Stella Moon, self-confessed killer of her own mother, has just got out of prison. But the shadows of her old life won't let her move on, and she ends up having to stay in her grandmother's boarded-up boarding house with the creepy Frank Fanshaw, as more and more dark secrets from her past emerge. Incredibly intense, with descriptions that make your skin crawl, you feel you're really there with the characters and the book is a total page-turner as Stella grips onto you and won't let go!

This book will travel in a ray.

Here is the order:
Plum-crazy (in UK, post UK, or Europe if needed)
Diane-Fraser (in UK, post UK, or Europe or international if needed)
Icila (in France, post anywhere)
BaiLong (in China, post anywhere)
azuki (in US, post ?)
minesayn (in US, post US or international if needed)
Bookworm-lady (in Spain, post Europe or international if needed)
Flutterbies9 (In UK, post UK or EU)

Please don't keep the book for more than two months, and please could you all post a review on Amazon?

On its way to Plum-crazy who is first in the ray. Enjoy! :)

It's here! Really loooking forward to this....thanks greenbadger :o)

This has to be one of the most creepy & atmospheric...& at times harrowing... stories I've read in a long time.

The prologue is Stella's statement to the police so we know she killed her mother but the reason isn't known to either the reader or it would appear, to Stella. Released from prison Stella heads for home.The thought of Stella returning to the old boarding house where she'd once lived filled me with trepidation, a dank & gloomy building that wouldn't have been out of place in a horror novel was all the more scary for the memories it was hiding.

The characters were just as unpleasant as the house as well as being manipulative, all with their own agendas . I didn't like any of them (though mainly Frank & Ruby) but I don't mean that in a bad way! The writer did such a good job of portraying their darker sides, how could you feel anything but anger/frustration/despair (take your pick!) at the way they treated Stella. - even Probation Officer Gareth seemed to see Stella only as a means to further his career. As to Stella herself, strangely, while I wanted her to learn the truth about her past I never felt much sympathy for her. As for Baby Keating though, on two occasions I swear when I realised what was happening, my skin literally crawled *shudder*

For me,the epilogue, in the form of a letter to Marcia tied in beautifully with the start of the book bringing it a full circle.

A truly original read, I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it.

On it's way to Diane-Fraser.....

OMG! It's here already. Now do I take it to Benidorm or.........
nah it'll wait until I get back, I want to enjoy the sun, sea and sangria and keep the glue on the spine ;-)

Can't wait, thanks for passing it on Plum-crazy.

I loved it. Creepy and full of suspense. Living in the area it is based in also was a bonus, catching a bus down Chillingham Road was really easy to visualise - shops and all!!

Dropped it in to the Post Office this evening - off to Icila ☺

Enjoy!!

And here it is ! Thank you and a bag of kisses for all of you.

I loved it too. A jolly good job !
Thank you greenbadger for sharing.

On its way to China. Enjoy !

Got it, thanks!

A gripping read. It was fascinating plunging in the mind and history of the different characters.

Enjoy!

A few days ago I got a post office slip that I have a register mail to pick up. I was totally puzzled as to what it could be. Finally get today off to go to the post office, and surprise, it's a book from Shanghai! Even the post office clerk was intrigued about a book that came half way around the world by registered mail.

So book has safely arrived. I'm making a slow going with another book right now, will start on this next.

An intense story, the author is very good at building suspense and pushing the story along, showing all the characters with their dark sides (except for the angelic Marcia.) At the end of the story I still don't know exactly what happened, but things are resolved, and it was a good read. I do find that Frank in the last few chapters seem too different from the Frank in the first half, it's hard to consider him the same character.

Thanks for sharing, I have minesayn's address and will mail it out next week.

Picked this up at the post office today because of postage due. Will read and get it sent out as soon as possible to the next reader in the ring/ray.

Matricide? It just sounds creepy, doesn't it? And it is just the one thing the reader knows from the outset, that Stella Moon confessed to killing her mother, Muriel.

