Thursday 3 November 2016

The Last Night by Cesca Major



The Last Night by Cesca Major* launches today. Having Loved The Silent Hours (which I reviewed last May) I was delighted to be sent a copy of Cesca's new book to review which is based on a real life event in 1950s Devon.

The story jumps between the past and the present. In the current day it is narrated by Irina and in the past by Abigail, Richard and Mary.

Irina restores furniture for a living. An antique bureau from the Georgian period is sent to her to restore. It is a lovely piece of furniture with pigeonhole drawers and underneath the writing desk smaller retangular drawers.

When she starts working on the bureau strange things happen - she feels that she's being watched, sees faces fleetingly in the mirror and at the window, can strongly smell the salty scent of the sea and also finds some bits and pieces which would have meaning to someone inside some of the drawers. 

Irina has secrets of her own - she hates to talk about her scar or what happened that terrible day.

After her mum's death Abigail leaves Bristol and her friend Mary and goes to live in Devon with her older sister Connie and her controlling husband Larry. She misses Mary but soon meets Richard and the pair become friends. She decides to keep him a secret.

The event which happened is described in so much detail making it easy to imagine the panic, despair and fear that the last night brought as well as the deep misery of the aftermath.

The stories are intertwined in that they both tell of stories of secrets and tragedies. An un-put-downable read which I read in two sitting!

*copy received from the publisher for review

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