An atmospheric and intriguing gothic novel. Catherine Symonds arrives at Locksley determined to solve the mystery of what happened to her sister Emily, the governess whose shoes Catherine is stepping into. Multiple narratives from the Chartists in Newport to the plight of the mine workers to long held aristocratic secrets combine to form a novel with the most unreliable of narrators and a plot that is dense in the best of ways. I found I would have just decided I was absolutely sure what was happening only to find that my predictions were not entirely correct. Highly recommended.

Mystery, mayhem, deception at every turn of the page. This is a real period drama at its finest.
The big house, to which our protagonist comes as a new governess to the landowners daughter, is full of strange and unfriendly staff and she knows she must tread carefully around them.
Outside of the big house we have the forest, dark and itself full of mystery and tales of other worldly beings seen galloping through the woods at night on strange beasts. No-one enters the forest at night for fear of these creatures and their strange light.
This is a book you won’t want to put down until you’ve got the answers to all the unanswered questions about this house and its residents with the nail biting reveal at the end. Thoroughly enjoyable read.

I am so sorry to say I got 40% in and couldn't continue. I loved the blurb and the idea of the book but I just couldn't get on with it. I have literally no idea what was going beyond Catherine's story line.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐳𝐳𝐥𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐝 | 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐬
★★★

𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬
Catherine Symonds arrives at Locksley Abbey as the new Governess, but what she would really like to learn is the circumstances surrounding her sister’s death, the previous Governess.

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟
⟡ Historical fiction
⟡ Elements of horror and mystery
⟡ Welsh mythology and history
⟡ Gothic vibes with an occult subplot

𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝
I really loved the premise of this book, and when I first dived in, I was delighted by the persistently ominous tone that bought a setting full of shadows and secrets to life and haunted the main character as she settled at Locksley Abbey.

Catherine Symonds was a really intriguing character. She was a perfectly unreliable narrator with a childhood she couldn’t remember and a dead sister she couldn’t forget. Her dynamics were shallow with others as she is determined to hold on to her real identity.

I also enjoyed the Welsh mythology element to this book. I loved how the Wild Hunt and their Cŵn Annwn were described and incorporated within the book. The shrieks, the rattling chains, the baying of the dogs and the foreboding silence that would shadow the characters was a wickedly wonderful way of setting the atmosphere. Additionally, the Newport history of the Chartist Rising is utilised in this book and I liked how RA synthesized both fact and fiction into this book.

𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝
Unfortunately, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I found the writing confusing and found myself having to reread a paragraph quite often. The pacing was slow and its grip on my attention was loose.

More than anything, this is based on a real setting that sits on the border between England and Wales and is a setting of completely untapped potential. It should have been amazing in the book. The setting was written as as though it had a mind of its own but honestly I feel like the author should have made the setting more of a character than a mere ambience. If you google ‘the puzzle wood’ then you can see how the atmospheric and twisted looking setting is the absolute perfect spot for a mystery to be solved. I do think it was given a disservice in this novel and that was such a disappointment to me.

𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬
“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘚𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥.”

“𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘻𝘻𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥. 𝘐𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵.”

“𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘬𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘱, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵?
𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘱 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳, 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 ’𝘴 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦?
𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨–𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥–𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦?”

𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬
I found this similar to The Shadow Key by Susan Stokes-Chapman due to them both being historical fiction which incorporated welsh mythology and had subplots of the occult.

I dont know if it is the rather shoddy way this book has been formatted of just me but the story is very disjointed and difficult to read. I tried, I really did, to love this book but the way it was presented made it very difficult to read and I had to keep reading bits over again. I do feel this does the author a disservice as otherwise it did seem to be an interesting tale.

“Deep in the woods, something is stirring...
When Miss Catherine Symonds arrives to take up a position as governess at remote Locksley Abbey in the foothills of the Black Mountains, where England bleeds into Wales, she is apprehensive.

She is travelling in disguise to investigate the fate of the last governess at the house, who took her own life out in the woods. For that governess was Catherine's own sister."

This gothic tale envelopes you in eerie dialogue and mystery. From the brashness of the mines, to the dark sinister Abbey and intriguing characters who live and work there. I honestly did not know what direction the story was going to take from one chapter to the next with twist and unexpected turns being thrown up regularly. I enjoyed the book and the story, particularly as I am aware of the Puzzle Wood area a little.

However, I do feel it had a slow start and that certain chapters could have been entirely skipped. In particular, there is a lot of narrative of the old folk lore from the senior doctor, and the history of the uprising that whilst, I understand it was part of the background to the story it went on for far too long and felt unnecessary, I did end up skipping over these sections and just scan reading them. The ending also felt rushed and in the rushing lost a certain depth and explanation I felt.

Thank you to NetGalley for this advance copy and the opportunity to help support authors and their books
Rating
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I have recently read Puzzle Wood by Rosie Andrew’s, the concept of the story sounded really good, Catherine goes under another identity to find out how her sister Emily died.

