MY FIVE STAR REVIEW
The Wings of Poppy Pendleton by Melanie Dobson was a multilayered mystery that I found myself wanting to keep reading, even when I had to work or sleep, for inference.
Poor Poppy and her mother had such a tumultuous journey. They nearly broke my heart after all they went through. Chloe’s story and the sudden appearance of Emma were a great way to bring current events into a story that surrounded the past.
The subject matter, though daunting, was necessary—I won’t spoil it, but I commend the author for spinning such a web. I could go on, but I will just say that the writing was superb, with great symbolism. I cared for the main characters and extremely disliked (literally hated, but I’m a Christian) other characters. This is a book that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a great puzzle of a plot that they have to unravel.
Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for giving me an ARC copy of this book to read and review. All of these thoughts and comments are my own.
BLURB
In this compelling new time-slip mystery, a little girl goes missing from her family’s castle in the Thousand Islands of New York. Eighty-five years later, a journalist teams up with a woman living on Koster Isle to find out what happened to Poppy, once and for all.
1907. On the eve of her fifth birthday, Poppy Pendleton is tucked safely in her bed, listening to her parents entertain New York’s gilded society in their Thousand Islands castle; the next morning, she is gone, and her father is found dead in his smoking room.
1992. Though Chloe Ridell lives in the shadows of Poppy’s castle, now in ruins, she has little interest in the mystery that still captivates tourists and locals alike. She is focused on preserving the island she inherited from her grandparents and reviving their vintage candy shop. Until the day a girl named Emma shows up on Chloe’s doorstep, with few possessions, save a tattered scrapbook that connects her to the Pendleton family. When a reporter arrives at Chloe’s store, asking questions about her grandfather, Chloe decides to help him dig into a past she’d thought best left buried. The haunting truth about Poppy, they soon discover, could save Emma’s life, so Chloe and Logan must work together to investigate exactly what happened long ago on Koster Isle.
“[A] propulsive time-swapping tale. . . . Fans of WWII inspirationals will love this.” Publishers Weekly on The Curator’s Daughter
“Readers will delight in this story that illustrates how the past can change the present.” Lisa Wingate, national bestselling author of Before We Were Yours, on Catching the Wind
- Standalone dual-timeline historical mystery
- Clean, suspenseful historical fiction, perfect for fans of Susan Meissner or Lisa Wingate
- Book length: 95,000 words
- Includes discussion questions for book groups
Click on the cover above to grab this awesome, new story.
Afterward you can learn more about me, NY DUNLAP.