Helen Fields does it again another Historical Thriller to take your breath away, cancel all appointments you won't want to be disturbed unlike Sofia who could become very disturbed.

It all starts when Tom, Sofia's husband is ill and she goes to the home of his employer to get help it's 1905 so no app or mobile phone or health service certainly not as we have today. He seems reluctant to help then he has a change of heart but why ..... Whatever the reason it doesn't help poor Tom, or his family he's dead before sun down. This leaves Sofia and their two young children to survive on their own but Tom's former boss seems very keen to help and well this is where the story takes off in earnest although I was already hooked by then. There are also flash backs to her childhood her parents where of Romani origin & traveling with a fairground company or family as I think they prefer to be called.

This is a different era the big war they remembered and talked of was the Boer war not the World Wars of many books and films but it's 1905 so I'm stating the obvious. The characters are the sort I find very credible for this time and the settings are well researched it is the time that the suffragettes we're just getting going Keir Hardie had just entered parliament and we had a liberal government.

I want to recommend this thriller to you I enjoyed it, I was gripped from the beginning and think you may also be as well.

I adore her Edinburgh crime series so I eagerly read this book. I found I disliked the main female character more than I liked her. She was overly whiny, and blamed everything and everyone but herself for her misfortune. That being said well I was reading I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. The last third of the book was my favourite. It is definitely not as good as her other series, but was an enjoyable read.

Thank you NetGalley and Wailing Banshee for a copy of These lost and broken things by Helen Sarah Fields. I was intrigued to get a copy of this as I am aware of her D.I. Callanach series but, I wasn’t aware that she wrote historical crime. So, I was curious to see how this book pans out.
It’s 1905 in London, Sofia Logan’s husband dies, and she left penniless with two children. She is desperate for a job to provide for her children when she meets Tom’s old boss Emmett Vinsant who is a local dignitary and a sinister character who gives her a job in a gambling den. But, things don’t go well for Sofia ends up getting into further debt. So, Emmett gives her a chance to clear her debt by asking her to commit murder.
I must admit that I have not read any of the authors novels and I really enjoy historical crime novels of this type and this is no exception. The was well written dark, atmospheric novel set in Victorian times. With a backdrop story about the suffragette movement. A story about one woman and mother. How far she will go to provide for her children. I really enjoyed this 5 stars from me.

I received this from Netgalley.com for a review.

"The year is 1905. London is a playground for the rich and a death trap for the poor. When Sofia Logans husband dies unexpectedly, leaving her penniless with two young children, she knows she will do anything to keep them from the workhouse. Even murder."

Good story. It's interesting, we are all a product of our environment and how we evolve, good or bad, depends on how we react to its stressors. Sofia vaguely reminded me of Dexter. I liked the Historical background feeling, and the suffragettes even played a small part.

4☆

Thank you to the author, Wailing Banshee Ltd. and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Having recently read an ARC of the author's dynamite latest in the Callanch series, I was delighted to be given an ARC of this, her first historical thriller. It was atmospheric, dark and - as much as I could judge - historically accurate. Sofia, the protagonist, is a strong female character, but her story takes an unexpected turn early, and she becomes very unlikeable very quickly, as she reveals herself to be a monster... or at least possessed by monstrous urges that she is helpless against. She makes one stupid choice after another, and the story goes off the rails and becomes more than a little unbelievable. Trigger warning: graphic violence.

I was a little apprehensive about reading These Lost & Broken Things because of the time in history it is set in but I shouldn't have been. I was hooked from the get go and absolutely loved it. Sofia is such a troubled person given what she went through in her childhood, and I fully expected a very different and sad ending but instead you get a very satisfying one. Unsurprisingly well written with the inclusion of factual historical figures and the suffragette movement. Helen Fields didn't hold back on the horror aspect of things and I was hoping she wouldn't!

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a big Helen Fields fan, which is probably the only reason I went for this book as it’s not my typical genre. I’m glad I decided to try because it was very good.

Sofia’s husband dies and leaves her with no money to feed her children. She asks for help from his boss, but he knows about her past and uses it to his advantage. Soon she is playing a dangerous game, one which turns her into an assassin!

Can’t beat a strong female lead in a book and Sofia doesn’t let us down. I really enjoyed this and would recommend to anyone.

Historical fiction at its best. This was really enjoyable. Sofia is left widowed and penniless struggling to feed her children. She gets a job in a shady establishment and unbeknownst to her, her new boss knows a lot more about her shady past that he initially reveals. She needs to survive and to do all she can for her children's survival. This novel is set in a period of history when the poor were poorer than we could ever imagine. Women were treated as second, third, fourth class citizens. The Suffragettes were marching and times were beginning to change. It's a great novel placing us right back in the very beginning of the 20th Century.

Wow, this book shows how talented a writer Helen Fields is. This historical crime novel is completely different to her other books, it’s a stand alone and is definitely far from being any less brilliant than her other books.
Set in a time where men rule and the suffragette movement was in full force, Sophia’s world crumbles when her husband dies, leaving her to bring up the children alone, she goes to great steps to try and suppress the person she once was. The plot flicks between her past childhood to her adult life. She has her demons yet is still a likeable character.
Can’t wait for some more from the author.

When Sofia's husband suddenly dies, leaving her and her children with no source of income, Sofia has to make some difficult choices to keep a roof over heads and food in their bellies. First, she starts working in an illegal gambling club, spotting cheaters and card counters. When Sofia turns into a gambling addict, her life takes a more sinister turn.

