Archive | May 2022

The Witch’s Tree by Elena Collins

May17

New Beginnings

The Witch’s Tree by Elena Collins is a marvellous dual timeline novel that completely enthralled me from the start.

The action is set in Somerset in 1682 and present day. Both time periods are linked by an old house in which each main character lives.

The leading ladies lives mirror each other as an invisible thread unites them down the years. Both have known betrayal and sadness.

The house retains an atmosphere down the years which has repelled many until one empathetic soul reaches out across the years.

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Escape To The River Sea by Emma Carroll

May16

Captivating

Escape To The River Sea by Emma Carroll is an exciting children’s historical novel that is guaranteed to entertain all those aged eight years and over.

The novel is set at the end of World War II as we follow a young girl who was sent to England from Austria before war started as she was Jewish. Her mother and sister were left behind. Now war is over, and she is looking and waiting for the post with a letter to say her mum and sister survived. The reader can ‘feel’ the tension and disappointment as each day passes with no news. However, she still clings to hope.

There was another search running parallel. This takes the characters and the reader to the Amazon to look for the famed Giant Sloth. We are treated to the sights and sounds of the jungle under the skillful pen of Emma Carroll.

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The Memory Keeper Of Kyiv by Erin Litteken

May16

Powerful And Horrifying

The Memory Keeper Of Kyiv by Erin Litteken is a powerful dual timeline novel that will educate and horrify you, whilst totally consuming you.

The novel is set in 2004 in America and from 1929 into the 1930’s in Ukraine. The reader hears of Stalin’s program of collectivisation and his plans to eliminate the kulaks (so called richer peasants). As a historian I had studied this subject but it seemed even more shocking and horrifying to read about the atrocities in a novel. I think that is because the macrocosm becomes the microcosm as we focus in on a community.

The two time periods are linked by a character and her diary. She has kept her early life a secret due to the fear as Soviet arms are long. Now it is time to share her story.

The losses are immense. The modern reader just cannot comprehend the horrors of the Holodomor as over eight million lost their lives through a man-made starvation program and a reign of terror. We see the will and determination and luck needed to survive in spite of many losses.

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This House Is Haunted by John Boyne

May15

Spellbound

This House Is Haunted by John Boyne is a totally gripping historical novel that had me spellbound from the very first page. I just could not put it down.

The novel is set in 1867, partly in London but mainly in Norfolk. There are cultural references of the day to author Charles Dickens and his works and characters, as well as to other literary works of the time.

John Boyne has written a brilliant story using elements of the Gothic tradition – with crumbling houses, candlelight, shadows, unexplainable happenings. The reader is completely hooked as we read with baited breath to see what the outcome will be. The ending does not disappoint but left me gasping in a ‘wow’ moment.

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