A dark and haunting tale reminiscent of Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. You know from the beginning that our narrator is condemned to be hanged for murder, but how she got there and whether she committed the crimes are not immediately known. Throughout this mysterious narrative that goes between the past and Lucy's present, readers slowly gain more clues about the events that led her to her prison cell. Many things are only hinted at and by the closing chapters, you begin to doubt not only her innocence but the truth behind the events that transpired.

The reader is a fly on the wall, experiencing not only the clashes of personalities of the characters, but experiencing first hand the helplessness the working class had within their situations. Lucy never stood a chance and it almost seems inevitable that this story would end with such bitterness.

I found the characters to be quite engaging and the story fascinating, its ambiguity only adding to the mysterious air of it all. I was fully transported to the 19th century Burton household, my emotions roiling within me at every turn of the page. While there are many parallels to Alias Grace, The Companion sets itself apart with its twists and turns. It was a gripping read that I completely devoured.

Full review to come on my blog at publication.

There weren't too many likeable characters to be found, initially, in this book and I found the start to be a bit slow to grab me because I wasn't invested with interest in anyone until getting through the first few chapters. I found myself a bit confused about the setting as well.... and I think it threw off my enjoyment of the book because I wasn't quite sure where things were happening until I had gotten well into it. Despite those two criticisms I enjoyed the story, it was not exactly what I expected it to be and I found myself rooting for the flawed characters and feeling sympathetic as well (and they weren't terribly likeable so that's something to note). I would read more from this Author. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review.

This was a fantastic book, really enjoyed it, the writing style was brilliant and if you like historical then you are going to like this. There is a lot of mystery and goes places you won't expect. Read into the early hours :)

What a great book! Incredible story with great characters. I would have preferred the timeline to be less jumped but overall very much enjoyed it. Thank you publisher and netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book is set in 1855, Lucy Blunt is on death row at New Hampshire State Prison for killing two women, her employer and another woman in the house, Rebecca. This book jumps timelines a lot, it bounces between Lucy on death row, Lucy being hired by the Burton’s and being employed as their maid, and Lucy’s life before the Burtons.

The book starts out with Lucy being hired because the previous maid Mary Dawson had drowned. Lucy has lied and faked her references to get the job. We also find out that Lucy’s son died at 3 days old. The house is kept locked up tight, and keys are a frequently referenced item throughout the book, because Mrs. Burton wanders. We then find out that Lucy is telling her story to a newspaper man, possibly to try and get out of being hanged. One day Rebecca is locked out of the house and almost dies, it is never made clear how it happened, if Rebecca did it herself or if Mrs. Burton locked her out. While Rebecca is recovering Lucy is recruited to help Mrs. Burton. As the book unfolds we find out many secrets. Lucy and Mrs. Burton become close, and eventually form a romantic relationship, Rebecca is very jealous. It is never clearly stated that Rebecca and Mrs. Burton used to be lovers, but it is implied. Mrs. Burton gives Lucy many gifts such as lace, and dresses and jewelry, these are also used as evidence against her in the trial. But how does all this secrecy lead to two deaths and a woman awaiting her own hanging? Did she do it? Will her appeals be granted?

This was a good read, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The time line was a little jumpy, but I think that was on purpose. Lucy wasn’t thinking in a straight line, how could she tell her story in a straight line? The book got a little slow in the middle, but it really picked up in the end. It reminded me style wise, and even storyline wise of Sarah Water’s Fingersmith. The book kept me guessing right up to the end as to if Lucy really committed the murders or if she was framed.

As Lucy sits in jail awaiting execution by hanging for murders she may or may have not committed, she reflects on her life choices and how they brought her to this cell. Kim Taylor Blakemore takes us from Lucy's younger days to her life just before and after she is hired into a wealthy home. Murders are committed, by whom is the question, and can we trust Lucy's version of the truth? A very good story, set with an excellent cast of characters that will have you going back to look for missed clues as history unfolds and lets us see for ourselves.

