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knitswithbeer's review
5.0
what a delightful book with a surprising twist at the end. For some reason I thought this was a SciFi book; how wrong could I be?
I don't normally like books that switch around too much but the separate stories of the main characters played together well. The jumping around in time was hardly noticed due to the tale told.
The quality of the writing and characterisation are very good.
I have two small niggles. Firstly some loose ends are not tied up, or rather some threads are not pursued and I'd have liked illustrations. Mind you as I'm reading the Kindle copy I don't know if the hard copy has those.
I don't normally like books that switch around too much but the separate stories of the main characters played together well. The jumping around in time was hardly noticed due to the tale told.
The quality of the writing and characterisation are very good.
I have two small niggles. Firstly some loose ends are not tied up, or rather some threads are not pursued and I'd have liked illustrations. Mind you as I'm reading the Kindle copy I don't know if the hard copy has those.
litjrzygrl's review
3.0
I think this book would be perfect for you Downton Abbey fans. While not set in the same kind of atmosphere, the story does party take place in the early 1900s. I Stopped Time is the story of Lottie and told from two different points of view, in two different eras. The first is from her own point of view in Edwardian England. Lottie's life is changed when she enters the photography studio of Mr. Parker.
In present day, Sir James Hastings has received boxes from his late mother's estate. Boxes of photographs. Sir James doesn't know his mother. He only remembers meeting her once, very briefly, as a young child at a photography show. He employs the help of Jenny, a young photography student, who convinces him to go through the boxes. Looking though these photographs Sir James finally gets to meet his mother.
Jane Davis writes a beautiful story of a mother and son. She ties the story in wonderfully with the history of the times and of photography. I really enjoyed reading the novel and took my time (unlike a lot of my rushed readings) to savor the history she includes. Lottie is the kind of character I like, she's complex and intriguing.
Originally Posted at CNJ JASNA's Blog
In present day, Sir James Hastings has received boxes from his late mother's estate. Boxes of photographs. Sir James doesn't know his mother. He only remembers meeting her once, very briefly, as a young child at a photography show. He employs the help of Jenny, a young photography student, who convinces him to go through the boxes. Looking though these photographs Sir James finally gets to meet his mother.
Jane Davis writes a beautiful story of a mother and son. She ties the story in wonderfully with the history of the times and of photography. I really enjoyed reading the novel and took my time (unlike a lot of my rushed readings) to savor the history she includes. Lottie is the kind of character I like, she's complex and intriguing.
Originally Posted at CNJ JASNA's Blog
rbharath's review
4.0
This book was pleasantly different from many of the historical fiction novels I have read recently. It keeps things simple and closes well.
In the current time – Sir James, who is a retired member of parliament learns of his mother’s death. His mother, Lottie Pye, dies at the age of 108. James has not been in touch with her since long, and was raised by his father. He largely has a bitter outlook towards her as she left him and his father, when he was young boy. He receives a large set of boxes, with lots of photographs his mother had clicked. Jenny Jones, an art student, gently prods him to look beyond his preconceived notions and understand his mother through the photos.
There is another track set in 1900s Brighton starting with Lottie as a young girl who lives with foster parents after she is saved during a storm. After meeting with Mr Parker who has a local studio, and encourages her, Lottie takes to modelling and later immerses herself in photography. There is a beautiful passage in the book which mentions how photos have the ability to stop time – you look at them many years hence and can relive the memories. Lottie gets married but is keen to also follow her heart. There is a lot she understands about herself, and runs into very painful choices she has to make. This is also the period when war breaks many close relationships.
James, with Jenny’s help is able to piece together much of his mother’s story and realizes there is so much she has gone through and his assumptions about her were simplistic and mostly incorrect.
I found myself drawn to the characters of Lottie, James & Jenny. The story moves quite slowly through a lot of the mid-sections though.
Overall, a very well written story, which I recommend for its honesty, simplicity and beautiful convergence at the end.
My rating: 3.75 / 5.
