Published By: Harvill Secker
Pages: 464
Released On: 11/04/2024
Meirionydd, 1783. Henry Talbot has been dismissed from his post at a prestigious London hospital. The only job he can find is as a physician in the backwaters of Wales where he can’t speak the language, belief in myth and magic is rife, and the villagers treat him with bewildering suspicion. When Henry discovers his predecessor died under mysterious circumstances, he is determined to find answers.
Linette Tresilian, the unconventional mistress of Plas Helyg, lives a lonely life. Her father is long dead, her mother haunted by demons which keep her locked away in her room, and her cousin treats her with cool disdain – she has had no choice but to become fiercely self-reliant.
Linette has always suspected something is not quite right in the village, but it is only through Henry’s investigations that the truth about those closest to her will come to light…a truth that will bind hers and Henry’s destinies together in ways neither thought possible.
*****
**Contains Thematic Spoilers**
Thanks to NetGalley and Harvill Secker for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
The opening chapter was so chilling and gothic, and I am here for it!
At 464 pages, it was borderline too long for me (I’ve said before that I dislike overly long books), and so I was apprehensive to begin with, but it just flew by. The same with the chapters. They’re quite long chapters, which generally for me is a downside, but once you’re into the story, their length sort of melted away and I no longer cared how long they were.
I find Susan uses a lot of description in her books, from the buildings to the setting to the weather. With an untrained hand, that could be too much, bogging the book down in unnecessary detail and making it too slow. But Susan is not an untrained hand. Somehow, her writing makes it necessary. Her descriptive passages are one of the big plusses about her work and they really help tell the story. They’re beautiful and I think to not have the m would be a travesty to the story. She writes descriptive passages like only a handful of others I’ve read it really helps you get to know the characters and the setting and get more absorbed into the story.
You don’t get many books set in Wales, and rarely do you get books that contain the Welsh language. I have been trying to learn it for a few years now, and so it was lovely to see it used in this book. Although Wales in the 1700s is vastly different to the Wales now.
There’s a number of characters, but the main players I would say are:
Dr Henry Talbot: The London doctor who is sent to Wales. He is instantly wary. His Englishness makes him conspicuous and a bit untrustworthy. But he’s passionate and just wants to help people but he faces brick wall after brick wall. He was a kind man in my eyes and I really liked him.
Then we have Linette: The Lady of the house. When we first meet her, she is deemed mad, as she dresses in men’s clothing and isn’t backwards in coming forwards. In a time where women were meant to be subservient. She’s loud and brash and unladylike, and I absolutely loved her. She felt very ahead of her time. We also have Linette’s Mother Gwen. Henry is hired to help her “madness”, but is there more to her than meets the eye?
Then there’s Rowena, a young herbalist from the village. A bit timid in some ways but strong in others. It was nice to read the companionship of her and Henry – I won’t spoil it by saying if it’s platonic friendship, romance, or merely acquaintance, but I found her journey interesting.
And the other main player is Julian, Linette’s cousin. I felt he was hiding something right frrom the start, he feels suspicious and dodge. Felt a bit slimy! I was wary of him right from the off.
There are many other characters, such as maid Mrs Evans, her late brother and doctor Mr Evans, Mr Lambeth, Lord Pennant – both very unsavoury characters – the Vicar Mr Dee, and miners Rhodri and his son Cai. There’s too many to name fully here, but Susan has created a fascinating cast, each playing their part, for better or worse, in Henry’s story.
There seems to be this rivalry in the book: between old ways and new, natural or herbal medicine, country and city medicine, Welsh and English, outsiders and insiders.
I really liked the use of illustrations. There’s no many, the odd one here and there, but I’ve always said more adult books should contain illustrations, and they were a nice surprise.
It contains a number of different genres, it’s full of adventure and action, thriller, romance, historical, fantasy, supernatural – it’s got everything.
It was full of twists and turns and surprises, which is always what you want from a thriller. I was a little confused how the opening chapter linked to the rest of the book whilst reading it, but once I’d finished, I re-read the opening chapter and it became glaringly obvious.
Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Susan is a fantastic author and it’s a fantastic book. My only little tiny widdle criticism? It doesn’t quite live up to the gothic-ness I was expecting from the opening chapter. I was expecting a bit more of that, which I didn’t get. But it’s no less fabulous. As a piece of historical fiction it is exceptional.
I would say this is marginally better than Pandora (although that is completely my opinion, but let’s not forget that Pandora was a really great book), which bodes well for her next book if she keeps on getting better and better. She’s definitely an author I keep my eye out for.
Books By Your Bedside 