Falling Creatures by Katherine Stansfield

When Shilly is taken to the hiring fair at All Drunkard and signed away by her father, she never expects to find love, but once she meets Charlotte Dymond she knows they have a special bond. Hired together by the gruff Mrs. Peter, they travel to Penhale Farm, where Shilly follows besotted in Charlotte’s footsteps as Charlotte teaches her about magic and superstition. Charlotte seems to attract attention wherever she goes and has a number of admirers in the locality, so Shilly can’t be sure who is the lucky recipient of Charlotte’s affection, but when Charlotte is found dead in suspicious circumstances, the locals have only one suspect in mind: Matthew Weeks, another hired hand on the farm. Shilly, however is not convinced and along with a newspaperman from London, a Mr. Williams, she is determined to find answers. It seems that at every turn they are met by lies and deception in this windswept lonely corner of Cornwall, and everyone has secrets including Mr. Williams and Shilly herself.

This is a masterful, mesmerising and haunting mystery full of gothic atmosphere and hints of the strange and supernatural. Based on a real murder mystery from the mid-19^th century, Falling Creatures is a clever, heartfelt and very well-written story with a powerful narrative voice ideal for anyone who enjoyed Sophia Tobin’s The Vanishing, Andrew Hughes The Coroner’s Daughter and Anna Mazzola’s The Unseeing.

This review originally published in HNR Issue 81 (August 2017) see it online HERE

Florence Grace by Tracy Rees

Florence Grace’ is the second Novel by Tracy Rees following the very successful Amy Snow. Set in Cornwall and London in the 1850s, this is a beautifully written book perfect for fans of Daphne du Maurier and Kate Morton. The story centres around Grace, orphaned at a young age she discovers her connection to a wealthy but notorious London family. She leaves her poor life in Cornwall behind, saying goodbye to her beloved moors she travels to a family she has never known and does her best to adjust her speech and her manners. However it is only with her cousins Turlington and Sanderson that she finds joy and companionship. Florence Grace is a wonderful page turning novel, gripping, emotional and unputdownable. I was utterly enthralled. Tracy Rees is a fantastic storyteller. The character of Florence was vivid and sparkling and the settings were beautifully crafted. A definite 5 star read.  Thanks to LoveReading and Quercus publishers for a copy of this book.

Crow Moon by Anna McKerrow

This book is one of the teen debuts of the year so far a thrill ride of a novel combining contemporary, dystopia and magic. The characters are brilliantly drawn the story is excellent and the writing fast paced and gritty. Set in the near future, the south west has cut itself off from the rest of England and renamed itself The Greenworld this is a self sufficient community run by powerful female witches. Danny is a typical sixteen year old boy in that his biggest worries are avoiding work and trying to get girls to sleep with him, his Mum is head witch in his village and he is feeling bored and longs for adventure, when the chance to travel through dangerous moorland roamed by outlaws comes, Danny jumps at it and heads off to the next village. Here he meets a gorgeous young witch called Saba, draws the attention of an outlaw set on destroying the witches way of life and discovers powers of his own. This book is among the brilliant new wave of fantastic UKYA being published at the moment and will slake the thirst of fans of Kit Berry, Patrick Ness and Sally Green.
Thanks to Niamh Mulvey at Quercus and the author for sending me a copy.