ramblingmads

When Caroline Alleyn inherits Wickham Grange, all she wants to do is sell up. There are bad memories there, linked to her childhood as the daughter of a single mother – and to all the other mothers she knew in that house.

But her grandmother Frances’s will means that it can’t be sold without the consent of five elderly women, and they all refuse. None of them will tell her why she has to keep a house she doesn’t want. Instead, she is given a stark warning: don’t look for Lizzie Sixpence.

Though Caroline has other worries. Someone is watching her; the house’s elderly tenants are lying to her; and an old man is hoarding mementoes of her past. Then she finds the bones. And Caroline is left with a choice: keep silent, or betray everything her grandmother stood for. Because there is one final secret to be revealed…

Zoe has worked in education services for nearly 25 years, but her heart has always been in writing. When she’s not working, she enjoys baking, collecting antiques, and gardening. She is also slowly decorating and furnishing a large dolls’ house. Originally from Medway, she has a grown-up son and now lives in London with her husband and their enormous dog.

My thoughts: Wickham Grange has been a place of refuge over the years, but now her grandmother has died, for Caroline it is a place of secrets. Planning to sell the building, she has to locate five women who her grandma’s will says she has to get the consent with before she can sell.

As Caroline attempts to unravel the past, she keeps being told to stay out of things, and not to look for the mysterious Lizzie Sixpence.

Caroline, however, is determined to get to the bottom of the secrets and mysteries of the past.

What she finds is shocking, a little heartbreaking and answers both her own and Caroline’s mother’s questions about their family.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

January, 1942. London is dark – and not just because of the blackout.

The worst of the Blitz may be over, but still the city’s a treacherous place. Buses run without headlights. Bomb rubble lies underfoot. Looters and petty criminals roam the shattered streets. And somewhere in the ruins stalks a serial killer the papers have dubbed The Beast of the Blackout.

As a fear of death, delivered not from the sky but lurking in the bomb sites, grips South London, four unlikely allies are assembled by Civil Defence warden Albert, self-appointed shepherd patrolling his nightly patch. Edwin, Bette and Cat share nothing in common, except one extraordinary secret: each has killed an abuser and got away with it. Now, forged by trauma and driven to deliver retribution to those who hurt and harm, they come together to stop a monster the police have failed to catch.

What follows is a daring hunt through bombed streets and moral grey zones, as the mismatched murderers plot to save the Beast’s next victim, Violet and deliver their own brutal justice. But this is no simple vigilante tale. All brought here by their own harrowing journey, each comes uniquely equipped for the kill: Edwin with his knowledge of poisons, Bette her muscle, Cat her courage, while Albert will weave the net to catch the killer in.

Drawing on meticulous historical research, the novel explores the lurid world of Victorian poisons and poisoners; early silent films and the lasting damage left by the First World War on not just those who fought, but the people they came home to. While rooted in the past, the book also speaks urgently to the present, offering a reflection on what it means to be and feel ‘safe’, and how even now a woman may put herself in danger just walking home alone.

A gripping and morally daring novel, All Cats Are Grey offers a haunting portrait of wartime London, and a powerful meditation on justice, survival and the thin line between right and wrong.

My thoughts: I found this intense and fascinating. As the various characters find their way through the London blackouts, home from work or like Alby, off on his rounds as an ARP warden. However, somewhere in the dark lurks a killer, looking for a young woman to lure to her death.

Unfortunately he picks out the wrong ones this time as neither Bette or Cat are victims – rather they’re killers. Both have had to protect themselves and remove abusers from their lives permanently. Alby had planned to help Cat with this particular monster, but she’s smarter than he realises.

None of the people in this are perfect, far from it, but all of them did what they did for very clear reasons, and you sort of admire them for that. 

The blackout helps hide various sins and crimes, there’s a theme of houses being blown up and burnt down, a way to bring an end to things. Every character is a survivor and while none of them are punished, in a way, they’ve already paid for what they did by their pasts. 

A truly interesting read.  

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.