In the current time – Sir James, who is a retired member of parliament learns of his mother’s death. His mother, Lottie Pye, dies at the age of 108. James has not been in touch with her since long, and was raised by his father. He largely has a bitter outlook towards her as she left him and his father, when he was young boy. He receives a large set of boxes, with lots of photographs his mother had clicked. Jenny Jones, an art student, gently prods him to look beyond his preconceived notions and understand his mother through the photos.
There is another track set in 1900s Brighton starting with Lottie as a young girl who lives with foster parents after she is saved during a storm. After meeting with Mr Parker who has a local studio, and encourages her, Lottie takes to modelling and later immerses herself in photography. There is a beautiful passage in the book which mentions how photos have the ability to stop time – you look at them many years hence and can relive the memories. Lottie gets married but is keen to also follow her heart. There is a lot she understands about herself, and runs into very painful choices she has to make. This is also the period when war breaks many close relationships.
James, with Jenny’s help is able to piece together much of his mother’s story and realizes there is so much she has gone through and his assumptions about her were simplistic and mostly incorrect.
I found myself drawn to the characters of Lottie, James & Jenny. The story moves quite slowly through a lot of the mid-sections though.
Overall, a very well written story, which I recommend for its honesty, simplicity and beautiful convergence at the end.
My rating: 3.75 / 5.
chocolatelady1957's review
4.0
A female photographer who was ahead of her time connects with her long-estranged son after her death through the pictures she took that spanned a century of change. Read my review of this book here https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2015/03/13/capturing-memories-for-eternity/
jane_davis's review
5.0
Where did you find your inspiration for ‘I Stopped Time’ from?
Reading a biography of Lee Miller, one of my heroines. I knew her photography but, as it turned out, very little of her life. She was an extraordinary, extraordinary person. One of the most sought-after fashion models of her day, who became a muse to surrealist photographers and artists such as Man Ray and Picasso. But she had always yearned to be on the other side of the lens and, in time, she became highly respected for her own work. At the outbreak of World War II she became dissatisfied with her fashion work and documented the Blitz for Vogue, then underwent yet another transformation to become the only woman in combat photo journalism in Europe, taking incredible personal risks. Lee also recorded the first use of napalm at the battle of St. Malo, the liberation of Paris, and she was there when the victims of Nazi concentration camps were liberated. Her personal relationships were never straightforward, but it a huge testament to the strength of her personality that all of her ex-lovers became friends. She eventually settled down in Sussex with the artist and curator, Roland Penrose, with whom she had a son, Anthony. He knew Lee as an embarrassing mother and had no idea of her history until, after she died, he discovered her collection of work. I found his comment that he was cheated out of knowing someone really very extraordinary extremely poignant, and it set me on the road to discovering one of my main characters, Sir James Hastings.
Other things, I stumbled upon along the way. One of the things that happened while I was writing a book that spans the period of the First World War was the death of Harry Patch. I had been deeply moved watching and reading about the histories of the last of the Veterans, and admired him greatly for his decision to speak out after so many years’ silence. After all that time had passed, you could still see how raw his emotions were.
You’ve said before that photography is a passion of yours.
Absolutely. That’s one of the things that made I Stopped Time such a joy to write. Jacques Henri Lartique, a self-taught photographer whose collection spans over seven decades, kept intricate notes of his experimentation with what was still a new medium when he was given his first camera as a boy. They became my sourcebook. In fact, I was able to pull several of my passions together: photography, a relatively new-found interest in history. The book is dotted with some of the incredible people I found along the way, whose paths would have crossed with my main character’s. I’ve already mentioned Harry Patch. There’s also Florence Mills, the first black female international superstar, and Edith Hawkes who became better known as Sylvia Ashley, a real rags to riches story. Graveyards also feature.
Graveyards?
