Tag: historical fiction

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Poor Girls – Clare Whitfield

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Don’t get angry.
Get rich.

1922. Twenty-four-year-old Eleanor Mackridge is horrified by the future mapped out for her – to serve the upper classes or find a husband. During the war, she found freedom in joining the workforce at home, but now women are being put back in their place.

Until Eleanor crosses paths with a member of the notorious female-led gang the Forty Elephants: bold women who wear diamonds and fur, drink champagne and gin, who take what they want without asking. Now, she sees a new future for herself: she can serve, marry – or steal.
After all, men will only let you down. Diamonds are forever.

In Poor Girls, Clare Whitfield exposes the criminal underbelly of 1920s London – but this isn’t a morality tale, it’s an adventure for the willingly wicked.

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Clare Whitfield was born in 1978 in Morden (at the bottom of the Northern line) in Greater London.
After university she worked at a publishing company before going on to hold various positions in buying and marketing. She now lives in Hampshire with her family. Her debut novel, People of
Abandoned Character, won the Goldsboro Glass Bell Award and is also published by Head of Zeus.

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My thoughts: The Forty Elephants were a real gang made up of female thieves in 1920s London. The First World War tipped the previous social order on its head and women like Eleanor no longer wanted to stay in their prescribed place. Having worked during the war in jobs that might traditionally have gone to men, she has no desire to be a house maid to a wealthy family.

My great-great-grandmother was in service and apparently it was no picnic. Low pay, long hours, early starts and as many houses didn’t have running hot water and central heating didn’t yet exist, back breaking chores like lugging hot water up the stairs for baths and cleaning all the grates. Fun. Not.

I can see why Nell doesn’t want that life, and the appeal of the Forty Elephants too. Although I’m not criminally minded, seeing other women just like you dressed up, wearing diamonds and appearing to have a great life, well why wouldn’t you want to try it?

I liked Nell, she’s an interesting character, she wants more from life and is willing to do almost anything to get it, a modern women in a modern age, not wanting to be held in place by social class. She does risk getting sent to prison, as many of the Elephants were, but for her it’s almost worth it, just to break out of her expected role.

I enjoyed the snapshot of a different London, the dark underbelly, the way working class people lived, as opposed to the upper classes more often depicted. The contrast between the different stratas of society fascinates me, so this was very interesting and entertaining reading.

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

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Cover Reveal: The Winter Warriors – Olivier Norek, translated by Nick Caistor

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“A single man can change the course of history. At the heart of the harshest of its winters, at the heart of the bloodiest war in its history, Finland saw the birth of a legend. The legend of Simo Häyhä, the White Death.”

Three months after the beginning of WWII, in November 1939, the Soviet Union invaded their tiny and relatively defenceless neighbour Finland. So began what is known as the Winter War. Against overwhelming odds the makeshift Finnish army not only resisted the Red Army, they forced it to offer terms for peace.

Olivier Norek’s breathtaking novel is the story of one company at the heart of the defence of its country in the face of a horrific invasion. The Russians so far outnumbered their enemy that but for the almost unimaginable folly of their commanders and but for the heroism of the Finnish Army their neighbours would have been overrun. Nor had they taken into account the spirit of the defenders.

There are countless stories of courage and some of unmatched heroism – among them the record of Simo Häyhä, who became known as the White Death and whose skill as a sniper will perhaps never be matched.

Pre-order Publishing 11th September

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Blog Tour: The Cardinal – Alison Weir

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Step into the thrill and danger of Tudor England in the rich, compelling new novel from Sunday Times bestseller Alison Weir – and witness the rise and fall of Cardinal Wolsey.

It begins with young Tom Wolsey, the bright and brilliant son of a Suffolk tradesman, sent to study at Oxford at just eleven years old. It ends with a disgraced cardinal, cast from the King’s side and estranged from the woman he loves. The years in between tell the story of a scholar and a lover, a father and a priest. From the court of Henry VIII, Tom builds a powerful empire of church and state. At home in London, away from prying eyes, he finds joy in a secret second life. But when King Henry, his cherished friend, demands the ultimate sacrifice, what will Wolsey choose?