I feel as if this could have been really successful -- but it wasn't for me. This felt as if it was trying to be fictional true crime, but it didn't work for me.

First off, the dual timeline would have been a lot clearer if it had been delineated. It was not, and so it gave me a headache trying to go back and forth with figuring out which time we were in. That is one of my biggest complaints overall. The timeline was just a mess.

On top of that, I thought the plot lacked. It meandered and it felt as if there was no true purpose to it. I was bored for almost all of the book, I couldn't stay interested in it. I didn't find it engaging at all, which is highly disappointing. The concept was interesting, but I feel as if the execution of it wasn't done well at all.

The writing too, was short and choppy. I can't explain why it didn't work for me, but it didn't. There were pieces of dialogue that just grated on me, and prose I couldn't get into. The funny thing is, the first 10% was actually interesting to me, and I thought I would like it. But right at 11 or 12% my interest faded fast. I wasn't gripped by this book.

I also didn't connect to the characters. I didn't care about any of them, even our protagonist. Which is never a good thing for a book. Instead I couldn't wait until the end and the resolution. I didn't care what happened to Lucy or the murdered victims. None of them. I felt as if this was supposed to be an unreliable narrator, but it didn't work.

I guess this book just wasn't for me!

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this, however!

Wow. This book was so beautifully written it was easy to get caught up in the vibrant descriptions and language, sometimes I had to reread a paragraph just to appreciate the stylish purity of the words.
Poor Lucy caught up in events not of her making, she may be cunning but what choice does she have if she is to survive? My sympathies are with her.
From being cast out by Her drunken father, losing her baby to becoming a lady's companion to a blind woman in a strange household, finally being on trial for murder.
I highly recommended this book the description of the extremes of weather are particularly vivid, especially the ice and snow followed. by searing heat.

The story opens in 1855, New Hampshire State Prison with the opening, haunting, narrative ..... "Count the bodies. One. Two. Three if we count Mary Dawson. Four is we count my Ned ........All blamed on me."

Immediately - we ask ourselves - how, why. Lucy begins to cast her mind back to events that have led to her awaiting her fate at the end of a hangman's noose. Lucy's story moves back and forward, between past events and the present, as she relates to the readers of how she came to work for the Burtons as a maid; her rise through the ranks and her rivalry with Mrs Burton's current companion, and her ultimate fall from grace.

The build up is slow - but not laboriously so - the scene is being carefully crafted, the characters develop and change the further we are drawn into the story. Events pass before us, fleeting hints of what is yet to come. Then we have our "aha" moment as the scattered clues and hints have now coalesced, and Lucy's imminent fall is only pages away. The tension both inside the household and for the reader is palpable. The opening lines begin to make sense now. But still, who is Lucy Blunt - the question eludes us until the final pages.

The more I read, the more I kept thinking this has shades of Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" or Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca"- it is more of a gothic novel rather than a straight up mystery.

4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A long, long time ago there was a young woman who was to be hanged for murder. Did she do it? And if she did, why? This story will rip your heart out and surprise the pants off of you near the end! Wow. Loved the writing.
The story is told from present and past events and unfolds in such a way that you can’t put it down. At times I couldn’t follow which part was being said but I felt pulled into the story anyway. Heartache and sorrow are her constant companions, but she’s quiet comfortable with them. And her loving people has been her undoing. It’s beautifully written and very sad. It was like I was watching a train derail in slow motion, witnessing the train break apart causing damage to everything it touched.


This was a NETGALLEY gift and all opinions are my own.

I tried and tried to get into this book but found it very confusing, I found myself going back and re-reading sections as I was a little unsure who the character in jail was. Then realised it was Lucy and we were following her story on multiple timelines which really is not very clear and becomes very confusing.

The concept of the book sounds great, the text is well written, but the story layout means you need to put a lot of effort into reading this book with absolutely no distractions. You concentrate so hard it doesn't really sweep you away into another world of enjoyment.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this pre-release.

