Tag Archives: Clare Marchant

CARIADS’ CHOICE: AUGUST 2022 BOOK REVIEWS

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Phil Rickman’s The Fever of the World reviewed by Georgia Hill

This is book 16 in the Merrily Watkins series featuring a beleaguered vicar and “Deliverance Consultant” – or exorcist – and set in the Welsh Marches. There’s a mysterious rockfall death, an examination of Wordsworth and his experiences as a young man in the Wye Valley, the odd Druid (a very odd Druid) and it’s all wrapped around with Covid’s cold, clammy hand. Phil has a cult-like following (I’m one) and his Merrily books are a fabulous and impossible to categorise mix of crime, the supernatural and folklore. Go read!

 

Jen Gilroy’s The Wishing Tree in Irish Falls reviewed by Jane Cable

I’ve been meaning to read this book for a long time and I enjoyed it so much I’m disappointed with myself for putting it off. It was absolutely delightful to escape to a small town community in the Adirondacks, the kind of place I suspect many of us have a secret hankering to live.

Jen Gilroy draws both the people and the place so beautifully, even the most minor of characters come alive in her skilled hands. I was pulled into Annie and Seth’s stories from the moment we meet them both. I knew they both had journeys to take and I knew how those journeys would end, but that’s the point of romantic fiction, isn’t it? No huge surprises, but a really interesting and emotional story that felt as though it was about real people. A place and a time to lose myself in with characters who become to feel like friends.

Not trying to be anything fancy, this is feelgood romance at its best.

 

Faith Hogan’s The Gin Sisters Promise reviewed by Morton S Gray

I loved Faith Hogan’s novel The Ladies’ Midnight Swimming Club and that was what attracted me to this title. Having finished this one, I’m off to find her other books.

A story full of love, pathos, family misunderstandings, secrets and laughter. Initially I wondered if I would cope with the three sisters’ storylines, but I soon became absorbed in their lives, loves and losses.

The book made me think about legacies and the family tangles and feuds we get into over the years.

I wanted each of the sisters to get their happy ever after and it seems their father did too. Definitely a thought-provoking novel which made me experience a wide variety of emotions from laughter to tears. Highly recommended.

 

Clare Marchant’s The Mapmakers Daughter reviewed by Kitty Wilson

Probably my favourite book of the year so far. Both timelines fully held my attention and I loved both Frieda and Robyn’s stories. Clare Marchant’s writing is so skilled that she takes you deep into the heart of Tudor London, all the senses stimulated and I really felt if I was there, hearing, seeing, smelling all that was going on around her characters. The detail she weaves though is not merely evocative, her books are so well researched that I learn things that I did not before and she always makes me want to dive into further research the minute I finish reading.

Her writing is taut and deftly woven, everything moves the story on, informs the reader and weaves together a truly spellbinding story. The jeopardy she creates had me gasp out loud, my heart pounding with fear – all whilst safely tucked up in my own bed, such is the skill with which she writes. Honestly, I thought this book was flawless and I suspect it will remain one of my favourites for years to come. Absolute perfection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE QUEEN’S SPY – CLARE MARCHANT’S SUPERBLY CRAFTED DUAL TIMELINE NOVEL

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Review by Jane Cable and a word from the author…

In her acknowledgements Clare Marchant describes The Queen’s Spy as ‘the difficult second novel’ – or words to that effect. Well she didn’t make it easy for herself, with an Elizabethan main character who is deaf and dumb and a modern day protagonist who is far from instantly likeable.

One of the triumphs of this book is how well the author pulls off both characters. We experience the Elizabethan world through Tom’s eyes, nose, hands… but not his ears. And despite this, it is a rich world indeed, brought vividly to life through the wonderful descriptive language. Despite the danger, intrigue and prejudice it was a world I wanted to return to again and again, which certainly kept me turning the pages.

Like all good dual timeline stories the links between present and past mirror each other well; both protagonists are outsiders, both gifted artistically and with herbs. There are other linking factors too, but to reveal them might spoil the story and I would hate to do that, because it is a book I would definitely recommend you read.

 

So fascinated was I by Tom’s story that I just had to ask Clare about him:

Over the course of my two books the character who has been my favourite is Tom. I always plan my work in great detail so I don’t have any shocks, and yet Tom arrived one day in the still room at Saffron Hall and took me completely by surprise. I’ve loved him from the first moment he appeared. At first he had no way of communicating but slowly he came out of his shell and as he did so, became more confident.

So, it was a no-brainer that Tom would be the main protagonist in my second book, The Queen’s Spy. He’s able to use his disability in a positive way spying for Elizabeth 1st but I won’t lie, it wasn’t easy writing a book where I had to tell his story through the other senses he had; sight, smell and taste. However I think it’s interesting to experience Tudor London as he would have done. With the heightened senses he has it meant the smells (quite often unpleasant!) would have been that much more pungent. And his intensified senses of smell and taste helps him as an apothecary, able to differentiate between and identify many varieties of herbs. I enjoyed him introducing vanilla to the court (in reality it was Hugh Morgan who was Queen Elizabeth’s apothecary) but it was a long time before horticulturalists knew the plants have to be pollenated by hand in the UK.

The fact he has this disability has always left Tom feeling it’s a weakness, a disadvantage, but it takes Francis Walsingham to recognise that Tom’s lip reading can be used as a skill and as the story develops, Tom’s self-confidence grows. For the first time in his life he feels properly valued and this just makes me love him move!

 

Publisher’s blurb:
1584: Elizabeth I rules England. But a dangerous plot is brewing in court, and Mary Queen of Scots will stop at nothing to take her cousin’s throne.