Alison Weir’s riveting new Tudor novel reveals the two lives of Cardinal Wolsey, a tale of power, passion and ambition.

Alison Weir is a bestselling historical novelist of Tudor fiction, and the leading female historian in the United Kingdom. She has published more than thirty books, including many leading works of non-fiction, and has sold over three million copies worldwide. Her novels include the Tudor Rose trilogy, which spans three generations of history’s most iconic family – the Tudors, and the highly acclaimed Six Tudor Queens series about the wives of Henry VIII, all of which were Sunday Times bestsellers. Alison is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an honorary life patron of Historic Royal Palaces. Find Alison online: X: @AlisonWeirBooks | FB: Alison Weir | http://www.alisonweir.org.uk

Alison on Wolsey; Cardinal Thomas Wolsey enjoyed one of the most meteoric careers in history. From humble beginnings in an Ipswich inn, he rose to become Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor and cherished friend. The King relied heavily on his political acumen and remarkable ability, ignoring the jealous criticisms of the nobles, who resented Wolsey for usurping what they saw as their role as the monarch’s natural advisers. Wolsey operated on an international stage and worked hard to broker universal peace. All was going dazzlingly until Henry fell in love with Anne Boleyn – the woman whom Wolsey would one day call ‘the night crow’ – and sought to end his marriage to his first wife, Katherine of Aragon. Swept up in the maelstrom of ‘the Divorce’, Wolsey – who had successfully striven to give his master everything he wanted – found himself in an impossible situation, with his world crumbling around him. I wanted to tell the story of Wolsey the man, his incredible rise to power and his tragic fall. I was also keen to delve beyond the splendour and political machinations of the Tudor court to reveal the secrets of Wolsey’s private life, the mistress he loved devotedly, and the tragedy that overtook them. This is ultimately a tale of two women, one who loved him and one who hated him and also a tale of two men, king and commoner, the special, deep-rooted bonds that brought them together, and the forces that drove them apart.

My thoughts: I remember learning about Wolsey in history and I’ve been to Hampton Court Palace, which he had built and then had to give to Henry VIII, there used to be a Cardinal Wolsey pub across the road. But I didn’t know a huge amount about him as a person, mostly just about his role in the King’s Great Matter aka the divorce that created the Church of England and shook Europe.

Alison Weir is a historian and her books reflect the research that she puts into them, but in a very readable and enjoyable way. I’ve read several of her others, mostly about the women of the Tudor family, so it was interesting to have a different perspective.

Wolsey rose incredibly high, holding a huge number of offices both in government and the church, some at the same time. But it was always precarious, Henry being famously mercurial and not an easy man to get along with. He had people locked in the tower and beheaded for crossing him, and Wolsey’s main job seems to have been managing the King’s moods and temper.

But he had a whole secret life too, he was in love with Joan Larke, the sister of a friend, and despite his being a priest, they lived together and had children. Sadly they couldn’t live openly or raise their children, it would have meant disgrace. Joan does eventually leave him and would marry twice, having other children. But he seems to have loved her all his life.

Much of the narrative does indeed cover Wolsey’s most famous role – that of trying to negotiate with the Pope to annul Henry’s marriage to Katherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn. Anne and Wolsey do not like one another, and she schemes against him, trying to force Henry to put his chief advisor aside. She believes that he’s not really trying to find a resolution, even as Wolsey pleads with the Pope to end the Royal marriage.

His downfall is sudden and brutal, sent from court and kept in what probably felt like poverty after all his riches in Esher, then promptly dispatched to York, stripped of his titles and many of his offices, properties and wealth. Finally he is told to return to court, to answer to the king, but taken ill enroute, the once mighty cardinal, Henry VIII’s right hand man, dies.

His mark on history is evident, while he wasn’t alive to see the birth of the Church of England, he laid the groundwork for the huge upheaval that followed. The dissolution of the monasteries, the split from Rome, the many marriages of the king. 

This was a very enjoyable, detailed and interesting book, I really liked learning more about this man and Alison Weir has given him a rich, complicated inner life, if he had thrown over his vows, quit and moved quietly to Suffolk with Joan, things would have been very different, both for him and for history.