I really enjoyed the concept of this story and the general writing style but unfortunately found the execution to be a bit confusing. The story jumps between Lucy in jail, Lucy working for the Burtons, and Lucy's past sporadically without clear indication of what time period the reader is currently reading about. I found this made the story hard to follow and less enjoyable for me to read because I frequently had to stop and go back to reread part of a page because I'd missed a time change. I really wanted to enjoy this story because the mystery aspect of it was interesting but I couldn't get past the reading experience personally.

The author of "The Companion" has such a way with words. I loved the imagery invoked as I felt myself planted in the frigid winters of New England while reading this book. Ms. Taylor Blakemore can certainly paint a picture. Our main character, Lucy BLUNT (aka as a few other names), is not a very reliable one we learn from the very start. She has had a hard life and is now facing execution for the murders she supposedly committed. We learn that she was a servant for a wealthy woman, Eugenie, who is sheltered from most of society because she is blind. Unfortunately, the woman appointed to be her assistant-her husband's cousin, named Rebecca, is a cold and jealous woman and Lucy cannot abide her. Once Lucy enters this household it begins a dangerous web of secrets and betrayals that leads to the death of Gene and Rebecca. I highly recommend this book to readers who were fans of "Burial Rites" by Hannah Kent.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

Woman on trial for murdering her employer/lover and a household rival. Period piece that deftly portrays the helplessness of servants and class warfare.

This historic novel is set in rural Maine in the 1850s, it is winter and life is physically hard. A new maid Lucy Blunt turns up the household of the Burtons – their previous maid has just been found dead in an icy pond – apparently drowned. Lucy will immediately be on trial in the household – under the strict scrutiny of the other servants first and then the upstairs residents of the household, Mr and Mrs Burton. The latter, needing unspecified special care has as her companion her sister-in-law Rebecca who is unmarried and resentful of her place in the household.
This is a very clever and vibrant novel, compelling so that it pulls the reader along at speed. But at the same time almost casually drops more and more background details. Details that could be said to build the background – or maybe question what you have already been told. Without giving away too much of the tale it is presented through three threads of the developing story.
We have the straightforward settling of Lucy into the household – first proving herself as a suitable and competent maid. With experience that role will change to that of “companion” to Mrs Burton thereby seriously annoying Rebecca. However, it is made clear from the very start that Lucy – if indeed that is her name – has lied to get the job, raising the possibility that everything subsequently told is a lie too. Lucy will look back to her previous life, certainly not the expected one of a kitchen maid. This will include her family background and past challenges and start the story of how she reached the place she is. The third thread will be Lucy in jail because she has been charged with killing Mrs Burton and Rebecca both – something that she is denying.
Taylor Blakemore handles all these themes, placings, characters and issues with wonderful certainty and skill. This helps to make the story so believable, even when we are faced with constant contradictions of storylines as presented by the characters. It means that the reader cannot take words on trust and has to think through the possibilities and what might be real. With complex characters and emotions, interlaced with characters needing to deal with the pragmatics of life in not ideal situations – this makes for an interesting read as one has to constantly re-assess what you have already been told. Then of course, there are the possible murders – or were they? Not your usual crime novel, but an extremely fine one. Lots of questions, not necessarily the right answers, but the challenge of thinking through the behaviour of people.

Set in 1800 NH, The Companion tells of the reflection of Lucy Blunt's life, or is it someone else's. Can you trust what she's telling you as she faces execution? Is it the truth, or the truth as only she sees it?

As we learn how she got to where she sits, we get to know those she knew along that journey. While her life was a bleak ordeal fraught with hardships, jealousy, and deception, I felt the mystery and suspense intrigue was not as strong as the fact that it was simply a good historical fiction read. That aside, I think this author has much to offer in future writings, and it will keep you reading to the end. The detail and meticulous efforts in the writing here, through dark, reflect the times so well.

Thank you to NetGalley to Lake Union Publishing for this ARC.

