Publication
Penguin (2018), 416 pages
Description
Fifteen-year-old Maisy Mitcham and her twin brother Duncan lose their mother to an insane asylum one night in 1955. The twins are sent to their grandmother's country house, Nightingales. Cold and distant, she leaves them to their own devices, to explore and to grow. That is until the day Duncan doesn't come home from the woods. With their grandmother seeming to have little interest in her grandson's disappearance, and the police soon giving up hope, it is left to Maisy to discover the truth. And she will start with Grace Deville. A woman who lives alone in the wood, about whom rumours abound...
User reviews
LibraryThing member adpaton
Kitchen-sink drama at its best, this is a timeless tale of sibling love, family ties, melodrama, sexual depravity, and loyalty. Too real and raunchy for Barbara Cartland, but also too realistic and well written for a host of other chick-fic writers, It’s no wonder Pearse has a host of titles on
Twins Maisy and Duncan Mitcham are sent to live with their grandmother in the country when their mother is committed to an asylum: they miss their mum and distrust their father, but soon love the freedom and friendliness of the countryside.
Except Duncan vanishes. Is he one of the murdered boys found in the woods, or did he run away? Daisy doesn’t believe he has died, and keeps looking for him, with dangerous consequences. Exciting, enthralling, excellent.
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the best-seller list.Twins Maisy and Duncan Mitcham are sent to live with their grandmother in the country when their mother is committed to an asylum: they miss their mum and distrust their father, but soon love the freedom and friendliness of the countryside.
Except Duncan vanishes. Is he one of the murdered boys found in the woods, or did he run away? Daisy doesn’t believe he has died, and keeps looking for him, with dangerous consequences. Exciting, enthralling, excellent.
Show Less
LibraryThing member boudicca123
Maisy and Duncan are teenage twins brought up by a cold father and are sent to live with their even colder, aloof grandmother who lives in the New Forest. Their own mother is unable to look after them as she isn’t well and has also been sent away. During their explorations they come across Grace,
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the woman in the wood, who is treated like an outcast and she does not welcome visitors, preferring her own company - until someone goes missing. This is a lovely, heartwarming story of friendship, loyalty, deceit, romance and menace with a great feel for the 1960’s period it is set in. A wonderful “warm the cockles of your heart” book which leaves the reader wanting more! Show Less
LibraryThing member SassyBrit
I'm reviewing The Woman in the Wood by Lesley Pearse. Here are my thoughts:
^^ When Maisy Mitcham and her twin brother Duncan get sent away to live with their grandmother, after their mother is sent to an asylum, Duncan goes missing. What follows is a nightmare search to uncover Duncan's last steps
^^ Okay, I'l
l hold my hands up and admit it, I've never read any of this author's work and after reading up about her I've discovered she has a whole range of books out that do not easily fit to a defined genre. This is totally new to me!
^^ The Woman in the Wood is set in the 1960s postwar England, which added to its charm. Especially when you hear how the twins were neglected as they were growing up and their mother is just shipped off to an asylum.
^^ Because of the time period and the English postwar setting, the plot had a quaint, old-fashioned feel to it. Initially, I felt this lead to a slow start, but after the first third of the way in things really picked up and Maisy's search for her missing brother moved the story forward at a much quicker pace.
^^ Lesley Pearse has an intriguing way of delving into her characters and pulling out their secrets. Hidden within I discovered lots of family drama with many layers (including romance), and an equally
intriguing and thought-provoking mystery surrounding the woman in the wood.
^^ I must add their is some serious issues brought up in this book and a couple of brutal horror scenes that I didn't expect, since the book was written so eloquently, almost like a fairy-tale. In fact, Hansel and Gretel are actually mentioned. So when these disturbing things were told it really packed a punch, I can tell you. Emotional!
Overall: I liked this book a lot and feel Lesley Pearse has a real talent for words. I'll definitely look out for more of her books and maybe check out her backlist, too.
^^ When Maisy Mitcham and her twin brother Duncan get sent away to live with their grandmother, after their mother is sent to an asylum, Duncan goes missing. What follows is a nightmare search to uncover Duncan's last steps
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- all of which point to Grace Deville; the grumpy old woman in the wood of whom they befriended before Duncan's disappearance. But is everything as it seems? What if the murderous stories about the woman in the wood are true? Could she know more than she lets on? ^^ Okay, I'l
l hold my hands up and admit it, I've never read any of this author's work and after reading up about her I've discovered she has a whole range of books out that do not easily fit to a defined genre. This is totally new to me!
^^ The Woman in the Wood is set in the 1960s postwar England, which added to its charm. Especially when you hear how the twins were neglected as they were growing up and their mother is just shipped off to an asylum.
^^ Because of the time period and the English postwar setting, the plot had a quaint, old-fashioned feel to it. Initially, I felt this lead to a slow start, but after the first third of the way in things really picked up and Maisy's search for her missing brother moved the story forward at a much quicker pace.
^^ Lesley Pearse has an intriguing way of delving into her characters and pulling out their secrets. Hidden within I discovered lots of family drama with many layers (including romance), and an equally
intriguing and thought-provoking mystery surrounding the woman in the wood.
^^ I must add their is some serious issues brought up in this book and a couple of brutal horror scenes that I didn't expect, since the book was written so eloquently, almost like a fairy-tale. In fact, Hansel and Gretel are actually mentioned. So when these disturbing things were told it really packed a punch, I can tell you. Emotional!
Overall: I liked this book a lot and feel Lesley Pearse has a real talent for words. I'll definitely look out for more of her books and maybe check out her backlist, too.
Show Less
Original language
English
Original publication date
2017
Physical description
416 p.; 7.8 inches
ISBN
1405921080 / 9781405921084