It's a great pleasure to see Corinna Bomann's excellent THE INHERITANCE OF LION HALL appear in translation in English. In 1913, artist and suffrage worker Agneta Lejongård is living an independent life in Stockholm rather than playing the role of dutiful daughter at her family's country estate, Lion Hall. When a telegram announces that father and brother have been seriously injured, she leaves Stockholm for what she assures her fellow artist and lover Michael is a temporary absence. Instead, she discovers that a fire deliberately set in the estate's horse barn has killed her father. Her brother soon succumbs to burns as well. She's reluctant to take up her position as heir to the estate for many reasons, among them Michael's refusal to leave Stockholm and her rigid mother's icy disapproval of her unconventional ways, but Agneta feels obligated to resume her place in the family and carry forward its famous horse-breeding operation. THE INHERITANCE OF LION HALL combines an intriguing mystery, a convincing (and unexpected) romance, and a female coming-of-age story full of interesting twists. Glimpses of life in early 20th century Sweden—one of the many fun details has to do with the new and unreliable motorcars of the Swedish royal family and its retinue—add extra appeal. Many contemporary readers will identify with Agenta's sometimes prescient, sometimes misguided struggles to reconcile the opposing parts of her nature and find her true place in the world.

Enjoyed this one, but it was very different than what I was expecting, so I felt a little left down. I thought this book was more of a mystery than it actually ended up being. I really enjoyed the main character and how different she was from everyone else in the society. The way she set herself apart from others was interesting to read.

The plot of this book was interesting; the mystery element had me turning pages and wanting to read what came next. However, there were way too many irritating little details that kept me from giving it a higher rating. Such as the titles "gracious miss" and "gracious master" used every single time a person of lower class addressed a member of the nobility. The inside scoop in Agneta's emotions was a bit too involved for my taste, and contributed to my feeling that the book could have been a lot shorter if the author had left more up to the reader's imagination.

I enjoyed the ending and the unselfishness Agneta grew into as a character, as well as the healing of her relationship with her mother.

I absolutely loved Corina Bomann's book "The Moonlight Garden". and overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this one as well. Set in early 1900s Sweden, Agneta Lejongård is forced to leave her modern lifestyle behind after a deadly accident leaves her in charge of her family's noble estate. "The Inheritance of Lion Hall" brings the reader into battle, with the wills of modern Agneta and her traditional mother Stella, with the world on the verge of The Great War.

Overall, I would give this book 3 stars. While I loved this book, the last 25% of it felt so rushed, I wish that it had been expanded on. The story line with Max felt like a cliffhanger, and as if he was cut out of the book and became an afterthought. Despite this, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in historical fiction.

I liked this book. It did keep me interested and wanting to know what happened next, but I don’t know if it was because of the book or I just wanted to get done. No, it was the book. I would never have been able to finish it if It were that disappointing, I don’t believe Ha ha. Anyway, the book was good, likeable, but there were some content, just a small amount, that I didn’t care for, otherwise, very well written and engaging. It’s not something I would normally read, but it was good to get out of my comfort zone a little. But I feel it did have a good moral story to it. And it was never assume you know someone completely because you probably don’t and you probably don’t know yourself completely until you have grown up a lot. I believe the main character, Agneta, grew up a lot in this story. That I really liked about the story. Thank you to #NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review with my honest thoughts.

I couldn't wait to read this book, but unfortunately it never gripped me. I found it to be a little boring, and it was hard to finish.

This story begins in 1913 and tells the tale of Agneta Lejongard, a young woman of noble birth, living in Stockholm, in a state of estrangement from her wealthy family. Gradually we learn about Agneta, her brother Hendrik, (who is the heir to the family estate) and her troubled relationship with her parents. Rich with historical context, the author paints a well-layered picture of rural as well as urban life in Sweden at the turn of the 20th century, focusing on the plight of women in their efforts to earn the right to own property, attend university, and free themselves from the domestic enslavement marriage and child-birth represented as the only culturally-accepted option available at that time for young women, and especially those of noble birth.

A free-thinker and a suffragette, Agneta struggles to find her way, independently of the life her parents have chosen for her. Without revealing too much of the plot, forces conspire against her: placing Agneta on a winding path fraught with looming and burdensome family responsibilities, difficult life choices, love affairs, and omnipresent parental conflict. Her biggest adversary, her mother Stella, the “Ice Queen”, notwithstanding, Agneta eventually learns that all is not as it appears, and that love can take many surprising and unexpected forms.

I found this story interesting; the historical setting is very well drawn and there are some good twists and turns to keep the plot moving. A stumbling block for me, however, in my overall enjoyment of this book was that I found Agneta as a character very difficult to engage with. In fact, there were really no characters in the book that I found I could get close to.

I expect that readers of historical fiction, and in particular those interested in the class structure of 1900’s Sweden, the suffragette struggles, and the everyday plight of women in this timeframe will find this book interesting.

A big thank you to NetGalley; the publisher, Amazon Crossing; and the author, Corina Bomann for an advance review copy of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

4 Stars!

I throughly enjoyed reading The Inheritance of Lion Hall. Wonderfully written and keeps you engaged. I stayed up way too late reading "just one more chapter!"

