Spanning decades from the 1930s and war torn England then going across to Thailand with glimpses of Singapore the book covers a family or rather two families over several generations.
How the lives of two separate families intertwine, separate and meet up generations later makes up for a spellbinding novel.
The story starts in the now - with Julia a renowned concert pianist who has suffered devastating loss and is just existing on a day by day basis unable to come out of the shock and also not wanting to come out of the depression which is holding her down. We have a loving sister who is trying in whatever way she can to help, and we then have the Crawford family who have always been part of Julia's family going by generations. Kit Crawford is trying to salvage his inheritance or what is left of it and whilst selling the estate Kit discovers an old diary and takes it Julia who takes it to her grandmother who is the only person who will be able to help unravel the story.
This is the part where we go backwards in time to Kit's grandfather who became a prisoner in the Far East and to the story of his life there and his love and the ramifications of that love affair which has now reached the present times.
I do so like family stories and this was by far one of the best. Told in very descriptive form not just of the geography of the land it covered, but also of each and every character the reader is swept into the story and you are hoping against hope that there will be happy ending for all. Obstacles in Julia's way there are aplenty and this adds to the tale.
A book I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
Sounds like a story to carry the reader away. Nice review!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a good book
ReplyDeleteSounds like a winner; I do own this one so I should read it. Have a good week.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed this one, too. There was just one thing about the present-day story that bothered me, but I think the story set in the past made up for it.
ReplyDelete