Thank You to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. I usually enjoy historic novels with a mysterious twist but this one I’m really sorry to say just wasn’t for me and I gave up around chapter 9, I just couldn’t get into it, maybe more to do with my frame of mind at the moment than anything, I wish the author all the best!

This is the first book I've read of Kim Taylor Blakemore's. I was absolutely thrilled with it the entire time I read it. Every chapter left me wanting more. Her attention to historical details was fascinating. The concept of historical fiction and thriller all in one was absolutely perfect!! I plan on reading her prior books and can't wait for the next one.

A combination of two of my favorite genres: historical fiction and mystery/thriller. I had very high hopes for this novel but felt it slightly disjointed at times.

The story is set in New Hampshire, 1865. Marion returns home to collect the body of her sister, Alice, who supposedly fell from a roof at the Asylum she was inhabiting. The whole situation is questionable. Was it an accident? Was it suicide? Or was it murder?

I've read very few books from the civil war era but the historical climate seemed well researched and well executed by Blakemore. Again, my only complaint is the disjointed path this story takes. I was often re-reading passages to make sense of the next scene or make sure i didn't skip a page. The story picked up pace at about 3/4 of the way in... was a fan of the ending but hated the open plot points that weren't addressed.

I’ve been trying to read more historical fiction novels, and I have to say this was a great addition to the genre.

Marion Abbott has to collect the body of her sister, Alice, from Brawders House asylum after she had fallen to her death. But how did Alice get up to the roof and was her death truly a suicide? Marion has her doubts and does all she can to uncover the truth, but the longer she is home with her brother and his new wife, the more she loses her trust in those around her.

I really enjoyed this story and felt awful for Marion having to deal with all of this. Everyone kept encouraging her to just let it go and move on with her life, but I think she felt guilty for leaving Alice to be a nurse during the war. Would this have happened if she had been there or would Alice still be alive? Who knows, but I thought the ending was fantastic and definitely didn’t see it coming. If you enjoy historical fiction with a hint of suspense, then I highly recommend this book!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3886969616

In America in the mid 1800’s, Marion is collecting her sister’s body from a lunatic asylum. I he was she on the roof? What happened to her there?

Marion is an engaging narrator but the book somewhat glosses over her life as a civil war nurse. Toby also seems like an extremely young 8 year old.

Overall this was very enjoyable and kept me guessing the whole time.

After Alice Fell
By Kim Taylor Blakemore

I love a gothic historical fiction mystery suspense read, and this one is set during the mid 1860’s during the Civil War. This was an atmospheric read about the mysterious death of Marion’s sister Alice from an asylum in New Hampshire. Could this be an accident, a suicide, or worse yet a murder? Marion is a Civil War nurse and there is nothing I love to read ore than nurses in my books. Anyhow, Marion is called in to identify her sister’s body and something seems very amiss.

The writing was incredibly detailed that pulled me into the time frame during the Civil War. The sights, sounds, and smells of the era was clearly described that this really brought the story to life. Blakemore is simply outstanding with writing this incredibly suspenseful tale giving the character a distinct and unique voice. Highly recommend this beautifully written novel.

I actually don’t read historical fiction and based my request on the description of the book. This book was an exception because I absolutely loved it! I am not familiar with the author, but her writing style is so smooth and sophisticated you’ll be hooked in early pages.

I thought this historical fiction was dark and emotional with atmospheric writing that made me unable to put it down! The characters were wonderfully developed with personalities that made me connect easily with them.

The storyline was so filled with suspense it was impossible to put the book down! I would highly recommend this for readers that enjoy dark historical murder mystery reads!

I was provided a gifted copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

What a book! I am smitten. I know it's early days yet, but here we have a strong contender for my favourite books of 2021-list.
The less you know about the plot going in, the better, so I won't talk about it beyond the barest facts: Marion comes back from serving as a nurse during the civil war to discover that her sister Alice has died in a lunatic asylum, apparently of suicide. But Marion can't believe that, and thus the story commences.

