Forest of Souls by
Carla Banks
hbk out March 05
Published by HarperCollins
at £17.99
Shortly after starting research into an obscure library collection, gathered together by
a Lithuanian recluse, academic Helen Kovacs is killed. Faith Lange, her closest
friend, and colleague at the University of Manchester, is appalled by the death. The
police arrest someone for the murder but Faith is not sure they have the right person.
When Helen's husband prevents Faith from seeing her godchildren, she is furious and
hurt - will she lose them too? Meanwhile journalist Jake Denbigh is interviewing
Faith's grandfather about his experiences as a refugee from the Eastern Front. Faith
and Jake's accounts are interwoven with historical passages from the war years in
Byelorussia. The latter are conveyed in the style of traditional Eastern European
fairytales and illuminate past deeds of savagery and betrayal; acts that reach out from
the shadows to torment the present. A riveting and moving first novel from Banks,
herself an academic and the daughter of an Eastern European cavalry officer. An
added pleasure is in the well-drawn settings of Manchester, Glossop and the
surrounding peaks.
(
Cath Staincliffe
author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries and the series creator of TV Blue Murder)
Forest of Souls by
Carla Banks
