Blog Tour and my Review - The Story Keeper - Anna Mazzola

Review and blog tour The Story keeper Anna Mazzola

I’m delighted to be helping kick-start the Blog Tour for The Story Keeper by Anna Mazzola, author of the superb novel The Unseeing which I read and reviewed last year for my blog.

Both are historical novels based around factual events and the author demonstrates her penchant for detailed research and well-honed writing skills in both of these seductively intriguing books.

The Story Keeper begins in 1857 with the protagonist, Audrey Hart on a ferry to the Isle of Skye where she is headed to take up a job offering her the only chance of a little freedom, she is to be an assistant to a wealthy woman who is researching folk tales, myths and legends around the island.

Following the recent Highland clearances local folk are wary of strangers and reluctant to trust anyone, but they are also keen to pass on superstitions and Anna has family links to the island as her late mother was a Skye lassie so maybe she is not as much a stranger to the lives of these country folk as her boss is. As stories emerge of several missing girls, Audrey determines to unravel the mystery, which bears parallels to the disappearance of her own mother many years ago.

What she begins to reveal will test her to the limits as she tries to work out whether the old legends bear any truth or if there is something even more sinister at work.

I loved the setting on the Isle of Skye, the historical details following the Highland clearances, an appalling true event, the wealth of richly painted characters and the themes of folklore, fairy stories and myth. 

The main character of Audrey, a determined young woman whom I could admire and empathise with, this likeable heroine soon had me rooting for her. 

The location of Skye and descriptions are highly evocative, the story has enough hints of the supernatural to lend a shiver whilst reading it and the mystery is compelling and quite awful enough to be scary as well as gripping.

A wonderful read, especially for anyone who loves a well-researched and superbly written historical mystery in a great setting.

My thanks go to Anne at RandomThings Tours for inviting me along on this virtual book tour.

Find it on Amazon and other good bookshops.

The Blurb

From the author of THE UNSEEING comes a sizzling, period novel of folk tales, disappearances and injustice set on the Isle of Skye, sure to appeal to readers of Hannah Kent's BURIAL RITES or Beth Underdown's THE WITCH FINDER'S SISTER ( I also reviewed this you can read my review here).

'A wonderful combination of a thrilling mystery and a perfectly depicted period piece' Sunday Mirror


Audrey Hart is on the Isle of Skye to collect the word-of-mouth folk tales of the people and communities around her. It is 1857, the Highland Clearances have left devastation and poverty, and the crofters are suspicious and hostile, claiming they no longer know their stories. Then Audrey discovers the body of a young girl washed up on the beach and the crofters tell her that it is only a matter of weeks since another girl has disappeared. They believe the girls are the victims of the spirits of the unforgiven dead. Initially, Audrey is sure the girls are being abducted, but then she is reminded of her own mother, a Skye woman who disappeared in mysterious circumstances. It seems there is a link to be explored, and Audrey may uncover just what her family have been hiding from her all these years.

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The Doll Factory - Elizabeth Macneal - scarily good

Review - The Doll Factory - Elizabeth Macneal.

Two sisters Iris and Rose work together making dolls. It is the mid 19th century and whilst nearby the great exhibition is being planned, their days are long and repetitive, working for a hard taskmistress the girls dream of escaping to a more congenial life, Rose wants her own genteel little shop and Iris dreams of learning to paint. But both girls bear the scars of living in an era where medical care wasn't great. Rose has lost her beauty to the scarring of smallpox whilst Iris has a hunched shoulder, due to a break in her collarbone at birth.and both girls fear no man will even look at them now.

Iris's beauty, however, attracts the attention of two very different men. She is approached by artist Louis Frost, a member of the burgeoning pre Raphaelite brotherhood who begs her to model for his painting for which she barters art lessons in return. 

Whilst in the shadows of the grimiest rookeries of old London, lurks lonely Silas, a taxidermist who admires Iris from afar and whilst his shyness prevents him voicing his admiration for her, he remains on the periphery of her world fantasising about when they eventually meet, sure she will eventually love him as he adores her.

As we move between the courts and shops of Victorian London, we glimpse everyday life at its most brutal the descriptions are superb and I felt as though I was one step behind Iris throughout her journey. The reader meets several wonderful characters and young Albie, a street urchin who longs only for some false teeth to replace the one worn stump of a tooth which is all that remains of his gnashers, earned a place in my heart.

As Iris begins to shake off her shackles, Rose remains in the doll factory, modelling tiny faces and fitting miniature gowns to dolls for rich little girls. Iris grows further apart from her sister and whilst she does begin to feel love for one of the men in her life, in the other, builds an unhealthy obsession.

As she falls in love, she also becomes the object of a dangerous obsession.

