The Lucky Widow by Samantha Vérant

                                                     

Ebook:  418 pages      

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Suspense, Psychological Thriller,                                          

Publisher: Storm Publishing  July 5th 2024

Source: NetGalley

First Sentence: I'm a woman on the verge of reclaiming her life.

Review Quote:  Sucked me in from the start. So many twists and turns I didn't want to put it down. Reader Review.

My Opinion: 

It was the title and blurb that drew me to wanting to read 'The Lucky Widow' by new to me author Samantha Verant.

The novel is told from two very different points of view, that of Emma who finds her deceased husband and Rossi the detective assigned to the case. With the dual time line of past and present events the complex storyline unravels to expose so many lies and secrets. There are certainly some despicable characters and events involved and one wonders why Emma allowed her life to sink to this level, why did she stay with her husband?

Cannot say more, you need to read this and find out for yourself. If you are a fan of mysteries it is probably one you will enjoy. For me at times the credibility felt over the top, though sadly these sort of events do take place. Especially the human trafficking, what a mixed up world we live in.

It is with thanks to Storm Publishing and NetGalley that this title was made available for me to read and review.

 

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

Wishing your husband dead isn’t a crime...

When you return from a work trip to find your husband dead in the pond, it’s best not to call him a liar and a cheat in front of the cops. Especially when you’ve spent the last few years telling anyone who’ll listen that you sometimes fantasize about killing him. It makes you look kind of, well, guilty.

Now I’m suspect number one for Nathaniel’s murder and the police are snooping around our perfect home. And the house is perfect because I designed it, down to the last marbled detail. You could say I designed our marriage, too. As soon as I saw Nathaniel—so handsome, successful, a surgeon—I knew I wanted him. Sadly our marriage wasn’t quite as perfect as our house. But whose is?

The cops want to talk to our daughters, our friends, even our staff. There’s the housekeeper, the cook, the pool cleaner, the dog walker. But like me they were all out of town when he died. They won’t have anything to say about what happened. Certainly nothing that will suggest I had something to do with it…

Author Profile:                

                                                                                  

                                                        Courtesy of Goodreads Profile

Samantha Vérant is a travel addict, a self-professed oenophile, and a determined, if occasionally unconventional, at-home French chef. Over the years, she’s visited many different countries, lived in many places, and worked many jobs— always on the search for the one thing that truly excited her. Then, one day, she found everything she’s been looking for: a passion for the written word and true love. Writing not only enabled her to open her heart, it led her to southwestern France, where she’s now married to a sexy French rocket scientist she met over twenty years ago, a stepmom to two incredible kids, and the adoptive mother to one ridiculously adorable Charteux cat. When she’s not trekking from Provence to the Pyrénées, tasting wine in American-sized glasses, or embracing her inner Julia Child while deliberating what constitutes the perfect boeuf bourguignon, Samantha is making her best effort to relearn those dreaded conjugations.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Official Author Website  Goodreads Profile.  Twitter - Samantha Verant

The Florence Letter by Anita Chapman

 

                                                

Ebook:  343 pages      

Genre: Historical Fiction                                           

Publisher: Bookouture 24 June 2024

Source: NetGalley

First Sentence: Margaret Anderson sat at the desk, her dear cat, Mr Emerson, curled up in  the basket beside her.

Review Quote: ‘I was captivated from the very first page… Fascinating… Drew me into the book and kept me riveted to the page… So vivid and compelling, Anita has a real talent for creating wonderfully atmospheric dual timeline stories… Romantic and intriguing!’ Nicola Cornick, 

Setting: Surrey, England and Florence Italy

Main Characters: Margaret During WWII and Claire in 2015.

My Opinion: 

I have been following Anita Chapman on Social Media, as an aspiring author for some years. Just last year she had her debut novel  The Venice Secret  published, which I throughly enjoyed. So I am delighted that The Florence Letter has followed quickly.

A dual narrative with two female protagonists, Margaret during WWII and Claire in 2015. Their stories are a delightful romantic tale with some fabulous characters that together uncover some intriguing family secrets. To add to my reading pleasure both settings Florence and Surrey are familiar to me. I happen to have very fond memories of the property that the fictional Gatley Hall is partly based upon.

The author has certainly established herself as a writer of captivating stories with her first two novels. If you are a fan of historical fiction I can recommend you add her to your favourites list of authors.

It is with thanks to Bookouture, NetGalley and Anita Chapman that this title was made available for me to read and review.

