Wow, what a truly wonderful book. So beautifully written the characters are fully formed and the descriptions of Norway are stunning. If stories of strong women are your thing then this book is for you. A story of friendships, resilience, resistance and love told across dual timelines. This book had a properly satisfying ending, I loved it. Amanda was a new author for me but I will be seeking out more from her.

The Glass Key – Amanda Geard
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

Thank you so much to Amanda for my super early copy of this book - I’m incredibly honoured. (And for this wish granted on Netgalley!)

The Glass Key is everything I’ve come to expect from Amanda Geard: sweeping, emotional, and utterly immersive. A story steeped in love, loss, and long-buried secrets, it moves between Ireland and wartime Norway with such care and depth that I found myself completely absorbed from the very first page.

As someone from a Scandinavian country, this book gave me an unexpected and powerful sense of nostalgia. The customs, traditions, and rhythms of life felt deeply familiar, and I could draw so many parallels that made the connection to the story even stronger. If there’s one thing Amanda does unbelievably well, it’s creating settings so vivid you can smell the sea, feel the breeze, and hear the echoes of the past woven into the landscape.

The mystery surrounding Anna Swan and the fairytale of The Glass Key unfolds beautifully, blending historical fiction with family secrets in a way that feels both intimate and epic. It’s emotional without ever feeling manipulative, and every revelation lands exactly where it should.

A breathtaking, stay-up-all-night read that will linger long after the final page. Amanda Geard has done it again - a truly unforgettable novel.

"There's a vast difference between being lonely, and being alone."

The Glass Key is breathtaking, in every sense of the word. Set in two timelines and two locations, it's a search for a mother who disappeared more than 45 years ago. One timeline is set in the Norwegian archipelago above the Arctic Circle during World War II, sparsely populated with people proud of their heritage and ability to thrive in the remote islands. The second timeline is set in the beautiful County Kerry, Ireland, in 2005, where people grapple with 21st-century problems such as divorce, career failures, and grief.

"Is it better to make peace with a mystery, or to risk the pain of truth?" This story is a mystery, beautifully written about vibrant women who risked everything to find love and to protect their island community under Nazi occupation. One of those women will leave the islands, arriving in County Kerry with a baby girl. The author skillfully picks up clues she dropped throughout the story, some seemingly minor at the time, and weaves them into a complete tapestry at the end. It's all there, the Nordic fairy tales and resistance, along with characters from both timelines, in exquisite symmetry. And, along the way, different women reach out to help with finding the missing mother, because that's an ache we all understand. Reading The Glass Key, I laughed. I cried, and I cheered. When you are an avid reader, it doesn't get any better.