Ruth – Recently married to a widower with two boys. She has just moved into the large house in North Berwick, and is finding herself alone more often than not. Her two stepsons are sent off to boarding school and her husband works away in London a lot. It is shortly after WWII, and Ruth is still mourning the loss of her beloved brother who was a war casualty. As time goes on, Ruth’s new marriage deteriorates. Her husband, Peter, treats her with disdain, condescension, and turns his lies on her – telling her that she is imagining it… The locals are an eccentric lot, especially the Reverend Jon Brown.
Vivienne – Ruth’s granddaughter, lives alone in London. After the death of her father (Ruth’s stepson Michael), she is given the task of going to North Berwick, Scotland to inventory the contents of the family home. Recently, Vivienne had a breakdown which put her in a ‘hospital’ for a few weeks. Her father’s brother, her Uncle Christopher, pays her to inventory the contents of the house which is for sale. As he expects the sale to take quite a while, he enlists her to stay on there as a sort of caretaker. Vivienne meets an eccentric, flamboyant, and quite manic woman named Maggie, who is a self-proclaimed witch.
Sarah – centuries ago Sarah was deemed a witch. Young men were intent on raping her before burning her body. A preacher broke up the intended crime and gives her refuge in his home. Then, because of condemnation by their neigbours in the community, the family are driven from their home and made to go ‘on the run’, taking the girl Sarah with them.
The setting was absolutely spectacular. The large house on the North Berwick shore with the Bass Rock looming in the view from the windows.
This is my first Evie Wyld novel and I found the writing to be an unusual and artistic blend of feminine angst, magical realism, and gothic melodrama – there is even a wee ghost.
Of the three women protagonists, I found Ruth’s story to be the most compelling. Her loneliness. Her husband’s abominable treatment of her…
Vivienne’s character was troubled, and reading her authentic voice was downright disturbing at times. She seemed deeply unhappy, drank to excess, and didn’t eat well. Her actions and thoughts were told in almost a stream of consciousness technique. Her interactions with the quirky Maggie felt almost ominous.
It bothered me that the women in this novel turned to drink at the slightest provocation. I don’t mind a drink or three myself, but their drinking seemed over excessive and made them seem weaker than they were.
Although this is not a crime novel, it did contain many crimes within its pages.
The theme of this novel covered several topics such as loss, loneliness, misogyny, and crimes against women over the years. It has an overall dark and unsettling tone, and reads as feminist fiction. It expounds on the centuries of hurt that men have inflicted on women. It portrays men as mostly selfish and predatory. Perhaps I’ve been lucky, but tarring all with the same brush made it seem as though the author belabored the vilifying of men.
The writing itself was beautiful in places. The atmosphere and pathos were astounding.
I realize that this story might not be for everyone. The tone, the subject matter, are not to everyone’s taste. This is award-winning, literary fiction, deserving of acclaim, yet it leaves this reader with an uncomfortable feeling. Perhaps it was meant to?
This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from Pantheon Books (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group) via NetGalley.
Published: September 1, 2020 Publisher: Pantheon Books
ISBN: 9781101871881 ASIN: B08272VCBZ 368 pages
Evie Wyld‘s debut novel, After the Fire, A Still Small Voice, was shortlisted for the Impac Prize and awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Her second, All the Birds, Singing, won the Miles Franklin Prize, the Encore Prize and the EU Prize for Literature, and shortlisted for the Costa Best Novel awards. In 2013 she was named as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists, having previously been named by the BBC as one of the twelve best new British writers. She lives in Peckham, South London, England.
Follow Evie Wyld on Twitter @eviewyld
On New Year’s Eve in downtown Oslo, a bomb is detonated on the stroke of midnight. Hundreds of New Year’s revelers are watching the firework display. Five of them will die…
Ten years previously, a sixteen month old baby girl was abducted. The case was never solved… Is baby Patricia alive or dead?
This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from 
Thomas Enger is a former journalist. He made his debut with the crime novel Burned (Skinndød) in 2010, which became an international sensation before publication. Burned is the first in a series of five books about the journalist Henning Juul, which delves into the depths of Oslo’s underbelly, skewering the corridors of dirty politics and nailing the fast-moving world of 24-hour news. Rights to the series have been sold to 28 countries to date. In 2013 Enger published his first book for young adults, a dark fantasy thriller called The Evil Legacy, for which he won the U-prize (best book Young Adult). Killer Instinct, another Young Adult suspense novel, was published in Norway in 2017. Rights have been sold to Germany and Iceland. Thomas Enger also composes music, and he lives in Oslo.
