A twisty and propulsive read, this dark psychological thriller of sibling rivalry, love, betrayal, and the dire consequences of family fallout brilliantly plays on our fears of loneliness and abandonment, harkening to the modern gothic bestsellers by Ruth Ware and Liz Nugent. Is a story ever just a story? Mac, a retired academic and writer, is working on a new collection of folktales, inspired … a new collection of folktales, inspired by local legends, and at the insistence of her only child, Arthur, she hires a young assistant, Lucie, to live in a cottage on her property and help her transcribe them. What Arthur doesn’t know is that his mother is determined to keep the secrets of her past from ever being discovered. And what Mac doesn’t know is that Lucie has a few complicated secrets of her own.
The creaking presence of an ancient water mill next to Mac’s property that used to grind wheat into flour serves as an eerie counterpoint for these two women as they circle warily around each other, haunted by the local legend of two long-dead sisters, ready to point accusing fingers from the pages of history.
This atmospheric page turner evocatively gives voice to the question: What happens when you fall in love with the wrong person?
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Two sisters in love with the same man, a mother who keeps secrets, and a son who gets in the way of both. This is a tale of sibling rivalry, love, betrayal and murder. Told in alternating narratives by aging folklore expert and historian Mac, and her wayward assistant Lucie, the story mixes the legend of two doomed sisters with a contemporary tale of passion, deceit and betrayal. Set against the brooding presence of the watermill, a structure with its own deadly history, secrets began to unravel, as the past catches up with the present.
This is the first book I’ve read by Sandra Ireland, but it won’t be the last. Beginning with a seemingly ordinary story this is an enthralling novel, written in alternating voices, mixing folklore and legend with a richness of language that is an absolute delight to read. As ‘The Cruel Sister’ story is revealed alongside the contemporary one, the parallels draw the two tales into one, in a masterful and totally believable way. The author’s talent lies in her ability to create two very different voices while telling a story that simmers away innocently enough at the start but builds to a thrilling and unexpected climax at its conclusion.
A beautifully written and thoroughly absorbing book.
3.5s rounded up to 4. I won Bone Deep in a giveaway & wasn’t sure what to expect as I’ve never read Sandra Ireland before. It turned out to be a good ol’ gothic mystery set in an old watermill in Scotland. The setting was absolutely perfect for this atmospheric story & true to the genre, both the characters’ secrets & the secrets of the past just won’t stay buried.
Mac, an academic septuagenarian is putting together a book on local legends & folklore. What better place to start than the ancient watermill she calls home? Over the centuries more than a few legends surrounding it have popped up and been passed down. Mac’s son, Arthur, feels she needs help and hires assistant, Lucie, to come live in the miller’s cottage and help Mac put the book together. However, Mac and Lucie both have some skeletons that they want kept locked in their proverbial closets, but those skeletons have a different idea. The book goes back and forth between Lucie and Mac’s perspectives and weaves in a mystery from the mill’s past showing how history repeats itself.
The old legends top off this gothic thriller with a ghostly air. I rounded up 3.5 stars to 4 because while I enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down, it was quite short and I felt like there was more story to be told. But, I will definitely be reading more from Sandra Ireland.
Sight Unseen blends dark secrets from the past and present in a gripping mystery set in the small town of Kilgour in Scotland.
This is Sarah’s story, a woman who’s struggling to cope as she juggles her life as a supermarket manager and carer for her elderly father, while missing her daughter who has just left home to travel afar. To the outside world Sarah appears conventional but she is far from it. Obsessed with history, and in particular the story of Alie Gowdie persecuted for witchcraft in the 17th century.
Ireland weaves the contemporary and historical story flawlessly and I was hooked from the first page. What was the truth behind the persecution of Alie Gowdie? Is Sarah’s father’s house haunted?
I absolutely loved Sarah, such an authentic character as she hangs onto the thread of hope in her stifling provincial life. John, her father, is also incredibly engaging, and far from a fragile victim as events unfold. Ireland draws strong parallels between injustices of the past and present.
There are points in the novel when I was genuinely scared and others when I laughed out loud. Ireland has the rare skill of writing about the deep darkness capable in humanity, while also drawing out lightness and humour.
The history from the past shines through authentically as in the process of uncovering a centuries’ old crime, Sarah discovers a contemporary one.
I highly recommend Sight Unseen as a perfect read for all those who love a well-written, character-rich thriller blending past and present.
Bone Deep is a novel that is a contemporary retelling of a Scottish legend of two sisters who were often by an ancient water mill that now is the home of Mac, a retired academic and writer. These sister’s had a sibling rivalry that turned deadly. Mac is working on a new collection of folktales that include these sisters. Mac is a widow and her son wants her to live in an assisted living type place but she refuses.
Mac is having frequent bouts of memory loss and wants to complete her work so she hires a young woman, Lucie, to help her type up her notes and other duties. She moves into the Miller’s Cottage. Lucie left home, her mother actually threw her out after she realized that Lucie was having an affair with her sister’s fiance. So she just wanted to earn a living and to try to get past all of this. So dealing with Mac seems to be the way to do this.
The story is told in the point of views of Lucie and Mac. We learn more about Lucie and the affair and also Mac and the old mill and her deceased husband and how he died plus the story of the sisters. There are secrets, secrets and more secrets from these two women and it is how they come to terms with these secrets that make the story. This book is dark at times, gothic kind of read that should appeal to anyone who loves this genre.
I read some reviews that said it started out slow, I didn’t feel that way. I just felt that it was a bit lengthy getting into the story but that was ok because it set up the story to its satisfying but not expected conclusion. Lots of twisty turns but that is what makes a great story right? The ending blew me away! Never saw it coming. Great psychological thriller! I enjoyed the book immensely!
If the cover for Bone Deep caught my attention, the blurb grabbed me by the collar and shouted at me. This one had me from the very first glance. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long. It does have its moments and I liked the Gothic feel, but he story moves too slowly for my taste, and the writing is choppy much of the time. We have two unreliable narrators in this one, and the point of view moves back and forth between them, plus we have a story within a story as Mac writes her book of sisters with deadly secrets. The only character I liked was Arthur, and I began to question his judgment as the story progressed. Unreliable narrators and unlikable characters aside, my biggest problem with this psychological thriller is I failed to find the thriller part of this story, psychological or otherwise. There is murder and what are supposed to be twists, but I guessed those before we got there with one exception concerning Lucie, and I found it to be completely unbelievable, like eye-rolling unbelievable. I realize that my opinion is in the minority here, and that’s okay. This is just one person’s opinion, so take it for what it’s worth. In the end, I think I liked the idea of this one more than the reality of it.
A More contemporary setting that deals more with human emotions and tangled lives with a murder and family stress to add to the great read. Lucie goes to work as an assistant or and older lady called Mac. Lucie is torn between her past and what her future can be very emotional story. The story telling in this one is very good you can envision the environment and the people as they interact with each other. A definite book to read.