In the meantime there are other stories entwined into the book, you have the miners and what happens with the pit and also the stories and rumours about the local wood.

Great idea but the story didn’t move along nicely, it felt quite disjointed.

Good ending, shame it felt quite hard to get to complete the story.

I desperately wanted to like this book as I loved The Leviathan but unfortunately I couldn’t get interested enough to read any more than the first third.

I was drawn to this due to its synopsis and gothic setting (gothic / historical literature is one of my favourite genres). Unfortunately this book fell flat for me.

A deliciously dark historical novel. The perfect mix of history, psychological thriller, and supernatural happenings. The writing and its descriptions makes this book a very visual read, bringing all the dark goings on to life!

I found this book rather disjointed and somewhat lacking in the anticipated gothic vibe. The main character Catherine was not compelling in any way. The most interesting parts were actually about the miners. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

Catherine Symonds is determined to find out what happened to her estranged sister Emily, she was employed as a governess in the distant Locksley Abbey and she finds the information given incomprehensible. Catherine has applied to be the replacement governess under false pretences in the hope of uncovering the cause of her sister's death. This is a dark tale of intrigue, mystery and supernatural stirrings. The gloomy atmosphere drips from the pages of this book.

So I’ve read Andrews’ debut novel The Leviathan last year and after reading the premise I immediately requested Puzzle Wood. Unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations.

Firstly it takes about 20-30% of the book to get you engaged and I pushed through mostly because this was an ARC and I like to give them a good go even if I decide to DNF. I did finish this book but at some parts the dialogue / monologue was so boring I found myself skipping large sections of it even early on. I appreciated Andrews’ attempt to bring local mythology into the storyline but she executed it in such a dry way that it felt like reading a textbook.

The book was a strange mixture of interesting ‘who dunnit’ as Catherine tries to find out about her sister’s death but there was a subplot of ‘Chartists’ (miners who rebelled against the government in Newport) and we almost had a dual POV of country doctor Arthur who looks after the local mining population around the local area. The two storylines link up (kind of) at the end but reading Arthur’s POV and backstory was again, not very interesting when you just want to know what happened to Catherine’s sister.

Another thing I noticed was, early on the transition between Catherine / Arthur remembering a memory or even an event that happened earlier in the day was poorly executed. I had a number of moments reading the book where I had to reread paragraphs as suddenly the guests were entering the dining room again when we already had a large section of them eating dinner earlier … for it to be Catherine remembering how they entered the dining room an hour ago? This happened a few times and was so confusing to read, just chopping and changing between the present and a recent memory but not making it clear for the reader.

Overall it was an okay read, I didn’t enjoy it as much as her debut and my 2* rating is due to the book’s inability to keep me intrigued throughout. The ending had some good twists but at that point I was happy I was done with it.

(Note for ARC readers / the publisher - Another reviewer mentioned this but the Kindle PDF given out as an ARC is horribly formatted. I get this with ARC a lot so I’m used to it but this was another level. There were too many spelling mistakes to count, names of people or places not being capitalised and odd numbers and hyphens breaking up the text. This felt like it got no editing and was a rough draft as a result. Not a pleasant reading experience)

Having enjoyed a previous book by this author, I was looking forward to this one. The title and the blurb sounded really good ans historical fiction is one of my favourite genres. Unfortunately, this one wasn't for me and decided to DNF.

📚The Puzzle Wood by Rosie Andrews

Historical fiction is not something that I typically read. I tend to find it overdone and a bit of a struggle to get through. However I really enjoy the areas of history that Andrews focuses on. One of her talents as a writer is in being able to find areas of history that haven’t been focused on all that much and to interweave this with very region specific folklore that plays with superstition and trickery in the gothic tradition rather than fantasy.

Picking up the best of Jane Eyre here we see a woman come to the Welsh borders to investigate the death of her sister, a former governess in a house with a wife confined to her chambers. In amidst this is the legacy of the Chartist uprisings in the region and the young doctor compromised into spying for the choleric yet frightened Sir Rowland. In amidst this are strange happenings in the woods and a dark power that seems to reign over them.

Andrews manages to imbue a now seen as rather dull area of history with the political ferment of the time and to bring new life to it. The supernatural elements of the book are dealt with clever sleight of hand that keeps the psychological intensity and pacing of the book up with falling to firmly on either side. The denouement was a little confused, so many people were revealing their true natures and side plots that you struggled to get a sense of the jeopardy but overall this was a fun and intriguing read for a winter’s night.

Taking a governess job at Lockesley Abbey under false pretences, newly widowed Catherine is desperate to find out what happened to her estranged sister in the same role.

There is something sinister in the woods that surround the Abbey, including noises and lights at night. There are rumours of a monster in the mines.

Sir Rowland Bridewell, head of the family in his father’s absence, is a foreboding character with savagely trained dogs. His wife is never present, confined by illness. His daughter runs wild around the halls and his father’s ward is a sinister and cruel presence.

