Burning Bright by Helen Dunmore. Penguin, 2009

As with many of Dunmore's books this one tells more than one story, in more than one time period. The main character is Nadine through whom the reader experiences the contemporary story. She is sixteen, although she tells everyone she is nineteen, and has left home. She has an autistic sister who gets more attention than she does and, though she used to do well at school, she has suddenly begun to have trouble with her schoolwork. Maybe she has a form of dyslexia? She has acquired a Finnish boyfriend much older than her and has left her family in order to live with him. He is setting her up in an old Georgian house somewhere west of London in the country, probably Wiltshire. She does not realise initially that Kai and his friend Tony are pimps as she believes that they make all their money from property deals. In fact, Tony, in particular, specialises in supplying girls to politicians who have particular requirements but as Kai is the boss in the partnership it must be his idea.  One of his clients is Paul Parrett who is the third significant character in the novel. The second is Enid who is an old lady in her seventies living at the top of the house that Tony and Kai have bought and that Kai has moved Nadine into. She has tenant's rights and they cannot get her out. The old woman and the young one befriend each other and begin to find out about each other's lives.
Enid has a past and the flashbacks concern her life as a young girl and the Manchester Ladies that become a part of her life. She has a relationship with one of these ladies but jealousy and tragedy ensue. The book was first published in 1994 so this story probably took place about the time of World War Two and just before. The reader sees the novel's action through the eyes of Enid, Nadine and Paul which helps to reveal new aspects but the story is strangely dark. I wonder what gave Dunmore the idea for writing it - it could almost be a story in a newspaper. The language is as elegant as ever and she understands, tellingly, the different speech nuances of the characters. Some people find the ending disappointing but I think that it is just a young girl moving on to the next phase of her life. Not my most favourite of her books.

A spell of winter by Helen Dunmore. Penguin, 2007.

Originally published in 1995, this was Helen Dunmore's third book, her first, Zennor in Darkness,  having won the McKitterick Prize. This one, however, did better and won the Orange Prize in 1996. It is told from the perspective of Catherine, a young girl from a fairly privileged background in the English countryside in the years leading up to the First World War. She lives with her brother, Rob, her grandfather and their servants, of whom Kate is the one she gets closest to. Their mother, their grandfather's daughter, has left the family home and gone to live abroad. There are constant references to the resemblance between Catherine and her mother, particularly of her hair which is black and curly betraying her Spanish heritage. Her grandfather was known as 'the man from nowhere' when he arrived in the English village as nobody knew anything about him.
There are a number of flashbacks in the novel which reveal Catherine's relationships to the people nearest to her. The servant, Kate, introduces the novel by relating a gruesome story of her uncle Joseph who is buried after too long a delay resulting in his arm falling off when he is transported downstairs in the house. The children, Catherine and Rob, listen in fascinated horror but it is a story that returns to haunt Catherine at later stages of her life. On a walk through the grounds with Catherine, Rob shoots a hare but he does not kill it outright and has to hit it with a stick but the incident disturbs both the children. The last time that the children see their father is when they are escorted by Miss Gallagher to visit him in a nursing home where it becomes clear that he has had a breakdown, most probably caused by the departure of his wife. Her father, at a later stage of the visit, confuses Catherine with her mother and begins to smother her with kisses upon which Rob hits him on the side of his head with a branch. Miss Gallagher has an unhealthy interest in Catherine which Catherine feels as a smothering love which she cannot bear. Another flashback is to a dance that is held by the grandfather when Catherine is probably eighteen. Her grandfather intends for her to marry George Bullivant, a wealthy man much older than her who is a new neighbour in the area. Catherine doesn't dislike him and she and Rob pay a visit to his house. Whilst Catherine is shown the garden and the inside room containing a collection of paintings, Rob goes to the stables to see Mr Bullivant's fine horse, Starcrossed. Rob watches his sister and George Bullivant together when he returns and, probably reacting through jealousy and an awareness of Mr Bullivant's interest in his sister, entices Catherine to make a snow house on their walk home. As they get inside the snow house the proximity of their bodies results in them having their first sexual encounter. After they return home the relationship continues but Catherine's mind begins to unravel. Unconsciously knowing they are doing the wrong thing, she cannot refuse Rob.
The language in the novel is vivid and poetic. The state of Catherine's inner consciousness is beautifully described as, after the tragic consequences of the sibling's relationship, she loses her grip on reality and suffers a breakdown. The inner life of the other characters is only really described as seen through Catherine's vision. The first chapter of the book is situated in almost the most recent episode of the timeline of the story. Catherine walks through the grounds of the house in Rob's coat  and, as she looks at the house she thinks 'I have got what I wanted. A spell of winter hangs over it and everyone has gone'. But the story is not quite over and there are still one or two surprises in store for the reader and for Catherine.

