One Moonlit Night by Rachel Hore

 

Hardback:  463 pages

Genre: Historical Romantic Fiction, Fiction

Publisher: Simon and Schuster 2022

Source:  Tywyn Public Library

First Sentences: Grace glanced at her watch. Had she been clear enough about the whereabouts of the tea shop?

Review Quote:  'Brimming over with everything I love about this author's writing: atmosphere, intrigue, wonderful characters and a beautiful love story. Pure delight to read' Tracy Rees - Author

My Opinion: I have now read, including this one, seven novels by Rachel Hore and looking back on those earlier reads it seems I enjoy her writing more nowadays. It was back in 2009 I first read one, so I guess we have both matured somewhat since then, both in writing style for her and taste for me. As with many of her novels, ‘One Moonlit Night’ is dual narrative and the author has been inspired by historical facts around which she has created a fictional story.

The novel is set during WWII and Maddie Anderson’s husband Phillip is missing presumed dead after failing to escape Northern France at the time of Operation Dynamo in Dunkirk. There were terrible massacres after this and his disappearance was assumed to have been due to such an event. Phillips narrative is about his personal war experiences in France and Maddie’s along with their daughters back in England. During the Blitz their home in London is bombed and they find themselves homeless, managing to track down relations of her husband’s family is her only option and they are offered a roof over their heads at Knyghton the family home in Norfolk. Surprisingly Maddie knows nothing at all about Phillips past and is keen to learn more about him. However, she discovers that there are so many family secrets which slowly unravel as the novel progresses, with its twists and turns.

An emotive story recommended to those readers that enjoy historical romance novels set in this period. 

Links to reviews for a few of Rachel Hore's other novels that I have read.

The Love Child  The Memory Garden  A Week in Paris  A Beautiful Spy

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

Accept it, he is dead.

No, it’s not true.

It is. Everyone thinks so except you.

Forced to leave their family home in London after it is bombed, Maddie and her two young daughters take refuge at Knyghton, the beautiful country house in Norfolk where Maddie’s husband Philip spent the summers of his childhood.

But Philip is gone, believed to have been killed in action in northern France. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Maddie refuses to give up hope that she and Philip will some day be reunited. 

Arriving at Knyghton, Maddie feels closer to her missing husband, but she soon realises that there’s a reason Philip has never spoken to her about his past. Something happened at Knyghton one summer years before. Something that involved Philip, his cousin Lyle and a mysterious young woman named Flora.

Maddie’s curiosity turns to desperation as she tries to discover the truth, but no one will speak about what happened all those years ago, and no one will reassure her that Philip will ever return to Knyghton.

Author Profile:         

Courtesy of Amazon 

Rachel Hore is the author of twelve bestselling novels, the most recent of which is A Beautiful Spy. Her twelfth, One Moonlit Night, will be published in the UK in May 2022.

Full time writing only came after a career editing fiction at HarperCollins in London. She lives in Norfolk with her husband and they have three grown up sons.  

A full and interesting Profile can be found on the Amazon Author Page and even more on her Official Website

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Amazon Author Page   Goodreads - Author Profile  Twitter - Rachel Hore

 Official Author Website