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Paper Sisters by Rachel Canwell

Paper Sisters by Rachel Canwell.

Published 12th February 2026 by Northodox Poress.

From the cover of the book:

Lincolnshire, 1914. As the First World War approaches, three women are living, trapped between the unforgiving marsh, the wide, relentless river, and the isolation of the fen.

Their lives are held fast by profound grief, haunted by the spectres of the past. Trapped by the looming presence and eerie stillness of a hospital that has never admitted a single patient.

Eleanor longs to escape. To make a life with the man she loves, leaving her sister, and all her ghosts behind. Clara's marriage is crumbling and violent and she yearns for peace and security for both herself and her innocent children. Meanwhile, Lily, a formidable force of will, stands resolute against the relentless tide of change. She will stop at nothing, no matter the devastating cost, to ensure that life, and her family, remain frozen in an unyielding embrace of the past.

The author, Rachel Canwell, grew up with the story of this forgotten hospital. Isolated, stocked weekly and cleaned daily but never admitting a single patient. The hospital was real, tended by her family for over sixty years and set against the ethereal beauty and loneliness of the Fens, is the inspiration for her novel.

***********

Lincolnshire, 1914. Three women, living on the edge of brooding marshland, are trapped by the consequences of loss. Eleanor and Lily are tied to an empty hospital on the 'wrong' side of the river that stands as a reminder of tragedy - Eleanor burdened with responsibilities, and Lily caught up in a world of grief. While Clara, married to their violent brother, longs for peace for herself and her children.

As war approaches, change beckons, but can they break free?

Inspired by the story of a forgotten hospital in the mysterious Fens, Rachel Canwell bases this incredible debut on her own family history. From her imagination springs three women bound together by the seemingly unbreakable ties of tragedy, grief, environment , and the strictures of the time in which they live - each of them outsiders in a community scarred by the disaster of 1894 that saw hopes and dreams disappear into The Wash, when the newly built port that offered them prosperity sank into the muddy waters. 

I was transfixed by theses women from the first page: Eleanor, left in charge of an empty hospital that stands as a reminder of what was lost, yearns to escape from the weight of her cares into the arms of a man who promises her love and security; Lily, the 'ghost at the window', stuck in a cycle of never-ending grief after the loss of her brother to the unforgiving marsh, doing whatever she can to keep Eleanor to herself; and Clara, their sister-in-law, crushed by the brutal beatings meted out by her husband, determined to withstand her lot for the protection of her children.

There seems no way these three can escape the fate that keeps them locked in their unhappiness, even if they wanted to, despite the fleeting pleasures they experience - for Eleanor and Clara at least, since Lily does not seem to want to recover from the loss that broke her. But when war comes, the story twists in unexpected ways, building into a breath-taking, storm-wrought climax that had my heart firmly lodged in my throat.

Through her characters Canwell delves with insight into so many wonderful facets of the lives of women impacted by the First World War. Eleanor and Clara, in particular, leap from the page in all the many glorious shades of living-breathing people, and Canwell explores so much about expectations placed on women through them. Lily is a more complicated character to warm to - her selfishness was a bitter pill to swallow, and even though her misdeeds come from a place of unfathomable sadness and her part in the story is intrinsic to its resolution, she wreaks such devastation on Eleanor and Clara through her manipulative ways. I adored Eleanor and Clara, especially Clara's formidable strength, and my emotions were well and truly put through the mill.

This is the kind of story that totally captivates you with its characters, thrums with atmospheric vibes of time and place, and leaves its mark upon your heart. Absolutely a must if you are engrossed by sensitive, well-written historical fiction set against the shadow of World War One.

Paper Sisters is available to buy now in paperback and ebook formats.

Thank you to Rachel Canwell for sending me an ecopy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Rachel Canwell is an author who, having grown up in the Fens, has lived and worked in Cumbria for over twenty years.

​Her short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies. Her collection of flash fiction Oh I Do Like to Be was published in 2022 and her novella-in-flash Magpie Moon in 2023.

