The Forever Garden by Rosanna Ley

                                              

Ebook:  460 pages                                                                                 

Genre:  Historical Romantic Fiction 

Publisher:  Quercus 2020

Source: My Kindle

Review Quote: A luminous, sun-soaked delight' Woman's Weekly

First Sentences: It wouldn't be long now. Lara held on to the edge of the stone balustrade.

Setting: Puglia (Italy), Italy,  Dorset, England (United Kingdom)

My Opinion: I have read quite a few of Rosanna Ley's novels but would not say I am a regular reader, but when I do read one it is always a relaxing read. She often writes novels set in my beloved Italy which is always a bonus.

The Forever Garden is set in both Italy and the UK, a dual timeline story set in the present day and the nineteen forties, two delightful settings in Puglia and Dorset. The elderly Lara has created special gardens in both locations and she has passed on her love of gardening to her grand-daughter Bea. Lara needs to unburden herself of secrets in her past before she dies and with the help of Bea she is able to do so.

In conclusion, if gardening, Italy and some light romance are what you are looking for then you will find this a pleasure to read. 

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:   Amid the sun-soaked hills of southern Italy lies the Romano family olive grove, where Lara lives with her daughter Rose and her granddaughter Bea.

Lara has spent a lifetime trying to forget the traumatic events that led to her desperate escape from Dorset seventy years ago. But when she sees Bea - a passionate horticulturalist most at home in nature - being swept off her feet by Matteo, a handsome and charismatic restaurateur, Lara fears her granddaughter is in danger of making the same mistake she did all those years ago.

Remembering a promise she once made, Lara asks Bea to travel to Dorset to restore her family's long-lost garden. Bea is torn. She would love to find out more about the mystery of her beloved grandmother's past. But if she leaves Italy, will Matteo wait for her? And when she arrives at the house in Dorset - what will she find?

Meanwhile back in Italy, an old flame from Rose's past reappears, threatening to expose a secret that could tear the heart out of the Romano family for good.

Previous Reviews:  From Venice With Love  The Villa   Bay of Secrets

Author Profile : 

                                                 

Rosanna has written numerous articles and short stories for magazines, and her novels have been published in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Norway, Hungary, Portugal, Lithuania, Denmark, Bulgaria, Turkey, Israel and the Czech Republic. All Rosanna’s titles are also being published by Quercus in the US.

Rosanna has worked as a creative writing tutor for over 30 years. She has led courses for colleges and universities in England, and runs her own writing retreats and holidays in the UK and in stunning locations in Europe. She has worked with community groups in therapeutic settings and completed an MA in creative writing for personal development in order to support this. She has also mentored and appraised the work of new writers.

Travelling and cliff walking are two of Rosanna’s favourite things to do. She also likes tennis, swimming, reading, eating very dark chocolate and drinking Italian coffee (preferably in Italy…) She lives with her husband in West Dorset and her favourite writing place is anywhere with a sea view.

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.

Photograph and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites: 

 Facebook - Rosanna Ley Novels  Author Official Website   Twitter Profile  

Instagram - Rosanna Ley Author   Goodreads Profile    Amazon Author Page

The Midnight Hour by Eve Chase

 

                                               

Hardback:   385 pages

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Suspense, Family Mystery, 

Publisher: Michael Joseph 2024

Source:  Tywyn Library

First Sentences: Any danger has surely passed. Cycling into the unfolding Paris morning, Maggie can breathe easily again.

Review Quote: ‘Mesmerising - a book you want to race back to’ - Lisa Jewell, author of None of This is True

My Opinion: 

This is the third title by this author that I have read and she is now a favourite author whose books I will always look out for.

In this dual timeline novel set in London and Paris during 1998 and 2019 Maggie and her much younger sibling Kit find themselves home alone when their mother does not return home one evening. Difficult to say more without spoilers but the story of what happened in 198 in Notting Hill unfolds whilst in the 2019 chapters, twenty years later secrets are coming to light.

