Guest review by Julie Williams

of

The Silk Merchant’s Daughter

 By

 Dinah Jefferies

Julie's Review

As I have previously read & loved Dinah’s first two books The Separation & The Tea Planter’s Wife I just had to read this one!

Set in Hanoi Vietnam in 1952, Nicole half French half Vietnamese, begins to doubt her own allegiances. Who can she trust after all the things she has seen? With her country’s growing unrest Nicole has some serious decisions to make. 

There are many twists in this story and I found myself as Nicole did wondering who to trust. All this made for a captivating read that had me on the edge of my seat desperately hoping for Nicole’s safety & true happiness.

This book is beautifully written and Dinah has the incredible talent of bringing this book to life. The Silk Merchant’s Daughter is a fascinating read that was a pleasure to read. 

Special thanks to Stephanie at Penguin for sending me an advanced proof copy and of course to Julie for allowing me to share my review on her blog.

The Day We Disappeared by Lucy Robinson

Annie has a secret. But if she's not going to tell, we won't either. It's a heart-breaking secret she wishes she didn't have - yet Annie isn't broken, not quite yet. Especially now there's someone out there who seems determined to fix her.

Kate has run away. But she's not going to tell us why - that would defeat the point of running, wouldn't it? It's proving difficult to reinvent herself, however, with one person always on her mind.

Scratch beneath the surface and nobody is really who they seem. Even Annie and Kate, two old friends, aren't entirely sure who they are any more. Perhaps you can work it out, before their pasts catch up with them for good . . .

Review
I had heard so many great reviews of this book that I just had to buy a copy and find out what all the fuss was about! I wasn’t disappointed. The Prologue alone got my heart racing and “the twist” that everyone kept talking about was exceptional and I admit, I had to go back and re-read a few pages as I thought I had missed something!!

I am not going to delve into the storyline too much because I just don’t want to give any spoilers, but it tells the story of Annie who loses her Mum at such a young age and how she has to cope with that growing up and how her world changes when she meets Stephen Flint, who seems too good to be true………

Then there’s Kate who is running away to start a new life in a riding stables even though she doesn’t know the first thing about horses! As you read you just want to know why and what she is running away from and why she is so nervous and agitated all of the time.

The way the story comes together is just brilliant. I won’t say any more than that, other than you will only find out if you read it as I am giving nothing away!!

This is my first Lucy Robinson book but if this one was anything to go by, it certainly won’t be my last!!

*****

"Daughter" by Jane Shemilt *****

About the Author

While working as a GP, Jane Shemilt completed a postgraduate diploma in Creative Writing at Bristol University and went on to study for the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa, gaining both with distinction. She was shortlisted for the Janklow and Nesbit award and the Lucy Cavendish fiction prize for Daughter, which is her first novel.

She and her husband, a Professor of Neurosurgery, have five children and live in Bristol.

Sypnosis

When a teenage girl goes missing her mother discovers she doesn't know her daughter as well as she thought in Jane Shemilt's haunting debut novel, Daughter.

This is Jane Shemilt’s debut novel and I must admit I do love a thriller and get quite apprehensive reading them sometimes!. My Son read this before Christmas 2014 and kept on at me to read it as we like to talk to each other about the books we have read! So I did as I was told and started reading it.

What I loved about it is that the Mum (Jenny) is a GP and the Dad (Ted) is a Neurosurgeon. Having worked in a hospital for a while and now in a GP surgery for many years I understood the terminology so therefore found it even more interesting! I also loved that it was mainly set in my beloved Dorset, especially Burton Bradstock, where I love to visit every year!

The characters are all very believable and the author describes them very well. Without giving the game away some are more likeable than others!!

Briefly the story is about a family whose daughter disappears and the effects the disappearance and aftermath have on each of them. The chapters flip back to the day she disappeared and a year later. It is very cleverly done and as the chapters are quite short, I kept reading “one more chapter”!

Naomi (daughter) is a very believable and “normal” teenage girl who has secrets from her Mum and it’s not until she disappears and her Mum (Jenny) finds her diary that she starts realising the extent of the secrets.

Jenny finally realises that she doesn’t really know any of her children as well as she thought she did, or her husband come to that!!

The ending is fabulous and keeps you guessing literally until the very last page! Also the ending (without giving too much away) left me with a few questions and it wasn’t until I digested the ending that I thought it was brilliantly clever and fantastically written.

Utterly compelling novel and really can’t wait for her next one, totally worth the 5 stars!