 

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

Looking out over the twinkling city lights of Florence, Claire thinks of the letter that has brought her here. Written by a woman who escaped the Blitz, it holds a secret kept for a lifetime… but can Claire make the woman’s dying wish come true?Claire arrives at her new job as researcher at a grand English country house, nursing a broken heart. But tucked into the back of a long-forgotten drawer she finds a letter written in an elegant hand. It tells of a wartime secret about the beautiful Lady Violet – whose passionate affair with an Italian prisoner of war scandalised the village and ended in tragedy.Captivated, Claire promises to find Violet’s daughter, Tabitha, and reunite her with a priceless piece of her mother’s jewellery. With only the name of an Italian bakery, Pasticceria Mancini, to guide her, and the help of her handsome neighbour Jim, Claire travels to Tabitha’s last known location – Florence.Winding through the colourful streets, the sun warm on her bare shoulders, a tantalising scent of freshly baked bread floats on the air and Claire’s heart leaps at the sight of an ageing bakery Mancini. Although she learns that Tabitha hasn’t been there for many years, Claire refuses to give up. And as she and Jim talk late into the night over glasses of local chianti, Claire looks into his piercing blue eyes and finds herself growing closer to him…But when they finally track Tabitha down, it isn’t the happy reunion she expected and Claire is left reeling in the wake of discovering a devastating family secret.Violet’s story has an ending – but will the truth lead to forgiveness, or will it only bring more pain? And will Claire be forced to walk away from a chance of happiness with Jim at last?Escape to Italy in this gorgeous story of past and present colliding. 

Previous Review:  The Venice Secret

Author Profile:                

                                                                                                           

                                                        Courtesy of Amazon Profile

Anita Chapman enjoyed writing stories from a young age, and won a local writing competition when she was nine years old. Encouraged by this, she typed up a series of stories about a mouse on her mum’s typewriter and sent them to Ladybird. She received a polite rejection letter, her first.

Many of Anita’s summers growing up were spent with her family driving to Italy, and she went on to study French and Italian at university. As part of her degree, Anita lived in Siena for several months where she studied and au paired, and she spent a lot of time travelling around Italy in her twenties. 

Anita likes to read journals and diaries from the past, and one of her favourite pastimes is visiting art galleries and country houses. Her first published novel, The Venice Secret is inspired by her mother taking her to see the Canalettos at The National Gallery in London as a child. 

Since 2015, Anita has worked as a social media manager, training authors on social media, and helping to promote their books. She’s run several courses in London and York, and has worked as a tutor at Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Twitter Profile.  Anita Chapman - Facebook Profile.   Author - Official Website

The Maiden by Kate Foster

                                                   

Hardback:  370 pages

Genre:  Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Scotland

Publisher: Mantle, Pan Macmillan, 2023

Source:  Tywyn Public Library

First Sentences: You are sentenced to beheading. God have mercy on your soul. Prepare yourself in prayer.

Review Quote:  'Riveting . . . the tension persists until the last page’ ― The Times

Favourite Quote: “Although I read avidly and wrote with flair, far exceeding the direction of the tutor who came to Roseburn, these assets were not considered to be as attractive as obedience or serenity or silence.”

My Opinion:  

'The Maiden' is Kate Foster's debut novel and is Historical Crime Fiction, which is not a first choice genre for me. I think this is probably the reason that it only recently caught my attention. I am glad it did and a sign of how much I enjoyed it is that her second novel, 'The Kings Witches' published earlier this month is already on my Wishlist to read.

Inspired by the true story of Christian Nimmo who was executed in Edinburgh in 1679 for the murder of her lover, who also happened to be her uncle! The author has taken the intriguing known facts of the case and woven a fascinating fictional story with a great cast of characters. none of these are confirmed in historical records apart from Christian herself and her uncle James Forrester but most definitely they are the sort of people that would have lived at the time in such a setting.

Just imagine this story in a modern day setting when thankfully women are treated differently, making this novel a great choice, in my opinion for Book Club discussions. Overall an extraordinary period tale of love and deceit that I recommend if you enjoy historical fiction based on fact.

Literary awards

Women's Prize for Fiction Nominee for Longlist (2024), Saltire Society Literary Award Nominee for Scottish First Book of the Year (2023)

Setting

Edinburgh, Scotland in 1679.

Characters

Lady Christian Nimmo, Violet Blyth, Lord James Forrester

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

Inspired by a real-life case and winner of the Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect Award, Kate Foster's The Maiden is a remarkable story with a feminist revisionist twist, giving a voice to women otherwise silenced by history.

"In the end, it did not matter what I said at my trial. No one believed me."

Edinburgh, October 1679. Lady Christian Nimmo is arrested and charged with the murder of her lover, James Forrester. News of her imprisonment and subsequent trial is splashed across the broadsides, with headlines that leave little room for doubt: Adulteress. Whore. Murderess.

