Tag Archive | Clare Swatman

The Garden Of Shared Stories by Clare Swatman

Dec5

Ripples Through Time

The Garden Of Shared Stories by Clare Swatman is the most delightful timeslip novel that I absolutely loved and never wanted it to end.

The book is unique as the leading man and lady meet – but are twenty years apart. It is a magical meeting of two hearts beating as one. Both are grieving the loss of the loved ones of their lives. “He understood because he was grieving too.” They are two sides of the same coin. United by loss, held together with love.

Grief is very raw. “How it feels every single day as though you need to remind yourself to get up, get dressed, carry on while all the time it feels as though you’re being pressed down by a heavy weight.” The grief journey can be lonely. It may be accompanied by guilt. “After he died… I tortured myself, thinking about what I should have said or done differently.” The past is gone. Re-hashing it won’t alter a thing. We need to learn to put guilt to bed.

Clare Swatman writes with sensitivity. The emotions leap from the pages and into the reader’s heart. We really empathise with the characters.

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Last Christmas by Clare Swatman

Sep1

A Sliding Doors Moment

Last Christmas by Clare Swatman is a beautiful dual timeline novel that I really loved.

The novel takes place during the first decade of the twenty first century. The reader drops in on each Christmas as well as having a bitesize catch up for the previous year.

Last Christmas is a novel with a difference as we experience a sliding doors moment. When faced with a life changing decision would we choose path A? Or path B? Would the final outcome be the same? Or totally different? Both paths take similar but different routes. The novel alternates between ‘Go’ and ‘Stay’.

The choices run parallel. The leading players are the same but the choices provide some very different outcomes.

This is a novel about love and life, family and friendship, and the choices we make.

Dividing time between London and New York, the reader ‘experiences’ two very different Christmases. There is no doubt that snow, lights and Central Park definitely produce the more romantic of the two options to the reader. Weighed against that is the small family Christmases in London. Where would you choose to spend Christmas?

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The World Outside My Window by Clare Swatman

Jun7

Care & Compassion

The World Outside My Window by Clare Swatman is a simply marvellous contemporary novel that I just could not put down.

The lead character is outgoing until her life changes in an instance (at the book’s start). The reader witnesses the change overnight as her world shrinks, confidence is shattered and agoraphobia kicks in. She is a likable leading lady and easy to empathise with as Clare Swatman writes part of the novel in the first person, enabling us to understand her fears.

Necessity forces the lead to face her fears. New neighbours show care and compassion, providing love and support that is beautiful to see.

Having lost sight of herself, we delight as the lead begins to discover herself again.

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A Love To Last A Lifetime by Clare Swatman

Jan29

Serenely Beautiful

A Love To Last A Lifetime by Clare Swatman is a serenely beautiful contemporary novel about love.

Love comes in many forms – the love of parents and children, between friends, husbands and wives, and an all-consuming love.

This all-consuming love happens once in a lifetime to two characters in different generations. Both have been wrenched away from the love that consumed and both have memories to keep them warm. Would the love have remained if left to run its’ course? Or would it have fizzled? We shall never know. Outsiders decided it was good boy vs. wild boy, and every parent wants their daughter to marry the stable influence – but is that enough to be a love that lasts a lifetime?

There is the love between three friends. We all want to have friends who love us enough to tell us the truth in love. Friends who want the best for us and who will support us through all of life’s highs and lows.

We see the heartbreaking topic of early onset dementia. A character has faded but just occasionally we get glimpses of the lively girl she once was. Dementia affects all those around us. “That mum, the one who made me feel safe, protected, was still in there somewhere, hidden beneath the cruel cloak of dementia… I missed her.”

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