Guest Book Review: Martine Bailey - An Appetite for Violets

Reviewed by Sarah Brew

That's how it is for us servants. No one pays you much heed; mostly you're invisible as furniture. Yet you overhear a conversation here, and add a little gossip there. A writing desk lies open and you cannot help but read a paper. Then you find something, something you should not have found.

Irrepressible Biddy Leigh, under-cook at the foreboding Mawton Hall, only wants to marry her childhood sweetheart and set up her own tavern. But when her elderly master marries the young Lady Carinna, Biddy is unwittingly swept up in a world of scheming, secrets and lies. 

Forced to accompany her new mistress to Italy, Biddy takes with her an old household book of recipes, The Cook's Jewel, in which she records her observations. When she finds herself embroiled in a murderous conspiracy, Biddy realises that the secrets she holds could be the key to her survival - or her downfall...

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Debut Spotlight: Martine Bailey

Today is the start of another publisher feature week, this time for Hodder & Stoughton, where the intention is to try and catch up with some of the outstanding reviews of books that they have sent me as well as including features with some of their authors.

First up is a debut spotlight with one of their newest authors Martine Bailey whose first novel An Appetite for Violets was published last Thursday, followed by a guest review later today for the book.

Inspired by eighteenth-century household books of recipes, An Appetite for Violets allowed Martine to indulge in her obsessions with food, history and travel. As an amateur cook, Martine won the Merchant Gourmet Recipe Challenge and was a former UK Dessert Champion, cooking at Le Meurice in Paris. In pursuit of authenticity she has studied with food historian Ivan Day and experienced Georgian food and fashion at firsthand with an historic re-enactment society.

Martine lives in Cheshire, England after recently returning from a 20-month stay in New Zealand. She is married with one son and is currently writing a second historical novel.

That's how it is for us servants. No one pays you much heed; mostly you're invisible as furniture. Yet you overhear a conversation here, and add a little gossip there. A writing desk lies open and you cannot help but read a paper. Then you find something, something you should not have found. 

Irrepressible Biddy Leigh, undercook at the forbidding Mawton Hall,can't wait to settle down with her sweetheart and set up her own tavern. But when her elderly master marries the young, enigmatic Lady Carinna, Biddy is unwittingly swept up in a world of scheming, secrets and lies.