Combined with the complex forces at the abbey, something which gives Catherine terrible nightmares lurks in her past, just beyond the reach of memory.

Meanwhile, Arthur Sidstone takes over from his grandfather as Abbey doctor, making a pact to protect the wood that his grandfather is obsessed with from the grasp of the Bridewells.

When there is a death at the Abbey, Catherine turns to Arthur and to Ned – a miner and the housekeeper’s nephew – to help unravel the great web of lies and mystery.

A chilling and spooky novel with a clever ending.

What would you expect from a title like The Puzzle Wood? It seems to have come from a list of randomly generated titles: stick a pin in it. My overall impression was, not much puzzle, not much wood. Perhaps I was hoping for a Mythago Wood type mystical landscape; there is a bit of that, but it is buried deep. What it mostly feels like is a long-lost Daphne du Maurier novel.
We’re in coal mining country: Wales. The novel starts with correspondence concerning the death of a governess. The narrative proper begins with Catherine Symonds, the governess’s sister, en route to take up the position of governess in the same household. She’s hoping to uncover the truth about her sister Emily’s death. This opening scene is reminiscent of Jonathan Harker on his way to Castle Dracula: that vague sense of being conducted towards some kind of threat. An uncommunicative coachman, something in the woods. It’s tropes all the way down.
Meanwhile, a young doctor with secrets of his own is working (on his grandfather’s behalf) with landowner Sir Rowland in hopes of persuading him not to develop his land. Trying to curry favour, he agrees to investigate the operation of the local coal mine.
For me, this second plot thread was an awkward fit. On the one hand, we have a 19th century-set gothic novel: a big old house with a locked up wing, an unearthly child, unexplained death. On the other, the brutal mine overseer, pit ponies, and… Chartists?
Of course, the plot wheels turn and things fit together, kind of, but here’s the thing. It all felt too much like an early draft to me, with some polishing still required. The ARC itself said something to the effect of not being fully formatted. I did find it quite challenging to read, because the PDF I downloaded to my kindle did have rough formatting throughout. For example, there were arbitrary line breaks for page after page where you would read to the end of a line, then two words floating on their own, or two and a half words then another full line, then two words, and so on. Worse still, there were missing capital letters throughout, and every page or so a string something like — 0 - — 1 —, sometimes all together, but quite often — 0 mixed - — up 1 — within a sentence, or coinciding with one of those random line breaks. The best solution I could come up with in the end was to turn the kindle horizontally and then adjust the font size until those random line breaks more or less faded into the background.
All of which was a shame, because beyond all those distractions, this was quite an entertaining gothic horror, albeit something of a pastiche. It even finishes with “A Note on the Type”, which is my favourite book feature of all, and the shame of it is, the font in question was lost in the transfer to the e-reader, so that served as a final disappointment.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC.

I was hesitant about reading this based on the few reviews I read, however I determined that I would form my own opinion. I am so glad I did.
Not being familiar with Ms Andrews' former books, I wanted to read with an open mind. I start by saying that the blurb does not adequately prepare the reader for the story and this may be the reason for poor reviews.
The wood is the key location for the story, the Mine and Abbey closely intertwined. Catherine arrives undercover posing as a governess in order to discover how her sister came to have died while at the Abbey. Critically, Catherine has very hazy recollections of her teenage years and how her sister Emily disappeared from her life.
The other key character is Arthur, the grandson of the local doctor who has returned from overseas to settle back in the area. He has his own memories to face which prove more hard to hide in this familiar place.
Overall this story requires patience and active reading, the plot is winding and complex but so rewarding. I finished it within days as the story was so absorbing. Ms Andrews writes with great skill and huge empathy for her characters and I encourage anyone interested in historical fiction/slightly gothic to invest in The Puzzle Wood. It is a very satisfying read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC.

"The Puzzle Wood" is a historical mystery novel written by Rosie Andrews.

I was deeply fascinated by the premises of this book, the title and the beautiful cover. I would have enjoyed it, but unfortunately the unfolding did not convince me and drowned the whole thing out. Too bad, because I loved the setting a lot! An eerie, almost empty mansion filled with sinister creaks, insidious drafts, ominous shadows, and mysterious light plays? An isolated place surrounded by ancient dark woods? Help, I went into jujubes over the choice! In addition, I liked the vivid descriptions a lot, as well as the author's evocative prose. The problem is the general confusion that, in my opinion, hovers between the pages. The novel seemed to me chaotic, unnecessarily complicated, as if it didn't quite know where to aim. The characters did not convey much to me, coming across as superficial, which left me rather indifferent and made me lose interest in the events narrated.

All in all, I enjoyed the premises, the setting, and the prose, but unfortunately I didn't like the development!

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the sound of this book- an intriguing storyline and historical fiction is my favourite genre, but unfortunately I decided not to continue after 40% as I found it confusing and I was not invested in trying to figure it all out. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book, but sadly not one for me.