Martha is facing something that quite a lot of retirees feel. Her mind is agile, she has been used to a very active job which used her capabilities and now she is adrift. Her husband, a very good man is staid, he himself a maths teacher who does not understand Martha at all.
A chance advertisement asking for help to set out a book regarding the history of this particular village seems just up Martha's street and she falls into the project with enthusiasm and a lot of vigor. Enthusiasm which is not shared by all of the committee surrounding this project. It also opens up a past story on the history of a manor in the village, whose history has been lost to the present inhabitants. Abandoned and falling into a derelict state, it must have been a grand home for some family and uncovering it step at a time, takes the reader back to the WW1 era and the tragic saga of the Amherst family.
The story of Martha (who also discovers love in the best way possible) at the age of sixty and is in a quandary as to what she should do, and the story of Henry, George, Alice and Madame Roussel takes across from England to France to espionage, betrayal, love, distrust and lost opportunities. Very poignant, very tragic but very well told this was a beautiful story to read.
Sent to me by Netgalley for an unbiased review, courtesy of Troubadour Publishing.
I hadn't heard of this one before, but it does sound like a good one. I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the heads-up!
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