Paperback: 435 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Penguin 2021
Source: Tywyn Public Library
First Paragraph: The temperature is falling. Evening settling beyond the window. Darkness soon, a darkness that will enshroud me. I start to shiver. Not cold, but fear. Fear for what is to come. And yet ready. So ready.
Review Quote: 'A virtual hug of a tale' JOANNE HARRIS
My Opinion: I am a fan of Carol Drinkwater's writing about her life on The Olive Farm in the south of France and have also always admired her as an actress. However, this is the first novel of hers that I have read, having only recently discovered just what a prolific fiction writer she is.
'An Act of Love' set in France during WWII contains wonderfully descriptive writing, so the reader gets a great sense of time and place throughout.
A sensitively told story about illicit love, woven around the life of the young protagonist Sara, as she arrives in a small village in Alpes Maritime France in the spring of 1943. Fictional but as it is based on real events that occurred in the region, it feels even more realistic and emotional.
In my opinion a worthwhile read for anyone that enjoys a tenderly written novel set in this period.
Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:
France, 1943.
Forced to flee war ravaged Poland, Sara and her parents are offered refuge in a beautiful but dilapidated house in the French Alps. It seems the perfect hideaway, despite haunting traces of the previous occupants who left in haste.
But shadows soon fall over Sara's blissful summer, and her blossoming romance with local villager Alain. As the Nazis close in, the family is forced to make a harrowing choice that could drive them apart forever, while Sara's own bid for freedom risks several lives . . .
Will her family make it through the summer together?
And can she hold onto the love she has found with Alain?
Video Trailer for 'An Act of Love ' Courtesy of YouTube
Author Profile
Photos and Text Courtesy of Carols Official Website. Visit to learn more about her.
Actress Carol Drinkwater is probably best known for her role as Helen Herriot in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small. Also an accomplished novelist, she has achieved bestselling status with her much-loved memoirs of life on an olive farm in Provence.
Carol has been invited to work with UNESCO to help found an Olive Heritage Trail around the Mediterranean Basin. The aim is to create peace within the region and honour the heritage of this sacred tree.
Photographs, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.
Goodreads Profile Official Website - Carol Drinkwater Twitter Profile Amazon Book Page
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