The Mermaid - Christina Henry

When I bought this book a couple of months ago, I hadn't realised that it was a book that had sat on my TBR list for a few years. That's when you know a book is going to be right for you!

As part of my effort to work my way through my physical TBR, I picked it up for the bank holiday and immediately got lost in the history of P T Barnum and his museum of curiosities.

Unlike the masses, I wasn't quite as hooked on The Greatest Showman when it came out; whilst I appreciate the film and everything it encompassed, it was a classic case of Hollywood putting a positive spin on an otherwise dark history.

The Mermaid tells the story of a mermaid who choses to join Barnums exhibition so she can fund her dreams to see the world.

Adding a fantasy element to the Fiji Mermaid hoax that Barnum was the ringleader of, the story approaches a number of subjects tactfully. Firstly, the Mermaid, Amelia, is not always allowed the freedom she signed up for and the religious zealots of the time use her existence as a platform.

"A bird in a cage still knows it's in a cage, even if the bars are made of gold,"

Set in 19th century America, this was never going to be a truly happy story but it is one that draws you in and leaves you feeling that the ending is a fair one.

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Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie

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Velvet Was The Night - Sylvia Moreno-Garcia

Started: Sunday 3rd July 2022 Finished: Monday 4th July 2022 Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I definitely judged this book by it’s cover. The image of this book absolutely drew me in the moment I saw it; I didn’t care what it was about, I had to read it. And I was not disappointed. Velvet Was The Night is set in Mexico in the early 1970s and follows Maite and Elvis whilst they unbeknowingly search for the same girl amongst political unrest and activism. I know very little about the culture that this book centres around but this gave me an insight which has definitely left me wanting to know more. I have Mexican Gothic on my TBR so that is likely to feature soon. It was a fast based book with plenty of tension and a bit of gore thrown in but not so much that I had to put it down at any stage. My only criticism is that if you don't know much about the era and unrest that the books is set around, you won't necessarily know much more by the end of it. I personally like to read historical fi...

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