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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was absolutely only here for muriel, literally noone else was likeable
Arthurs ‘she mine’ thing was such a red flag
Arthurs ‘she mine’ thing was such a red flag
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A nice interesting read. I did think there would be more thriller/crime elements to it but I still enjoyed it.
I love reading historical fiction, and regularly read books set in World War II. I found The Night of the Flood, set during the Cold War a refreshing novel to read, with atmosphere, and the hint of a spy story, set amidst the rise of the Cold War. The backdrop to the story is the North Sea Flood of 1953, on the night of 31st January 1953, which was caused by the combination of a high spring tide and a storm and which affected multiple counties in the United Kingdom, as well as areas of the Netherlands and Belgium.
The story focuses on five main characters. Verity and Peter are siblings living on their father’s farm. Verity wants to go to university, and is not ready to settle down, but her father wants to arrange a marriage for her with a wealthy farmer’s son. Peter is trying to find ways to keep the family farm financially afloat, whilst denying his own feelings about his sexuality. When the siblings were young, their family took in an evacuee from London, Arthur, who grew up with them, before his mother joined him in the village. Having returned from doing his national service, he wants nothing more than to settle down with his childhood sweetheart Verity, and leave Norfolk as soon as possible to become a journalist, and is looking for a big story to help him make his getaway. Muriel grew up with them, the oldest child of a large and impoverished family, happiest when she is out on the water. In amongst them is the mysterious Jack, a pilot from the local American air force base, who is never quite what he seems.
The connections between them all is complex and there are a number of love triangles amongst them, with communication seriously lacking between all them. The secrets and lies between them all are interwoven so seamlessly into the story, adding to the tension and atmosphere. The story builds gradually over the months before the flood, raising the tension to the point where the events of the night of the flood are so gripping. This is not a racy thriller, it is a subtle thriller that ebbs and flows in much the same way as the flood waters that night. Against the rising tensions between the Americans and the Soviets, this was a perfectly tempered novel in which the secrets and lies have you questioning whether any of the characters are what they seem, or even what they themselves think they are. This was an excellent debut by Zoe Somerville, which had me turning every page in anticipation.
The story focuses on five main characters. Verity and Peter are siblings living on their father’s farm. Verity wants to go to university, and is not ready to settle down, but her father wants to arrange a marriage for her with a wealthy farmer’s son. Peter is trying to find ways to keep the family farm financially afloat, whilst denying his own feelings about his sexuality. When the siblings were young, their family took in an evacuee from London, Arthur, who grew up with them, before his mother joined him in the village. Having returned from doing his national service, he wants nothing more than to settle down with his childhood sweetheart Verity, and leave Norfolk as soon as possible to become a journalist, and is looking for a big story to help him make his getaway. Muriel grew up with them, the oldest child of a large and impoverished family, happiest when she is out on the water. In amongst them is the mysterious Jack, a pilot from the local American air force base, who is never quite what he seems.
The connections between them all is complex and there are a number of love triangles amongst them, with communication seriously lacking between all them. The secrets and lies between them all are interwoven so seamlessly into the story, adding to the tension and atmosphere. The story builds gradually over the months before the flood, raising the tension to the point where the events of the night of the flood are so gripping. This is not a racy thriller, it is a subtle thriller that ebbs and flows in much the same way as the flood waters that night. Against the rising tensions between the Americans and the Soviets, this was a perfectly tempered novel in which the secrets and lies have you questioning whether any of the characters are what they seem, or even what they themselves think they are. This was an excellent debut by Zoe Somerville, which had me turning every page in anticipation.
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
An atmospheric and beautifully written mystery set during the North Sea flood of 1953!
I was kindly gifted this copy of the book from Head of Zeus in exchange for an honest review.
I'll be honest I was expecting this to be about a crime, with a who-dunnit style investigation but there was so much more to this book that took me totally by surprise!
The story begins nine months before the flood, where we are introduced to an array of characters, with each one bringing a new depth and surprises to the story. The landscape and characters were beautifully detailed and I could just picture each of them perfectly, as though I was right there with them.
Verity is our main character who has a complicated relationship with Arthur, her brother Peter and her Father. You can feel the pain she is dealing with and the confusion at not knowing exactly what it is she wants from life. She know's she wants to go to University and travel, but her Father wants her to marry a local boy whose family are rich.
Once we meet Jack the American pilot, the story picks up even more pace and I couldn't put it down. There were secrets he was keeping that I was desperate to find out and not only that, but along the way there are some interesting revelations about Peter that surface and I just was not expecting it in the slightest.
Once the flood happens the mystery of the crime appears and more secrets are revealed which tie up all the unanswered questions nicely.
Overall it's so much more than a crime thriller. It's about the journey these young characters go on at a time of uncertainty and devastation.
I was kindly gifted this copy of the book from Head of Zeus in exchange for an honest review.
I'll be honest I was expecting this to be about a crime, with a who-dunnit style investigation but there was so much more to this book that took me totally by surprise!
The story begins nine months before the flood, where we are introduced to an array of characters, with each one bringing a new depth and surprises to the story. The landscape and characters were beautifully detailed and I could just picture each of them perfectly, as though I was right there with them.
Verity is our main character who has a complicated relationship with Arthur, her brother Peter and her Father. You can feel the pain she is dealing with and the confusion at not knowing exactly what it is she wants from life. She know's she wants to go to University and travel, but her Father wants her to marry a local boy whose family are rich.