A well crafted story of family secrets and intrigue with a satisfying ending after all the mysteries. Will appeal to readers that enjoy plenty of drama in the novels they choose to read.

Previous Reviews :   The Glasshouse  The Birdcage

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

A glittering family. A Notting Hill house. Step into their secrets...

Notting Hill, 1998. Dee Delancey—loving mother, grieving widow, sometime model—heads out for the evening, blowing a kiss before vanishing down the crescent. She doesn't come home that night. Nor the one after...

Her reclusive teenage daughter Maggie refuses to accept she's gone—no one loses both parents in two years, do they? Forced to keep house and mother her maddening little brother Kit, Maggie shuns the help of Dee's chaotic small circle of friends, fearing the news reaching the tabloids and the authorities.

But she finds an unexpected ally in Wolf, an older boy with boxer's fists from the far end of Portobello, an unknown world of dark labyrinthine shops, dusty antiques, human warmth, and misrule, far from the big white villas. A place she feels safe.

But the clock is ticking. And a stranger is lurking. As dangerous forces close in, Maggie faces an impossible choice—she must protect her brother, whatever the consequences.

Twenty years later, when the mysterious new owner of the Delancey family's old house starts digging out a basement, secrets cannot stay buried for much longer...

Author Profile:         

  

Courtesy of  Author's Official Website

The following is what Eve has to say about herself on her Author's Official Website.

I work in a writing shed in my Oxford townhouse garden, with Harry, my golden retriever, dozing at my feet. All my Eve Chase books have hatched in this shed, among the piles of books, coffee cups and notebooks, and, rather less literary, but no less essential, my gardening tools. (If I hit a sticky plot point, I’ll start weeding.) 

I’ve always been a huge reader - treasured library card in hand - and started writing short stories as a child, going on to study English Literature at Manchester University, where I set up a creative writing magazine and first got published as a journalist. Many years in women’s glossies and national newspaper magazines followed, working as an editor, feature writer and celebrity interviewer, meeting many wonderful, interesting people along the way, and travelling all over the world. 

As a reader, I’ve always loved storytelling that immediately sweeps you in and locks you there with seductive, lush settings, unfolding secrets and characters that are alive on the page - as a writer, I try to do this too.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Instagram Profile  Author's Official Website  Eve Chase - Facebook Profile

Twitter - EvePollyChase   Amazon Author Page  Eve Chase - Goodreads Author Profile

The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue

                                                                                                                                                                               

Ebook:   288 pages      

Genre: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Thriller,                                         

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Picador 20th March 2025

Source: NetGalley

First Sentences: Half past eight in the morning, on the twenty-second of October,1895, in Granville, on the Normandy coast. Stocky, plain and twenty-one, in her collar, tie, and boxy skirt, Mado Pelletier stands across the street from the little railway station holding her lidded metal lunch bucket, watching.

Setting: Paris (France, 1895)

Review Quote: Clever, ambitious, and richly researched. A slice of 1890s Paris that makes us see that our modern problems aren’t so modern after all! The Paris Express is a smartly structured novel that ratchets up the pace until it's hurtling along as fast as the doomed train itself. -- Alice Winn, author of In Memoriam

My Opinion:

Emma Donoghue has successfully used real life events as inspiration for some of her novels in the past. So I was not surprised to discover that ‘The Paris Express’ is based on the derailment at Montparnasse Station on October 22nd 1895.

The story begins at the start of the trains journey on that fateful day. We are introduced gradually to the vast cast of characters who were passengers and workers on the Granville to Paris train that morning. The main protagonist is Mado Pelletier a young French anarchist who has boarded the train intent on devastating action. As the journey proceeds we learn something of the social and political atmosphere of the period, through the conversations of the passengers which is very interesting and informative.

As always with this author’s novels the writing is excellent and obviously well researched. The account of the people involved in this tragedy included at the end of the novel enhanced my read immensely. For anyone interested in learning a little social history whilst enjoying a novel, this is a compelling thriller. 

