I knew Robert was a gifted historical author upon reading his first novel, Virgin and the Crab. He graciously sent me a copy of The Arrow Chest to read and review and it too me eons to get around to it. Well, I hosted a lovely event at Castle Macabre in last month, Gothic September, and The Arrow Chest read-a-long was the star of the show. I am so glad I finally got around to reading it. I feel it would be a shame for anyone to miss out on reading this wonderful book.

If you have any love for the Tudors, you will enjoy this book because Robert takes his 19th century characters and creates them at a parallel with such illustrious Tudor figures as Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, Cromwell, Thomas Wyatt (the poet) and Jane Parker Boleyn. Mix this element with a genuine Gothic feel with the settings and ghosts and this book is a delight to read.

Read the rest at my blog: http://thetruebookaddict.blogspot.com/2013/10/review-robert-parrys-arrow-chesta.... ( )

This was a frustrating book, only because at times I wanted to race ahead to see what happened next, and, at the same time I wanted to read as slowly as possible to savour some of the beautiful writing. As befits a novel about aesthetes in the 1870s, the book is shot through with painting and poetry. I presume Parry is an artist himself, since his evocation of the ‘inner eye’ of the artist was brilliantly done—even I, who could not paint a lamp-post, got a wonderful sense of how a painter looks at the world. Some of the set pieces, such as Tennyson’s poetry reading are marvellous. The descriptive writing, especially of landscape, brings to my mind the colours and textures of Samuel Palmer (rather than the expected Pre-Raphaelites). On one level the plot is a glorious Victorian melodrama. But beneath that surface lies a strong strain of M R James, with an occasional tinge of Edgar Allan Poe. The undercurrent remains an enigma, even at the end. Did something really happen? Is there a real connection and parallel with Ann Boleyn? Is the unworldly companion first encountered in the Tower really there? Or is all this simply a result of too much ‘loddy’? The way in which this is all left open to the reader’s imagination gives an enormous strength, and depth, to this marvellous book. Now to read it again, slowly and reflectively! ( )