Tag Archive | Suzanne Goldring

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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Her Husband’s Return by Suzanne Goldring

Oct20

If Walls Could Speak

Her Husband’s Return by Suzanne Goldring is a powerful dual timeline novel that consumed me from the start.

The action is set in London during World War II and in present day. Chapters alternate between ‘then’ and ‘now.’ The time periods are linked by a large family home that is being renovated in present day.

If walls could speak, the house would reveal the secrets – but until then, they remain hidden.

Life during World War II was fragile. First Londoners faced the Blitz, and then there were the silent but deadly V1 and V2 rockets. Lives could be snuffed out in an instant. The landscape of London changed as many buildings were demolished.

Large family homes were called upon to house the homeless. The house within the tale echoes with warmth, love and laughter. Friendships are formed that will remain.

Opportunities for women opened up with war. The leading lady, Frankie, becomes an ambulance driver. War, surprisingly, brings freedom for her, and for many. Frankie is no longer shackled to the home and a verbally abusive husband. However, so deep-rooted is the abuse, that in her head, she still hears the words spoken over her by her, now MIA, husband. She is forever ruled by him until the day she finds the courage to live for someone else.

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The Twins On The Train by Suzanne Goldring

Oct31

The Mark Of True Love

The Twins On The Train by Suzanne Goldring is a powerful historical novel that totally consumed me. I could not put it down.

The novel begins in 2023 before moving backwards to Berlin in 1933 and into World War II. The action alternates between a mother in Berlin and a British lady whose mission was to rescue as many Jewish children from Berlin, on the Kindertransport, as she could.

The reader witnesses the gradual erosion of the freedom of the Jewish people and the sheer terror of Kristallnacht in November 1938. We see the bravery of the parents who loved their children enough to let them go. “They have the courage to send away the things most precious of all to them, more than gems and gold can ever be.” As a mother, I do not think I would have had their courage.

Life is shown through the eyes of the children through their speech. “You’re the first Aryan who’s been nice to me in a long time. Will there be more people like you in England?” Heartbreaking. How awful that Jewish children, a precious gift, have been treated so abominably.

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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.

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