Really loved the additional insight we got into the creation of Gilead, and some of the characters who were instrumental to it. Ardua Hall was both a contrast and a mirror to the setting of The Handmaid’s Tale; its austere, authoritative, and corrupt - but there’s no sexual violence. From the outside it looks like a haven compared to the lives of other women in Gilead.

Wow. Best book I’ve read this year (it’s only February but still). I’ve only read Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier, but I am confident in saying that she writes romantic suspense phenomenally. My favourite aspect is that she lets love win - at a cost, yes, but not to a point where you feel robbed or bereaved.

Mrs de Winter (and Dona in Frenchman’s creek) is beautifully portrayed and feels exceptionally real. Although her idea of love seems childish at first, it’s only because we believe it to not be reciprocated. It’s her love that gets her, and Maxim, through the ordeals of the story and allows them to flourish afterwards. I just love it when love wins. Almost enough to get an “amor vincit omnia” tramp stamp.

I struggled with this - simply couldn’t get over the excessive use of commas. There were several parts where I had to skim. Also not convinced it was necessary to treat a character as He Who Must Not Be Named by referring to him only as the Latin tutor, the son, the husband, etc.