The philosophy of time, destiny and the stars pervade this intricate historical mystery in which a young woman determines to avenge her mother’s death.1752, Midsummer. Following a desperate summons from her mother, Tabitha Hart departs London for her home village of Netherlea – only to discover that her mother has drowned. Determined to discover the truth about the Widow Hart’s death, Tabitha … Tabitha consults her almanack and uncovers a series of cryptic notes describing her mother’s terror of someone she names only as ‘D’.
Teaming up with young writer Nat Starling, Tabitha begins a race against time to unmask ‘D’ before more deaths follow. But as the summer draws to a close and the snow sets in, cutting off Netherlea from the outside world, Tabitha and Nat are forced to face the darkest hours of their lives. With the year predicted to meet a ‘violent, bloody end’’ will Tabitha survive long enough to bring her mother’s killer to justice?
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I haven’t read anything by this author before but I had seen it on the TBR list of a few authors I like and when it came up on NetGalley I jumped at the chance to read it. To be honest, I really struggled with how to rate this book. It’s so well written and the descriptive text gave you a real sense of the time in which it’s set, the riddles added a nice touch, the twists and turns in the plot made it an intriguingly good read and kept you guessing until near the end . For all of that I’d give it a 5 star but my problem is that I didn’t love the book either. The main protagonists, when you meet them are really not that likeable, Tabitha has been summoned home to Netherlea from London by her mother, she sells her body for a living , She thinks nothing about robbing her patrons and this is how the author sets the scene, only the gentleman in question has divested her of everything she owns, including her silk dress . With no money she ends up trudging back to her old home on foot and partly clothed, to find she is too late and her mother dead, presumed drowned . Tabitha finds hers mother’s Almanack hidden in the cottage and this is where the mystery starts. Her mother has written several entries about a mysterious ‘D’ ,who terrifies her and has left threatening missives . She resolves to discover and unmask him. Nat startling is often seen in the woods, loitering around , observing the occupants of the village. He has returned from London also, having been working alongside widow Hart ( Tabitha mother)in a clandestine manner. What is his motivation in helping Tabitha ? They both manage to redeem themselves somewhat by the end of the book, you understand the choices Tabitha has made and the circumstances that lad to her leaving the village. Nothing is as it seems. I was a little disappointed in the ending , It seemed to end quickly and was sugary sweet in a way that didn’t seem to fit the rest of the book. Overall it’s a really interesting, well researched book. I give it a three and a half stars
While this was interesting learning how much 18th-century England was captivated by almanacs and their daily predictions and astrological signs, it was just a bit too slow for me. While the story/mystery were fine, I wasn’t pulled in by any of the characters, not even the central one of Tabitha.
Thanks to #NetGalley and #BlackThorn for providing the ARC. The opinions are strictly my own.
Tabitha Hart sets out to discover the truth behind her mother’s drowning. There are clues galore as we follow Tabitha into the authentically recreated turmoil of England in 1752, that year in which we changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar and, therefore, “lost” eleven days in the process. The main characters, Tabitha and her writer friend, Nat Starling, are well-rounded and interesting characters and the use of the almanack entries at the opening of each chapter are important to the unfolding of the story, an intriguing historical mystery with a fair chunk of romance thrown in. I have to be honest, however, and say that I personally found the riddles – also between each chapter – were a bit of a distraction and I finally decided to ignore those until I’d finished the story itself, then went back and spent a happy evening trying to solve them. Overall, very good.
On the whole, I really like this book. It’s the first time that I read a novel set in the 1700s. It isn’t a time which is much frequented by modern storytellers, especially of murder mysteries. One might also think the 1700s countryside is no place for convincing murders, but this story proves this is not the case.
The setting is actually very intriguing. Tabitha, the main character, was born in Netherlea, but she lived for a long spell in London and aches to go back. Life in the countryside feels a century old and stale to her. She’s a woman of the world, and she certainly shows it.
One of the things that really intrigued me about the story is that it is built on an almanac, which apparently were very popular at the time. Almanacs were not mere calendars, but they offered stories, advice pertinent to the season, time of performing task especially in a countryside setting. And people further used them as diaries, where they wrote down their thoughts and everyday happenings. This story sots off with an entry in Tabitha’s mother’s almanac, in which the woman recorder what looks at first as a very unassuming, although unusual, event: the poisoning of a dog.
The characters are all very relatable and I especially loved the sense of community that transpires in the first half of the book. It is really like being in among those people. I got a very strong sense of the life of that kind of community. This went a bit lost in the second half that focuses more on Tabitha’s relationship with Nat.
The story is set in a very peculiar moment of British history, when the calendar was updated to atone to the continental calendar and roughly two weeks were lost in September. This gives the opportunity to ponder time, the way people perceives it, how real it is. All though the book, we gets impressions of time (the chiming of the bells, clocks, the shifting of the season, the movements of the stars, the almanac itself) which lends a very peculiar soul to this story and is probably the thing I liked the most.
As much as I liked the story, I was very little impressed by the resolution. After building a strong case, following logical steps and realistic events, the ending relies to a very tired cliché. There are, indeed, quite a few sleeps in the ending that ruined a bit of the enjoyment for me. Characters don’t act as themselves, motives become lame, the chain of events questionable. It’s a huge pity, since the story itself was everything but.
Shame. But it was still an enjoyable story.