This is a wonderfully atmospheric historical novel, woven around a world of art and creativity with lots of details about pre-raphaelite artists, and a tense thriller and mystery which will have you on the edge of your seat. Its a creeper, beginning slowly until you are immersed in it ad it just won't let go. I loved it and feel the characters will stay with me for a long time.

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Best of the best books 2018

Beadyjans favourite books 2018 My top 10

We're all doing it - frantically compiling lists of our favourite reads in 2018. 

I don't know why we readers feel compelled to make lists of everything but its a common trait, and we love reading other peoples lists too. So while I should really be making a shopping list, a packing list for my festive break etc, here's a list of my very favourite reads over the past 12 months.

UPDATE: - Already I'm fretting that I missed a few books I adored and then I've just finished reading yet another which really blew me away. Do not view this as a definitive list!!

2018 has been a year of change for me, we bought a little holiday home in the sun which has proven to be rather a mixed blessing and I finally escaped the job I loathed and have landed firmly on my feet working for the most amazing and lovely small family business, who have all but adopted me, not just employed me. I only wish I'd started working for them donkeys years ago and could have made a lifelong career with them rather than working out my last few years until retirement.

It has also been the year before Brexit which is grieving me so sorely I can't bear to speak more of it, so here we go with something more cheerful: 

Books I've loved reading this year.

Some are titles I've been fortunate enough to read in advance of publication and a few may not be published until early 2019. As a Book-blogger I'm brought into contact with many authors and titles I may not otherwise have discovered and I'm in the privileged position of reading many new books as soon, or even before, they are published. For this, I thank all the publishers, authors and blog tour organisers for helping me find so many books which have made a great impact on me.

2018 for me, has been THE year of the historical novel. 

I just don’t seem to have been able to get enough of escaping the madness of 2018 by travelling back into the past and there have been some damn good offerings so that it’s come as no surprise that the majority of my top ten are from the historical genre:
My top 10 books are as follows:

1. The Corset by Laura Purcell 

The Corset is a very worthy successor to her extremely good previous book The Silent Companions. However for me The Corset is in a league of its own. The book I wish I’d written and will probably still be telling people to read in ten years time.

2. The Binding Bridget Collins

So good I want to cry just thinking about it.

3. Walls of silence - Ruth Wade 

Wonderful story telling with a killer twist that punched me in the gut.

4. Blackberry and Wild Rose – Sonia Velton

DO judge this book by it's cover - the words inside are as glorious as the image on the outside, a stunning debut novel built around the lives of Huguenot silk weavers.

5. The Story Keeper Anna Mazzola (review to follow as part of the blog tour in January)

Beautifully descriptive, set on the Isle of Skye following the Highland Clearances.

6. Salt Creek – Lucy Treloar

Stunning award-winning novel set in the far-flung Coorong Australia.

7. When Winter comes – VA Shannon

Truly wonderful gripping book about the tragedy surrounding the real pioneering Donner Party.

8. The lighthouse keepers daughter – Hazel Gaynor

Lovely romantic fiction based on the life of Grace Darling.

9. Ghost – Helen Grant

Delightful dual-time frame novel of the lives of two young women, past and present which become entwined.


10. The Perfect Friend – Barbara Copperthwaite

The only contemporary thriller in my top  this year and no surprise it’s by my go-to author when I want a shiver to run down my spine – the sublime Barbara Copperthwaite who nearly always manages to get into my top reads lists and if you haven’t read any of her books yet – start now.

That's my top ten and I really must add an honourable mention to The Glovemaker by Ann Weisgarber which really should be on my list too and a nod to 2019 and a note to watch out for this one ..... The Doll Factory by Elizabeth MacNeil and apologies to anyone else whose book I've loved, there were just too darned many this year!!

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Blog Tour Once Upon a River Diane Setterfield

Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield

Today sees me taking part in the blog tour for a new book that I predict is going to be HUGE. It is the long-awaited new title from Diane Setterfield, noted author of the bestseller The Thirteenth Tale.

My thoughts:

Already being hailed as a masterpiece of storytelling Once upon a River is an otherworldly tale of myth and legend woven around the winding river Thames in times gone by.

It's a book-lovers book based on traditional storytelling, with a touch of magic, a hint of the supernatural and a lot of twisting and turning. As the river meanders so does the tale.

Although its a relaxing piece of escapism, don't get too comfortable, this is a book with depth and needs a good level of concentration to follow it, constructed as it is from lots of separate stories which weave together to become a book.

This clever and mysterious book is set in various hostelries and Inns along the river in an indistinct past era, where storytellers gather and tales get passed on until nobody is sure which are fact and what is fiction.

We begin our journey in the Swan Inn nestled on the banks of the Thames. This is a waterman's Inn which has been there for years and where drinkers gather at the end of a long shift to chat and yarn and sup together. One particular evening a disturbance interrupts the cosy scene when a drenched, wounded man stumbles through the door carrying the body of a young child in his arms.

