#BookReview-‘You Let Me In’ by Camilla Bruce

About the book…

The eccentric, infamous and exceedingly wealthy romantic novelist Cassandra Tipp has vanished.

But she has left behind what seems to be a letter. Everyone knows Cassie has twice been accused of murder. Her family have long been convinced of her guilt. Could this be her confession? Or her last will and testament?

It turns out to be not quite what anyone expected. For the letter recounts two extraordinary, darkly disturbing stories.

One is the story of bloody nights and magical gifts, of children lost to the woods, of husbands made from twigs and leaves and sticks and stones . . .

The other is the story of a little girl who was cruelly treated and who grew crooked in the shadows . . .

But which story should we believe? Both stories might be true. Both stories end in murder.

And where is Cassie now? Dead in a ditch, or gone from this world . . . and into another?

‘You Let Me In’ is an extraordinary tale of supernatural seduction and the story of an abused child. Crossing the boundaries between the reality and somewhere else entirely, we are shown our world – judgemental and cruel – and offered glimpses of another, dark and rather different place that is hidden to most of us.

This debut novel is published by Transworld via Penguin Random House on March 5th, huge thanks to the publishers for letting me read an ebook arc via Netgalley.

This book completely threw me through a window into another universe-it was an unexpected, thrilling and darkly twisted take on the fairy tales most children are raised on.
For every beautiful princess who has a happy ending, there are the foundling children who do not fit in, who make bargains and deals with fae that are never quite as they seem, the lonely ones whose sadness acts as a beacon to otherworldly forces.
This is one of those tales-what starts out as a missing person tale with a deeply gothic backdrop, takes on a life of its own as it explores the painful childhood and adolescence of writer,. Cassandra, or Cassie, Tipp.
She has completely vanished, the book opens with her two remaining relatives -the children of her sister, Olivia-arriving at her writing room to read her final manuscript, where they can find the hidden password and claim their inheritence.
Her very strict provisors will not only provide an explanation of her presence in their lives but also determine both Janus and Penelope’s futures…
In Greek mythology, Cassandra was cursed to always tell the truth whilst no one ever believed her, so this Cass is very aptly named. Beyond identifying the place where this story takes place as S-ville, this has a quintessentially European feel , with a timelessness that is both contemporary and could yet be set in any period.
This transferability of time and space gives the narrative a dreamlike quality that I loved, it totally swept me away whilst rooting me in the respect of presenting Cass as an unreliable narrator.
Alongside the tragedies which have beset Cass-the deaths of her husband/brother/father-these have given her the foundation for her writing career as a romance novelist, one who believes in the possibility of lasting love.
In sharp contrast, Cass relates an abandoned childhood where her existence was at best an embarrassment, at worst a dangerous cuckoo in the nest. The reader discovers her history at the same time as her relatives who have grown up under the impression that Cass is morally, if not actually legally proven to be, responsible for death, destruction and dishonour of the family name.
Following the death of her husband Thomas Tipp, for which she was aquitted, supposition and rumour have dogged her days adding to the impression that she was an ungainly child, often threatened with incarceration and doctors for her bizarre behaviour.
What Cass believes she experienced is the love and kinship of the fae who are unlike any other you will have read about or encountered-these are dangerous folk who, once invited, will claim ownership of you for life.
In the Pepper-man, the companion of childhood Cass, Camilla Bruce has created a dark, disturbing version of an imaginery friend who alternately takes as much as the gifts that he leaves.
A mystery, a gothic chiller, a study in psychosis mixed with a literary thriller, who will you believe when you let this unusual tale worm its way into your consciousness?

About the author…

Camilla was born in central Norway and grew up in an old forest, next to an Iron Age burial mound. She has a master’s degree in comparative literature and a varied work history in communications and project management. Camilla currently lives in Trondheim with her son and cat.

Links-https://camillabruce.com/

Twitter @millacream @TransworldBooks @penguinrandom