The Lost Corner by Katrina Mountfort ~ #BookReview @curlykats #Contemporary #TuesdayBookBlog

• Author: Katrina Mountfort
• Kindle Edition
• Category: Contemporary, Romance, Women’s Fiction, Book Review, Books, Reading
• 

Eve leaves behind her comfortable, suburban lifestyle when she discovers her husband’s infidelity, and returns to her Norfolk roots to rebuild her life. She feels instant belonging among the village pagans and eccentrics. But in a village of dark secrets and past tragedies, she finds more questions than answers.

It’s a week before Christmas and Eve Murdoch has just discovered her husband is having an affair. She packs a bag and drives without a destination in mind, until she realises she’s unconsciously heading towards Norfolk and more especially her home town of Great Yarmouth. The hotel she found was depressing and the town had seen better days. Not finding anything better she decides to head for Cromer.

I check out of the hotel, breathe in the salt air and feel better already. This is why I love my birthplace. The sea. I could have driven to the south coast in forty minutes from home but it doesn’t have the same effect on me as the Norfolk coast. The expansiveness makes my mind soar: those vast skies that seem to go on forever, the endless beaches. Even the biting North Sea wind and the forbidding inky blackness of the sea console me. The seaside has a different charm in winter, a reminder of the savagery of nature. 

When a big black dog runs across the road in front of her she follows, thinking it might be lost. The dog seems to be leading her to the village of Seaton. Deciding this was as good a place as any, Eve decides to stay for a while. She feels at home almost immediately and, although she becomes part of the community, it’s not quite the de-stressing time she was hoping for as she becomes involved in the lives of the villagers. Several things happen to change the status quo. There are secrets and tragedies simmering just below the surface and Eve is the catalyst, bringing them out into the open.

The narrative is written in the first person, present tense from Eve’s point of view. Easy to read with believable and interesting characters, I especially liked the flamboyant Maria, the writing has depth and emotion. I like that Eve found the strength to forge her own path despite the feelings of doubt and apprehension of striking out on her own.

I enjoyed the contrast between those aspects of paganism and the accompanying rituals compared to present day conflicts and traumas, although I think some lighter moments would have balanced everything out more. The setting is wonderful and described vividly and I loved the touch of the supernatural/mythical. 

I enjoyed the story, it just could do with a another run through with a proofreader.

I chose to read and review The Lost Corner based on a digital copy from the author.

Book links ~ Amazon UK | Amazon US

About the author

Katrina was born in Leeds. After a degree in Biochemistry and a PhD in Food Science, she started work as a civil service scientist. Since then, she’s had a varied career. Her philosophy of life is that we only regret the things we don’t try, and she’s been a homeopath, forensic science researcher and currently works as a freelance medical writer. After spending many years in exile in the South-East, she has now returned to her beloved Yorkshire and lives in York with her husband and two dogs. When she hit forty, she decided it was time to fulfil her childhood dream of writing a novel. Ten years later, Future Perfect, her first novel, was published by Elsewhen Press, a small independent publisher of speculative fiction. Future Perfect is the first of the Blueprint trilogy; part 2, Forbidden Alliance, was released in 2015 and the conclusion, Freedom’s Prisoners in 2016.  When she’s not writing, she enjoys music festivals, walking with her dogs, travel, and curling up with a book and a glass of wine.

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