Customer review from the Amazon Vine Programme(What's this?)
The premise of the book is that a woman working in a bookshop finds a letter written by her grandfather to her grandmother which opens up a door to her family's past and exposes secrets along the way. I loved that Roberta was ethereal and the plot suited her character in that it drifted in and out of the various threads, many of which were never tied off giving you plenty to think about after you put the book down. There is a dual narrative which is structured in a very confident way - admirable in a first novel! Giving us the detail of the letter at the beginning did give too much of the story away which might have been better handled. I also found that the characters were… Read more
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Programme(What's this?)
This story is narrated by a prisoner waiting for his execution in a dark, miserable prison. As his mind wanders he listens to the comings and goings around him, specifically to another prisoner, a Lady, a Priest and the Warden. The idea fascinated me and I tried very hard to enjoy it but I never found myself totally immersed which I think was the authors intent. It you can get sucked in to the world that is created then I think you will love this book but it didn't quite make it for me.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Programme(What's this?)
One of the professional reviews compares this book to Downton Abbey and I think that's very fair. I know it's a true story but everything seems so far away from real life that it ends up feeling like over dramatised romantic fiction. I whipped through it fairly quickly but it is a chunk of a book (the version I read had over 600 pages). Recommended advisedly.....
