I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the THE TURNGLASS by Gareth
Rubin Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
About The Book:
Title: THE
TURNGLASS
Author: Gareth
Rubin
Pub. Date: December
3, 2024
Publisher: Union
Square & Co.
Formats: Hardcover,
Paperback, eBook, Audiobook
Pages: 443
Find it: Goodreads,https://books2read.com/THE-TURNGLASS
This beautifully written, immersive, and unique crime story is a
tête-bêche novel—two intertwined stories printed back-to-back. Open the book
and the first novella begins. It ends in the middle of the book. Flip the book
over, head to tail, and read the second story in the opposite direction. At the
book’s core are two separate mysteries running across two different timelines,
which are inextricably, forever linked.
1880s, Essex, England: Idealistic young doctor Simeon Lee is called from London
to treat his ailing relative Parson Oliver Hawes, who lives in Turnglass House
on a bleak island off the coast. Hawes believes he's being poisoned by his
sister-in-law, Florence, who was declared mad years ago after killing the
parson’s brother in a jealous rage. Hawes keeps her locked in a glass-walled
apartment in the Turnglass library; the secret to how she came to be there is
found in his tête-bêche journal, where one side tells a very different story
from the other.
1930s, Hollywood: Celebrated author Oliver Tooke, the governor’s son, is found
dead by apparent suicide. His aspiring actor friend Ken Kourian isn’t so sure
Oliver took his own life. He finds a link between Oliver’s death and the
mysterious kidnapping of Oliver’s brother when they were children. He also
discovers the secret incarceration of Oliver’s mother, Florence, in an asylum.
To get to the truth, Ken must decipher clues hidden in Oliver’s final book, a
tête-bêche novel called The Turnglass—which is about a young doctor
named Simeon Lee . . .
EXCERPT
Each foot he set down seemed to press lower in the mud. The glittering glassy
water either side of the causeway mocked his laborious progress, and his heels,
then his feet, and then his ankles sank in. He began to worry that his knees
would go in too and he would be held there until the tide rose above his
shoulders. But he chose to trust Morty’s assessment that the path was solid
enough—just—and to power on. And little by little the way became firmer, until
he was on solid land. Ray, the island that came and went with the tides.
He turned up the flame on his oil lamp and the beam raked the
ground for a good distance. He had bought it from a ship’s chandler who had
assured him it was as strong a light as he would find anywhere, strong enough for
ships to find each other a mile away. It was a bleak place that the light
revealed. Deathly so. Whyever had anyone settled here? he wondered. He looked
up. A dim prickle of stars was scattered across the sky; but there was a void
on the horizon where they were blotted out, where something black and wide
loomed up from the waterlogged ground. Turnglass House, the only building on
Ray. A single bright window near its tip was the only sign of habitation . . .
. . . "That’s a good size for a library. I—" He cut himself off as a
louder sound from the gloom made him start. "What is that sound. Do you
own a dog?"
"A dog? Good heavens no." Parson Hawes peered up
at his relation, with mystification on his face. "You do not know? Oh, I
would have thought you would have been informed at the Peldon Rose if not
before . . . well, it is best that you take the lamp and look for
yourself."
Slightly suspicious of the roundabout way of informing him, Simeon
lifted the oil lamp from the table. It threw a yellow glare around no more than
two yards of the floor, illuminating stacks of books and a series of
rugs—Persian or Turkish. Fine quality. He went towards the dark end of the
room. "But be careful, my boy," the older man warned. As he moved,
Simeon saw the beam glint again on a reflective surface like the black water of
the estuary. Glass. The end of the room was indeed one huge glass panel and the
light from the lamp seemed to flit about in its sheen. Then another sound, this
time a rustling, seemed to emanate from it. He saw his own reflection in the
dark pane, like a mirror, coming forward with the lamp in his hand.
As he came closer, the light fell properly on the foot of the
glass, rapidly rising up to its full height. And what it revealed seemed
strange indeed. The panel was not the end wall of the room, but a transparent
partition between the part occupied by Parson Oliver Hawes with his three
thousand volumes, and another smaller section, cut off from the public realm.
"This is rather unusual," Simeon said.
"It is necessary. Such rage."
What rage? Simeon wondered, examining the murky pane.
Suddenly, something, a patch of pale color, appeared behind the
glass: a moon-like disc that retreated into the black and disappeared. And
something green flashed close to the floor.
What had he just seen? Surely it wasn’t—? He had an idea, but it
seemed insanity itself.
About Gareth Rubin:
Gareth Rubin writes about social affairs, travel, and the arts for British
newspapers. In 2013, he directed a documentary about therapeutic art at the
Bethlem Royal Hospital in London (Bedlam). His books include The Great Cat
Massacre, which details how the course of British history has been changed
by people making mistakes; Liberation Square, a thriller set in
Soviet-occupied London; and The Winter Agent, a thriller set in
Paris in 1944. He lives in London.
My Review:
This book had me hooked from the beginning. I could not wait to read a tete-beche format. The idea of an hourglass keeping time is a great title for two stories intertwined and separated by years. The earlier story was a look into the windows, whereas the second story made me feel I was inside the house with these characters, I loved that there were two stories included in one book that I read by flipping the book upside down. The plot was interesting and kept me reading. I could guess the twits, but I had to read the book to find out what happened. I liked that there were clues from each story woven into each other, The author did a good job of describing crime in each setting. I can not wait to read more from this author, especially these fun formats. I am giving this book a 4/5. I was given a copy, all opinions are my own.
Giveaway Details:
1 winner
will receive a finished copy of THE TURNGLASS, US Only.
Ends December 17th, midnight EST.
a Rafflecopter giveawayTour Schedule:
Week One:
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12/2/2024 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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12/3/2024 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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12/4/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
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12/5/2024 |
IG Review |
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12/6/2024 |
IG Review/TikTok Post |
Week Two:
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12/9/2024 |
IG Review/TikTok Post |
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12/10/2024 |
Review |
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12/11/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
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12/12/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
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12/13/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
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