The Night of the Flood by Zoe Somerville - Book Review

Books

*AD-Gifted: I received a copy of The Night of the Flood in exchange for this post. Affiliate links in this post will be clearly marked with a *

Today it’s my turn on the blog tour for The Night of the Flood by Zoe Somerville. An atmospheric literary thriller set in North Norfolk in the shadow of the Cold War, in which a love triangle turns murderous.

The Night of the Flood by Zoe Somerville - Book Review

Book Description

Summer, 1952. Verity Frost, stranded on her family farm on the Norfolk coast, is caught between two worlds: the devotion of her childhood friend Arthur, just returned from National Service, and a strange new desire to escape it all. Arthur longs to escape too, but only with Verity by his side.

Into their world steps Jack, a charismatic American pilot flying secret reconnaissance missions off the North Sea coast. But where Verity sees adventure and glamour, Arthur sees only deception. As the water levels rise to breaking point, this tangled web of secrets, lies, and passion will bring about a crime that will change all their lives.

Taking the epic real-life North Sea flood as its focus, The Night of the Flood is at once a passionate love story, an atmospheric thriller, and a portrait of a distinctive place in a time of radical social change.

What I Thought

The Night of the Flood made me stop and think about what I was actually reading. I’m normally quite a fast reader and eager to see how it all ends. However, with The Night of the Flood, I took my time and really got into the story. It took me back to the 1950s and what life was like back then building up to the night of the North Sea flood on the 31st January 1953.

Verity and her brother Peter live on their parent’s farm. Arthur, once a child evacuee is back from doing his National Service. He wants to settle down with his childhood sweetheart Verity. Whereas she wants to travel and go to uni, much to her Father’s disappointment as he wants her to marry a wealthy farmer’s son. In comes Jack, a mysterious high flying pilot from the American Air Force base down the road.

It starts off building up to this night, then when you reach that night it steps up a gear. If you are into novels full of secrets, desire and obsession all tangled up into a love triangle, this is a read for you. The whole tangled mess erupts on the night of the flood. It’s sad to read about people losing possessions, needing rescuing and struggling to save their homes with the fast-rising water levels. Emotions and jealously become the main plot throughout. Teasing and taunting the reader, egging you to read on.

I would highly recommend giving The Night of the Flood a read, this Autumn. A good one to curl up with as the evenings draw in.

Many thanks to Head of Zeus, and Zoe Somerville for the chance to read and review this atmospheric thriller and joining the tour.

Author

Zoe Somerville is a writer and English teacher. Having lived all over the world – Japan, France, Washington – she now lives in Bath with her family.

After completing a creative writing MA at Bath Spa, Zoe started writing her debut novel, which is inspired by her home county, Norfolk, and the devastating North Sea flood of the 1950s.