Tag: NetGalley

Book Review – The Shock of the Light by Lori Inglis Hall

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About the Book

Cambridge, 1942. Twins Tessa and Theo had always shared everything – until the summer Tessa spent studying in France. She hasn’t been the same since. But before Theo can find out why, he is recruited by the RAF and disappears into the skies.

Determined to carve her own path, Tessa joins the clandestine Special Operations Executive, slipping into the shadows of occupied France. It will be dangerous work, but France is the home of her greatest love – and her darkest secret. Tessa has many reasons for wanting to return.

Two years later, Theo comes home. Tessa does not.

Format: Hardcover (432 pages) Publisher: The Borough Press
Publication date: 12th February 2026 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

One of the many things I admired about this novel is how both Tessa’s and Theo’s motivations for the actions they take seem absolutely understandable. Tessa’s experience in France (although the author cleverly withholds every detail initially) changes her outlook but means for almost the first time there is something significant she can’t share with her brother. Both sense a change in the bond between them. There’s a distance where there was none before. It’s an unsettling feeling given the turbulent events unfolding in the world.

A necessary part of Tessa’s preparation for her role in the Special Operations Executive is adopting a new identity. For her, it’s not a challenge so much as a way to put recent events behind her. ‘Tessa in this world is Marianne, a new person with no ties, no obligations. No roots.’ The detail of Tessa’s training for her undercover mission felt completely authentic and are obviosuly based on meticulous research. What I hadn’t grasped before was the consequences for women such as Tessa if they were captured because they would not be afforded the status of prisoners of war. It made their role even more precarious and we see how chance – both good and bad – plays a part in Tessa’s story. It also reminded me once again of the courage of those in occupied France who joined the Resistance or who shielded its members.

Theo’s role as an RAF pilot is equally hazardous, a fact brought home to the reader early on. An event he witnesses stays with him forever, bringing the feelings of guilt that survivors often experience. I found Theo’s story utterly compelling. The author manages to pack many different elements into it, such as changing social attitudes, yet they never feel superfluous or irrelevant.

Theo’s search for answers about Tessa’s fate brings him up against a brick wall of denial, obfuscation and downright deceit. His reluctance to stop asking awkward questions brings serious personal consequences, only adding to suspicions there are things the British govenment simply don’t want known. It’s only decades later the full story is revealed, shedding light on a real life historical injustice. What I found particulary moving was Theo’s misplaced feelings of guilt. His anguish at the fact he stopped asking questions, his regret that he didn’t press harder for answers or didn’t ask the right questions.

The Shock of the Light gripped me from the start and didn’t let me go until the final page. It’s a remarkable debut.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of The Borough Press via NetGalley.

In three words: Compelling, moving, authentic
Try something similar: A Better Place by Stephen Daisley.

About the Author

Lori Inglis Hall was born and raised in Leicestershire, and now lives with her family in East Sussex. Her first novel The Shock of the Light explores the relationship between twins Tessa and Theo, who are torn apart by the trauma of war. She holds an MA in History and previously worked in politics and the arts.

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Book Review – Small Acts of Resistance by Anita Frank

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About the Book

May 1915. When his aircraft crashes in Northern France, British airman Henry finds himself stranded behind enemy lines. His survival depends on the courage and compassion of a local family who risk everything by hiding him in their farmhouse.

With her village already suffering under Occupation, Marie knows sheltering Henry will put her in family in grave danger, and that peril only increases when two German officers are unexpectedly billeted with them. Forced to live cheek by jowl with their occupiers, it takes all their cunning to keep their deadly secret.

As the shadow of war spreads, loves blooms, offering a glimmer of hope amidst the darkness.

But before long love is put to the test as everyone’s loyalty is called into question. The ramifications of the choices they must now make will be felt long after the war is over.

Format: Hardcover (480 pages) Publisher: HQ
Publication date: 20th November 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

A French village under German occupation whose inhabitants endure nightly curfews, confiscation of possessions, rationing, deportation to labour camps and brutal punishment if found harbouring British soldiers and airmen. If you didn’t know when the book was set you’d probably imagine it was World War Two. But it’s not, it’s World War One. This is one of the most remarkable aspects of the book because many of the experiences of French people living near the frontline in World War One were not so different from those living in occupied France a few decades later.

My favourite character was Claudette, Marie’s grandmother. She’s a woman of resilience, courage and determination. Her ‘small acts of resistance’ include hiding the family’s valuables in a place the Germans are unlikely to look, or want to look. Her greatest act of resistance though is her decision to shelter Henry, even when that gets increasingly difficult.

Acts of resistance feature in other ways. On a daily basis, Marie has to withstand the prejudice of some in the village because of the circumstances of her birth. And increasingly she finds herself wanting to resist the path she has been persuaded to take in her personal life. It’s especially problematic because, were she to think again, it would dash the hopes of someone she cares for deeply.

Despite the author’s best efforts, I struggled to warm to Henry. Whilst admiring his stoicism in enduring his confinement, I felt he often needlessly put the family at risk. His belief that it was better for him to avoid capture than try to make it back to territory held by the British felt like self-justification of inaction. However, the author cleverly introduces a character to provide an opposing viewpoint.

I would have liked the first half of the book to move more quickly and I found some things rather too convenient, such as the fact Henry and one of the German officers billeted with the family just happen to speak fluent French. Other things seemed a little implausible, such as the family’s ability to pass off Henry as a cousin in a small village where everybody must know one another and even the Germans must surely have wondered why a man of his age hadn’t been conscripted into the French army or sent to a German labour camp.

However, as the story progressed and depicted the brutal realities of life under occupation, I found myself more and more gripped. I thought the author explored very well the difficult decisions people have to make in wartime and how those decisions could come back to haunt them. And that there are life or death moments when you have to decide what’s right and what’s wrong.

I liked that the love story didn’t progress along obvious lines and, although I eventually guessed the direction it was going to go, I still found myself a little tearful at the end of the book. Perhaps that just goes to prove I’m more of a soppy old romantic than I like to think.

Small Acts of Resistance is a well-crafted, sweeping story that reveals the consequences of war and the difficult moral decisions people on all sides are forced to make.

My thanks to HQ for my review copy via NetGalley.

In three words: Emotional, dramatic, moving
Try something similar: Daughters of War by Dinah Jefferies

About the Author

Anita Frank was born in Shropshire and studied English and American History at the University of East Anglia. She lives in Gloucestershire with her husband and three children and is now a full-time carer for her disabled son. Her debut novel The Lost Ones was shortlisted for the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award and the Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown Award, and The Return was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association Historical Novel Award. Her novel The Good Liars was an instant Sunday Times bestseller. Small Acts of Resistance is her fourth novel. (Photo: Amazon author page)

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