Stone Circle - review
I was lucky to meet Elly Griffiths last year in Bolton Library, she came and did an evening for them and was both hilarious but also very very informative.
Truly honest and someone you immediately like and want to know more from and about.
So, read her fab books!
I recently read and reviewed her debut children's crime caper, A Girl called Justice which is utterly captivating.
So, she has a new Dr Ruth Galloway out, the 11th and it's sensational. She has created so many characters you just want to spend time with, she has an unbelievable knack of not making even quite grisly things too horrible and that is an art of it's own.
Elly has obviously travelled and discovered so much, every chapter has a snippet of something in, either druidism, Italian cookery, meditation, child care or where not to buy flowers (petrol stations - I knew that already actually).
She has created a place and brought wonderfully different people to live there, it's just very very well done, using the old folk tales of East Anglia as well as the real archaeological stuff which is always interesting, finding out about the neolithic henges and their origins and then adding clever, clever word mysteries to be seen and thought about is just so cleverly done.
The use of words from the past spoken or rather read now and yet always linking backwards ever so subtly through 30 or so years of back plot is ingenious, you want to know where they came from, whether it be the bible, poetry or other, and with the characters all having such differing backgrounds it all just falls into place beautifully.
In a very interesting way you are actually desperate to read the previous books, but everything you really need is right here and now in this book, you do just want to know more of past relationships and crimes too.
The use of family members to take us away from the pure police stuff is always good, it works well in rural crime, probably less so in city crime, but I really prefer the slightly more 'realism' of books like this, often in the high adrenaline ones you just have to go with it, knowing it would rarely ever happen, here it's very real and is really happening and you care about them too.
We are woven into mythology and romances and families that are linked, very, very cleverly with little flourishes of extremely cleverly placed clues and hints and tips, in fact reading Elly is like reading a life manual for all ages, as she really does handle all ages ever so well.
She has understanding and adds flavour as well as description, sensory writing is always fantastic and Elly does it so well.
I hope some of you come to Bolton Central Library to meet Elly and indeed William Shaw and Ashley Dyer who is chairing them...
It's Thursday 6th June 6pm in the Library and you can always order books beforehand and we'll sort and send, or hope we have a few afterwards!
As we have the past and present so intrinsically entwined it's always a treat when the two are brought together by a mixture of old and new methodology, we have characters who have grown with this series now acting on their own, holding so many well crafted lives together in this reality she has created is a truly majestic feat and the subtle hints of 'up North' with Bolton and Blackpool being mirrored with Norfolk and the parallel but very different landscapes is great, the myths are very similar though, strange stones, and Will O Wisps and tales of the devil and his tricks and Nix... and the wonderful Valentine's section! Flowers or not... it's all great!
Truly honest and someone you immediately like and want to know more from and about.
So, read her fab books!
I recently read and reviewed her debut children's crime caper, A Girl called Justice which is utterly captivating.
So, she has a new Dr Ruth Galloway out, the 11th and it's sensational. She has created so many characters you just want to spend time with, she has an unbelievable knack of not making even quite grisly things too horrible and that is an art of it's own.
Elly has obviously travelled and discovered so much, every chapter has a snippet of something in, either druidism, Italian cookery, meditation, child care or where not to buy flowers (petrol stations - I knew that already actually).
She has created a place and brought wonderfully different people to live there, it's just very very well done, using the old folk tales of East Anglia as well as the real archaeological stuff which is always interesting, finding out about the neolithic henges and their origins and then adding clever, clever word mysteries to be seen and thought about is just so cleverly done.
The use of words from the past spoken or rather read now and yet always linking backwards ever so subtly through 30 or so years of back plot is ingenious, you want to know where they came from, whether it be the bible, poetry or other, and with the characters all having such differing backgrounds it all just falls into place beautifully.
In a very interesting way you are actually desperate to read the previous books, but everything you really need is right here and now in this book, you do just want to know more of past relationships and crimes too.
The use of family members to take us away from the pure police stuff is always good, it works well in rural crime, probably less so in city crime, but I really prefer the slightly more 'realism' of books like this, often in the high adrenaline ones you just have to go with it, knowing it would rarely ever happen, here it's very real and is really happening and you care about them too.
We are woven into mythology and romances and families that are linked, very, very cleverly with little flourishes of extremely cleverly placed clues and hints and tips, in fact reading Elly is like reading a life manual for all ages, as she really does handle all ages ever so well.
She has understanding and adds flavour as well as description, sensory writing is always fantastic and Elly does it so well.
I hope some of you come to Bolton Central Library to meet Elly and indeed William Shaw and Ashley Dyer who is chairing them...
It's Thursday 6th June 6pm in the Library and you can always order books beforehand and we'll sort and send, or hope we have a few afterwards!
As we have the past and present so intrinsically entwined it's always a treat when the two are brought together by a mixture of old and new methodology, we have characters who have grown with this series now acting on their own, holding so many well crafted lives together in this reality she has created is a truly majestic feat and the subtle hints of 'up North' with Bolton and Blackpool being mirrored with Norfolk and the parallel but very different landscapes is great, the myths are very similar though, strange stones, and Will O Wisps and tales of the devil and his tricks and Nix... and the wonderful Valentine's section! Flowers or not... it's all great!