Release: May 22, 2022
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Matador
Source: Zooloos Book Tours
Find it at: Goodreads, Amazon
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In 1844 Enoch Price was born into poverty. An ambitious youth, he becomes a bare-knuckle fighter amongst London’s underworld. In debt to a violent and unscrupulous moneylender and facing ruin and imprisonment, he escapes to Jacksonville, Florida. He abandons his wife and three young daughters, a decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life. By the time he arrives in Florida, Enoch Price has become Harry Mason.
Through a series of thrilling and risky escapades, he plays an important role in the development and history of Jacksonville. He builds an extraordinary new life of political and financial notoriety, the shooting of a rival, and the concealment of a murder. Despite imploring his wife to join him, she declines, exhausted by his lies. Tormented by loneliness and guilt, Harry seeks solace through a bigamous marriage . This leads him into a web of deceit as he tries to conceal his true identity and past.
Meanwhile, lauded and enjoying popular success, Harry is elected in 1903 to the Florida State House of Representatives with the prospect of becoming State Governor. He advances his business interests through a series of corrupt practices. He becomes a wealthy and successful politician. However, success brings neither happiness nor contentment, and, seeking redemption, Harry plans to return home. But life is rarely that simple as the First World War breaks out, the Spanish flu pandemic takes its toll, and the American government introduces prohibition. Will there be a good end for Harry, or will his secrets prove to be the death of him?
Author Bio:
After retiring as a senior police officer, I turned my detective skills to genealogy, tracing my family history to the 16th century. However, after 15 years of extensive research, I couldn’t track down my great-great-grandfather, Enoch Price, whose wife, Eliza, had helped raise my mother. It was my cousin Gillian who called one day to say that she had found him through a fluke encounter. Susan Sperry from California, who had recently retired, decided to explore the box of documents given to her thirty years before by her mother, which she had never opened. In the box, she found some references to her great grandfather, Harry Mason, a wealthy hotel owner from Florida who had died in 1919.
It soon transpired that Susan’s great grandfather, Harry Mason, was, in fact, Enoch Price. From this single thread, the extraordinary story of Harry Mason began to unravel, leading me to visit the States to meet my American cousins, and it was Susan Sperry and Kimberly Mason, direct descendants, who persuaded me to write the book.
I graduated from Warwick with a joint in Philosophy and Psychology and a Masters in Marketing from UWE. Since leaving a thirty-year career in policing, I’ve been a non executive director with the NHS, social housing, and other charities.
I live with my wife in Bristol, spending my time travelling, writing and producing delicious plum jam from the trees on my award-winning allotment
Burning Secret Review:
“Burning Secret” is a compelling historical fiction novel about a man who starts a new life whose past comes to haunt him, and I found the story entertaining.
Firstly, I enjoyed the author’s writing style. He writes the scenes so articulately and detailed that I was reading a true classic from that time. The way he progresses with Harry’s life and struggles while adding key historical elements like the World War and the Spanish Flu makes the story complex.
Moreover, I liked Harry in the lead. He is not someone you will immediately like, but you feel a bit bad for him as the story progresses. I enjoyed reading his storyline with Bessie and Eliza, and even though I anticipated it would not end well, it was entertaining to see how the author wrote it. I liked the supporting cast too! Nicky was also one of my favorites, and I liked how the author gave him importance. As the story progresses, you see new people enter Harry’s life and how he also grows up professionally. The author nicely balances the dynamics of Harry’s personal and professional career, and in the end, you feel like you have read the biography of someone prominent.
Perhaps the only downside to the tale is how it took me time to get into the novel. I didn’t find Enoch’s life interesting initially, and the story took off for me only once “Harry” came into the picture.
Overall, “Burning Secret” slowly draws you into the tale but grabs your attention as you read it.
Book Tour Schedule
I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the Burning Secret by RJ Lloyd Blog Tour hosted by Zooloos Book Tours.
Thank you so much for taking part in the tour and for sharing your review x
Thank you Rajiv for taking part in Zooloos Book Blog Tour, and thanks for the great review. It would be wonderful to see it on Amazon and/or Goodreads.
Reviews and opinions are so important for both authors and readers. Thank you.