I am delighted to be taking part in the blog tour for The Home today. My review is written with thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the tour and Orenda Books for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

One more little secret … one more little lie…

When the body of a pregnant fifteen-year-old is discovered in a churchyard on Christmas morning, the community is shocked, but unsurprised. For Hope lived in The Home, the residence of three young girls, whose violent and disturbing pasts have seen them cloistered away…

As a police investigation gets underway, the lives of Hope, Lara and Annie are examined, and the staff who work at the home are interviewed, leading to shocking and distressing revelations … and clear evidence that someone is seeking revenge.

A gritty, dark and devastating psychological thriller, The Home is also an emotive drama and a piercing look at the underbelly of society, where children learn what they live … if they are allowed to live at all.

Review:

I’m going to struggle to put how I feel about The Home into words. It is rare that a book touches me so much and it is testament to Stovell’s writing that this book was able to do this. All the girls at the home have the opportunity to narrate at least one chapter and this highlights some of the horrendous circumstances which lead to them living in the home. They may sometimes act in a way that means they are less likeable but somehow Stovell makes the reader take them to heart and be broken by them.

The tragic back stories of the girls means that Stovell is able to explore some very difficult but important issues for young girls in the modern world. These are portrayed so well that I could almost feel the angst oozing from the page and I found this highly emotive.

The mystery of Hope’s death seems almost secondary to these issues, but nevertheless The Home has an intriguing plot. The beautiful Lake District setting, which appears to be quite isolated in terms of its location, creates an atmospheric backdrop for the mystery to take place. From the beginning, I wondered what had happened to Hope and Stovell kept my interest fuelled for the whole book.

The Home will stay with me for a long time and I can’t wait to read more from this author!

The Home is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: