Showing posts with label Cornwall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cornwall. Show all posts

Saturday 11 August 2018

Bridles Lane by Johanna Craven

I'm getting through my books a bit slowly these days. Work is getting in the way and I stopped taking the kindle to the beach as it was giving me a sore neck. So a bit more time between reviews. This week it was back to my favourite genre; Historical fiction. Johanna Craven has become a favourite of mine and this book was very good, but I preferred her other 2 books I've reviewed.



This is the third book I read by Johanna Craven and like her other books it is meticulously researched. She has set her story in 1740’s cornwall , a time when taxes where high and smuggling therefore rife. We are introduced to Isaac Bailey and his much younger sister Scarlet. After the death of his parents, Isaac does not only have to care for his sister but also has to pay of his father’s debt. The writer has put her characters in some desperate situations and they don’t always take the noblest way to get them out of these situations. This is what I like about this writer; her characters are flawed and complex in their motives. Like Scarlet who is innocent and trusting of her fellow man, but often finds herself descending into a dark and uncontrollable rage. The wild country side and the unpredictable sea form an atmospheric back drop and we can understand why the villagers are so superstitious. People where ill-informed and couldn’t explain the strange events Mother Nature had in store for them. This is the first of a trilogy and I can’t wait to see where the next book takes the Baileys