The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore

Well written, dark depressing story set in the mid 1800’s that is told by a woman sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of two women. The story begins with Lucy Blunt being employed by the Burtons to assist the cook. Her story is told from that day forward with segments of her life in prison interspersed. As there were no clues to indicate which portion of her life was being told it was not immediately known if she was in prison or back at the Burton home.

After finishing the book I have to say that I came away feeling unsettled. I never really could relate to Lucy or any of the characters in the story. I am still trying to figure out why the story was written and what message it was trying to relay. Lucy was not a good person but one who used her wits to survive...until her wits failed her.

Did I like this book? Not really
What was the quality of the writing? Very good
Would I read more by this author? Perhaps – I would not tackle one this dark and depressing, though

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Unioin Publishing for the ARC – This is my honest review.

2-3 Stars

Heart wrenching, emotional and engrossing. A beautifully told story that will haunt you long after the last word is read. Happy reading!

The Companion is a really enjoyable historical fiction novel set in 1855 New Hampshire. Lucy Blunt has been found guilty of a double murder, and the story jumps back and forth in time to describe what happened in Lucy’s early life, her time as a maid at the Burton mansion and her life in prison.

One thing that really stood out for me was the stark difference between the privileged Burtons and their hard-working staff. Also Lucy’s shady background was so intriguing, and I really liked the bit by bit exposure of her past and her misdemeanours. She really is an unreliable source of information, and it’s no wonder that she’s sitting in a jail cell awaiting the hangman. But DID she commit murder?

It seemed to me that Lucy was repeatedly let down by the people who should have supported her, that she was used for what these people could get from her. For someone who had virtually no possessions, they took those things that were of herself: her self respect, her trust and her love.

Guilty or not, this was a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it to lovers of historical fiction and/ or unreliable narrators.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book to read and review.

The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore
I really enjoyed reading this book. The premise is good. However, the story skips around a little bit, but once you get used it, the story really takes over and has you hooked.
Lucy has come upon hard times again. She becomes the dishwasher for a family and later becomes the “companion” to the blind lady of the house. But with each job comes its shortcomings and jealousy of the other workers.
The story also plays with your perceptions of things. What did one really see? How do you tell one perception from another? Who is correct? Does it matter?
This is a great read. Delve in for yourself and discover Lucy’s perception of the events.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book at my request.

Lucy Blunt appears at the home of the Burtons begging for a job. Following the death of her illegitimate child, Blunt is desperate for work, and is taken on as a maid working alongside the Cook in the kitchen. Blunt has higher ambitions though and grows closer to Mrs Burton, putting her current companion Rebecca on the defensive. Things start to take a darker turn which leads to the deaths of two members of the household (plus the earlier death - suicide? - of the previous maid, Mary), and Blunt is accused of murder.

Told from Lucy's point of view, alternatively in the Burtons' household and from her cell in prison, this is definitely a slow burn story. Lucy is not an easy protagonist to like, she is devious and obviously ambitious and won't hesitate to use anything to her advantage, but is she guilty of murder? I recommend reading it to find out.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Lake Union Publishing, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from a book set in the 1850s since that's not my normal type of read, but I really enjoyed The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore.

The Companion focuses on Lucy Blunt who I have to say is like the queen of the unreliable narrator. All through the book I was wondering just who she did and did not kill, and if she actually was a thief as well. The book flips between past and present as Lucy reflects on her life as she waits to be hanged for her crimes. There were quite a few moments that made me cringe, and this definitely isn't a light read.

I really like the author's writing style and I thought it was very fluid. I didn't really know what to expect from the end and it came as a surprise to me which made me happy. While I don't think the pacing is super-fast or anything, it was definitely engrossing enough that I read it in under 3.5 hours. This would be a great read for a cold, rainy day.

Final Thought: I don't want to say too much about The Companion because I think this is a great one to go into blind if possible. As long as you know this is a dark mystery set in the 1850s, with an unreliable narrator I think that's all that really matters. There is a lot of evil and unlikable characters in it, but the plot was interesting, and I really enjoyed the setting. I will definitely be reading more books by Blakemore!

