The Peacock Bottle by Anglea Rigley
Published 1st July 2017
Pages: 220
Available on Kindle
Rating: 4/5
Blurb
In this Victorian dual timeline novel, Amelia Wise feels a jolt
when she finds a blue perfume bottle in the overgrown garden of the house she
has inherited. Several events in her life mirrors those from the past and, with
the help of her newfound cousin, Violet, the bottle's secret is uncovered.
Review
The Peacock Bottle by Angela Rigby is a dual-timeline
historical novel set is the house Alice Howe in Cumberland. The first setting
of the story takes place in 1893 when Amelia Wise has just inherited Alice Howe
and moved there with her step-mother after the recent death of her father.
While cleaning and clearing the garden, Amelia discovers a secret overgrown
garden which has being locked up. She plans to restore the garden to its former
glory to cheer up her step-mother but a series of unfortunate incidents keep
preventing her from doing so.
The second part of the narrative turns the clock back to
1840 when Daisy and Mary-Jane Richardson live at Alice Howe with their parents.
Daisy has recently taken an interest in perfume making and with the help of her
Aunt longs to make her own from the beautiful roses in their garden. Before Daisy
can complete her perfume and use it to gain a husband a tragic accident changes
the course of her life forever.
I really enjoyed reading The Perfume Bottle, Angela Rigley
has written an intriguing mystery surrounding the perfume bottle which slowly
unfolds to show how the two families are linked. I had a real sense of what
Alice Howe was like while reading this book and what it would have been like
living their for the girls in both eras.
My favourite character was Amelia by far. Despite her age of
just fourteen she’s very worldly wise, empathetic towards others and has a
strong will which shows throughout the book. She’s much more grown up than Daisy
and Mary-Jane who while being a similar age only seem to be interested in
making themselves pretty and finding a good husband.
My one small issue with this book is I would have loved another
chapter about Daisy to explain how she ended up with a family of her own. Apart
from this I loved this book and can highly recommend this to those who love a
good historical mystery.
Thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to be
part of the blog tour and giving me a copy of this book to review honestly.
About the Author
Married to Don, I have 5 children and 9 grandchildren, I live in
Derbyshire, England, and enjoy researching my family tree (having found
ancestors as far back as 1465), reading, gardening, playing Scrabble, meals out
and family gatherings. I am the treasurer of my writing club, Eastwood Writers’
Group, and I also write and record Thoughts for the Day for Radio Nottingham.
At church I sing in the choir and am an Extraordinary Minister of Holy
Communion, a reader, a flower arranger and a member of the fundraising team for
Cafod, my favourite charity. I have written hymns, although I cannot read
music.
Social Media Links –
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14367596.Angela_Rigley
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