The Queen of the Valley

AIUI when Hughes wrote The Spanish Daughter her publisher insisted on a sequel. Well, she wrote one, and... um... it has many fine words in it. Many fine sentences, too, because Hughes writes beautifully. Sadly, as a whole it was not a fine book. It felt forced the whole way through. Contrived storyline, jarring anachronisms, unlikable characters. I got the sense that Hughes herself was tired of them: with one very minor exception, every character was painted unsympathetically. And, having recently read Thornhedge, I found the lookism kind of offensive.

Hughes can do much better. She has. I trust that her next book will be a labor of love and inspiration, not contract, and I look forward to reading it.

(Also, DAE find the sugar/salt thing weird? I find it impossible to imagine anyone doing that.)