Review: Bellman & Black: A Ghost Story

Bellman & Black: A Ghost Story by Diane Setterfield

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Book Info: Genre: Literary Fiction w/ aspects of Magical Reality
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: Just about anyone
Book Available: November 5, 2013 in Kindle, Hardcover and CD Audio Book formats and November 4 in Audible format

My Thoughts: Wow, this was a really amazing book. The writing style is beautiful, almost poetic at times, and the bits and pieces about rooks that are scattered throughout the text are absolutely fascinating. It's described as a ghost story, but to me it is more about how a person will subsume their emotions into something else so that they don't have to remember their life's trauma. Trust me, it will all make sense once you read it.

The problem with writing a review of a book like this is that it is impossible to tell you much of anything about it without spoiling things, so this will have to remain short. I will say that anyone who enjoys a well-told story that is strongly character driven will enjoy this book. If you're looking for action and 'splodies you won't really find it here, but if you like a good story, well, this is the one you're looking for.

Disclosure: I received an e-galley through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: As a boy, William Bellman commits one small, cruel act: killing a bird with his slingshot. Little does he know the unforeseen and terrible consequences of the deed, which is soon forgotten amidst the riot of boyhood games. By the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, William seems to be a man blessed by fortune—until tragedy strikes and the stranger in black comes. Then he starts to wonder if all his happiness is about to be eclipsed. Desperate to save the one precious thing he has left, William enters into a rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner, to found a decidedly macabre business.

And Bellman & Black is born.



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