Friday, September 14, 2012

The Glass Guardian by Linda Gillard


Ebook:  Kindle edition 439 KB
Genre:  Fiction, Romance, Paranormal
Publisher:  Amazon Media
Source: From the author in return for an unbiased review.
First Sentence: Love, loss and loneliness...Ruth Travers knows all about them.
My opinion: Once again Linda Gillard has surprised me.


With temps of up to 40C this summer I have enjoyed the excuse of the weather to spend time reading during the heat of the day. I have read some great novels this summer and with The Glass Guardian, once again Linda Gillard had me engrossed in her writing. In fact this time her writing, which I have always enjoyed finding all her previous novels to be five star reads, actually exceeded my expectations as I was unsure about the paranormal aspect. I need not have worried this is another five star read, an unconventional romance maybe but it still had me captivated.  
An imaginative storyline but surrounded by reality with similarities to Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger, although I enjoyed The Glass Guardian more. It was possibly an unusual choice to read on a hot summer afternoon but on the other hand how cooling it was to be transported to the wintry scenes of Skye and the fantastic cover really worked well for me, making Tigh-na-Linne the house where the story unfolds come to life in my imagination. The paranormal genre is a new departure for the author although if you have read her earlier novels you will know it is a subject she has touched on before with characters that play ghost like roles. However her characters are portrayed they are always very believable and realistic with women that are normal as the heroines and some gorgeous sounding heroes, the ones in The Glass Guardian are no exception. Once again she has written an enthralling story about friendship, family, love and music recurring themes in her novels.

To say too much about the storyline here would be entirely wrong as the reader needs to discover how everything connects for themselves in this very sensitive and emotional love story.

The Author's Website Synopsis is just enough to tempt you to read without spoilers, so I am prĂ©cising it here, with just a few added comments of my own. The protagonist of the story Ruth Travers has lost a lover, both parents and her job. When death strikes again she finds herself the owner of a beautiful but dilapidated home on the Isle of Skye, where she used to spend her summer holidays as a child. Ruth prepares to put the house on the market, but discovers that she is not the only one to consider in this sale, plus she begins to think she might be going mad as she suspects that she might be falling in love. Ruth's  research into her family history and in particular the musical career of her aunt are what in my opinion tie this novel's narrative together.

Once again Linda Gillard has surprised me with her talent for making each new novel different from the previous one, if you have not yet read any of her books I urge you to do so. In my opinion it is better although not necessary to read them in the order of publication as I feel by doing this I have appreciated her development as an author. I am already eagerly awaiting what ever novel she has planned for us next even if it is a paranormal one!

Author Profile

I have featured Linda Gillard on this blog more than once and reviewed her earlier novels, although the earlier ones just on Bookcrossing as it was before I started LindyLouMac's Book Reviews Please click on the title links below to read my earlier reviews. 

The information used today is courtesy of her Goodreads Author Profile

Linda Gillard graduated from Bristol University, and then trained as an actress at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Whilst under-employed at the National Theatre, Linda developed a sideline as a freelance journalist. She ran two careers concurrently for a while, then gave up acting to raise a family and write from home. 
Twelve years later, she re-trained as a primary teacher and taught in Norfolk for some years. She moved to the Isle of Skye where she lived for six years in a house on a hill overlooking the Cuillin mountain range, featured in her first novel. She now lives with her husband on the Black Isle in the Scottish Highlands. 

Emotional Geology, was short-listed for the 2006 Waverton Good Read Award 
A Lifetime Burningwas published by Transita in 2006. 
Stargazing, set partly on Skye, for which film rights have been sold, was published by Piatkus in 2008. 
It was short-listed for Romantic Novel of the Year 2009 and the Robin Jenkins Literary Award, the UK's first environmental book award.
House of Silence, her 4th novel, was published as a Kindle e-book in April 2011 and sold 12,000 copies in just 5 months.
Untying the Knot, was published as a Kindle e-book in August 2011. 

The Glass Guardian,was published as a Kindle e-book  in June 2012.

The biographical information and photo used in this post are with thanks to the following websites, where you can also find more information about the author and her writing.

21 comments:

  1. thanks, I am going to look out for this author who is new to me. Would you like to link this in to Books You Loved? Have a great weekend.

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  2. Thanks for sharing about the book Lindy!
    And, i liked the way you started the review.
    I might have to stay indoors for a while and i was trying to flip a coin between activating my facebook and reading books.
    I think reading books and reviewing would be the best!
    Thanks Lindy, you inspire!

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  3. Thanks, Linda, for this wonderful review. I'm so pleased you weren't disappointed.

