Darkling

The lives of two women, centuries apart are curiously entwined. Beatty makes you feel the layers of history existing alongside the present, so that the stories blend seamlessly... Beautifully written...

The Times

Binding together the lives of two different yet strangely similar women, Beatty weaves a ruminative and richly rewarding narrative

Hephzibah Anderson, Daily Mail

A well-researched novel, bringing exciting historical events into an engaging and easily absorbed format. By merit of her excellent writing, Beatty has avoided the usual pitfalls of historical novels by giving it a modern twist, moving effortlessly between the past and present. I glimpsed what life might have been like in England nearly four hundred years ago... Prepare to be reeled in hook, line and sinker with Darkling – it won’t disappoint!

Culturefly

From the virtuoso opening chapter, Beatty takes an offbeat, impressionistic approach... She is interested in the darkness of history, belief and the motivations of the heart: in how "places make people". Beatty's prose swoops and soars; she is particularly good on animals and birds, but can also turn her nature writer's intense gaze on the behaviour of humans.

Justine Jordan, Guardian

A novel of masterly understatement... Laura Beatty uses [landscape] with subtle obliquity as a grid for mapping the emotional lives of her twin heroines, women divided by nearly four centuries.

Jonathan Keates, Spectator

A fascinating and true story

Country Life

The seamless transitions between historical source and fictional narrative are gratifying

Laura Gallagher, Literary Review