Tag Archive | Net Galley

The Ghost Of Downing Street by Mervyn Lovatt

Oct28

Entertaining & Thought Provoking

The Ghost Of Downing Street by Mervyn Lovatt is a gripping psychological suspense designed to make the reader think.

The novel is set in the near future but has its’ roots in the past. The premise is – can we go back in time to alter history? Can we prevent World War I? And therefore, prevent World War II as there would be no grievances for Adolf Hitler to hang his policies on, and therefore preventing him coming to power and destroying the Jewish nation.

The reader glimpses the past. We see a colonial Britain; and learn about British allies and politics.

The Ghost Of Downing Street is designed to make the reader question historical events. We see that actions today have roots in the past. Alter one small thing, and there can be huge ramifications for good or evil.

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Postmarked December by Jenny Hale

Oct12

Simply Beautiful

Postmarked December by Jenny Hale is a simply beautiful book about love, loss and life.

As the novel opens a young widow is missing her husband and dreading the approaching first Christmas without him. All she desires is a little piece of him again – and then the letters start to arrive, one after another – it seems as if Toby is communicating from beyond the grave.

This is a novel about second chances. Her one big love is gone – but the memories remain, and she knows that Toby wanted her to be happy again.

Under the kindness and charms of Nick, young widow, Heather, learns how to live and to love again. However, as she learns the truth about the author of the letters, her life is shattered again.

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The Day Our Lives Collided by Laura Pearson

Sep29

Friendship, Love, Life, & Everything In Between

The Day Our Lives Collided by Laura Pearson is a simply beautiful book set over a series of weddings from 2008 onwards. Three friends who met at Birmingham uni seventeen years earlier, share the celebrations over a number of years.

The action is told through three alternating points of view in the first person. The reader gets to know each character intimately.

We witness the highs and lows of life as we follow the wider group of friends down the years. Some are party animals; others are of a quieter nature.

We see rifts in lives. Some marriages make it; others don’t. And there is a funeral. “We couldn’t know… that one of our group would die within the year. If we’d known that, I wonder whether we would have done anything differently. Loved harder or lived more fully.” When death hits, there are always regrets. When death hits the young, it is tragic, especially if children are involved. True friends step in with a life-changing offer.

One character has a disabled sister who is in a wheelchair. “The first time they met… Tash spoke to her like she would anyone else… All too often people crouched down and spoke to Grace as if she were a little kid.” I can empathise as I used to work at the local high school and often worked with teens in wheelchairs – far too often people would speak over their heads to me, asking how the person was. I used to reply “they are sitting right here, why don’t you ask them.”

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The Baby In Her Arms by Suzanne Goldring

Sep28

Letters From The Lost

The Baby In Her Arms by Suzanne Goldring is a powerful and heartbreaking dual timeline novel that I never wanted to end.

The action is set in Paris during World War II and in 2024 in England. Nazi-occupied Paris was a terrible place to be. We witness a young Jewish mother make the ultimate sacrifice – leaving her newborn baby at the mercy of a stranger finding and caring for her, during a random round-up. We see the appalling treatment and are horrified. In contrast, we applaud the mother’s decision based on sacrificial love, to give her baby a chance of life.

There are strong women throughout the novel. They are prepared to stand up and be counted. Where they see injustice, they seek to right it. They do what they can, when they can, in whatever way they can.

Letters thrown from trains departing eastwards are found and delivered if they have addresses, or ultimately published in the hope that someone will read the letters from the lost.

A grandmother in present day is searching for her roots. She wants to know where she came from – and what she uncovers is amazing. Finally, the jigsaw pieces fit, and she can celebrate where she comes from, and who she is.

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