I did not like this book. For the first two thirds of the book or so, I was confused beyond anything and I was so close to DNF'ing this one. The narrative moves between present day Lucy in the jail, waiting for the moment she's going to hang and past Lucy who comes to the Burton home under false premises and tries to get work. The problem for me is that there are no markers what so ever between when we are where and the past story is written in the exact same way as the present story line, as if Lucy is telling someone what happened. I hated this, I don't like switching time or pov in the middle of a chapter and especially not without any indication.

I liked the concept of the characters well enough but the execution was way, way, waaaaay of for me because of the way it was written. I sadly feel like I wasted my time reading this one, it needed a major rewrite if you ask me. I love unreliable narrators and the way stories like that twist your mind, but its difficult to manage and even more so with dual time lines and everything. And for me, <i>The Companion</i> did not do any of that.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore we have a multilayered story of a condemned woman and the acts that led to her date with the hangman. Set in the 1850s the book takes a swipe at many social issues of the day. The constricting social roles of women. The injustice of the legal system. The gulf between those with means and those who serve them. Mental illness, drug addiction, and obsession make an appearance as well. But instead of a complex story of a young woman at the mercy of the patriarchy the story is muddied and bogged down with no clear, overriding point. Is it a love story? A domestic suspense set in the past? An attempt at literary women's fiction? I couldn't get a grasp on what the author wished to say.

The story is told in drips and dollops, doled out as the scene shifts from the days leading up to Lucy Blunt's execution to the events that led to her conviction. The prose is gorgeous, almost lyrical, but Lucy herself is not very likeable. Neither are her victims. Her employer is not cruel enough to garner sympathy for his wife, nor is he negligent enough to warrant her descent into the laudanum bottle. Mrs. Burton's escape into the arms of her maid seems petty and contrived, an act to get his attention or perhaps to alleviate her boredom, not a passionate affair. The jealousies of Rebecca and Lucy are too stilted to warrant vengeance. It's not a badly written book, but it's not what the reader expects from the descriptive blurb.

Perhaps the biggest issue I have is that the book is, at its heart, a same sex love story. Not that a same sex love story can't be a great book, but there was nothing in the blurb about the LGBT content. That may or may not have affected my decision to read it, but it would have set the tone a lot better. I expected a twisty thriller, like Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace, not a jealous maid and lady's companion vying for an unstable woman's affection. The person I felt the most sympathy for was the husband. He was a good provider, turned a blind eye to his wife's proclivities, and seemed to be guilty of being a product of the time rather than a brute.

While Ms. Blakemore's story falls flat in it's ambitious attempts at social commentary it is not a bad story. I wanted to know how it all played out. Whether Lucy would hang, or if there would be a last minute reprieve. I enjoyed the descriptive language and the bleak feel of the New England mill town. It's worth the investment of time to see how it all unravels. I leave it to other readers to decide what category the book belongs to.

Author Kim Taylor Blakemore has written a riveting historical novel with many twists and turns. Lucy Blunt seems to be a victim of circumstance as she was being raised by her father, who is a drunk. As the story unfolds, it seems Lucy was trying to survive any way that she could, from stealing from her employers to possibly prostitution. Being thrown out of her father's home due to being pregnant by a married man, Lucy is devastated when her baby dies. Using different alias, Lucy goes to work until circumstances cause her to change locations again. The brunt of this story is told from the past and then the present situation, Lucy is set to hang for the murder of her last employer's wife, Eugenie Burton, who was also Lucy's lover, and her employer's cousin, Rebecca. The mystery behind the murder's is weaved throughout the story. Lucy claims her innocence right up to the end but it is never really clear as to who the murderer was. Lucy declares Rebecca as the killer and in the way it is depicted, it is possible. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and I envisioned each scene as it progressed. Author Kim Taylor Blakemore completely drew me in as each chapter was read! I look forward to seeing what more this talented author will be writing next

Unreliable narrators, openly interesting relationships that run the gamut and an unlikeable at first protagonist. Is Lucy telling the truth? Only you can decide.
A very good historical novel, that I greatly enjoyed, with themes that I'll discuss on my blog later.