Women Of The Dunes by Sarah Maine @SarahMaineBooks @HodderPublicity @HodderBooks #WomenOfTheDunes #5Stars

Book Synopsis:

The new gorgeously sweeping historical novel from Sarah Maine, the acclaimed author of The House Between Tides and Beyond the Wild River. Perfect for fans of Kate Morton and Jenny Ashcroft.

On the rugged, sea-lashed coast of west Scotland lies Ullaness: home to the Scottish legend of Ulla, a Viking woman who washed up on Scottish shores centuries ago. The legend will bring the stories of three different women together…

In AD 800 there is Ulla, lost in a foreign country after her lover is brutally killed. Ellen, a servant-girl in the 1800s, catches the unwanted attentions of the master of the house’s lascivious son. And, in the present day, there is Libby – an archaeologist who is determined to uncover an age-old mystery.

When a body is excavated from Ullaness – the body of someone who was murdered long ago – the mystery deepens, and the fates of the three women become ever more tightly bound.

Women Of The Dunes is available in ebook and hardback now.  You can purchase your copy here.

My Review:

I’m such a huge fan of Sarah Maine’s so was very excited to read The Women Of The Dunes, her latest book.  Sarah always writes such amazing historical fiction and within a few pages I realised I was in for another treat.

The story is told from three timelines which may sound like it will be confusing but isn’t as the author cleverly manages to write with a different style and has created very different characters in each.  This makes it very easy to differentiate between the them.

All the stories are fascinating in their own way and I enjoyed reading all of them in turn though, unusually for me, I actually preferred the present timeline the most.  I think this was due to the potential relationship between the two main characters that I was willing to happen as I thought they’d be very sweet together and Declan’s wonderful house and family that you couldn’t help fall in love with.  I would have loved to stay in that interesting house, especially with their cook who seemed to make some lovely sounding food.

The descriptions of Ullaness where very vivid and I felt I could really imagine the Island.  The beautiful, ruggedness and history of the Island was beautifully described and I would love to visit there some day.  Though my Scottish mother in-law tells me it’s very windy and cold! The community that the author describes was a really close one who seemed to look out for each other.  It seemed like a wonderful place to live.

The mystery involving the murders and the truth behind the legend was very interesting and kept my attention throughout.  I was disappointed to find that the legend wasn’t a real one, as I love stuff like that but it was still a fascinating one to read about.

This is Sarah’s third book and I really look forward to reading more from her in the future.  If you enjoy fascinating, multiple time line mysteries then you’ll enjoy this book.

Huge thanks to Hodder publishers for my copy of this book via Netgalley.

About The Author:

Sarah Maine was born in England but grew up partly in Canada before returning to England for university. She studied archaeology and for many years worked in the profession but is now a freelance writer and researcher. Sarah’s debut novel The House Between Tides (previously Bhalla Strand 2014) was re-published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2018. Beyond the Wild River (2017) is her second novel and Women of the Dunes will be published in 2018.