Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT The Black Hours by @Alison_Williams #SundayBlogShare

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Today’s team review is from Luccia she blogs at http://lucciagray.wordpress.com

Rosie's Book Review team 1

Luccia chose to read and review The Black Hours by Alison Williams.

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Chilling Historical Fiction

The Black Hours is not an easy novel to read because it’s based on the true story of a cruel witch-finder during the English Civil War, in the 17th century.

Alison Williams thrust good and evil upon me disturbingly, because at the beginning, evil is shown to have the upper hand. I was outraged as I was taken inside the vicious witchfinder’s sick and manipulative mind, which enabled him to enlist the help of the landowners, magistrates, other members of the clergy, as well as some spiteful townspeople. I was shocked by the plight of the hopeless good people like poor Alice, who was constantly in the throes of a dreadful situation, because she was almost alone, poor, and helpless.

I was appalled and angered by the rampant misogyny, injustice, and violence for three-quarters of the novel, until eventually a small light shone, and a sensible and respectable hero appeared. At last I had some hope that the situation would improve, and it did, in a way which may not be totally satisfactory for those of you who like HEA, but in the only way such a dark episode could end realistically.

I loved the way Alison transported me to rural 17th century England, into the cottages, the prisons, and the courts, making me feel I was really there as I squeezed my kindle in horror. I couldn’t stop reading in spite of the distress I was feeling, because I really felt sympathy and concern for Alice and her grandmother’s plight.

The Black Hours is a must for lovers of well-written historical fiction, which deals with ordinary people and factual events, and for readers who don’t mind being chilled to the bone.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

10 thoughts on “Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT The Black Hours by @Alison_Williams #SundayBlogShare”

  1. I agree, this is not an easy read – but so well done. I don’t seek out scarey stuff, but found this absolutely compulsive. Perhaps because it’s based on truth! Once I’d started to read, I couldn’t put it down.

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  3. Oh yes, it’s a real eye opener, this one – although I knew a fair bit about M Hopkins before I read this I discovered I didn’t know the half of it. Massively atmospheric book, and I wish Alison would hurry up and write another! To anyone who is thinking ‘oh, that looks quite good’ – it IS!

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  4. Thank you for a lovely review Lucy 🙂 (particularly like the bit about you squeezing your kindle in horror!) and Rosie for the RBRT team, and thanks ladies for your lovely comments and the support, I truly appreciate it. I have a huge pile of books here on the desk that I’m getting into for research on the next one Terry, but typically I’ve not made it easy for myself and have chosen another real life character so the research is going to take ages. But I’ve made a start!

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