Lesley Pearce is a new author to me. I loved The Woman in the Wood. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. It stirred so many emotions. How the events as they unfolded changed the characters, in a good way. I loved how they all came together, it's a pity it took such a dreadful event to make it happen but it made for great reading. I didn't want the book to end. Great read and brilliant writing.

Again, an excellent tale from this author who keeps you immersed right through the book.

Lesley Pearce never disappoints and this book is no exception.
A stunning read which is both a thriller and a love story though not in the romantic style..
Grace a reclusive lady lives in the woods shunning all forms of society until twins Duncan and Maisy come into her life and change it for ever.
The twins have come to stay with their cold hearted grandmother whilst their mother is in hospital.
Devoid of any information as to what is wrong with their mother and sent away by their equally distant father the twins at the age of fifteen only have themselves. The only bright spot for them is Janice the housekeeper who has known them all their lives and feels sorry for them and spoils and mothers them.
Left mainly to their own devices the children forge a life for themselves and especially Dubcan who befriends Grace the women in the woods.
One day after going out on his own apparently to visit Grace Duncan disappears. At first the police do not take it seriously but on Maisy's insistence results in a man hunt which appears fruitless.
Not giving up Maisy's and Grace are determined that Duncan is alive held captive and will do what ever they can to find him.
A story full of love and determination .

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this review copy.

15 year old Maisie and her twin brother, Duncan, are sent to live with their grandmother following the admission of their mother to a psychiatric hospital one night in 1960. They quickly settle to life in the country, finding themselves allowed much more freedom to explore. They hear tales of The Woman in the Wood, Grace Deville – a mysterious woman whom local people avoid. When they find themselves near her home, Grace threatens them never to come back. One day, Duncan doesn’t return home…..

Was so excited to be approved for this book, I love Lesley Pearse!! I have read so many of her previous books and it seems that she can write just about any story in any timeline, with this one being set in the sixties. The story begins well with Maisie and Duncan’s mother being taken in the dead of night to an asylum. She appears to have some sort of mental illness, but in the years that this book is set it is obvious how people with mental health problems were treated and view compared to today. Maisie and Duncan were never allowed to see her and were sent, by their father, to live with their paternal grandmother. They weren’t keen to go but once there realised that grandmother didn’t really want anything much to do with them and they were left to their own devices, with much more freedom being in the countryside than living in London. As weeks turn in months, Maisie and Duncan begin to distance themselves from each other, with both finding new and different friends. One night, Duncan doesn’t return home. Nobody has seen him or know where he might be. There are rumours that the Woman in the Wood, Grace Deville, is a bad lady and people start to look in her direction, thinking that perhaps she may have done something bad to Duncan. Duncan’s grandmother believes that he has simply run away, but Maisie can feel that something bad has happened to him. One day a body is found….is is Duncan?

This was a mix between a crime story and a family saga! The story gets you from the beginning and keeps you going on a rollercoaster of emotions. Lesley is a great storyteller and you don’t want the story to end! A chilling mystery with great characters! Well recommended – five stars!

Thank you Netgalley, Bookouture and the publisher for allowing me to read this. How could I not love a Lesley Pearse book!! I adore all her books!! And this one did not disappoint!! Another one to definitely recommend and one to tell people to please read.

Wow! This has to be one of the best books I've read. The storyline, without giving anything away, is so well written and totally feasible that something like this could happen in this way. I just didn't want to put it down and found myself on tenterhooks the whole time. I was so ensnared in the story and the characters, I now understand the feeling that makes some people want to read the end before they've finished a book. Then that sad feeling, when I had read the last word - which has to be the sign of an excellent read. Totally recommended.

Maisy and Duncan are twins who are sent to live with the grandmother at Nightingales after their mother is literally dragged screaming from their family home. At Nightingales they meet a strange woman who lives in the woods and does not interact socially, then young boys start going missing, could the woman in the wood be to blame?

I am really unsure how I feel about this book, I had never read a book by Lesley Pearse before so did not know what to expect.

I found it very old-fashioned in the way it was written but that is because the story takes place during the 1960's which certainly helps the author build tension and fear due to the lack of communication available during those times.

At first, it seemed quite tame, then all of a sudden it becomes quite graphic in detailing some of the crimes committed and I don't think this helped the story.

It has a lot of different issues running through the book-Mental health, (which still has a stigma today, but I can imagine was even worse during this time, crime, family issues etc.) which are briefly mentioned.

The story is written well but I don't think the characters were written as well as they could be. The story seemed to go on for a while and the "who dunnit" seemed obvious

This is written in a simple, naive style which is really boring and feels very dated. It deals with several cases of horrific abuse, but the reaction of the main characters is - oh dear, how terrible, instead of the sick horror and trauma it should evoke. The plot is not particularly original, nor is it given any surprising twists. The characters are wooden stereotypes, eg. strict father, mad woman in woods, stupid policeman. The complete character change of the father at the end is risible. I will not be reading any more of this author's work.

Heartwarming family saga. Interesting characters who grow and change with the story .

I have not read anything by Lesley Pearse before and I really thought this book was something by Enid Blyton at first. The children spending time having great fun in the countryside and eating food homemade by their Grandmother's cook. Then having a mystery of finding out about a strange woman who lived deep in the forest and making it their business to go and chat with her. Eventually, the mood turns when one of the twins, Duncan goes missing after a bike ride. This long story becomes darker as the tale unfolds and even becomes quite disturbing in parts. The recent history is well researched (or remembered - sorry I haven't checked the age of the author) and the characters behave in that rather naive way they did in the late 50's, early 60's. The story is well thought out and has no unanswered questions - always a complaint of mine - so I did rather enjoy it although I must admit I did wonder where it was heading for quite some time. I did notice the clues regarding the culprit but maybe that's because I just read too much crime fiction!

