Blog Tour stop for this captivating and obsessively enthralling novella based on a true crime.
#TheBirthdayHouse @Jill_Treseder @SilverWoodBooks #RandomThingsTours
"Based on a disturbing real-life crime... "
Synopsis
The year is 1955, the location picturesque Devon.
In a house by the River Dart, schoolgirl Josephine Kennedy posts invitations to her twelfth birthday party – a party that never takes place.
Horrific violence is committed that night in the family home, leaving all of its occupants dead.
Based on a disturbing real-life crime, this compelling story explores Josephine’s fate through the prism of friends and family – the victims and survivors who unwittingly influenced the events that led up to the tragedy.
Josephine’s best friend, Susan, is haunted by the secrets of the birthday house. Can she ever find a way of making peace with the past?
My Review
It is an absolute honour to be closing out what has been a fantastic Blog Tour for this novella!
I have loved following along and seeing what other lovely bloggers thought of this book which I truly adored reading.
This is a little book in comparison to many others at just under 150 pages but it packs a huge punch.
Set in Dartmouth in the 1950's this story is based on a True Crime which happened to the authors friend and her family around that time.
I found the whole book captivating and the characters story and the true story element was obsessively enthralling and yet utterly heart breaking, the under lying and more in your face elements of domestic violence, showing what happened in that era and has you think about what still happens now, the silence and the idea of "what goes on at home stays at home" was really well written.
If this book shows anything its how times have changed and how we should be speaking up for ourselves and if needed and for others, through all the triggers out there, we should stand up for our friends, neighbours, family and not worry how things look just go with our gut feeling when some things just don't add up or don't feel right? in the end we could be saving the other person from further trauma.
The author unfortunately may never have the real answers in what happened to her friend may she rest in peace or the true understanding of why, but I hope in writing this she found it in some way it has helped as release of her grief and anger.
Author Bio
I started writing in a red shiny exercise book when I was seven years old. But in that time and place it was an ‘invalid’ activity, was overlooked, but never went away.
It was many years before I felt able to call myself ‘writer’.
But there came a day when the phrase ‘I am a writer’ no longer sounded pretentious, but legitimate, and even necessary. Was it because I had a writing room instead of the corner of a landing? Or because I spent more time writing? Or because I’d got better at it? Or because I get miserable and bad-tempered if I don’t write? Probably a combination of all of the above.
Writing is my third career. The first was as a social worker with children and families, a job I loved, but left because I could no longer cope with the system.
This led to a freelance career as an independent management consultant, helping people to handle emotions in the work context. I worked in the IT industry, in companies large and small, as well as public organisations. Later I became involved in research projects concerned with the multi-disciplinary approach to social problems such as child abuse.
So, in a sense, I had come full-circle. All these experiences feed into the process of writing fiction, while my non-fiction book ‘The Wise Woman Within’ resulted indirectly from the consultancy work and my subsequent PhD thesis,‘Bridging Incommensurable Paradigms’, which is available from the School of Management at the University of Bath.
I live in Devon and visit Cornwall frequently and these land and seascapes are powerful influences which demand a presence in my writing.
Writers’ groups and workshops are a further invaluable source of inspiration and support and I attend various groups locally and sign up for creative courses in stunning locations whenever I can. I try doing writing practice at home but there is no substitute for the focus and discipline achieved among others in a group.
I have written some short stories and recently signed up for a short story writing course to explore this genre in more depth.
I live with my husband in South Devon and enjoy being involved in a lively local community.
Twitter @Jill_Treseder
Purchase Information/Links
Paperback: 150 pages
· Publisher: Silverwood Books (24 Jun. 2019)
· Language: English
· ISBN-10: 178132879X
· ISBN-13: 978-1781328798
Blog Tour
Thank you to the Publisher and Author for sending me an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel and for the opportunity to review these works.
All reviews are my own unbiased opinion.