1922. Since the Great War, Ruby Vaughn has made a life for herself running a rare bookshop alongside octogenarian Mr Owen. She thought that she had consigned painful memories of Penryth Hall, deep in the Cornish countryside, to the distant past. Returning to the hall, home to a once dear friend, Tamsyn, leads Ruby to cross paths with Tamsyn’s sinister husband, Sir Edward Chenowyth. Desperate to leave, Ruby’s plans are thwarted when Penryth’s bells ring for the first time in thirty years. Edward has been brutally killed in the orchard prompting fears that a dormant curse has been awoken.
The Pellar, Ruan Kivell, is summoned. The locals believe that this unsettling man can break the curse. Sceptical Ruby doesn’t believe in curses or Pellars but to protect her friend, she must work alongside him to find out what really happened that night.
My thoughts:
Thank you to Allison and Busby for the opportunity to read and review debut novel The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong.
I must admit that this book is out of the usual genres that I regularly read, with rumours of a murder being linked to a curse. However I was fascinated by how the book looked at how post WW1 had changed the lives of the local people and Ruby.
The book is darker in content than I initially expected, with lots of possible suspects because the murder victim didn’t seem to be very popular with the locals. But is Ruby also in danger from the locals and/or the murderer?
There are a few strands of stories within the book and I wonder if we will meet Ruby in other books, which may look at her wartime experiences and/or her holiday to Scotland with Mr Owen.
I enjoyed the story, full of secrets and tension. I look forward to reading more by Jess Armstrong in the future.
Karen K is reading 