Historical Fiction
3*’s
Set in the period immediately following the First World War this is the story of Lucy Charlton, the daughter of a solicitor who is studying at Durham University. The fall of poor Lucy is a shocking one and the consequences are not hers alone.
Joe went off to fight in the war against the wishes of his father who had bought him up in London on his own since the death of his mother. When Joe returns he finds he has lost not only his father but also his fortune and his girlfriend. His fortune he accepts as lost forever, he has letters from his father which he ekes out through the course of the story reading one on my reckoning every three months or so, but he will not accept the loss of Angela. He is determined to find out what has happened to her.
This tale is told from the viewpoints of Lucy and Joe over a period of years as their lives are intertwined by some of the minor characters in the book, some of whom are delightful like the Misses Slater who Lucy helps when she finds them in straightened circumstances.
The parts I was less enamoured with is the fact that Joe ‘sees things!’ Not only that but you would not believe the number of dreams that are mentioned in this book! This either results with the character on awakening suddenly knows something that was either already obvious, or conversely, leads to the next big discovery which moves the plot along. Now my irritation with this device may well be because there is nothing that is more likely to induce me to yawn in real life than if someone recounts a dream, and so while I can overlook the odd dream, the sheer number in this book irritated me so much that I lost all faith in the story being told.
As a romance I am sure this book works well, as a historical romance the actual historical details were quite light. No-one except Joe seems to have fought in the war nor does it appear to have had a huge impact on their lives which was disappointing for me as this was why I chose to read this particular novel.
I received a free copy of this book from Quercus in return for my honest review.
