Having very much enjoyed this authors previous two novels, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one. It captured me from the beginning & I was very firmly side by side with Red as she told her story. The complex plotting & knowledge of 18th century England is wonderful, albeit lengthy! This is not a short book & I did find it a bit of a marathon. However, the final quarter of the story neatly ties everything up (even the bits you didn’t realise needed tidying up!) It’s a beautifully written story, with many, many layers. I really enjoyed it.

5* The Square of Sevens is Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s third book and is a perfect historical mystery. Her previous books were hugely enjoyable but The Square of Sevens is a step into brilliance.

Red, a child in the 18th century who travels with her fortune telling father, always looking behind them as her father believes they are in danger. When Red’s father dies she narrowly avoids an orphanage and instead is taken in by a gentleman amidst the high society of Bath. Raised as a Lady in a loving home, Red delights with her fortune telling skills but maintains a curiosity as to her back story.

This grand and sweeping novel takes Red from Bath to London and the South-West uncovering rogues hiding in the plain sight of the upper classes and a legacy which she must muster all her cunning to secure.

Laura Shepherd-Robinson has produced a book which beautifully places the reader in 18th century England with a wealth of superbly imagined characters. Some you grow to love and others you can’t help but begrudgingly admire. However the genius is in the plotting. Complex, entertaining, surprising and just enough twists. It is an incredible immersive experience. I’m not a fan of mystic and magic but it adds another layer to this smart book.

For those who haven’t read the author before, The Square of Sevens is a standalone.

Many thanks to Pan MacMillan and Netgalley for the ARC. I was excited to receive it and loved every minute.

"Well, my story begins with a story, it begins with a lie."

The Square of Sevens is a novel of mystery and intrigue, twists and turns. Set in 18th century England we follow Red, a fortune teller, and her quest to unravel her mysterious past.

I enjoyed the way the story was told with each chapter presenting a card and its meaning under another card's influence. As I first started reading I was intrigued by Red's journey but as the story unfolded to give center stage to an inheritance dispute between two powerful families, I gradually lost interest in the plot.
I definitely think this is a well written and researched (the author's historical note at the end was fascinating to read) piece of historical fiction but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s third great historical novel is rich in intrigue, mystery and deception. The majority of the novel is narrated by Red, a 16-17 year old orphan who is trying to find her aristocratic mother in order to prove that Red, as told to her by her father, is heir to a huge fortune.
Red has been taught by her father how to read fortunes by using playing cards, setting them in the square of sevens sequence. When she grows up she uses this skill to infiltrate her presumed mother’s family but her quest for the truth about her mother involves unpleasant people and often places her in great danger.
The story is complex and has well drawn characters which makes it compulsive reading.
Highly recommended. Thank you to the publishers for the ARC.

WOW WOW WOW! Laura Shepherd-Robinson has done it again. What a brilliant read. The narrative structure, the characters, the way the author brings to life 18th century London; what more could you want?

Red, The De Lacy’s and the characters we meet along the way are still on my mind days after finishing this book. The twist at the end made me audibly gasp.

Fortune telling, friendship, a lost fortune and a young woman navigating plans for her future through 18th century London and Bath. This book is truly addictive and has a narrative voice and structure (in both Red and Lazarus Darke) to rival that of An Instance of the Fingerpost. I can’t wait to see what LSR writes next.

Full review will be posted in due course to coincide with publication on www.instagram.com/history_belles

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really really enjoyed this! It had such an old-time feel to it. It is very dickensian which is right up my street.
It's quite a lengthy novel, which I didn't realise at the beginning. But after dipping in and out of it I fully committed to it and I'm so glad I did, because I ploughed through the ending not wanting to put it down.

Red is quite a complicated character and narrator. Whenever she gets you on her side she makes a choice that makes you dislike her, but then she gets you onside again. She's very flawed and seems quite selfish but the ending is very satisfying.

I'd definitely recommend this to people who like classic novels from the 18th and 19th century. I'll make sure I look up the authors other books too.

This is the third of Laura Shepherd-Robinson's Georgian-set crime novels and the third that I have read - not a coincidence as I am an increasingly big fan of her scene setting, thoughtful characterisation and twisty plots. Plots so twisty that I am not sure how to review this as I don't want to give away a single spoiler, inadvertantly or not!

Told in two viewpoints, the first person POV of Red, an orphan fortune teller and third person POV of Lazarus Darke, who are, in different ways, caught up in the fortunes of a great family at war, this is a story about family secrets, betrayal and inheritance.

Red is the adopted daughter of a respectable Bath gentleman, but she has never forgotten her first seven years as an itinerant traveller alongside her father, a Cornish cunning man, Nor has she forgotten the Square of Sevens, a way of telling fortunes. And when her life in Bath falls apart, it's the Square of Sevens that offer her a way out, and the possibility of a new future. Meanwhile two sides of a great family war feud over an old Will , a codicil that may change everything and people willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that they are the ones who inherit.

Packed full of period detail, drama, twists and turns and secrets, this absorbing book will sweep you along right to the very last word. Highly recommended.

