Sunday, November 19, 2023

THE WINGS OF POPPY PENDLETON by Melanie Dobson, Reviewed by Rebecca Maney


"He needed a name, but she couldn't give him the one inscribed in the ship's manifest."

Viewing her life from the outside in, one might mistakenly surmise that Amelia Pendleton had the world at her fingertips; her husband Leslie had amassed a tidy fortune from two successful enterprises, the power couple was welcoming hoards of New York elites into their newly constructed castle on Koster Isle, and their precious daughter Poppy was just hours away from celebrating her fifth birthday. In reality, Amelia was more like one of her exotic birds, on full display for all to see, viewing freedom from within the glass walls of her beloved aviary. On one fateful night, the glass shattered.

Years later, Chloe Riddell is shocked to find a small girl huddled on the porch of her Koster Isle cottage. Chloe is all that the island has left, the Pendleton castle towers above on the verge of ruin, Chloe's grandparents, who were given ownership years prior are now both deceased, and this bedraggled young survivor, who has apparently fled to the island for safety, isn't answering any questions. To top it all off, a determined journalist is circling Chloe's personal space, asking a boat load of them. Why can't everyone just leave the mystery of what really happened to Poppy Pendleton where it belongs . . . in the past.

Like a jigsaw puzzle, this story has numerous scattered, carefully contoured pieces; some cleverly disguised, others hiding in plain sight . . . all of them deserving to find rest in their divinely ordained spaces. Read assuredly, as the pages turn faster and faster and faster, that what appears to be broken has been redeemed, and what might have been forgotten will be remembered.

"Thou who has taken to thyself the wings . . . To thee I turn, I make my prayer, God of the open air."- Henry Van Dyke.
 
*I purchased a copy and had no obligation to provide a positive review.

BackCover 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.

-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
 
Tyndale House Publishing, September, 2023
Available in digital ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook:
 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Share This Post

How Our Giveaways Work: The Official Rules

We, the ladies of Inkwell Inspirations, would love to give free stuff to everybody. Since we can't, we will often have a giveaway in conjunction with a specific post. Unless otherwise stated, one winner will be drawn from comments left on that post between the date it was published and the end of the giveaway as determined in the post. Entries must be accompanied by a valid email address. This address is used only to contact the commenter in the event that he/she is the winner, and will not be sold, distributed, or used in any other fashion. The odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. NO PURCHASE, PLEDGE, OR DONATION NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO WIN. ALL FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS APPLY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

Pinterest