Friday 7 December 2012

Friday Recommended...


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The Island House
Hodder & Stoughton (2 Aug 2012)





Mystical Pictish Gods combined with the power and superstition of ancient Christianity and the ruthless power of the Vikings, all merge together in this fascinating and compelling dual time historical novel. Freya Dane is the modern day protagonist who after her father’s tragic death inherits the Scottish island of Findnar. In order to complete her PhD in archaeology, Freya must make sense of her father’s handwritten notes about the history of the island he once called home. But the island is steeped in mystery and has its own terrible story to tell, and all too soon Freya is aware that ancient forces are challenging her to put right a terrible wrong.

Without doubt this is one of the best dual time books I have read in a long time. The author has managed to convey time and place quite beautifully so that neither time period outshines the other, and the air of menace which lingers in the air is enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The characters both ancient and modern are vibrant and compelling and the added power of ancient superstition resonating across centuries forms a stunningly good story.

In The Island House,Posie Graeme Evans has conjured the ancient world in such a way that long after the book is finished the story lingers in the shadows of your mind, and as the sea breeze blows in your hair and the sound of sea birds float on the wind, the island house still resonates with echoes of the past.

If I could give it more than five stars, I would.

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