​Paper Sisters is her first novel.

The Last Thing He Told Me (Hannah Hall Book One) by Laura Dave

 

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave.

Published 13th April 2021 from Viper.

From the cover of the book:

IT WAS THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME: PROTECT HER

Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his new wife, Hannah: protect her. Hannah knows exactly who Owen needs her to protect - his teenage daughter, Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. And who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.

As her desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, his boss is arrested for fraud and the police start questioning her, Hannah realises that her husband isn't who he said he was. And that Bailey might hold the key to discovering Owen's true identity, and why he disappeared. Together they set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen's past, they soon realise that their lives will never be the same again...

Now a major Apple TV+ series starring Jennifer Garner and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, discover the book that everyone is talking about...

***********

On the day Owen Michaels disappears, he sends his new wife Hannah a mysterious message asking her to protect his sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Then the news breaks that Owen's boss has been arrested, on suspicion of massive corporate fraud, and the police are looking for Owen.

Hannah has no idea where her husband has gone, her calls to him go unanswered, and she is at a loss about how to respond to the searching questions the police are asking her. But the one thing she is sure of is that she must do her best to carry out his request - even if Bailey wants nothing to do with her step-mother.

As Hannah's life comes crashing down, she decides to look into what Owen has been up to herself. She is shocked to discover that all he has told her about his past appears to be a lie. Who is this man she has married, and what is he really running from?

This gripping story unfolds through the perspective of Hannah, alternating between her desperate search for the truth in the present, and flashbacks to significant moments in her relationship with the man she knows as Owen Michaels. Hannah is determined to make sense of this mess, relying on what she feels she knows about the man she loves, rather than the ever growing number of lies that reveal themselves once she begins to question Owen's version of his past. She gradually realises that Bailey holds the key to finding out why Owen and his daughter are living under assumed identities, and the two of them embark on a cross-country journey that leads them into danger - caught between an F.B.I. investigation into fraud, the attentions of a US Marshall with unknown motives, long-held grudges on the part of some very bad people, and shocking information about who Owen and Bailey really are.

I loved how the gritty, and surprisingly emotional, threads of this story come together, twisting and turning as Hannah and Bailey follow a murky trail of clues drawn from Bailey's earliest memories and the nuggets of truth Hannah mines from her interactions with Owen. The relationship between Hannah and Bailey develops beautifully over the course of the story, as they both come to terms with the life-changing things they discover - the transformation from spiky hostility on Bailey's side to acceptance that she can rely on Hannah, and the strength Hannah finds from her own traumatic childhood, are especially heart-warming.

Dave's writing flows so well, and I enjoy how she explores some very knotty themes in her books, especially when it comes to family. Here she delves into abandonment, dysfunctional relationship dynamics, and the power of love to both blind you to the faults of your loved ones and cause you to take make of break decisions to ensure their safety. This all adds so much depth to the excellently wielded thriller elements.

I picked this one up ahead of reading the brand new sequel Dave has penned, The First Time I Saw Him - and I am so glad I did, because it establishes the unbreakable bond between Hannah, Owen and Bailey. And that killer last line! Right in the feels! I cannot wait to find out what happens next...

The Last Thing He Told Me is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

About the author:

Laura Dave was born in New York City and grew up in Scarsdale, New York. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in English, and went on to gain an MFA from the University of Virginia's creative writing program. She was a Henry Hoyns Fellow and a recipient of the Tennessee Williams Scholarship.

She is the national and international bestselling author of Eight Hundred Grapes, London is the City in America, The Divorce Party, The First Husband, Hello, Sunshine, The Last Thing He Told Me, The Night We Lost Him, and The First Time I Saw Him. Her fiction and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, Glamour, Redbook, The Huffington Post and The New York Observer. In 2008, Cosmopolitan named her a 'Fun and Fearless Phenom of the Year'.

She is married to Oscar-winning screenwriter Josh Singer, with whom she resides in Los Angeles, California.