Jørn Lier Horst is a former Senior Investigating Officer at the Norwegian police force. He made his literary debut as a crime writer in 2004 and is now considered one of the foremost Nordic crime writers. His William Wisting series of crime novels has been extremely successful, having sold more than 1 million copies in Norway. The series has also been translated into thirty languages. Dregs, sixth in the series, was published in English by Sandstone Press in 2011. The next book, Closed for Winter, won Norway’s Booksellers’ Prize in 2012 and was shortlisted for the Riverton Prize. The Hunting Dogs, won both the prestigious Golden Revolver, for best Norwegian crime, and The Glass Key, which widened the scope to best crime fiction in all the Nordic countries, in 2013. He has a beloved dog named Theodor.
My new Tuesday post where I’ll ‘tease‘ you with the cover, blurb, and first paragraph of one of the advanced reader’s copies from my own TBR.
Expected publication date is August 3, 2021
from the prologue:
DCI Matilda Darke is well named, for this is a woman who is in a dark place. It is almost the first anniversary of her beloved husband’s death, AND that coincides with the anniversary of a kidnapping case gone wrong where she was blamed for the loss of a young boy. She suffers from severe panic attacks, and is hanging on by a thread… Vilified by the press, and with her small murder team being shut down, Matilda is tasked with a brutal murder and attempted murder.
A man and woman were attacked in a quiet road. They were both married, but not to each other. Their spouses have rock solid alibis. Who could have done this?
Honestly though… my book wishlist is VAST! At present there are over 2.000 titles on my 
They say you can never have a second chance to make a good first impression. A book’s cover does just that – gives a first impression. A good cover can make a reader pick up a book. A bad cover can leave the book at the very bottom of a dusty pile.
This novel is told via three voices:
Set in a small, intimate village near Lake Windermere in the Lake District, this is Paula Daly’s debut novel – and what a page turner!
These characters draw you in so that you become invested in their lives. Lisa’s work at the animal shelter was fascinating to me, and the scenes with the ‘rescues’ will be keenly appreciated by all animal lovers. DC Aspinall’s home life, and personal issues had me invested in her struggles as well.
After re-discovering an old box of memorabilia, Veronica wonders if she has any family left. She enlists the aid of Eileen to see if she can trace anyone. She discovers that she has a grandson she never knew about. His name is Patrick and she travels down to London to meet him. The meeting was not a success. Patrick had just broken up with his girlfriend and was at a low ebb. He was high on weed, unwashed, and lived in a grotty bedsit.
After their disastrous meeting, Veronica decides that she must leave her vast wealth somewhere, so after watching a nature documentary about penguins, she decides that saving penguins will be her life’s mission. But she must check out the place first. She bravely travels to Antarctica to live at the penguin research station for three weeks. The scientists have told her not to come, but she doesn’t let that stop her.
At once, Veronica falls in love with penguins. The two male scientists do not want her there, but the young woman seems friendly. After helping to rescue a baby penguin, the young woman (named Terry), seems like someone Veronica can finally confide in.
What a delightful reading experience! I read the last pages very slowly… I just didn’t want the story to end.
Most readers will acknowledge that some words reappear time and time again in titles. Often these words are associated with a particular genre. Case in point: “The girl on the train” and “Gone girl” spawned countless thriller titles with the word ‘girl’ in the title.
I want to start a new Tuesday post where I’ll ‘tease‘ you with the cover, blurb, and first paragraph of one of the advanced reader’s copies from my own TBR.
When Selma told us she had dreamed of an okapi the night before, we all knew that one of us was going to die in the next twenty-four hours. We were almost right. It took twenty-nine. Death arrived a bit late and very literally; he came in through the door. Maybe he was delayed because he had put it off for a long time, even past the last possible moment.
Mariana Leky was born in Cologne and currently makes her home in Berlin. After training as a bookseller, she studied cultural journalism at the University of Hildesheim. Though she is one of very few members of her family who are not psychologists, she still writes a monthly column for the magazine “Psychologie Heute.” Her books have earned numerous prizes, including the Allegra Prize, the Lower Saxony Literary Advancement Award, and the Advancement Prize for Young Artists from the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Before being published in 21 languages What You Can See from Here was named the German Booksellers’ Favorite Book of the Year and became a runaway bestseller.
About the book:
Born in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, 
I first saw this on Nicki’s 
As you can see from this photo taken earlier this year, the path in the center of the park is in the shape of a ‘cancer awareness’ ribbon. 
