BelEdit Book Reviews
Oh wow. The Square of Sevens is a tremendous work of historical fiction. And although it reads like a gothic novel, the story (as the author explains in a fascinating endnote) in fact grew around some established and intriguing historical facts and documents.
Red is a fantastic, vivid and charismatic main character. The daughter of a ‘cunning-man’, she grew up roving the country with him and telling fortunes, using a unique method called ‘The Square of Sevens’. She is orphaned and raised by the kindly Mr Antrobus, but when he dies she is in peril: Antrobus’ brother has stolen her inheritance and wants her committed to an asylum to get rid of her.
Red escapes, and begins her quest to claim her true inheritance, the De Lacy fortune. It’s an absolutely gripping tale, with twists and turns and danger at every turn. And a final twist that totally surprised me — even though by that stage I knew that something was going to change the narrative yet again. Red is an intelligent, quick-witted girl, apt at reading people, manipulating them and turning situations to her advantage.
The novel really reads like an 18th/early 19th C gothic novel, replete with mansions and secret passages and priest holes and hidden documents. It also has a touch of Charles Dickens (or indeed, J.S. Fletcher), with a stolen inheritance and a legal case that the family has been battling through for years. The scenes and conversations are vivid and engrossing. Not a dull moment throughout the book.
The Square of Sevens is also beautifully written, with wonderfully drawn and complex characters, and a protagonist that you are rooting for right through to the very end.
This is an ideal book for anyone who enjoys well written historical fiction, set in England, especially if you love the original novels of the period.
Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the ARC. All my reviews are 100% honest and unbiased, regardless of how I acquire the book.
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