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The Miller's Bride by Liz Harris #Review #TheHouseOfMcleodBook1

  Welcome to Liz Harris and her new Victorian historical novel, The Miller's Bride . This new series, The House of McLeod , was published by Boldwood Books on May 27th. When independence comes at a price... Scotland, 1885 Gracie McLeod’s life changes overnight when her father sells the family grocer’s shop and moves the family from their Highland village to a distant fishing town. But Gracie refuses to follow. Desperate to maintain her independence, she reluctantly agrees to an arranged marriage to Angus MacKenzie – a stranger who makes it clear he doesn’t want her, and who is in love with another woman. When Gracie arrives at the mill she now must call home, she finds herself entangled in a web of deceit and ambition. Unknown to her, Angus’s cousin is plotting to take over the mill and destroy her marriage from within, and he’s enlisted Angus’s former lover to help him. As secrets and sabotage threaten to ruin everything Gracie has tried to build, she must decide whet...

The Carer by Deborah Moggach #Review


Today I am delighted to feature Deborah Moggach's novel, The Carer. 

From the bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Tulip Fever, a deliciously funny, poignant and wry novel, full of surprising twists and turns:

James is getting on a bit and needs full-time help. So Phoebe and Robert, his middle-aged offspring, employ Mandy, who seems willing to take him off their hands. But as James regales his family with tales of Mandy’s virtues, their shopping trips and the shared pleasure of their journeys to garden centres, Phoebe and Robert sense something is amiss.

Then something extraordinary happens which throws everything into new relief, changing all the stories of their childhood - and the father - that they thought they knew so well.

My Thoughts

This is a fabulous read. It led me up the garden path, right through the back garden and back again and I failed to pick up on its great surprise. Written in two parts, you see life through James' children's eyes and then in the latter part, realise what the true picture actually is.

    You realise in the end that it is an examination of human relationships and marriages, and the damage that people can inflict without thinking. Phoebe and Robert have to take a long hard look at themselves and re-evaluate everything they thought they knew. Full of quiet menace at the start, you find that there is a heart-warming side to the story. The characters are shown in subtle relief and relationships exposed. Class and intellectual snobbery are thrown into the mix, as well as ageing, treachery, betrayal and whether one should accept a bit less in life if it makes you happy.

In short: A social comedy to savour.

About the Author

 
Deborah Moggach, OBE is an English novelist and an award-winning screenwriter. She has written nineteen novels, including The Ex-Wives, Tulip Fever, These Foolish Thing, Heartbreak Hotel and Something to Hide. She lives in London.

You can follow Deborah here: Goodreads 

Book link: Amazon UK 

Thanks to Deborah Moggach and Tinder Press, and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours  for an advanced copy of the book and a place on the event.  

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