Monikavon Clare Marchant
erschienen 2025 bei Boldwood Books
englischer Klappentext: „1644: Portia is living in London, having escaped an abusive man in Italy, with just baby Vittoria and the clothes on their backs. Making her living reading tarot cards, she starts to realise there are other women like her – who need help. As she delivers the Devil card to their door, each has the chance to escape… But to what future? Because Portia is a woman with secrets. And they are about to come back to haunt her.
Now: After her mother’s death and father’s hasty plans to remarry, Beatrice has left home to open a tarot shop in London. But when she’s unpacking, she finds a set of cards she’s never seen before, one that’s evidently been handed down through generations of her family. It’s a set that is missing a card though… the Devil’s Card. She begins to search for the lost card, but she also starts to hear rumours of that very card being linked to a series of murders of women in 17th century London…
Will she find the truth… or will she only see the illusions the cards are suggesting?
Two women’s stories, linked by the tarot cards in their family. And a mystery that spans generations…“
Cooles Cover, spannender Klappentext – und da ich schon mal eine „time-slip-Novel“ von Ms Marchant begeistert gelesen habe, habe ich hier zugeschlagen :-). Ich mag diese Art von Plot, wenn sich auf zwei zeitlichen Ebenen Geschichten entspannen, die dann peu à peu zusammengeführt werden. Wir haben hier wieder eine Ebene im hier und jetzt, und eine, die ein paar Jahrhunderte zuvor an etwa den selben Schauplätzen spielt, und in denen jeweils eine starke Frauengestalt die Hauptrolle spielt. Die beiden Protagonistinnen sind also durch die Jahrhunderte hinweg miteinander verbunden. Okay, das Rad hat die Autorin mit diesem Aufbau ihres Romans nicht neu erfunden – muss aber auch nicht, die Geschichte war auf jeden Fall per se neu und hat mich gefesselt!
Wir sind (hauptsächlich) in London, und in der heutigen Zeit spielt Beatrice die Hauptrolle. Sie ist neu nach Hampstead gezogen und hat hier einen Shop für Tarotkarten und -lesungen eröffnet. Beim Auspacken ihrer Umzugskisten findet sie ein lang vergessenes Kartendeck, das sich über die Generationen hinweg in ihrer Familie vererbt hat. Historisch, alt, somit wertvoll – aber nicht wirklich brauchbar, denn eine Karte fehlt. Der Teufel. Beatrice beschließt, diese Karte zu suchen….
Die zweite zeitliche Ebene spielt 1644. Die Italienerin Portia ist vor 15 Jahren mit ihrer Tochter Vittoria und Freundin Maria unter dramatischen Umständen von Mailand nach London geflüchtet, und verdient ihren Lebensunterhalt mit Tarotlesungen. Allerdings nicht nur – sie hilft auch anderen Frauen in Nöten zur Flucht bei häuslicher Gewalt, und als Erkennungszeichen dient hier eine spezielle Tarotkarte….die des Teufels.
Soviel kann man durchaus zum Plot verraten, es ist schon relativ schnell klar, dass die Tarotkarten die Verbindung zwischen den Erzählsträngen sind – faszinierend und spannend wird es, die Reise der beiden Frauen mitzuverfolgen. Und die Teufelskarte steht, so haben wir Leser es jetzt gelernt, für die große Frage, was ist echt und was ist Illusion im Leben? Eine Frage die sich Portia und Beatrice selbst immer wieder stellen müssen….
Mein Leseeindruck: Sehr sehr spannend. Ich fand vor allen den historischen Part interessant. Ein Haushalt nur aus Frauen, der sich in diesen Zeiten gut durchschlägt, ist per se schon mal faszinierend, und Portia hat schon ein paar sehr coole Sachen gemacht. Der Roman war insgesamt – erwartungsgemäß bei der Autorin 🙂 – sehr flüssig und mitreißend geschrieben, und die Geschichte hat mich abgeholt. Wir hatten in beiden Erzählsträngen auch eine Lovestory, und zwar jedes mal ohne großes überflüssiges Drama, was mir auch sehr gut gefallen hat, das war jeweils schön, romantisch, passend – und die Romantik hat sich wie gesagt gut in den Rest der Story eingepasst. Es ging hier um die Karten und die Verbindung der beiden Frauen zueinander und um die Dinge, die Frauen bewegen können, um die persönliche Freiheit, und die Liebesgeschichten waren nett „drumherum“, aber der Roman hätte wunderbar auch ohne funktioniert.