Mrs McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie

 

Mrs McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie.

This edition published 18th July 2019 by Harper Collins.

Originally published 1952.

From the cover of the book:

An old widow is brutally killed in the parlour of her cottage…

‘Mrs McGinty’s dead!’

‘How did she die?’

‘Down on one knee, just like I!’

The old children’s game now seemed rather tasteless. The real Mrs McGinty was killed by a crushing blow to the back of the head and her pitifully small savings were stolen.

Suspicion falls immediately on her lodger, hard up and out of a job. Hercule Poirot has other ideas – unaware that his own life is now in great danger…

***********

The recent murder of an old char lady, Mrs McGinty, was not a case interesting enough to attract the attention of celebrated detective Hercule Poirot. However, his interest is piqued when Superintendent Spence of the Kilchester force confesses to him that he is not sure that the man who stands condemned of murder is actually guilty of the crime. Poirot pays a visit to Mrs McGinty's lodger, James Bentley, on death row. Although failing to find the man at all personable, he is intrigued enough to head to the quiet village of Broadhinny to look into the case.

He begins his investigation by visiting the employers of nosy Mrs McGinty to discover whether anyone else could have had a motive for killing her. His little grey cells are hampered by the uncomfortable surroundings he finds himself in as a paying guest of the chaotic Summerhayes family, but then he uncovers an important clue - Mrs McGinty had cut out an article from the racy Sunday Comet about murder cases from the past involving four different women. Was her interest in it the reason for her murder?

In a small village setting, that is usually more the province of Miss Marple, Christie has a lot of well-observed fun with Poirot amongst the 'very nice' people of Broadhinny in this mystery. And he has a helper in the delightful Ariadne Oliver, who is co-incidentally in the village working with the playwright Robin Upward on an adaptation of one of her novels - much to her frustration!

Christie uses four infamous historic crimes to muddy the waters in this story. As the layers of the complex mystery peel back under Poirot's razor-sharp gaze, intriguing motives for murder are explored by delving into the secrets, lies and potentially murderous backgrounds of the villagers, especially its female residents - with lashings of psychological depth, in the way Christie does so well. The red herrings keep you guessing right until the very moment of a final classic Poirot 'show-and-tell' in front of the suspects - when he ponders on lipstick, adoption, reputation, and the tempting charms of good old filthy lucre. Ah, so satisfying!

This month's #ReadChristie2026 prompt of Favourite Characters was always going to be a difficult choice when so many of them have a place in my affections, but this Poirot-Oliver partnership proved to be just the ticket. They are always great fun when they team up for some sleuthing, as their interactions are full of gentle humour.  In this instalment, Ariadne's frustration with Robin Upward's depiction of her problematic fictional detective, Sven Hjerson, and Poirot's obvious horror at the conditions he experiences as a guest of the Summerhayes family provide a goldmine of guffaws. Perfection!

I very much enjoyed revisiting this mystery via the audio book narrated by another of my favourites, good old Captain Hastings himself, Hugh Fraser.

Mrs McGinty's Dead is available to buy now in multiple formats.

About the author:

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in over 70 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 20 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.

The Hope (The Forcing Trilogy Book Three) by Paul E. Hardisty

 

The Hope (The Forcing Trilogy Book Three) by Paul E. Hardisty.

Published 29th January 2026 by Orenda Books.

From the cover of the book:

The year is 2082. Climate collapse, famine and war have left the world in ruins. In the shadow of the Alpha-Omega regime – descendants of the super-rich architects of disaster – sixteen-year-old Boo Ashworth and her uncle risk everything to save what’s left of human knowledge, hiding the last surviving books in a secret library beneath the streets of Hobart.

But Boo has a secret of her own: an astonishing ability to memorise entire texts with perfect recall. When the library is discovered and destroyed, she’s forced to flee – armed with nothing but the stories she carries in her mind, and a growing understanding of her family’s true past. 

