Today it's a pleasure too take part in the BlogTour The Woman in the Lake by Nicola Cornick. This is a mystery, but it also has the low key vibe of a psychological thriller with two timelines and a nod towards historical fiction.
About the Author
Nicola Cornick is a historian and historical fiction author. She studied at London University and Ruskin College Oxford and works for the National Trust as a guide at the seventeenth century hunting lodge Ashdown House in Oxfordshire. Her award-winning books are international bestsellers and have been translated into 26 languages. She currently writes dual timeframe novels for Harper Collins HQ in the UK and Graydon House in the US. She is the incoming chair of the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Nicola lives near Oxford and loves reading, writing, history, music, wildlife, travel and walking her dog. She also loves hearing from her readers and chatting to them on her blog at nicolacornick.co.uk
Follow @NicolaCornick @HQStories on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads,
Buy The Woman in the Lake
About the book
London, 1765
Lady Isabella Gerard, a respectable member of Georgian society, orders her maid to take her new golden gown and destroy it, its shimmering beauty tainted by the actions of her brutal husband the night before.
Three months later, Lord Gerard stands at the shoreline of the lake, looking down at a woman wearing the golden gown. As the body slowly rolls over to reveal her face, it’s clear this was not his intended victim…
250 Years Later…
When a gown she stole from a historic home as a child is mysteriously returned to Fenella Brightwell, it begins to possess her in exactly the same way that it did as a girl. Soon the fragile new life Fen has created for herself away from her abusive ex-husband is threatened at its foundations by the gown’s power over her until she can't tell what is real and what is imaginary.
As Fen uncovers more about the gown and Isabella’s story, she begins to see the parallels with her own life. When each piece of history is revealed, the gown—and its past—seems to possess her more and more, culminating in a dramatic revelation set to destroy her sanity.
The story wanders in and out of two timelines and connected by a vintage gown which appears to have unusual powers. The type of power that can make people who fall into its spell do strange, impulsive and perhaps even volatile things.
The reader is introduced to this volatility in the first chapters when the person wearing it falls prey to the mystery that surrounds it. In 1765 we meet the owner of the dress, a woman abused by her husband and stuck in a dire situation because of the strict patriarchal rules her society is governed by.
Then fast forward 250 years and the reader is catapulted into the future to the present and a young girl called Fen, who comes into contact with the same dress. She makes what seems to be the impulsive decision of a naughty young girl who wants a bit of attention. Is it really that simple?
Both stories have similarities and plenty of intrigue, and everything takes place around the shimmering brilliance of finely stitched layers of material. Abuse, stalking, theft and the machinations of a notorious criminal gang.
Although the dress is in the middle of the plot, there are plenty of sub-plots taking place simultaneously to make the reader question whether there really are strange things afoot or just plenty of examples of terrible human behaviour.
I was intrigued by the idea of an object, in this case the mysterious gown, being able to enhance certain character, personality or behavioural traits. In each person it takes on an individual aspect, because we all have different strengths, weaknesses and odd habits.
This is a mystery, but it also has the low key vibe of a psychological thriller with two timelines and a nod towards historical fiction.
Buy The Woman in the Lake at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads or any other retailer.
Read my review of House of Shadows by Nicola Cornick
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