Name: Kim Tyo-Dickerson's review of The Raconteur's Commonplace Book by Kate Milford
Item: The Raconteur's Commonplace Book
Rating: 5
Author: Kim Tyo-Dickerson

Kate Milford

Barry Goldblatt Barry Goldblatt Literary Agency

Nothing is what it seems and there's always more than one side to the story as a group of strangers trapped in an inn slowly reveal their secrets in this new standalone mystery set in the world of the best-selling Greenglass House, from a National Book Award nominee and Edgar Award-winning author. The rain hasn't stopped for a week, and the twelve guests of the Blue Vein Tavern are trapped by flooded roads and the rising Skidwrack River. Among them are a ship's captain, tattooed twins, a musician, and a young girl traveling on her own. To pass the time, they begin to tell stories--each a different type of folklore--that eventually reveal more about their own secrets than they intended. As the rain continues to pour down--an uncanny, unnatural amount of rain--the guests begin to realize that the entire city is in danger, and not just from the flood. But they have only their stories, and one another, to save them. Will it be enough?

A Greenglass House Story

The Raconteur's Commonplace Book

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

Sarah Sammis

The Raconteur's Commonplace Book by Kate Milford first appeared as a framing device for Greenglass House (2014). (See also the road narrative spectrum reading of the book). Unexpected guests staying over a Christmas blizzard discuss their favorite tales from the book while recapitulating many of them at the inn.

Seven years later, we get to read a new edition that includes material not present in the "slim red volume" Milo was given. Both Greenglass House and The Raconteur's Commonplace Book were inspired by a Charles Dickens novella, The Holly-Tree Inn (1855).

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2021/comm...

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Time to re-read immediately this puzzle-box of a book full of folklore, fairy tales, nods to both Charles Dickens and Agatha Christie, and it's timeless atmosphere where the uncanny rains keep falling, the flood waters keep rising, and a menacing dread builds as all the characters, initially unconnected, start to recognize each other for who they truly are, evoking taverns full of strangers who have tales to tell and secrets to hide. A return to the storytelling rounds and enigmatic constellations of inn keepers and travellers of the first book in the Greenglass House series, this fifth book can be read on its own but is oh-so creepily rewarding to read after the previous books where the clues and characters intertwine with all that's come before. And, I hope, hinting at more fantastical stories to come in the future!

Kim Tyo-Dickerson &
The Raconteur's Commonplace Book by Kate Milford

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Kim Tyo-Dickerson &The Raconteur's Commonplace Book by Kate Milford

Reviews

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Kim Tyo-Dickerson &
The Raconteur's Commonplace Book by Kate Milford