I rarely win anything, so imagine my excitement when, at the end of last year, my name was pulled out of the hat to win a draw for the new novel by Kit Domino, White Stones. I was thrilled, Domino was an author new to me, and her novel, a ghost story, is a genre which I do not read often.
The Blurb
Strange forces are at work causing Penny Cornwall to see and hear people from the past and feel all their emotions. More disconcerting is the tune she does not recognise play over and over inside the English Cotswold stone cottage she shares with Harry Winchester. The music will not go away, spoiling the rural idyll she and Harry have found. And so begins a fruitless search to find the source of the music and its title, a quest that rapidly becomes an obsession taking over her life and threatening to destroy all that she holds dear. Can the intervention of eminent archaeologist Filton Shields, an Unexplained Phenomena Investigator, solve the music's connection to their cottage before it is too late and unravel the pieces of a tragic love story bound by the music transcending the barriers of space and time, thus proving walls really do have ears but sometimes they also have mouths with which to speak?
The Review
To call White Stones a ghost story is to understate the depth and conplexity of the narrative of this story.
Both the main characters have interesting back-stories that influence their actions and thoughts. Harry, a successful architect, is wracked with guilt over the deaths of his wife and children. His partner Penny has suffered from the emotional trauma she endured at the hand of her ex-husband and the cool relationship she has with her mother.
However, both Harry and Penny now live in his unique stone house in the beautiful Cotswalds countryside. Their idyllic lifestyle is marred when Penny begins to hear music and see spirits that cross barriers of time and space and Harry finds her reactions difficult to deal with.
The issues between the couple are dealt with in a sensitive and realistic manner that drives the reader to keep turning the pages all the way to the satisfactory conclusion of the story.
I think White Stones is an excellent novel that would make for excellent discussions in a book group. I certainly enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
The Author
Kit Domino's childhood was spent in West London alongside the banks of the River Thames, with Richmond, Kew and Osterley Parks as her extended playgrounds. Now living in South Gloucestershire, she spends much of her time writing and reading and travelling, especially to the Greek Islands which inspire much of her work. Kit writes in several genres including sagas, timeslip and mystery/paranormal. In 2004 she was shortlisted for the Harry Bowling Prize. As well as a keen gardener, Kit is also an international selling acrylic artist.
Learn more about Kit Domino at https://kitdomino.com/