Giveaway: Win a copy of The Home by Sarah Stovell

Today it's my stop on the blog tour for Sarah Stovell's latest book The Home, which is out now as an eBook and the paperback is published on 22nd January, for which I should have been hosting my review. However, I have struggled getting back into a work/blogging routine this week which has meant that I haven't yet had a chance to write my review as only finished reading the book late last night.

Rather than writing a rushed review this afternoon for this book that affected me more than I could have possibly imagined, I have decided to host a giveaway for my blog tour post today and will write my review in the morning once I've had a chance to compose my thoughts on this emotional read!

One more little secret … one more little lie…

When the body of a pregnant fifteen-year-old is discovered in a churchyard on Christmas morning, the community is shocked, but unsurprised. For Hope lived in The Home, the residence of three young girls, whose violent and disturbing pasts have seen them cloistered away…

Louise's Review: Exquisite by Sarah Stovell

Reviewed by Louise Wykes

Bo Luxton has it all - a loving family, a beautiful home in the Lake District, and a clutch of bestselling books to her name. 

Enter Alice Dark, an aspiring writer who is drifting through life, with a series of dead-end jobs and a freeloading boyfriend. 

When they meet at a writers' retreat, the chemistry is instant, and a sinister relationship develops ...

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Guest Book Review: Sarah Stovell - the Night Flower

Reviewed by Lisa Bentley

Two girls are brought together under the worst of circumstances: a prison ship taking them from London to 'parts beyond the sea'. 

Miriam is a Romany girl drawn from freedom in the hills of the North-West to the city to eke a living playing her tin-whistle in a place where her people are despised. When her mother dies - from cholera, the 'gypsy disease' - she's caught breaking-and-entering and sentenced to transportation.

Rose has been brought up to expect more, but when her husband dies and her father is sent down for illegal slave-trading, she's separated from her children and forced to take a governess's job. When she's caught stealing, the judge shows no mercy.

Surviving - just - an appalling voyage, the two arrive just after Christmas into the blinding sun of the strange new island: Van Dieman's Land. Here they are sent to work in a nursery, where women of ill-repute give birth before being sent for correction. The nursery is run by a corrupt, debauched Reverend and his idealistic son, who soon takes a fancy to Miriam. But Rose, her best friend and close confidant, watches jealously and makes plans to reverse their fortunes.

Author Interview: Sarah Stovell

Today I am taking part in Sarah Stovell's blog tour for her latest book The Night Flower which is published this Thursday by Tindal Street Press.  Sarah kindly agreed to answer a few questions so I'll hand you over to Sarah.

Did you always know you wanted to be a writer? 
Yes. Always.

Have you ever had writer’s block? 
I’ve had the odd day where things aren’t going well, but no, I’ve been lucky enough not to suffer from any kind of long-term block so far.

If you weren’t a writer, what career path would you have chosen to follow?
At 21, I probably would have gone for media or something like that, though in reality I don’t think I’d have survived. Now, I often wish I’d become a left-wing politician. More likely, however, I’d have been an English teacher. It’s still quite likely that I will become an English teacher.

Can you tell us a little bit about The Night Flower?
It’s set in the 1840s and is about a young Gypsy girl who burgles a house and is sentenced to seven years’ transportation.