Time Travel – Lady Book Dragon

The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths

Blurb

Ali Dawson and her cold case team investigate crimes so old they’re frozen—or so their inside joke goes. Ali’s work seems like a safe desk job, but what her friends—and even her beloved son—don’t know is that her team has a secret: They can travel back in time to look for evidence.

So far Ali has made trips only to the recent past, so she’s surprised when she’s asked to investigate a murder that took place in 1850. The killing has been pinned on an aristocratic patron of the arts and antiquities, a member of a sinister group called “The Collectors.” She arrives in the Victorian era during a mini ice age to find another dead woman at her feet and far too many unanswered questions. But when her son is arrested, Ali attempts to return home only to find herself trapped in 1850.

Review

I’ve only ever read one book by Elly Griffiths that wasn’t a Ruth Galloway book so I was very excited to read something very different from Griffiths. This book was definitely something different and not what I was expecting at all.

This book revolves around the character Ali Dawson who is part of a cold case team who investigates old cases and these cases can be very old. However, there is something quite different from the way this team solves the crimes. This team uses time travel to look for evidence and this leads to Ali going further back in time than she has ever been before. Ali finds herself investigating a murder whilst stuck in 1850.

I loved the character of Ali as she is a strong independent woman who has fought the odds to better herself. Oh and she is also a cat owner. Ali worked cleaning jobs to provide for her son and at the same time she gained a degree in history. She then got a job with the police and she worked her way up the ladder. Ali works every problem she is faced with methodically and nothing seems to phase her. Whilst Ali is stuck in 1850 there is also a murder mystery happening in the present day which involves Ali’s adult son.

I really enjoyed this book and I would love to learn more about Ali’s team. John is a true gentleman who we do get to see more of and you can’t help but root for. Once I got over how different this book is from Griffiths’ usual work I thoroughly enjoyed it and found the concept fascinating. There were also some big questions left that I would love to get answers for so I really hope there will be a second book. The narrative of this book was quite busy and there was a lot going on. I will be honest and say that I actually enjoyed the Victorian sections more than the present day and preferred the Victorian characters. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.

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About the author

Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway novels take for their inspiration Elly’s husband, who gave up a city job to train as an archaeologist, and her aunt who lives on the Norfolk coast and who filled her niece’s head with the myths and legends of that area. Elly has two children and lives near Brighton.

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The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski

Blurb

Tells the story of a young married woman who lies down on a chaise-longue and wakes to find herself imprisoned in the body of her alter ego ninety years before.

Review

A couple of days ago I went book shopping at one of my favourite bookshops Persephone Books in Bath and I came away with quite a few books. When I saw this book in the shop it really intrigued me so as soon as I got back to the hotel I started reading it and I was hooked.

Melanie is a young wife and recent mother in the 1950’s but sadly she is confined to her bed with TB. She has a rather patronising doctor and an equally patronising husband who both treat her like a small child. Her husband thinks she is silly and even tells her this and because she is petted and spoiled and told she is silly she acts like an over privileged spoiled brat.

Things soon turn rather sinister for Melanie after she dozes off on the chaise-longue. Melanie wakes up in a different room and the only constant is the chaise-longue, even her clothes and body are different but she is Melanie inside, on the outside however she is somebody else who is called Milly and Milly is from the Victorian period.

As the story develops it soon becomes clear that Milly is also a very sick woman but because of the lack of medical knowledge in the Victorian period Milly is not doing as well as Melanie was. It also becomes clear that Milly has a dark secret and something sinister happened in her past.

The trapped Melanie soon realises that this new world she finds herself in is the polar opposite to the one she comes from. Melanie is used to comforts, to being petted and spoiled and never hearing a harsh word. Milly is not used to comforts and is harshly treated and spoken to. Milly’s world is coarse to Melanie’s soft.

I loved the contrasts in this book and how Melanie tries to work out how to escape this body she finds herself in. The book explores themes of mental health, physical health and developments in medical treatments. It also looks at the roles of women in the 1950’s and 1860’s. As the reader I desperately wanted to know more about Milly’s past and find out her story because we get hints of it and some of those hints are rather worrying and scary.

This book is rather creepy and a perfect read for the month of October. I flew through the book and could have happily read it in one sitting if I wasn’t having so much fun on my holiday. I know the not knowing added to the atmosphere of the story but it did leave me frustrated and it is because of this I only give the book 4 out of 5 Dragons. I will definitely be reading more by Marghanita Laski though.

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Purchase Links

Book Depository | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery

About the author

Marghanita Laski (1915-1988) was an English journalist, radio panellist and novelist. She also wrote literary biography, plays and short stories, and contributed about 250,000 additions to the Oxford English Dictionary.