The Secret – Katharine Johnson

I am kicking off my 2019 reviews with the moving book, The Secret, by Katharine Johnson.

BLURB:

Love, Lies, and Betrayal in Wartime Italy.

Two girls growing up in Mussolini’s Italy share a secret that has devastating consequences.

Against a backdrop of fear, poverty and confusion during the Second World War, friendship is tested, and loyalties are divided until a chance encounter changes everything. 

Their lives diverge when beautiful, daring Martina marries and moves into Villa Leonida, the most prestigious house in their Tuscan mountain village, while plain, studious Irena trains to be a teacher.

But neither marriage nor life at Villa Leonida are as Martina imagined. And as other people’s lives take on a new purpose, Irena finds herself left behind.

Decades later, a tragedy at the villa coincides with the discovery of an abandoned baby, whose identity threatens to re-open old wounds among the next generation.

You can purchase your copy of The Secret here.

REVIEW:

Despite the sometimes distressing subject matter, The Secret is a gentle book, with characters who welcome you into their world with open arms. It is a warm, inviting read, and the traumas and tragedies faced by some of the characters are handled gently.

Although the story is told from multiple viewpoints and moves backwards and forwards through time between the Second World War and present day, this does not feel at all jarring as it does in other books I have read. Instead it feels completely natural and fluid as the story unfolds. I particularly loved the way in which Carlo drew out his mother, Irena’s, story through the use of a dictaphone.

Although the title refers to a singular secret, it soon became apparent that there was more than one resident of Santa Zita has something they want to keep hidden for one reason or another. I loved how each of these unfurled slowly through the book, with each secret seemingly having an effect on the next. Without giving too much away, there is one secret that left me wondering a little and which I would like to know more about, but at the same time, it felt natural that this would remain a bit of a mystery to the reader, as it was a mystery to the rest of Santa Zita.

I was lucky enough to spend a long weekend in Florence some years ago, and instantly fell in love with the city. This book made me yearn to return and explore more of Tuscany, and maybe discover some of the Tuscan villages that are off the usual tourist track.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Katharine Johnson likes writing about ordinary people who through a character flaw or bad decision find themselves in extraordinary situations. She’s a journalist living in Berkshire, England with her family and springy spaniel. When she’s not writing you’ll find her exploring cities, visiting old houses, playing netball, eating cake or restoring her house in Italy which is nothing like Villa Leonida.

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GIVEAWAY:

Win 1 x Signed copy of The Secret and 1 x Signed Copy of The Silence (UK Only)

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter link below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/33c69494175/

Many thanks to Katharine, and to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources, for inviting me to take part in this blog tour, and for providing me with my copy of the book. Please make sure you stop by the other blogs taking part in the tour.

Mary Rosie’s War – Catherine M. Byrne

BLURB

WW2 has been declared. A strange find on the beach gives Mary Rosie the chance to fulfil her dreams and contribute to her country, but all is not what she imagined.

After witnessing the first bomb to be dropped on mainland Britain, Mary watches her friends leave to join the forces and longs to be with them, but is held back by loyalty to her widowed mother.

France has capitulated. Johnny Allan’s regiment has been annihilated by German troops north of Paris. Johnny has to find a way to get home and to the girl who no longer waits for him.

Leisel is a German Jew who lost her family to the Nazis and has to make her way in Britain, a strange new country, while harbouring a desire for revenge.

Their lives become entangled in a way that no one could have envisaged.

A story about war, family ties, love, loyalty and loss.

Purchase from Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mary-Rosies-War-Catherine-Byrne-ebook/dp/B07D9W7QTC

REVIEW

For me, Mary Rosie’s War felt slightly reminiscent of books by Maeve Binchy and Mary Jane Staples. Although it is set during a very definite period of time, which clearly had a profound effect on each of the book’s characters, the specifics of history are less important than how this history changed the people living through it. Where some historical fiction, and particularly fiction set during the World Wars, in my experience, can become hung up on the facts and figures of the period, losing the flow of the story along the way, Mary Rosie’s War does not do this. The warmth and strength of the characters telling their story shines through in Catherine M Byrne’s writing as each of them faces a very different set of challenges. The sudden arrival of a stranger in their midst, and how each of the main characters deals with this, shows an amazing generosity of spirit at a time when quite the opposite would not have been unexpected.

