The Book Ghost by Lorna Gray
Genre: Historical fiction
Read: 18th February 2020
Purchase: Amazon
(publication date: 14th December 2019)
★ 1 star
I think I must be in the minority here because while I was excited at the prospect of reading THE BOOK GHOST and I had high hopes for it, I was so disappointed with it. I love historical fiction and losing myself to a world of books, so I thought this would be fantastic nod to that part of me. Not so.
Set in the beautiful Cotswolds in the post war ear of 1946, THE BOOK GHOST, aka "Mrs P's Book of Secrets", opens with a load of confusing waffle from seances to a book press. So much of what is written is so random I found it hard to correlate just what was going on. For example, when Lucy was talking to Robert Underhill, her uncle George bustles in and out of nowhere begins to relate to the other man how Lucy came to live with them. I mean, what the hell was that about? And why was it is important to tell him that snippet of information at that moment in time? I just didn't understand it. The rest of it just seemed to be ramblings that chopped and changed in direction and subject like a distracted person with ADHD.
I did try to like the book. But it was just so difficult as I couldn't immerse myself in the story without it feeling like a tennis match. I didn't know where to to look or what I was meant to see because everything just seemed to ramble. I know what the premise tells me the story is about but there was no sign of anything like that until at least 30% in and by then my interest had waned and I really didn't care for the mystery of this child anymore. It wasn't at all what I thought it would be and I couldn't connect to Lucy at all.
Two things I hate in books are long chapters (though I can live with them) and loads of endless descriptive narration, which in this case jumped from hither to nither leaving me wondering what it was she was talking about. The writing was long and rambling and if there was a purpose in that then I missed it because I simply lost patience trying to decipher Lucy's waffle.
I love my historical fiction to be beautiful easy reads. I don't mind some complexities but I found THE BOOK GHOST to be such hard work I was exhausted just reading a chapter. I dreaded picking it back up again. And if I am at a point where I literally have to force myself to continue the book then I know it's missed its mark completely with me.
THE BOOK GHOST had an interesting premise that just didn't live up to expectations, sadly. Life's too short to get bogged down with books you don't enjoy, so move on. Which is what I did. But you just might enjoy it!
I would like to thank #LornaGray, #NetGalley and #HarperCollinsUK and #OneMoreChapter for an ARC of #TheBookGhost in exchange for an honest review.
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