After a wobbly introduction - I'm not sure that launching into a round of glib dialogue, twenty years after the main events of the story, really works - something clicked, and I got caught up in the characters and the plot. What would have piqued my interest more than a Hollywood party is the historical background to the novel, which comes at the end with the author Q&A. Daisy Waugh paints a poignant portrait of 'Honeyville', or Trinidad, Colorado, the mining town at the heart of her story, both as it was in 1914, at the time of the Ludlow Massacre, and today, with many abandoned buildings but free wifi in McDonald's. Events, both historical and fictional, are gradually explained, but getting a taste of the troubled mining town without needing recourse to Wikipedia would have totally sucked me in!

I did come to like the narrator of the story, a world-weary hooker named Dora who forms an unlikely alliance with a pretty, privileged young woman named Inez. Dora's character is wonderfully layered, but I struggled to form a connection with the character, perhaps because of all the twittery, giggling dialogue with Inez in the opening chapters. Stripping away all the dark history of the town, Honeyville is really the story of a friendship and a doomed love affair, with a few interesting and sympathetic characters on the side. Dora is the heart of the novel, while deceptively ditzy Inez waits in the wings. Waugh sets the scene perfectly, from the gaudy brothel where Dora works to the wild west atmosphere of the town, caught between union agitators and the mining company's heavies. The fictional climax, when it came, was suitably foreshadowed but still slightly shocking - and also, I must admit, rather satisfying!

A well-paced fictional incorporation of an historical tragedy, worth persevering with. ( )

An imaginative and engaging story surrounding the 1913 Ludlow Massacre in Trinidad, Colorado. At the heart of the tale is a prostitute, Dora Whitworth, through whose eyes 'Honeyville' is told. After a murder is committed, she befriends the wealthy Inez and her brother, Xavier, and finds herself embroiled in the ins and outs of the town's unions and miners' strikes.

I found 'Honeyville' a fascinating and interesting read which kept me turning the pages. It's wonderfully written with some great characters who are well drawn and realistic. I particularly liked Dora and was always rooting for her. It's cleverly plotted and although there are some serious and shocking themes, there are also some lighter moments.

A gripping, absorbing and compelling insight into an awful episode in Trinidad's history, I would recommend this book to readers who like stories combining fact with fiction but also like a hint of romance. This is the first novel I have read by Daisy Waugh and it won't be my last!

Many thanks to Lovereading.co.uk for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book which will be published in November. ( )