I fell in love with each of the three strong female voices in this book, although I did have a particular affection for feisty Aunt Agatha, and with the truly good men that surrounded them. Although Mary Rosie’s War is the fifth book in the Raumsey series, it is the first that I have read, and it stands up well as a standalone novel. That said, the style of writing has drawn me in and left me wanting more, so I fully intend to go back and read the series from the beginning.

GIVEAWAY

I am delighted to be able to share with you details of a giveaway being offered by Catherine to celebrate the release of Mary Rosie’s War.

Giveaway – 1^st Prize – all 4 of Catherine Byrne’s previous books in paperback .
6 x Runners Up Prizes – PB copy of Broken Horizon  (UK Only)

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries only.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter link below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/33c6949493/

A Journey Back In Time

Reading the lovely Viola Blue’s blog post earlier today, “Reading Between the Lines” set me to reminiscing about my own grandparents, or more specifically, my maternal grandparents. Like Viola’s own grandfather, they came from a time where affection was not handed out with ease, and they had their indoor clothes, and their outdoor clothes – my grandfather never once left the house without a tie, even if he was just popping to the shop at the end of the road for his newspaper.

Growing up, I never felt that I really knew my grandmother. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis before I was born, and for as far back as I remember, this had affected both her speech and her mobility, meaning that when we visited, she was stuck in an armchair, and I can honestly say that I don’t remember us ever having a proper conversation. She died when I was 17 and I barely knew her at all.

My grandfather was a stern-looking Welshman – a think accent and ill-fitting false teeth meant that as a child, I had almost as much trouble understanding him as I would have if he had been speaking an alien language. He had been my grandmother’s carer for so long that he was completely lost after she died, not that he would have ever admitted this to anyone. He had his routine, which he stuck to rigidly, and God help anyone who got in the way of it. He was a dear sweet man under the surface though, and often saved special treats for visitors, although on occasion this, and his failing eyesight, did mean that we were forced to eat out of date Quality Streets (other chocolates are available) or gone off beer to avoid upsetting him. In one memorable occasion, in his efforts to help me ease the travel sickness I always suffered on the way to visit, he fetched me a glass of water in what turned out to be a cut glass vase, and which didn’t appear to have been washed after it’s last occupants had been thrown out. Once again, eager not to offend, I felt I had to drink the water. Still, here I am, alive and kicking, so no harm done.

It was only after my grandfather died, and we were clearing his house, that I really felt that I got to know both my grandparents. It turns out that my grandfather was something of a hoarder – among other things we discovered were £80 of coppers and his spare glass eye (remind me to tell you that story one day!). As well as these unusual finds, we also discovered that he had an impressive collection of photographs, although some of these he appeared to have been using as coasters! It was a labour of love scanning and restoring these to make up albums for my mum and her brother and sisters. As I studied each photograph, it really felt that I was discovering what their true personalities were before age and ill health got in the way.

   

Among the family photographs, there was a stash of letters and photos that a variety of servicemen had sent to my grandmother during the Second World War. It turns out that, at 17 years old, my grandmother had lied about her age to join the Navy, and had thoroughly enjoyed herself. From all accounts, she was one of those people that thrived during the war. Looking through the photographs of her with her friends, she is so full of vitality and fun that it is hard to marry this to the version of her that I knew. That said, the letters that I now treasure gave me such a strong sense of who she was, that wartime Doris is how I now choose to remember her. I think, had I known her back then, we would have been great friends.

The letters and their accompanying photographs now reside safely in a folder to be passed down through the generations. I may not have known the men who wrote them, but they meant something to someone (not least my grandmother), and as such are to be treasured. One day I hope to be able to at least reunite the correct letter with the correct photograph. I would love to be able to find out if they made it back to their loved ones, but I wouldn’t know where to start. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

Thank you Viola Blue for inspiring this trip down memory lane. Maybe next time I will introduce everyone to my paternal grandparents who were a very different kettle of fish indeed!