#Book Tour #Review: Widow's Weeds by Allie Creswell
The Details:
The Widow’s Weeds by Allie Cresswell
Published: Independently Published
Publisher: April 2023
Series: Yes, Book Three in the Widows Series
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Pages:457
Available: Paperback, ebook
Trigger warnings: spousal abuse, alcoholism
The Blurb:
One evening, Viola goes missing.
The explanation—a visit to her son—seems doubtful and her women friends’messages go unanswered. A spiky, caustic woman, Viola’s heavy drinking makesher tiresome company, but they know nothing of her troubled past.
Yet, Maisie misses Viola. Recently, their shared love of gardening hasalmost blunted Viola’s barbs, and Maisie is much in need of a close friend. Herhouse is a building site, her daughter’s wedding is looming. Most worrying isher friendship with handsome, formidable Oliver Harrington. She cannot work outwhat he wants from it, nor, really, what she wants, either. She barely has timeto wonder where Viola has gone.
As Maisie grapples with her present-day preoccupations, Viola’s taleunfolds: a dark landscape of tragedy and suffering. Their two stories collidein an explosive finale. Can the two women rescue each other?
This third book in the Widows series stands alone. A story of weeds andwildflowers, tenacity and tenderness, and containing potentially upsettingdetails of domestic abuse, alcoholism, and bereavement, this is ultimately anaffirmation of the strength and power of women’s friendships.
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My Review:
Thank you to Allie Cresswell for a copy of her book for review.
Viola loves to garden, she lives to garden, it helps her cope and keeps her sane. Viola has an ugly secret which she’s kept hidden from her friends, and then, she disappears.
Masie also loves to garden, a recent widow with money to spend, she’s indulging herself by remodeling her house, but has she taken on too much? Her daughter’s impending marriage, the attention from a handsome, but somewhat domineering man, and the problems of her friends are weighing down on her and come to a head in spectacular fashion with the reappearance of Viola.
I really enjoyed this book about women, finding out who they are and their place in the world. They learn how to fight back when abusive, controlling men try to keep them down. They learn how to recognize and help others caught in the same cycle of violence. It’s an important lesson on the value of female friendship and support of women helping women.
The writing is very dense with lots of descriptive passages and deep dives into the emotional life of the women. I found it well written and well edited. Although part of a series, I can be read as a stand alone.
I highly recommend this moving story to readers of women’s fiction.
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Author Bio:
Allie Cresswell was born in Stockport in the northwest of England andhas been writing fiction since she could hold a pencil. She studied EnglishLiterature at Birmingham University and did an MA at Queen Mary College,University of London. She was a pub landlady, a print buyer, ran a B & Band a group of holiday cottages before training to teach literature to lifelonglearners. Now she writes full time. Her historical and contemporary fiction hasbeen flatteringly compared to Alice Munroe, Daphne du Maurier and Jane Austen.She has been the recipient of several Readers’ Favourite awards. She lives inCumbria. The Widow’s Weeds is her fourteenth novel.
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