It’s such a pleasure today to be joining the blog tour for the latest book from Christina Courtenay, Shadows in the Ashes, and sharing my review: published on 18th January by Headline Review, it’s now available as an e-book, in paperback and as an audiobook via Amazon in the UK and US. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my advance reading copy (provided via netgalley).
There are very few authors who incorporate timeslip and time travel elements in the stories they tell as well as Christina, and the way she makes the reader feel present in the historical worlds she creates is always quite wonderful. I really never thought the Vikings would be my personal cup of tea, but I’ve read every book in her Runes series and enjoyed every single one – you’ll find all my reviews if you pop her name in the search bar. And I really must mention (just in case you missed it!) the standalone book she produced in 2022, Hidden in the Mists – romance at its very best, two thoroughly compelling storylines, and I don’t think the author’s writing has ever been better. I really loved it, and it was one of my 2022 Books of the Year – you’ll find my review here. But this time there’s not a Viking in sight – instead, we’re visiting Pompeii for a dual-time story. And I have to say, I couldn’t wait…!
Brimming with romance, adventure and vivid historical detail, Christina Courtenay’s gripping dual-time novel travels from the present day to the fires of ancient Pompeii.
The sunlight caught her gold bracelet, sending a flash that almost blinded her.
She closed her eyes, but jumped when the earth started shaking and there was an almighty boom behind her.
Present Day
Finally escaping an abusive marriage, Caterina Rossi takes her three-year-old daughter and flees to Italy. There she’s drawn to research scientist Connor, who needs her translation help for his work on volcanology. Together they visit the ruins of Pompeii and, standing where Mount Vesuvius unleashed its fire on the city centuries before, Cat begins to see startling visions. Visions that appear to come from the antique bracelet handed down through her family’s generations…
AD 79
Sold by his half-brother and enslaved as a gladiator in Roman Pompeii, Raedwald dreams only of surviving each fight, making the coin needed to return to his homeland and taking his revenge. That is, until he is hired to guard beautiful Aemilia. As their forbidden love grows, Raedwald’s dreams shift like the ever more violent tremors of the earth beneath his feet.
The present starts eerily to mirror the past as Cat must fight to protect her safety, and to forge a new path from the ashes of her old life…
There was, perhaps, a certain inevitability about future developments in the historical thread – the residents of Pompeii, 79 AD, living under the shadow of grumbling Mount Vesuvius. But the author tells the engaging story of Raedwald – now a gladiator, having been sold into slavery by his father’s new family, awaiting the day he can return to his homeland and take his revenge – and his forbidden relationship with Aemilia, the wife of the dissolute Lucius who treats her cruelly when she fails to provide him with a son, and who hires him as a bodyguard while he gambles his way through what remains of her fortune. Raedwald and his loyal friend Duro have already planned their escape, and are just waiting for the right moment – but as the threat from volcanic activity intensifies, risking his life and freedom, he can’t leave the woman he’s grown to love and her young daughter behind.
The balancing contemporary story is equally strong and engaging – Cat has finally found the courage and opportunity to flee her abusive husband along with her own young daughter, finding refuge with her mother’s family in Italy. Slowly overcoming her fears of discovery and trusting another man, after agreeing to help as his translator, she finds friendship (and the possibility of more) with volcanologist Connor – but when they visit the ruins of both Pompeii and Herculaneum she becomes disturbed by vivid glimpses of past lives apparently linked with the ancient gold bracelet she wears. But the threat to their future happiness is firmly in the present…
The dual timeline is beautifully handled, both stories equally engaging and with unpredictable outcomes, fast-paced and laced with drama and danger, the tension rising in parallel – just perfectly handled, and entirely gripping and compelling. The author’s meticulous research into the historical setting is used quite wonderfully to make the reader feel entirely present as the story of Raedwald and Aemilia unfolds, filled with the kind of small detail that makes you feel you’re sharing their experience. The romance was strong and believable too, despite the many obstacles in its way – and equally so in the present day story.
The storytelling is just superb, and I really liked the way the stories cleverly mirrored each other in so many ways, only helped by the small touches of the supernatural – I felt completely invested in both sets of characters, with none of those uncomfortable wrenches as we moved between past and present, and my heart was in my mouth throughout the later part of the book as developments called for considerable bravery from everyone involved.
The author’s writing just gets better with every book – this one was most definitely a personal favourite, and a book I’d very highly recommend.
About the author
Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a former chairman of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014), and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the Runes. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).
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It’s a wonderful book!