Archive | January 2020

A Midwinter Promise by Lulu Taylor

Jan13

Be Kind

A Midwinter Promise by Lulu Taylor is an epic contemporary novel that consumes from the start. The reader glimpses the end from the beginning and the questions arise.

The novel surrounds a family with action set in the present day and from 1980 moving forwards. Running parallel to the main story are the lives of Prince Charles and the very beautiful Princess Diana. A feeling of dread built in my heart as that fateful day in August 1997 approached. It was a time frozen in history. One of those momentous days where you remember exactly what you were doing and how you felt when you heard the dreadful news. This element of the story helps to make the whole novel feel personal and adds realism as we care about the lives of the characters.

There are the difficult themes of depression, self-harm, mental illness and suicidal thoughts. All are sensitively portrayed and the reader feels empathy for the character.

Guilt weighs heavy. If it is not dealt with, it is a millstone that will drag us down.

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Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris

Jan9

Impossible Choices

Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris is a powerful and heart breaking historical novel with its roots in reality. Lead character Cilka was first encountered in Heather Morris’ previous novel, The Tattooist Of Auschwitz. This book is Cilka’s story.

Cilka’s Journey is set from 1942 to the mid 1950’s. The action is mainly set in the Vorkula Gulag with flashbacks to Auschwitz. It is a heart wrenching novel with a heart of gold at its centre in the form of Cilka. She gives what little she can, whenever she can. Cilka reaches out in kindness.

No one should ever judge anyone who has been in the camps. People did what they did in order to survive. “No one can judge us… There were only two choices: one was to survive. The other was death.” Cilka shows a remarkable strength of character as she detaches her mind from her body. “He can have her body… he cannot have her mind, her heart, her soul.” Serial rape was a weapon of war, used as a form of control by the Nazis and others in authority. There are some hard to read scenes as the weak are overpowered by the strong.

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A Year Of Chasing Love by Rosie Chambers

Jan9

Worth Waiting For

A Year Of Chasing Love by Rosie Chambers is a light hearted contemporary read that looks at love and the qualities needed to make relationships last. It is a novel that makes you smile and leaves you smiling.

The reader has a cosmopolitan ride through the novel as we ‘travel’ from the UK to Malta to Singapore to Hawaii to Denmark and to Paris, the city of love. The welcome we receive is as warm as the sun beating down as a light air wafts throughout.

We learn lessons in love, discovering what love is and what it is not. We see marriages that last and those that shipwreck on the rocks.

It is important to have a healthy work-life balance. We must not neglect our family and friends in favour of hours spent in the office. We need balanced lives. We want to not just survive but thrive.

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The Oceans Between Us by Gill Thompson

Jan8

Love Never Dies

The Oceans Between Us by Gill Thompson is a heart breaking historical novel inspired by true events. The story surrounds a lost generation of children who were shipped from England to Australia at the end of World War II. “The kids they thought no one wanted.” Some were orphans, others were told they were orphans. The emotional impact on individuals and families was huge.

Families were quite literally torn apart in Australia too as Aboriginal children were taken from their families in the hope that the indigenous people would die out.

Racism was rife in England and Australia. Those who were invited over on the Windrush to help rebuild England after the war met hostility, prejudice and discrimination. Gill Thompson has portrayed a realistic account of the hatred faced by mixed race couples and their children from all quarters of society.

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