Hunted and alone, and with the help of some unlikely allies, she must fight to save her loved ones – and bring hope to a broken world.

Spanning three generations before, during and after the fall, The Hope is the shattering conclusion to Paul E. Hardisty’s critically acclaimed climate-emergency trilogy – a devastating, visionary thriller that dares to imagine the possibility of redemption in the face of near-total collapse. In a dying world, it asks the most urgent question of all: what if there’s still time?

***********

2082. The impact of climate collapse, war and famine has left the planet in ruins. The last vestiges of humanity are struggling to survive, while the cruel Alpha-Omega (A-O) regime (descendants of the architects of the fall) rule like new-age kings behind the high walls of their realms.

In Hobart, Tasmania, sixteen-year-old Boo Ashworth works with her Uncle Kweku to build a secret library, hidden underground. Their aim is to save what is left of human knowledge, even though discovery means death. When disaster strikes, and the library is destroyed, Boo is suddenly alone. But all is not lost, for Boo has perfect recall, and within her mind the stories she and Kweku rescued remain alive. Hunted by the son of the Eminence who established his A-O kingdom in Tasmania, Boo needs allies to help her save her loved ones...

The final book of The Forcing trilogy has arrived! You must have read the first two instalments (The Forcing, and The Descent) of this incredibly prescient trilogy before reading this book, as each one is integral to the story as a whole.

Picking up the thread of the previous epic trials and tribulations of the Ashworth family, Kweku, his wife Julie, his son Leo, and his niece Becky (Boo) have settled in Hobart - and are amassing a secret library of precious books in a propaganda-rife world that bans knowledge of the past. They risk detection at any moment - not helped by strife within the family (particularly when it comes to restless Leo); and Julie's terminal illness, which means venturing into the A-O city for medicine.

Boo takes up the narrative for the first time in this series. She has already been through many traumas, after her rescue from the A-O as a child, and she is about to come into her own as a 'fire-brand'. I loved Boo from the moment she speaks. She is strong, smart, and resilient, loves books and knowledge, and has enormous courage - which she certainly needs in this story, when disaster takes her into the heart of the dangerous A-O regime.

Weaving in-between Boo's coming-of-age narrative, the familiar voice of Kweku takes us back in time to revisit the actions of a murky character we encountered in the first book - Lachie Ashworth, Kweku's older step-brother. Lachie, once President of the USA, and instrumental in many of the misguided actions that helped the world fall, is now keen to tell his story. Bringing Kweku to his haven in the Alps to act as his biographer, he gradually tells his shocking tale - going right back to the shift in power to the younger generation that saw his political star rise. In a stunning twist, Lachie's story also holds within it the seeds of hope for a broken world - which connects beautifully with Boo's part in the novel.

Alongside a superb Dystopian plot, carried by Boo, the Lachie-Kweku storyline fills-in so many gaps about how and why events played out. I really enjoyed how this added oodles of detail to what we already know from both The Forcing and The Descent, and am impressed by Hardisty's skill as a writer in bringing everything full circle when the intricate threads collide in a breath-taking finale. Echoing themes of power, betrayal, and sacrifice run riot; strong female characters abound; and the exploration of the importance of knowledge and the written word is wonderful - especially, I think, when is comes to the clever way he refers to the 'truth' fiction can convey.

Hardisty does just what great speculative fiction should do in this series, by provoking your thoughts, and raising awareness about where humanity is heading, at the same time as immersing you in a cracking story. The unflinching way he reflects the current state of the world in Lachie's testament is especially brutal and hard to read, but he does not misrepresent the title of this book in any way by calling it The Hope - if only people will listen to what he has to say. Absolutely required reading when it comes to the very best of the cli-fi genre.

The Hope is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats. You can help to support indie publishing by buying direct from Orenda Books HERE.

