None So Blind

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Pub Date 13 Apr 2017 | Archive Date 8 Mar 2022

Description

A brilliant new historical mystery series set in the 1850s.

West Wales, 1850. When an old tree root is dug up, the remains of a young woman are found. Harry Probert-Lloyd, a barrister forced home from London by encroaching blindness, has been dreading this discovery. He knows exactly whose bones they are.

Working with his clerk, John Davies, Harry is determined to expose the guilty. But the investigation turns up more questions than answers. Questions that centre around three names. Rebecca, the faceless leader of an angry mob who terrorise those they hate. Nathaniel Howell, a rabble-rousing chapel minister preaching a revolutionary gospel. And David Thomas, an ominous name with echoes from Harry’s past.

Is it Rebecca who is intent on ending Harry and John’s enquiry? Why did Nathaniel Howell disappear when Rebecca’s insurrection was at its height? And can Harry keep the secrets of his own past safely buried?

The search for the truth will prove costly. But will Harry and John be the ones to pay the highest price?

A brilliant new historical mystery series set in the 1850s.

West Wales, 1850. When an old tree root is dug up, the remains of a young woman are found. Harry Probert-Lloyd, a barrister forced home...


Advance Praise

‘I loved this book.  As soon as I opened it I was hooked, the suspense woven through gripping like the tree roots around the bones of Margaret Jones.  But ‘Non So Blind’ is so much more than a crime novel.  Beautifully written, with its characters finely drawn and wearing its historical detail lightly, it is both original and disconcerting.  A novel to come back to again and again, a literary treasure chest, inside which the reader might find different gems each time.’ ES Thomson, author of Beloved Poison and Dark Asylum

‘I loved this book. As soon as I opened it I was hooked, the suspense woven through gripping like the tree roots around the bones of Margaret Jones. But ‘Non So Blind’ is so much more than a...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781911332114
PRICE £9.99 (GBP)

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Average rating from 9 members


Featured Reviews

In 1850 Wales, the remains of a woman are found underneath the roots of a tree and local lawyer, Harry Probert-Lloyd, a man facing imminent blindness knows who the girl is. Harry world with his clerk, John bring the guilty party to justice, but he faces tremendous opposition from three locals, all with a reason to fear being exposed. A weighty historical mystery that will delight readers of the genre

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I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel from Netgalley, Alis Hawkins, and Freight Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for sharing your hard work with me.

This is an excellent historical novel. The research and attention to detail is obvious, and the story flows easily from the Rebecca Riots, a March 1843 uprising of local farmers and tradesmen against oppressive fees and tolls, through the inquest involving the death of Harry Probert-Lloyd's former love, Margaret Jones. Harry is the only living son of a gentleman county magistrate. Currently a solicitor in London, he finds that he is going progressively blind. He returns to his home in Cardiganshire in November 1850 to assess his options, just in time to be on-site when the bones believed to be those of Margaret Jones and her unborn child are uncovered.

I very much enjoyed this mystery. Though we don't get to meet a living Margaret Jones, so very much the center of this novel, I found myself an advocate for finding her truths.

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What a wonderful mystery book, so well written!... And a different setting, Wales.
There are a lot of things I loved about this story full of nostalgia, different in so many ways from what I’ve been reading, but so fascinating! There’s the detailed perspective of a young man going blind and how he copes with his failing sight, how he tries to adapt – and we see this through his and his assistant's perspective. There's a perfect handling of double point of view and detailed and accurate descriptions of the hero’s difficulties and problems, seen from his and from his assistant's “eyes”: “I directed my peripheral vision towards the landscape but could make out little beyond the colours of winter, an impression of trees and fields, scattered buildings of indeterminate purpose. Unlike the majority of my travels which were undertaken over long-familiar routes, here in these eastern flatlands I could not rely on memory to fill in the blurred and barely distinguishable world outside the train (…).”; “I watched Harry trying to see her, trying to bring her into view in the corner of his eye.” (quotes from ARC).
There’s a quiet, pervading sadness throughout the story and underlying the hero’s journeys (across the country and across his inner self) and a sort of resignation accepting his new condition that is very touching and lingers even after having read the book a while ago. I think it has to do also with all the metaphors and imagery built around the concept of blindness. And the beautiful cover reflects this sadness.
The pace is slow and sometimes I had some trouble keeping track of all the characters, but I loved reading this mystery set in South Wales in the 19th century and to get to know more about this historical period. And I'm waiting for the next Harry Probert-Lloyd Mystery!

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4 stars

Harry Probert-Lloyd is the protagonist of this book. He has recently returned home from London to take over his father’s business as a magistrate. At the same time, he is slowly going blind. He begins to doubt almost all that he sees.

A body is found beneath an uprooted tree. Harry suspects it may be his long ago friend and love, Margaret Jones who has disappeared seven years earlier.

He begins an investigation of his own, aided by a friend and solicitor, John Davies. The local community is still reeling from the aftermath of riots. Could they be responsible for the woman’s death? Are there more killings to come now that the woman’s body has been located? Is anything to be believed?

This book is well researched, written and plotted. Although the beginning is a little confusing, the story evens out after the first few pages.

I want to thank Netgalley and Freight Books for forwarding to me a copy of this book to read.

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