Should You Ask Me

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What to expect

'I've come about the bodies. I know who they are.'

Just before D-Day in 1944, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, an elderly woman walks into a police station. She has information, she says, about human remains recently discovered nearby.

The bodies could have stayed buried for ever - like the pain and passion that put them there. But Mary Holmes is finally ready to tell the truth.

The young constable sent to take her statement is still suffering from the injuries that ended his army career. As he tries to make sense of her tale, William finds himself increasingly distracted. Mary's confession forces his own violent memories to the surface - betrayals and regrets as badly healed as his war wounds.

Over six days, as pressure builds for the final push in Europe, two lives reveal their secrets. Should You Ask Me is a captivating story about people at their worst and best: raw, rich, and utterly compelling.

(P)2017 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critics Review

Charming, gleeful, a delight...brings Britain at war to vivid life
Guinevere Glasfurd, author of The Words in my Hand
An intriguing and atmospheric novel, cleverly interweaving different times and crimes through an elderly and most unreliable narrator...absorbing
Amanda Craig, author of The Lie of the Land
Vivid and brilliantly gripping. I was captivated from the first page.
Esther Freud, author of Hideous Kinky
Intriguing... Just when you think there is no way to draw all the threads to a satisfying close, Marianne Kavanagh does it.
Woman
An unputdownable combination of thriller and psychological drama
Emma Thompson
Kavanagh is a perceptive and vivid writer and this tale of ordinary lives transformed by extraordinary events has so much period atmosphere, you can practically hear the air-raid sirens.
Daily Mail
Marianne Kavanagh's novel succeeds on so many levels. It's a thriller, a love story, a vivid portrait of wartime England, a cautionary tale, but above all, it's a fascinating study of suppressed guilt and the human need for absolution through confession. I absolutely loved it
David Haig, actor and playwright
A beautifully written and gripping novel - boldly traversing genres and historical eras, yet always compassionate, wise and humane
Joanna Kavenna, author of A Field Guide to Reality
A genuinely mysterious thriller, with an intense sense of time and place - a historical novel of a very different sort
Andrew Marr
A moving Hardy-esque story of love, lies and loss thrown into sharp relief by its vivid WW2 setting. Indomitable Mary Holmes is a memorable character.
Elisabeth Wilhide, author of If I Could Tell You
A highly emotional mediation on memory, ageing, guilt, and regret... Kavanagh's multi-layered narrative considers its reliability in a compelling reflection on time and perception, whilst immersing the reader in a rich historical landscape.
Literature Works
This ingenious page-turner, set in a a Dorset police station in 1944, will keep you guessing until the end...Marianne Kavanagh has produced an original brainteaser of a read
The Lady
Very distinctive, almost genre-defying novel
Dorset Echo
It is an absolutely thrilling compelling and delightful read and the plot is so intricate. The characters are incredibly realistic and there is so much atmosphere I felt that I was transported back to the time period
Katherine's Book Universe
Should You Ask Me is an absolute master class in story-telling
Jaffa Reads Too
Should You Ask Me is one of the most unique books I've had the pleasure of reading
Passages to the Past
Part murder mystery, part historical tale, this is a read that blends both genres together in intriguing style.
Woman's Own

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