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

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Blog Tour: The Dangerous Love of a Rogue – Jane Lark

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Is he playing a game with her heart?

Lord Andrew Framlington is known as a rogue of the highest order, a fortune hunter, a man without honour. He plans to marry a wealthy bride to secure his future… but beneath it all, could he be
longing for something more, something real?

Miss Mary Marlow, the enchanting sister of a duke, is everything he should not want – innocent, fiercely protected by her powerful family and entirely out of reach. Yet from the moment he sets eyes on her, Drew knows she is the one. Not just for her fortune, but for the way she makes him feel.

Mary knows Drew’s reputation and the danger he poses, knows surrendering to him would be reckless, yet his charm and stolen kisses leave her breathless. Torn between duty and desire, she finds herself teetering on the edge of ruin.

Can Mary trust a rogue with her heart?

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Jane Lark is a writer of compelling, passionate and emotionally charged fiction filled with diverse characters. She is an international bestselling author of both historical fiction and psychological thrillers, and a finalist in British Fiction Industry awards.

Facebook: @Janelarkauthor
Twitter: @JaneLark
Instagram: @jane.lark
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My thoughts: We return to the Regency period in this first in a new series book, where Lord Framlington is in need of a wealthy wife. He isn’t too bothered who, until he meets Miss Mary Marlow, half sister to a duke, and a wealthy heiress. Her family are powerful and well connected, she’s related to much of the House of Lords and her father and brother are guard dog like in their behaviour, warning her away from the fortune hunter.

But there’s a connection between them that can’t be denied – or is there? At times Mary doubts Drew’s assertions of love, but she still elopes with him. Now they’re married, does he really love her and does she feel the same?

A witty, fast paced, enjoyable romance, with a dash of intrigue and lots of secrets on Andrew’s part. Can true love bloom when you barely know one another?

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

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Blog Tour: The Death & Life of Lucy Westenra – Rosie Fiore

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What desperate steps will Lucy Westenra take to save her own life?

Hillingham in Hampstead, once the home of the well-to-do Westenra family, is now divided into apartments. When teacher Kate Balcombe sets about renovating her flat in the attic, she finds an unsent letter written 130 years before by Lucy, the nineteen-year-old daughter of the house.

You may know Lucy from Bram Stoker’s Dracula… a pretty, flirtatious girl with three ardent suitors, she is Mina Harker’s best friend. When Lucy falls mysteriously ill and dies, Van Helsing identifies her
as a victim of the vampire.
But what if the monsters who hunt Lucy are much closer to home?

As Kate begins to investigate Lucy’s story, she meets James Harker, Mina’s great-great grandson, and together they uncover a long-hidden story of deception and murder.

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Rosie Fiore is the author of eight published novels, including Wonder Women, After Isabella and What She Left, as well as The After Wife, written as Cass Hunter. She is a teacher of creative writing and a Royal Literary Fund Fellow. She lives in North London with her family, and can frequently be found wandering on the Heath or haunting a churchyard.

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My thoughts: I really liked this book, it gives life and agency to Lucy and Mina, the victims of the count in Bram Stoker’s book. Two young women who don’t have much say or power. Which is of course true of many women in the Victorian era, there might have been a woman on the throne, but women were still not free or equal. 

Kate finds Lucy’s letter in her mum’s old flat, never delivered, and wonders about the woman who wrote it, her life, and what happened to her. As she investigates, events will change her life forever. She will also get a glimpse of who her mum was, having lost her quite young.

Along the way she meets James Harker, Mina’s great-great-grandson, and a bond forms. The two will follow in Lucy’s footsteps, from Hampstead to Devon and finally all the way to Texas.

Lucy’s story is tragic, mostly because she has so little power over the events of her life, she cannot fight back against the men who want to use her, so she must find a different path and set herself free.

Clever, interesting and enjoyable, bringing old characters into a new and more rounded version of the story we know from Dracula.