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

"They say she's a murderess. She claims she's innocent. But Lucy has been known to tell lies...

1855, New Hampshire. Lucy Blunt is set to hang for a double murder. Murderess or victim? Only Lucy knows the truth.

In the shadow of the gallows, Lucy reflects on the events that led to her bitter downfall - from the moment she arrived at the rambling Burton mansion looking for work and a better life to the grisly murders themselves.

In a mysterious household of locked doors and forbidden affections, Lucy slips comfortably into the shadows, where she believes the indiscretions of her past will remain hidden. But when Lucy's rising status becomes a threat to the mistress's current companion, the delicate balance of power and loyalty begins to shift, setting into motion a brewing storm of betrayal, suspicion, and rage.

Now, with her execution looming closer, Lucy's allies fight to have her sentence overturned as the tale she's spinning nears its conclusion. But how much of her story can we trust? After all, Lucy's been known to bend the truth..."

Turn of the Screw meets Lizzie Borden!

A quick easy read. The story is told by Lucy but I felt detached from it the whole way through. I wanted to know more about the characters and their interactions and pasts. I feel that that would have made it a better story.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

A quick read, but not stellar or captivating. I would have liked to read more about Lucy and why she was the way she was.

Thanks, Netgalley, for this arc.

The novel opens in 1855 New Hampshire with Lucy Blunt, a young servant in jail waiting to be hung for a double murder. She claims she is innocent and begins to tell of the events that led up to her current predicament. As a somewhat unreliable narrator the story is told from her eyes, as she is forced to leave her respectable home to become first a mill worker and then a maid after her mother dies and her father descends into drunkenness.

The atmosphere of the novel is almost gothic as New Hampshire experiences one of the bleakest and most bitter winters as Lucy competes with the companion of the lady of the house to win her favours. The slow build up of secrets, betrayals and lies is well written and I enjoyed the suspense of not knowing who died until late in the book. As the narrator, Lucy's character was well developed as events are seen through her eyes, but I would have liked to have got a better feel for both the lady of the house, Mrs Burton and her companion. Overall, an atmospheric, haunting tale of secrets and jealousy.

What did Lucy do? It's New Hampshire in 1855 and Lucy, a servant, tells her tale while waiting to be hung for murder. Of course she's an unreliable narrator- she must be- but where are the holes in her story? This is a well written, quick read that might remind you of other novels but does stand on its own. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of historical suspense.

Ebook from Netgalley given in exchange for an honest review.

The Companion follows Lucy Blunt, a woman who has been accused of a double murder. The book flips back and forth between the present, with Lucy at the gallows, and flashbacks of the course of her life that brought her to that point. All in all, I genuinely can't decide how I feel about this book. It's a slow-burn tension-builder with an unreliable narrator. In some parts of the plot that was enjoyable, but other parts of the plot seemed to drag with no real reasoning behind them. Because the ending -- Lucy at the gallows -- is disclosed at the beginning of the plot, a lot of the tension ends up feeling forced. The queer representation was a small plus. All in all, I'm not sure how to rate this book, as there were parts of it I enjoyed and parts of it that completely lost my attention, so I'll split the difference with a 3/5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

It's 1885 and our main protagonist, Lucy Blunt stands behind the bars of a jail cell awaiting her death sentence. Accused of murder, Lucy retells her story, but how much of what she says is the truth?

With a plot that nostalgically took me back to Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace, I was instantly taken in by the narrative and just had to keep reading. Did I actually take a moment to breathe? Whatever the case, this is one January read that you want to enjoy during cold winter nights.


Goodreads review published 05/01/20
Expected publication date 14/01/20

Lucy Blunt is going to die. She is accused of being a murderess. She says she's innocent, but is she?

Lucy's story begins at the door of the Burton mansion. She's desperate for work and to find a better life. She is quick to adapt and the lady of the house, the blind Eugenie, takes a 'liking' to her. (READ - she like LIKES her.) Mrs. Burton's current companion is a mean woman who seems to have it out for Lucy.

