There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

This is one for any fans of historical fiction.
Moving backwards and forwards in time set across several centuries intertwining lives, secrets and lies and the gift of immortality, if that really is a gift or a curse.
A stirring thought provoking book that lingers long after the last page has been turned.

I really enjoyed this book, which is a mixture between historical and modern day life.
It may take a few chapters to start following the characters, but when the plot starts to unravel and the characters start to intertwine it is a fascinating and different story, which arouses your curiosity.
Beautifully written, I would defiantly read this author again.

Thank you netgalley, oneworld publishing and Kate Mayfield for allowing me to read and review this book.

In June 1783 new giant fissures around the Icelandic volcano Laki opened up, spewing out billions of tons of lava and vast clouds of poisonous gases over period of eight months. The resulting contaminated soil led to famine, killing half the livestock and a quarter of the people on the island. During the eruption Stefan, travelling to reach home through the cloud of ash and smoke descending over Iceland, is relieved to find a waterfall with a small still pool hidden behind it from which he slakes his thirst. But this is no ordinary pool and all who drink there will have their lives changed forever.

Nearly 50 years later, a child is born to two travelers who have drunk at the pool, the first time this has happened. Stefan takes them into the community he has built to protect others who have drunk the magical water. However, a gang of men from Denmark have been watching the village, wanting to find its secrets so in order to keep the child, Rafe, safe from abduction by these men, he is sent to London to his mother's sister, Clovis Fowler and her husband Finn. Although an Icelandic beauty, Clovis is an evil, manipulative woman who cares for no one but herself so Rafe finds little love in her household. However, when Clovis and her household end up in jail, Rafe is taken in by his godmothers, two widowed sisters, Constance and Verity Fitzgerald who love him as their own, until some years later he is ripped away from when Clovis is released from jail and they must then spend decades trying to find him again.

Spanning nearly three centuries, The Parentations explores the gift and curse of immortality from Victorian London to the modern day and the effects and changes it has on her characters. Parts of the book have a dark and gothic feel to them, particularly the prison where the Fowlers are incarcerated, as well as the orphanage where Clovis finds a girl to be their maid and the tunnels used by Finn in his smuggling and thieving operations. Through it all Clovis is the evil mastermind who rules the weaker members of her household and their nefarious dealings through the ages and they must learn to plot against her to overcome her power. Quite a saga of a novel, this was a very enjoyable historical read with the unusual element of immortality used to follow the changes in families and society over time.

Kate Mayfield has written a magical piece of historical fiction that moves back and forth in time, whilst providing psychological insights of her characters through their behaviours and decisions when endowed with the gift of immortality and how they change when this quality is removed. In many ways, the themes here echo those of The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin which I read recently. Amidst the wild and spectacular landscape of Iceland lies a hidden water pool that confers immortality to those who drink from it. Stefan is the first to benefit, advised on how to handle the gift, and this includes the need to hide from those that would hunt them down. It turns out immortality is a real can of worms, all it does is remove death, all other problems experienced in life are extended and exacerbated with the potential to create never ending suffering. A pregnant Elizabet makes the ultimate sacrifice to protect her baby by sending it to her entrancingly beautiful sister, Clovis Fowler, in London.

The unlikeable but clever Clovis is a ruthless and greedy woman who has no compunction in exploiting those around her and focuses on those who will benefit her such as the well intentioned wealthy sisters, Fitzgerald, Verity and Constance who live nearby. Clovis is bright enough to discern how the process of immortality works and how she can make it work for her. Altruistic behaviour is juxtaposed with that driven purely by self interest. This is a thought provoking read set amidst the fantastical whilst characters are followed through the centuries to the present becoming acquainted with the darkness that emerges with what appears to be the highly desirable element of immortality. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Oneworld Publications for an ARC.

Eighteenth-century London – the lives of the sisters Fitzgerald, Constance and Verity, become entwined with the nearby Fowler household, charged with providing safe harbor to a mysterious baby from far away.

Camden, London, 2015, December 17th – and the lives of the sisters Fitzgerald, Constance and Verity, are consumed by the wait for this boy, who may or may not be dead. There is no way of knowing.

Deep within the savage beauty of Iceland, a hidden pool grants those who drink from it endless life. For those that have, their secret must remain held close for two hundred years, but time is slipping away, and malign forces are gathering.

And for those who have sipped at the waterfall, they discover all too quickly that immortality is no gift, because in the absence of death, true darkness emerges.

An intriguing book but not my taste

Many thanks to NetGalley and Oneworld Publications for an advice copy in return for a fair and honest review

I could not get into this book at all. I didn't like the way it jumped around in time periods and places so abruptly especially right at the beginning. I couldn't get a handle on any of the characters and had nothing to latch onto to keep me reading and abandoned it after chapter 9.

A curious and strange book which has stayed with me. Drinking from a. certain pool of water engenders an odd chemical and physical change in humans who must drink a new phial each year. There are dangers though and when a woman gives birth her child must be secreted away .. to hide from fierce experiments searching for ways to replicate the liquid. Sisters await a boy .. and their aunt, hated by their mother, holds the child in exchange for money. Clovis is a wicked, manipulative woman but we watch how the strengths of that boy consigned to her care, and the sisters's fidelity wins out. It's engrossing for the relationships and personalities of the characters.. we are only dimly aware of the nature of the potency of this liquid and its strange constraints by sheer force of an unusual personality, Stefan, and by his presence .. that we sense its frightful power. He persuaded a woman to part with her unborn child after all! Pretty extraordinary (if somewhat mannered writing at times, which relaxes as novel goes on ..but certainly adds to supernatural aura the writer seeks to create, after all)

An intriguing book with a magical theme, it is very different to anything I have read previously.

A mother must make the ultimate sacrifice for her child to protect him and is forced to rely on her manipulative and greedy sister, Clovis Fowler and her ready made family, to secure his safety. Clovis is a fascinating femme fatale who has only her own best interests at heart. She ruthlessly exploits her husband, her young maid and her servant boy to achieve her own desires, and forms acquaintances only with those people she stands to gain something from. She encourages a friendship with the sisters Constance and Verity because they are rich, and the apothecary Owen Moffatt and his wife.
It is the sisters who are the other main characters in this book, and they are richly drawn, benevolent women, who despite life's hardships unfailing give love and support to all those they meet.

I did find the first few chapters of the book a little hard to follow, as events jumped around quite a lot, but once the story started to unfold and I had familiarised myself with the characters, I found the plot engaging and intriguing. The ending, whilst a little rushed compared to the pacing of the rest of the book, gave a wonderful resolution.

I would very much like to read further books from this author and would like to thank netgalley and the publishers for the arc in return for an honest review.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Oneworld Publications for allowing me to read this novel by Kate Mayfield in return for my honest review.

This is my first time reading this author and I found it well written and highly enjoyable. As a mix between historical fiction and modern day life it was imaginative and clever. The characters had clarity and radiance and suited the totally original storyline.

Recommended.

A very imaginative and original book. The plot is different from anything that I have read before. Historical fiction mixed with modern day made this book a really good read. Well worth reading for something different. My only gripe with it is that I would have enjoyed it more if it had been slightly shorter.

I am not a big reader of historical fiction, and am even less susceptible to anything with a supernatural angle, but this novel made me forget all of that. It's an ambitious, wildly imaginative masterpiece which left me in awe of the intricate plotting, the gorgeous writing and vivid characterisation - there are some very moving moments which will stay with me for a long time.