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

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Blog Tour: The Darkest Winter – Carlo Lucarelli, translated by Joseph Farrell

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In November 1944, in the worst winter ever known in Bologna, less than a year since the founding of the Republic of Salò, the bomb-scarred streets are filled with starving refugees who have fled the advancing Allies. The Fascist Black Brigades, the officers of the S.S. and the partisans of the Italian Resistance compete for control in bloody warfare.

Comandante De Luca, once “the most brilliant investigative officer in Bologna” and now working for the Political Police in a building that doubles as a torture facility, finds himself in over his head when three murders land on his desk: a professor shot through the eye, an engineer beaten to death, and a German corporal left to be gnawed on by rats in a flooded cellar.

Losing sleep and his peace of mind, De Luca must close all three cases with ten lives on the line: the Italian hostages who will face a Nazi firing squad if the corporal’s killing is not solved to their satisfaction. As he threads his way through a web of personal and political motivations, risking his life with every step, De Luca will uncover to his own cost the secrets awaiting him in the frozen heart of Bologna.

Carlo Lucarelli was born in Parma in 1960. While researching for his thesis on the history of Italian law enforcement, he became intrigued by the Italian police force’s role in the political upheavals of the 1940s during and after the Second World War. From this seed sprouted his De Luca trilogy, later to grow into an oeuvre of more than twenty crime novels focusing on various characters. Lucarelli hosted the popular late-night Italian television programme Blu notte misteri d’Italia, on unsolved crimes and mysteries, and he is the founder of the Italian crime-writing collective Gruppo 13. He is also a journalist and has worked for multiple Italian newspapers.

My thoughts: I found this very interesting, I don’t know much about Italy in WW2 apart from the fact that they eventually gave the fascists the boot and joined the Allies, so learning a bit about the history and specifically about Bologna, which had its own complicated situation in the 40s, was good.

I also liked De Luca, he doesn’t exactly relish certain aspects of his job at the political police, he doesn’t participate in torture and would probably prefer to just stay a detective, solving murders, much as he does here. He’s trying to solve several different crimes at once, one written off as a crime of passion, another of a rat chewed German soldier found in the water, a third of a man supposedly with connections to the partisans waging their own war on the occupying force.

There’s wheels within wheels, a spy in the department, a woman who may or may not be a killer, the lives of ten prisoners on the line, lies, half truths and the ever present threat of being arrested himself, just because.

He forms an odd sort of partnership with another officer from the passport office, who might be a member of the resistance, as well as a German lieutenant who wants to find out what the dead soldier did with a load of stolen goods, themselves taken from the people of the city.

There are refugees everywhere, living in strange places amongst the bombed out buildings, a whole community sheltering in a theatre, based on what really happened at the time.

The research that has gone into this book is fascinating, it really brings the past vividly to life, I could picture the streets and the soldiers, the air of menace and fear, the scurrying people trying to avoid notice.

De Luca is a brilliant detective, he slowly builds his cases, contending all the while with the complex and delicate political situation, with the genuine risks to his own life if someone isn’t happy with his answers.

If you like historic crime fiction, or any combination of those genres, this is definitely worth reading.

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

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Blog Tour: Metropolis – Colin Garrow

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Edinburgh, 1936. People are disappearing. The police are clueless. Can Finlay MacBeth track down the perpetrator before someone else goes missing?

Haunted by his recent past, Professor Finlay MacBeth returns to his home town to take up a new post at the university. Within hours, his reputation for solving the occasional murder prompts the
police to ask for his help. Four men—seemingly unconnected—have vanished into thin air. MacBeth must find whatever it is that links the men before the kidnapper strikes again.

But the police aren’t the only ones interested in MacBeth’s activities, and the amateur sleuth soon discovers that finding the missing men is the least of his problems…

In this thriller series set in Edinburgh, Metropolis is book #1 in the Finlay MacBeth Thriller series.

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Colin Garrow grew up in a former mining town in Northumberland. He has worked in a plethora of professions including taxi driver, antiques dealer, drama facilitator, theatre director and fish processor, and has occasionally masqueraded as a pirate.