Thank you to Orenda Books for sending me a ecopy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Canadian Paul E Hardisty has spent 25 years working all over the world as an engineer, hydrologist and environmental scientist. He has roughnecked on oil rigs in Texas, explored for gold in the Arctic, mapped geology in Eastern Turkey (where he was befriended by PKK rebels), and rehabilitated water wells in the wilds of Africa. He was in Ethiopia in 1991 as the Mengistu regime fell, and was bumped from one of the last flights out of Addis Ababa by bureaucrats and their families fleeing the rebels. In 1993 he survived a bomb blast in a café in Sana’a. Paul is a university professor and CEO of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS).

Paul is a sailor, a private pilot, keen outdoorsman, conservation volunteer, and lives in Western Australia.

 January 2026 Reading Round-Up

It's been a nice gentle start to the year, with ten books that get your pulse racing, and really stir the emotions!

You can find your way to my reviews by clicking on the pictures below.

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

Room 706 by Ellie Levenson

The Future Saints by Ashley Winstead

The Coming Fire by Greg Mosse

Blank Canvas by Grace Murray

The Ice Angels by Caroline Mitchell

Hidden in Shadows by Viveca Sten

The Island Between Us by Dougie McHale

Anatomy of an Alibi by Ashley Elston

Stop All The Clocks by W.H. Auden

Onwards to February!

Stop All The Clock's: Poems Of Love And Loss by W.H. Auden

 

Stop All The Clock's: Poems Of Love And Loss by W.H. Auden.

Published 20th November 2025 by Faber Books.

From the cover of the book:

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone . . .

W. H. Auden was the consummate poet of love and heartbreak. Stop All the Clocks presents a selection of his best known, most lucid poems, poems that pitch human frailty against a persisting desire for love and belonging.

Here are the anxieties that beset our waking and sleeping hours: the delirium of desire, the torture of unrequited love, the trauma of loss and displacement. And here, in these resonant, dazzling poems, is the understanding we might be looking for.

***********

There cannot be many people who have not cried their eyes out at the scene in Four Weddings and a Funeral where John Hannah puts his heart and soul into his recitation of Funeral Blues, at the funeral of his dead lover - I know I have every time I have seen it. It beautifully conveys the utter devastation of raw grief, and it remains one of my favourite poems.

But I must admit that when it came to the work of W.H. Auden, I would have been hard put to name more than two poems by him, despite the fact that he was a prolific writer of poetry throughout his life -the other poem being, Tell Me The Truth About Love. So I was delighted to have the opportunity to discover more about Auden through this wonderful collection of his poems about love and loss, entitled with the first line from his most famous poem.

I was pleased to see that both the poems I am familiar with are included here: the rest of the book is a revelation. The most surprising thing is the incredible breadth of subject matter Auden explores when it comes to different facets of love and loss. There are poems here that instantly connect with relatable feelings about attraction, yearning, desire, romance, and enduring love, as well as the sting of rejection, long distance relationships, and the unbearable pain of lost partners - but there are also reflections on belonging and identity, ideology and even the experience of refugees, which I was not expecting.  

After consuming Auden's powerful lines, I found myself wanting to know more about the man himself and his inspirations. I ended up going down a rabbit hole about his life, which was fascinating, especially his relationship with Christopher Isherwood of Goodbye to Berlin (aka Cabaret) fame. 

This is a truly intriguing collection, which I can highly recommend to anyone who also wants to delve into Auden's work beyond Funeral Blues. It is beautifully produced in hard back, with lovely endpapers too!

Stop All The Clocks is available to buy now in hardcover.

Thank you to Faber Books for send8ng me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

W. H. Auden (1907-1973) was born in York and brought up in Birmingham. His first book, Poems, was published by T.S. Eliot at Faber & Faber in 1930. In 1939 he and Christopher Isherwood left for America, where Auden spent the next fifteen years lecturing, reviewing, editing, and writing poetry and opera librettos. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1948.

Anatomy Of An Alibi by Ashley Elston

 

Anatomy Of An Alibi by Ashley Elston.

Published 13th January 2026 by Headline.

