The Hidden Years by Rachel Hore

                                                         

Hardback:   496 pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Simon and Schuster 2023

Source:  Tywyn Public Library

First Sentences: The clock above the porter's lodge of Darbyfield University was half an hour ahead of the time showing on Belle Johnson's wristwatch, but whichever was correct, she had been waiting ages for her life and the blazing noonday sun was doing nothing for her hangover.

Review Quote:  'Gorgeous' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

My Opinion: I have now read, including this one, eight 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, 'The Hidden Years’ is dual narrative and the author was originally inspired by a photograph of pupils from her father's old school , which was evacuated from Kent to Cornwall during the Second World War.

The novel is set during WWII and the sixties in Cornwall with Silverwood a fictional house being the link between the two eras. It is 1939 and Imogen has the task of escorting two young boys to their boarding school which has been evacuated to Cornwall.  Her life changes when she decides to accept a post there and not return home.  In the nineteen sixties part of the story the house has become a commune to which Belle has travelled with her boyfriend. As the two stories progress the connections become more and more fascinating and as the reader I wanted to know the outcome of this compelling novel.

Once again Rachel Hore has written a captivating story which I recommended to those readers that enjoy historical novels with plenty of secrets to be uncovered.

My reviews of other novels by Rachel Hore:  The Memory Garden   A Week in Paris

A Beautiful Spy  The Love Child.  One Moonlit Night

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

September 1939, troubled young Imogen Lockhart travels to Cornwall by train to deliver two small boys to their prep school, which has been evacuated to Penmartin House for the duration of the war.  When she’s asked to stay on at the school as temporary cover for the usual matron she readily agrees.  After all, it enables her to put off more serious decisions of what to do with her life.   But her time at the school turns out to be more complicated than she’d imagined.
 
In 1966, sensitive and musical Belle Patterson is restless. She’s finishing her first year at a Midlands university but not enjoying it and is troubled by secrets in her family life. When, after a chance meeting, she falls in love with talented and attractive folk musician Gray Tucker, he easily persuades her to abandon her studies and accompany him to Cornwall, a place that piques her interest because of a particular photograph she’s recently found of herself as a baby.
 
On a small commune at Penmartin House near the beautiful Helford estuary she finds life off-grid idyllic at first, the other people creative and interesting, but underlying tensions soon reveal themselves. 
 
When the conflicts in the commune come to a head, Belle is forced to face some difficult truths. She also comes to see how Imogen’s story entwines with her own and unravels the mysteries of her own family.

Author Profile:         

Courtesy of Amazon 

Rachel Hore is the author of thirteen bestselling novels, 

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