The Night Visitor: Lucy Atkins 3 Stars

The Night Visitor: Lucy Atkins 3 Stars

Saturday, 29 July 2017

The Night Visitor
Author: Lucy  Atkins
Paperback
Published: May 20th 2017
ISBN: 9781786482181
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Publishers Summary
Professor Olivia Sweetman has worked hard to achieve the life she loves, with a high-flying career as a TV presenter and historian, three children and a talented husband. But as she stands before a crowd at the launch of her new bestseller she can barely pretend to smile. Her life has spiralled into deceit and if the truth comes out, she will lose everything.
Only one person knows what Olivia has done. Vivian Tester is the socially awkward sixty-year-old housekeeper of a Sussex manor who found the Victorian diary on which Olivia's book is based. She has now become Olivia's unofficial research assistant. And Vivian has secrets of her own.
As events move between London, Sussex and the idyllic South of France, the relationship between these two women grows more entangled and complex. Then a bizarre act of violence changes everything.
Review
Olivia, the history professor, sees a flyer that reads:

“The Real Diary of a Victorian Lady!
…. a sensational diary, handed down through one family. On short term loan by Lady Catherine Burley of Ileford Manor”

Curious, and on the lookout for some inspiration for writing a new book, Olivia visits the museum where the diary is held on loan, there she meets the taciturn and surly looking Vivian Tester, housekeeper to Lady Burley. She gets to read the diary, she can barely contain her excitement when she realises that this is it, her new book!

Vivian makes herself invaluable to Olivia during her writing process, Olivia wants to milk all the information that she can from Vivian but she does not want her as her friend.
 Neither seems to like the other much, the two women work together in an uneasy and slightly unfriendly way.
Both women seem a bit odd, Olivia is perpetually stressed by family problems, she needs money badly, hence the importance of writing a best seller, and she is also haunted by the belief that she has a stalker.

Vivian is a complex character, she seems to care that Olivia shuns her friendship yet she herself never displays a friendly manner towards Olivia.

I did enjoy this book … eventually, but I found it to be a really slow starter, everything is such a slow burn and I often felt that I was being manipulated into thinking that something awful was about to happen only to be let down because the creepily written build up led to something mundane.

It isn’t until towards the end of the book that the storyline begins to crackle and gather pace, and though a tad predictable in places it does have a very unpredictable ending.
Paperback copy provided by Hachette Books Australia for unbiased review

Continue reading

Her Mothers Secret: Natasha Lester

Her Mothers Secret: Natasha Lester

Friday, 9 June 2017

Author: Natasha Lester

ISBN: 9780733634659

Publication Date: April 2017

Publisher: Hachette Australia

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publishers Summary

A sweeping story of love and ambition from England to the Manhattan of the 1920s and 1940s by the author of A Kiss From Mr. Fitzgerald.

1918, England. Armistice Day should bring peace into Leonora's life. Rather than secretly making cosmetics in her father's chemist shop to sell to army nurses such as Joan, her adventurous Australian friend, Leo hopes to now display her wares openly. Instead, Spanish flu arrives in the village, claiming her father's life. Determined to start over, she boards a ship to New York City. On the way she meets debonair department store heir Everett Forsyth . . . In Manhattan, Leo works hard to make her cosmetics dream come true, but she's a woman alone with a small salary and a society that deems make-up scandalous.

1939, New York City. Everett's daughter, Alice, a promising ballerina, receives a mysterious letter inviting her to star in a series of advertisements for a cosmetics line. If she accepts she will be immortalised like dancers such as Zelda Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker and Ginger Rogers. Why, then, are her parents so quick to forbid it?

Review

At first, I thought this was going to be a predictable read, but as the chapters flew by, the plot turned this way and that, and every time I thought I knew what was going to happen next, a clever little twist popped up to fool me.

I really started to enjoy the book from the moment that Leo landed in New York and found lodgings and work in China Town. 

This is where Leo's strong character shines through, by choosing to live in a cheap rent area and by working at menial jobs, Leo flew in the face of social norms, but running the risk of social ostracism did not deter her.

Known for her diligent research, author Natasha Lester really comes in to her own when describing historical settings: the street vendors, the stores and their wares, and, notably, the wonderful descriptions of the fashions, each dress so beautifully described that the reader can all but see them.

I loved reading about how things were made and how things were done, how the cosmetic packagings were designed and manufactured, and who knew what it took to dress the window of a big store!

For me, it is all the wonderful historical detail that elevates this book above and beyond others of this genre. It is lovely to escape to this wonderful world that Natasha Lester builds for her readers.

At one point though, the book does take a significant leap forward in time where the storyline changes to another character. This did interrupt the flow for me, it sort of jolted me out of the story and it took time to settle back into it. 

I highly recommend “Her Mothers Secret” to those who love a well written, well researched and heartwarming story.

Review copy provided by Hachette Books Australia

Continue reading