The Unexpected Return of Josephine Fo..., Claire Gradidge
The Unexpected Return of Josephine Fo..., Claire Gradidge
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
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The Unexpected Return of Josephine Fox

Author: Claire Gradidge

Narrator: Lucy Price-Lewis

Unabridged: 8 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/25/2023


Synopsis

April 1941, Romsey, England.

Josephine 'Jo' Fox hasn't set foot in Romsey in over twenty years. As an illegitimate child, her family—headed by her controlling grandfather—found her an embarrassment. Now, she wants to return to what was once her home and uncover the secret of her parentage. Who was her father and why would her mother never talk about him?

Jo arrives the day after the Luftwaffe have bombed the town. The local pub has been completely destroyed and rescue teams are searching for the remains of the seven people known to have been in the pub at the time the bomb hit. They are shocked, however, to uncover eight bodies instead. The eighth, unidentified, body is that of a teenage girl, who no one in the town claims to know. Who is she, how did she get there, but most importantly—who killed her?

Teaming up with local coroner and old friend, Bram Nash, Jo sets out to establish the identity of the girl and solve the riddle of her death. In doing so, she also uncovers her own personal mystery.

Everyone has secrets—some are just more deadly than others . . .

About Claire Gradidge

Claire Gradidge was born and brought up in Romsey. After a career as, among other things, a nurse and a school librarian, she went to the University of Winchester, where she graduated in 2009 with a first-class honors BA in creative writing. In January 2018, she was awarded a PhD in creative writing and The Unexpected Return of Josephine Fox was written as the creative element of her PhD study. An early version of the opening 3000 words was highly commended in the Good Housekeeping magazine competition in 2012.

She has taught at the University of Winchester as an associate lecturer for six years and has also had some short fictions and poems published in South, Orbis, and Vortex. She has been married for forty years and has two adult sons.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Liz

I totally understand why this won the Richard and Judy search for a bestseller, it was immediately involving, beautifully written and a right old page turner. The historical war setting comes to life, the author uses small insights to set the scene- into this scene comes Josephine Fox, banished after......more

Me ha sorprendido un montón. El crimen a investigar tiene muchísimo más peso del que pensaba y se entremezcla con el pasado de nuestra protagonista. Muy recomendable para quienes disgruten con novelas de misterio.......more

Goodreads review by Eleanor

Murder mystery set on WWII sees the strongly determined character of Josephine Fox return to her home town to find out about her origins. She gets caught up with a murder mystery when an old friend, the local coroner, needs an assistant. I liked the pace of this book and the setting was effectively w......more