Links to Previous Reviews :       Room  The Wonder  The Pull of the Stars  Haven                                                   Learned By Heart

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

Based on an 1895 disaster that went down in history when it was captured in a series of surreal, extraordinary photographs, The Paris Express is a propulsive novel set on a train packed with a fascinating cast of characters who hail from as close as Brittany and as far as Russia, Ireland, Algeria, Pennsylvania, and Cambodia. Members of parliament hurry back to Paris to vote; a medical student suspects a girl may be dying; a secretary tries to convince her boss of the potential of moving pictures; two of the train’s crew build a life away from their wives; a young anarchist makes a terrifying plan, and much more.

Author Profile:

                                           
                                                              © Una Roulston 2021. 

Born in Dublin, Ireland, in October 1969, she is the youngest of eight children of Frances and Denis Donoghue (the literary critic). She attended Catholic convent schools in Dublin, apart from one eye-opening year in New York at the age of ten. In 1990 she earned a first-class honours BA in English and French from University College Dublin (unfortunately, without learning to actually speak French). She moved to England, and in 1997 received her PhD (on the concept of friendship between men and women in eighteenth-century English fiction) from the University of Cambridge. From the age of 23, she has earned her living as a writer. After years of commuting between England, Ireland, and Canada, in 1998 she settled in London, Ontario, where she lives with Chris Roulston and their son Finn and daughter Una.


Photograph and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.

Emma Donoghue - Official Website   Twitter Profile.   Facebook Profile

Goodreads Profile

The Last Days of Kira Mullan by Nicci French

                                                 

Hardback: 438 pages

Genre: Crime Thriller

Publisher: Simon and Schuster 2025

Source: Tywyn Public Library

First Sentences: The journey into darkness began with the move, although for Nancy North moving felt more like an ending. The wreckage of the past lay behind her and she couldn't see into the future or imagine what it would be.

Setting:  London, England

Review Quote: Alison Flood for the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jan/21/and-thrillers-of-the-month-review-nicci-french-last-days-of-kira-mullan-

My Opinion:  I have been aware of the married couple Nicci Gerard and Sean French who write together as Nicci French for a long time. However this is only the second novel of theirs I have read. Probably because crime thrillers are not a genre I read very often, but having enjoyed the last one I read, decided to give it a go.

'The Last Days of Kira Mullan' is the heart-rending story of Nancy North, who having recently suffered a nervous breakdown is being cared for by her over solicitous boyfriend Felix. He has even decided that they should move to a new home to aid her recovery. Within days of their arrival one of the neighbours Kira, whom Nancy had met briefly, is found dead in her flat. The police quickly declare the death to be suicide. Nancy does not believe this to be the case, however absolutely no one else believes her. There is pressure on her from all directions as her life unravels as she battles against the odds to try and prove Kira was murdered.

Another emotional and complex thriller, that certainly kept me guessing and not correctly. Recommended to all fans of crime thrillers. 

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

From international bestselling master of suspense Nicci French comes a chilling new psychological thriller about a woman determined to get justice for a murder no one else believes happened.

Nancy North is ready to put her life back together. After suffering a psychotic break that ruined friendships, stalled her fledgling restaurant, and forced her to move out of her comfortable flat, she’ll do anything to get back to normal. She and her partner Felix—who has been a saint through her recent troubles—move into a new flat for a fresh start.

Nancy is taking her pills, seeing her therapist, and avoiding unnecessary stress. She’s doing absolutely everything right, but something is still very, very wrong. On the first day in the new flat, she hears them again; the mysterious voices that triggered her first episode. It could just be the unfamiliar sounds of water in the pipes, or the screaming baby across the hall, but deep down she knows something more sinister is going on. Her fears are confirmed when the young woman in the downstairs flat, Kira, is found dead. Felix, her neighbors, and even the police insist it’s a tragic suicide, but the pieces aren’t adding up for Nancy. Can she trust her own instincts, or is it all in her head?

Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Maud O’Connor has misgivings about her colleagues’ investigation of Kira’s death. The boys club at the top seems intent on closing the case as quickly as possible, especially since the only person who thinks it could be anything other than suicide is known to be unreliable. But Maud knows what it’s like to be dismissed as an overemotional woman and isn’t so quick to discount Nancy’s claims. As tensions reach an explosive breaking point, the line between fact and delusion becomes dangerously blurred, but Maud will stop at nothing to ensure that the truth comes to light.

Previous Review:    Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter

Author Profile:

                                

                                             Photo Courtesy of Amazon                                                                                                                                               

Note: (Nicci Gerrard and Sean French also write separately.)

Nicci Gerrard was born in June 1958 in Worcestershire. After graduating with a first class honours degree in English Literature from Oxford University, she began her first job, working with emotionally disturbed children in Sheffield. In that same year she married journalist Colin Hughes.

In the early eighties she taught English Literature in Sheffield, London and Los Angeles, but moved into publishing in 1985 with the launch of Women's Review, a magazine for women on art, literature and female issues. In 1987 Nicci had a son, Edgar, followed by a daughter, Anna, in 1988, but a year later her marriage to Colin Hughes broke down.

In 1989 she became acting literary editor at the New Statesman, before moving to the Observer, where she was deputy literary editor for five years, and then a feature writer and executive editor. It was while she was at the New Statesman that she met Sean French.

Sean French was born in May 1959 in Bristol, to a British father and Swedish mother. He too studied English Literature at Oxford University at the same time as Nicci, also graduating with a first class degree, but their paths didn't cross until 1990. In 1981 he won Vogue magazine's Writing Talent Contest, and from 1981 to 1986 he was their theatre critic. During that time he also worked at the Sunday Times as deputy literary editor and television critic, and was the film critic for Marie Claire and deputy editor of New Society.

Sean and Nicci were married in Hackney in October 1990. Their daughters, Hadley and Molly, were born in 1991 and 1993.

In 1995 Nicci and Sean began work on their first joint novel and adopted the pseudonym of Nicci French. 

Photographs, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Amazon Author Profile.   Goodreads Author Profile.   Twitter Profile

The Stargazers by Harriet Evans

                                           

Hardback: 401 pages                                                                                             
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, 
Publisher: January 1, 2023 by Headline Review
Source: Tywyn Public Library
First Sentences: During those last days, before she becomes too weak, she finds she remembers it all once more, piercingly clearly. As if to die, she has to live through it again.
Review Quote:  'A boldly sombre atmosphere haunts the latest novel by Harriet Evans, the doyenne of [commercial fiction]' Observer

My Opinion: 

I am drawn to novels set in old country houses so was looking forward to at last reading 'The Stargazers', especially after having read and enjoyed several of Harriet Evan's previous novels.

Mainly set in the 1950's and 1970's  'The Stargazers' is an extraordinary insight into the cruel upbringing that the main character Sarah and her sister Victoria suffered.  Life moves away from Fane Hall their childhood home, but even in adulthood it continues to haunt them.

At times a very disturbing read but it is a very engrossing and beautifully written. Recommended to readers that enjoy an atmospheric family story.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

How can you ever know yourself when you were deprived of love as a child?

It's the 1970s, and Sarah has spent a lifetime trying to bury her disjointed childhood, the loneliness of her school days, and Fane, the vast and crumbling family home so loved - and hated - by her mother, Iris, a woman as cruel as she is beautiful. Sarah's solace has been her cello and the music that allowed her to dream, transporting her from the bleakness of those early years to a new life now with Daniel, her husband, in their noisy Hampstead home surrounded by bohemian friends and with a concert career that has brought her fame and restored a sense of self.

