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throwback682's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I read this book based on how much I remembered loving the same author’s Tipping the Velvet fifteen years ago. I only read a short blurb and didn’t know what the meat of the plot was actually about. I was very surprised.
If you want to know more of the plot, but not major twists or ending:An older woman and her spinster daughter, living alone after the sons were killed in WWI and the husband died of a heart attack, are financially ruined and have to take in a young married couple as lodgers. The daughter is a lesbian and starts having an affair with the woman lodger. Then the man lodger dies unexpectedly and that’s where the majority of the tension in the book comes from. So it’s a sapphic love story? But also mostly a murder… not mystery? A crime drama, perhaps.
If you want to know whether it has a happy ending:Yes? It leaves you hanging a bit but it’s not the tragic ending I feared. Further ending spoilers: The male lodge is the only person in the book who dies. No LGBTQ+ deaths.
If you want to know more of the plot, but not major twists or ending:
If you want to know whether it has a happy ending:
Graphic: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Infertility, Biphobia, Grief, Confinement, Abortion, War, Vomit, Outing, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Death, Child death, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Murder, Misogyny, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Gore, and Blood
greatexpectations77's review against another edition
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book is a long haul, but it keeps good intensity up throughout.
Graphic: Abortion, Grief, Murder, Blood, Sexual content, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Classism, Child death, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Body horror, and Bullying
Minor: Death of parent
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