The Amber Shadows – A Novel - Hardcover

Ribchester, Lucy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1681774488 ISBN 13: 9781681774480

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2020

Synopsis

Bletchley Park, 1942: As World War II rages on, Honey Deschamps sits at her type-x machine, tediously transcribing decrypted signals from the German Army, doing her part to assist the British war effort. Halfway across the world, Hitler s armies are marching into Leningrad, leaving a trail of destruction and pillaging the country s most treasured artworks, including the famous Amber Room the eighth wonder of the world.As reports begin filtering into Bletchley Park about the stolen loot, Honey receives a mysterious package, hand-delivered from a man that she has never seen before who claims that he works at the Park as well. The package is postmarked from Russia, and inside is a small piece of amber. It is just the first of several such packages, and when she examines them together she realizes that someone, relying on her abilities to unravel codes, is trying to tell her something.Honey can t help but fear that the packages are a trap set by the authorities to test her loyalties surely nothing so valuable could get through the mail during a time of war. And yet, something about the packages reminds her of stories that her brother used to tell her about her absent father, and when her brother is found brutally murdered on his way to visit Honey, she can t help but assume that the events are connected. But at Bletchley Park, secrecy reigns supreme, and she has nowhere to turn for help….

About this title

Review

Ribchester convincingly re-creates wartime life and the enclosed world of code-breaking and plays out the suspense in a Hitchcock homage almost worthy of the master.

Both a quirky satire of WWII spy fiction and a complex, suspenseful story filled with unusual details portraying women's lives during the war.

A richly imagined WWII-era thriller. Ribchester movingly reflects on trust, illusion, and the stories that connect us to our pasts.

Suspense, mystery, and intrigue are high in this novel. Ribchester easily transports readers to the past, cleverly hiding clues throughout bits of the story, and creating quite a number of twists and turns throughout. Bletchley Circle comes alive, as do the feelings of fear, distrust, and paranoia of the times. Readers will be kept guessing, and the ending is a surprise. Recommended.

While the mystery itself is compelling, the novel's most intriguing elements come from depictions of life in England during wartime blackouts and rationing. [Ribchester] builds a realistic setting that makes Honey's situation informative and believable.

Filled with enough mystery and reversals to keep the reader turning pages. I also enjoyed the nostalgic look back at some of the movies and music of that bygone era, and was completely surprised by the ending.

A brilliant novel of lies and intrigue at Bletchley Park. A compelling mystery with historically accurate details.

About the Author

Lucy Ribchester lives in Edinburgh. She was a recipient of a 2013 Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award and a 2016 Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. Her short stories have been shortlisted for the Costa Short Story Award and the Manchester Fiction Prize, and her first novel The Hourglass Factory was longlisted for the Goldsboro HWA Debut Crown. She also writes about dance and circus for Scotland's The List magazine. Find out more at lucyribchester.com.

Edition details

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1681774488
• ISBN 13: 9781681774480
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464