Tag: dual time

#BlogTour #BookReview The Girl from Bletchley Park by Kathleen McGurl @rararesources @KathMcGurl @HQStories

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Welcome today’s stop on the blog tour for The Girl from Bletchley Park by Kathleen McGurl. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part in the tour and to HQ Digital for my review copy via NetGalley. The Girl from Bletchley Park is available now as an ebook and will be published in paperback in January 2022.

The Girl from Bletchley ParkAbout the Book

A country at war. A heartbreaking betrayal.

1942.Three years into the war, Pam turns down her hard-won place at Oxford University to become a codebreaker at Bletchley Park. There, she meets two young men, both keen to impress her, and Pam finds herself falling hard for one of them. But as the country’s future becomes more uncertain by the day, a tragic turn of events casts doubt on her choice – and Pam’s loyalty is pushed to its limits…

Present day. Julia is struggling to juggle her career, two children and a husband increasingly jealous of her success.Her brother presents her with the perfect distraction: forgotten photos of their grandmother as a young woman at Bletchley Park. Why did her grandmother never speak of her time there? The search for answers leads Julia to an incredible tale of betrayal and bravery – one that inspires some huge decisions of her own..

Format: ebook (326 pages)                  Publisher: HQ Digital
Publication date: 3rd November 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction, Dual Time

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My Review

I really enjoyed The Stationmaster’s Daughter when I read it back in 2019 so my interest was immediately piqued when I learned Kathleen McGurl had a new book coming out.

There is a continuing fascination with the work carried out at Bletchley Park during World War 2, work which we now know proved of great significance to the war effort. The author takes us “behind the scenes” at Bletchley Park through the story of Pamela, a promising student of mathematics who is persuaded to defer her place at university and instead put her skills to work in the service of her country. During her time at Bletchley Park, Pamela makes friendships that will last a lifetime but also learns in the most dramatic way possible that not everyone is quite what they seem, the author deftly playing with the reader’s doubts and suspicions.

Interwoven with Pamela’s experiences is the present day story of Julia, Pamela’s granddaughter. As the book progresses the similarities between the situations the two women face become increasingly apparent. For example, a neat touch is that Julia runs her own IT business whilst Pamela worked on what could be considered an early version of a computer. In different ways, both Pamela and Julia experience betrayal by those they have come to trust but also find help from unexpected quarters. Along the way ties of friendship and affection are tested and both women have to summon up all their strength to protect those they care about.

I really liked the way Julia’s relationship with her two sons, Oscar and Ryan, was portrayed and how they progress from being stroppy teenagers to showing signs of becoming fine young men. Julia’s brother, Bob, and Drew, the husband of Julia’s business partner, act as counterpoints to other less than admirable examples of the male species. And, in the earlier timeline, Clarissa proves a steadfast friend to Pamela whose warnings, as it turns out, Pamela would have done well to heed.

The Girl from Bletchley Park will appeal to fans of dual timeline stories with an element of mystery, and those with an interest in the contribution, often largely unsung, of women to the war effort.

In three words: Engaging, emotional, intriguing

Try something similar: The Sea Gate by Jane Johnson

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The Stationmasters Kathleen McGurl author photoAbout the Author

Kathleen McGurl lives near the coast in Christchurch, England. She writes dual timeline novels in which a historical mystery is uncovered and resolved in the present day. She is married to an Irishman and has two adult sons. She enjoys travelling, especially in her motorhome around Europe.

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The Girl From Bletchley Park

#BookReview Two Women in Rome by Elizabeth Buchan @CorvusBooks @ReadersFirst1

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Two Women in RomeAbout the Book

In the Eternal City, no secret stays hidden forever…

Lottie Archer arrives in Rome newly married and ready for change as she takes up a job as an archivist. When she discovers a valuable fifteenth-century painting, she is drawn to find out more about Nina Lawrence, the woman who left it behind, .

Nina seems to have led a rewarding and useful life, restoring Italian gardens to their full glory following the destruction of World War Two. So why did no one attend her funeral in 1978?

In exploring Nina’s past, Lottie unravels a complicated love story beset by the political turmoil of post-war Italy. And as she edges closer to understanding Nina, and the city draws her deeper into its life, she is brought up against a past which will come to shape her own future.

Format: Hardcover (368 pages)  Publisher: Corvus
Publication date: 3rd June 2021 Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction

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My Review

Nina’s part of the story, revealed through her journal and other papers, features a particularly turbulent time in Italy’s political history – the late 1970s – a period I’ve not seen featured in historical fiction before. Although perhaps it’s my age that makes it difficult for me to see any part of the 1970s as ‘historical’!

Regular followers of my blog will know I’m not a great fan of the narrative device of the secret journal, finding it rather artificial. However, in this case the author manages to make it work chiefly because Lottie’s role as an archivist naturally involves the perusal of previously unexamined papers. Although I still found Nina’s journal remarkably detailed (she obviously had a good memory for conversations), the motivations suggested for her having kept it were believable, albeit unwise given what the reader learns about her.

As Lottie discovers, the devious machinations of government officials and those employed by the Vatican during Nina’s time in Rome continue into the present day. As one character observes, ‘The Vatican is home to the humble, the saintly and the ambitious’. And in a country where family is everything, the power of blood ties to influence events should never be underestimated or ignored.

The similarities between the two women could make them merge into one but the author successfully ensures they exist as characters in their own right. In the case of Nina, it’s her love of botanical history and the hint of intrigue. In the case of Lottie, it’s her passion for documenting and preserving the records of past lives. As Lottie reflects at one point, ‘She had a strange feeling that Nina Lawrence was speaking directly to her’. Having said that, Lottie’s curiosity does seem to have a blind spot closer to home.

As you would expect from a novel set in Rome, food features prominently. Who can blame Lottie for being tempted by the goods displayed in a delicatessen window? ‘The jars of goats’ cheeses in oil, black olives in cream earthenware bowls and salamis hanging from ceiling hooks like stalactites.’ The atmosphere of ‘the Eternal City’ is vividly evoked and I enjoyed learning about the symbolism of Medieval religious art, especially the significance of the colours used, ‘paint ventriloquism at its most dazzling’ as it is so eloquently described.

The author’s choice of Rome as a setting – a city I’ve been fortunate enough to visit – combined with a story that encompasses art history and garden design ticked plenty of boxes for me. Add in the element of mystery and a touch of romance, and you have a book that deserves to have a wide appeal. I really enjoyed it and a return trip to Rome is definitely going on my wishlist.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Atlantic Books and Readers First.

In three words: Emotional, atmospheric, compelling

Try something similar: The Spanish Girl by Jules Hayes

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Elizabeth buchanAbout the Author

Elizabeth Buchan was a fiction editor at Random House before leaving to write full time. Her novels include the prize-winning Consider the Lily, international bestseller Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman and The New Mrs Clifton.

She reviews for the Sunday Times and the Daily Mail, and has chaired the Betty Trask and Desmond Elliot literary prizes. She was a judge for the Whitbread First Novel Award and for the 2014 Costa Novel Award. (Photo credit: Publisher author page)

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