Across The Years

  A Time Of Green by Eleanor Watkins is a delightful Christian dual timeline novel that will warm the reader’s heart.

The action is set in present day America and rural Wales in the 1940’s. The story is told from two alternating points of view – a great grandmother and her great granddaughter. The beautiful bond between them is tangible to feel.

The threat of dementia is the catalyst to opening up the past. During World War II the great grandmother, June, was evacuated to Wales as a twelve year old. She shares her experiences with her eleven year old great granddaughter. We are treated to a glimpse of the past as a city girl adapts to country life.

The countryside comes alive with Eleanor Watkins descriptions as the reader ‘wades’ through the mud, ‘experiences’ a blanket of snow and ‘sees’ snowdrops blossom.

There is a sense of loss for her own family but also a building of new relationships  and experiences far beyond anything an evacuee could have imagined.

The reader sees prisoners of war and we learn about their role to help the war effort. The thought of seeing a German was horrifying but in reality they were just young men far from home. We also ‘meet’ the Yanks. The divide between black and white Americans horrifies the Welsh and the modern reader. We all belong to the human race, there should be no segregation.

A Time Of Green was such a delightful coming of age novel and of building relationships across the years. I adored it and have been left smiling and feeling good.

I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

JULIA WILSON