Why a Booktrail?
1919: London is a city of ghosts
The Lodger
Why a Booktrail?
1919: London is a city of ghosts
What you need to know before your trail
London in 1919 was a city of ghosts and absences, haunted by the men who marched away but never came back from ‘the war to end all wars.’
Grace Armstrong believes that she has come to terms with her own loss, the death of her fiancé, the brilliant and dazzling best friend of her brother. He was declared Missing in Action during the Battle of the Somme, but he starts to reappear both in her waking life and dreams.
Grace is appalled when a body, dragged from the Thames, is identified as Elizabeth Smith, who has lodged with Grace and her family for the last eight years before suddenly disappearing.
Elizabeth had been more than a lodger; she had become a close friend to Grace, who feels compelled to find out what happened. In doing so she is drawn reluctantly into the sordid and dangerous underbelly of London and a scandal that rocked Edwardian society. Soon Grace finds herself under threat, and the only person prepared to listen is the brooding Tom Monaghan. But Tom has dark shadows of his own to navigate before being able to put his past behind him to help Grace in her quest for the truth.
Travel Guide
London
The book illustrates brilliantly what it must have been like to live in London during the war and afterwards.
“The summer of 1919 was unusualy hot and the newspapers were filled with dire predictions of water shortages and failed harvests.”
“Too shaken to face the forced intimacy of the Underground, she decided to walk the mile or so home. On the corner of Kentish Town Road, Grace passed a former solider who was propped awkwardly against the doorway of the post office, a row of campaign medals across his chest and grey trousers pinned neatly at the knee.”
Booktrailer Review
This was a very interesting case and storyline which I had never heard of before. Political scandal, a lodger who goes missing and then a body is found. Someone is keeping a whole lot of secrets. Luckily for the reader, the author drip feeds these one by one through the novel creating a lovely pace and a gripping case. Throughougly enjoyed this one!
London is very well evoked and it’s just after the war so there is a lot of detail in this area – dark alleys, smoke, poverty etc. We go from posh houses to the kind of establishments that charge by the hour. Quite the city tour!
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Lodger
Destination/Location: London Author/guide: Helen Scarlett Departure Time: 1919
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