A very good read with interesting and unusual characters.
Felt at times the timescale of the missing boys and bit stretched and unbelievable. Also somehow the escape boat took 3 daysto arrive rather tha next day. Nonetheless a great book,. hard to put down!

Lesley Pearse is such a great writer. This book is another of her 'thumping good reads'. Great plot that keeps you hooked

Another great book by Lesley Pearse. I have read all her books and enjoyed them. Set in the 1960's, it is the story of twins, Maisy & Duncan who are sent by their father from London to The New Forest to live with their grandmother when their mother becomes ill.

I very much enjoyed the first part of this book, and I thought this would be another 5 star review. However, at the middle point the book fell apart in my view. It was very unrealistic both in action (which I don't mind so much) and in character emotions for the last half. I thoroughly enjoyed the first part of the book hence why I'm giving it 3 stars.

This is another excellent book from Lesley Pearse, she really knows how to write a gripping thriller.

Twins Maisy and Duncan are sent to live with their grandmother in the New Forest when their mother is taken into a care home because she is unwell. Their father is rather cold but their grandmother is too. There are many stories of witches in the area and one of them live in the woods. The twins have always spent all their time together but as they are growing older they find different friends until one day Duncan doesn’t return home.

The story follows Maisy’s search for Duncan with the help of Grace, a lady who lives in a shack in the woods who Duncan had become quite close to.

This is an excellent book, it is well written with some good interesting characters, it also shows how a good looking face can hide a multiple of evil. I read it within a couple of hours and would highly recommend it.

An easy read with the main characters Maisie, Duncan and Grace whose storylines join up to give a good book. Set in the 1960's it gives an insight of everyday life and also not everything was quite as we were led to believe. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it.

Maisy and Duncan are twins who've moved from London to the New Forest to live with their grandmother. This follows their mother being sent to an asylum by their father.

At first I thought the characters were rather twee. However once I got used to the 1950s language and attitudes I began to enjoy the story more.

For a while the story rambles on, with the twins exploring the forest. All very Famous Five.

Then something happens, is there going to be more to this book than I expected?

Perhaps a murder mystery?
Perhaps something more sinister?
Agatha Christie meets Enid Blyton?

This novel has a certain predictability about it, but I still enjoyed it.
I will look out for future books by Lesley Pearce on the strength of this novel.

I give thanks to Netgalley and Penguin UK (Michael Joseph) For a copy in exchange for this review.

Lesley Pearse does it again. She never fails to delight and this book, despite its dark subject matter, did just that, with the knowledge that good will always conquer evil. A good all-round read. Highly recommended

I loved this book. But then I always love lesleys books. This has so many twists and turns in it I was shocked to find out the perpetrator.
For the twins it was hard being sent off to live with their frosty grandmother when their dad sent their mother of to a home. As he thought that was best place for them but he didn't expect Duncan to make friends with a crazy woman in the woods and then go missing and the fingers point towards the woman in the woods. But for maisy she has that funny feeling something isn't right with how her grandmother and father are acting towards Duncan being missing. And decides that it's time to go and live her life after the police search started to drop expecting Duncan to turn up when he's good and ready. So after working in brighten for a family help maisy decides to go back and see her family. And that's when she decides to go talk to the woman in the woods and between them they come up with a plan to find Duncan. As everyone nows that twins can sense things and that happens between the twins so maisy nows duncan is still out there. But when they do find him they are shocked in what they find and who had took Duncan and the others. I'm glad in how it ended and that the story was wrote in the right way and I would give it ten stars if I could it was one that keeps you gripped all the way through.

15 year old twins Maisy & Duncan are sent to live with their stern & disapproving Grandmother. Their Father is emotionally as well as physically distant and their Mother has been committed to an asylum. Maisy and Duncan settle into life in the New Forest taking lessons with a private tutor and making friends. Then disaster strikes and Duncan goes missing.

I struggled with this book for three main reasons. The first reason was the fact that these are twins - again! A fictional character is far more likely to be a parent of twins than anyone in the real world. They come with useful plot devices - swapping places when identical or having that supposed psychic connection. Unsurprisingly this author decided on the psychic connection which is used towards the end of the book. I did sigh. Was it really necessary? I didn't think so as the characters were using good old intelligence to arrive at conclusions & I would have been far happier had that been continued rather than this supposed psychic link used. This really is an overusued and rather tired plot device.

I struggled very much with the twins as people. I know that this is set in 1960 when people and times were different. However their behaviour, likes and dislikes and manner of speaking was much more like a child of about 11 rather than 15. The author seems to forget that many 15 year olds in this period were out at work full time. They had to grow up fast and would certainly have been behaving in a much older manner than these two.

My third problem is the language used throughout the book. I felt very patronised and felt the language was very simple and dumbed down. It wasn't just the way the twins spoke which was much younger and simpler than their age, it was also the language used throughout the book. The vocabularly was not rich but quite bland and rather basic. I longed for rich adjectives describing the beautiful New Forest but was met with rather bland language which failed to bring it to life. This really ruined the book for me and left me feeling rather short changed.

As I am sure you have gathered I wasn't particularly taken with this book. I worked out the perpetrator quite early on as it was really rather simple due to lack of options. I found the story very simple and a bit silly and unlikely in many places. The language was poor and unimaginative.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.