    You make a very good point about ghosts and ghost-like characters being a theme in most (all?) of my books. Looking back over the 6 novels, I can see that a paranormal novel wasn't that much of a departure for me. It was an experiment and not one I intended to repeat, but GLASS GUARDIAN has proved very popular, so I'm not sure what sort of book I'll tackle next. (But it's much easier writing about real men than ghosts!)

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  4. Carole@ Is it time for another link up already?

    Divenita@ Thanks for your lovely comment. I hope I may have inspired you to read some of LG's work if you have not yet done so.

    LindaGillard@ Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to my review, happy you approve. I was indeed far from disappointed and pleasantly surprised. You must be thrilled that your experiment worked.

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  5. I love paranormal, and I really love Scotland. Thanks so much for another fantastic review. I am putting this one on my Wish List because I know I will love it!

    Thanks so much for linking-up to Literary Friday!!!

    xo,
    Ricki Jill

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  6. Thanks for the review. It's wonderful to find an author who writes books you like, so you look forward to reading everything they publish.

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  7. Ghosts, did you say ghosts? This may be interesting. I'm guessing they were not the scary type. :)

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  8. Ricki Jill@ You will love this one then, have you read any of LG's earlier work?

    Theresa@ Absolutely she has just kept getting better.

    Delia@ No not scary or I would not have enjoyed!

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  9. Hi Linda,

    What a great review of a book from a new to me author

    I haven't really read anything much in the way of the paranormal, however I will give anything a fair try and the Scottish Isles sound like a great location for this kind of story.

    I can see some vague likeness between Linda's writing and storylines, as that of author Robert Goddard, so I shall have to add this one to my list, just to confirm whether I am right, or not!

    An author always goes up in my estimation, when they take the trouble to post a comment publicly on a reviewers blog, rather than just by email, or even worse, not at all.

    I am glad that you so obviously enjyed this book.

    Yvonne

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  10. I wouldn't have normally considered it because of the paranormal aspect, but your comparison to Her Fearful Symmetry is making me give this one a second look.

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  11. I really MUST read one of Linda's books soon! Thanks for the review, Linda!

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  12. Fiction-books@ Thanks, I hope you do give LG's writing a go as I would be very interested in your thoughts Yvonne. As I do not know RG's work I am unable to respond to your comment.

    Alyce@ I do not consider myself a fan of paranormal either Alyce, so do try this one.

    Talli@ I think you would enjoy her writing.

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  13. Thanks everyone for your interest. :-)

    Do you know, I'm not a fan of paranormal either, but publishers were rejecting my literary-ish women's fiction, so I thought I'd try something different, something really commercial. So I read a few vampire novels for research and was occasionally nauseated (I was a vegetarian for many years) and often bored. (I just can't take grumpy-but-gorgeous alpha males seriously.)

    So I decided it had to be a ghost story with a very different sort of hero. Heartbroken and heartbreaking.

    I actually ended up writing a paranormal for people who don't like paranormals! Or to put it another way, I think what I wrote was a literary(ish) paranormal, which might be why so many sceptical readers have been pleasantly surprised.

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  14. Linda Gillard@ Thanks so much for taking the time to leave this follow up comment. I really appreciated reading your thoughts on the paranormal aspect and I know that other readers here will as well.

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  15. I have this on my tbr, great review Lindy

    Lainy http://www.alwaysreading.net

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  16. Lainy@ Thanks, I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. :)

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  17. I really do like to read your reviews Linda! I read a lot, also in English, and like to find new and interesting books on the web.

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  18. Thanks for this Lindy, I look forward to reading this book.

    I have House of Silence on my Kindle, but haven't read it yet.

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  19. Ingmarie@ I am delighted you enjoy my reviews and that you discover some new authors to read in English. LG's books are well worth picking up.

    Debs@ I think you will find them both enjoyable, I hope so anyway.

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  20. Hi Linda,

    What a lovely review, you told me just enough to whet my appetite, yet not too many spoilers to detract from me enjoying the book.

    I am not a great fan of the paranormal, it just seems to me, to be the latest in a long line of 'fads'. However between yourself and LG, who I have to admit is an unknown author to me, you have convinced me to give this one a try.

    I fact, I have just spent an enjoyable few minutes (Ooops! more like 15!), reading though LG's web pages and now all the rest of her books are on my list too!

    Thanks for the recommendation,

    Yvonne

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  21. Yvonne@ Thanks so much for returning with your follow up comments. I do agree it does seem to be a 'fad' but even if not for us a popular one! I have a feeling you will enjoy LG's writing do let me know.

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