Ja, insgesamt eine richtig gute Story, ein toller Roman, der mich wunderbar unterhalten hat. Ich freue mich auf Ms Marchants nächste Bücher!
Herzlichen Dank an Netgalley und den Verlag für das Rezensionsexemplar!!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
englisch review:
Cool cover, exciting blurb – and since I’d already enthusiastically read a „time-slip novel“ by Ms. Marchant, I jumped at this one :-). I like this kind of plot, when stories unfold on two temporal levels that are then gradually brought together.
Here, we have one level in the here and now, and one that takes place a few centuries earlier in roughly the same setting, each featuring a strong female character. So, the two protagonists are connected across the centuries. Okay, the author didn’t reinvent the wheel with this structure of her novel – but it didn’t need to; the story was definitely new in itself and captivated me!
We’re (mostly) in London, and Beatrice plays the main role in the present day. She’s recently moved to Hampstead and opened a shop for tarot cards and readings. While unpacking her moving boxes, she finds a long-forgotten deck of cards that has been passed down through the generations in her family. Historical, old, and therefore valuable—but not really useful, because one card is missing. The Devil. Beatrice decides to search for this card….
The second time frame takes place in 1644. 15 years ago, the Italian woman Portia fled from Milan to London with her daughter Vittoria and friend Maria under dramatic circumstances, and earns her living by reading tarot cards. But not only that—she also helps other women in need to escape domestic violence, and a special tarot card serves as a distinguishing symbol here…that of the Devil.
This much can be revealed about the plot: it quickly becomes clear that the tarot cards are the link between the narrative threads—and following the journey of the two women becomes fascinating and exciting. The Devil card, as we readers have now learned, represents the big question: what is real and what is illusion in life? A question that Portia and Beatrice have to ask themselves again and again….
My reading impression: Very, very exciting. I found the historical part particularly interesting. A household of only women that manages to survive in these times is fascinating in itself, and Portia has done some really cool things. Overall, the novel was – as expected from the author 🙂 – very fluid and grippingly written, and the story grabbed my attention. We also had a love story in both narrative strands, each without any unnecessary drama, which I really liked; it was beautiful, romantic, and fitting – and, as I said, the romance fit well with the rest of the story. The story was about the cards and the connection between the two women, and about the things that women can achieve, about personal freedom, and the love stories were nice „surroundings,“ but the novel would have worked wonderfully without them.
Yes, overall, a really good story, a great novel that kept me wonderfully entertained. I’m looking forward to Ms. Marchant’s next books!
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy!
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
| A Letter from Clare Marchant! |
| Hello, lovely readers!I hope everyone is excited to read Daughter of the Tarot. This was one of my most favourite books to write – such a fascinating subject! I am quite new to reading tarot cards, but when I began to research, I became engrossed in them.My attention was first caught when I saw some pictures of ancient cards, and (as ever, I can’t resist some historical research!) I started reading about their beginnings. They originated in Renaissance Italy as a type of playing card used in a trick-taking game similar to bridge called ‘Tarocchini’ and would have been played by wealthy people, a status symbol sometimes decorated with their heraldic colours. It’s possible the Major Arcana, the picture cards, were based on the carnival pageants, with people in costume, which relates to certain cards, such as Justice, and the Devil. Not only were these entertaining, but they also spelt out a lesson in morals to the majority of poor people who couldn’t read.From there, the original playing cards evolved into the sets we know today, which are used for readings. The oldest deck still known to be in existence is the Visconti-Sforza, which dates back to the fifteenth century, which was when Portia’s own pack had been created.The fact that the cards came from Italy was perfect for the historical part of the book, Portia’s story. And, as is referred to in the book, an epidemic of the plague did indeed tear through Milan in 1629. I love the mystery which surrounds the cards, and I found the moral of the Devil card, ‘what is truth and what is an illusion’ especially fascinating, and one I wanted to explore in the book.I hope you enjoy reading Daughter of the Tarot as much as I loved writing it! |
(from: Boldbooks Newsletter 15 – 8 – 25)
