The War is over, but for petty criminal Charlie his darkest days are only just beginning.
Charlie Briggs is never off-duty, even when a botched job means he's forced to lay low in a sleepy Hampshire town for the holiday season. Always searching for his next unwitting victim, or a shiny trinket he can pilfer, he can't believe his luck when he happens upon a rare book so valuable it will set him up for life. All he needs to do is sit tight until Boxing Day. But there's a desperate story that bleeds beyond the pages; something far more dangerous than London's mobsters is lurking in the shadows.
Could the book be cursed? Why is he haunted by the horrors of war? Can he put things right before he's suffocated by his own greed?
Book source ~ TWR Tour
The Haunting Scent of Poppies
Victoria Williamson
Historical Fiction | Christmas | Horror
1 December 2023
100 Pages
My Rating ~ 4 bites
Many thanks to the author and publisher, Silver Thistle Press, for the wonderful book package! As a US blogger I wasn't expecting it and it was a delightful surprise!
Charlie Briggs is a thief. And usually a pretty good one. But he’s met his match this time. Instead of coal in his stocking he gets something else. Something horrifying.
This is a novella. This is historical fiction. This is set at Christmas. This is a book about a book. All of those things sound wonderful. However, this book falls squarely in horror. Yikes. I’m not going to go into any detail about this tale that kept my fingers and eyes glued to the pages. Not literally. Thank the Book Gods. This is a story that really needs to be experienced without me mucking it up for you. So, if you like some horror with your Christmas then do not pass this up. Seriously.
Victoria Williamson is an award-winning author who grew up in Scotland surrounded by hills, books, and an historical farm estate which inspired many of her early adventure stories and spooky tales. After studying Physics at the University of Glasgow, she set out on her own real-life adventures, which included teaching maths and science in Cameroon, training teachers in Malawi, teaching English in China and working with children with additional support needs in the UK. Victoria currently works part time writing KS2 books for the education company Twinkl and spends the rest of her time writing novels, and visiting schools, libraries and literary festivals to give author talks and run creative writing workshops.
Victoria’s previous novels include The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind, Hag Storm, and War of the Wind. She has won the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2020/2021, The YA-aldi Glasgow Secondary School Libraries Book Award 2023, and has been shortlisted for the Week Junior Book Awards 2023, The Leeds Book Awards 2023, the Red Book Award 2023, the James Reckitt Hull Book Awards 2021, The Trinity School Book Awards 2021, and longlisted for the ABA South Coast Book Awards 2023, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2020, and the Branford Boase Award 2019.
Her latest novel, The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams, is a middle grade fantasy inspired by classic folklore. Twenty percent of the author royalties for this book are donated to CharChar Literacy, an organisation working to improve children’s literacy levels in Malawi.
No comments:
Post a Comment