Orphans of the Storm by Celia Imrie

                                           

Hardback:  408 pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Bloomsbury 2021

Source:  Tywyn Library

First Sentences: 'They are here with you?' There was hesitation in Aunt Therese's voice that frightened Marcella

Setting: Nice, France and New York

Review Quote: Gripping . A moving tale of courage, survival and maternal love ― Sunday Express

My Opinion:  The fate of the Titanic is well known and Celia Imrie and Fidelis Morgan, who carried out the historical research, have taken some of the real life survivors and produced a poignant novel that successfully blends fact and fiction.

The female protagonist Marcella Caret was in 1911, living in Nice, France with her controlling husband Michael. She has bravely filed for divorce and the couple are awaiting the judges custody decision, with regards to their two sons. During this time Michael receives news that pushes him into making a momentous decision, nothing will ever be the same again.

The historical research that Celia and Fidelis carried out to enable this story to be written is fascinating and the section about this work at the end of the novel is definitely worth reading.  I have discovered online that the two ladies are speaking about the novel and the research behind it at various literary events around the UK this Spring. Information about these events can be found on Twitter @FidoMorgan.  Recommended then to those that enjoy historical fiction, fiction based on fact or those that have an interest in Titanic history.  Plus of course those readers that are fans of Celia Imrie.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: From internationally bestselling author and celebrated actress Celia Imrie, an epic novel set against the backdrop of the sinking of the Titanic.

Nice, France, 1911: After three years of marriage, Marcella Navratil has finally had enough. Her husband, Michael, an ambitious tailor, may have charmed her during their courtship, but their few years of marriage have revealed a cruel and controlling streak. The 21-year-old mother of two is determined to get a divorce.

But while awaiting the Judges' decision on the custody of their children, Michael receives news that changes everything.

Meanwhile fun-loving New York socialite Margaret Hays is touring Europe with some friends. Restless, she resolves to head home aboard the most celebrated steamer in the world.

But as the ship sets sail for America, carrying two infants bearing false names, the paths of Marcella, Michael and Margaret cross and nothing will ever be the same again.

Orphans of the Storm dives into the waters of the past to unearth a sweeping, epic tale of the sinking of the Titanic that radiates with humanity and hums with life.

Author Profile:         

                                                   

                                                         Courtesy of Wikipedia

Celia Imrie was born in Guildford on July 15th1952. She is best known for her role as an actress but in 2011 she published her first novel of which the latest in 2021 was 'Orphans of the Storm'  

A comprehensive biography can be read on Wikipedia

Photographs, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Wikipedia   Amazon - Author Page   Goodreads - Celia Imrie  Twitter - Fidelis Morgan

Twitter - Celia Imrie

French Braid by Anne Tyler

 

                                  

Hardback:  244 pages

Genre: Literary Fiction

Publisher: Chatto and Windus 2022

Source:  Tywyn Library

First Sentences: This happened back in March of 2010, when the Philadelphia train station still had the kind of information board that clickety-clacked as the various gate assignments rolled up.

Setting: Maryland, U.S.A.

Favourite Quote: “Oh, a French braid,” Greta said. “That’s it. And then when she undid them, her hair would still be in ripples, little leftover squiggles, for hours and hours afterward.” “Yes…” “Well,” David said, “that’s how families work, too. You think you’re free of them, but you’re never really free; the ripples are crimped in forever.” 

Review Quote: 'Exquisitely crafted, tender, hilarious, devastatingly precise, I loved this powerful meditation on the small and often unvoiced moments that can make up a life' RACHEL JOYCE

My Opinion:  Anne Tyler is a prolific American author whose books I have been enjoying for over twenty years. Her literary style is appealing and her characters usually feel very relatable, this latest novel is no exception.

‘French Braid’ tells the story the Garrett family over several decades unto and including the recent Covid Pandemic.  A short novel considering the period it covers but it works perfectly as she shares with us the highs and lows of family life. With well developed characters the reader feels compassion for the complexities of the emotional ties that both bind and split families. The author has cleverly turned the mundane into a compelling tale of family dynamics.

