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A review by alba_marie
Return to Fourwinds by Elisabeth Gifford
4.0
{4.5 stars}
This is my second Elisabeth Gifford book. The first, Secrets of Sea House is one of my favourite books of last year. Delving into the myth of the selkies and traveling back in time to the horrible Highland Clearances of Scotland, this book was amazing. So naturally, I wanted to see what else Gifford had written.
Return to Fourwinds, also a story based on secrets, is more of a love story to all things English. Leaving mythology aside, the book focusses on the history of the 20th century, in particular, WWII, Franco's rule, and the years of rebuilding that followed - and how these events effected those who lived through them. It is a family saga, following the lives of new money wealthy Alice, English immigrant in Spain Ralph, the working class evacuee Peter, the smart and determined Patricia, and their eventual children, the carefree Nicky and the quiet and introverted Sarah.
The book explores the types of secrets that are kept and how, and how the types of secrets might change over the years. The book starts off with a wedding - a doomed wedding, as it turns out, when the brides walks away from the alter days before the guests are meant to arrive - before heading into the past to follow these two families from the 30s all the way to the 80s. We see Ralph's life in Valencia as Franco rises to power, we see Peter's life as a boy from the slums evacuated to the countryside, living in the house of the wealthy factory owners the Hanburys. We see the bright Alice navigating love and an Oxford education. We see Sarah grow up in the post-war years in the shadow of the clergy, and Nicky grow up the sports star who secretly loves poetry. Everyone has a secret of some kind, hidden out of shame or fear, or to save face, to keep a certain reputation, or simply because that's how things are done. The wedding brings the cast together once more, and we see the secrets start to unravel.
The book is beautifully written, and some of the history brought up - particularly Mr Gardiner's role in 1940s Madrid - that I hadn't known about. Written simultaneously as Sea House, there's still no comparison for me - I loved the backdrop of the Scottish islands, the young couple relocating there in the 80s and the secrets they uncover, not to mention the semi-mystical aspect of the selkie myth. Fourwinds was well written and evocative but it was missing that quasi-magical element present in her other novel. Regardless, I am definitely a fan of Gifford's beautiful prose and will be reading her other works soon!
TW: sexual assault off screen, horrors of WWII
This is my second Elisabeth Gifford book. The first, Secrets of Sea House is one of my favourite books of last year. Delving into the myth of the selkies and traveling back in time to the horrible Highland Clearances of Scotland, this book was amazing. So naturally, I wanted to see what else Gifford had written.
Return to Fourwinds, also a story based on secrets, is more of a love story to all things English. Leaving mythology aside, the book focusses on the history of the 20th century, in particular, WWII, Franco's rule, and the years of rebuilding that followed - and how these events effected those who lived through them. It is a family saga, following the lives of new money wealthy Alice, English immigrant in Spain Ralph, the working class evacuee Peter, the smart and determined Patricia, and their eventual children, the carefree Nicky and the quiet and introverted Sarah.
The book explores the types of secrets that are kept and how, and how the types of secrets might change over the years. The book starts off with a wedding - a doomed wedding, as it turns out, when the brides walks away from the alter days before the guests are meant to arrive - before heading into the past to follow these two families from the 30s all the way to the 80s. We see Ralph's life in Valencia as Franco rises to power, we see Peter's life as a boy from the slums evacuated to the countryside, living in the house of the wealthy factory owners the Hanburys. We see the bright Alice navigating love and an Oxford education. We see Sarah grow up in the post-war years in the shadow of the clergy, and Nicky grow up the sports star who secretly loves poetry. Everyone has a secret of some kind, hidden out of shame or fear, or to save face, to keep a certain reputation, or simply because that's how things are done. The wedding brings the cast together once more, and we see the secrets start to unravel.
The book is beautifully written, and some of the history brought up - particularly Mr Gardiner's role in 1940s Madrid - that I hadn't known about. Written simultaneously as Sea House, there's still no comparison for me - I loved the backdrop of the Scottish islands, the young couple relocating there in the 80s and the secrets they uncover, not to mention the semi-mystical aspect of the selkie myth. Fourwinds was well written and evocative but it was missing that quasi-magical element present in her other novel. Regardless, I am definitely a fan of Gifford's beautiful prose and will be reading her other works soon!
TW: sexual assault off screen, horrors of WWII