Lucy Ribchester

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"She thought for the first time in her life how wretched it was to be a woman. War was ferocious to men. But when it was over the ones left would go back to their lives. For a woman, there would always be pillaged wages, affairs broken off, promises unfulfilled, family shame, babies to be hidden in unmarked graves, in wooden drawers."

Honey Deschamps is a typist at Bletchley Park, transcribing decrypted show more messages for the war effort, when she begins to receive packages of unknown origins containing chunks of amber bearing coded messages. Frightened by the ramifications and lacking the skill to decipher the carvings in the amber, Honey keeps the parcels largely a secret. However, the brutal murder of her brother and the loss of her closest friend pressures Honey into embarking on a journey for the truth about both her past and the mysterious packages.

A complex story of code breaking, war, family secrets, and obsession. A rather peculiar read, with a prose style that is alluring, but can require a certain level of commitment to become invested in. The Amber Shadows is slow to develop, but when the story suddenly hits it's stride it becomes impossible to look away. A sinister, sinuous narrative with a brutal twist I never anticipated. Ribchester is a master of secrets and illusion, making this well worth the read. show less

I came to The Amber Shadows with a great deal of anticipation. So many things to like: the World War II setting of Bletchley Park, code breaking, the fabled Amber Room that was dismantled by the Nazis and still hasn't been found.... The author did deliver on one important part: the setting. Of all the books I've read, Lucy Ribchester has done the best job of showing readers what it was like to live in England through the Blitz-- trying to navigate in pitch darkness with no street signs for show more guidance, how to dress or eat with strict rationing going on, and how miserable it could be when you're billeted with people who don't want you in their house. This part of the book is excellent.

However, I didn't find much to like about the rest. One of the major themes of the book was the real versus the artificial and the danger of creating a fantasy when you don't like the life you've been dealt. The way it was handled seemed very muddled to me, and it was difficult for me to keep my mind on the story. It also didn't help one iota when the only characters who seemed to have any real intelligence and/or common sense were secondary ones who were seldom seen.

The Amber Shadows is a slow-moving tale that I just couldn't warm up to. Hopefully, your mileage will differ. show less

I nearly gave this up until I hit about 100 pages in and things suddenly changed and twists and turns appeared into the story that made it a more compelling read. Honestly I didn't really care what happened to the characters and it occasionally felt like the grim reality of Edinburgh of the period was being ground in to the story. It was 1798 and Isobel Duguid and her castrato friend Clessidro are regulars with the Edinburgh Musical Society. A Mrs Abercorn asks to record Isobel's most famous show more ballad and the truth behind the story starts to come out. No-one comes out of this well.
I found myself drifting away from it until I was over half-way there and then things started to pick up, There was very little I really got into with the story and I honestly felt like an almost unwilling bystander. show less

Set in 1912, this book is focused on the suffragette movement in England, and what methods to employ to gain voting rights for women. The main character is "Frankie" George, a young aspiring newspaper writer, who is assigned to babysit a grande dame (Twinkle) and co-write articles about what women's pedestrian interests. Her editor decides to give a break, to interview and photograph a trapeze artist and suffragette, Ebony Diamond. Then, two close friends of hers are killed and she show more disappears. One of Ebony's circus friends, Milly, joins Frankie in her search. Milly is by far the most interesting character in the book, as her story and family are tantalizingly revealed. Most of the rest of the characters are pretty flat. Men are poorly portrayed, for the most past, especially the bumbling cops, and way too much time spent describing the clothes worn. show less