To be published 26/10/2021…
Vic left home fifteen years ago under a dark cloud and she hasn’t been back since. Her new life in the city is built carefully around privacy and solitude and painstakingly constructed boundaries. When her mother dies, finally, Vic is finally drawn home to deal once and for all with her ghosts – and there might be even more ghosts than she remembers. In order to solve her mother’s murder she will have to join together with her equally traumatised siblings, hoping that they can forgive her for abandoning them. Only when every sordid truth has been unearthed will they finally have peace.
The magic in this is a thread throughout, tying together the family and the mystery and the town. I enjoyed the unique approach to introducing magic into a setting; the town seemed aware of the magic, but didn’t fully understand it, and they appeared in equal measures to be accepting of its presence whilst also rejecting those who practiced as ‘different’. Outside of the family it doesn’t seem to be talked about, but when it is mentioned people don’t seem overly surprised or suspicious. This allowed the magic to be integrated seamlessly into the narrative without being a big focus that detracted from the mystery. Liam’s magic was particularly fascinating, especially with the difficulties that it presented to him in his everyday life.
Overall this book was an easy read. I was intrigued by the mystery without being overtaken by it, meaning that I could take my time in reading the book and enjoy the smaller scenes which added their own magic even if they didn’t aid the overall plot. Whilst everything did end up being solved in a bit of a rush at the end, I found I didn’t mind as much because I was reading for the characters and their emotional journey more than anything else.
Escape to the Bookshelf 