Author: Wendy James
ISBN: 9781460752388
RRP: $29.99
Publication Date: 20 May 2019
Publisher: Harper Collins
Copy: Courtesy of the Publisher
After reading The Golden Child last year I was keen to read Wendy’s latest offering. This story is quite bizarre – a young girl is found in a disheveled state, wearing only pj’s and claiming that she has just escaped from being kept captive in a basement.
Susannah Wells is a drama teacher at the local school and lives with her mother who is in early stages of dementia. Its hard work but they cope, until the world falls apart around them.
This girl Ellie, claims that Susannah and her mother are the ones that have kept her imprisoned and drugged in their basement – only problem is that Susannah has never seen or met this girl, yet the descriptions of her imprisonment and its surroundings exactly describe the basement in her house.
Ellie becomes somewhat of a celebrity because of her “abduction” and Susannah is arrested. Someone is lying – but who?
This book kept me turning the pages and the plot was interesting and had me questioning ‘who did it’ many times whilst reading. The author wove a very intriguing plot which I believe was based on an actual case from years ago. How easy it was to manipulate people and situations and make them totally believable to the outside world – quite scary in fact
This guest review was submitted by Janine, one of our Beauty and Lace Club members. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us Janine.
The Accusation is available now through Harper Collins and where all good books are sold.
Thanks to Harper Collins 15 of our Beauty and Lace Club Members are reading The Accusation so please be aware there may be spoilers in the comments below.
Janine is a customer experience officer at her local library – and a certified bookaholic!
I have been so excited to review ‘The Accusation’, it arrived on Friday and I could not put it down, thank you so much Beauty and Lace and Harper Collins for providing me this book to review.
Wow, where do I start, the book centre’s around the main female characters: Suzannah, her mother Mary, Ellie, the young girl found huddled in an abandoned shepherd’s hut and Honor, Suzannah’s new friend who pops in and shares meals and a couple of glasses of wine with Suzannah and her mother.
Suzannah has recently moved to Enfield Wash along with her mother who suffers from dementia, to take up the role of drama teacher at the local school, and buys the original homestead on Chip Gascoyne’s sub divided property on the outskirts of town.
The story is told in three parts with each chapter titled one of the central women characters and a timeline, which as the story unfolds you realise how crucial these dates are, along with a scattering of documentary production notes: – Abducted: The Ellie Channing Story.
As the story unfolds Suzannah’s life crumbles around her as she and her mother are accused of abducting Ellie and holding her captive in their basement, whilst Ellie is catapulted into an overnight internet global media sensation, a world full of fame, and notoriety, appearing as the latest celebrity on all the morning talk shows, overseas holiday’s to exclusive resorts with her hot new reporter boyfriend Jamie, and all under the carefully orchestrated watchful eye of Honor, the publicity agent, who had taken on Ellie as her client.
In a small town, people are always very quick to take sides, make assumptions, falsely accuse, and all of Suzannah’s past, her previous role as ‘Gypsy’ in ‘Beachlife’ her failed marriage, the loss of her baby daughter Stella, all surface to muddy the waters. Meanwhile poor Ellie is handling the juggernaut of instant fame, the red-carpet appearances, all in her stride, she is a natural.
The story is loosely based on the Elizabeth Canning story of a maidservant who disappeared in 1753, returning later claiming she’d been held against her will, by two women, one of the women named Suzannah Wells the other Mary Squires, centuries later, this story still remains an unsolved mystery.
This was a great read, full of secrets, lies and intrigue, with plenty of twists and turns, complete with a love story thrown in the mix, I really enjoyed Wendy James writing style and am looking forward to reading more of her books.
Thrillers are my jam and this was a great read with lots of twists and turns. This story is based upon the apparent abduction of Ellie who when found/escaped is thrust into the spotlight…. Suzannah lives with her aging mother and is, the police knock on her door with questions? Did she do it ? Why would she do it? A captivating read full of twists and turns..loved it!!
The Accusation by Wendy James is a book you can’t put down once you start reading. It had me hooked and intrigued right from the word go.
The story is about Ellie, who is abducted and found captive and Suzannah a local drama teacher who is caring for her mother is accused of the crime. Needless to say her world is turned upside down. Did she do it? Is Ellie telling* the truth? This is definite whodunnit , that will keep you guessing till the end.
I really enjoyed this book and have already recommended it to others.
Thank you Beauty and Lace and Harper Collins for giving* me the opportunity to read and review this book.