The Raven's Book Bunker

The Raven's Book Bunker Featuring the novels, blogs and various musings of Rohase Piercy (author of 'My Dearest Holmes') and Charlie Raven ('A Case Of Domestic Pilfering').

A sad, tender and utterly believable story about three sisters - Esme, Phoebe and Bea - told in two parts, from the poin...
30/10/2025

A sad, tender and utterly believable story about three sisters - Esme, Phoebe and Bea - told in two parts, from the points of view of Esme and Bea and their parents, Tom and Linda. The reason for the absence of a narrative from Phoebe is that Part One opens in the aftermath of her death, aged three, when Esme is seven and Phoebe still in Linda's womb. Phoebe's death devastates the family unit, and by the ending of Part One it is irretrievably changed and broken.
But Part Two opens with Bea, now in her twenties, discovering that she is pregnant, and determined before she becomes a mother herself to find out more about the mother she doesn't remember, the sister who died before she was born, and the reason why her father and older sister have never told her the exact circumstances of Phoebe's death or shared memories of her while Bea was growing up.
It's a very feminine book (though Tom's narrative is perfectly credible), concentrating on the conflicting emotions surrounding motherhood, sisterhood, sibling rivalry and family guilt. And there's light at the end of the tunnel with a redemptive ending. A very emotional read.

I first read this book back in the 1980s, on the cusp of deserting the Catholic Church for Neo-Paganism, and found it ve...
27/10/2025

I first read this book back in the 1980s, on the cusp of deserting the Catholic Church for Neo-Paganism, and found it very exciting and inspiring! This edition, with a new preface from 1987, was a joy to read again and doesn't disappoint. It does help if you're familiar with the doctrines and history of the Catholic Church, but it's written in a very accessible way, so even the scholarly bits aren't daunting.
Ashe starts off, after giving us an overview of Marian worship, by laying out what we know, or can claim to know, about the historical Mary. 'If Christ himself existed, Christ's mother did' - and since the existence of the historical Jesus of Nazareth is attested by contemporary sources outside the Gospels (and outside of Christianity), this is the logical and only starting point. He takes us through every mention of Mary in all four of the Gospels, and puts together a possible sequence of events in her life, and in her relationship to her Son. So far, so logical (and acceptable to Protestants as well as Catholics).
But then, as the Church grew and evolved, as Christian doctrine and beliefs were laid down and began to coalesce, as Jesus Christ was established as a unique figure, both wholly human and wholly Divine, attitudes towards his Mother were bound to evolve also.
Ashe's argument is that Christianity with its all-male Trinity failed to fill the 'Goddess-shaped hole' in humanity's perception of the Divine; and the contortions required of the later Church to assign to the Blessed Virgin Mary so many of the attributes of Goddesses such as Isis, Athene, Neith, Asherah, Cybele and many other Mother and Virgin aspects of the female Divine, whilst still insisting that she was subordinate to her Son and was not to be worshipped, are laid out in meticulous and sometimes amusing detail.
Ashe goes so far as to claim that Marian devotion, and the elevation of the Virgin Mary to almost the status of Co-Redeemer, actually saved the Church from an early death during the 4th and 5th centuries CE, at a time when Paganism still held sway in the hearts of the people and in-fighting between Eastern and Western factions threatened to implode the new religion. To many Catholics, Mary is secretly dearer than Christ himself because as a female, as a Mother, and as a human she is more accessible; and with the re-emergence of the worship of the Goddess today, the parallels with the Divine Mother whom the human soul is hard-wired to long for are all the more obvious.
If nothing else, this is a thoroughly thought-provoking read for Christians and non-Christians alike.

Well, if anyone had told me that I'd be transfixed by a novel set in a 1970s American summer camp, I'd have laughed at t...
19/10/2025

Well, if anyone had told me that I'd be transfixed by a novel set in a 1970s American summer camp, I'd have laughed at the idea as it's so not me. But 'The God of the Woods' is so brilliantly written and skilfully crafted that it had me hooked right to the (suitably satisfactory) end.
The summer camp in question is owned by the wealthy Van Laar family, a thoroughly unpleasant lot -at least the men are - and run by a family in their employ, the Hewitts. When Barbara Van Laar, rebellious teenager and problem wild child, insists on spending her summer at the camp instead of up the hill with her family, her parents are glad to have her out of the way for a while - until she disappears without trace, something which happened to her brother Bear fourteen years ago, before Barbara was even born.
The story is told in parallel narratives from various different characters, a device that can sometimes be confusing but here is done so skilfully, switching narrators at various cliffhanger points and jumping back and forth between the present and the past, that it all adds to the tension and intrigue of the story. For example, we hear from Bear and Barbara's depressed and despised mother, Alice, from Tracey, a lonely girl she befriends at the camp, from Louise, one of the camp counsellors, and from Judyta, the female investigator (one of the first in the country!) assigned to her case. The lone male perspective comes from the employee and volunteer fire officer who comes to be suspected of Bear's murder, Carl Stoddard. All of the narrators are victims, in one way or the other, of the arrogance, narcissism and snobbery of the odious Van Laar men and their wealthy associates (who by the way are not aristocrats, but successful bankers).
As present and past collide, and the search for Barbara gathers pace, we gradually learn the truth of what happened to Bear and who is responsible - but only one narrator gets to find out where Barbara is. A brilliant read from beginning to end!