Once we meet Jack the American pilot, the story picks up even more pace and I couldn't put it down. There were secrets he was keeping that I was desperate to find out and not only that, but along the way there are some interesting revelations about Peter that surface and I just was not expecting it in the slightest.
Once the flood happens the mystery of the crime appears and more secrets are revealed which tie up all the unanswered questions nicely.
Overall it's so much more than a crime thriller. It's about the journey these young characters go on at a time of uncertainty and devastation.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Whilst the flood element was interesting I feel like this book was let down by poor character development.
I was intrigued by the flooding aspect of the story and the cleanup which followed however this played a very minor role closer to the end of the book and remained in the background after the event.
I was unsatisfied with the character development side of the story because whilst we were given the emotion side of the story there was little to know explanation of these feelings until after they were already shown. For example Arthur hated Jack from the start it wasn’t until later that Jack started hitting on Verity and Arthur wasn’t even aware of this for most of the time afterwards. Similarly the attraction between Verity and Jack had no development shown.
Honestly just not keen. This book did nothing to help my reading slump
I was intrigued by the flooding aspect of the story and the cleanup which followed however this played a very minor role closer to the end of the book and remained in the background after the event.
I was unsatisfied with the character development side of the story because whilst we were given the emotion side of the story there was little to know explanation of these feelings until after they were already shown. For example Arthur hated Jack from the start it wasn’t until later that Jack started hitting on Verity and Arthur wasn’t even aware of this for most of the time afterwards. Similarly the attraction between Verity and Jack had no development shown.
Honestly just not keen. This book did nothing to help my reading slump
Verity wanted to flee her small town and go to Oxford, go and discover more of the world than her family farm can offer. Arthur has returned from National Service with little experience of actual war but wants to expose the threat to his home. Peter wants nothing more than for the family farm to succeed but he and Verity's hot-headed father will not see sense. Jack appears as if from no where and threatens to pull apart the family bonds cemented in this town - will he succeed?
A big thank you to Head of Zeus and Zoe Somerville for letting me take part in this blog tour and for providing me with a gorgeous proof to read! My dalliances with historical fiction are few and far between but this was a great addition to my portfolio. There are some other wonderful bloggers taking part, see below:
I was more tempted by the thriller aspect of this novel than anything else and I was a little disheartened to see that this wasn't a strong theme whilst romance soared above all else. There is some mystery surrounding the foursome and Jack's intentions with not only Verity but the town itself and his connection with the US Air Force but I definitely wanted something stronger than that. Whilst the slow burn romance builds throughout this book there is no doubt a fire throughout. Somerville beautifully executes hidden feelings, blatant crushes and burning passion all at once, crossing a barrier into authorship I've rarely seen. It was thoroughly enjoyable seeing the relationships develop further into the novel.
My main fear with historical fiction is that I won't usually understand the reference points that add some depth to the story. It turns out I had no reason to be afraid! References are made and a running story is Jack's US connections and spying on the Soviet Union but it doesn't play majorly into the narrative, you definitely do not need the background to be able to enjoy this. Another point I would make is that the 'historical' part of this fiction reads so easily that as a reader you do not need to struggle to create the image in your mind of fair ladies in their gowns and manor houses, Somerville lays it out clear and simple without dressing it up.
Somerville has a way of capturing the reader from page one, I love to see this, especially after a series of reading the same thriller story over and over. I had forgotten how different thrillers could be and whilst this wasn't a "shock, wow, ka-blam" thriller, it was subtle and sneaky throughout and made you doubt who you trusted, fear for the characters and beg for their well-being.
A truly wonderful read front to back, definitely deserves it's place on my bookshelf forevermore.
A big thank you to Head of Zeus and Zoe Somerville for letting me take part in this blog tour and for providing me with a gorgeous proof to read! My dalliances with historical fiction are few and far between but this was a great addition to my portfolio. There are some other wonderful bloggers taking part, see below:
I was more tempted by the thriller aspect of this novel than anything else and I was a little disheartened to see that this wasn't a strong theme whilst romance soared above all else. There is some mystery surrounding the foursome and Jack's intentions with not only Verity but the town itself and his connection with the US Air Force but I definitely wanted something stronger than that. Whilst the slow burn romance builds throughout this book there is no doubt a fire throughout. Somerville beautifully executes hidden feelings, blatant crushes and burning passion all at once, crossing a barrier into authorship I've rarely seen. It was thoroughly enjoyable seeing the relationships develop further into the novel.
My main fear with historical fiction is that I won't usually understand the reference points that add some depth to the story. It turns out I had no reason to be afraid! References are made and a running story is Jack's US connections and spying on the Soviet Union but it doesn't play majorly into the narrative, you definitely do not need the background to be able to enjoy this. Another point I would make is that the 'historical' part of this fiction reads so easily that as a reader you do not need to struggle to create the image in your mind of fair ladies in their gowns and manor houses, Somerville lays it out clear and simple without dressing it up.
Somerville has a way of capturing the reader from page one, I love to see this, especially after a series of reading the same thriller story over and over. I had forgotten how different thrillers could be and whilst this wasn't a "shock, wow, ka-blam" thriller, it was subtle and sneaky throughout and made you doubt who you trusted, fear for the characters and beg for their well-being.
A truly wonderful read front to back, definitely deserves it's place on my bookshelf forevermore.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes