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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Such a beautiful story of heart-achingly hard topics. Throughout the over present quest for information was active. The reminder that sometimes the things we do that are hard can be the most healing.
I had the pleasure of hearing Katherine Reay share about the writing of this book. That definitely helped with how much I enjoyed reading it. The depth she goes to research and share history is amazing.
I had the pleasure of hearing Katherine Reay share about the writing of this book. That definitely helped with how much I enjoyed reading it. The depth she goes to research and share history is amazing.
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
I love World War fiction and was immediately intrigued by the beginning of the book. Its a very complex storyline with the dual timelines and Caroline and Mat trying to uncover the truth of Caroline Waite’s past. Its messy.
The story is about 2 Carolines, one that lived 80 years ago and one in present day. They are family but you wouldn’t know it as the Payne family has rewritten their own history and kept secrets and lied. I really felt for Caroline Payne (present one, although the past one was treated harshly a lot) as a lot of it was her circumstances that she couldn’t change.
“I wondered how much my dad had missed, how much I had missed, by focusing on what was absent rather than what was in front of us.” (location 1786)
Caroline has her old time friend Mat come to London to look through the letters, he is a historian/family history excerpt-which I thought was a fun addition. Its not normally a job you read about. But Caroline and Mat have a past too. All of Caroline’s life has been shadowed and haunted by her family’s secrets and lies and has affected how she lives and interacts with others.
With the race to beat the clock and uncover the truth, the letters and diary entries as well seeing if Caroline can make amends with her past and family – I couldn’t put it down. I had to keep reading to see how it would all turn out.
At the end it seemed to be tied up all nice and HEA without a finality. The epilogue wasn’t really an epilogue. And for the years of grief and isolation Caroline’s family experienced, some of the ending seemed unbelievable. But I still liked the book.
I have read a few of Reay’s other books and this has a different tone, but letters and quoting Austen seem to be a given. Her prose made it easy for me to fall into this world and it intrigued to me to look up what facts and people were real and lead me down internet search rabbit holes a time or two.
The story is about 2 Carolines, one that lived 80 years ago and one in present day. They are family but you wouldn’t know it as the Payne family has rewritten their own history and kept secrets and lied. I really felt for Caroline Payne (present one, although the past one was treated harshly a lot) as a lot of it was her circumstances that she couldn’t change.
“I wondered how much my dad had missed, how much I had missed, by focusing on what was absent rather than what was in front of us.” (location 1786)
Caroline has her old time friend Mat come to London to look through the letters, he is a historian/family history excerpt-which I thought was a fun addition. Its not normally a job you read about. But Caroline and Mat have a past too. All of Caroline’s life has been shadowed and haunted by her family’s secrets and lies and has affected how she lives and interacts with others.
With the race to beat the clock and uncover the truth, the letters and diary entries as well seeing if Caroline can make amends with her past and family – I couldn’t put it down. I had to keep reading to see how it would all turn out.
At the end it seemed to be tied up all nice and HEA without a finality. The epilogue wasn’t really an epilogue. And for the years of grief and isolation Caroline’s family experienced, some of the ending seemed unbelievable. But I still liked the book.
I have read a few of Reay’s other books and this has a different tone, but letters and quoting Austen seem to be a given. Her prose made it easy for me to fall into this world and it intrigued to me to look up what facts and people were real and lead me down internet search rabbit holes a time or two.
Poorly named.
Set in 2010s, this is a look back into the 1930s and 40s WWII as a family tries to find the truth about (they think)a long lost aunt. It's told in a narrative but also letters and diaries with some public records in there. When you get into a story with espionage, there's always some unreliable narration.
I could've done without the sort of love story. In the modern times, the two researchers fall back in love? The dad oddly snaps to his senses? There's some reconciliation between the main character and her parents over this story? I'll admit that it is an incredible story and somewhat altering to the family, but it's not all that.
I will recommend this book with the caveat to overlook all family relations because they turn to nonsense.
Set in 2010s, this is a look back into the 1930s and 40s WWII as a family tries to find the truth about (they think)a long lost aunt. It's told in a narrative but also letters and diaries with some public records in there. When you get into a story with espionage, there's always some unreliable narration.
I could've done without the sort of love story. In the modern times, the two researchers fall back in love? The dad oddly snaps to his senses? There's some reconciliation between the main character and her parents over this story? I'll admit that it is an incredible story and somewhat altering to the family, but it's not all that.
I will recommend this book with the caveat to overlook all family relations because they turn to nonsense.
emotional
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I like reading about World War I and II but I found this story hard to follow with the switching between the letters, the diary and the present day. This was such a slow and boring read and I couldn't care less about any of the characters or the present day romantic story, I'm glad I finished this book.
I'm sorry but there are so many better historical fiction books out there, I would not recommend this one
I'm sorry but there are so many better historical fiction books out there, I would not recommend this one
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated