Category: Reading Challenges

#BlogTour #BookReview The Stationmaster’s Daughter by Kathleen McGurl @HQDigitalUK

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The Stationmasters DaughterWelcome to one of today’s three stops on the blog tour for The Stationmaster’s Daughter by Kathleen McGurl, published by HQ Digital on 7th August 2019. It will be available in paperback on 17th October 2019 and is available for pre-order now.

My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation to join the tour and to HQ Digital for my review copy provided via NetGalley.

The Stationmaster's DaughterAbout the Book

As the last train leaves, will life ever be the same?

Dorset 1935 – Stationmaster Ted has never cared much for romance. Occupied with ensuring England’s most beautiful railway runs on time, love has always felt like a comparatively trivial matter. Yet when he meets Annie Galbraith on the 8.42 train to Lynford, he can’t help but instantly fall for her. But soon the railway is forced to close and a terrible accident occurs within the station grounds, Ted finds his job and any hope of a relationship with Annie hanging in the balance…

Present day – Recovering from heartbreak after a disastrous marriage, Tilly decides to escape from the bustling capital and move to Dorset to stay with her dad, Ken. When Ken convinces Tilly to help with the restoration of the old railway, she discovers a diary hidden in the old ticket office. Tilly is soon swept up in Ted’s story, and the fateful accident that changed his life forever. But an encounter with an enigmatic stranger takes Tilly by surprise, and she can’t help but feel a connection with Ted’s story in the past.

Format: ebook (384 pp.)                     Publisher: HQ Digital
Publication date: 7th August 2019. Genre: Historical Fiction, Dual Time

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Hive
*link provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Stationmaster’s Daughter on Goodreads

My Review

Despite being separated by over eighty years in time, Ted and Tilly are dealing with similar challenges.

Tilly is recovering from traumatic events in her personal life and the unexpected breakdown of her marriage to Ian. Both have brought her to the brink of despair. Thankfully her dear friend, Jo, and her lovely dad, Ken, are there to support her. Moving down to Dorset to stay with her father, Tilly initially rejects his wise advice and his attempts to encourage her to focus on the future. She turns to drink to soothe the anguish she feels until a chance encounter changes everything. Soon, Tilly finds her interest piqued by what she finds while working on the archives of the railway preservation society to which her father belongs.

Ted is a simple soul who has always found relationships with other people difficult and never imagined himself having a wife or family. That is until he meets Annie and a different life suddenly becomes a possibility. However, the announcement of the closure of the railway throws Ted’s life into turmoil. How will he cope with a change that threatens his job, home, routine and – most importantly – his relationship with Annie? The author really immerses the reader in Ted’s dilemma so you experience along with him each doubt and fear of this sweet, gentle man. Luckily, Ted has his sister Norah to provide a little reassurance and wise advice, although even she is unable to prevent the tragic events that will follow.

At the end of the book, the two storylines come together in a completely satisfying way. And when the full story of the dramatic event described in the prologue is finally revealed, there is sadness but also a new understanding and appreciation of the choices made by those involved.

The skilful writing and heartfelt, poignant story really drew me into the book. The Stationmaster’s Daughter will warm the cockles of your heart and quite possibly cause you to shed a tear or two.

In three words: Touching, tender, emotional

Try something similar: The Forgotten Secret by Kathleen McGurl

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The Stationmasters Kathleen McGurl author photoAbout the Author

Kathleen McGurl lives near the sea in Bournemouth, UK, with her husband and elderly tabby cat. She has two sons who are now grown-up and have left home. She began her writing career creating short stories, and sold dozens to women’s magazines in the UK and Australia. Then she got side-tracked onto family history research – which led eventually to writing novels with genealogy themes. She has always been fascinated by the past, and the ways in which the past can influence the present, and enjoys exploring these links in her novels.

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#BlogTour #BookReview The Beach at Doonshean by Penny Feeny @Aria_Fiction

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Blog Tour Poster

I’m delighted to be hosting the first stop on the blog tour for The Beach at Doonshean by Penny Feeny. To make it even more special, today is publication day of the e-book edition. You can find purchase links below.

Thanks to Vicky at Aria for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy via NetGalley.

I hope you enjoy reading my review of The Beach at Doonshean. Do look out for reviews, book extracts and other content from the fabulous book bloggers also hosting stops on the tour.

The Beach at DoonsheanAbout the Book

In Ireland, the past never dies…

Long ago, on a windswept Irish beach, a young father died saving the life of another man’s child.

Thirty years later, his widow, Julia, decides to return to this wild corner of Ireland to lay the past to rest. Her journey sparks others: her daughter Bel, an artist, joins her mother in Ireland, while son Matt and daughter-in-law Rachael, at home in Liverpool, embark on some soul-searching of their own.

As the threads of past and present intertwine, Julia’s family confront long-buried feelings of guilt, anger, fear and desire. Only then can they allow the crashing waves of the beach at Doonshean to bond them together once again.

Format: e-book (416 pp.)    Publisher: Aria
Published: 15th August 2019   Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk | Kobo
*link provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Beach at Doonshean on Goodreads

My Review

If you’re looking for a book that explores the dynamics and challenges of family life and relationships as well as the lasting impact that past events can have on the lives of those involved, then you need look no further than The Beach at Doonshean. Furthermore if, like Julia, you believe that coincidence is much more common than you imagine, you certainly won’t be disappointed. And for good measure, there are lovely descriptions of the landscape and coastline of western Ireland.

‘At its lowest ebb, the full wild beauty of the strand was exposed: the glistening of seaweed at the shoreline, the grill of lacy foam, the scattering of shells. And all around her, the rocks rose like exotic hanging gardens, rich with jeweller clumps of sea thrift and mallow.’

The sections of the book focussing on Matt and Rachael as they settle into their new home in Liverpool could seem like a separate story, perhaps even a separate book. However, the author skilfully brings together the two storylines when events take a dramatic turn bringing echoes of the past.

What unites all the characters in the book is the fact they are adjusting to changes in their lives: Julia, facing retirement and looking for new purpose; Bel, returning from adventures abroad and needing to rebuild her health; Matt and Rachael, making a new home for their son, Danny, and pondering their future; brothers Kieran and Tom, returning home to Ireland, the latter with unexpected new responsibilities and unsure of the welcome he’ll receive.

The book ends on a positive note with the possibility of new beginnings, second chances as well as the prospect of fresh goals and challenges making The Beach at Doonshean an absorbing, acutely-observed family drama.

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In three words: Heart-warming, emotional, absorbing

Try something similar: Tell Me Where You Are by Moira Forsyth (read my review here)

Penny FeenyAbout the Author

Penny Feeny has lived and worked in Cambridge, London and Rome. Since settling in Liverpool many years ago she has been an arts administrator, editor, radio presenter, advice worker, and has brought up five children. Her short fiction has been widely published and broadcast and won several awards. Her first novel, That Summer in Ischia, was one of the summer of 2011’s bestselling titles.

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