Mary Paulson-Ellis

Wow! Yes, this is a wow book and I'm pretty sure it has just marched onto my favourite books of the year list.

I'm finding that books set during the First World War are really capturing my attention these days and parts of this book are set in the final days of that conflict when Captain Godfrey Farthing and his comrades are waiting for orders, wondering if they will come before the bells ring to signify the end of the war. Godfrey wants to keep his company safe if at all possible without show more disobeying orders.

The other strand of the story follows Godfrey's grandson, Solomon, in 2016. He's an heir hunter tasked to find out if a recently deceased man had any next of kin. If books set in World War One are particular favourites for me then most definitely so are genealogical ones with investigations into family trees and long lost relatives.

What a perfect combination, therefore, The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing is. It is plotted beautifully so as to tie all the strands in without doing so in a really obvious way. It's a companion piece to The Other Mrs Walker, Mary Paulson-Ellis's first book and I really enjoyed the way characters from the book popped up in this one. As with that first book this is one that ideally needs reading and then reading again to fully slot all the pieces together. I love a book that is like a jigsaw puzzle but it also means that greater concentration is needed and a fair amount of flicking backwards to put it all into its place. That is absolutely not a negative point though as I found it completely enthralling from beginning to end. It's a real voyage of discovery.

This is a big book at just over 500 pages but not for a moment was I tempted to rush it. The author has done a magnificent job at portraying the emotion of the war both through the minds and actions of soldiers at the time and also in looking at what happened afterwards and how the effects rippled down through the generations.

This is my kind of read. Deliciously complex, moving and thoughtful, I spent the last few pages in tears as all the threads were pulled together to the conclusion. Paulson-Ellis is a very talented writer. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. show less

I was a big fan of The Other Mrs Walker and The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing, the first two books by Mary Paulson-Ellis. Emily Noble's Disgrace is the third in this series of books about people who die without any obvious heirs but each can be read as a standalone story.

This is the story of two young women, Essie Pound and Emily Noble, and a boarding house in Portobello, Edinburgh's seaside. Essie is a cleaner with a specialist company that cleans up after traumatic and messy deaths. The show more boarding house contains the body of Isabella Dawson, the owner and a major hoarder. Emily is a PC who comes across Essie and the boarding house in the course of her investigations. The first section is from Essie's point of view, the second is about Emily and the third section, and my favourite, is the story of the boarding house and all its secrets, going back in time through the generations.

This is an intricately plotted read, one which I found really quite complex and cryptic. At times it took a bit of getting my head around but ultimately I loved the way the threads of the past filtered down into the present and the way the author took me way back through the years to make sense of them all. I also particularly enjoyed characters from the previous books popping up here and there.

Paulson-Ellis writes books that are right up my street with unusual and intriguing characters. Family history plays a major part and I loved being able to delve into the past in so much detail. I also really enjoyed the social history in the boarding house section and the conclusion to that part of the story was particularly shocking.

This story of the dead and their remains, both physical and emotional, is, for me, quite unique and the author has, once again, crafted a fascinating story. show less

What a fantastic debut novel! The Other Mrs Walker by Mary Paulson-Elis is an absolutely gripping mystery that revolves around a woman (Margaret Penny) who's newly employed by the Office for Lost People. Her task is to find the family members of those who have died alone and unknown. She is tasked with finding out more of Mrs Walker, an elderly lady who has pretty much no connections. And all Margaret has to go on is a few peculiar objects found in Mrs Walker's little apartment.

The story show more unfolds spectacularly in a non-linear fashion, and kept me glued to my seat, turning the pages greedily to find out what's the deal behind Mrs Walker and Margaret Penny. I loved the author's writing voice, I actually saw some sense in governments creating a department for specifically these types of cases, and when I came to the end of the book I just wanted more.

What I especially enjoyed is that Margaret Penny isn't wet behind her ears. She's a middle-aged protagonist with a good head on her shoulders. Okay, yes, her mother comes across as awful, and anyone would be affected by it, but I liked that Margaret isn't a kid.

The Other Mrs Walker is a sad novel, especially when you realize how real the situation is when it comes to those who've been forgotten, but it's still one of the best books I've read (so far) in 2016. Definitely try and get your hands on this one if you're looking for a detective story that's a bit outside of the box.

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This is a difficult book to review. While I really enjoyed the author's writing style and I loved the setting of that cold winter in Edinburgh (I remember it well), the story really didn't work for me.

This is a particularly gloomy book. None of the characters have an easy time of it and there is a real sense of unease throughout, which is emphasised by the settings. I quite liked the different timelines and the way the story jumped about, which I found a bit confusing at first but became show more used to it and this for me was the best part of the story. I don't mind uncomfortable reads at all but there was no let up. I didn't really connect with any of the characters either, there was nothing endearing about any of them. The repeated mentions of certain things, the brazil nut and the clementine seeds etc., was odd and I didn't think the story needed it, nor did I need reminding of their presence quite so often. And I was completely puzzled by the last line.

In all I found this to be a muddle of a book, it was a bit like being stuck in a deep muddy puddle and I was glad when I finally struggled out of it. show less