Friday, September 14, 2007

Granny Buttons posts Black Thread review


Was I looking into the canal for inspiration?
Who knows what I was thinking at the time, but I did manage to get a story out of it!

The following review of my latest novel comes from Andrew Denny of www.grannybuttons.com
Andrew must be regarded as one of the leading UK canal bloggers - certainly for volume of articles published, variety of material and its regularity, not to mention the quality of his photographic images.

Andrew's review (posted 13 Sept) begins:
I've been reading The Black Thread a historical novel by Margaret Muir.
It's set at the end of the Victorian era, mainly in Leeds and on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal up to Saltaire and Bingley.
The canal research on this one is good, and it turns out to be a pretty hot page turner.
It's nominally a historical novel with romantic embroidery, but it's fast-paced, the storytelling is taut and never drags, and smartly-plotted. The conclusion is neat (if a little improbable) but cleverly explains Amy's name and several other points in the story.
At the heart of the story is a family of Number Ones running their L&L 'short boat' mainly on the Leeds side of the canal, and this is where the story's research really shows.....

To read the rest of the review, go to:
http://www.grannybuttons.com/granny_buttons/2007/09/the-black-threa.html#more

1 comment:

M. C. Muir said...

Note:
I'm pleased to say that only a few weeks after the release of The Black Thread, Robert Hale Publishers have sold out of the hardback version.
Let's hope it goes into reprint.
Marg