When librarian Marth Storm finds a book of fairy tales on her doorstep, her life begins to change.
Inside there is a dedication to her from her much-loved deceased Grandmother, Zelda. But mysteriously the date on the dedication doesn’t add up with Zelda’s death and Martha begins to believe she may still be alive.
With help from Owen, a local bookseller, Martha begins to delve deeper into Zelda’s and the Storm family’s past. But will she reveal a secret that will change her life forever?
This is the first book I have read by Patrick, but it certainly won’t be the last. Although a fairly light read it was full of mystery and a little magic.
Martha is a complex character, created by circumstance and the people around her. She strives to help everyone, which people take for granted, but she never seems to have the time to complete any of her chores. When she began to realise this, I felt myself really rooting for her to change, and I thought her character development was enjoyable and realistic.
This story was a real page turner and I found myself staying up far too late to read “just one more chapter”. The chapters are interwoven with stories extracted from the book of fairy tales. These highlight key thoughts and feelings of the characters and link in nicely with the theme, especially the very poignant “The Woodcutter and the Nightingale” near the end.
I didn’t seem to find the twists and turns particularly shocking like other readers have, in fact I had the main secret pegged from around Chapter 3. So, for those of you who like to be filled with suspense throughout, this may not be the book for you. However, I just took every page in my stride and relished this highly immersive, delightfully descriptive story.
** Thanks to HQ, via NetGalley, for this ARC **