From the cover of the book:

Two women. One dead husband. And only one alibi...

Camille Bayliss suspects her husband Ben hides a dark secret. But as he tracks her every move, she cannot prove it.

Aubrey Price believes lawyer Ben Bayliss knows the truth about the night that wrecked her life a decade ago. But she needs a way in.

When Camille and Aubrey meet, they hatch a plan.

For twelve hours, Aubrey will take Camille's place. Ben will track the wrong woman, Camille can spy on Ben, and both women will get their answers.

Except the next morning, Ben is found murdered.

Two women need an airtight alibi, but only one of them has it. And one false step is all it takes for everything to come undone...

***********

Camille Bayliss wants out of her marriage to high profile lawyer, Ben. She suspects he is keeping a secret from her, and plans to use this to her advantage, but how can she discover it when he keeps tabs on her every move?

Aubrey Price was left an orphan by a car accident that killed her parents when she was sixteen. Now, the man who was convicted of the crime has contacted her to say he has evidence that can prove he is innocent. She believes Ben Bayliss is somehow involved in keeping the truth hidden, but getting close to him may prove difficult.

When Camille inserts herself in Aubrey's life, they find they have a common interest. Aubrey agrees to impersonate Camille to give her the freedom to spy on Ben, but during the hours they swap places someone kills Ben. It dawns on Aubrey that in giving Camille an alibi she now does not have one of her own. One false step might just bring everything crashing down...

In an absolute masterclass of storytelling, Ashley Elston weaves her magic through scenes that happen BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER the alibi, from the perspectives of three central characters - Camille, Aubrey, and Ben's lawyer partner Hank. Added snippets from Ben himself take the story back ten years to the accident that killed Aubrey's parents, and the consequences of a cover-up engineered by Camille's powerful (and decidedly dodgy) father.

Gradually, the secrets and lies are revealed as Elston deftly drops her reveals - especially when it comes to the deal Camille and Aubrey make with each other, and their reasons for wanting the truth from Ben, which make things extra dangerous when a murder case ensues. What you think you know changes dramatically over the course of the novel, as red herrings abound, and there are so many suspects who have skin in the 'getting rid of Ben' game. I genuinely did not know how this would end until the final delicious twist, which I thoroughly enjoyed. So clever!

First Lie Wins was a hard act to follow, but the way Elston choreographs the threads of her second grown-up novel is an absolute triumph. There are so many lovely things about what she does here - playing Camille and Aubrey off against each other works beautifully, and the threads draw together so skilfully via Hank's determined sleuthing. There are really interesting facets of birth and found family explored throughout when it comes to Camille and Aubrey too - I promise you will come to love the little band of friends that do their all to help Aubrey out of her predicament.

I absolutely consumed this book from cover to cover - it is so darned good! It also made me think a lot about the nature of alibis...

"It's not just the anatomy of an alibi - having someone vouch that you were somewhere else when the crime was committed - but it's the psychology of it; that that someone is believable."

Intriguing!

If you are a fan of Megan Miranda and you have not discovered Ashley Elston yet, then I highly recommend you get yourself a copy of First Lie Wins and Anatomy of an Alibi - they are both crackers, and Elston hits exactly the same satisfying spot. I cannot wait for book three!

Anatomy of an Alibi is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Headline for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Ashley Elston is the author of the million-copy-selling thriller First Lie Wins - a No. 1 New York Times bestseller and a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick

She is the author of several young adult novels, including The Rules for Disappearing (a finalist in the Best Young Adult Novel category of the International Thriller Awards) and 10 Blind Dates.

Her work has been translated into 23 languages.

Ashley lives in Shreveport, Louisiana with her family.

The Island Between Us (The Hellenic Collection) by Dougie McHale

 

The Island Between Us (The Hellenic Collection) by Dougie McHale.

Published 29th January 2026 by Vinci Books.

From the cover of the book:

Two lives bound by love and sacrifice, across decades, across an island, across time itself.