Only a year before, Christian was leading a life of privilege and respectability. So, what led her to risk everything for an affair? And does that make her guilty of murder? She wasn't the only woman in Forrester's life, and certainly not the only one who might have had cause to wish him dead . . .

Author Profile:         

Courtesy of Goodreads

Kate Foster has been a national newspaper journalist for over twenty years. Growing up in Edinburgh, she became fascinated by its history and often uses it as inspiration for her stories. The Maiden won the Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect 2020 prize for new writers. She lives in Edinburgh with her two children. 

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Kate Foster - Amazon Profile.   Goodreads Profile       Kate Foster on Twitter

The Figurine by Victoria Hislop

                                             

Hardback:  512 pages

Genre:  Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction

Publisher: Headline 2023

Source:  Tywyn Public Library

First Sentences: Helena stood at the top of the aircraft steps, blinking into the sunlight, a hot breeze blowing strands of hair across her face. Why was everything shimmering? So dazzlingly bright?

Review Quote:  Hislop's love for Greece shines and transports readers through space and time to a brilliantly drawn world ― The Independent

My Opinion:  

It is nearly twenty years, I believe, since Victoria Hislop published her first highly successful novel 'The Island'. I have been a fan of her writing ever since and always enjoy her novels.

'The Figurine' revolves around three generations of women, Helena Mary and Elena. A dark family secret finds the women confronting the past and their feelings about their Greek identity.  It is a well known fact that beautiful artwork has for centuries driven people to plunder cultural treasures. Such icons feature hugely in the protagonists lives and the story these women tell us.

There is nothing I like more than a hefty novel and 'The Figurine' was 500+ pages of sheer delight. Highly recommended and the good news is that if you are looking for a holiday read the paperback will be published on August 1st!

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

In her irresistible new novel, Sunday Times No 1 bestselling author Victoria Hislop shines a light on the questionable acquisition of cultural treasures and the price people - and countries - will pay to cling on to them.

Of all the ancient art that captures the imagination, none is more appealing than the Cycladic figurine. An air of mystery swirls around these statuettes from the Bronze Age and they are highly sought after by collectors - and looters - alike.

When Helena inherits her grandparents' apartment in Athens, she is overwhelmed with memories of the summers she spent there as a child, when Greece was under a brutal military dictatorship. Her remote, cruel grandfather was one of the regime's generals and as she sifts through the dusty rooms, Helena discovers an array of valuable objects and antiquities. How did her grandfather amass such a trove? What human price was paid for them?

Helena's desire to find answers about her heritage dovetails with a growing curiosity for archaeology, ignited by a summer spent with volunteers on a dig on an Aegean island. Their finds fuel her determination to protect the precious fragments recovered from the baked earth - and to understand the origins of her grandfather's collection.

Helena's attempt to make amends for some of her grandfather's actions sees her wrestle with the meaning of 'home', both in relation to looted objects of antiquity ... and herself.

Previous Reviews:

The Island   The Return   Cartes Postales   Those Who Are Loved   One August Night

Author Profile:         

Courtesy of Amazon

Inspired by a visit to Spinalonga, the abandoned Greek leprosy colony, Victoria Hislop wrote The Island in 2005. It became an international bestseller, has sold more than six million copies and was turned into a 26-part Greek TV series. She was named Newcomer of the Year at the British Book Awards and is now an ambassador for Lepra. Her affection for the Mediterranean then took her to Spain, and in the number one bestseller The Return she wrote about the painful secrets of its civil war. In The Thread, Victoria returned to Greece to tell the turbulent tale of Thessaloniki and its people across the twentieth century. Shortlisted for a British Book Award, it confirmed her reputation as an inspirational storyteller.

Her fourth novel, The Sunrise, about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the enduring ghost town of Famagusta, was a Sunday Times number one bestseller. Cartes Postales from Greece, fiction illustrated with photographs, followed and was one of the biggest selling books of 2016. The poignant and powerful Those Who Are Loved was a Sunday Times number one hardback bestseller in 2019 and explores a tempestuous period of modern Greek history through the eyes of a complex and compelling heroine. Victoria's most recent novel, One August Night, returns to Crete in the long-anticipated sequel to The Island. The novel spent twelve weeks in the Top 10 hardback fiction charts.

Her books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages.

Victoria divides her time between England and Greece and in 2020, Victoria was granted honorary citizenship by the President of Greece. She was recently appointed patron of Knossos 2025, which is raising funds for a new research centre at one of Greece's most significant archaeological sites. She is also on the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Victoria Hislop - Official Author Website  Goodreads Profile   Facebook Profile 

Twitter Profile

Amazon Profile