This book is so atmospheric. The timelines moves back and forwards which can be a bit confusing. I felt the characters were under developed.

On a summer’s day in 1955, in the village of Starome, the drowned body of young Danny Masters is discovered by three of his teenage friends: Alexander, the volatile heir to Richmond Hall, the country estate that neighbours Starome, and sister and brother, Lennie and Tom, whose father is land agent to the Richmond family. How did Danny Masters die?

‘Child of nature’ Lennie is in love with volatile Alexander, but is he in love with her or merely playing with her? Alexander’s mother has been a widow for less than a year, and yet her husband’s brother seems always to be by her side.

In the weeks that follow the tragic drowning, the river begins to give up its secrets. As the circumstances surrounding Danny’s death emerge, other stories gradually come to the surface, threatening to destroy an entire way of life. The storyline was brilliant and fascinating you won't want to miss this novel!

This is a fascinating story, atmospheric and well plotted, one of those books that draw you in and don't let you go. An old mansion, a murder, buried secrets resurfacing and two very different women, complex, nuanced figures with great psychological characterisation and inspired by Shakespeare’s female characters from Hamlet, Ophelia and Gertrude.

It starts slowly but at the end it turns out to be a very captivating read. The storytelling is excellent, rich and dense, with wonderfully rendered old England atmospheres tinged with Gothic touches, echoes of Hardy, of memorable English country scenes and great classic novels – it feels like something traditional and yet with a more contemporary tempo to it that resonates with our modern sensibility. The story in intriguing and leaves you on the tiptoes but does not aim to originality, there is something beyond time pulsating here, as expressed by the image of the river that flows telling stories that are eternal in a wonderful narrative flow.

My thanks to Europa Editions for an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book has potential as the author can surely write but I felt like the potential wasn't totally expressed and the story fell flat.
The character are interesting but a bit underdeveloped and the mystery part was a bit too predictable (assuming it was intended as a mystery)
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

My thanks to Europa Editions and NetGalley for a review copy of this book.

In The River Within, Karen Powell brings Hamlet to Yorkshire in the 1950s, or rather, within the broader mould of the Hamlet plot, weaves her own engrossing and intense tale. The book opens with the finding of a body—Danny Masters, a young man from the village of Starome, apprenticed at the sawmill in the village, but called up for military service, is found floating in the river by his childhood friends—Alexander Richmond, heir to Richmond Hall, the village manor house; Lennie (Helena) Fairweather, who is in love with and is loved by Alexander, and whose father was first valet and then secretary to Alexander’s father Sir Angus; and Lennie’s brother, the brooding Thomas Fairweather. While Alexander seems to view the body with a certain glee, the sensitive Lennie is upset while Thomas attends to more practical matters like summoning the doctor. It is in this background that our story unfolds as our chapters take us back and forth in time between the 1930s and the present (the 1950s), and between the perspectives of three characters, Lennie Fairweather; Venetia, Alexander’s mother; and that of Danny himself—as we eventually learn how Danny’s death came about.

We learn of how Venetia, who belonged to a farming family, met and was wooed by the charming Angus (though it was his brother James who met and fell in love with her first), her married life and experiences of motherhood (far from ideal and something she struggles with), and also her insecurities in her marriage. On the other side there is Lennie, who lives with her widower father (her brother is away for his studies much of the time) and takes care of her home. She is in love with Alexander as he seems to be with her but Alexander’s attitude to her and towards women in general cause her much distress, and uncertainty regarding what she had thought was a clear future (there is, however, no opposition from Alexander’s family, and Venetia approves the match). Her only solace lies in the garden amidst the plants, and in the woods. And then of course there is Danny, who has been in love with Lennie for long, though has little hope of his affections being returned. The poem she recites once at school, the Lady of Shalott gets him to buy and read Tennyson, and the life of his dreams is focused on her alone (he sees her as the Lady of Shalott). He gets a good chance with an apprenticeship at the sawmill, where he begins to learn his trade, but then the letter calling him up arrives. In these three narratives we also follow other storylines, Sir Angus has recently died after a difficult illness and Venetia is struggling to cope with his last days, and the estate with which her brother-in-law James arrives to help; there is also the story of Lennie’s family—her mother in particular, who Venetia had befriended; and then more briefly Alexander himself who, Hamlet-like, is impacted by his father’s death and what he thinks he sees happening in his home.

This was a beautifully written and very absorbing book which kept me reading all through. We are drawn into the stories and backstories of each of the characters, each of which is fraught with its own troubles, and which intertwine with each other in complex ways. Each of the characters is very well drawn out, and the issues and problems they struggle with are ones one can relate to such that one can sympathise with most of them, even when their actions seem far from ideal. For me, Alexander—the Hamlet character—was the one I felt I understood the least; though towards the end some explanation for his actions and attitudes emerges but at the same time, perhaps because we don’t ‘follow’ him specifically, he seems distant compared to the others.

Alongside the characters and their personal struggles, we also get an insight into some of the issues of the time period. We are at a point where it is rarely that women are educated or trained for a career (a secretarial course is proposed for Lennie but she doesn’t end up attending for health reasons), as a result of which Venetia for instance feels ill-equipped to deal with things—when Angus is alive, he can’t discuss matters with her and she feels left out, and when he passes away, she must rely on James to cope. There are also the shadows of the war and the changes it has brought about—to the world, to class structure and relationships.

