If you've been keeping your eyes open lately you will probably have seen a number of enthusiastic reviews of this novel, and also lots of discussion about Linda Gillard's reasons for bringing it out as an e-book. You can read about this in Linda's own words on I Prefer Reading here, and there's been lots of interesting discussion about it all -- see this post on Cornflower, for example. I see today that the book has sold just short of 1000 copies in three weeks. That's an amazing number and really does tell us something about the power of the blogs, as I assume that's the chief reason for the sales.
I don't have a Kindle but I discovered that I could download Kindle software onto my laptop so I read the book that way. The software was free from Amazon and the book only cost £1.90 so it was a terrific bargain all round. And it was an entertaining read. Gwen Rowland manages to persuade her actor boyfriend Alfie to take her to his family home for Christmas. This means a lot to Gwen, who is an orphan without any family of her own. But Creake Hall, an Elizabethan manor in Norfolk, turns out to be a house of secrets and lies, and Gwen finds herself increasingly puzzled and upset by the confusing family relationships and by the fact that Alfie doesn't seem to be quite the person she thought he was. So, if you like dysfunctional Christmases, snowy gardens, peculiar mothers, gothic houses, mystery photos, a bit of quilting, attractive Polish gardeners who play the cello, or any combination of the above, get downloading!
