg is a hard-working and talented cook and Alexandra is wealthy but generous in sharing her shabby house with them all. The supporting characters are also generally nice, or at least see the error of their narrow thinking by the end of the novel – this was the 1960s, after all, so we can’t expect modern attitudes to various issues, something that sustains the main plot lines of the book,

The book is a romance and ticks all the boxes that you’d expect – misunderstandings, obstacles and delays abound. However, the love story actually takes a bit of a back seat as Fforde instead focuses on the themes of friendship, social attitudes and even class systems, although – as you’d expect from Fforde – always with a light touch and never preachy.

My only criticism is that the book was a little slow in places and it takes a very long time before the wedding in the country (promised in the title) appears on the horizon. This seems a bit like a spoiler or – at very least – a mis-titling of the book as it is about so much more than a wedding.

Overall, I’d recommend this to fans of Fforde’s contemporary fiction and anyone who needs a reassuring, comfort blanket of a read. It is definitely one to pick up for escapism – maybe something we all need right now.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Header photo with thanks to Jeremy Wong Weddings on Unsplash.