Archives

Kitty’s War by Eimear Lawlor

Jun23

Powerful

Kitty’s War by Eimear Lawler is a powerful historical novel that I read in just one sitting.

The novel is set in Southern Ireland in 1941. As the tale opens, the leading lady is heading home from the mainland to look after her brother.

We see that German origins can be a curse even though the leading lady has no ties with Germany.

Although Southern Ireland was neutral, the war still touched lives as there were bombing raids and German pilots were shot down. The Germans had all been perceived as evil Nazis but many were just young men with families who missed them.

Catholic Southern Ireland had some harsh and cruel laws for unmarried mothers and homosexual men. There were those who were kind and passed no judgement. It is awful to see how many had to hide their true selves.

Grief is a terrible master. It threatens to sink characters.

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In The Family Way by Laney Katz Becker

Jun19

Powerful & Heart-Breaking

In The Family Way by Laney Katz Becker is an absolutely heartbreaking novel that consumed me from the start.

The novel takes place in 1965-1966. It is a powerful book about women and their roles and rights in 1960’s America. It is horrifying to see that women were subservient to men. Everything in society was there to promote men and to down grade women.

Women were supposed to be compliant wives and mothers. It was a myth put about by men that women would be fulfilled looking after their husbands, children and the house. Whilst many did want to be wives and mothers, women are also so much more than their domestic roles.

The novel surrounds a group of women – two sisters, their friends and an unwed fifteen-year-old who helps the lead character, Lily, whilst awaiting to give birth in a home for unmarried girls that her mother had sent her to.

Each chapter alternates between the characters as we ‘hear’ of various lives and struggles.

Some women, plus the teen are incredibly ‘innocent’ in the ways of the world. They have been shielded when they really needed to have been educated in the basics of life.

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Shrapnel Boys by Jenny Pearson

Jun17

Moral Courage

Shrapnel Boys by Jenny Pearson is a powerful, children’s historical novel that entertained me from the start.

The action is set in London from 1939 and seen from the point of view of a young boy called Ronnie. It is told in the first person and therefore we get to know Ronnie intimately. He is extremely likable, always trying to do the right thing.

We follow Ronnie and his younger brother Mickey and best friend Lugs as they try to navigate life, family and war.

The war was a mixture of excitement and being scared after the Phony War of 1939. “Life in London didn’t change much in those first few weeks… War, it seemed, had forgotten to show up.” Once World War II begins in earnest, there is more than just bombs to navigate as an opportunist turns up, turning Mickey’s head.

We witness those who profit in war, thinking nothing of preying on the misery of others.

Jenny Pearson has shown the danger of the banned group The Blackshirts, whose ideology lined up with Hitler.

As we follow Lugs, we see his fears as a Jewish boy in London. His father is a pacifist but still conscripted into the war as a stretcher bearer. “It was courageous to march onto a battlefield with a gun in your hands, but treading the ground without one… was even braver.” As Ronnie declares “to me, Lug’s Dad was a hero.” The reader can only echo that statement.

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Whistle by Linwood Barclay

Jun17

Chilling

Whistle by Linwood Barclay is a chilling supernatural tale that consumed me from the start.

This is a departure from Linwood Barclay’s usual style of crime novels but he has created a marvellous and well thought out plotline, showing that he is the master of the very chilling genre.

This is not a book for the faint hearted. It is far better to read it on a bright summer’s day than a cold, dark winter evening.

The action is split into various points of view, over different time periods. It keeps the reader in a state of heightened tension – we think we know what is coming even though the characters are clueless to the power that they have unwittingly unleashed.

Whistle is a tale of evil walking amongst the innocent. Very few realise what is going on until it is far too late.

All the characters were well drawn. There was definitely an air of menace attached to the villain. He was guilty of hubris too, believing he could never be beaten.

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