Tag Archive | Boldwood Books

The Girl With The Red Ribbon by Carly Schabowski

Nov8

Truth? Or Imagination?

The Girl With The Red Ribbon by Carly Schabowski is a compelling historical novel that intrigued me from the start. It drew me in, entertained me, and left me wondering – what was real? And what was imagined?

The novel is set over two time periods – 1969 and looking backwards to the 1940’s in war-torn Poland. Two voices tell the story – an old man and a young girl. Both have been marginalised by society. They band together with others whom they acquire along life’s wartime journey.

We see the child-like faith of characters, as they believe that the wearing of red ribbons will keep them safe.

Nazi-occupied Poland was a horrific place to be. Cruelty and evil were all around. Cunning and knowledge were needed to survive.

Partisans and resistance fighters occupied dense forest, often taking the Nazis by surprise.

Folklore and legend grew up surrounding the events of World War II, even the reader is not sure if it really happened.

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The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up by Laura Pearson

Oct25

Beautiful

The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up by Laura Pearson is a most beautiful contemporary novel that I really enjoyed.

The novel is written in two time periods – ‘then’ and ‘now.’ It is in the first person of Shelley Woodhouse. The reader gets to know her intimately from the age of six. We see how she functions. She is a very likable and believable main character.

There is an ethereal beauty to the novel despite the difficult theme of domestic abuse. Laura Pearson presents it with sensitivity. We see some of the abuse through the eyes of a child. “I sat in my bedroom wondering whether my mother might be dead.” There are some heart-breaking themes as well as some beautiful ones as we see Shelley Woodhouse being loved and protected by her grandmother.

Our upbringing shapes us. “Dad left and I don’t want to risk anyone else deciding to go.” Shelley Woodhouse aged six, has decided that she must be a ‘good girl’ so no one else ever leaves her. It is a motto she lives by.

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The Beforelife Of Eliza Valentine by Laura Pearson

Oct10

Whimsical & Beautiful

The Beforelife Of Eliza Valentine by Laura Pearson is a very unique and beautiful contemporary offering that I read in just two sittings, pausing only to sleep.

The novel surrounds four siblings in the beforelife. The reader gets to know them as the tale is told through the eyes of one of them. We witness the love and the rivalry. We see their desire to exist and their questions about what happens if they are never born.

This is a novel about love. It is not your conventional love story but it is a love story as we witness the ultimate in sacrificial love. This reminds the reader of Jesus’ words, “Greater love hath no man but that he lay down his life for his friends.”

This is also a book about parental love – and the lack of it, in some cases. Some people just do not have the capacity to love, treating their offspring with indifference at best, verbal cruelty at worst. The children are forever left wondering if the lack of love was their fault. This persists into adulthood as a grown up character says “all I needed was for you to be there.”

In contrast there is a father who loves deeply. His pregnant daughter asks for advice on parenting. “How did you get it so right?”… “I just loved you… I loved you more than anything else.” Her father expands further. “Making one decision after another, but if you base them all on the love you feel, I don’t think you can go far wrong.” Good parenting is nothing to do with the size of a bank balance but it is all about the love in our hearts.

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Sisters Of The Resistance by Jina Bacarr

Sep30

Daisy Chain

Sisters Of The Resistance by Jina Bacarr is a powerful and heartbreaking historical novel. It is the sequel to Sisters At War which I recommend reading first for maximum enjoyment.

The novel opens in 1942. The action is mainly set in Paris with alternating chapters between the two sisters, Eve and Justine. They both ‘fought’ very different wars. “Not everyone fights the Boches with guns and ammo.” Both were in opposition to the Nazis – one in the resistance, the other from within the Nazis as a spy but posing as a mistress, after events took a dreadful turn in the opening of book one. For safety’s sake, secrets and silences were kept, even when it meant others thought badly of them.

The battle for France was played out not just on the battlefields but in homes and streets, the people fought back however they could, holding on to the hope that one day France would be free again.

Family is important. Family ties and their safety saw one sister denying herself in order to preserve her family. “Winning the war is what counts, not me.”

There were some truly awful atrocities committed by the Nazis against women. Jina Bacar has realistically and sensitively portrayed some very hard to read scenes of the violence and attacks against the women of Paris.

Round-ups and the treatment of the Jewish people was horrific. A sister declared “I need to know. Then someday I can tell the world what I saw.” Survival was essential to tell the world what really happened.

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