The novel begins in Sweden in 1913. The reader meets Agneta, an unconventional woman who is living on her own in Stockholm. She comes from wealth, but has traded her aristocratic life to study art and advance the cause of women’s rights.

When she receives news that her father and brother have been in a terrible accident, she returns home. Upon her arrival she finds out that her dad died, and her brother is in critical condition at a hospital. Hendrik, her brother, passes away and gives his inheritance to Agneta. At first, Agneta isn’t sure she wants to keep the estate. She wants to live her life, but she eventually chooses to honor her brother’s wishes.

Agneta and Lion Hall experiences challenges and changes, but the story leaves you feeling happy and hopeful!

I am very grateful to have read this book as an ARC provided by NetGalley.

After a terrible accident leads to family tragedy, an emancipated aristocrat must return home from her bohemian life in Stockholm to gradually come into her power at her ancestral home of Lion Hall. Set in 1913, the cusp of WWI in politically neutral Sweden, this book features a strong cast of women, romance, some mystery and political intrigue.

I was attracted to this book because I am learning Swedish and spent summer 2019 in Sweden. I was excited to learn more about the aristocracy in this period piece, as its premise is certainly unusual. This makes the book special, as does the fast pace immediately established in the opening pages. Rather than dwelling on exposition, the book immediately tosses you into the action.

I felt that the prose was a bit sparse and read awkwardly at times, likely due to it being a translation. With historical fiction, I always want rich world building and deep engagement with characters. This book just didn't totally deliver for me, though I think it would appeal to readers who sometimes get bogged down in the details.

Suffragettes, romance, intrigue, societal and political upheaval--this novel has it all. Anchored by a cast of female characters that you cannot help but root for, this novel is a charming exploration of what privileged women of their time contended with as they pursued their dreams.

Born to a life of privilege, Agneta Lejongård feels stifled by the 1913 Swedish aristocracy she was born into. Instead, Agneta attends the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm to study painting and joins the women’s rights movement to promote equality as well as falling in love with Michael, a young law student. Her life is poor, but she feels free to make her own choices. All of that changes when she receives a telegram from her mother telling her of an accident her brother and father were in. Agneta rushes home to attend to her family, unsure what this means for her life in Stockholm.

Agneta returns to find that there was a barn fire, and her father and brother rushed in to save the horses, one of the main points of pride and income for the Lejongård family. Her father succumbed quickly to his burns, and her brother died days after him, but not before he made Agneta promise she would accept responsibility for the estate as its inheritor.

Even though her mother, a cold and stoic woman, feels Agneta has no choice but to accept, Agneta is unsure whether she is willing to take on the responsibility and restrictive life that will come with being the Lejongård heir.
As she is dealing with her life being turned inside out, Agneta must also deal with romantic advances from two very different men. One has been a friend since childhood, the other a mysterious new man who has caught her attention. With all of these new developments threatening to overwhelm her, Agneta must choose between herself and her family while discovering hidden truths within her life.



I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and read it much quicker than I was expecting to. It was face paced and exciting, and I wondered if they were going to catch the arsonist, reveal who was the father to the maid’s baby, and who Agneta would end up with. I was a little concerned when the arsonist was caught at the midpoint of the book; I was worried the continuation of the book would be clumsy at best, but Bomann managed to continue the story gracefully and in a way that kept me engaged.

The book had some wonderful things that I think would resonate well with most readers, such as freedom and personal accountability, both to self and others, finding hope in hopeless situations, and standing your ground with what you believe in. Bomann also takes a complex look at power and relationships between mothers and daughters, men and women, and even traditions and progress without getting in the way of the story itself.

I appreciated that even though the issue of abortion and other upsetting issues were brought up, they were never narrated as they were happening or in detail. They were topics of discussion and therefore not more than I could handle comfortably.

Set in Sweden in 1913, Agneta is the youngest daughter of the aristocratic Lejongård family, and knowing that she won’t be inheriting the family estate of Lion Hall, she petitions the court to give her independence from her family as she has no desire to conform to aristocratic society. Despite creating uproar from her family and causing a stir within the aristocratic circle, she moves to Stockholm to fulfil her dream of becoming an artist by enrolling in Art School. She is soon submerged into the Bohemian life in the city and through new friendships, she joins the suffragette movement. However, she is soon summoned home due to a tragic accident on her family estate and this is when her life takes a turn onto a different path.

I really wanted to love this book as its premise of a country estate combined the suffragette movement and family secrets yet to be discovered is a go-to easy and entertaining read. However, this fell flat for me. I felt that the heart and soul of the book was lost in the translation, it felt stoic. I feel that it is due to the translation from German, as Corina Bomann is a popular bestselling author in this genre, so it most likely reads better in German. However, as I am unable to read in German, I'm not able to put this to the test.

