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A review by aliu6
The Tell Tale by Clare Ashton
4.0
4.5 stars
This was a really riveting read and I finished it all in one night. I love Clare Ashton's storytelling abilities, and she's great at giving you a story piece by piece until things finally click together in the end. That especially lends itself to the mystery genre, like here. I also appreciated how the story addressed issues of sexism and homophobia, and power dynamics in general, so head on.
Note: It was hard to review this without at least spoiling some things. So while I didn't give away anything major, there might be small spoilers throughout this.
---The Breakdown---
Bethan Griffiths moves back to the town of Foel where she grew up, her young daughter in tow. Foel hasn't changed much, and neither have the people; those in charge back then are still in charge now. But soon, something starts to shake up the stability of the small town. There's a tell tale who has been leaving notes for townspeople—notes sharing people's darkest secrets—and it turns out that a lot is hidden beneath the surface in Foel.
cw: murder, physical abuse, verbal abuse, child abuse, substance abuse, sexual harassment, heavy themes of homophobia and sexism throughout the novel, transphobia, vulgar language about women, victim-shaming
The Characters: The POVs alternate between various townspeople: Beth Griffiths, Lady Sophie Melling, Geraint Thomas, and Rhian Thomas. Beth is kind and a little meek, but she recognizes the problematic things in the town that others ignore. She's described as very reliable and constant. Sophie is harsher and more cynical, withdrawing from the town that dislikes her. Geraint is pretty rough around the edges, but he does his best to gain his parents' approval. Unfortunately, he seems stuck in the shadow of his older brother, Alwyn. Rhian has been in a sort of stupor ever since her son Alwyn ran away, but soon the happenings in the town force her to wake up. I appreciated the complexity of the women in the story (I don't expect any less from Clare Ashton). While there wasn't a character that really stood out and captured my heart, I think I ended up liking the characters I was supposed to like and hating the ones I was supposed to hate.
The Romance: The romance is a fairly minor subplot, making room for the mystery. However, we do get some romance set in the past, when the women were all girls in the same class. They were varied: sweet, all-consuming, innocent, passionate. The romance in the present is more vague, and we don't even get a clear picture of the HEA. This isn't a book you'd read for the love story.
The Plot:
The plot centered around the mystery of the notes, which linked to events from 20 years ago. We get occasional flashbacks to the past that help us puzzle together an idea of what is going on. Very engaging (and also spooky) plot. Besides the mystery, the book also addresses the culture of sexism and corruption of authority figures in the town in a really powerful way.
The Writing:
Lovely! I've said this about Clare Ashton's writing before: it kind of reads like a book I might be assigned in English class, but I find that I enjoy the more formal style of writing, and it flowed so well.
All in all, would recommend if you enjoy mysteries and women and queer people claiming their power. It's also on Kindle Unlimited!
This was a really riveting read and I finished it all in one night. I love Clare Ashton's storytelling abilities, and she's great at giving you a story piece by piece until things finally click together in the end. That especially lends itself to the mystery genre, like here. I also appreciated how the story addressed issues of sexism and homophobia, and power dynamics in general, so head on.
Note: It was hard to review this without at least spoiling some things. So while I didn't give away anything major, there might be small spoilers throughout this.
---The Breakdown---
Bethan Griffiths moves back to the town of Foel where she grew up, her young daughter in tow. Foel hasn't changed much, and neither have the people; those in charge back then are still in charge now. But soon, something starts to shake up the stability of the small town. There's a tell tale who has been leaving notes for townspeople—notes sharing people's darkest secrets—and it turns out that a lot is hidden beneath the surface in Foel.
cw: murder, physical abuse, verbal abuse, child abuse, substance abuse, sexual harassment, heavy themes of homophobia and sexism throughout the novel, transphobia, vulgar language about women, victim-shaming
The Characters: The POVs alternate between various townspeople: Beth Griffiths, Lady Sophie Melling, Geraint Thomas, and Rhian Thomas. Beth is kind and a little meek, but she recognizes the problematic things in the town that others ignore. She's described as very reliable and constant. Sophie is harsher and more cynical, withdrawing from the town that dislikes her. Geraint is pretty rough around the edges, but he does his best to gain his parents' approval. Unfortunately, he seems stuck in the shadow of his older brother, Alwyn. Rhian has been in a sort of stupor ever since her son Alwyn ran away, but soon the happenings in the town force her to wake up. I appreciated the complexity of the women in the story (I don't expect any less from Clare Ashton). While there wasn't a character that really stood out and captured my heart, I think I ended up liking the characters I was supposed to like and hating the ones I was supposed to hate.
The Romance: The romance is a fairly minor subplot, making room for the mystery. However, we do get some romance set in the past, when the women were all girls in the same class. They were varied: sweet, all-consuming, innocent, passionate. The romance in the present is more vague, and we don't even get a clear picture of the HEA. This isn't a book you'd read for the love story.
The Plot:
The plot centered around the mystery of the notes, which linked to events from 20 years ago. We get occasional flashbacks to the past that help us puzzle together an idea of what is going on. Very engaging (and also spooky) plot. Besides the mystery, the book also addresses the culture of sexism and corruption of authority figures in the town in a really powerful way.
The Writing:
Lovely! I've said this about Clare Ashton's writing before: it kind of reads like a book I might be assigned in English class, but I find that I enjoy the more formal style of writing, and it flowed so well.
All in all, would recommend if you enjoy mysteries and women and queer people claiming their power. It's also on Kindle Unlimited!