Snow Sisters by Carol Lovekin #snowsisters @carollovekin @honno

I am thrilled to be on the blog tour today for Snow Sisters by Carol Lovekin!

Book Blurb…

Two sisters, their grandmother’s old house and Angharad… the girl who cannot leave.

Meredith discovers a dusty sewing box in a disused attic. Once open the box releases the ghost of Angharad, a Victorian child-woman with a horrific secret she must share. Angharad slowly reveals her story to Meredith who fails to convince her more pragmatic sister of the visitations, until Verity sees Angharad for herself on the eve of an unseasonal April snowstorm.

Forced by her flighty mother to abandon Gull House for London, Meredith struggles to settle, still haunted by Angharad and her little red flannel hearts. This time, Verity is not sure she will be able to save her

My review…

I think this will probably be on the short side for one of my reviews as I’m absolutely convinced that any words I use to convey the beauty of this book won’t match those used by author Carol Lovekin and the gently flowing fluidity of her beautifully crafted narrative. I just wanted to cry with the sheer joy at how perfectly the poetic prose brought this story to life giving it an ethereal quality that enveloped me from the very first page.

This ghostly story unfolds over three timelines; the present with Verity returning to Gull House after a series of family deaths, Verity and Meredith living there in the late 1970s with their flighty mother Allegra and then there is the voice from the past of their “ghost” Angharad as she tells her traumatic tale to those who can finally listen. I loved all of the women’s voices here but I especially loved the relationship between the two sisters. As a mother myself I was shocked at the differing attitudes Allegra had towards her two daughters. Showing such blatant favouritism towards one child could have divided the sisters but no matter what happened, the girls remained united…….until one day Allegra drops a bombshell that will send them all scurrying back to London.

I tend not to read any books with a supernatural theme but Snow Sisters was so much more than I ever could have expected. It cast a magical spell over me so that I was completely overtaken by the lives of all the women here and the mysteries surrounding them. I noticed that the male characters remained nameless throughout (apart from Idris whom we never actually meet) which gave them an shadowy creepiness, keeping the female characters vividly at the forefront of our concern.

This is an atmospheric and hauntingly evocative novel that stirred my soul more than I thought possible. A stunningly beautiful and touching storyline that I delighted in whilst reading and felt thoroughly bereft of once finished. Highly recommended.

Snow Sisters is available to purchase now from Amazon UK. I received my review copy from the publisher Honno Press.

Meet the author…

 

Carol is a writer, feminist and flâneuse. Her home is in beautiful West Wales, a place whose legends and landscape inform her writing. She writes contemporary fiction threaded with elements of magic.
Her second book, SNOW SISTERS, was published on 21 September, 2017 by Honno, the Welsh Women’s Press. It has been chosen by the Welsh Books Council as their October Book of the Month (for independent shops.)
GHOSTBIRD, her first novel, was published in March 2016. The book was chosen as Waterstones Wales and Welsh Independent Bookshops ‘Book Of The Month’ for April 2016. It was longlisted for the Guardian ‘Not the Booker’ prize 2016 and nominated for the Guardian Readers’ Book of the Year 2016.Praise for SNOW SISTERS
“Lovekin’s words soar like the birds, who see everything”
Louise Beech – ‘How To Be Brave’Praise for GHOSTBIRD
“Charming, quirky, magical”
Joanne Harris – ‘Chocolat’

Author photographs © Janey Stevens