Tag Archive | Suzanne Goldring

The Girl Who Never Came Back by Suzanne Goldring

Aug25

Heart Breaking

The Girl Who Never Came Back by Suzanne Goldring is a powerful, historical, heartbreaking novel that tore my emotions to pieces.

The action alternates between World War II and up to 1999. We witness the devastating effect that war has on lives – a young boy who never recovers from the loss of his sister and a young woman who was responsible for training women to go overseas as spies.

Contrary to what some may believe, losing her girls to the Nazi war machine in occupied France, haunted a character for the rest of her life. She spent a lifetime searching for answers. She wanted to bring the guilty to justice and would not rest until she did.

The reader travels from wartime England to postwar Europe and back again. We learn of the horrors of the camps and those who ran them. It is dreadful and horrifying to see the Nazi ideals still retained in former Nazis, who ran the camps, many years later. Unrepentant characters with black hearts still believed in what they did.

Uncovering the truth brings the search to an end. Sometimes it is best to keep the painful truth hidden.

We follow a friendship that spanned eighty years. Love and loyalty remained.

Continue reading →

The Woman Outside The Walls by Suzanne Goldring

Mar30

The Price Of Silence

The Woman Outside The Walls by Suzanne Goldring is a powerful dual timeline novel that I just could not put down. It is a story that needs to be told in memory of the six million innocents, a quarter of which were children.

The novel is set in Germany mainly during World War II and in London in 2016. The young girl in the war has become the ninety year old in 2016. She has a life full of guilt and regrets, hiding a dreadful secret over the years. Her life has been a series of identities and fearful of a knock on the door. We could blame her youth for her silence, but we all have choices to make and innately know what is wrong and what is right. Innocent questions from a young teen, studying World War II send her back down the years.

The chapters alternate the time periods and voices to tell the tale. The narrative is powerful. We see that not all Germans were Nazis, but to remain silent was to condone events.

Suzanne Goldring shows the innocence and loyalty of childhood as two four year olds in 1929 Germany played quite happily together, even after the Nuremburg Laws were passed. Friendship not religion mattered until innocence is eroded by a disappearance.

Continue reading →

The Girl Without A Name by Suzanne Goldring

Nov14

Wow, Just Wow

The Girl Without A Name by Suzanne Goldring is a powerful dual time-line novel that had me completely enthralled from the start.

The action begins in 2004 looking backwards to 1939 before working its way forwards. The voices alternate within the time periods.

This was a novel that I ‘lived’ as I read. I put myself in the role of the leading lady. Due to the artistry of words of Suzanne Goldring I ‘felt’ what the character felt – the highs and the lows, the loves and the losses.

London was seen as a dangerous place to be for the children and many were evacuated at the start of World War II. The clean air of the Devon countryside contrasted with the grime of London. Some evacuees found loving homes. Others were cruelly treated and my heart broke.

Continue reading →