Graveyards and Gravestones. I am a huge fan of Victorian Cemeteries. Far from being morbid, I find them very peaceful places. Last week I wandered through Kensal Green Cemetery on my way to an appointment and discovered many of the gravestones – and not all of them new - had been decorated with tinsel, something I had never seen before. I also love the fact that you can find a person’s life history right there in front of you. Someone I discovered from her gravestone was Phoebe Hessel who became famous for disguising herself as a man because she could not bear to be separated from her lover when he joined the army. She outlived both him when she married and her second husband, living until the age of 108.
Writing about a photographer, did you see any parallels with authors?
Yes, when I was writing about the distance that Lottie feels from her work, when she says it’s hard to take any credit for it because it has an energy of its own. Lottie is also reluctant to talk about her photography, comparing it to a magician being asked to explain how he has performed a trick. I feel those things, as I imagine many authors do. And yet there’s an increasing expectation that authors, who are often quite reclusive, will make excellent public speakers.
I can’t really ignore the fact that, as a recipient of the Daily Mail First Novel Award, you have chosen to write about the Daily Mail in what some people may not consider to be a particularly flattering light.
My main concern was to be historically accurate. You can’t ignore the fact that the Daily Mail has a long record of sponsoring the arts, sciences and emerging technologies. There’s no doubt that Lord Northcliffe was a marketing genius, but it’s also true to say that without his indirect funding, some achievements either might not have happened, or would have happened far more slowly. Taking early aviation as an example, inn 1906 he put up £1,000 for the first flight across the Channel and £10,000 for the first flight from London to Manchester. These ideas seemed so far-fetched that Punch said they would offer £10,000 for the first man who flew to the moon, but within four years both prizes had been won. The fact that my journalists were perhaps not the nicest people you might chose to meet was incidental. Without giving too much of the plot away, there wouldn’t have been much of a story if Lottie had simply entered a photography competition and won.
Did your competition win influence your writing in any other ways?
Definitely. You might think that your reaction to winning a prize would be one of pure joy, but I found it was far more complex than that. Because I had very little publicity, I was able to deal with my emotions very privately, but I’ve become an addict to shows like the X Factor. You can see how winning a stage of the competition, when you have had a history of knockback after knockback from people who have told you that you’re not good enough, or that you shouldn’t set yourself up for disappointment by trying, can cause a physical collapse. I don’t think Rylan and Christopher were acting. Winning can also be hugely humbling, and I hope that comes across in the story line.
Will your readers feel they are on familiar territory?
Joanne Harris described my first novel as ‘A story of secrets, lies, grief and, ultimately, redemption.’ That quote could equally have been written about ‘I Stopped Time.’
I think the familiarity will come from the use of two narrators. Something I was keen to give a sense of was how modern the mother, the elder of the two main characters, was when compared with her son. By layering the stories, I also wanted to give show the parallels between the lives of mother and son and of history repeating itself, as it so often seems to in families, even when they live apart.
Reading a biography of Lee Miller, one of my heroines. I knew her photography but, as it turned out, very little of her life. She was an extraordinary, extraordinary person. One of the most sought-after fashion models of her day, who became a muse to surrealist photographers and artists such as Man Ray and Picasso. But she had always yearned to be on the other side of the lens and, in time, she became highly respected for her own work. At the outbreak of World War II she became dissatisfied with her fashion work and documented the Blitz for Vogue, then underwent yet another transformation to become the only woman in combat photo journalism in Europe, taking incredible personal risks. Lee also recorded the first use of napalm at the battle of St. Malo, the liberation of Paris, and she was there when the victims of Nazi concentration camps were liberated. Her personal relationships were never straightforward, but it a huge testament to the strength of her personality that all of her ex-lovers became friends. She eventually settled down in Sussex with the artist and curator, Roland Penrose, with whom she had a son, Anthony. He knew Lee as an embarrassing mother and had no idea of her history until, after she died, he discovered her collection of work. I found his comment that he was cheated out of knowing someone really very extraordinary extremely poignant, and it set me on the road to discovering one of my main characters, Sir James Hastings.