Paternoster: an Eden Grey mystery by Kim Fleet. History Press, 2015

This book is set in two time periods: London and Cheltenham in 1795, in London in 2012 and 2015 and Cheltenham in 2015. The main action in 1795 takes place in various brothels and the main characters are prostitutes. The story begins in London but moves to Cheltenham  which is becoming more popular with the wealthy taking its waters.
The main character in 1795 is Rachel Lovett who, at the start of the story, is being kept by a young man from a wealthy aristocratic family but, let down by her lover, she moves into a brothel.
The main character in 2012 and 2015 is Eden Grey, as in the subtitle of the book. In 2012 she had a different identity and was working as an undercover police woman but, when the case went wrong and she nearly died, had to accept a witness protection scheme. Emerging as Eden Grey, private investigator, in 2015 she takes on a variety of cases which come her way including missing persons, fraud and infidelity. In her current case, however, she becomes involved with two murders and, with the help of Aidan, her archaeological boyfriend, she uncovers the link between past and present in the underground tunnels of Cheltenham Ladies' College and stories of the Hellfire Club. The book is a definite page turner and is written in an economical and convincing style; looking forward to more Eden Grey mysteries.

Fludd by Hilary Mantel. Penguin, 1990.

This book is set in a bleak remote moorland village in Derbyshire in which the population is of a predominantly Catholic-type religion in the mid 1950s. The first characters that the reader meets are Father Angwin and his housekeeper, Miss Dempsey. Father Angwin is a Catholic priest (or similar) who has lost his belief in God. As well as a church and a school the village has a convent which is ruled over by Mother Perpetua who metes out physical punishment at will to the sisters who reside inside. The local Bishop has ordered Father Angwin to remove some of the statues in the church so the Father decides to bury them in the churchyard. The Bishop has also said that he will send a curate to Father Angwin to help him out in his time of indecision. In the meantime a stranger arrives at Father Angwin's front door in the middle of the night and gives his name as Fludd. Father Angwin assumes that he is the curate but the reader knows that he is not. The main theme of the novella is the difference between appearance and reality and the reader begins to suspect that Fludd is either an angel or a devil. Another character in the story is Sister Philomena who lives under Sister Perpetua's tyrannical rule and who undergoes a transformation in the book.
The writing is elegant, concise and unexpected.

Bernard Knight Crowner John books

The Crowner John  mysteries by Bernard Knight

The reason for my prolonged silence on this page is that I have been reading my way through a boxed set of stories about a character called Crowner John, or John de Wolfe, by Bernard Knight. The author used to be a Home Office pathologist and has written at least ten books in this series. The stories begin in 1194 when John is appointed the first coroner for the county of Devon by decree of Richard the Lionheart, King of England at that time. There are frequent references in the books to Richard’s brother, John, Count of Mortain, who makes continued plans to take over from Richard who is permanently abroad fighting in the Crusades. The position of coroner is a new one, mainly to add fines and charges to Richard’s coffers to help with the fighting, but John determines to take his responsibilities seriously.

John was persuaded into a loveless marriage with Matilda de Revelle some years before,  largely because both sets of parents though that it would be a good match, but it has turned out to be fruitless one with no children. Matilda’s brother, Richard, is the bane of John’s life as he is the sheriff for Exeter where much of the action is based. Other characters that appear in each book are: Gwyn, John’s Cornish and uncouth man at arms; Thomas, an unjustly defrocked priest and clerk to John; Nesta, an Exeter ale-wife and John’s mistress; John de Alencon, a local bishop and various officials who help run the day to day workings of Exeter Castle.

The duties of the coroner are to investigate suspicious deaths or attempted murders, rapes, treasure trove and the washing up on the beaches of large fish which also belong to the king as of right. In all the books a useful glossary of medieval terms is included together with a map of Exeter showing John’s house, the castle, other churches, various inns etc

I would say that the first ten books follow the course of a year or so in the life of the coroner, each story occupying around a month at most. Although John is based in Exeter some of the mysteries involve travel through the county of Devon and occasionally further afield, to Winchester, for example. The books are quite readable and, though no previous knowledge of medieval times is required as all is explained along the way, the reader is quite likely to have acquired some familiarity with the medieval world by the time they have finished the series.  

Zennor in darkness by Helen Dunmore, 1993

For this, Helen Dunmore's first novel, the author won the McKitterick Prize which is an award given to the first novel by an author over 40. The dual threads follow the lives of Clare Coyne and her two friends, Hannah and Peggy, who are fictional characters living in Zennor, Cornwall, and of D H Lawrence and his German wife Frieda, real life individuals who lived in a cottage near Zennor during part of the First World War. Lawrence and Frieda have chosen a remote place to live partly to escape the prejudice against Frieda because of her German nationality and the fact that her maiden name was von Richthofen. She was a relative of the famous ace German pilot of the Great War. Also Lawrence had ideas of a self sufficient artists' community which he founded with Katherine Mansfield and John Middleton Murray in Zennor but Murray and Mansfield soon gave up and left because of the remoteness and basic way of life.
Clare Coyne is fond of her cousin, John William who is also Hannah's brother. He has been fighting at the front and is soon to return to Cornwall on leave before he is made up to an officer. The short novel recounts the relationship between the cousins and their other relations in the tight knit community when they were children. The story particularly highlights the development of the relationship of Clare and John William. Clare also accidentally meets Lawrence whilst walking on the cliffs and they strike up a friendship. Clare is a budding artist, thus far concentrating on accurate flower drawings for her father's book. She quickly sketches Lawrence and gives him the picture and offers to sketch Frieda and is invited to tea in their cottage.
The language of the book is rich and evocative reflecting the style of Lawrence in his determination to describe nature and the world in the most honest way possible. Dunmore is also a poet which can be seen in her use of extended descriptions.
This first novel does have a slightly halting nature to the structure and the way that the scenes shift about but does foreshadow her better work which is to come.

The secret keeper, Kate Morton, 2013

Fans of Kate Morton cannot fail to be pleased with this novel with its well constructed plot line set in three different time periods and a deliciously unexpected twist at the end.
The central character is Laurel, born just after the war and, in the most modern time slot of 2011 aged 66 and a successful actress of stage and screen. She is the eldest of the family with three younger sisters and a younger brother, Gerald. Their mother, Dorothy, is ill and the family assemble at their old family home, a rural farmhouse, in what will probably be the last such meeting with their mother present. Laurel is intrigued by her mother's past and, in particular, an event which she witnessed from the branches of the family tree house one fateful day in 1961. She saw her mother murder a strange man with a kitchen knife whilst the rest of the family are celebrating a family birthday down by the river. Gerald, just a toddler, is in his mother's arms as the man approaches. It is this memory, which she has never shared with her siblings, that prompts Laurel to go back in time together with some old family photos, including one of their mother's mysterious wartime friend Vivien.
The mystery is tightly ravelled up in the war years in London, where Dorothy found various jobs including one as a companion to a wealthy old lady. Across the road lived Vivien and Henry Jenkins, a famous novelist. Dorothy's boyfriend is called Jimmy, a talented young photographe, originally from Coventry, as was Dorothy.
We discover through letters and diaries from earlier times that Vivien's family, living in Australia, were all killed in a tragic motor accident - all apart from Vivien who was not allowed to go on the trip because of bad behaviour. Eight year old Vivien is then sent to England to live with a relative of her mother's.
We see most of the action through the eyes of Laurel, Dorothy and Vivien, switching viewpoints as the story twists and turns through different time periods. Love, retribution and second chances are  important themes of the story which has a satisfactorily unexpected ending.