Stella has served her sentence, and she is now out of prison, but things are not what they seem. Making her way back to the house she grew up in, Stella finds a boarded-up wreck of a place and trouble, lots of trouble as memories crowd in. Creepy and mesmerizing, this story will give the reader chills, cause the reader to shudder as the story is slowly revealed. Poor Stella...everyone has used her in one way or the other except for Marcia.
Marcia may be the sole redeeming character.

The epilogue is a must read as the reader learns about Stella's ultimate fate, and the story wraps around nicely.

Thanks greenbadger for starting this ring; thanks azuki for sending it to me.

"No two persons ever read the same book."--Edmund Wilson

Sharing this book with the wider world--enjoy!
I have either registered it, or received it from another person who is willing to share it, too. Consider logging onto www.bookcrossing.com and letting us know where it is been and where it is going next. It can be done anonymously or join the site as a member.

Sending via the post...hope it arrives in a timely manner.
PS. Reviews posted on Amazon and Goodreads.

And the book is here!
Thanks for sending it all the way from U.S.A., Minesayn, and thanks for sharing, Greenbadger.
I have enjoyed reading all your reviews; as I seem to be last in the bookray, I can take my time to read it...

Currently reading it.
A new BCer was added to the list, Flutterbies9, so I will ask for her address and send it on as soon as I finish reading it.
Thanks for sharing, greenbadger! :)

Well, I have mixed opinions about this novel.
On one hand, I found it quite compelling and could not stop reading it, many plot twists and turns to keep you guessing.
But on the other hand, I found it grim and rather depressing, too much dirt, darkness and vomiting... I don't understand why Stella did not accept the initial offer for good lodgings, except for the fact that this would have not led to everything that happened to her during the novel.
I found no likable characters, no-one to relate to... Even Marcia is quite an abstract, as we only know her through Stella's eyes... I agree with Azuki regarding Frank, what a complete transformation!
Thanks for sharing, Greenbadger, and sorry that I kept it for so long, it will soon continue to its new reader...

Sent today to the next (and last) reader in this bookray.
Sorry for my delay... and enjoy! :)

Many thanks for this book. The book reached me safely on Wednesday although it has taken me until Friday to journal it, my fault entirely. Been trying to get out my fifth bookbox of the week and doing things in batches of books to go and to journal.

I see I am the last in this ray at present (perhaps someone else may join as I did) so good to have some time to read this as my tbr piles are toppling over now!

Oh wow. Another appreciative reader here, I could hardly bear to put it down it was so fascinating and gripping.

Sorry it has taken me so long to get around to this but the lockdown has finally let me get down to some of the more distant of the books I have and this was one of them!

I have to agree with previous readers in that the prologue and epilogue were brilliant 'wrap arounds' to contain the whole story, the majority of the characters were not easy to empathise with, Frank's character seemed to veer from one extreme to the other, the vivid descriptions were both atmospheric and telling. I have not read any by this author before but am now going to go and see if I can find anything.

I do have a plan to move this book on, now that I have finally read it, to another bookcrosser who I know will appreciate it also.

A well travelled book, travelling further. I am sure you will appreciate this one!

Many thanks Flutterbies9 this arrived in a box of goodies, a couple of weeks ago, and as you know I had scheduled the boxes opening as a treat upon getting some tasks completed. So here we go those tasks completed, and at last this JE.
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Book burble: A timely and intelligent book … passion, insight and a real understanding of both risk and mercy … delicately explores the tangled layers of family grief and guilt.’ AL KENNEDY
‘Shelley Day’s voice is exciting and unique … and her fiction thematically rich.’ JACKIE KAY

1977: A killer is released from prison and returns home to a decaying, deserted boarding house choked with weeds and foreboding. Memories of strange rituals, gruesome secrets and shame hang heavy in the air, exerting a brooding power over young Stella Moon. She is eager to restart her life, but first she must confront the ghosts of her macabre family history and her own shocking crime. Guilt, paranoia and manipulation have woven a tangled web of truth and lies. All is ambiguous. Of only one thing is she certain... Stella Moon killed her own mother.

THE CONFESSION OF STELLA MOON by SHELLEY DAY (2016) | ISBN: 9781910192412 | Publisher: Contraband, www.saraband.net