Carissa thought she had escaped her past when she fled Edinburgh for the sunlit island of Skiathos. But her peace is shattered when her former partner finds her, determined to drag her back into his control.

Her only strength lies in the friendships she forges with Thomas, a WWII veteran who carries the burden of betrayal and loss, and with Demitris, who offers the love she desperately needs. As Thomas recounts his wartime mission, where danger, loyalty, and love collided, Carissa finds the courage to stand against the shadows threatening her own life.

***********

Edinburgh, 2007. Leaving a relationship that had become dangerously toxic, Carissa takes a job as a hiking guide, on the beautiful Greek island of Skiathos. The change of pace, and beautiful surroundings, start to work their magic. Soon Carissa feels like her old self. 

One day, while on a tour, she discovers an elderly man who has collapsed in his garden. She stops to get him some much needed assistance. Wondering how he is recovering from his ordeal, Carissa decides to pay him a visit, and is astonished to discover that Thomas is British.

Thomas begins to tell Carissa of his World War Two experiences working alongside the Greek resistance, and the two become firm friends. As Thomas delves into the memories that haunt him, Carissa is forced to confront her own demons - especially when her past finds its way into the haven she has found.

The novel unfurls in two compelling timelines that weave beautifully together: following Carissa from the break-up of her relationship to a controlling partner called Stuart, in the present; and the story of Thomas' war-time adventures between 1942-43. As their friendship grows, Thomas introduces Carissa to fascinating, and poignant history about the events that happened after he was dropped behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied Greece, as part of Operation Harling. Meanwhile, Carissa's new start in Skiathos is called into question by the arrival of creepy Stuart, who proceeds to stalk her from the shadows.

I was completely drawn into both storylines. McHale does a cracking job investing your emotions in Carissa's story, as her new life, with its enchanting romance with colleague Demitris, is threatened by the menacing Stuart - and he paints an authentically disturbing picture of what it is like to be stalked by a former partner. In parallel, McHale explores some really intriguing history about the work of the SOE in mainland Greece, by inserting fictional Thomas into real events amongst the divided loyalties of the Greek resistance, and he even incorporates a heart-rending forbidden romance for him to give an extra tug on the heart-strings.

I could not put this book down until all the threads of Carissa and Thomas' stories flowed to their tear-jerking conclusions. And I am seriously impressed by the magical way McHale reflects his themes of love, loss, danger, betrayal, and much needed healing through both timelines.

I have not come across Dougie McHale's novels before, but this is every bit as good as any epic story by Victoria Hislop, hitting the same 'heart-wrenching fiction meets engrossing history under the Greek sun' spot. I cannot wait to lose myself in the other Hellenic Collection novels!

The Island Between Us is available to buy now in paperback and ebook.

Thank you to Ed PR for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

In a past life, Dougie has been a dockyard worker, student, and musician. Writing has always been in his blood and bone.

He draws inspiration from his love of Edinburgh and Greece. Their people and histories have all found their way into the books he writes.

Dougie is the author of several novels of both Contemporary Women's Fiction and Second World War Fiction.

His novels are rich with characters that face impossible choices, extraordinary circumstances and the power of secrets told through ordinary people reacting to the ups and downs of the human condition and the complexity of the heart.

Dougie lives with his wife, daughter and forever hungry golden retriever in an intermittent empty nest as his son comes and goes.

Discover the books that readers are describing as an emotional roller-coaster of intrigue and drama, love and hope.

Hidden In Shadows (The Åre Murders Book Two) by Viveca Sten

 

Hidden In Shadows (The Åre Murders Book Two) by Viveca Sten.

Translated by Marlaine Delargy.

Published 5th December 2023 by Amazon Crossing.

Audio book narrated by Laura Jennings.

From the cover of the book:

Secrets, vengeance, and a brutal murder unsettle an idyllic winter paradise...

