BOOK REVIEW
Although I've seen documentaries and movies about World War I, it is a period that I haven't read much in fiction. So it was with great anticipation that I picked this book up.
The story follows Cecily who is eager to escape her mother's bossy and stifling presence who is a fast-fading stage performer. Cecily yearns to be reunited to the man she loved, Ewan, with whom she was secretly engaged and who was out to sea at war. But when Cecily receives tragic news about Ewan, she decides to find happiness another way and goes to France to entertain the soldiers. When her family joins her in France, things don't exactly go all that smoothly.
I loved many things about this book -- the ease of travelling back in time and living in the moment with the characters and their sentiments, the dramatic journeys they took individually and as a family during a difficult time in the world and descriptions and references to important historical events. I liked that the writing style seemed to reflect the period portrayed, not that I'm an expert.
Overall, a wonderful read with quite a few twists and surprises. Easy to recommend for fans of historical fiction.
Reviewed by
Disclaimer: I volunteered to review this book.
Blurb
Cecily Hanson longs to live life on her own terms—to leave the shadow of her overbearing mother and marry her childhood sweetheart once he returns from the Great War. But when her fiancé is lost at sea, this future is shattered. Looking for meaning again, she decides to perform for the troops in France.
Life on the front line is both rewarding and terrifying, and Cecily soon finds herself more involved—and more in danger—than she ever thought possible. And her family has followed her to France. Her sister, Merryn, has fallen for a young drummer whose charm hides a dark side, while their mother, Queenie—a faded star of the stage tormented by her own secret heartache—seems set on a path of self-destruction.
As the war draws to a close and their hopes turn once again to the future, Cecily and Merryn are more determined than ever to unravel the truth about their mother’s past: what has she been hiding from them—and why?
Buy links:
Amazon UK: https://goo.gl/vxjpKa
Amazon US: https://goo.gl/b4hY7W
My Bio
I was born in a small mill town in Lancashire. My mother comes from generations of weavers, and my father was a shoe-repairer. I still remember the first pair of clogs he made for me. After several years of teaching, I opened a bookshop in Kendal, Cumbria. And while living in the rural Lakeland Fells, rearing sheep and hens, I turned to writing. I wrote over fifty articles and short stories for magazines such as My Weekly and Woman’s Realm, before finding my vocation as a novelist and became a Sunday Times Bestselling author. I’ve now written over forty-eight novels, mostly sagas and historical fiction, my three latest books, including Girls of the Great War, out in May are published by Amazon Lake Union. I spend warm winters living in Spain, and the rainy summers in Britain.
I was born in a small mill town in Lancashire. My mother comes from generations of weavers, and my father was a shoe-repairer. I still remember the first pair of clogs he made for me. After several years of teaching, I opened a bookshop in Kendal, Cumbria. And while living in the rural Lakeland Fells, rearing sheep and hens, I turned to writing. I wrote over fifty articles and short stories for magazines such as My Weekly and Woman’s Realm, before finding my vocation as a novelist and became a Sunday Times Bestselling author. I’ve now written over forty-eight novels, mostly sagas and historical fiction, my three latest books, including Girls of the Great War, out in May are published by Amazon Lake Union. I spend warm winters living in Spain, and the rainy summers in Britain.
Website: www.freda@fredalightfoot.co.uk
Twitter: @fredalightfoot
My Blogspot: http://www.fredalightfoot.blogspot.com/
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*****
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