The Supposed Sister

by Pamela Belle

Polly Paradice has always believed that her young sister Mattie was dead, but an unexpected letter brings news that she is alive, and a member of a troupe of travelling players. The search for her takes Polly, her maid Gin, and their friend Sam Jessop to Bath, and then to the ancient town of Rye, on the borders of the bleak, lawless and sinister Romney Marsh, where more mysteries await them. Is Mattie really Polly's long lost sister? What does she want? And will blood eventually prove thicker than water?

388 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 17, 2024

About the author

Belle, who also writes contemporary fiction as Alice Marlow, always wanted to be an author. As a child the books she read were adventure stories like "Treasure Island," "Swallows and Amazons," and the novels of John Buchan and CS Forester. She wrote her first book at the age of twelve and having visited the site of a lovely Elizabethan manor house called Rushbrooke and observing the bare, moated island which was all that was left, she wanted to bring Rushbrooke back and chose to do so in print.
Over the next few years 'The Epic', as it became known, grew and grew. Belle drew up a huge family tree and a plan of the house very like Rushbrooke.
Married and a teacher of a class of six-year-olds, she wrote in longhand and, while publishers made encouraging noises, no one was prepared to risk publishing a large book by an unknown author. Eventually the agent Vivienne Schuster was wonderfully enthusiastic about it and found a publisher.
"The Moon in the Water" and its two sequels were published in the UK and the USA with considerable success. Belle gave up teaching in 1985 to spend more time researching and writing. She plans to write a book about Alfred the Great if she can fit it in between looking after the children, dogs, cats and husband.

Reviews

[Anne-Mammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before her foray into fantasy novels, I had really enjoyed Pamela Belle's novels on the civil wars. So when she returned to historical novels set in the early 18th century focusing on the Jacobites events, I was delighted. However, I think both Paradyce/Dark book 1 (A parcel of rogues)and this present book fall short of the excitement of her previous novels. You have to admire the resilience and cleverness of Polly, the "Dark" threatening skills of the eponymous hero and the irrepressible sparkle of Gin/Jane. The other main character Sam Jessop whose daughter we chased in a "parcel of rogues", is less convincing. Perhaps he is "too good" and rather dull. Ms Belle was very good at reminding her readers about events in the previous book as they affected the story in this book. However, apart from the very last episode concerning Polly's release there was not much excitement and some twists in the story were not very believable - the freeing of Dark form the constables for example. It may be though that it is there to lay the foundation for future adventures in her next volume.
At times then, the story dragged on a bit but all the same I suppose I will get the next instalment and see how Mattie "the supposed sister" adjusts to London life and how the Oglethorpes interact with Dark.

[Ben Bergonzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long lost sister brings back memories of a very grim childhood for Polly Parradice. Polly tries to track down her sister in the world of strolling players, aided by Sam Jessop because Andre Dark is absent on duty elsewhere for the middle part of the book. She finds herself in deeper jeopardy than ever before in a climax in a superbly depicted Rye and Romney Marsh (the world of Doctor Syn) which is nailbitingly tense. Exhausting journeys, action, deception and danger. A very fine read indeed.