Imogen Clark books

Post Cards from a Stranger is the latest book I've read by Imogen Clark.  

The story shifts from perspectives in 1969, 1976, 1987 and then 2017 within three generations.

In 1969 the Kemp sisters Annie and Ursula are trying to stay out of their father's way when he returns home from work.  Anything can set him off and he becomes violent.  When he isn't angry he is condescending and demeaning.  They dream of the day they are old enough to leave and make a life for themselves far away. Why their mother endures being slapped and mocked is beyond their understanding.

When Annie is old enough to work she mets attractive and fast-talking Joe Ferensby.  She is charmed and accepts his marriage proposal, escaping her hellish homelife and thinks she hit the jackpot.

Joe doesn't hit Annie but his true nature comes out after marriage.  He's passive aggressive and talks down to her.  He isolates her from friends and keeps a tight wallet so she must ask for everything.  Once their two children Cara and Michael are born she knows she'll never leave. Lots more regarding the Feresby household but it's inserted in backstory throughout.

In 1987 we get a glimpse of single father Joe dealing with 2 year old Cara and 7 year old Michael. The children are uprooted from their London home and move to the Moors in Yorkshire.  Cara cries for her mother for weeks and Michael comforts her.  She misses her dead mother but in fact, young Michael is keeping huge secrets from his sister in an effort to protect her.

In 2017  Cara and her brother Michael as adults. Cara is caring for their father who has Alzheimers and her life is difficult.  Cara is still living on the moors while Michael is a barrister in London.  He is married with twin daughters and wants nothing to do with his father. There was a huge falling out when Michael was old enough to discover his father's secrets.

Now, Joe has Alzheimers. When things get bad Cara calls Michael for some input and he he says he knows it's difficult and would help more but..."you know how it is." He has no idea how difficult it is to be there and deal with an Alzheimers patient 24/7 and the rift between him and his father means he certainly won't head north and physically help. You'll discover the secrets much later in the book.

Cara is a wedding dress designer and has a studio where she crafts magnificent original designs. One day she is looking in the attic, a place forbidden by their father when Cara and Michael were children, and she finds a box of postcards.  Right there - her life is upended.

This wasn't my favorite book by Imogen Clark but I wasn't tempted to put it down. It certainly covers quite a bit of territory.  I was weirdly both sympathetic and impatient with Cara as she works her way the secrets her father kept. Imagine finding something you need to confront your parent with but their mind is gone so your opportunity is forever lost. 

Previous books I’ve enjoyed by the author are as follows:

Where the Story Starts

Reluctantly Home 

 On my former book blog Novel Meals I wrote about The Last Piece . I love the cover!

 I am awaiting the author's latest book Impossible to Forget.

Sharing with 

Marg at The Intrepid Reader for the  2022 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 

 Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.

Perfect Remains and Perfect Prey by Helen Fields {Books 1 and 2 of the DI Luc Callanach series}

Perfect Remains is the first book in the D.I. Callanach series. You are introduced to DI Luc Callanach, a French-Scottish detective newly arrived at the police department in Scotland.  His counterpart is DI Ava Turner who has been with the agency for a long time.  I love both characters and it will be interesting for me to see relationships develop from the beginning of the series.

On a remote Highland mountain is the body of a woman burning.  The killer is crafty, intelligent and mentally deranged.  If you are faint of heart be warned this is not a cozy mystery.  Edinburg experiences the abductions of more women and the race is on to find them alive.

How I discovered this author: I started with book seven titled One for Sorrow and I liked the action and character interactions. Had I noticed it was #7 in a series I might not have requested the book from Netgalley...but I'm glad I did.

Perfect Prey is book two in the series. Callanach and Turner continue to investigate murders and the support team of officers get more page time.  I like how the characters are described and I found myself hoping to learn more about officers Tripp, Lively and Salter. The author makes the characters come alive, makes them quite real for the reader.

This series of murders targets people who work in a health care setting or a position to assist those less fortunate.  There is a librarian, a pallative care nurse, a primary school teacher and a worker from the homeless shelter. The murders are well planned and quite gruesome; as I said about the first book, not for the faint of heart.  Think more of the Hannibal serial killer scenarios. It's as DI Alan Banks series meets Galbraith's ruthless killers.  

