Bohenna is a small Cornish village, dominated by a thriving vineyard and the Pennyman family who run it. It’s an insular community, all gossip and rumour and intertwined lives. Claire knows everyone; she grew up there. She even married into the Pennyman family.Every summer tourists swarm over the vineyard and village. So when Claire’s young daughter disappears without trace, it’s obvious to … obvious to everyone that a visitor took her. Who else would do such a thing?
Six years later, her marriage broken, Claire still struggles to accept what happened. She’s been away but she’s back now – and increasingly convinced her daughter never left the village at all.
But it’s not wise to start asking questions. Old resentments run deep and not everyone is pleased to see Claire back in Bohenna.
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Loved this one!
After reading three of her books, this being her most recent, I’ve come to the simple conclusion that Kathy Shuker is just a really fine storyteller!
She persistently conjures up compelling, unique storylines, populated with quirky, unpredictable characters, in settings painted with the fine hand of a landscape artist, along with explorations of professions and “worlds” that bring it all to full and realized life. Whether immersing us in the arcane surrounds of the classical music business, historical homes, fine art, or, in this one, the winemaking industry, she lends her page-turning dramas the added pleasure of rich detail and researched knowledge of just where we are and what those characters are doing. I always enjoy learning a little something about a profession I’m unfamiliar with, particularly when it is seamlessly melded into the narrative, one of Shuker’s clear skills.
This story follows the return of a divorced couple, Claire and Neil, to their childhood home, a place they left years ago after the disappearance of their young daughter. Still estranged, but attempting to find enough reconciliation to make life bearable for their older daughter, as well as bring Neil back to his family’s longstanding vineyard and Claire to the rediscovery of her art and her sense of self, the plot immerses us in the life of Bohenna, a Cornish village with all the usual perks and peskiness of small-town life, richly drawn in Shuker’s warm, observational prose.
The page-turning plotline really begins when, despite promising herself to let go of any urge to continue seeking information about her daughter (who was never found), Claire is immediately thrust into the inevitable when an unexpected clue comes into her possession. She launches into a, perhaps, ill-advised but frenzied quest to see where that clue leads… regardless of the potential danger, the resentments it stirs up in a wide variety of townspeople, and certainly the impact of opening old wounds amongst immediate and extended family. Making a new friend in local artist, Adam, she finds a collaborator as fascinated and compelled as she to explore the various clues, as well as the hint of a mutual attraction, but complications make efforts on both those fronts challenging.
Particularly when Claire and Neil attempt to “try again” with their marriage, and Adam goes back to a demanding girlfriend. From there the road is littered with obstacles, and as Claire delves onto new clues, gets strange phone calls and mysterious visitations, led by misdirections from a confusing series of sources, she finds herself struggling to sort out what is real, if and how Neil still fits in her life, and just how rational her continuing search for her daughter is. New and old relationships, with their twisting, unpredictable turns, pull her to places that leave readers biting their fingernails, fearful for Claire’s safety, hoping that whatever she ultimately finds will not be the end of her. The plot winds through tense confrontations and unexpected reveals until it reaches its powerful conclusion, one we get to only after being seriously unwilling to put the book down… as every good book should make us feel!
In today’s world of “all books, all the time,” in both the traditional and indie markets, the sheer number of available titles on tangible and virtual bookshelves is staggering. Finding the really good books amidst those numbers is not always easy, and often we have to go through a fair amount of “meh” work to get to the good stuff. For me, “good stuff” can be found in any genre, with any plot and set of characters; whether Pulitzer Prize winning literary fiction, brilliantly rendered political thrillers, or masterful tales of page-turning mystery and humanity… IF the writer lives up to the heart and soul of their story, uses well-honed skills as a writer to bring that story to pulsing life, and puts their book together professionally and artfully with the assistance of excellent editors, cover artists, and formatters.
Kathy Shuker has delivered a moving, page-turning book that meets all the criteria. It stayed with me, I was fully immersed, and I recommend her heartfelt, provocative, exciting story. I doubt you will be able to put it down either! (And once you’re done with this one, go back and catch up with her other two books… both are excellent!).