Yvonne‘THE ACCUSATION‘ by ZOSIA WAND
FIRST LINES / BOOK BEGINNINGS
PROLOGUE
I know something about fear. I know it can be red and urgent, the roar of a dragon, flames in your face. We all recognise that. You will know it as something brief and fierce, leaving smoke and ashes, sometimes scalded flesh. This fear is different. My fear is not hot and fiery, but grey and quiet, lingering in the shadows. It’s a chill breath on my neck, a whispered warning in my ear…
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CHAPTER ONE
THREE DAYS EARLIER
The ferry, from Bowness-on-Windermere to Brockhole, is crowded with families, young lovers, older couples and dogs. A large party of sleek Japanese tourists look at the world through their iPhones, framing, snapping and sharing. They followed us around the Beatrix Potter museum, exclaiming over Jemima Puddleduck and Peter Rabbit with an infectious enthusiasm that intrigued Milly more than the exhibits themselves. ‘But they’re growed up,’ she said, frowning. ‘Peter Rabbit is for children.’ We agreed it was a puzzle.
Milly is watchful, squinting in the late-August sunshine, head cocked to one side, taking it all in, her little hand in mine. The soft grip of her fingers is a new delight and I can’t help stroking my thumb up and down her plump flesh. This precious little girl. Our daughter…
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THE PREMISE
Eve lives in the beautiful Cumbrian town of Tarnside with her husband Neil.
After years of trying, and failing, to become parents, they are in the final stages of adopting four-year-old Milly.
Though she already feels like their daughter, they just have to get through the ‘settling in’ period: three months of living as a family before they can make it official.
But then Eve’s mother, Joan, comes to stay.
Joan has never liked her son-in-law. He isn’t right for Eve; too controlling, too opinionated.
She knows Eve has always wanted a family, but is Neil the best man to build one with?
Then Joan uncovers something that could smash Eve’s family to pieces…
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I remember this one from your earlier posts and I still find it quite intriguing! The lines from the prologue are especially telling. I know exactly what she’s talking about in distinguishing between the two types of fear. I think that quiet, lingering fear might be the most terrifying!
This should be a good one, Yvonne. I hope you enjoy it.
The quiet, lingering fear, is definitely the one that eats away at your insides and destroys you.
A quick, hot, fear, is soon spent and although more visible and initially destructive, is much easier to repair in the long run.
I tend to experience quite a lot of those slow-burning fears, although very few of them are actually ever realised and I spend much of my time chasing shadows and imagining things which are never likely to happen! I’m the sort who worries, if I have nothing to worry about!
It does sound from reading the premise of the book, that all of Eve’s nagging fears are definitely going to be paying her a visit, very soon!
Thanks for stopping by and have a good weekend 🙂
That prologue is quite compelling. My Friday Quotes
As Chapter One takes place three days prior to the prologue, I guess that Eve has nothing to be fearful of at this stage and life is going along perfectly normally for herself and Milly.
I can’t wait to find out what happens in such a short space of time, to bring about such a drastic change in Eve’s stability!
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Reading this weekend 🙂
That description of fear pulled me right in, and I definitely wanted to keep reading. Thanks for sharing, and for visiting my blog.
I have never seen fear put into words quite as descriptively and evoking such emotion in me, the reader, before.
This sounds like a desperate woman, almost on the edge of reason, by the time the prologue is penned.
I do hope that a story which begins with such foreboding and promise, doesn’t disappoint!
Thanks for taking the time to comment and have a great weekend 🙂
I’m curious about what happens. See what book MK is featuring at Girl Who Reads
That was definitely an introduction not to be ignored and certainly not a book I wouldn’t, or couldn’t, carry on reading!
Thanks for visiting this week and Happy Reading 🙂
That snippet makes me want to know more and the premise sounds great. Thanks for sharing!
The possibilities of things which could spoil the idyll of the opening chapter, are endless.
However the premise just forbodes of a much more sinister and ultimately frightening outcome!
I am looking forward to reading this one in the near future 🙂
This one does sound intriguing and mowbim curious about what Joan found out. Great cover too. Enjoy it!
I wonder if Joan is just your typical busy body mother-in-law, or if she really does have something of substance which might influence and shatter her daughter’s life?
If so, I wonder if she is “dishing the dirt” on Neil, or if there is something about Milly or her family, which might influence Neil and Eve’s decision about taking her on as their daughter?
The possibilities are endless and does the water, featured on the cover art, have anything to do with it?
Thanks for the interesting comment, it certainly opened up the debate in my own mind 🙂
*now I’m
Don’t you just love it when you realise you have made those ‘whoppers’ just after hitting the enter key and you can’t take them back!!
I seem to make something of a habit of writing PS. notes 🙂