This one has so many plot twists it's left me feeling quite dizzy! It all centres on three neighbours, Margot, Anna and ...
15/10/2025

This one has so many plot twists it's left me feeling quite dizzy! It all centres on three neighbours, Margot, Anna and Liv, who each have secrets to hide. The narrative starts off as dramatically as it proceeds, with Margot, bound and gagged and stuffed into the November 5th bonfire; then flashes back to the preceding December, when new neighbour Liv first arrives on the scene. Margot is a former girl-band member and disgraced Strictly contestant, married to her former dance partner and stepmother to his children; Liv is the mother of two young children and in the process of setting herself up as a wellness practitioner, with money she and handsome husband Grant have earned via some dodgy extracurricular activities. Both are ambitious, well-groomed and apparently wealthy, whereas Anna, who rents her property along with her scruffy alcoholic partner Drew, is neither, and appears at first to be the hanger-on and peacemaker of the trio.
But there's more than meets the eye to every one of these characters, and by the time we catch up with Bonfire Night we've been spun more yarns and fed more red herrings than you can shake a stick at - only to discover that we're only about three quarters of the way through the book and that there are more revelations to come!
I could actually have done with a few less twists, as it becomes a bit confusing towards the end, but it is all neatly tied up in the denouement, and it certainly kept me on the edge of my seat throughout! If you like your psychological thrillers fast-paced and twisty, this one's for you!

Readable but rather plodding story about a man whose UFO-obsessed girlfriend disappears without trace one day, and his f...
11/10/2025

Readable but rather plodding story about a man whose UFO-obsessed girlfriend disappears without trace one day, and his frantic search to find her. As might be imagined, it takes him to some very wacky places, and the plot is great, but for me the narrative lets it down - it's not as pacey and twisty as I like my psychological thrillers to be. The fact that it's mostly set on my home patch - the Suss*x South Coast - made me stick with it, and it does pick up pace towards the end so I'm glad I didn't give up on it!

A slow, sad and thoughtful novella, set over a long winter in the Pyrenees, about a young man whose unhappy mother walks...
06/10/2025

A slow, sad and thoughtful novella, set over a long winter in the Pyrenees, about a young man whose unhappy mother walks out of their house and village one day and never returns. According to the Afterword, it was inspired by a true local story - a story that remains unproven and unresolved, as does the mother's disappearance in the book - those hoping for a neat and tidy ending will be disappointed. But it's an immersive read, beautifully written, and Miquel's lonely, heart breaking struggle to come to terms with the loss that's left both him and his emotionally distant father bereft will stay with me for a long time.

This is a beautifully written account of the author's journey, on foot, from the source to the estuary of the River Ouse...
04/10/2025

This is a beautifully written account of the author's journey, on foot, from the source to the estuary of the River Ouse in Suss*x during the hot summer of 2009. Starting in the High Weald, where the water first rises as what seems at first to be nothing more than a muddy ditch, she walks stage by stage down to industrial Newhaven where the Ouse empties into the sea and the ferries depart for Dieppe.
Having planned her route meticulously, and booked her stop-off points at various pubs and guest houses along the way, she has plenty of time to consider not only the geography, flora and fauna that mark the course of the river, but also the history of the places it passes through. Much of this concerns the life and writings of Virginia Woolf, who famously drowned herself in the Ouse in in 1941, and since I'm not a fan of Woolf, or of the Bloomsbury set in general, finding them incredibly snobbish and self-indulgent, I found this much less interesting than, for example, Gideon Mantell's ground-breaking discoveries of dinosaur bones, or the Battle of Lewes where the Royalist soldiers, fleeing Simon de Montfort's victorious troops, drowned in the mud-flats still sitting on their poor horses in full armour. But Olivia Laing's descriptive powers are wonderful, and every stage of this personal pilgrimage springs to life in vivid detail. I'm so glad this was chosen for my local Book Club read - as an unadventurous Brighton girl I'd only ever really encountered the Ouse at Lewes and Newhaven, and now I feel I know it so much better!

Ah, you can't go wrong with Alan Bennett! I laugh out loud every time ... even when the subject matter is the ravages in...
27/09/2025

Ah, you can't go wrong with Alan Bennett! I laugh out loud every time ... even when the subject matter is the ravages inflicted by Covid on an old people's home.
There are the usual Bennet suspects such as the flasher the 'foot feller' and the closet queen, joined by a randy window cleaner, a wannabe archaeologist, a compulsive knitter and an alumna of Bletchley Park who wonders whether she's still bound by the Official Secrets Act.
When the bossy and pretentious proprietor of Hill Topp House, Mrs McBryde, is hospitalised with the virus along with the lead carer, the residents, far from being further restricted, are temporarily free to get up to all sorts of mischief - there's s*x in the bicycle shed (yes, really), a roaring bonfire, the recycling of designer gowns to make fancy masks, reminiscences of an affair with Molotov ('Oh, like the cocktail...') and, inevitably a few deaths - but the Hill Topp residents certainly know how to make an exit! I loved it!