The way Blakemore weaves the sultry heat of a Georgian summer with the slow unravelling of the events, the sense of narrowness and confinement of being a woman in the mid-19th century, the way she was limited by her parents, even her brother, by her neighbours' opinions, her friends' prejudices to even her very clothes, the small spaces she was granted to occupy and the little trust people put in her voice creates a dense net of oppressive unease that grabs the reader and doesn't let go until the last page has been turned, and I was at the edge of my seat the entire time. Add to that the beauty of the prose, and I was sold.

This book evokes a similar vein of eerie gothic mystery as Michelle Paver's Wakenhyrst, so if you enjoyed that one, I very much recommend picking this one up as well.

I've seen people call this book slow or boring, and the prose is in parts slow moving, focusing on small details, but to me that wove beautifully into the slowly developing sense of unease and the almost syrup-like atmosphere that seemed to want to prevent Marion from finding out the truth. So your mileage may vary, but I absolutely loved it and will definitely be picking up more by Blakemore.

I kindly received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, but all opinions expressed herein are my own.

It is very rare for me to start reading a book and not finish it. Unfortunately this was one of them. I was very excited about the plot and the good reviews it has received. But upon starting it, I’ve also started asking myself what was the reason for all that...
Having reached 31% of the pages – I’ve got to the end of the 9th chapter – I gave up. It did not resonate with me at all. The descriptions were too lengthy, and the plot development was too slow. In summary, too boring!
Perhaps the problem was with me, perhaps not. I’ll let the other readers judge that. Meanwhile, I’ll start another book.

Did Alice fall, or was she pushed? Her sister, Marion, has returned home to claim her body at the asylum and lay bury her in the family plot. Marion won't rest until she has answers about her sister's death. Great read. I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The synopsis of this book sounded intriguing to me so I requested a copy to read.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during that 2nd attempt, I have only managed to make it halfway through so I'd rather stop here and state that this book just wasn't for me.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

Family dynamics are hard and sometimes we don’t know why we do the things we do. This book has all the elements of a great gothic story. Sometimes it’s scary, thrilling and all of Marion’s family members feel real and act and react like real people. The pacing is slow but well worth the read. Reminds me of Daphne du Maurier.

I was excited to start this novel based on its premise, and it definitely did not let me down!

We start off the novel with Marion, a former Civil War nurse traveling back home in order to bury her sister, Alice, who passed away while inside an asylum. But once she sees Alice's body, Marion no longer believes that her younger sister's death is an accident and sets off to find the truth, no matter the cost.

Marion is surrounded by a cast of believable, realistic characters, with a nice mix of both likeable and detestable characters. I personally really enjoyed Toby and Ada, and while Marion is a well-written character, she tended to grate on my nerves a tad more than I expected. Still, she was an interesting character to be inside the head of throughout the novel. The antagonists of the novel were well-thought out and did not seem to be over-exaggerated and had believable motives, which is always a plus when it comes to novels like these.

The story itself also brings to mind gothic stories of old, so as well as being a historical fiction novel it also has elements of thriller and mystery genres, which is a fantastic mix in my opinion!

The stubbornness and determination of both Marion and Toby really helps the plot move throughout the book. If either of them had given up, I think that the plot would have really struggled to find its feet again. But thankfully, they kept going even when their situations seemed helpless or impossible to overcome.

The only negative thing that comes to mind after reading this novel is that it is at times a bit difficult to follow. I'm not sure if this intentional or not; at times it seems to be so but at others it feels as if the plot got a bit lost due to mysterious circumstances. A little more clarity or surety would have made this a perfect novel. Overall, though, it was a great read!

My thanks to NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

TW: Suicide, forced institutionalization

The story of a grieving sister, full of guilt after Alice fell from four stories high. Marion won't rest until she knows the truth. Alice had always been a little bit off, but she would never have killed herself.

I'm not really a violent person, so I have never wanted to punch someone the way that I wanted to punch Cathy while reading this book. It was definitely an interesting read.

