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A review by tamsynh
Orphans of the Storm by Celia Imrie
3.0
We follow Marcella, a young woman who filed for divorce from her abusive and quite frankly narcissistic husband, triggering a series events which leave her fighting for, and eventually searching for, her children.
The characters were extremely believable, the relationships between them had depth and overall they were written in a way that made them relatable.
The main events don’t start until about 60% into the book. Up until that point we’re talking slow (VERY SLOW) burn. Then we get to the titanic element of the story and it all seems to be over so very quickly. To me, the main ‘meat’ of the book was all wrong. There was only so many times we needed to see Michael treat Marcella like dirt to understand he was a nasty man.
This isn’t a book or a story about the titanic, but the titanic does feature in it. As an aside, the title seems rather amiss - what storm? There was no storm, the ‘orphans’ became so due to an iceberg, not a storm. It seems a very odd choice of title, unless it refers to the ‘storm’ that brews between their parents perhaps?
The writing style, especially descriptive elements, to me, felt like someone trying to design a film set or TV series. It was like Imrie was trying to tell someone what it should look like rather than what it was like - which felt a little disingenuous and ‘externalising’ to me at times. It made it difficult to be immersed in the story. Perhaps that’s the actor in her coming through.
It’s worth the read. It’s captivating at times, engaging and it is really quite easy to connect with the characters. If you’re into character driven historical fiction, a slow burn and long build up to ‘the main events’ - this one is probably for you!
The characters were extremely believable, the relationships between them had depth and overall they were written in a way that made them relatable.
The main events don’t start until about 60% into the book. Up until that point we’re talking slow (VERY SLOW) burn. Then we get to the titanic element of the story and it all seems to be over so very quickly. To me, the main ‘meat’ of the book was all wrong. There was only so many times we needed to see Michael treat Marcella like dirt to understand he was a nasty man.
This isn’t a book or a story about the titanic, but the titanic does feature in it. As an aside, the title seems rather amiss - what storm? There was no storm, the ‘orphans’ became so due to an iceberg, not a storm. It seems a very odd choice of title, unless it refers to the ‘storm’ that brews between their parents perhaps?
The writing style, especially descriptive elements, to me, felt like someone trying to design a film set or TV series. It was like Imrie was trying to tell someone what it should look like rather than what it was like - which felt a little disingenuous and ‘externalising’ to me at times. It made it difficult to be immersed in the story. Perhaps that’s the actor in her coming through.
It’s worth the read. It’s captivating at times, engaging and it is really quite easy to connect with the characters. If you’re into character driven historical fiction, a slow burn and long build up to ‘the main events’ - this one is probably for you!