As patrons and workers rush to help, the man is bedded down in a spare room and following a careful examination which reveals the little girl is not breathing, her body is also laid to rest. But in the morning whilst the man remains part conscious, the girl suddenly draws a breath and wakes. Is it a miracle? Or something more sinister?

As folk try to work out who she is, the strangely silent child becomes the pivot around which stories unfold and one by one we learn about mysteries and tragedies, all of which, as they unfold make the reader realise that there is something of the folklore about each event and personage around which this story unwinds.

We have a couple awaiting the return of a missing child who was taken by the river who claim her as their own, a man who may be her grandfather, is she a daughter or sister or perhaps she is a creature of the river who never belonged to anyone human?

There's a great sense of mystery and loss and longing in this intriguing book and you are never quite sure whether what you are reading is a factual account, a richly embroidered rural legend or merely a fairytale told to while away the dark hours spent in an Inn by the River. The characters are rich and lively and a teeny bit larger than life, with foibles and quirks, many have mysteries and dark deeds hidden in their pasts.

If this hasn't whetted your appetite enough to rush out and buy this magical book here is the publishers blurb to tempt you further

The Blurb:

THE LONG-AWAITED, SPELLBINDING NEW NOVEL FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BESTSELLING THE THIRTEENTH TALE, A 'MISTRESS OF THE CRAFT OF STORYTELLING' (Guardian).

A dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the Thames. The regulars are entertaining themselves by telling stories when the door bursts open on an injured stranger. In his arms is the drowned corpse of a little child. 

Hours later the dead girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. 

Is it a miracle? 

Is it magic? 

Or can it be explained by science? 

An exquisitely crafted multi-layered mystery brimming with folklore, suspense and romance, as well as with the urgent scientific curiosity of the Darwinian age, Once Upon a River is as richly atmospheric as Setterfield’s bestseller The Thirteenth Tale.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: DianeSetterfield’s bestselling novel, The Thirteenth Tale waspublished in 38 countries, sold more than three million copies, and was madeinto a television drama scripted by Christopher Hampton, starring Olivia Colmanand Vanessa Redgrave. Her second novel was Bellman & Black, and her new novel is Once Upon a River. Born in rural Berkshire, she now lives near Oxford, by the Thames.

Website : http://www.dianesetterfield.com/

Twitter : @DianeSetterfie1

Author Page on Facebook

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Rustic Recipes The Woodburner cookbook by Jennifer Lunenborg - Review and #Giveaway

And now for something completely different .... Today I am reviewing a recipe book and bringing news of a #giveaway of this book

It's called Rustic Recipes - the Woodburner Cookbook by Jennifer Lunenborg

My Review:

The author has drawn on her own experience of cooking without power to create this collection of recipes which, in addition to being cooked by the more usual oven methods, have been tried and tested for cooking on your woodburner stove. This would have been SO handy the Christmas we had a power cut in a holiday cottage with only a logburner to keep us warm, we could have cooked on it, but I didn't even try.

So, whether you're coping with a sudden power-cut, or are a complete eco-warrior living off-grid in a Yurt, you too can produce tasty hearty meals from your woodburner stove.

The first recipes are all for hearty soups perfect to come home to after a day outdoors, from hearty minestrone to delicious pumpkin soup and there's even a recipe for stinging nettle soup which sits alongside a host of recipes using foraging as the inspiration. My taste is more for the delicious leek and potato.

In the Savoury dishes collection there is something to suit every palate, whether you fancy Stilton and leek tartlets (yum), or pizza, curry or the enigmatic sounding Dutch Stamppot, which can also be made as a vegetarian dish. I will be trying several of these (but using my trusty electric oven).

Completed with a handful of accompaniments, basics and puddings (Jam roly poly included of course) there are even some festive recipes to impress your guests with.

I am quite intrigued by the idea of cooking on a wood stove, this is a nicely thought out collection of recipes which will appeal to anyone hankering after the Good life and would make an ideal gift for your friend who loves to gather sustainable wood for their stove and enjoys a quick forage whilst they're in the woods, even if it is between quick trips to Waitrose.

A copy of this book is available as a prize giveaway I am helping organize on the Homecare supplies Facebook page (They also sell some amazing woodburners, multifuel stoves, Gas fires, range cookers and accessories for your stove so please visit it, have a browse and enter our competition to win this book)

Alternatively you can find it here

The Blurb:

More than just a recipe book, but a lifestyle change, encouraging time out from busy schedules to learn from a simpler time. This book not only contains 50 recipes, ranging from hearty soups to rustic French, Italian and Dutch dishes, to a section on foraging; but also gives snippets of information on each recipe, for example; how the chocolate truffle was invented, why carrots are orange? etc.

The book is intended as a rough guide, encouraging its readers to try cooking on their woodburner when they have time, but equally it can be used as a standard recipe book.
This book is a way of bringing that desire for ‘The Good Life’ into everyday living.   