This is of course in essence a tragedy—beginning with a death and dealing with death in various forms and due to various reasons, all through. Dark and intense it may be, but it is very compelling read which has one invested from cover to cover.

4.5 stars!

Karen Powell evokes an atmospheric and melancholic portrait of the England of the 1930s, the WW2 years, up to the 1950s, and opens in 1955 in North Yorkshire, in the village of Stramone, and the River Stride where the drowned body of Danny Masters is discovered by Helena Fairweather, aka Lennie, her brother, Thomas and Alexander Richmond, son of Lady Venetia whose father, Angus, has died recently. These are turbulent times with the cold winds of change blowing through the rigid class structures, with many privileged families facing financial difficulties. There are the limitations placed on women, seen through a narrative that shifts back and forth in time with Venetia, a farm girl, having to adjust to her new position, role and limitations when she marries Angus and comes to live at Richmond Hall, built from the profits of the slave trade.

Lennie, a more fragile figure, seeks freedom from the imprisoning life of catering to the needs of her father, the personal secretary to Angus, and Thomas, with her hopes of marrying Alexander, a man outside her social strata, whom she views through a golden haze. We come to learn of Danny's life and the circumstances in which he ended up in the ruthless clutches of the river, and his love of Lennie whom he perceives as Tennyson's Lady of Shalott, whom he imagines he can rescue, but he is merely an apprentice carpenter. Death and grief shape the lives and mental states of the characters and their interactions with each other. Alexander can be a cruel, volatile and contrary individual, a product of his wealthy and indulged background, with no connection to the farming aspect of the estate, living in his head, prey to his insecurities, jealousy and the threats to the continuity and traditions of a class system that confirms his superiority over the locals.

Alexander is concerned about his mother's relationship with his Uncle James, has worrying attitudes towards women, seeing them as whores, and is plagued by his demons and nightmares. He obsesses over Lennie sporadically, she is the 'good girl', his girl, but he is a man certain of nothing. Lennie is being suffocated by the pressures of pleasing her father, the limitations she faces, she has a wild nature, a strong connection to the trees and woods, and straying beyond her expected boundaries have her distraught, reduced to despair and desperation. We can compare and contrast her life with that of a previous generation of women, specifically Venetia, who is a survivor despite the challenges she faced, such as the numerous deaths, her post-natal depression, being pushed to the limits caring for the dying Angus, and protecting her son in the present.

There are loose echoes of Shakespeare's Hamlet which foretells and prepares the reader for the direction the novel is heading towards, infused with its impending sense of doom, death, grief and tragedy that underlies the narrative. Venetia proves to be far more resilient than Lennie when it comes to confronting the harsh realities that life brings, and more resilient that her son, Alexander, who has been sheltered and protected, relying on social position and wealth, unprepared for how the world can change. This is such a beautifully written book, so poetic and lyrical, it engaged me from beginning to end, with the secrets and lies that come to be revealed, and its timeless exploration of human frailties, mental health, dysfunctional families, loss, the position of women, relationships and class. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Karen’s Powell’s debut novel ‘The River Within’ certainly shows that she can write. Her use of language is always stylish and sometimes poetic. And she is able to structure her story in a beguiling manner that challenges readers to work out all the whys and wherefores. Set mostly in a 1950s rural Yorkshire world, it focuses on the story of village girl Lennie’s relationship with Alexander Richmond, a local landowner’s son. Whilst a central concept of the narrative is that parental actions and influences cast long shadows, the suggestion that, "When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions" is the overwhelming impression the reader is left with.
Why the ‘Hamlet’ quotation? Well, there’s plenty in the novel that ties in with Ophelia’s story though Tennyson’s ‘The Lady of Shalott’ is also extensively quoted. And yet to what effect? Unfortunately. these literary echoes add little to the overall strength of the narrative.
By setting most of the action in the 1950s, Powell certainly reminds us of the damage done through rigid divisions in society in which all women are second class citizens. However, none of her characters are particularly convincing or memorable as they circle round each other, rarely speaking their minds. Whilst the novel’s ending is credible, it’s not especially enlightening. Sadly, I was left with a feeling of, ‘What did I bother with that for?’
My thanks to NetGalley and Europa Editions for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

*Many thanks to Karen Powell, Eudropa Editions, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
A book that has a mystery death in the background and character dynamics in the foreground. The main characters are narrators and the story timeline moves backwards even decades and then back to the present day which is mid 1950s.
I found this book interesting as it draws on one of the Shakeapeare's tragedy, which made the future developments and the finale predictable, however, I wasn not fully convinced by some of the character development, especially in case of Alexander Richmond.
Overall, well-written and interesting but not mind-blowing piece of fiction.

The River Within is a moving story about different lives and they complicated ways they can interwine. This is one of those stories where nothing much happens, but those few things that do explode and the fallout spreads over all the other pages. Full of tragedy - death, loss, inner struggle and even more death, this dark drama is completely gripping and fully immerses you in the quiet darkness of 1955.

Spanning decades, this tale takes us through key points in our characters lives, slowly building the entire picture around us without being confusing and from multiple points of view. The characters themselves were crafted brilliantly - well rounded and capable of the harshest cruelty to the deepest love.