By Hilly Barmby https://www.hillybarmbyauthor.com/ @Hilly_Barmby
Published by Hobeck Books https://www.hobeck.net @HobeckBooks
317 pages ISBN 9781915817396
Publication date 26 March 2024
I was sent an electronic copy in exchange for a fair review. I would like to thank Rebecca at Hobeck Books and the Author for the invitation to participate in the Blog Tour.
The Cover
A very attractive cover with a great strapline.
My review
The briefest of prologues, you killed him and we won’t forgive or forget…
Hetty has been Davey’s girlfriend for a year. They are from very different backgrounds, but they are good together. Now they are heading over to France, with his twin sisters Ailsa and Juliette, for the wedding of their cousin Isabelle to Jean-Jacques (JJ) a right leaning politician. The prospect of a glamorous country wedding at a house as big as a chateau should them buzzing with joy, but Hetty is already feeling out of her depth being a council estate girl whilst the others are wealthy and well educated. The vibes are not good either, she realises there are some unresolved family tensions.
Ailsa for one doesn’t want to return to the house, despite it being a place of many happy childhood memories. Something happened during their last visit eight years ago which almost split the family asunder. Still, they must go through with the wedding celebration and put the past aside for the sake of the family.
The day is running like clockwork until the groom becomes unwell. Initially thought to be down to nerves and then a mild stomach upset is suggested, but as the day goes on, he doesn’t show signs of recovery. No matter, the party must go on…
The setting is fabulous, a big house in the French countryside and the preparations for the wedding. The reader is given a glimpse of another life and the different traditions surrounding a familiar event. There is also the sense of another way of life for Archie and Romilly, Isabel’s parents, who behave like they are lord and lady of the manor, well he is a High Court judge. The locals may go the events and parties that they organise, but they will forever be English outsiders and the local gypsies are especially wary.
The story can be split into two sections the preparation for the big day and the events that follow. The preparation essentially sets the scene in France, fleshes out the relationships between the characters both current day and through the events of the past. The reader is left in no doubt that something serious happened eight years ago, that someone knows the truth and it is going to be told. This section I think will particularly appeal to younger readers as it centres on the young adults.
Whilst the first part might feel a little pedestrian, the big day onwards explodes into incident much like poor JJs digestive tract. Again, there is a thread from eight years ago which is played out along with the current day and there are regular switches between the two. What results is two reveals, as the momentous events are exposed, together with the implications for the current day. Here the plot is wonderfully constructed, with actions mirrored and moral conundrums faced as the truth is ‘bleached in the sunshine’ and revenge sought. Revenge is the driving force but ultimately love is the key. Readers who love the ‘golden age’ style of reveal will appreciate how this is all exposed.
The feeling of change is all pervading throughout the story. The past incidents of 2016 follow straight from the Brexit vote, with the characters realising change was inevitable, but at that time nobody knew just how much or in what way. Then there are the events which hasten the separation and change the relationships for good. Throughout the current scenes there is the sense that there will be some kind of resolution, though what exactly is unknown.
The story is told through multiple perspectives, mainly Hetty and Ailsa, so the flow is not always linear as occasional back steps are taken to see events through the eyes of another.
Hetty is the central character and is quiet and unassuming, mainly due to her background, so she tries to avoid the limelight. She does want to become accepted by the family though, if just for her relationship with Davey. She has something of an inferiority complex, coming from humble beginnings unlike the rest of the characters, but there is an honesty about her. All she needs to do is develop a little self confidence and brazen things out, she’s the equal of any and better than most around her. She’s also a crime fiction reader, which raises her to an elite status in my mind, and this reading preference ends up becoming useful. True crime aficionados will also be nodding in agreement as Hetty demonstrates her knowledge on one aspect of the crime, with actions that echo a notorious UK killer.
Ailsa appears to be the main antagonist, doing little to elicit the approval of the reader; she is a snobbish clotheshorse of a young woman with an acid tongue, referring to Hetty as ‘the ginger mouse’. A perfect character for just such a story and I found myself thinking please don’t change. She is the epitome of the attitudes of the family, where image, prestige and position trump all feelings, where ‘marrying well’ matters more than love.
Never Forgive You skewers the pretentions of wealth, class and status with a searing tale of revenge.
Never Forgive You can be purchased direct from the publisher here.
The author
Hilly attended Rochester College of Art to experience an excellent Foundation Course, which led to a degree course in Graphic Design at Central School of Art and Design in London. Here, she led a colourful life, which she has woven into many of her stories.
After her degree course, she went on a woodworking course to make furniture. Combining her art and woodworking skills, she got a stall at Covent Garden Craft Market to sell hand-made chess and backgammon sets.
She moved to Brighton, a fabulous city and this is where Best Served Cold is set. After teaching Design Technology for fifteen years, she gave it all up to relocate to Órgiva in southern Spain. She has been here for the last seven years, living happily in an old farmhouse on an organic fruit farm in the mountains, with her partner and two rescue dogs.
Hilly is also part of Artists’ Network Alpujarra (ANA), a community of artists who have exhibited extensively in the region of the Alpujarra. She also makes ceramics, jewellery, and up-cycles anything not nailed down.
Source: Publisher’s website
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