Jayne Sinclair is a genealogical investigator. She basically traces lost relatives. However, she herself seems somewhat lost. Her husband has left her, and she’s drifting about feeling quite sorry for herself. She is not the strongest protagonist.
Her latest case is not helping matters much. Her elderly father’s new wife, Vera, reveals that her own mother, on her deathbed, mentioned a son that neither Vera nor her brother had any knowledge of. She’s desperate for Jayne to discover if there really is a long-lost brother out there, despite her existing brother insisting that these were just the ramblings of a dying woman.
The story alternates between present day (well, starting in June 2017) and the 1950’s, with the present day storyline being based wholly around Jayne and her attempts to discover whether this other brother of Vera’s actually existed, and who he might have been. I found the writing repetitive and somewhat clumsy. It seemed to be aimed at a much younger audience.
However the 1950’s storyline was extremely absorbing, although terribly heart-wrenching and at times downright disturbing! The history of the child migrants is not generally a well-known one and Lee has researched this well. The treatment of these children, some who were truly just infants, was utterly deplorable and beggars belief at times! The Church and its role in the entire saga has a lot to answer for, although at the time, those involved honestly believed they were doing what was best.
I didn’t enjoy this book, or the writing, and I’m giving it 3 stars mainly for the subject matter. But one other aspect that I really liked was Jayne’s dad, Robert and his wife Vera: this older couple who had found love at an advanced age and had married and the way that Lee portrayed them and their relationship was absolutely delightful and I loved that!
I’m so thrilled and honoured to be here on the blog tour for this truly wonderful book! I believe this is going to be one of the bestsellers of the year and is going to be spoken about for a long time to come.
I loved this while I was reading it; couldn’t put it down! But then afterwards, when I gave it some thought (and I suppose that is a plus: that I was still thinking about it for a while afterwards), I started thinking about how much of the story was so highly improbable. Yes, I know it’s fiction, but there does still need to be a certain measure of belief and sustainability to keep a story within the realms of possibility, especially when it’s meant to be happening in the here and now. If this had been set in the near future, I think it would definitely lend more plausibility.
Christopher Harris has always been somewhat of a misfit. He’s just never really felt part of anything, especially not his family – and that was even long before his 2 siblings arrived. He just doesn’t know how to ‘be’; doesn’t ever feel comfortable with himself, or with anyone else. Discovering he’s adopted does go a long way towards explaining his lifelong feeling of not fitting in, and it’s almost as if Christopher’s always known that something like this is what’s prevented him from being part of the life that he finds himself living. He endeavours to set out and find his birth mother, and luckily she’s just as enthusiastic about finding him as he is to find her!
He, he, he … Paige Nick is very, very clever! I would rate this book eleventy one out of ten, if I could!!
Imagine being in one of the most remote places on the planet … alone … but inexplicably, not alone, which is somehow worse! That’s what Fiona Snyckers presents us with in SPIRE, set in the South Pole International Research Establishment.
This is a dense, involved and intricate exploration into the lives of the ‘Combe Close Set’ as seen from the perspective of Molly, who so desperately wants to surround herself with comfortable camaraderie and friendship. Alas, this is difficult to do when you yourself are not a comfortable or socially aware individual.
This is the third of Holliday’s ‘Banktoun’ trilogy, this works well as a standalone too. I’ve only read the first book – Blackwood – and missed the second – Willow Walk.
Emma and Rick seem like a typical upper middle-class Joburg couple, until the night that they’re attending a social event and Emma tries unsuccessfully to contact her mother. Feeling unsettled, she begs Rick to take her home and discovers that her mom’s been brutally murdered. Sadly, it’s a common event in crime-stricken Johannesburg and police see it as an open and shut case, blaming the immigrant gardener, Surprise (that’s his name). But Emma is adamant that it couldn’t have been him, and so we enter into her world … a world that looked like it was pretty ok on the outside before tragedy struck, but actually wasn’t that great to start with. This was just the trigger she needed to motivate her into action.
Oh my very goodness!!! I don’t remember the last time I flew through a book like this! This one ticks all the boxes for a psychological thriller that you just can’t put down. Fast-paced, tons of ‘OMG’ moments, and with enough twists and turns to ensure you’ll need a good physiotherapist to see you right when you’re done!