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Review - The Taking of Annie Thorne - C.J. Tudor - terrifying.

The Taking of Annie Thorne - by C.J. Tudor.

My thoughts:

Here's one SCARY tale for you, horror at its creepy shivery best.

Wow, this is a fabulous, scary, menacing story, that had me gripped all the way through. It's every bit as good as C J Tudor's wonderful previous book the Chalk man and similar in style and type of setting, though both are very different, stand-alone novels. This is a superb horror story well worthy of comparisons to Stephen King.

Our protagonist is Joe Thorne, he's a teacher who returns to his childhood hometown, an old pit village called Arnhill, near Nottingham, to take up a position teaching at the local school he was once a pupil at. Joe is quite a complex character, though one I really liked. He obviously has a bit of a past, both back when he was a boy and in the intervening 25 years since he left school as he seems to know a few really dodgy characters and it isn't long until he starts bumping into folk from his childhood, this is a small town with that claustrophobic feel, where everyone knows everyone else and you just can't avoid anyone for long.

He doesn't want to avoid people though, he's come back to confront a terrible event which happened when he was 15 and discover once and for all what happened to his little sister Annie, whom he adored. At only 8 years old she went missing. He has had a cryptic anonymous message saying only, it's happening again and he is reluctantly drawn back to this gloomy place, shadowed by the traces of the old mine which created the town in it's heyday, then virtually destroyed it following it's closure. Now turned into a piece of parkland the Pit looms around every corner and it's influence remains in the very air of Arnhill.

Like the authors first book, it is told in dual time as Joe narrates it now and then takes us back to when he was a lad, when the story of what happened to little Annie is the stuff nightmares are made of.

This is one heck of a scary book, creepingly fearful it oozes with a malignant miasma that taints everything it touches. Even the house Joe rents has its secrets. There is a taint of a murder which was committed there, we are treated to chittering, skittering creepy crawlies, and the overwhelming sense that something, or someone is out to get Joe.


Several storylines intertwine and we are never quite sure who, of the many brilliant characters can be trusted and who is to be viewed as an enemy. If you like something to send shivers down your spine this is the perfect book to curl up with by a cozy fire this winter, but maybe not when you're completely alone in the house.

The Blurb.

One night, Annie went missing. Disappeared from her own bed. There were searches, appeals. Everyone thought the worst. And then, miraculously, after forty-eight hours, she came back. But she couldn't, or wouldn't, say what had happened to her.

Something happened to my sister. I can't explain what. I just know that when she came back, she wasn't the same. She wasn't my Annie.


I didn't want to admit, even to myself, that sometimes I was scared to death of my own little sister.

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Blog Tour A Good Death - Michael Bagley

I am welcoming Micheal Bagley to Beadyjans Book Blog to celebrate the launch of his new book, A Good Death.

Here Michael reveals the main characteristics of his lead protagonist:

Five characteristics of my main protagonist.

Although one person begins as an antagonist, readers may think he becomes a protagonist later. 

The main protagonist:

• He’s 26, middle class, with a ‘good’ job and he drives a new Audi Quattro. Outwardly, then, he’s in the prime of life.

• But inwardly he’s stalled, frustrated with life and his job holds no satisfaction for him. The future seems boringly predictable. Like many people, he’s looking for a outlet and a new challenge.

• His relationships with the opposite sex remain largely sexual. Meaningful relationships are what he reads in novels.

• He does have two close friends, who he sees every Friday night and within this semi-drunken culture he finds solace.


• He’s also very intelligent. As his father tells him, “You have an IQ of 144. You should be conquering the world” and, secretly, he knows it.

So If you love books with well planned complex characters A Good Death may well be the novel for you this Christmas.

Heres the blurb to whet your appetite a little more.

The year is 2028 and it’s a stunning spring day on the Lincolnshire Wolds, when Bess finally persuades her Uncle John to tell her the story of the family scandal that’s been merely whispered about at weddings and funerals. We’re then transported back fifteen years where, as a young man, John Stafford is forced to chase his father across the USA and Europe.

We discover, over three time-zones, that A Good Death is essentially about three characters: an embittered, former military father, a quiet, troubled son, suddenly thrust into the midst of a family crisis, and a bright, questioning young woman, who acts as conscience to both uncle and grandfather. The relationship between all three is constantly tested, as John discovers aspects of his father’s past, and is forced to remember disturbing elements of his own history, when he was just a small child.


The novel is about love and hate and betrayal and in parts it’s a dark story. But all three characters are on their own personal journeys – which each feels compelled to make – and they don’t end until back in 2028, where fate, at long last, waits.

Published by Clink Street Publishing the book is out now and can be ordered from your favourite seller. Find it here on Amazon and read more about it on Goodreads. 

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