
When Black Candle Women‘s 17-year-old protagonist Nickie Montrose invites her photography class friend and potential boyfriend Felix to her birthday party, it causes chaos for the different generations of Montrose women that live together, generally keeping themselves to themselves in isolation. There is a disturbing and sad reason for their somewhat solitary existence: Nickie is totally unaware of the curse that has been placed on all of the Montrose women for decades. Anyone they fall in love with will die a tragic and untimely death.
Black Candle Women author Diane Marie Brown takes the reader to New Orleans, where this imaginatively and thrilling voodoo and hoodoo-immersed tale of mothers and daughters is set. You can practically taste the crawfish étouffée and immerse yourself in New Orleans life, culture and history itself as Augusta, Victoria, Willow and – last but not least – Nickie tell their stories and try to trace where the curse originated from and rid themselves of it. As chapters jump from old New Orleans to present-day California, it becomes apparent that each member of the Montrose family has not been entirely honest with each other over the years. A soul-stirring page-turner whose twisting movements take effect right up to the end.
Black Candle Women, Diane Marie Brown (Headline)
Price: £20/£21.99 audiobook. Info: here
words DAVID NOBAKHT
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