Book Review - Fanny Garstang

I first discovered Fanny Garstang a little while ago when I read one of her early books, The Crusade's Secrets, which I enjoyed. So when she asked me if I would like to ARC read The Dacha in the Forest, of course, the answer was yes. I was glad I did! The story is full of history and follows an unusual family through their timeline. The period of time it covers is one of great unrest in Europe, and the way the story is told certainly takes you back to that time. Fanny has great attention to detail, which comes through in her writing. I was completely engrossed in this story but felt that I needed to know more about one character in particular—Konstantin—and I told Fanny that when I finished the book. Well, what a surprise it was when she took up my pleas for more! Konstantin's Story was recently released, and it is a great follow-on read about a wonderful character. I don't want to give out spoilers, so what I will say is—if you like historical fiction with a great cast of characters, then you really should try these two books.

With the Iron Curtain fallen Caroline eagerly heads to the Bialowieza Forest where it is said her family comes from hoping to that some of them have survived the two world wars that have left their scars on Poland. She finds more than what she was expecting.

Ninety years earlier Emma Miller stumbles upon Count Eduard Nikolayevich Lepyokin living quietly in the Bialowieza Forest, sharing his forest clearing with the wisents but there is something odd about him. He lives in a twilight darkness and when she tells her brother he jokes she’s met a Vampire; but is he? She is intrigued by the quiet Russian and because of her he ventures out of his home and follows her back to London.

As Eduard’s story comes to an end, Konstantin’s gets to begin in this dual timeline sequel to the Dacha in the Forest.

1993- Konstantin and Dmitry have left their forest home with only two rucksacks between them. Their life in Poland is over and it’s time to start a new life. They don’t know that their grandniece Caroline has taken as many papers as she can from the house they have lived in all their life. As they come to terms with a new life in Scotland she is reading of a different life set in the middle of Nazi controlled Poland.

As Konstantin’s eye is drawn to his new Scottish housekeeper, Caroline is learning about his first love, Nina. He’s got to decide whether he wants to live in the past or look to the future and will Caitlin Bruce accept him and his affliction.

Fanny has a wide and varied selection of published books, just click on the link to discover them and maybe just find your next favourite author

https://linktr.ee/madfan