The Poison Keeper by Deborah Swift #BookReview #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour @swiftstory @maryanneyarde

 

The Poison Keeper

By Deborah Swift

Publication Date: 18th May 2021. Publisher: Quire Books. Page Length: 394 Pages. Genre: Historical Fiction

Naples 1633

Aqua Tofana – One drop to heal. Three drops to kill.

Giulia Tofana longs for more responsibility in her mother’s apothecary business, but Mamma has always been secretive and refuses to tell Giulia the hidden keys to her success. When Mamma is arrested for the poisoning of the powerful Duke de Verdi, Giulia is shocked to uncover the darker side of her trade.

Giulia must run for her life, and escapes to Naples, under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, to the home of her Aunt Isabetta, a famous courtesan. But when Giulia hears that her mother has been executed, and the cruel manner of her death, she swears she will wreak revenge on the Duke de Verdi.

The trouble is, Naples is in the grip of Domenico, the Duke’s brother, who controls the city with the ‘Camorra’, the mafia. Worse, her Aunt Isabetta, under Domenico’s thrall, insists that she should be consort to him – the brother of the man she has vowed to kill.

Based on the legendary life of Giulia Tofana, this is a story of hidden family secrets, and how even the darkest desires can be vanquished by courage and love.

‘Her characters so real they linger in the mind long after the book is back on the shelf’ Historical Novel Society

Book Rating:

📚📚📚📚📚 ⭐ = A book in a million.

📚📚📚📚📚 = I could not put this book down. I Highly Recommend it.

📚📚📚📚 = A really great read.

📚📚📚 = It was enjoyable.

📚📚 = It was okay.

📚 = Um...! 😕

My Review

The Poison Keeper

📚📚📚📚📚 ⭐ = A book in a million.

I am so excited to share my thoughts of The Poison Keeper with you today. I have never read a book by Deborah Swift but I have heard brilliant things about her books so I could not wait to get started. And guess what, everything that is said about Swift's writing is true, this book is amazing!!

The story follows the life of Giulia whose life is turned upside down by her mother's shenanigans - her mother is a healer but she also likes to dabble in poison, and this comes back to bite her because she has been selling poison to the Duke de Verdi wife, but Lady Valentina has a change of heart and decides not to kill her husband - a mistake that both Lady Valentina and Giulia will come to deeply regret. The Duke, being the unforgiving sort, seeks his revenge, and thus the story begins. This novel is about a young woman who is forced to flee for her life. She takes refuge at her aunt's house - but it turns out her aunt is a courtesan which causes all sorts of problems. I am not going to say any more because this book is just so exciting that I want you to read it for yourself and to enjoy the richness of the story and the dramatic historical backdrop. 

There are villains aplenty in this novel and there are some scenes that some readers might find very upsetting. I certainly found myself in tears on more than one occasion.

I thought this novel was a wonderfully written and very insightful story. I will certainly be checking out more novels from this very talented author. 

This novel really is a book in a million!

You can find this novel on Amazon. It is also available on #KindleUnlimited

Deborah Swift lives in the north of England and is a USA Today bestselling author who has written fourteen historical novels to date. Her first novel, The Lady’s Slipper, set in 17th Century England, was shortlisted for the Impress Prize, and her WW2 novel Past Encounters was a BookViral Millennium Award winner. 

Deborah enjoys writing about ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances, and most of her novels have been published in reading group editions. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University and is a mentor with The History Quill.

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