Time Out of Mind

by Shirley Wright

When Rose Little needs to escape London following personal tragedy for solitude in a quiet Cornish cottage, she not only has to cope with the ghosts of her own past but the past of the previous owner of the cottage who mysteriously disappeared many years previously.

Kindle Edition

First published July 30, 2012

Reviews

[A.A. Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

TENSE AND AMBIGUOUS GHOST STORY

Put simply, this is a ghost story about an artist haunted by a poet. There is so much more to this novel, though. It is about escape, atonement and growing up. Thirtysomething artist Rose flees her London life (her smug and brittle friends and family are beautifully described) to spend time painting in Cornwall. She soon finds it isn't just Londoners who present facades with secrets lurking behind them.

A supernatural undercurrent runs through the story, but it's never clear whether Rose is psychic, as her new friend Jan believes, or imagining things, or at the mercy of coincidence. Tension and ambiguity move the tale along nicely.

Shirley Wright is a poet as well as a novelist, and has scattered lovely verses throughout the novel. Her descriptions of the Cornish coast are lyrical. Anyone who loves the salt-whipped seaside will be immediately transported there on reading "Time Out of Mind". It's a visual feast as well as an intricately plotted conundrum.

[Margaret Skea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is from: Time Out of Mind (Kindle Edition)

If your taste is for contemporary women's fiction with a mystery or a supernatural twist this is probably the book for you.

This story is a mystery and a coming to terms with a life gone awry combined, along with supernatural overtones.

The mystery is well worked out, with all the different elements / characters falling into place. There are no unsatisfactory loose ends, though there is a feeling that the story continues beyond the final page, which is always a good thing.

Perhaps because this is not my usual choice of genre, I found the supernatural element, although suitably spooky, slightly unconvincing.

For me this story's strength lies in the descriptive detail and the atmosphere that is conveyed, but it is marred occasionally by over-writing e.g. 'Fear knee-caps me.' But bearing in mind that this is a first novel, I expect this particular problem to be ironed out in later writing.

However the characterization in general was an issue for me as there was only one character that I warmed to (Carne). None of the others, including the mc, made me care what happened to them and as a result I wasn't really gripped. (As far as the mc was concerned it was her excessive drinking, which I thought an over-reaction even considering the traumas she had suffered, and therefore I failed to sympathise with her.)

Overall if the system allowed it I would have given 3.5 stars, as it doesn't I shall have to stick with 3. (For me 3 is a good book.)

[Kit Domino · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Part murder mystery, part ghost story, part how one woman copes with grief and guilt, the author has created wonderful believable characters woven into the rugged, wild landscape of Cornwall where myths and legend and ancient practices still abound. I was gripped from the very beginning. I will certainly be seeking out more of this author's work in the future.