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Simon Tolkien is the grandson of J.R.R.Tolkien, of Lord of the Rings fame. But for years Simon resisted the temptation to write fiction, concious of his grandfather's literary legacy. Instead, he trained as a barrissister - and it is the world of courtrooms and criminals that provides the inspiration for his first novel.
The Stepmother is a very British thriller; it deals with notions of class, privilege and inheritance, but it also provides a healthy dose of earthy sexual tension to beef up all that blue-bloodedness.
Written in a crisply measured style,it captures the fraught atmosphere of a high profile murder trial, where the victim is a Lady and the suspect is the wife of the Minister of Defence, Sir Peter Robinson. The star witness is Thomas, the teenage son of Lady Anne and Sir Peter, who witnessed his mother's death at their ancestral home - the magnificent House of the Four Winds, in Suffolk. Stepmother Greta is an intriguing character, seductively beautiful, with 'green cat's eyes' and a mysterious past.
As the trial progresses, snippets of Greta's early life are revealed to the reader, throwing delicious doubt on her guilt or innocence. Definitely a page turner.
The Stepmother is a very British thriller; it deals with notions of class, privilege and inheritance, but it also provides a healthy dose of earthy sexual tension to beef up all that blue-bloodedness.
Written in a crisply measured style,it captures the fraught atmosphere of a high profile murder trial, where the victim is a Lady and the suspect is the wife of the Minister of Defence, Sir Peter Robinson. The star witness is Thomas, the teenage son of Lady Anne and Sir Peter, who witnessed his mother's death at their ancestral home - the magnificent House of the Four Winds, in Suffolk. Stepmother Greta is an intriguing character, seductively beautiful, with 'green cat's eyes' and a mysterious past.
As the trial progresses, snippets of Greta's early life are revealed to the reader, throwing delicious doubt on her guilt or innocence. Definitely a page turner.