… brilliant thriller of claustrophobic relationships and dark magic …
This is a brilliantly constructed thriller of claustrophobic teenage relationships interwoven with dark magic. It is written from the point of view of River who comes to live in a Cornish town and slowly, inextricably, gets drawn into the allure of the beautiful, self-assured Grace family.
I particularly liked the extremely well drawn character development of River. She is not an entirely sympathetic figure – there are hints about her past – but River grows into a courageous teenager with a dogged self belief: “we can fix this, right?”
Laure has an intense, fluid narrative style which gets the reader very close to River’s hopes and anxieties whilst keeping the plot racing along through a thicket of lies and deceit to an intense climax – definitely one of my favourite reads of 2016.
I only have one quibble: there was an elemental strand which didn’t mesh very tightly with the rest of the story and was an unnecessary distraction. I also feel the book has a weak cover design – the US cover is slightly better. (But cover designs in general may be a topic for a completely different post … !)
The Graces will be published in September 2016. The writer has a background in YA publishing; her first novel, Fearsome Dreamer, was longlisted for the Branford Boase Children’s Prize and Waterstone’s Children’s Prize. On the strength of The Graces, I’m now off to buy it.
NB: I would say this is firmly older YA with descriptions of rebellious British teenagers, ie a bit of swearing and quite a lot of underage drunkenness.
enemy territory. The narrative races away from the start with a splendid jeopardy piece showing the protagonist, Vee, as a very determined and compassionate girl – and the pace rarely slackens. Sudden “accidents” and personal tensions amongst the desperate crew grow to a satisfying conclusion – and the hint of a sequel.
… steampunk adventuring with added cats …
to be the 4th May, it seemed appropriate to post this short review .
to her through dreams.
The Royal College of Physicians holds the largest single collection of John Dee’s books in the world. This enigmatic Elizabethan was a mathematician, an astrologer and advisor to Queen Elizabeth. As an occult philosopher, he devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination and Hermetic philosophy and built up one of the finest libraries of 16h century England. Unfortunately, whilst travelling, Dee left his library in the care of his brother-in-law, who sold or “caused (…) to be carried away” most of the books. A large number passed to a book collector, the Marquis of Dorchester, whose family presented them to the RCP after his death in 1680.
including this rather fabulous ship found in the corner of a page of Cicero’s Opera. Other works show the ingenuity of c16th printing making with foldout paper diagrams in The Elements of Geometrie, Euclid, and a manual on writing in code with “Volvelles” or wheels which still spin around to jumble the letters. Alongside books from their collection, the RCP have managed to borrow various objects from the British Museum, the Ashmolean, the Science Museum and the Wellcome Institute. These include John Dee’s obsidian Scrying mirror and crystal ball; and various paintings and engravings of the man.
Ophelia’s Ghost Kristin and Davy McGuire, photograph by Electric Egg
Lord and Ladies, his reinterpretation of A Midsummer’s Night Dream, is one of my very favourite DiscWorld novels and so I was delighted by the Elves’ return. I love his reversal of this race with their unprincipled, vicious glamour so akin to modern celebrity culture; and his parallel championing of the strong minded honest folk: midwives, shepherds, blacksmiths over the weaker kings and queens.
Rigg's Cabinet of Curiosities 