Other things, I stumbled upon along the way. One of the things that happened while I was writing a book that spans the period of the First World War was the death of Harry Patch. I had been deeply moved watching and reading about the histories of the last of the Veterans, and admired him greatly for his decision to speak out after so many years’ silence. After all that time had passed, you could still see how raw his emotions were.
You’ve said before that photography is a passion of yours.
Absolutely. That’s one of the things that made I Stopped Time such a joy to write. Jacques Henri Lartique, a self-taught photographer whose collection spans over seven decades, kept intricate notes of his experimentation with what was still a new medium when he was given his first camera as a boy. They became my sourcebook. In fact, I was able to pull several of my passions together: photography, a relatively new-found interest in history. The book is dotted with some of the incredible people I found along the way, whose paths would have crossed with my main character’s. I’ve already mentioned Harry Patch. There’s also Florence Mills, the first black female international superstar, and Edith Hawkes who became better known as Sylvia Ashley, a real rags to riches story. Graveyards also feature.
Graveyards?
Graveyards and Gravestones. I am a huge fan of Victorian Cemeteries. Far from being morbid, I find them very peaceful places. Last week I wandered through Kensal Green Cemetery on my way to an appointment and discovered many of the gravestones – and not all of them new - had been decorated with tinsel, something I had never seen before. I also love the fact that you can find a person’s life history right there in front of you. Someone I discovered from her gravestone was Phoebe Hessel who became famous for disguising herself as a man because she could not bear to be separated from her lover when he joined the army. She outlived both him when she married and her second husband, living until the age of 108.
Writing about a photographer, did you see any parallels with authors?
Yes, when I was writing about the distance that Lottie feels from her work, when she says it’s hard to take any credit for it because it has an energy of its own. Lottie is also reluctant to talk about her photography, comparing it to a magician being asked to explain how he has performed a trick. I feel those things, as I imagine many authors do. And yet there’s an increasing expectation that authors, who are often quite reclusive, will make excellent public speakers.
I can’t really ignore the fact that, as a recipient of the Daily Mail First Novel Award, you have chosen to write about the Daily Mail in what some people may not consider to be a particularly flattering light.
My main concern was to be historically accurate. You can’t ignore the fact that the Daily Mail has a long record of sponsoring the arts, sciences and emerging technologies. There’s no doubt that Lord Northcliffe was a marketing genius, but it’s also true to say that without his indirect funding, some achievements either might not have happened, or would have happened far more slowly. Taking early aviation as an example, inn 1906 he put up £1,000 for the first flight across the Channel and £10,000 for the first flight from London to Manchester. These ideas seemed so far-fetched that Punch said they would offer £10,000 for the first man who flew to the moon, but within four years both prizes had been won. The fact that my journalists were perhaps not the nicest people you might chose to meet was incidental. Without giving too much of the plot away, there wouldn’t have been much of a story if Lottie had simply entered a photography competition and won.
Did your competition win influence your writing in any other ways?
Definitely. You might think that your reaction to winning a prize would be one of pure joy, but I found it was far more complex than that. Because I had very little publicity, I was able to deal with my emotions very privately, but I’ve become an addict to shows like the X Factor. You can see how winning a stage of the competition, when you have had a history of knockback after knockback from people who have told you that you’re not good enough, or that you shouldn’t set yourself up for disappointment by trying, can cause a physical collapse. I don’t think Rylan and Christopher were acting. Winning can also be hugely humbling, and I hope that comes across in the story line.
Will your readers feel they are on familiar territory?
Joanne Harris described my first novel as ‘A story of secrets, lies, grief and, ultimately, redemption.’ That quote could equally have been written about ‘I Stopped Time.’
I think the familiarity will come from the use of two narrators. Something I was keen to give a sense of was how modern the mother, the elder of the two main characters, was when compared with her son. By layering the stories, I also wanted to give show the parallels between the lives of mother and son and of history repeating itself, as it so often seems to in families, even when they live apart.
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