The Sacred River - Wendy Wallace - Guest Book Review

Published by Simon & Schuster

Guest book review by Josie Barton

Harriet Heron is the cosseted daughter of an upper class Victorian family. Her severe asthma, in smog ridden London, necessitates her staying indoors, where her fascination for Egypt and the Egyptian Book of the Dead carries her through the worst of her illness. Tentatively, on the advice of her doctor, Harriet embarks on a journey to Egypt with her mother, Louisa and her eccentric Aunt Yael. On the boat to Alexandria they are befriended by an enigmatic artist, Eyre Soane, whose interest in Harriet and her family can only be regarded as suspicious and whose association with them continues throughout the novel.

Their arrival in Alexandria is filled with the sights, sounds and scents of a city so foreign that Harriet’s senses seem to come alive and she is enchanted by what she sees around her. Her health improves, and she is able to immerse herself in the history and culture of a country which has long fascinated her. However, for Louisa and Yael, Egypt is not just a land of contrasts, but is also a place where they must try to find some sort of inner peace. 

From the start of the novel, the author cleverly intertwines the story of three very different women and shows just what it was like to live within the closeted world of Victorian sensibility. They each have their own secrets, aspirations and hidden yearnings, and as the languid torpor of Egypt starts to influence them, their hopes, dreams and fears of the past are laid open to scrutiny in a fascinating journey of self discovery. Egypt is so beautifully described that it becomes vibrantly alive, from the contrast of valleys tinged with the gold of its ancient tombs, through to the poverty and turmoil of a land at odds with itself.  The whole character and nature of the novel revolves around the effect that this beautiful country has on Harriet, Louisa and Yael.

Overall, I thought that there was much to enjoy within the novel. The slow and languorous nature of the narrative is entirely in keeping with the unhurried atmosphere of nineteenth century Egypt, and I am sure that this book will appeal to fans of well written historical fiction.

Many thanks to Josie for reading and reviewing this novel for The Little Reader Library. Please do also visit Josie's fab book blog JaffaReadsToo!

The Painted Bridge - Wendy Wallace

It is 1859 when Anna Palmer is cruelly incarcerated against her will by her husband Vincent in a Victorian asylum near London named Lake House. This private asylum houses genteel women supposedly needing a rest and a cure, those who have delicate sensibilities. Having realised what has happened to her, and what Lake House actually is, Anna immediately sets about trying to prove there is nothing wrong with her and that she doesn’t belong there and should be allowed to leave immediately. She appeals unsuccessfully to her uncaring husband to let her return home.

Lucas St Clair is a physician working at the asylum, employing the very new medium of photography in his work with the patients, believing that it may perhaps be used to shed light on the health of their minds.

Anna is subject to cruel treatments in the asylum that were common in those days, supposedly in the name of a cure. Initially she wants little to do with the other residents, but slowly she lets her guard down and finds more in common with some of them than she first expected. Alongside some companionship with the owner’s daughter, and her meetings with Lucas St Clair, they are of course the only people who can help reduce her feelings of isolation and from whom she can gain strength and solidarity.

I was gripped by the storyline right from the start. I felt sad at the helpless situation Anna found herself in, and angry at the ease with which she was locked away there by her husband. The author highlights the cruelties and injustices of the system and of society prevalent in those times, leaving women with little or no say in their own destiny, and locked away for feeling low or anxious, or just not behaving as expected. The writer caused me to care about Anna and share her feeling of being trapped, and I was willing her to find an escape somehow.

I loved the author’s use of language, and the names she created for some of the characters at Lake House struck me as perfect.

There is beautiful and convincing period detail throughout this intelligent, perceptive historical novel, and the author has evidently researched her topics well, but is never heavy handed with the details. I found it particularly interesting to read about this early use of photography, the processes involved, and this theory that it may enlighten a doctor as to the mental health of patients. Will Anna be able to prove her sanity? What is the truth about her past, and her husband? The lines between truth, reality and fact become blurred until we are unsure quite what to believe at times.

The hardback edition of this novel has beautiful endpapers which complement it very well.

This is a fascinating, emotional and compelling debut novel with engaging characters and a strong storyline throughout. This is a book that I would definitely read a second time. I am really looking forward to reading the next novel by this author. 

Published by Simon & Schuster

You can follow the author on twitter @slangular and visit her website here.

Thank you very much to the publisher for the opportunity to meet this author at their book bloggers event recently. Thank you very much to Wendy for being so friendly and happy to discuss her book and her work. 

Book Bloggers Event at Simon and Schuster UK

I recently attended an event for book bloggers at Simon & Schuster publishers in London. This was a wonderful opportunity to meet four authors, hear them discuss their work and aspects of writing, and to meet members of the Simon & Schuster team and find out about forthcoming new releases from them.

I'd like to say a huge thank you to the S&S team and the authors for this event and for getting book bloggers involved in this way again.

I personally love listening to authors talking about their work, their writing process, the research involved, and the route to getting published, so this event was wonderful. It is also great to get the opportunity to visit a publishing house and meet some of the staff behind the scenes of all these wonderful books. Further, it was a super opportunity to put faces to names of some of the other book bloggers out there, and to discover some new blogs.

I'd also like to highlight the books by the authors who were present there, and also highlight a few upcoming releases that caught my eye.

Click on any of the titles to find a description and more about the book.

The four authors we met at the event, and their recent/forthcoming releases:

The Painted Bridge - Wendy Wallace

Dead Man's Land  - Robert Ryan

The First Last Kiss - Ali Harris 

Apocalypse - Dean Crawford 

Some of the books coming in 2013 that caught my eye:

Black Roses - Jane Thynne 

Fever - Mary Beth Keane 

Child of Vengeance - David Kirk 

With All My Love - Patricia Scanlan 

Have you heard of any of these? Is there anything here that you think you'd like to read?