Feminist – Judefire33 – The Book Blog

Seven women stand in shock in a seedy hotel room; a man’s severed head sits in the centre of the floor. Each of the women – the wife, the teenager, the ex, the journalist, the colleague, the friend, and the woman who raised him – has a very good reason to have done it, yet each swears she didn’t. In order to protect each other, they must figure out who did.

Against the ticking clock of a murder investigation, each woman’s secret is brought to light as the connections between them converge to reveal a killer.

A beautifully written debut thriller about love, loyalty, and manipulation, Speak of the Devil explores the roles in which women are cast in the lives of terrible men . . . and the fallout when they refuse to stay silent for one moment longer.

Huge thanks to Baskerville for kindly sending me a copy of Speak Of The Devil.

Speak Of The Devil is a fantastic feminist thriller, written by Rose Wilding, who I would imagine will go on to be ONE of the writers of our time!

The opening chapter sees the reader meet a group of seven women, on New Year’s Eve 1999, sitting in a semi-circle all facing a kind of altar with a head of a man on it!

We then move through the novel from the point of view of each of the seven women – Ana, Sarah, Kaysha, Josie, Maureen, Olive and Sadia – we find out from each of them how this man has impacted their lives and how they have all come to this moment.

And it is amazing how Rose Wilding has written Speak Of The Devil, each woman’s story slowly eases out with each page and each awful thing that our bodiless man has inflicted on them. It’s a tale of love, fear, abuse, hate, lies, control, correction and murder and it is brilliant. The cast is written with a real feel for how women act and feel in relationships where not everything is as it seems, the plot is wonderful and I love the fact that there is a lesbian lead character! I feel this is an important novel in today’s crime fiction as it lets women have a voice, and I blooming loved it! I could not put it down and read it over 2 days, a total page-turner from beginning to end!

A huge 5-star read and I cannot wait for Ms Wilding’s next novel – a fantastic talented writer. I hope Sperak Of The Devil wins prizes and accolades as it certainly deserves too!

Rose Wilding is a **queer, working class writer with an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Manchester**. She lived in Newcastle Upon Tyne until she was 27, where she worked in customer service, collecting idiosyncrasies from everyone she met.

You can buy Speak Of The Devil HERE

You can follow Rose Wilding on TWITTER INSTAGRAM

WELCOME TO A WORLD WHERE WOMEN HOLD THE POWER.

They dominate workplaces, public spaces and government.

They are no longer afraid to cross a dark car park, catch the last train, or walk home alone.

With the Curfew law in place, all men are electronically tagged and must stay at home after 7pm.

It changed things for the better. Until now.

A woman is murdered late at night and evidence suggests she knew her attacker.

It couldn’t have been a man because a Curfew tag is a solid alibi… Isn’t it?

I saw After Dark on Twitter and the premise caught my attention – a world in the future where men are under curfew and tagged to keep women safe ….until they aren’t!

From opening After Dark on page 1, Jayne Cowie had me gripped. I loved the idea of men being under curfew and being tagged so we women and the authorities knew where they are at all times. I’m a huge advocate of women’s safety so this book really ticked the inner feminist in me!

The storyline is blooming excellent with a superb cast of characters who are all SO well written especially the 18-year-old Cass, I had to stop myself from shouting at her (not had many books make me want to do that!) for her naivety, but the way the plot revolves around her, her mum Sarah, is a thing of exquisite beauty! And SO well written, there is not a filled out page in After Dark.

This book is going to get women thinking, it’s also going to get men thinking. And in my opinion, it’s way beyond time that we had a frank and honest conversation about women’s safety in the UK, all too often women are the ones being asked to curtail their lives – After Dark asks us why shouldn’t it be the MEN that do that?

On average 3 women are murdered by men each day in the UK – EACH DAY! The Laws of the land still have not dealt with this issue and I’m hoping that just maybe After Dark will help to address this…it is, unacceptable that women are targets of violence and femicide by men yet because we are a male-run society nothing is done to prevent this, so I cheer Jayne Cowie for bringing a difficult subject into the world of Crime Fiction..

I literally flew through After Dark in 2 days, you just won’t be able to put it down. There will be a lot of women left thinking – what if, once they’ve read After Dark!

A fantastic debut novel, by a huge talent, I hope Jayne Cowie writes some more because I shall be first in the queue to read her next book!

A fantastic feminist 5 stars from me!!