I really do think that this author is the new Queen of historical fiction as book 3 of hers really does not disappoint!

I felt immersed in this read from the off, and was gripped. Do strap yourself in, this is lengthy and you go on a journey with Red. Lots of immersive descriptions and colourful characters to keep me thoroughly entertained.

Like the places chosen in the book too.

The square of sevens

I read an eARC of this book so thank you to Net Galley, the author and the publisher for allowing this.

The Square of Sevens contains a really interesting fortune telling system involving a deck of cards laid to create a square of seven by seven cards with three wish cards held to the end. This lost system is known by our narrator Red/Rachael and her whole story is tied to how she uses this to influence people.

We meet Red as a young girl when she loses her father. They’ve been travelling Cornwall, telling fortunes and just getting by. Her father is afraid of something and constantly on the run. Beyond that on plot I can’t say much…. As much as I’d like to talk about everything that happens in this book, to describe it would be to spoil it. There’s so many moments in this book where the story is turned on it’s head. Without this, it would have been a good historical novel, but it’s those double-take moments that kept me thinking about this book after I’d finished it.

Setting is strong, 18th century setting well demonstrated through locations and fashion. Red isn’t exactly a likeable narrator but you deal feel invested in her story. For all she can be a bit manipulative, she does get treated extremely badly by other people at times and you can see her actions sometimes being driven by a drive to survive.

This book is quite long, it is a commitment and it’s not a quick read. However, there weren’t any plot points that were unnecessary, it was more just that Red frequently felt like she was taking too long to make progress.

This is a well-written historical novel with mystery elements. I’d certainly read more by this author. I was invested in the story and it had some surprising moments.

I was a tiny bit daunted by the size of this one, but actually by the time I was half way through, I was wondering why there weren't more pages to tell Red's tale.
What a character she was, right from being introduced as a 7 year old, she dominates the pages, and outshines every other character going... and there's a fair few of them.
Plenty of twists and turns along the way, plenty of highs and lows and a family that you really would have to pay me to be related to.
I enjoyed the way the card theme ran through the whole book.
The authors best yet for me.

This is a well researched masterpiece of historical fiction, where the chief character is Red, but there are many other characters involved such as Lazarus Darke, Archie, the de Lacey family, including Lady Seabrooke. These characters well drawn and do not detract from the plot as sometimes happens when many characters are involved. Instead they add to it. And what a plot. Set in eighteenth century England, the plot has so many twists and turns that I read it avidly until I had finished, and would recommend it highly as the best historical novel that I have read for a long time.

With this book, the gothic novel is alive and thriving.

Fans of Laura Shepherd-Robinson's previous books will be delighted to know that her latest story is another belter. When young Red, daughter of a Cornish fortune-teller and herself a teller of fortunes using the ancient method of the Square of Sevens, is left orphaned, her life changes forever when she becomes the ward of a gentleman scholar, Mr Antrobus. Although raised as a Georgian lady, she cannot ignore the question of who her parents were and why her father was always terrified his enemies would find him.

In her pursuit of her parents, and her birthright, Red, now known as Rachel, travels from Bath to London then Devon, slowly putting together the pieces of her past, meeting all the characters a reader of Gothic romance could hope for. Kindly guardian, dastardly Lords, conniving young men, corrupt politicians, kindly ladies and more. We have lost fortunes, lost documents, and more than one red-herring. Truth and lies abound - it will take a canny reader to pick out all the clues in a single reading.

The author cleverly uses the actual Square of Sevens method of fortune telling to construct a complex tale - four sections, each linked to a card reflecting the events of the book. She deftly channels her inner Du Maurier and Dickens in a truly exciting, moving story. The characters are well-developed, easy to love or hate as required, and the reader will be heavily invested in their eventual fates.

I was lucky to receive a Netgalley ARC of the book, but will be first in line for what promises to be a gorgeous hardback. Heartily recommended for fans of gothic stories. One tip - make sure you read the author's Historical Note AFTER finishing the book.

Having enjoyed the previous two books I was so pleased to receive this one for review.
Superb read and to overlay a framework of card readings works very well. Each chapter being headed with a card and its meaning within a certain other cards influence links to the narrative in a very clever way.

This book has clearly involved extensive research adding to the colour of the historical background and a general flavour of the 1700s.

The story appears straightforward at first as a girl with a mysterious past learns things which lead her to try to claim a fortune.

To keep the card theme going I found this book similar to a game of patience whereby every chapter is a move which can only be made in a certain way at a specific time. The reader needs to decide what fits where (if at all) in the building of the story. Some moves won’t work whilst others see a succession of parts that lead to the conclusion of the game and hence the story.

I don’t like anything which might be seen as a spoiler so you can find other summaries elsewhere which fulfil that function.

Suffice to say this book is wonderfully crafted and for me it’s Ace and a Diamond as influenced by a club, it’s a prudent choice!

Highly recommend. The historical note at the end adds to the book also.

Thanks to NetGalley/Pan MacMillan/Mantle for my advanced copy.