It's not all police work though - the personal lives of the detectives come into play as well.   Well written and if you like police procedurals you'll like this series.  The setting is Edinburgh Scotland.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

 

I'm not sure I get the reference to the title but I did like the book.  The driving part of the plot starts when Joy Delaney  disappears and her adult children report her missing to the police.

Joy is 69 years old and never out of touch with her family.  She and her husband Stan have a wonderful marriage and are always outwardly affectionate and happy.  So why doesn't Stan report his wife missing after an argument they had? 

Their adult children Troy, Amy, Logan and Brooke meet up have very differing opinions about what they should do about their missing mother.  The character development is well done.  The differences in the children are like night and day and I enjoyed getting to know each of them.

If your mother was missing and her phone was found at home, your father had scratches on his face and it was known they had an fight - what would you do? What would you think?  There is another factor added into the story which complicates things - a young woman named Savannah shows up at the Delaney home late one night.  She has an injury to her face and says her boyfriend hurt her. She stopped and knocked on their door at random, seeking help. As she becomes part of the Delaney's life prior to Joy disappearing, you will wonder if Savannah is more than she seems.

This story has many layers and each unfolds, you glean a better understanding of every characters' fears and hopes.

I still don't understand the apples and the abandoned bicycle or the random man who picked up the bike.  Doesn't matter in the long run but it was puzzling to start the book this way.

Where the Story Starts by Imogen Clark

 

So far all the novels I've read by Imogen Clark have been wonderful.  While I generally go for mysteries or police procedurals, this women's fiction genre is exactly what I needed now.  The story is told in present time with a few switches to the past allowing the reader to see three different points of view.

Our narrators are Grace, Leah and Clio.  All are well developed characters.  Love, friendship and betrayal are the major themes.

Leah is a woman in her thirties with two children.  She is a single mum and doing the best she can juggling work, finances and being a good parent for her children.  In the first chapter Leah is struggling to get her kids ready to leave the house when there is a knock on the door.  Clio is standing there and introduces herself to Leah.  She said she'd been to the house before on a holiday with her father and wondered if she could come in.

Eventually Leah and Clio become good friends despite their very different upbringing. While Leah is clipping coupons and living on a tight budget, Clio is rich. I mean  extremely rich living on an estate which could well be a National Trust home.  These women have more in common than they initially thought.

The author had inspiration from a true story. The setting is England near Newcastle.  I liked this book and read it in two days.  

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.

The Dynamite Room by Jason Hewitt

 The book description in the jacket caught my attention right off. Lately I have been reading novels set in England during the WW II era. This fictional narrative fell right into those categories. This is also the first book I’ve read by Jason Hewitt and I can safely say, it won’t be my last. 

The story line takes place over a six day period with our two main characters slipping into frequent recollections to times past. You have the multiple narratives from 11-year old Lydia and a German soldier who hides out in her family’s home. Lydia is a young English girl who has just arrived in her hometown after running away from Wales. She was sent to Wales as an evacuee and hated it. In the very beginning of the story Lydia is walking the deserted streets of her village, wondering where everyone got off to. Finally she reaches her home, a large residence called Greyfriars, only to find it vacant and musty. Where is her mother? Where are her neighbors and merchants from the village? All of the livestock appears to have disappeared with the people.

Lydia holes up in her home trying to figure out what to do next when she hears someone moving about downstairs. It’s an injured German soldier, just as astonished to see a young girl in front of him as Lydia is to see him. He raises his gun toward her but doesn’t shoot, warning her to obey his rules or he will kill her. From then on you have altering perspectives and learn about Lydia’s life before the war. Same thing with the soldier called Heiden.

In the six days they spend together you learn about Heiden’s love for a woman named Eva. You get the flashbacks of his service in the German military, his education in England prior to the war and the perilous mission in Norway where life altering decisions are made. He shares very little with Lydia but through his memories you get to know him well.

As for Lydia you will come to know a brave little girl who paid attention to what her mother taught her about survival. She is diligent in her efforts to hide things from Heiden as she won’t outwardly help an enemy of England. As they spend more time together, cooped up in a house shuttered with blackout curtains and boards, they form a tentative alliance. They need each other…for the time being.

This story captured my attention straight away, hard to put down. I am looking forward to Hewitt’s next novel Devastation Road.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday. and Marg at The Intrepid Reader for the 2022 Historical Fiction Challenge.