Highly recommended as parts of this novel will probably resonate with many of us. For that reason alone it is well worth reading.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

The major new novel from the beloved prize-winning author -- a brilliantly perceptive, painfully true and funny journey deep into one family's foibles, from the 1950s right up to the changed world of today.
When the kids are grown and Mercy Garrett gradually moves herself out of the family home, everyone determines not to notice.
Over at her studio, she wants space and silence. She won't allow any family clutter. Not even their cat, Desmond.
Yet it is a clutter of untidy moments that forms the Garretts' family life over the decades, whether that's a painstaking Easter lunch or giving a child a ride, a fateful train journey or an unexpected homecoming.
And it all begins in 1959, with a family holiday to a cabin by a lake. It's the only one the Garretts will ever take, but its effects will ripple through the generations.

Author Profile:         

                                                   

                                                     Courtesy of Goodreads

Her interesting profile can be read in full on Wikipedia

Anne Tyler (born October 25, 1941) is an American novelist, short story writer, and literary critic. She has published twenty-four novels, including Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982), The Accidental Tourist(1985), and Breathing Lessons (1988). All three were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and Breathing Lessons won the prize in 1989. She has also won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, the Ambassador Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2012 she was awarded The Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence. Tyler's twentieth novel, A Spool of Blue Thread, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2015, and Redhead By the Side of the Road was longlisted for the same award in 2020. She is recognised for her fully developed characters, her "brilliantly imagined and absolutely accurate detail" her "rigorous and artful style", and her "astute and open language."

Photographs, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Goodreads Profile Page.    Anne Tyler - Facebook Page.   Wikipedia Profile.

Amazon Author Page

Letters From the Past by Erica James

 

                                   

Hardback: 508 pages

Genre: Romantic Fiction, Family Saga, Historical Fiction,

Publisher: Orion 2020

Source:  Tywyn Library

First Sentences: Out in the garden Evelyn Devereux could hear ringing from inside the house. with an energetic step, she dashed up the lawn, assuming it was one of the children calling to say which train they would be on.

Setting: Suffolk, England

Review Quote: 'A captivating read: beautifully written and heartrendingly sad' Daily Telegraph

My Opinion:  As a long time fan of the author I had been looking forward to reading this sequel to  Coming Home to Island House. Letters From the Past is a heart rending story with the return of an extensive cast of characters.

The reader catches up with the extended Devereux family nearly twenty years later in the early sixties. Every characters story is told with flashback chapters to the war years. Erica James does a skilful task of bringing everything together in such a way that makes for an absorbing read. Poison Pen letters received by various family members bring all sorts of issues and secrets to light, causing much trouble and stress.

To be honest although it is not necessary to have read the previous novel, it will add to your enjoyment if you have done so. I am now left wanting to know what happens to all the characters next, another volume maybe? Recommended to fans of the author and those readers that love a family saga.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

Suffolk, 1962. The Devereux family are gathering for a party, and a series of anonymous letters are about to turn the sleepy village of Melstead St Mary upside down . . .

Evelyn is preparing to celebrate her 20th wedding anniversary, but there are secrets she's never told her beloved husband, Kit. Secrets that stretch back to her wartime days at Bletchley Park . . .

For Hope, her sister-in-law, happiness has never come easily, and the letter she receives could destroy her fragile world. While, up at Melstead Hall, Julia has discovered that life she married into comes at a heavy price.

And halfway across the world, the indomitable Romily is longing for home. But with the Devereux family under threat, she finds herself confronting her own closely guarded secret. Can she save the day, and seize her own chance of happiness?

From the gorgeous Suffolk countryside to the sun-baked desert of Palm Springs, let Erica James sweep you away...

Author Profile:         

                                                   

                                                           Courtesy of Authors Website

In the author's own words from her website.

