Publishers Weekly
03/11/2024
English writer Brooks follows up The Whispering House with another seductive gothic novel. This time out, the focus is on a young woman’s illicit affair during WWII. In 1942 Lincolnshire, Nina Woodrow, a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, is reacquainted with Royal Air Force officer Guy Nicholson, whom she first met eight years earlier at a dinner party hosted by her widowed father, Henry. Told by a friend that Guy is divorced from his wife, Kate, Nina begins an affair with him. Nina grew up believing her mother, Teodora, died in a car accident when she was two, but during a spooky séance with a makeshift spirit board, the letters suggest Teodora was murdered. Then Henry learns of Nina and Guy’s affair and disowns her (it turns out Guy is still married). Kate and Henry, joined together by their mutual feelings of betrayal, become friends until she discovers some disturbing information about Teodora’s death, leading her to rethink everything she thought she knew about Nina’s “soft-spoken” father. Brooks’s moody tale defies standard-issue WWII narratives of resilience, focusing instead on characters reexamining their relationships in the face of difficult truths. Readers will be rapt. Agent: Sarah Levitt, Aevitas Creative Management. (Mar.)
Annie Barrows
"The Woman in the Sable Coat isn’t just a breath of fresh air; it’s a gust, blowing away stale tropes of the World War II novel and replacing them with an intriguing tale of vivid characters caught in the snares of love, war, and deception."
Associated Press
"Exceptionally vivid. . . . a story of betrayal and unlikely friendships filled with reflective tidbits of wisdom, the novel blends WWII fiction with idyllic romance drama and a touch of macabre thriller. . . . like an updated and more approachable Jane Austen."
West Trade Review
"Ripe with psychologically-complex characters and relentless attention to detail, Brooks’ literary success comes from pushing the genre’s boundaries. . . . breathes new life into the genre of historical fiction."
Historical Novel Society
"A story of infidelity, secrets, murder, friendship, and marriage. . . . a wonderful read."
Natalie Jenner
"Reading Elizabeth Brooks's new novel The Woman in the Sable Coat feels like stepping into an alternate version of I Capture the Castle written by Patricia Highsmith and filmed by Alfred Hitchcock. A mesmerizing, psychologically complex story about two women who meet at an impromptu dinner party in the 1930s English countryside—an encounter that sets off a decade of secrets and betrayals—only to discover their dreams of romance might be the greatest self-betrayal of all. From quaint village life and a war-time RAF airbase, to the snowy wilds of Canada and a storm-tossed ocean liner, The Woman in the Sable Coat spins a literary tale full of penetrating detail, enigmatic characters, and delicious plot twists. Not since Atonement have I read a book so unexpected in its telling, or its power."
California Reading
"I was compelled to stay up way past my bedtime on more than one occasion. Highly recommended to lovers of historical fiction."
Book Page
"With a sense of suspense and menace in the vein of Daphne du Maurier. . . .The Woman in the Sable Coat is a slow burn of a novel, with a lovely, surprising moment of redemption and connection. . . at the story’s end."
Helen Simonson
"A beautifully written evocation of a young girl's coming-of-age, and plunging into womanhood and war, which gradually intensifies into a gothic unease that would make Daphne Du Maurier proud. Excellent—I could not put it down."
Booklist
"Secrets, betrayals, and compromises abound as these very different women navigate treacherous relationships to find safe harbor in Brooks' taut novel."
Library Journal
04/05/2024
When Nina Woodrow first meets Guy Nicholson, a nearby neighbor, she is a dreamy adolescent, and he is a married twentysomething with a pregnant wife. And while their lives intersect only briefly for one afternoon and evening, she doesn't forget about him. Their paths cross again during World War II when they are stationed at the same British base, and they begin an affair while Nina mistakenly believes Guy is divorced. At first, she is over the moon in love, but she soon discovers that Guy isn't as perfect as he seems. Kate, Guy's wife, learns of his infidelity when Nina stops by their house on her way to visit her father. Kate, remembering the kindness of Nina's father, turns to Henry Woodrow and befriends him as a way to deal with her grief over Guy. The two develop a friendship despite their age gap and unconventional connection. Brooks (The Whispering House) draws in readers with a unique plot and several unexpected secrets. VERDICT Told in multiple POVs, Brooks's latest features complex yet fragile characters that will engage readers until the end.—Beth Brentlinger
Kirkus Reviews
2023-12-16
The lives of two British families collide during WWII as essential truths about them are obscured by deceptions—past and ongoing—in this historical fiction (with some surprises up its sleeve).
Adolescent friends Nina Woodrow and Rose Allen spend languid prewar summers together whenever Rose visits family in the quiet English village where Nina lives with her widowed father, Henry. A chance meeting with visiting Canadian Joey Roussin leads the girls and Henry to dine with him and his friends Guy and Kate Nicholson, a married couple who’ve just moved to the village. This meeting marks the beginning of Nina’s growing awareness of (and attraction to) to men, Guy in particular. Years later, after the outbreak of war, in a somewhat orchestrated (by Nina) “coincidence,” Nina and Guy meet at the RAF air base where both are stationed. The spiraling effects of Nina and Guy’s developing relationship during the war—played out against the devastation and loss visited upon civilians and military alike—have consequences not only for the couple but also for their families and friends. Kate and son Pip are left to their own devices as Guy pursues his military and romantic goals away from home, and, intriguingly, the stolid-appearing Henry appears to represent a measure of comfort and stability to her. Using plot elements that hark back to an earlier era of storytelling and echoes of the thwarted lovers in the classic British wartime movie Brief Encounter, Brooks concocts an increasingly complex web of misunderstanding and misdirection. Kate narrates her own account of the events, while the more enigmatic Nina’s perspective is related in the third person, but it is the latter’s story that launches the narrative from a suspenseful and equivocal prologue.
A new-fashioned, old-fashioned story of love, deception, and buried secrets.
