Hannah Morgan-Lewis

Mostly when I read books I have some sort of idea where the author is going and what point they are trying to make, but not with this book. It just seems to meander on and on. I felt I had to finish it but was left with a disapointing sense of ‘Is this really it?' I don't have a problem with depressing books or emotionally scarred protagonists but I didn't really find this book had much of an emotional resonance, perhaps because I found the narrator quite annoying, particularly with the ham-fisted philosophy. Theo didn't develop as a character, he just seemed to stay 13 in my head, probably because of all the drug taking. It ended up feeling a bit like reading a rather pretentious YA novel with added drug addiction.

I loved this historical gothic mystery set in Wales. I found the mystery a complete page-turner with all sorts of classic gothic elements included. The characters were well-observed, particularly Henry, the doctor who stumbles into the mystery, and Linette, the daughter of the house where he goes to work. I also really appreciated how the author writes so lovingly about Wales; its landscape, people, language and folklore. I will definitely be looking up her other work.

I found this novel quite surprising towards the end. It would be easy to dismiss this as a product of its time, although witty and shocking in parts, but it was saved by the tenderness of the portrayal of his relationship with his mother. The audiobook had a good narrator.

First an admission. It took me a while and a few goes before I appreciated Wuthering Heights. I still can't describe myself as a massive fan, but I will fiercely defend Emily Bronte as the writer.

Emma Tennant's Heathcliffe's Tale did sound like the kind of book I love, as I enjoyed reading her Pride and Prejudice spin off when I was first getting into Austen. However, I found this book did a great disservice both to the source material and to the Bronte family.

Wriiten in the 18th century style, this is the tale of Henry Newby, who visits Haworth Parsonage on a mission to find the elusive Ellis Bell, along the way finding fragments of original manuscripts which tell additional parts of the story of Heathcliffe and also illuminate who may have written the manuscript and their inspiration. It is all very confused and confusing and places Bramwell, the brother of Emily Bronte in the forefront of candidates for the author of the novel. I'd heard of the theory of Bramwell as the author previously, and wasn't really impressed, I'm afraid I was even more disappointed that a female author placed him as the author. There is little sense of the family in the book anyway, at the point it's set Charlotte is elsewhere and the other Brontes have all died aside from Patrick and the servant. Worse still, the novel is supposedly inspired by a potential incestuous relationship between Emily and Bramwell and the found manuscript includes and explanation whereby Heathcliffe is the bastard son of Mr Earnshaw and Cathy his incestuous daughter by Catherine! I thought this aspect was sensationalised and unnecessary. The relationship is already forbidden by way of the class differences and the fact that Heathcliffe's parentage is unknown, he can have an interesting backstory and motivation without it being incestuous and Emily can be as passionate and complicated as Bramwell, enough to write WH especially without making the backstory all about ‘Byronic' passions between her and her brother.

I found Nelly Dean by Alison Case a much better exploration of the world of WH.

An interesting premise - Sherlock Holmes and Henry James investigate the murder of Clover Adams, a figure in American literary circles. I enjoyed most of this book. The writing flowed well and it was quite exciting in parts. However, I think the second half went off the rails a little bit and I found it a bit of a slog. The main two mysteries were if Sherlock Holmes was real and who killed Clover Adams, but these two mysteries got derailed somewhat by the potential assassination which I found a bit muddled. Not keen on the magic Native American explanation for Sherlock either. Overall, it was a bit gimmicky at times; I think it needed a bit of editing and just a bit more restraint as it felt as if the author had thrown the kitchen sink at it and the solutions to the mysteries were a little bit of a let down. 3 stars is a bit harsh, however, it was more of a 3 and half stars book.