Tag Archive | Bookouture

My Great Aunt’s Diary by Laura Sweeney

Aug8

Choose Love

My Great Aunt’s Diary by Laura Sweeney is a marvellous dual timeline novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. It is the second book in the Dovecote Cottages series but can be read as a stand-alone.

The action is set in 1943 and 2016. We ‘hear’ about the action in real time and also via an old diary. The diary is about forbidden love. It ends abruptly, causing the Great Aunt’s niece to search for the end of the story. The search takes her across the sea to Ireland and then back again to Dovecote.

The novel opens in Brighton in 1943 and London in 2016. Both time periods see the characters ending up in Dovecote, unexpectedly. 1943 sees a family bombed out of their Brighton house. In 2016 a cottage is left to a character in a will.

There is loss within the novel. “Grief never really leaves you; you just get better at living with it.” The journey of grief is not linear. There are both good and bad days, one just has to cope the best one can.

In 1943 we see characters having to hide their true selves as social norms of the day mean that certain relationships cannot come to light. “I wanted her [Mum] not to pity me or see me as something broken, or deviant. But I didn’t know how she’d react if I told her.” It is heartbreaking to read, especially as the reader learns, along with the character, that her Mum loves her unconditionally.

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The Lost Orphans by Ellie Curzon

Jul24

Three Cheers For The Blitz Kids!

The Lost Orphans by Ellie Curzon is an entertaining historical novel and the first book in The Runaway Evacuees series which promises to be fabulous.

The action is set in London in 1940, with the occasional glimpses backwards. It surrounds a group of orphans who were bombed out. They band together as a unit, looking out for each other, and for those in need.

We see that the children are plucky and resourceful. Their bravery knows no bounds as they set about rescuing those who are trapped by the Blitz – hence they earn their name, The Blitz Kids.

Londoners were a brave bunch, full of the bulldog spirit. “No matter how many bombs Hitler sent, London carried on.” Not much stops them. They drink tea, keep calm and carry on.

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The Paris Promise by Suzanne Kelman

Jul8

The Torchbearers

The Paris Promise by Suzanne Kelman is a powerful dual timeline novel that totally consumed me. It is the third book in The Paris Sisters series but can be read as a stand-alone.

The action is set in Paris in 1943 and in England in 2012. We also journey to Brazil in the latter period. The stories are linked by family as a grandmother’s life becomes the focal point of a search.

Life in occupied Paris was hard, and even harder for the Jewish population. A young mother vows to relentlessly search for her Jewish husband. Only the hope of being re-united keeps her going as events push her to the limit.

We see that people did what they did in order to survive. “People made hard choices to survive.” The bravery of a young mother is to be applauded. “We can’t judge the past by our current standings.” The past needs to be viewed with a very different pair of eyes.

A Stradivarius violin links the two timelines as a granddaughter seeks to unite a family with their violin after the Nazis had looted it during the war. What she uncovers is the stuff of nightmares. “The violin wasn’t just an artefact – it was a bridge to her father’s history.”

Brave people of Paris joined the Resistance. “We must join them [Resistance]. We cannot stand idly by while our city is torn apart by hatred and fear.” We learn that even in the darkest of times, beauty can be found. “Amid all the darkness, there was still beauty to be found.”

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The Secret Locket by Catherine Hokin

Jul7

When The World Was Silent

The Secret Locket by Catherine Hokin is a powerful historical novel that I read in just two sittings, pausing only to sleep.

The novel is set in Germany from 1934 to the end of World War II. The action begins in a small village before moving to other locations – Munich, Warsaw, Dachau and more.

Within the village the bully-boy tactics of a powerful man sympathetic to the Nazi party, ruin the lives of the few Jewish residents. We see the power of one man to lie, manipulate, coerce and murder – and the crime of the villagers is to remain silent.

It doesn’t matter that the Jewish family do not practice their faith, their crime is simply being born Jewish. “Nobody would tell her why a faith she rarely practised and rarely thought about had turned overnight into the most important thing about her.”

Catherine Hokin has captured the atmosphere of fear and of liberties being eroded. Far too many fell for Hitler’s lies and had the belief that war was glorious.

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