My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney - Review

I saw Alice Feeney talk about this book at Stockport Noir back in January and I really liked the sound of it so I requested it at the library. It finally came in - it was in high demand - and I read it at the beginning of May. 

The very beginning of the book is good. Eden Fox and her husband Harrison have recently moved to the seaside - I imagined it to be like Dorset or Devon but I'm not sure if it's specified - and are living in a gorgeous weird old house called Spyglass. Eden is about to have an exhibition of her art in the town they have moved to, and she goes for a run to run off some nerves. When she gets back to the house, her key won't go in the lock. She knocks, and Harrison answers with a woman who looks eerily like Eden next to him. He says that's his wife and he doesn't know Eden at all. She is obviously extremely confused and the police are called, but she can't prove that SHE is Eden Fox and this woman is an interloper. 

Then there's Birdy's point of view. She has been told she is dying and she is pretty alone in the world after the death of her only relative, her mother. But then a long lost grandmother dies and she inherits Spyglass. She doesn't think she's ever been, but when she gets there she realises that she has, that she spent time there when she was a child. She is sorting through her grandmother's mail when she finds a card outlined in black. It's from a company that says it can predict exactly the day when you will die. As Birdy is dying she gets in touch with them. 

It turns out that Harrison, Eden's husband, is the owner of the company that can predict your death, and also that  Birdy is a police officer who then starts investigating what's going on with Spyglass. 

The book just lot its way for me. There's loads of plot holes and ridiculous things happening and so many coincidences that it really stretched the bounds of possibility for me. I'm not the only one - the internet is full of people complaining about this book. I wouldn't reach for anything else by Alice Feeney because this just didn't impress me that much. I'm giving it three out of five. 

 

The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives by Elizabeth Arnott - Review

I got this book on Netgalley, so thank you very much to Penguin for granting me access to this. I received an electronic copy of the book for review purposes, but was not otherwise compensated for this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

I really liked this book and would definitely read something else by the author. I was intrigued by the premise - about actual wives of murderers in the 1960s - and the book did not disappoint. 

Beverley is the main character of the book. She had no idea that her husband was a killer, of course, until he was arrested in the family home. She is struggling to get her life back on track. People in the neighbourhood hate her and she's trying to protect her kids from the brunt of it. She lives in fear and has to barricade herself into the house at night. She has met two other women with serial killers for husbands. Elsie is quiet and reserved and her husband was similar, but also turned out to be a killer. Margot was married to a governor or senator or something, someone in politics, who was also a killer. She masks her pain by drinking too much. 

Beverley is speaking at a police conference when a call comes in about a murder and the chief takes off. Beverley is having an affair with one of the men who arrested her husband and she gets to know a bit more about the girl who was found dead. She fears that another serial killer is on the loose, but the police don't agree with her. She enlists the help of Elsie and Margot to help her uncover the truth. 

It's like a fun romp of a book - the women are irrepressible despite what life has thrown at them and it's easy to like them and want them to succeed. I also definitely wanted a drink with them! There's an air of gothic about the book - there's a heatwave and everything is oppressive in the California sunshine. There's the Manson killings kind of as an undercurrent, which I definitely liked. 

I'm giving this four out of five, I thought it was a great book and I'll look out for more! 

Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth - Review

I actually saw this book in a motorway service station when I was travelling to Birmingham in February, and I was really tempted to buy it, but resisted temptation of buying this and something else. But then I looked later and it was only 99p on Kindle so I bought it. I read it while I was in Rome! And flying there and back. I loved Rome and highly recommend it, and this was a good book to read while I was travelling. 

The book is about sisters Sarah and Juliette and has a dual narrative - one in the 90s, and one in the now, when Sarah is 42 and Juliette is just turning forty. I am forty-two and am enjoying reading about women my age - especially when there was a dual narrative which was so reminiscent of my own life in the 90s. 

Sarah is single, and lives in London. She's from Manchester originally where Juliette still lives with her mediocre husband and two children. Their mother was pretty neglectful and I don't remember much said about their dad at all, but I did read this over a month ago so maybe I've just forgotten by now. (I am kind of sorry that my reviews are so far behind, but I'll get caught up.... eventually). Sarah's life is pretty empty but she knows she doesn't want Juliette's life either. 

Anyway, she rents a campervan for the two of them to go on a trip to the Scottish Highlands for Juliette's birthday. It's a bit run down and causes them no end of problem but that's half the fun of it. There's no mobile signal at the campsites so Juliette can't speak to her children. Neither of the women like going over to the showers and loos, either, which I found very relatable and hilarious. They've had a bit of a tempestuous relationship over the years and things do flare up but it's obvious there's a lot of love between the two of them even if they don't always understand each other.

In the dual narrative, it's the late 90s and Sarah is fifteen. She is obsessed with boy bands, sex, underage drinking, and her teacher, Mr Keaveney. She is convinced that they are in love and that once she leaves school and turns sixteen, they will go to Gretna Green and get married and everyone will accept this. I knew girls who were obsessed with teachers in the 90s and I think Emma Jane got this so perfect, just bang on for what it was like back then when you FEEL so deeply. When bands do mean EVERYTHING and when a crush feels like it will kill you. 