I think most people struggle with the balance between being there for family, even at the detriment of themselves, and that theme is explored greatly in this book.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It kept my interest and was twisty in the way it ended. Great thriller!
A mystery that had family dynamics woven throughout the story. Well written and kept the reader involved in the plot. A surprise ending was a plus!

Haunted by grief,love and guilt at the death of her sister,Marion travels home to see if she can uncover the truth of how she died.
Alice has always been troubled,but when Marion heads out to work in the war,she lands up in an asylum,rather than cared for by their brother.
The scenes set at home are tense,and Marion struggles a lot with guilt,but she is tireless in digging for the truth.
More truth than she knows what to do with emerges,and the plot picks up pace nicely.
Very enjoyable read,with a strong central female lead,in a time where women were often seen but not heard.

This is a book I truly loved, and got lost into. It is clear how much time and effort the author put into this book. It is a historical fiction, and a well researched one at that. A completely engrossing account of a woman, fighting for her deceased mentally ill sister, during the civil war era. A portrait of an accurate life for a white woman in the 1800s. So believable and well crafted that I got lost in its setting, and the beautiful way the author writes. The details are so accurate, the author even mentions mourning brooches with hair.

The characters talk in a way that is old fashioned, but almost tense. It helps build atmosphere and establish a time frame you can lose yourself in. However, Characters sometimes talk so curtly sometimes their conversation is lacking definitive words, and most attention is put into the prose. Which can be tiresome. There are a lot of needless descriptions of actions, such as someone keeping their hand flat on paper - like an iron. For as beautiful as it is, it distracts from the story. I disliked the character of Cathy, who was always so selfishly reacting to Marion wanting to know more about her sister’s death. In fact, this is likely to make the reader feel just as isolated as the character feels - and it works well, but it also frustrated me that Marion seemed to be the only one who cared about Alice’s plight.

Lionel, the brother, is also an ass, without any true reason to be so. There is even a scene where Cathy and Lionel get mad that Marion is talking about Alice, and Cathy is like “ everything is about Alice?”Like, we’re gonna talk about our sister that just died - who wouldn’t? Then she blamed Alice for people not wanting to come over. There is so much pent up anger at the way Alice changed their lives, that they literally no longer care about her. I feel like the curt way they speak of things doesn’t make room for more depth, and that the brother could have been made a lot more complex through the way he speaks. However all the characters feel real and tangible, without being wholly good or bad.

Because this book is historically accurate, there is a lot of sexism and expectations of women within the book. If this or mentions of suicide is a trigger, I would warn you. It is a true gothic, and the author created a plot that was original and fun. I was often misdirected, and paranoid most of the book.

I am greatful, and want to sincerely thank Netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to an ARC. I will purchase this book soon, as I loved it so much.

Marion Abbott arrives at Brawders House asylum in order to claim and then bring her sister, Alice's, body home for burial. The asylum tells Marion that officially, the cause of death was an accident, but actually, Alice jumped four stories down to her death. Marion refuses to believe that Alice would do such a thing, and the more she learns, the more she believes Alice may have been murdered- but why?

This book didn't quite do it for me. I'm not sure what exactly about it didn't cut it, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped that I would. The summary sounded great, but I just didn't care for it actually carried out. I was able to finish reading it, but I don't think I would have if I hadn't been reading it for review. I think this book could have been much more exciting if it had added some more details and creepiness of the 19th century asylum system to its plot.

If you're a fan of historical fiction with some mystery mixed in, this novel might do it for you. It just wasn't quite the right fit for me; I wanted more thrill and suspense.

This book is haunting, dark and heartbreaking. The suspense keeps you glued to the pages and the original story idea, unexpected turns, rounded characters (Ms. Blakemore develops characters so well) and atmosphere make for a wonderful reading experience. This is an excellent, well crafted story with some sinister undertones, the author's attention to detail is very much intrinsic to her writing. And oh my gosh, that second to last chapter was the best! Another brilliant Gothic novel by Kim Taylor Blakemore.

I read this in one day, staying up until 3 AM to finish it. I thoroughly recommend this book and the author's writing style...I look forward to more books by her...they are absolutely wonderful!