In the Swedish ski resort of Åre, crime is rare. Certainly nothing so brutal as the murder of Johan Andersson, a former Olympic skier found bound and beaten to death in the forest. According to his distraught wife, he didn’t have any enemies in the world. To Detective Inspectors Hanna Ahlander and Daniel Lindskog, the crime proves otherwise. But what could have provoked such rage? And in whom?

As Hanna and Daniel search for answers, Rebecka Ekvall, a vulnerable pastor’s wife, is trapped in an abusive marriage. Isolated from her congregation, she’s afraid of her husband and even more fearful for her life. Because Rebecka carries a fateful secret. But she isn’t the only one in Åre with something to hide.

As Hanna and Daniel continue to untangle the dark histories of a growing list of suspects, they realize that Johan’s murder is just the beginning of a disturbing case about survival and revenge—at any cost.

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Just a few months after the community of Åre was shocked by the killing of a teenaged girl, another murder in this quiet Swedish ski resort has everyone talking. Plumber, Johan Andersson, has been found battered to death in the snow. Everyone liked the personable former Olympic skier, and it seems impossible that someone could have killed him in such a brutal fashion.

Detective Inspectors Hanna Ahlander and Daniel Lindskog have a another difficult investigation on their hands...

Following on from the first book in the series, Hidden in Snow, this opens with the discovery of Johan's body, sparking a new murder investigation in Åre. Hannah and Daniel are on the trail of a murderer once again, but why anyone would want to kill a man who was apparently so well-liked is a mystery - until they discover that his gambling-addicted business partner had threatened Johan and his wife in the weeks running up to the crime. He seems the obvious culprit, but is the case really that simple?

The story unfolds through a number of narratives, as in the previous book, largely through the voices of Hannah and Daniel, and a character called Rebecka Ekvall, the wife of a pastor from the ultra conservative Light of Life church. It takes some time to discover quite how Rebecka's account of an abusive and controlling marriage fits into the big picture around Johan's murder, and Sten builds lovely suspense going back and forth between the complexities of the investigation, and Rebecka's worsening situation, before the threads of the plot cross over.

Additional narratives from Johan's wife, Marion, and Hannah and Daniel's colleague Anton are used cleverly - Marion's to provide a persistent little niggle in the back of you mind, and Anton's to add an interesting side-plot around his struggles with opening up about his sexuality (and his attraction to a witness in the case). I was less enamoured by Sten's decision to add the voice of Daniel's one-dimensional partner, Ida, to the mix.

It was great to see Hannah finding her feet in the wake of her personal and professional troubles, but I would like to see something more from the Daniel-Ida dynamic than the guilt-trip vs jealousy vibe. Either properly explore the issues that both of them have with some couple's counselling (could be interesting), or leave Daniel's constant buffeting between a rock and a hard place to the cop-has-difficulty-maintaining-a-settled-home life trope we all know and love. Two books in and it is getting tedious in a way that interrupts the flow of the story.

I really enjoyed how the pieces of this puzzle gradually come together though, especially when the significance of Rebecka's part in the plot is revealed. The tension in the final stages of the story is first-class, and I found myself holding my breath at more than one point as all the threads collide in the midst of a raging snow storm (just my cup of tea). The continuing themes of dysfunctional relationships, violence against women, and what goes on behind closed doors are explored well too.

Laura Jennings' capable narration carried me through this one, as in the first instalment, and I am looking forward to listening to her once again in book three, Hidden in Memories.

Hidden in Shadows is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

The Åre Murders series is currently available free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

About the author:

Viveca Sten is the author of the Åre Murder series and the #1 internationally bestselling Sandhamn Murders series. Since 2008, the series has sold close to eight million copies, establishing her as one of Scandinavia’s most popular authors. Set on the island of Sandhamn, the novels have been adapted into a Swedish-language TV series shot on location and seen by almost one hundred million viewers around the world.

Viveca lives in Stockholm with her husband and three children, but she alternates between Sandhamn in the summer and Åre in the winter, where she writes and vacations with her family.