The past, though, has a habit of creeping into the present, and as long as Sarah tries to escape, it seems the pull of Fane, her mother, and the secrets of the generations hidden there, are slowly being revealed, threatening to unravel the fragile happiness she enjoys in the here and now. Sarah will need to travel back to Fane to confront her childhood and search for the true meaning of home.

Deliciously absorbing and rich with character and atmosphere, The Stargazers is the story of a house, a family, and the legacies of childhoods fractured through time and inheritance.

Previous Reviews: The Wildflowers.   The Beloved Girls.    

Author Profile:

Autobiography in the author's own words from her  Goodreads Profile

I was born in London and grew up there. I was very bookish, and had a huge imagination which used to cause me to get rather anxious at times. Now I know it's a good thing for a writer to have. I loved musicals, and playing imaginative games, and my Barbie perfume making kit. Most of all I loved reading. I read everything, but I also read lots of things over and over, which I think is so important.

At university I read Classical Studies, which is a great way of finding out that the world doesn't change much and people make the same mistakes but it's interesting to look at why. I was at Bristol, and I loved the city, making new friends, being a new person.

After university I came back to London and got a job in publishing. I loved working in publishing so much, and really felt for the first time in my life that when I spoke people understood what I was saying. Book people are good people. I became an editor after a few years, working with many bestselling novelists, and in 2009 I left to write full time.

I've written 13 novels and several short stories and one Quick Read, which is an excellent way of getting people into reading more. I've acquired a partner and two children along the way.

In 2019 we moved to Bath, out of London, and I am very happy there. We live opposite a hedgerow, and I can be boring about gardening, and there's room for my collection of jumpsuits and all our books. We have lots of books. Apart from anything else they keep the house warm.

More interesting facts from her life story can be found on her author website Meet Harriet


Photographs, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.

Goodreads Profile   Harriet Evans - Official Website   Twitter Profile

Harriet Evans - Facebook  

The Surf House by Lucy Clarke

                                                           

Ebook:  392 pages                                                                                                

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Thriller, Mystery

Publisher: February 27th 2025, Harper Collins 

Source: NetGalley

First Sentence: In the sweltering, diesel-filmed heat, we drove down the clanking ramp of the car ferry, tyres hitting Moroccan concrete.

Review Quote: 'Escapist, thrilling, unforgettable’ GILLIAN McALLISTER

My Opinion:   

Lucy Clarke was inspired to write 'The Surf House' after falling in love with surfing in her thirties. Combining her passion with a wild surf filled destination in Morocco she had the setting for her ninth destination thriller.

'The Surf House' has a large cast of characters, many of them not particularly pleasant, which becomes more and more obvious throughout the novel. The main protagonist is Bea from whose perspective the story is mainly revealed. Bea finds herself in a difficult situation in Marrakech and a stranger Marnie steps in to help her. Marnie then offers her a place to stay whilst she recovers from the shock she has experienced. She soon discovers that whilst staying at the same place last year a young girl, Savannah had disappeared without trace. Being of a similar age and staying in the same room Bea takes it upon herself to investigate her disappearance. What a web of intrigue and corruption she finds herself mixed up in.

The wonderful descriptions of Morocco transport the reader to this magical sounding place as the tense storyline becomes evermore dramatic. A perfect choice for thriller fans and maybe surfers, certainly a great holiday read.

With thanks to NetGalley, Harper Collins and the author for the opportunity to read and review.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

WISH YOU WERE HERE? THINK AGAIN…

High on the wave-pounded cliffs, far from the bustling souks of Marrakech, sits The Surf House.

A hidden gem on Morocco’s shores, the house is a sanctuary for the surfers, travellers and dreamers who wash in.

But the idyll is built on something rotten.

And when Bea arrives, relieved to find refuge after a dangerous encounter in a Marrakech alleyway, she soon gets caught in the swell of a deep, dark mystery.

Because another young woman went missing one year ago – and the last place she was sighted was The Surf House.

