A Readers Musings and Reviews
Book blurb
Spain, 1938: The country is wracked by civil war, and as Valencia falls to Franco’s brutal dictatorship, Republican Teresa witnesses the murders of her family. Captured and sent to the notorious Las Ventas women’s prison, Teresa gives birth to a daughter who is forcibly taken from her.
Falkenberg, Sweden, 2016: A wealthy family is found savagely murdered in their luxurious home. Discovering that her parents have been slaughtered, Aliénor Lindbergh, a new recruit to the UK’s Scotland Yard, rushes back to Sweden and finds her hometown rocked by the massacre.
Profiler Emily Roy joins forces with Aliénor and her colleague, true-crime writer Alexis Castells, and they soon find themselves on the trail of a monstrous and prolific killer, in an investigation that takes them from the Swedish fertility clinics of the present day back to the terror of Franco’s rule, and the horrifying events that took place in Spanish orphanages under its rule…
Terrifying, vivid and recounted at breakneck speed, Blood Song is not only a riveting thriller and an examination of corruption in the fertility industry, but a shocking reminder of the atrocities of Spain’s dictatorship, in the latest, stunning installment in the award-winning Roy & Castells series.
My thoughts
This is a stunning book, incredibly well translated into English by David Warriner, that brings to life an appalling and dark period of Spanish history along with the struggles couples have who are unable to have children and a murder investigation.
Set in 1938 and 2016 across Europe from London to Falkenberg to Madrid Johana Gustawsson pens a heart rending story that left me amazed at the things humans do to each other, what so many have had to bear and the resilience that so many have managed under such circumstances.
Johana Gustawsson has brought a story to us which many, like myself, will have not heard before about what happened to those individuals who were against Franco, their families, most particularly those of the children. Then she takes this and goes on to tell how such atrocities impact those individuals. It will leave you reeling, numb and both disgusted and amazed at this human race that can be so contradictory, so evil, so wonderful.
The sympathetic way in which the story is written enables you to continue to read. Bringing together the different strands of the story into a whole, being able to write a story and bring the historical element and the struggle of those who wish to become parents, I have to say I’m with Alexis on that, into the modern day murder investigation is done so incredibly well.
The characters from each era are beautifully drawn and whilst there are several that are quite despicable there are so many to admire including Teresa, Gordi, Emily, Alexis and Aliénor.
This is a book which will linger long in the memory. I believe it should have a wide audience as this is exactly the sort of book that goes beyond any particular genre not only to appeal to readers but to enlighten them and I hope that it gets the credit, in my opinion, that it deserves.
Blog Tour
My thanks to Anne at RandomThingsTours for the invite to this amazing BlogTour and to the publishers Orenda Books for an eCopy of Blood Song by Johana Gustawsson. There are lot’s of terrific stops to take a look at…
Information
Publisher: Orenda Books
Buy: Orenda Books AmazonSmileUK Waterstones
Author
Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46, Keeper and, soon to be published, Blood Song, has won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte, Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in nineteen countries. A TV adaptation is currently underway in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. Johana lives in London with her Swedish husband and their three sons.
Books
It was a pleasure to meet Johana, very briefly, at the Orenda Roadshow when she kindly signed my copy of Keeper
Translator: David Warriner translates from French and nurtures a healthy passion for Franco, Nordic and British crime fiction. Growing up in deepest Yorkshire, he developed incurable Francophilia at an early age. Emerging from Oxford with a modern languages degree, he narrowly escaped the graduate rat race by hopping on a plane to Canada – and never looked back. More than a decade into a high-powered commercial translation career, he listened to his heart and turned his hand again to the delicate art of literary translation. David has lived in France and Quebec, and now calls beautiful British Columbia home.
Follow David on Twitter @givemeawave and on his website: wtranslation.ca.
First Chapter
Book Reviews & The Joy of Reading
a classics club blog
Stay Home | Read Books | Eat Cake
The poetry and writing of Ailsa Cawley. Welcome!
Musings about books and a blog journal
This bookish nook belongs to Meggy Roussel and her furry babies
A guy hunting for thrillers across the world, and a firm believer in the power of tea
Author of suspense novels Sketch, Justice For Belle, Search For Maylee, Aggravated Momentum, and a medley of short stories.
...a crime-fictional site
A bookish blog (mostly) about women writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
By [Sarah] Cavar
A man with dyslexia writing about this and that and everything else!
A book lover writes about this, that and the other
A Community of Classics Lovers
Book reviews of mainly modern & contemporary fiction
Murder Down To A Tea
Criminally good reads
Book reviews and the occasional ramblings of a book blogger
The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Challenge
One Girl, Too Many Books
Musings and Ramblings of a Disorganised Blogger
Read All About It
No one ever reads the same book. We all react to the written word differently. The following are my opinions regarding the books I have read.
Books, travel, and other things that make life interesting
Jules_Writes
For book lovers everywhere
Free bookreviews and other free book related stuff
And for summer days
Spotlight on Nordic / Scandinavian crime fiction... and connections
All things bookish.
“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.” ― Henry David Thoreau
Escaping reality one book at a time
Just a quiet knitter with an addiction to books
Reader | Writer | Blogger
Louise Jensen - Writer - www.louisejensen.co.uk
Monthly Festival : Turn your book into a movie and get it seen by 1000s of people. Or garner FULL FEEDBACK from publishers on your novel and help your next draft. Or get a transcript video of your novel performed by professional actors.
Reading and Reviewing Books - May Contain Beard: "From Tiny Book Blog Buds Shall Mighty Book Blogs Grow" - TBBB
The place where I put down all my thoughts and observations
Reading under the light of a Carolina moon
Books, Writing and Life!
CRIMEPIECES
Each night I TRAVEL THE WORLD, I LIVE IN THE MIND OF KILLERS AND WALK AT THE SIDE OF HEROES
Thoughts of a twenty-something girl navigating her way one blog post at a time
Huge thanks for the blog tour support x
LikeLiked by 1 person