He has published more than thirty books, and his short stories have appeared in several literary mags, most recently in Witcraft, and Flash Fiction North. Colin lives in a humble cottage in Northeast
Scotland where he writes novels, stories, poems and the occasional song.
He also plays several musical instruments and makes rather nice vegan cakes.

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My thoughts: Finlay MacBeth returns to his home city of Edinburgh to teach literature at the university, but news of his success in helping the London police has reached there before him, and after a series of disappearances, the police ask him for his help. Aided by his young apprentice and his flirty landlady, he soon gets to work puzzling out the connections and the perpetrator.

However he is being followed by a mysterious man in a trench coat. MacBeth has secrets, secrets he must protect, but someone out there knows them. And now he will need to find out who.

Clever, atmospheric, full of literary references, particularly Sherlock Holmes, and with an interesting cast of characters as well as an intriguing and somewhat disturbing plot. I look forward to the next book.

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

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Cover Reveal: The Betrayal of Thomas True – A.J. West

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You may remember I reviewed the hardback version of this book a while ago, and now I am sharing the gorgeous paperback cover. Look at it! Isn’t it gorgeous. Order a copy at the link below.

The only sin is betrayal…

 
It is the year 1715, and Thomas True has arrived on old London Bridge with a dangerous secret. One night, lost amongst the squalor of London’s hidden back streets, he finds himself drawn into the outrageous underworld of the molly houses.
 
Meanwhile, carpenter Gabriel Griffin struggles to hide his double life as Lotty, the molly’s stoic guard. When a young man is found murdered, he realises there is a rat amongst them, betraying their secrets to a pair of murderous Justices.
 
Can Gabriel unmask the traitor before they hang? Can he save hapless Thomas from peril, and their own forbidden love?
 
Set amidst the buried streets of Georgian London, The Betrayal of Thomas True is a brutal and devastating thriller, where love must overcome evil, and the only true sin is betrayal…

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Blog Tour: Shadows in the Spring – Christina Courtenay

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Two souls bound together but lost in time. Until now.

AD 80
Duro of the Iceni tribe escaped life as an enslaved gladiator and is now finally home in Britannia with one thing on his mind: vengeance. For 20 years he has sought the Roman legionary who destroyed his family. What he didn’t expect was Gisel: a fierce Germanic woman with long white-blonde hair, forced into slavery by the Romans. Hypnotised by her spirit and her beauty, Duro frees Gisel and slowly tries to win her trust as they work together to complete his quest.

Present Day
Mackenna Jackson returns to Bath with a broken heart, thanks to rockstar Blue Daniels. Luckily she can still count on Blue’s former bandmate Jonah Miller as a listening ear. But Jonah has secretly been
fighting stronger feelings, drawn to Mac’s quiet confidence and gorgeous white-blonde hair. As they explore the area, memories they can’t quite explain flood them both.
Is the spark between Mac and Jonah in fact a sign of something much deeper – a love enduring through millennia – or can it all be an illusion?

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Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip/dual time and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings.

Christina is a Vice President and former Chair and of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several
awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014) and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the
Runes.

SHADOWS IN THE SPRING (dual time historical romance published by Headline Review 24th April 2025) is her latest novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).

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My thoughts: By now, you should know that I’m a fan of Christina Courtenay and her time travelling romances, a history loving nerd and as someone who grew up visiting the Roman ruins of Veralanium (St Albans) this is right up my street. The Iceni are probably the most famous tribe of ancient Britons (Boudicca was their queen at one point and her statue stands on Westminster Bridge) in Roman occupied Britain. 

Duro has escaped a life as a slave and gladiator in the Roman Empire, thanks to a handy volcanic eruption (Pompeii) and returned to his home in search of his family. When he was taken his mother was brutally murdered and his sister also taken as a slave by a particularly unpleasant Roman soldier. He has long vowed revenge. And after reconnecting with his brother, he sets out to find his mother’s killer.

Along the way he saves a young Germanic woman from a life of slavery and rape, offering her the opportunity to join him in his journey and be free. Gisel is hesitant at first, but as they travel she sees he is genuinely a good man and they begin to fall for one another.

In the present McKenna too is finding a genuine person in her spoilt ex’s former bandmate Jonah. The two become friends after she moves into her aunt’s former home in Bath, while he lives not far away. They’re both interested in the Roman history in the area and after Jonah’s dog digs up a dead Roman in the garden, start looking into area’s past more closely. They too start to bond and fall for one another. But strange echoes from the past suggest this isn’t the first time they’ve known one another….

Both stories are really enjoyable to follow, although I did enjoy Duro’s travels more than anything else as I recognised a lot of the Roman place names from other things I’ve learnt and being from London, itself a Roman settlement.

Although no one actually time travelled in this book, it was still really enjoyable and I loved all the little things that happened in one storyline and then popped up in the other (like the dead man in Jonah’s garden, and the ring Mac wears).

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

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Blog Tour: Helen’s Judgement – Susan C Wilson

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She’s the most scapegoated heroine in Greek mythology, but there’s never just one side to any story. This new framing uncovers the complexities of Helen of Troy–a woman tormented by the blame placed on her by others, and tortured by her own guilt.

“We all blamed Helen”

Haunted by her decision to leave her child behind in fleeing her unhappy marriage, Helen seeks to build a new life in Troy with her lover, Paris. She yearns to recreate the childhood family she lost when she married Menelaus, but her outraged husband vows to regain her by force, at the head of a vast army.

Facing hostility from all sides, Helen must decide where her loyalty–and her safety–lies.

Perfect for fans of Greek mythology retellings, and Madeline Miller’s Circe, Jennifer Saint’s Elektra, and Pat Barker’s The Women of Troy.

My thoughts: Helen of Troy might be one of the most hated women in literature, the face that launched a thousand ships, the woman who cuckolded her husband, ran away with a prince and brought about the destruction of the legendary (and real) city of Troy.

Narrated by the ghost of Achilles, this is Helen’s story.

When Agamemnon and Menelaus arrive at her childhood home, Agamemnon has already murdered her brother-in-law and nephew and forced her sister Clytemnestra to marry him, so she isn’t too favourable. His brother doesn’t appeal, he’s not the handsome prince of her imagination, but her father has little choice, Agamemnon threatens to seize their kingdom too.

Not the most auspicious start to a marriage, but not an entirely unexpected one considering the time. When Helen runs off with Paris to Troy, abandoning her daughter, and leaving her homeland behind, she hardly expects what happens next. King Priam refuses to send her back and the Greeks famously come together to lay siege to Troy for ten long years.

Achilles also tells us about the goings on inside the Greek encampment. Agamemnon rarely leaves his tent, preferring to let the others fight, like generals ever since, which annoys Achilles. Then comes the infamous falling out that results in the death of Achilles’ cousin and closest friend Patroclus, Achilles’ revenge killing of Hector and finally Paris’ cowardly killing of Achilles. Finally the horse makes an appearance.

Some of the most famous events of the Trojan war. I always wondered why Shakespeare never staged this – it feels very in keeping with some of his tragedies.

Obviously Homer (whoever he or they were) got there first, but Susan C. Wilson retells this most famous of stories from new perspectives – Achilles and Helen. Had Helen’s father held out and she married Achilles, none of this would ever have happened, nor any of the resulting events.

Helen’s account of the destruction of Troy is shocking, graphic and you can imagine people’s genuine horror as the Greek soldiers lay waste, killing the men and taking the women to be slaves. King Priam’s death is awful, the proud man reduced to blood and bones in moments.

But Helen’s end is equally gruesome, she won’t be returning with Menelaus, she will never see her daughter again. The Greeks have spent ten long years waiting for this moment. The judgement of Helen.

The title can be seen in different ways – Helen’s own poor judgement in running off with the vapid but pretty Paris, the judgement of the Trojans on her, and that final judgement after the long years of fighting. A fight that doesn’t really have much to do with her, one that feels like an excuse as the Greeks also want access to the Hellespont, and to establish themselves in Asia, beyond the walls of Troy and its allies.

This was a really interesting retelling of this most famous story, one I’ve studied in depth before and often enjoyed, but that gives agency back to Helen, and furthers the story of the House of Atreus from Clytemnestra’s Bind, the first book in this series.

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