Previous Reviews: One of the Girls.   Last Seen   The Hike

Author Profile

          

Lucy Clarke, novelist, traveller and fresh air enthusiast is the author of eight destination thrillers. They include Waterstones Thriller of the Month, The Castaways, Richard and Judy Book Club pick, One of the Girls, and most recently, The Hike. Lucy's novels have sold over a million copies and are published in more than 25 territories worldwide.

Lucy's thriller, No Escape (also published as The Blue) has been released as a major international show for Paramount+. Set in the Philippines, the seven-part series is directed by Hans Herbot (The Serpent) and stars Abigail Lawrie and Rhianne Barreto as best friends Lana and Kitty.

The Castaways has also been adapted for screen and was The Guardian Pick of the Week. BAFTA award-winner Sheridan Smith stars as Lori, and Celine Buckens plays her sister, Erin. The five-part thriller is available to stream on Paramount+.

When Lucy isn't away on research trips (the real reason she loves being an author!), she can be found writing from a beach hut on the south coast of England. She lives with her husband and their two children.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.

Goodreads Author Page   Facebook - Lucy Clarke    Instagram - Lucy Clarke Author

Official Author Website    Amazon Author Page

Eight Years of Lies by Lisa Hall

 

                                                   

Ebook:   301 pages

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Domestic Thriller,

Publisher: Joffe Books, 19th February 2025

Source:  NetGalley

First Sentences:  Prologue: It was just a normal day. Another boring, mundane day in our boring, mundane lives.

Review Quote: ‘A tense, pacy rollercoaster of a read, full of suspense, twists and dark intrigue. I was furiously turning the pages until the heart-stopping conclusion.’ A. A. CHAUDHURI, bestselling author

My Opinion: 

This is the second book I have read by Lisa Hall, having been previously been introduced to her writing by a Book Club Choice. I was apprehensive about doing so as I found the previous novel repetitive, unfortunately so was this one at times, but it did not spoil my enjoyment.

Claire has been happily married or so she thought to Tom for eight years. Then suddenly he just disappears without trace leaving her alone with their daughter wondering why. Her search for him is told by her but interspersed with chapters from an unknown person, which certainly adds to the intrigue. Claire soon discovers she does not know her husband all, as shocking discoveries unfold throughout the novel.

A very quick read for me, a contemporary psychological thriller full of lies and surprising twists. Far fetched maybe at times but then I read for escapism so went with the flow.

With thanks to NetGalley, Joffe Books and the author for the opportunity to read and review. 

Précis Courtesy of Amazon: 

Was my marriage always built on lies? How could everything unravel so quickly?

My life wasn’t perfect — school runs, late meetings, family dinners — But we were happy.

Then a single Facebook post destroys it all: ‘PLEASE CAN ANYONE HELP ME? HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN? I am Lydia French. This is my husband and child — they have been missing for several months and I am desperate to find them.’

I look at the photo of a man and a little girl, smiling in the sun, and freeze. They’re not Lydia French’s husband and child. They’re mine.

I get a call from the school. Tom hasn’t picked up our daughter. He’s not answering his phone. His boss says he didn’t show up for work.

Nothing makes sense. Panic claws my chest as I piece together the fragments of my shattered reality.

The man I’ve lived with for the past eight years, the man I’ve made a home, a family, a life with, isn’t who I thought he was at all. The man I married has been lying to me . . . about everything.

Previous Review:  The Perfect Couple

Author Profile:         

Courtesy of Author Website

Lisa loves words, reading and everything there is to love about books. She has dreamed of being a writer since she was a little girl – either that or a librarian - and after years of talking about it, was finally brave enough to put pen to paper (and let people actually read it). Lisa lives in a small village in Kent, surrounded by her towering TBR pile, a rather large brood of children, dogs, chickens and ponies and her long-suffering husband. She is also rather partial to eating cheese and drinking wine.  (Taken from Author Website)

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Official Author Website   Instagram - Lisa Hall Author   Facebook Profile  

Twitter - Lisa Hall Author

Amazon Author Page