Nuala Ellwood

My Sister's Bones by Nuala Ellwood is a very highly recommended psychological thriller. This is an excellent, compelling, unforgettable novel that will keep you guessing.

Kate Rafter, who has been a war correspondent for fifteen years, has returned back to the U. K. from coverage in Aleppo, Syria. While she was out of the country her beloved mother died and Kate was unable to attend her funeral thanks to her alcoholic sister, Sally, who did not contacting her in time. Now Kate has returned to show more her childhood home in Herne Bay, Kent, to sign some documents and view her mother's will. But after covering wars for years, Kate is also suffering from nightmares and hallucinations. She hears the cries for help and voices of those people she encountered.

Feeling under siege is not a new feeling for Kate, though, as her father was an abusive alcoholic who regularly beat her mother. As she stays in her childhood home, all the memories of abuse come rushing back along with Kate's regular visions and nightmares from the wars she has covered. But this time Kate is convinced that she is not seeing things when she hears a boy crying for his mother and sees him in her garden. She is convinced that the woman next door, an Iraqi refugee, is hiding abuse by her husband and that the boy in in danger. The woman claims, however, that she has no son and that her husband is away.

In between chapters of Kate's experiences in part one of My Sister's Bones are excerpts of a psychiatrist interviewing Kate. We know Kate has been arrested for something, possible related to her hallucinations and hearing voices, and she is being held while her mental health is evaluated. How reliable of a narrator is Kate? Is she imagining things?

Kate is a fully realized character draw with skill and depth. Yes, she is flawed and we know she is suffering from her years of war coverage, but she still inspires empathy and support while you are reading. Her sister, Sally, is an unsympathetic character who is vividly described and desperately flawed. It seems that both sisters are so damaged from their dysfunctional childhood that normalcy or recovery may not be an option.

The writing in My Sister's Bones is exceptional and the plot is compelling and clever. This novel was impossible to put down. I devoured this book almost effortlessly - the pages just flew by - and was surprised at the twists the novel took. Ellwood has several shocking surprises that I never saw coming. She also skillfully covers domestic violence and the violence in a war-torn country, with insight and sensitivity as she draws comparisons in her narrative between the effects of both violent situations on the victims. Admirable, excellent, remarkable - I liked everything about this novel.

Disclosure: I received an advanced reading copy of this book from HarperCollins
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2059367557
on 7/18/17 - http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/ show less

I received a free uncorrected proof of My Sister’s Bones by Nuala Ellwood from Library Thing in exchange for an honest review.

What a wild ride! A psychological thriller interweaving a woman’s traumatic childhood, her dysfunctional family relations, and her traumatic experiences as an award-winning journalist covering the human consequences of war.
Kate grew up in Herne Bay, a quiet town in Kent. Her father was a violent man who drank and regularly beat her mother; when Kate intervened show more she was beaten herself. Her younger sister Sally, in Kate’s mind, was a bystander who chose not to see what was going on. When she was old enough to leave home, Kate escaped to London and for 15 years worked as a prize-winning war correspondent in high risk areas where she wrote of the suffering of innocent civilians. Her last assignment was harrowing- she became emotionally involved with a small Syrian boy, who was blown up by a bomb. Kate blames herself for not saving him. She has nightmares, hears voices, and becomes addicted to sleeping pills and powerful anti-psychotic drugs. She won’t admit she is suffering from PTSD and needs treatment.

The story opens with Kate returned home to Herne Bay for her mother’s funeral. She is being questioned by a police psychologist. A complaint has been lodged, and the police must determine whether Kate is a danger to herself and others and needs to be committed. As the story unfolds, we jump back and forth in time- back to Kate’s childhood and dysfunctional family, her traumatic experience in Syria, a devastating experience with her married lover; and a mystery- a possible crime in the present. All this is told from the point of view of a woman under the influence of alcohol and powerful drugs- we don’t know what is real, what is imaginary; she doesn’t know either.

The twisty road to the powerful and emotional conclusion of the novel when the strands of Kate’s life and that of her sister Sally come together, earns this novel a four-star rating. Highly recommended. show less

The Story Collector is a triple timeline story set in 1915, 1918 and the present day. In wartime London Katerina is trying to keep her father's bakery going whilst also using her gift for tarot readings to help people, especially the women whose husbands are away fighting. In a German prisoner-of-war camp, researcher Miriam is helping a professor to undertake a linguistics project when she meets mute Prisoner X. And in modern day Cornwall Edie, having fled London after the death of her show more husband, comes across a box in a cavity in the wall of her cottage which contains some very interesting items indeed.

Despite the 1915 and 1918 timelines being so close to each other in time, they're on a quite different trajectory to each other and for much of the book it's not clear how the three strands are going to be connected. Iris Costello did an amazing job at plotting this book and gradually bringing all the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle. I loved being kept guessing, trying to work it all out and not quite succeeding. I was just completely along for the ride and loved every minute of it.

For me, this book has everything I want. It has the multiple threads, both historical and modern, family secrets, sweet treats, tarot cards and visions, and a stunning love story. The writing is utter perfection, just so beautifully executed and vivid, and the settings are full of atmosphere, thoroughly transporting me to the different locations. As each chapter ended I was plunged into another time, each as strong and as compelling as the one before it and I was quite simply engrossed from beginning to end. The Story Collector is absolutely glorious, with characters that jump off the page and a long-hidden mystery at its heart. Looking back at my review of The Secrets of Rochester Place, Costello's previous book, I can see I said some very similar things. I loved that book but I loved The Story Collector even more. show less

I'm a big fan of Nuala Ellwood's books. She writes fast-paced and gripping stories and The House on the Lake is no exception to that.

Our protagonist, Lisa, arrives at Rowan Isle House with her three year old son, Joe, right at the beginning of the book. It's clear she's running away but why? And what on earth brings her to a house that is so run down and in the middle of nowhere? Yes, a friend of hers gave her details of the house but it's hardly fit for human habitation. This is where show more another story intertwines with Lisa's own narrative. I'm not going to say what it is but it provides a fascinating counter-story to that of Lisa.

What links the two stories is control, of being so manipulated by another person that it takes away the very essence of who a person really is. I thought the whole plot was very clever and completely compelling. I had a deep sense of unease throughout as I read this dark and often disturbing tale of intense domination.

The house itself is pretty much a character in its own right. The cover image really captures it just as I would expect it to be from the descriptions in the book. It's a sprawling place on the edge of a lake with nothing else around it. Although there's a small village close by, the house itself stands alone and the author has done a fabulous job at making it seem a very sinister, unpleasant and primitive place.

This is a psychological thriller and it's most definitely about the effects of being mentally broken down. Ellwood's books, despite the subject matter, are so easy to read that I find myself racing through them. I thought The House on the Lake was incredibly absorbing. I loved it. show less