Tag Archive | Net Galley

In From The Cold by Sarah Bennett

Sep21

A Warm Welcome

In From The Cold by Sarah Bennett is a most charming contemporary novel. It is the second book in the Juniper Meadows series but can be read as a stand-alone.

I thoroughly enjoyed my return visit and meeting up with familiar faces. The love and care shine through the novel.

We see that we are not destined to repeat the sins of the fathers. We can break free from their stronghold. It is never too late to have a fresh start.

It is important to follow our dreams and not live out the life that others thrust upon us.

Everyone has natural talents. We need to develop our talents and nurture our giftings.

Continue reading →

A Child For Sale by Pam Howes

Sep19

Heart Wrenching

A Child For Sale by Pam Howes is a powerful, heart wrenching dual timeline novel that has its roots in fact. This novel will tug on your heart strings. It will make you angry at what happened and was deemed acceptable in the past. And it will make you feel grateful that we treat others with more tolerance today.

The action is set in1964 and 2015 in Cheshire and Manchester as we follow two couples who are celebrating forty nine years of marriage in 2015. One pair are childhood sweethearts, the other couple were thrown together by adversity.

In 1964 we follow the fortunes of the young girls who were unmarried mothers and found themselves admitted (by their heartless and judgmental families) to a home for unmarried mothers, run by Catholic nuns. We witness the daily cruelty and the harsh conditions as babies were whisked away to be adopted or sold. It was an abomination and one in which the girls (even if they had loving partners) were completely powerless.

For fifty years, hearts have remained broken, always searching, never healing. A gruesome discovery in 2015 (when renovations begin on an old house) re-open old wounds and a desire to find lost babies. Significant advances in DNA testing and social media re-ignite hope in long broken hearts.

Continue reading →

The Mother’s Secret by Kate Hewitt

Sep16

Emotionally Charged

The Mother’s Secret by Kate Hewitt is a powerful contemporary novel that had me gripped from the start.

This is a story about two mothers, both with similar feelings but at two different stages of motherhood – the new mum and the mum of teenagers. Both are English teachers. Both feel like misfits. Both lay down their career hopes to do as their husbands wish. Both bond together, as the experienced mum helps the new one as she understands her.

We see just how hard motherhood can be. The adjustment to being a new mum is hard, with the lack of sleep, a baby who cries and a husband who works away. Kate Hewitt writes in such a way as to elicit sympathy from the reader.

Being a mum to teens is a whole different ball game. There are different problems. The isolation felt is huge, after a wife and mother is ripped from her home and a job she loves, in order to follow her husband’s dreams.

Both mums suffer at the hands of their husbands’ jobs. Both are caring and compassionate. And both are fighting demons. The novel is emotionally charged. The two lead characters are easy to identify with. We understand the guilt they feel as they try to balance motherhood with jobs and external problems are not of their making. Guilt and innocence exist side by side.

Continue reading →

The Midwife Of Berlin by Anna Stuart

Sep13

A Desperate Hope

The Midwife Of Berlin by Anna Stuart is a powerful historical novel that consumed me.

Much of the action is set in 1961 Berlin, at the height of the Cold War. It is a time of division as east separates from west.

The Nazi reign of terror has gone, only to be replaced with a Soviet one.

As the Berlin Wall is erected, lives and families are torn apart. ‘Lists’ begin to appear, making defection necessary.

The East is living under communism. It is a nice idea in theory but doesn’t work in practice.

Similarly, lives were ripped apart in World War II by the Nazis. Babies born in Auschwitz were torn from their mother’s arms. Secretly, these babies were tattooed in their armpits with their mother’s number, in the hope that after the war, women could find their babies. “Hope is the greatest pain but also the greatest strength.”

Continue reading →