Wait. DOES SHE? or is Lucy the bad one here?

The Companion from Kim Taylor Blakemore is a book about an unreliable narrator, who spins tales and stories that are sometime too fantastic to be believed. It will hold a readers interest to the very last page.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Oh my God. What an amazing book. I absolutely adored it. The settings, the plot and the characters. You never know what's going to happen. Lucy was a very intricate character. I simply adored it. Please, read it.

<b>A VERY UNSUCCESSFUL 'ALIAS GRACE' IMITATION 😔</b>

Honestly, that was all I could think about when reading this book - how much it reminded me of Margaret Atwood's [book:Alias Grace|72579]. Sure, it had a queer twist but that's almost all that separated this from Alias Grace. And this was nowhere as good.

<b>👎 WHAT I DISLIKED 👎</b>

<u>Alias Grace</u>: Yeah, this was a bummer. Books ought to be original. And because this was not I am going to keep comparing it to Alias Grace...

<u>Time jumps</u>: Just like with Alias Grace, we here jump back and forth in time. Only, in Alias Grace there was a meaning to it and the jumps were clear and defined. That was really not the case here. Way too much back and forth all the time.

<u>Characters</u>: In Alias Grace I felt sorry and empathy for Grace. I had no such feelings for the main characters of this book, Lucy. She was a drab, boring non-entity. I had no feelings for her or any of the other characters as a matter of fact. If none of the character's give you any sort of feelings you are not going to enjoy the book. I would rather have characters to hate than characters that give you no feelings at all.

<u>Pointless</u>: I really could not figure out the point of this book. Was it a mystery? No, definitely not, it was very transparent from the beginning. Was it a romance? Again, no, only manipulation and jealousy. Then what? What is this book? I sure as h*** don't know and that's sad...

This book left me a bit disappointed. While you know from the start the main character is a murderess, I found the resolution to be quite unsatisfying as there was no true resolution or revelation about the characters and their hows and whys.

A great read for fans of gothic literature as Blakemore does a fantastic job of creating an atmospheric world that is dark with characters who are brooding and untruthful.

The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore is a work of historical suspense set in 1855. The book opens by introducing us to Lucy Blunt, a young woman who is languishing in jail,awaiting her execution for a double murder. The narration alternates between this prison setting and Lucy's own account of what brought her there, but the more we learn about Lucy and her story, the less easy it is to trust her or take her account at face value. Without getting into the details of the plot,as that would spoil it for readers, I will say there is a slow burning tension which had me gripped as the book unfolded.
The character of Lucy is wonderfully crafted, as a reader I found myself vacillating between sympathy and dislike, and this back and forth was another reason why I read the book in a single day. The supporting characters are not as strong, and this I think is the only fault I had with this book. The character of Eugenie in particular I found lacking, I felt her ability to inspire the strong feelings she apparently did in so many characters was a little unbelievable. If you are a fan of historical fiction in the vein of Alias Grace or The Burial , and enjoy an unreliable narrator, this book is definitely for you.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

This is a slow-burn of a novel that does well with small details, but also seems to hold a reader at arm's length. I think it could have been strengthened by not jumping all over the place so much, but by the end we've got enough information to understand most of what went on.

All novels like this have a play on the word murderess and I'm always like, dude, what are you doing? This just reminds us all of how Atwood did it the best anyone ever will in Alias Grace and you're kinda treading similar ground with the subject matter so just give it's rest.

Closer to 3.5 stars but feeling new year generous so rounding up. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book had many strengths - the characters were vivid and believable, the plot engaging and interesting - I'm a big fan of historical fiction and could really picture the house and the day to day life of the upstairs/downstairs roles.

However, I found the relationship between the two main characters a little forced. I could see that Gene was alluring, but to have so many of the female characters fall for her - in a time when such relationships were taboo - was a little hard for me to full believe.

I also struggled to feel much sympathy for Lucy, she came across for me as a cold character, but perhaps that was the intent.

However, these points didn't detract from the fact that this was a well-written, brave, interesting novel .