This book definitely went in a direction that I didn't expect. I was expecting a story about a victim of poverty and the difficult choices Sofia has to make because of it. But this story is much darker than that. This story is about a monster being unleashed. I struggled to even finish this book, because Sofia is such an unsympathetic main character. She makes stupid choices right and left that made me feel like throwing up my hands in frustration. At times, it was painfully predictable. At other times, it was nearly unbelievable. The biggest bullshit moment I had was when she went from wringing her hands over being "forced" to kill a man, to getting sexually aroused by the memory of it. Um, what? Then she goes into full-on assassin mode, while simultaneously starting up a relationship with a constable. Yeah, sure, that seems like a good idea. So she's not only a monstrous assassin who gets turned on by murdering people, but she's also incredibly stupid. Oh, but we're supposed to be believe that she's got a heart of gold, because she spends so much time worrying about her children, and because she only killed "bad" people. I'm sorry, honey, but no. The "murderer with a heart of gold" character doesn't exist for a reason - because it's complete and utter nonsense.

I have lots of ambivalent feelings about this story. In all it presented quite a different look into how far a woman would go to protect herself and the people she loved. Having just lost her husband, Sophia Logans is left pondering ways in which she could care for a children when a bizarre opportunity arises.

Sophia's story is told in alternating time periods and as we learn more about her former life and its multiple cruelties and hardships. It seems to be the explanation for the life she finds she is thrust into now. Sophia, has always been good with math and numbers so the world of gambling holds an allure for her. She falls into the tentacles of Emmet Vinsant, a very wealthy man who owns a number of gambling halls and as poor Sophia becomes ensnared by the allure of cards she bets and of course loses. To pay back her loses which Vinsant has covered, he enlists her peculiar services. She becomes an assassin for him, doing his bidding and finding herself descending into a life she never pictured for herself.

The turmoil of the times Sophia lived in with its backdrop of the emerging suffragette movement, pointed out the hard reality that women were totally controlled by men. Sophia has two children who she loves but then in a twist, that seemed hard for this reader to understand, she sent them away to live with the sister and brother in law of her late husband.

All in all I found this story to be a confusing tale, one that while I surely understood about the manipulation and utter vile conduct of Vinsant, I just could not condone the way in which Sophia responded. Of course who knows what one would do to preserve themselves, but I do think the story was a tad convoluted.

Thanks\ you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for a copy of this story due out May 11, 2020

I enjoyed the dark atmospheric setting of this book and feel that the era really made the story as dark and gruesome as the time was. Perhaps a little far fetched at times but this didn't distract from the wonderful flow of the writing. Fantastically well developed characters and was great to introduce the suffragette movement into the plot.

I loved the dark atmosphere of this book. Life was gritty and hard, it had raw edges, but also the pretty and good moments that make it realistic that someone like Sophia wants to survive and fight. It is a sad tale, and so, so intense it is hard to put down. I must admit, it was also so good it gave me nightmares, because some things were written out in such a graphical way. I would read it again any time though.

An atmospheric read about a widowed mother's descent into madness as she tries to survive in a world not made for her. Desperation leads people to the most radical of places, and when people tune into their survival mode, moral and ethics seem like a distant concept.

Hmm. Not sure about this one. It is certainly engaging enough, loved the first chapters but it does become a bit of a pot-boiler as Sophia gets more and more extreme, certainly not the conventional mother looking after her children. The sheer unlikeliness of her enjoying her role as assassin put me off. I like a strong female character but this didn't ring true, in fact all the characters were rather one-dimensional. Just not for me but will appeal to many.

These Lost and Broken Things, by Helen Fields
My thanks to #NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review. These Lost and Broken Things, by Helen Fields is historical fiction at its finest. Fields explores the dark world of addiction and abuse woven into a tale of the worlds of a Romani traveler as she becomes embroiled in the dark, dangerous realm of gambling and murder. Illuminated under the backdrop of the suffragette movement, the novel has a slew of very well-detailed, well-rounded characters, and is a page-turner to the very end

From the writer of the Detective Inspector Luc Callanach crime series, this is an historical thriller set at turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Having read and enjoyed several of the stories in the DI Callanach series, I was keen to read this latest book by the author.

The story concerns Sofia, born into a Romani family that is part of a travelling fair. The narrative switches from the circumstances of her childhood at the end of the 19th century, to her struggles as an adult bringing up her two children in the early part of the 20th century. Over the course of the book, Sofia is forced to make some difficult decisions in order to survive. The story is set mainly in London and, like the author's other works, comes with a warning that there are some scenes of quite graphic violence.

Unlike the DI Callanach series, there is little or no humour in this book and, as a consequence, I found it quite dark and depressing. It deals with a number of important issues, including addiction and women's rights. On the plus side, it is a story that features strong women and is set against the background of women's struggle for the right to vote. As a thriller that evokes a strong feeling for the period, it will appeal to anyone with an interest in Edwardian society.

Thank you to Net Galley for the chance to read and review this book. The opinions expressed are my own.

This is my first book by Helen Fields, and I loved it! I won't give away the plot, but I highly recommend it. There are so many twists and turns to this historical mystery. I also loved the atmosphere and the setting the author created. I couldn't wait to read at bedtime so I could find out what Sofia would do next. A really enjoyable read!

I start by thanking NetGalley for the eARC for my honest review. Having read all of Helen Field’s Perfect series, I had high hopes for this new venture into historical mysteries. I was not disappointed. Here we start in 1902 reading a tale from the then always silenced women’s perspective, you feel?, you fear?, you learn?, you understand!

An original story featuring Sofia Logan, a recently widowed mother, who is struggling to find work to support her family. This is an historical thriller set in 1905 and very atmospheric. As the story progresses, Sofia descends into an obsessive madness that tears her, her family and her friends apart.
There are quite a lot of interesting twists and turns but at times I felt it was a bit formulaic and contrived. I didn't find the character of Sofia engaging. The shifts in her personality seemed a bit forced.
It was a light and interesting read but not one I found compulsive. For a short book I would normally have read it a lot quicker than I did.