Thanks to Waterstones I received a proof copy of The Taxidermist's Daughter in exchange for an honest review...
It is 1912 in Fishbourne, a small Sussex village by the sea prone to flooding. Twenty-two year old Constantia or Connie Gifford lives with her father in lonely old Blackthorn House surrounded by the remnants of his once wildly successful London museum of taxidermy ‘Gifford’s World Famous House of Avian Curiosities'. Stuffed birds, once so beloved of the Victorians, are out of fashion and Connie’s father is a broken man, confused and often drunk by morning. Connie passes her time by trying to learn his trade – painstakingly removing the innards and stuffing birds she finds dead near the house. Ten years previously, she fell down the stairs in the museum and lost her memory. Flashes return to her, brief glimpses of an older girl, spirited and loving. Then she finds a young woman drowned in the stream at the bottom of the garden and finds herself caught up in a trail of mystery, blackmail and murder – and a terrible secret kept by her father.
This is the first time that I've read a novel by Kate Mosse & I will certainly read more of her work, I did enjoy it. This novel is a gothic, haunting, psychological thriller which is beautifully written which will stay with me for a long time.
Kate Mosse is an international bestselling author with sales of more than five million copies in 42 languages. Her fiction includes the novels Labyrinth (2005), Sepulchre (2007), The Winter Ghosts (2009), and Citadel (2012), as well as an acclaimed collection of short stories, The Mistletoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales (2013).
The Taxidermist's Daughter is available on Kindle & from all good bookstores.
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