There’s only one thing standing in her way: Tom, the queen’s trusted apothecary, who makes the perfect silent spy…

2021: Travelling the globe in her campervan, Mathilde has never belonged anywhere. So when she receives news of an inheritance, she is shocked to discover she has a family in England.

Just like Mathilde, the medieval hall she inherits conceals secrets, and she quickly makes a haunting discovery. Can she unravel the truth about what happened there all those years ago? And will she finally find a place to call home?

 

SISTER SCRIBES’ READING ROUND UP: SEPTEMBER

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Kirsten

The first book I read this month, was the winner of the 2020 Joan Hessayon award, The Rebel Heiress And The Knight by Melissa Oliver (published by Mills and Boon). The award was open to any writer whose debut novel had been through the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme was published this year and I am immensely proud and honoured that Another Us was also a contender. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the Rebel Heiress And The Knight. It is set in the reign of King John – a period of history I really love – and is just a rollocking good read with twists and turns aplenty. It is also a proper romance – the chemistry and tension between the main two characters is fabulous and I loved the fact that Hugh is kind and honourable from the start. A marvellous debut and a worthy winner of the Joan Hessayon award.

Another book I have enjoyed this month is If I Can’t Have You by Charlotte Levin (published by Mantle). This is a real page turner and exquisitely written and explores themes of obsession, heartbreak and unrequited love. I was expecting our protagonist, Constance, to be simply bonkers – and can’t love make us all thus?! – but she is also variously vulnerable, lovely and hilarious. This book really stayed with me and I highly recommend it.

And, finally, I am rather late to the party with Hamnet, written by Maggie O’Farrell (published by Tinder Press)  – but, just, WOW! Staggering beautiful and heartbreakingly poignant, this exploration of love and loss deserves every accolade and award …

Jane

I do love a dual timeline novel, and since writing one myself am even more in awe of writers who make them work. Clare Marchant’s stunning debut, The Secrets of Saffron Hall, is one such book. The level of research the author has undertaken shines almost as much as her gorgeous prose, and put together they make the book a thoroughly satisfying read.

I normally enjoy the historical strand of a story more, so wasn’t remotely surprised when I became more and more lost in Eleanor’s world at the cusp of the dissolution of the monasteries. That I read it on holiday while visiting ruined abbeys was undoubtedly a factor, but Tudor life in rural Norfolk was so richly drawn I just loved falling into it. I felt the chill winds sweeping across the fens, saw the saffron swaying gently in the dawn.

It took me longer to relate to twentieth century Amber although in the end I was rooting for her happy ending. The fact hers isn’t a traditional boy-meets-girl love story was brave for a debut and I loved it. Credit must also go to Aria for not dumbing this book down, as sadly seems to be so fashionable in romance publishing at the moment.

Kitty

Cornwall: Misfits, Curiosities and Legends
A Collection of Short Stories and other scribbles

This anthology combines all sorts of storytelling in the one book, with the spirit of Cornwall infusing each piece. It moves from moor to coast, from past to future and covers a multitude of genres including historical, fantasy, romance, magic realism and sci fi. Additionally, there is poetry and a script alongside the short stories and with such a wide variety of styles, I defy any reader not to be able to find a piece that resonates with them. Cornish history and mythology are bought to life, illustrated and built upon and I greatly enjoyed reading this anthology from a group of writers whose love of Cornwall shines through their work.

 

SISTER SCRIBES’ READING ROUND UP: JULY

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Jane

Rosanna Ley is one of my favourite novelists, which is the main reason I signed up for one of her writing retreats. That, of course, transported me to Spain, but her novels have taken me all over the world. From Venice with Love is no exception, as I followed Joanna not only to Venice, but to Lisbon and Prague, each city so beautifully described I felt I was really there. But it was Joanna’s sister Harriet’s story that held me, and she doesn’t even leave the Dorset village where they both grew up. She is an exquisitely drawn character, warts and all, and I felt as I was at her shoulder as she made a very different type of journey to her sister. Highly recommended.

 

Kitty

I listened to Candice Carty-Williams’ Queenie as an audiobook and it had me hooting with laughter whilst frantically winding the windows up in the car as some of her more detailed sexual exploits were narrated. The premise initially appears to be typical romcom with Queenie coming to terms with her break-up and with potential suitors popping up all over the place. However, as the book progresses we realise it encompasses far more and that Queenie is in no need of a hero. It takes a real deep dive into mental health and societal pressure and does so in a way that never loses humour or the readers attention. The family relationships had me squeaking with joy. The writing is hilarious, poignant and searingly insightful. Fabulous.

Lindsey Kelk really does deliver on all those descriptions applied to romantic comedy. Hilarious, laugh out loud, devastatingly witty – she hits them all. I have not yet read a book of hers I haven’t loved and In Case You Missed It is another example of her delivering the perfect romcom. It has a truly relatable heroine in Ros, a hero you quite want to bring home yourself, the coterie of well-defined and always amusing friends, the hideous boyfriend from her past, and beautifully described well-meaning but slightly cringy parents.

There is not a page that does not make me giggle and she manages to write comic scene after comic scene whilst developing a fabulous plot and proper romance along the way. Absolutely faultless.

I really enjoyed Clare Marchant’s dual timeline novel, Secrets of Saffron Hall. The book interweaves the story of a grieving mother in the modern day and a young wife in the time of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine Howard. Both were written sympathetically and I thoroughly rooted for both characters. However, it was the historical timeline I found absolutely captivating. I loved being immersed in Eleanor’s story – the fear and uncertainty of living under a capricious king in times of religious upheaval, and the sense of doom contributed to by the reader knowing what will befall the queen, although unsure of how that will impact this particular family. The farming of the saffron itself was also of great interest and whilst aware of the value of saffron, I felt like I was learning something as I read. The authors historical research was clearly well done and she held my attention throughout. I am looking forward to reading more of her books.