I am delighted to be hosting a stop on today’s Coffee Pot Book Club blog tour for ROWENA KINREAD, to shine the spotlight on The Matchstick Boy, her new, recently published, historical thriller. The novel is set in mid-19th century Switzerland and is based on a true story.
What is the book about?
When his young brother, Josef, is killed by a rock avalanche, Jakob believes it is murder. He had seen someone on the mountain ridge, above the scree, before it began to roll. But who would want to kill a child, and why? Jakob suspects Ramun, the privileged son of the owner of a matchstick factory, but nobody takes him seriously and he is powerless to obtain justice.
Thirty years later, Jakob’s profoundly deaf daughter is raped by Ramun and becomes with child. Determined to gain justice for his daughter, Jakob unearths a myriad of well-kept secrets in the tight-lipped community, but is anyone willing to tell the truth?
Just as he thinks he has uncovered all the facts, he realises he has made a vital mistake all along. Nothing is really as it seems.
Book details
The Matchstick Boy was published in October 2023 by Goldcrest Books, and is available as an eBook and in paperback.
It is also available to read on Kindle Unlimited.
Buy link
About the author
Rowena Kinread
Rowena Kinread grew up in Ripon, Yorkshire with her large family and a horde of pets. Keen on travelling, her first job was with Lufthansa in Germany.
She began writing in the nineties. Her special area of interest is history. After researching her ancestry and finding family roots in Ireland with the Dalriada clan, particularly this era. Her debut novel titled “The Missionary” is a historical novel about the dramatic life of St. Patrick. It was published by Pegasus Publishers in April 2021 and has been highly appraised by The Scotsman, The Yorkshire Post and The Irish Times.
Her second novel “The Scots of Dalriada” centres around Fergus Mór, the founder father of Scotland and takes place in 5th century Ireland and Scotland. It was published by Pegasus Publishers in January 2023.
The author lives with her husband in Bodman-Ludwigshafen, Lake Constance, Germany. They have three children and six grandchildren.
You can follow Rowena on social media:
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn
Amazon Author Page | Goodreads | BookBub
See who else is joining Rowena’s tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club HERE!
Follow the Coffee Pot Book Club and find out about other great historical reads on
Twitter and Instagram.
Thank you so much for hosting Rowena Kinread with The Matchstick Boy today.
Take care,
Cathie xx
The Coffee Pot Book Club