It took me a while to get into this, and at first I thought I might have read it before, but that's because it's so simi...
26/09/2025

It took me a while to get into this, and at first I thought I might have read it before, but that's because it's so similar to Claire McGowan's 'What You Did', which also deals with the reunion of a group of University housemates who were witnesses in the case of a friend's murder.
This, however, is different in that old gang are called together by a True Crimes podcast that specialises in showcasing wrongful convictions. In a rather unbelievable scenario, they all consent to return to their old college accommodation to try and prove that none of them is the real murderer of former housemate Daisy, whose tutor committed su***de after spending years in prison for the crime.
It's bit ploddy, especially the bits where they're forced to listen to excruciating voice notes sent at regular intervals by the podcasters saying stuff like 'And now, to sum up what we already know about you all ...' but I did get more involved towards the end, especially as I wanted to know whether I'd correctly guessed the killer (I had). So enjoyable enough, but not the sort of gripping read I prefer in a psychological thriller.

A fast-paced read with plenty of red herrings, 'The New Neighbours' is presented from several different characters' pers...
23/09/2025

A fast-paced read with plenty of red herrings, 'The New Neighbours' is presented from several different characters' perspectives, but mostly from that of newly-separated, forty-something Lena, whose teenage son is dividing his time between her mother's house and his father's flat. When middle-aged couple Henry and Marielle move in next door, Lena initially welcomes the chance to make some new friends. But curiosity about the new neighbours quickly turns to suspicion when she overhears them discussing a nefarious plan, the details of which remain obscure. Gaining admission to their house with the old neighbour's key, she finds a series of press cuttings that seem to relate to her own past, and in particular to two of the colleagues she encountered during her days as a student midwife.
I didn't find the ending sufficiently convincing, after such an extensive build-up, it all seemed too hastily tidied up for my liking and I was looking for a final twist that didn't come. But still an enjoyable and immersive read.

Heart breaking and beautifully written story of a lonely, sensitive 9 year old boy who is unhappy at having to leave his...
17/09/2025

Heart breaking and beautifully written story of a lonely, sensitive 9 year old boy who is unhappy at having to leave his comfortable home in Berlin because of his father's promotion, and feels comfort when he finally makes a new friend - a boy of his own age who lives on the other side of the high wire fence outside his new home, and unaccountably always seems to be wearing striped pyjamas.
Of course we discover as the story unfolds that the father's new position is Commandant of Auschwitz, and everything else follows from that. But Bruno's innocence and hopeful and friendly attitude to life is all the more heart rending given the context, and the tragic ending is no doubt familiar to many due to the popularity of the film.
If you weren't already aware, John Boyne has written a sequel to this story, 'All The Broken Places', which follows the life of Bruno's sister Gretel, from the immediate post-war years up to her life as a ninety-something widow in a well-heeled part of London. That also is a must-read.
I don't know how Boyne does it, his writing is so versatile, but he seems to get under the skin of every character he creates, young or old, male or female, and make them utterly believable in all their complexity. One of the best writers around today, in my opinion.

Fascinating, riveting but chilling read about the experience of Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins' (fictional) sister,...
14/09/2025

Fascinating, riveting but chilling read about the experience of Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins' (fictional) sister, Alice.
Returning in 1645 to her home village of Manningtree in Ess*x as a pregnant widow, Alice is at first bemused and then appalled by her younger brother Matthew's obsession with identifying and questioning 'witches' - most of them women she'd known as a girl, who may have been a little eccentric but she knows were certainly not capable of casting spells to kill their neighbours' cattle or children, as is claimed. But Matthew has seemingly risen high in the esteem of the local authorities during her absence, and is given more and more leeway to carry out his searches across Ess*x and into Suffolk.
It seems to Alice that many of the peculiarities and behaviours of the accused women mirror that of their late mother, who suffered much from anxiety and obsessional behaviours; but when she tries to point this out to her brother, he becomes angry. She knows she has touched a nerve, however, and seeks answers from her mother-in-law Bridget, who was also her mother's old servant, realising only belatedly that this has put Bridget in danger.
When Alice loses the baby she is carrying, her brother forces her to accompany him on his travels and to take part in the 'watching' and interrogation of his victims - a role she tries to carry out with as much kindness as is possible under the circumstances, but which nevertheless fills her with guilt and despair.
Will she be able to get to the bottom of this frightening obsession of Matthew's without putting herself in danger? And will she, as she finds herself ever more closely watched by him and his underlings, be able to escape his clutches and make a new life for herself?
The author states that according to her research, Matthew Hopkins was one of six children, four of whom (all boys) have been identified by name - the other two could easily have been sisters, hence her appropriation of Alice as a believable character. This is a cracker of a debut novel from Beth Underdown, and I'll certainly be looking out for more from her.

Address

Brighton

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Raven's Book Bunker posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to The Raven's Book Bunker:

Shortcuts

Share

Category