I grew up on the south coast of England with never a thought in my head as a child that I would one day be an author. But somehow, I’m now the author of twenty-four bestselling novels, with recent Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers including Swallowtail Summer, Coming Home to Island House, Letters from the Past, and Mothers and Daughters.  With sales of over five million around the world, including a No. 1 in Norway, I’m told that my books are loved by readers looking for beautifully drawn relationships, emotionally powerful storylines and evocative settings. 

In 2006 my novel Gardens of Delight won the Romantic Novel of the Year award and in 2020 I received the Nielsen Silver Award for sales of over a quarter of a million copies for both Love and Devotion and Tell it to the Skies. 

I live in Suffolk and travel as often as time permits to see my eldest son and his family in the US and my youngest son in Japan.

Photographs, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Erica James - Official Website.   Erica James - Twitter.  Instagram - Erica James

Goodreads Author Profile  Erica James - Amazon Author Page.  Erica James - Facebook

Daughters of War by Dinah Jefferies

 

                                           

Hardback: 538 pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Harper Collins 2021

Source:  Tywyn Public Library

First Sentences: If only it was late summer, and she could smell the sun-soaked scent of fir and spruce and be able to stand and watch the finches and starlings flitting between the branches. Her optimism might have outweighed the claustrophobic sensation of life leaning in, of ancient lichen-covered stone houses enclosing her as she walked through the village and the light began to fail.

Setting: Dordogne, France 1944

Series: Daughters of War (#1)

Review Quote: ‘A warm and engrossing tale of passion and courage. I loved it’ Rachel Hore, author.

My Opinion: Dinah Jefferies is a favourite author of mine, she has the skill of transporting the reader to locations that come alive on the page.’Daughters of War’ is the first volume in a trilogy about three sisters. Set in 1944 in France it is all about their lives living in occupied territory during WWII.

The story is told from the different perspectives of the protagonists, three sisters, Helene, Elise and Florence. Living in difficult times, experiencing the terrors of occupation, Helene the eldest, tries to keep her sisters safe but it becomes increasingly difficult. The author has a very descriptive style of writing which I feel helps the reader  immerse themselves in the surroundings and know the characters. However, this also means that the horrors the girls witness are also hard hitting and emotional to read.

A captivating read with engaging characters that makes the reader realise just how devastating  life in such circumstances must have been. The sisters story continues in the next volume ‘The Hidden Palace’, which I am looking forward to reading soon having already requested from the library. Highly recommended to fans of historical WWII fiction.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

A  sweeping historical novel of World War II from the international bestselling author of The Tea Planter’s Wife. 
France, 1944. In an old stone cottage, on the edge of a beautiful French village, three sisters long for the end of the war.

Hélène, the eldest, is trying her hardest to steer her family to safety, even as the Nazi occupation becomes more threatening.
Elise, the rebel, is determined to help the Resistance, whatever the cost.
And Florence, the dreamer, just yearns for a world where France is free.

Then, one dark night, the Allies come knocking for help. And Hélène knows that she cannot sit on the sidelines any longer. But secrets from their own mysterious past threaten to unravel everything they hold most dear… 

Author Profile:         

                                                                                               

                                                  Courtesy of Twitter Profile

Biography in her own words from her website

I was born in Malaysia but moved to the UK at the age of nine, going on to study fashion design, work in Tuscany as an au pair for an Italian countess, and live with a rock band in a commune in Suffolk.

A family tragedy changed everything, and I draw on the experience of loss in my writing, infusing love, loss, and danger with the seductive escapism of my locations. The sense of place, of history and of human nature is a heady mix in the novels.

Published in 29 languages in over 30 countries, I am currently writing an epic series for my new publisher Harper Collins (my 8th, 9th, and 10th novels) starting with Daughters of War set in 1944 in France (Sept  2021). I’ve always loved Italy but spent some years living in a tiny 16th Century village in Northern Andalusia, Spain. Now I’m delighted to have settled close to my family in the South West of England along with my husband and two enormous and very lovely Maine Coon cats.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Goodreads Author Profile  Twitter Profile. Dinah Jefferies - Official Website

Amazon Author Page