It's obvious that something happened in the 90s that has repercussions on today, and I thought I guessed it, but I was a bit wrong. I do think the ending didn't quite live up to the rest of the book. I wish it had been a bit different. 

But I did really like the book; I liked Sarah a lot and really felt a lot of her life. I will definitely read something else by Emma Jane Unsworth and I am giving this four out of five. 

Not A Happy Family by Shari Lapena - Review

I can't remember where I heard about this book but I was intrigued by it so bought it on Kindle. I read it at the end of April and it's the first of June as I'm writing this, so forgive me if I've forgotten some of the ins and outs of the plot. However, I know I didn't particularly like the book and wouldn't reach quickly for something else by the same author. 

The family in question is the Merton family. They are parents Fred and Sheila and their children, Catherine, Dan, and Jenna, and Catherine's husband Ted and Dan's wife Lisa. They are all getting together for Easter dinner, but tensions are already running high. The family is rich as anything after Fred sold his company. However, Dan assumed that he would inherit the company so he's angry with his dad that he didn't. He and Lisa have very little money and he is stressed about it. Fred is selfish and cruel. Sheila is neglectful and critical of all her children. They were brought up by a nanny, Irene, who lived in the house and who still lives close. 

Catherine has a high flying career as does Ted, but they've been having problems having a baby so their lives aren't perfect either. Jenna is the wild, third child, a bit flighty, blah blah. Her boyfriend attends the dinner too but I don't remember his name. Everyone falls out with Fred and Sheila and leaves, although Jenna and her boyfriend stay a little bit longer than the others. 

The next day the housekeeper or someone arrives at the house and finds Fred and Sheila brutally murdered. At first the policce think it's a robbery gone wrong, but then they realise it's been set up to look that way. Suspicion falls on the three children, of course, but there are just so many people and so many red herrings that it's hard to keep up. Fred's sister (Angela?) says that Fred had promised to leave half his money to her, but there's no proof of this - although it would have given her a good motive, of course. It's easy to think it's Dan, as he's been screwed over most by his father, but honestly, all the kids are acting weird. 

The book is like 100 pages too long in my opinion, and a crucial piece of information comes way too late in the book for me to care. I found it hard to read and can only give it two and a half out of three. 

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter - Review

I first read The Bloody Chamber years and years ago when I was a teenager. I didn't do English Lit at 6th form but tons of my friends did, and a lot of them did this book and we were all obsessed with it. I'm pretty sure I read a library copy way back when, and I'm not entirely sure where this copy came from, but I've had it forever and not picked it up. When we moved last summer I was reminded of its existence, but then didn't pick it up until just before Christmas. 

However, I read the first few stories and then put the book down and didn't pick it up again until April, by which time I was determined to finish it. However, I didn't really like it as much as I remember liking it. Maybe it was just because I was seventeen and it was all new to me, so maybe stories just don't hit the same now I'm in my forties. 

I did still really like the story The Bloody Chamber, which is a retelling of the fairy tale Bluebeard. It's exactly as creepy and gothic as I remember, which I liked. I also really liked the story of Puss in Boots, about a cat who spends his days with a rakish young man. Some of the others were so graphic - something that the collection is controversial for - that they left me cold. 

In all I am glad I reread this, but it wasn't quite my jam anymore. Still, I would recommend it to young adults who haven't read anything similar before. I'm giving it three out of five. 

Frozen by Ann Cleeves - Review

This is a really short story that I must have got on Kindle at some point and when I was scrolling my way through what I wanted to read I came upon it. So I'm reviewing it even though it is really short! I loved being back with Vera and will have to pick up another of her books soon. 

Vera is having a day off and heads to a bookshop in Corbridge. She's interested in a book about Hadrian and the wall, but she ends up walking into a crime instead. The bookshop is in an old church, and the owner and her teenaged son are working on opening up the old baptismal underneath the floor of their shop. To their surprise, there is a dead body in there. 

A skeleton, to be more precise. And what's more, Vera recognises who it is from the bracelet on the skeleton's wrist. It is a girl who went missing years and years ago, a case that Vera has never forgotten. And of course, she's involved now and she wants to solve it. 

I'm giving this four out of five, I liked it a lot for such a short story. 

Athelstan by Tom Holland - Review

This was the May choice for my book club and I read it way back in mid April, so I was in plenty of time before book club. As I write this, we haven't yet met, so I don't know what everyone else thought, but I really enjoyed the book. It's non fiction, it's about the King called Athelstan who I had never heard of, although I'd heard of some of his relatives for sure. But that period of England is not something I know a lot about at all, so it was good to learn more. 

Athelstan is arguably the first King of England because he managed to unify the country more than anyone had done previously. There is apparently little documentary evidence about Athelstan himself, but what there is Tom Holland manages to pull together in a very readable and dramatic fashion. This is a short book so I raced through it, but it is also compelling. Also, presumably he's not THAT Tom Holland, haha. 

I also found it really interesting how Athelstan became king of all of England. When a different king died, others would rush in and fill the gap - what an absolutely mad way to do anything. So Athelstan managed to get a couple of places before anyone else, including some Irish kings, did. Wild. 

I really enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone who would like to learn more about this period of history. I'm giving this four out of five.