I also found it quite a belabour at times, as there was quite a lot of stating the obvious and this, I found irritating as it is unnecessary. However, this mostly in the first third of the book, which is also where I felt the soul was mostly missing. Maybe this is due to the translation as it started to flow a little bit better by the middle part, almost as if Michael Meigs became more absorbed by the story and gained a better feel for the characters, however it declined again towards the last third of the book.

The final element which irked me was a few vocabulary issues, with the main one calling a stable a horse barn. This has left me baffled as I believe the word for a stable in German is ‘Stabil’, so I am confused as to how it can be translated to ‘horse barn’. This is also something I found in the first third and last third of the book as the middle sections the word stable was used.

I feel with more editing this would be a brilliant easy to read and interesting fictional history novel, as I really enjoyed the premise and given the ability, I would read it in German.

If you can overlook the issues which I had, it’s an entertaining story and will be available to order on the 13th July 2020.

This was an interesting read. There was a mix of female empowerment and independence while also embracing family duty, making a unique story. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

I very much enjoyed reading this story of Agneta Lejongard, a Swedish young lady who had petitioned to be emancipated from her parents to pursue a life of an artist and a member of the women’s suffragette movement in Stockholm in the early 1900’s. A tragic accident involving her family has her returning reluctantly to the home and expectations she was hoping to escape from. Following her story as she matures into a strong woman who is the head of a large estate was full of ups and downs, love and loss. I read the book quickly, as it captured my interest from the first page. Thank you to NetGalley, Corina Bowmann and Amazon Crossing Publisher for the advanced reading copy. Highly recommend.

The Inheritance Of Lion Hall is a wonderfully written book about aristocratic Sweden in the early 1900’s. You feel a connection with the characters. You feel their love, losses, joy. Any fan of Downton Abbey or The Crown will love this read.

This book started out interestingly enough. The author gave lots of details and developed her characters well. There did seem to be some rabbit holes. This is a good read for a long summer.

The pace and style of this book have the merits to be easy to follow for a complex period. Step by step, the story and events of the life of a Swedish aristocrat unfold, with picturesque descriptions and clear dialogues, we get to understand the challenges of the time for a lady. The realisation of the contrast between the life in Stockholm and the countryside is also interesting. We are in an age where so sharp differences no longer exist, The computer age has erased the possible clashes.
I would recommend the book to any person curious about Sweden, the personal challenges of a woman through different stages of her young life, and to romantics.
I received a copy from NetGalley, all opinions are mine.

I just reviewed The Inheritance of Lion Hall by Corina Bomann. I was confusing on some sentences and story lines. Because I saw it was far from main topic at the end of the story. I didn't get it what the protagonist Agneta mean. Did she owned the lion hall or she was the orphan who got adopted by the parents who lived there.
First, I read the main character went back to Sweden because her mother called her. She went back home and stop learning at the Royal Academy of fine arts because she heard her father and brother was accident. Then, later on the lines I saw the her brother leave her their family's own house and others. But where was her mother at that time. She moved to the family's mansion with her husband Michael and Michael broke up with her later. Inside the part of chapter I saw her elder brother who handed over the family's property had the child with the woman named Susana. I didn't get it how she get this property. She lived there alone sadly and then she met the duke ekberg. Then, she start finding the mystery inside her home. Then, he knew the duke's ancestors might be scaring the people at her home who was proposing her. She rejected him for the first time but later she accepted him and marry him and then she gave birth the twin children. There were the most complex lines on the back said her mother was cheating on her father and give birth of her with another man. What was this story make many complex than mystery or adventure. If this way through, the tile must be Complexity. I saw she twist of fate in many times but her mother told behind the truths of everything. But she hold her place and build the future of the lion hall. May be she was the woman out of rules and regulations of noble family. That's why she didn't accept the first proposal later she took it back from another woman. She might like to cheat like her mother. I didn't saw the grammar errors or something like that. Her mother didn't want to accept her all the time. So, I rate it good. I didn't like it because it first start with ghost and end with many questions make me scratch my head. or may be I don't know what happened in Sweden at that time.

While this book was slow in spots, felt superficial, and the plot line took a few more twists and turns than I felt was strictly necessary, it did keep me engaged and wanting to know what was coming next.

Agneta (the main character) is well developed, and the complexities of her family, friends, and life, while complicated, are made fairly clear. A suffragette and artist at heart, Agneta takes a massive inheritance she never wanted after the untimely deaths of her father and brother. She feels a duty to her brother and a love for her home, she abandons a life she loves to live with a mother who doesn't seem to understand her (the feeling is mutual) and adapt to life running a massive estate in Sweden.

The writing felt superficial for most of the book, really just skimming across the top of the story, which is interspersed with several different plotlines - including many bomb-dropping revelations - about Agneta's family, the role of a beloved servant in their deaths, and tremendous heartbreak for Agneta (more than once).

At points I felt like there were so many things going on and so many revelations that the author had to hastily wrap things up so they could get to the next thing. Some of the resolutions weren't quite believable, seemed too good to be true, or were just too sudden and abrupt.

Overall, I think simplifing the story and going more in-depth would've made for a better read.

I thank the author and AmazonCrossing for the copy of the book to review.