Book: The Trial of Marie Montrecourt by Kay Patrick
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 3 stars
Cover Rating: 3 stars
The Book Cover
I like the almost monotone theme to the colors of this book. The chained hands facing the butterfly are intriguing — is it symbolic? Is there more to the butterfly? I’m a suck for butterflies, as well.
The Synopsis
Two stories written that seem so far apart that, yet come closer and closer together until they are one. One, there is Marie, an orphan who has left the convent that she knows to be home and who is moving to a town she has no connection to, paid for by a kind stranger to get started on her life. Two, there is Evelyn, who is dealing with the death of his political father and delving into the past that he knows so little about. This is a story about how the pasts of complete strangers are able to be completely intertwined in ways that one may never guess. Once these two are able to meet and find out how their histories relate, we find Marie on a new journey that you would never expect her to be on — as part of a trial for murder.
The Review
This book had a lot of promise. To start, I was really interested in Marie and her part of the story, especially when Daphne, a friend Marie made who was heavily into the women’s rights movement, was introduced. The start to Evelyn’s story was slow but the more of his father’s past that is discovered, the more interesting his story is. The story is best when the two narratives are one.
While the name of this book could lead one to think this is mostly about a trial, really only the last few chapters concern the trial. The rest of the book is full of back story, to give you a feel of these characters and an understanding of the history leading up to this.
I found the story being split up into two narratives to be interesting. At first, I found Marie’s story to be really interesting but the more and more I read, the less developed I felt Marie to be. And at the completion of the novel, I found most of the characters to be only partially developed. I felt like I was reading a draft to a novel rather than a finished novel.
I will give this novel props considering I found myself rooting for characters at the start only to learn how awful they truly are. And a week after finishing, I do still find myself thinking of a bunch of these characters, which I really think says something. Again, I say this book has a lot of promise. Just slightly lacking. For a first novel, though, I found it to be interesting and I am excited to read more in the future from her.
The Author
From the Press Release for this novel: “Kay Patrick trained at RADA and appeared in programmes such as Dr Who. Her career as a television director includes twenty years directing Coronation Street. She lives in Cheshire and is working on a second novel.”
Disclosure: I received this eBook from NetGalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
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The Book Cover Judge 