Category Archives: Kate Braithwaite

The People Next Door by Kate Braithwaite

I participated in the cover reveal for The People Next Door by Kate Braithwaite. Now I’m back with my review.

Kate Braithwaite

Blurb

Twenty years ago, Jen’s sister disappeared. Now, she’s looking for answers.

Jen Silver has moved to a new neighborhood in affluent, suburban Pennsylvania with her partner, Dan, and her daughter. It’s a picture-perfect neighborhood where the residents hang out on each other’s patios drinking margaritas on warm summer nights. They eagerly welcome Jen and her family.

But Jen isn’t who they think she is.

Dan doesn’t know the truth either.

Jen has spent her life trying to find out what happened to her sister. She’s chosen this community for a reason — because Dan has his own connection to the neighborhood and a past he thought was long-buried.

As Jen pieces together the events of twenty years ago, someone is determined to keep the facts from coming to light. But secrets always come out and sometimes, the worst truths lie close to home . . .

Kate Braithwaite

My Review

A lot is going on in The People Next Door. Lies, deceptions, and deep-buried secrets.

Jen Silver moves into an affluent neighbourhood in Pennsylvania with her daughter and current partner, Dan. The neighbours all seem to be friendly and gather at one another’s houses for weekend drinks and snacks.

But Jen had a motive for moving here, one that her partner doesn’t know about.

The author tells the book from multiple points of view, with each person’s chapter written in the first person. I like that in a book.

I didn’t see the ending coming, although I suspected something would be revealed.

Overall, it was well-written and I’ll be looking for more books by this author.

Book Links

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228125367-the-people-next-door

Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/peoplenextdoor-zbt

About Kate

Kate Braithwaite

Kate Braithwaite is the author of four historical novels based on true but overlooked events. “Charlatan” tells the story of Madame de Montespan and the Affair of the Poisons in 17th Century Paris. “The Plot” features Titus Oates’ Popish Plot, a scandal that earns him a place as one of Britain’s top 10 villains. “The Puzzle of Nellie Bly” explores the exploits of a ground-breaking female journalist going undercover in a 19th Century New York lunatic asylum. “The Scandalous Life of Nancy Randolph” reveals a shocking rupture between two very different sisters in late 18th century Virginia.

Originally from Scotland, Kate studied English at Leeds University and has subsequently lived in Canada and the US. She is the author of Sis-Stories, a Substack publication all about sisters in history and fiction, and an editor for the Historical Novel Society. Kate and her family live in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Kate’s Social Media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KateBraithwaiteAuthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katebraithwaiteauthor/

Website: https://kate-braithwaite.com/

Kate Braithwaite

THE ROAD TO NEWGATE by Kate Braithwaite #historical #crime #giveaway

newgate

The Road to Newgate

by

Kate Braithwaite

newgate

Genre: Historical Fiction (crime/mystery)

Release Date: 16th July 2018

Publisher: Crooked Cat Books

 

What price justice?

London 1678.

Titus Oates, an unknown preacher, creates panic with wild stories of a Catholic uprising against Charles II. The murder of a prominent Protestant magistrate appears to confirm that the Popish Plot is real.

Only Nathaniel Thompson, writer and Licenser of the Presses, instinctively doubts Oates’s revelations. Even his young wife, Anne, is not so sure. And neither know that their friend William Smith has personal history with Titus Oates.

When Nathaniel takes a public stand, questioning the plot and Oates’s integrity, the consequences threaten them all.

EXTRACT

“Mr. Thompson?”

At my side is a skinny fellow that Henry sometimes employs to deliver our pamphlets about the coffee shops. His sort often has a nose for news and will know if an arrest has been made or a scandal is brewing. He knows something now. I smell it on him, read it in the eager nod of his head. God knows, there’s gossip aplenty in the city, with talk of a missing magistrate and arrests of prominent Catholic Lords, so I turn my back on Anne, anxious for news. My conscience may creak as I listen to the young lad’s tale, but that’s easily ignored. Easily that is, until the sound of an altercation causes us both to twist round.

A woman, tall and sharp-featured, her lips pulled back from her teeth in bare anger, has her hand on Anne’s arm and is screeching at her. For a moment, I’m dumbfounded. I step towards them, but not quickly enough. In that split second, the woman tilts back her head and hurls a plume of spit right into my wife’s face.

No-one moves. Then the woman disappears into the crowd and Anne does her best to make light of it. She wipes her face, shows me her new bag, and insists on continuing about the fair as if nothing has happened. All she will say is that the woman was obviously deranged, some Bedlamite; quite a sorry case, in fact. I squeeze her hand, proud that my young wife can be so composed. And then I put it out of my mind.

In my defence, there is little enough time to remember it or question Anne further in the days that follow. The rumour whispered to me at the fair is the main news on everyone’s lips by the next morning. A man has been found dead in a ditch on Primrose Hill. He is identified as the missing magistrate, Sir Edmund Godfrey.

BUY LINKS

AMAZON UK: https://goo.gl/b2Nmu6

AMAZON US: https://goo.gl/11AJS7

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

NEWGATE

Kate Braithwaite was born and grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her first novel, Charlatan, was longlisted for the Mslexia New Novel Award and the Historical Novel Society Award. Kate lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and three children.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KateBraithwaiteAuthor/

Twitter: @kmbraithwaite

Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10792752.Kate_Braithwaite

Instagram: katembraithwaite

Blog: www.kate-braithwaite.com

Website: www.kate-braithwaite.com

GIVEAWAY

 A copy of the book, plus small handmade book of illustrations from the period. (Open internationally)

NEWGATE

a Rafflecopter giveaway