YOURS CHLOE: September 2023

Review: Her Forgotten Promise by Corin Burnside*

Title: Her Forgotten Promise
Author: Corin Burnside
Genre: Historical Fiction

Trigger warnings: Suicide, War, Death Of A Parent, Guns

Rating: ★★★★

A wartime secret. A journey to uncover the truth.

Claire has always had a special bond with her aunt Margaret, but she’s astonished when Margaret suddenly begins talking about a friend called Agnes, who Margaret met working as a WAAF in World War 2 – a past Claire had no idea about. Margaret and Agnes were best friends until Agnes started acting strangely, becoming secretive and distant. Then one morning, Agnes vanished and never returned home, leaving Margaret distraught.

Claire promises to delve back into the past and help discover what happened to Agnes. But Margaret’s memory is rapidly deteriorating, and apart from an old photograph of the two women, Agnes seems to have disappeared into thin air. Can Claire uncover Agnes’ story before it’s too late?

Her Forgotten Promise is the debut novel from author Corin Burnside. It is a beautiful story of love and loss which is as heartbreaking as it is heartwarming. Our story is told through a dual-timeline narrative, moving between 2014 and the 1940s, as Claire tries to uncover the mystery of where Agnes went once her aunt Margaret lost contact with her during the war.

To say that this is Corin Burnside’s debut work is truly amazing. She has a real gift for storytelling and her vivid descriptions made the rural French setting come alive on the page and had me fully immersed within the story. The narrative is perfectly paced, the writing flows effortlessly and the history was also clearly very well researched. I’m really looking forward to seeing more from her as an author, she’s earnt hirself a firm place on my ‘Authors To Watch’ list!

From the synopsis I was not expecting a beautiful sapphic romance to be at the centre of the story and I’m a big fan of LGBTQIA+ representation within historical fiction so this was a pleasant surprise. Although I will say that omitting Agnes and Margaret’s romance from the marketing of the book did feel like an example of ‘history will say they were… roommates’ meme! Their friends to lovers love story was so beautiful that I thought it was a shame it was not shouted about in the synopsis and marketing.

Her Forgotten Promise is full of strong female characters who were all beautifully written with lots of depth to them. Agnes was a fantastic character with admiral courage, strength and tenacity. Through her I think Corin Burnside perfectly portrayed the incredible courage of the female SOE agents operating within the German-occupied countries during the war. I also loved Margaret as a character and thought she was fantastically written as both a young woman and an elderly woman. I did find myself struggling initially to warm to Claire, confused as to why she’d neglected to visit an elderly woman who had played such an important role in her life, but this began to change as the novel progressed and I ended up really enjoying her chapters.

One of my only criticisms would be that there were too many coincidences driving the plot which made it feel unrealistic at times. I also felt that the plot point surrounding Claire’s ex-husband and his new partner unnecessarily took our focus away from Agnes and Margaret. Whilst it did give us good mental health representation through the portrayal of Claire’s experiences of panic attacks, it largely felt rather pointless and like it would have been better to simply say she was recently divorced and leave it at that.

Overall, Her Forgotten Promise is a fantastic debut historical fiction novel from Corin Burnside which combines themes of love, loss and courage into a fast-paced story about SOE work in wartime France. It is a must-read for fans of historical fiction.

Review: Sisters At War by Jina Bacarr*

*I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity. This review is being posted as part of the Sisters At War blog tour hosted by Rachel's Random Resources.

Title: Sisters At War
Author: Jina Bacarr
Genre: Historical Fiction

Trigger warnings: Rape, Sexual Assault, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation, Forced Prostitution, War, Guns, Antisemitism, Gambling Addiction, Miscarriage, Suicidal Thoughts

Rating: ★★★★★

Paris, 1940: Two sisters separated by the Nazis… After a devastating attack, Justine and Eve Beaufort find themselves on opposite sides of the war, both in their beloved Paris. But can they ever find their way back to each other?

It was the day that changed everything. When the Nazis came and broke into our home. Destroyed everything that was safe for us. They took our home and our security. I thought it couldn’t get worse. But then they also took my sister.

After that day nothing was the same again. I thought I’d never see her again. I thought she was lost to me forever. I joined the Resistance, vowing to fight against the evil German army with every last spark of fire in my body.

I know what I have to do. And nothing can stop me.

Until I catch a glimpse of a woman who looks just like my sister. Alive. But this is not the sweet darling girl I once knew. This is a platinum blonde happily conversing with a terrifying Gestapo officer. No longer my sister. But a traitor.

And I know what I must do…

Could you choose your country – and what is right – over the person you once loved more than anyone in the world?

Sisters At War is the latest gripping historical fiction novel from author Jina Bacarr. It is an incredibly powerful story which focuses on sexual violence during the Second World War. The severity of the subject matter has meant that the story is incredibly hard-hitting and emotional but, as stated in the author introduction to the book, wartime sexual violence is a topic which has largely been ignored by history and rarely covered within historical fiction so books such as Sisters At War are of such importance. This portrayal of the horrific experiences of women in Nazi-occupied countries was raw and powerful and at times it actually brought tears to my eyes.

I do want to preface this review by signposting you to the trigger warning list at the top of this review. If sexual violence as a subject matter is potentially triggering for you as a reader, I would recommend consulting this list prior to reading to ensure that you can make an informed decision about if this book is appropriate reading for you. But, if you are able to access this story, I would highly recommend it so more people are educated on this incredibly dark time in European history.

The story is told through a dual POV narrative, alternating between Justine and Eve’s perspectives and sharing their separate wartime experiences. Throughout the story the sisters, whilst physically separated, were united by their hatred for the Nazis and their love for each other, their family and their country. The plot was perfectly paced and gripping from the very beginning. The history was clearly meticulously researched and the setting of war-torn Paris just came alive on the page.

Sisters At War is the latest instalment of the ‘Paris Resistance’ collection. Each of the books from the series can be read as a standalone story but Sisters At War does contain either appearances from or references to some of the characters from the other books in the series. I really enjoyed this aspect to the story as these brief appearances really hooked me in and enticed me to read the rest of the series. I had previously read and thoroughly enjoyed The Resistance Girl but The Lost Girl In Paris and The Orphans Of Berlin have made their way straight to the stop of my TBR list.

Both Justine and Eve were fantastically written protagonists which such depth to their characters. Justine’s strength and courage was incredible and I particularly really enjoyed the character development we saw in Eve as she matures from a naïve and stubborn teenager into a courageous resistance fighter who is more sure of herself. We did see aspects of her naivety remaining through her very black and white thinking regarding whether or not her sister was a traitor but this did help her voice to feel authentic to her age and if we’re fortunate enough to get a sequel I’m excited to see further character development for Eve. Arsene was my favourite character and I really hope we get to come back to him in some way in a future novel as his mysterious character and the work he was doing was truly fascinating. Jina Bacarr also writes her antagonists exceptionally well and both the characters of Major Saxe-Müllenheim and Herr Avicus Geller made my skin crawl.

Whilst being mindful of avoiding ending spoilers, I can’t put into words how desperate I am for a sequel so I really do hope one is on the cards so we can return to Justine and Eve’s stories.

Overall, Sisters At War is a really powerful and gut-wrenching piece of historical fiction which tells a story I will truly never forget.

Sisters At War is being published on 25th September 2023 and can be purchased here.

Review: The Locket by Natalie Meg Evans*

Title: The Locket
Author: Natalie Meg Evans
Genre: Historical Fiction

Trigger warnings: Sexual Assault, Rape, Physical Assault, Child Abuse, Racism, Miscarriage, War, Psychiatric Hospital, Postnatal Depression

Rating: ★★★★

England, 1942. 'It has to stay secret,' he whispers, placing the locket around her neck. 'If they find it, they’ll send me away.' As she holds the locket, glinting in the moonlight, she can’t hold back the tears. 'I just wish we didn’t have to hide…'

When farmer’s daughter Irene meets Theodore at a village dance, sparks fly instantly. The war has brought him all the way from Louisiana to build a US airbase just across her father’s fields, but as they sway together, there is nothing else in the world. Only his gentle touch and his deep brown eyes.

But being together comes at a price. As Theodore is Black, the might of the US Air Force is against them, and all the members of the little village community disapprove of their relationship. And they will all go to terrible lengths to tear the two young lovers apart...

Decades later, heartbroken Ruby is back at her family’s crumbling farmhouse for the first time in years, after the loss of her beloved grandmother Irene. The roof has fallen in, family photographs are damaged – and her grandmother’s jewellery is nowhere to be found.

When Ruby uncovers her grandmother’s waterlogged diaries, she discovers that Irene treasured one piece of lost jewellery above all. A locket from a man called Theodore. And the missing locket holds the key to unravelling a heartbreaking secret that changed her grandmother’s life…

Is someone in the village hiding the locket to keep the truth about Irene and Theodore buried? And can Ruby find a way to honour her grandmother’s memory – or in digging up the pain of the war, will she tear her family apart?

The Locket is a breathtaking, compelling new historical fiction novel from author Natalie Meg Evans. Set against the backdrop of rural Suffolk during the Second World War, it is the story of a forbidden romance between Irene, a young local white woman, and Theo a black US Air Force airman based locally. The story is told through a dual-timeline narrative, moving between Irene’s story in the 1940s and her granddaughter Ruby’s story in 2022/23 as she moves into her late grandmother’s home and reads her wartime diaries for the first time. The book perfectly combines the story of this forbidden romance with a mystery fuelled by family secrets and I was hooked from the very first page.

Natalie Meg Evans has a magical storytelling ability which makes you feel like you are right there in the 1940s. As someone who was born and raised in East Anglia, I really enjoyed the small touch of including Suffolk dialect as it really helped the setting to further come alive on the page. I did find the story to feel slightly slow and drawn out at times but the pace quickly picked up again.

Both Irene and Ruby were beautifully written protagonists with such depth to their characters. I also thought Philippa was a fantastically written and very complex character through whom the long-lasting impact of child-abuse was shown. Theo was another fantastic character whose charm had me immediately falling in love with him and it was heartbreaking to see the disgusting treatment he experienced simply due to the colour of his skin.

As the story focuses around racism and particularly the prejudice experienced by the black members of the US military based in the UK during the war, it is incredibly hard-hitting but equally such an important read. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that prior to reading The Locket I was ashamedly ignorant to the racial segregation that existed for the US troops based in the UK but Theo’s story has really opened my eyes and encouraged me to educate myself further on such an important topic.

Overall, The Locket is a powerful and incredibly gripping piece of historical fiction which is both heart-breaking and heart-warming.

Review: The Ration Book Baby by Ellie Curzon*

Title: The Ration Book Baby
Author: Ellie Curzon
Genre: Historical Fiction

Trigger warnings: War, Xenophobia, Plane Crash, Burn Injury

Rating: ★★★★

England, 1940. Opening the box with trembling hands, she couldn’t believe it – a tiny baby lay inside. She gently lifted the newborn as it started to cry. Cradling the little one to her chest, she searched the darkness for any sign of whoever left it here. And as she rocked the child, something fluttered to the ground… a ration book.

Nurse Annie Russell anxiously listens to the terrifying sounds of planes and gunfire overhead, worried about what the morning will bring for the patients in her care. The boys from the local airfield fly up in the skies each night, risking their lives to protect the people of Bramble Heath village, but they can’t stop every bombshell. Until a knock at the door makes her jump.

Awaiting Annie on the doorstep is a hatbox. Peeking under the lid, she gasps – inside is a whimpering newborn, round cheeks glistening with tears. The poor little thing may be all alone, but someone must truly love the baby… Tucked into a hand-knitted blanket, there’s a precious ration book, vital for food supplies in these darkest of days.

Her heart breaking, Annie does everything she can to care for her tiny charge. But, without a ration book, she knows that the frightened young mother could also be in dire need of help too. Then social services bring devastating news. If Annie can’t find the helpless child’s family soon, the authorities will have to take the little one away.

As the Nazi threat grows, more and more of the brave pilots at the local airbase don’t come home. Is one of the fallen the child’s father? And with her only clue leading nowhere, can Annie find the answers she needs, and reunite the innocent baby with its parents before it is too late?

The Ration Book Baby is the latest heartwarming historical fiction novel from Ellie Curzon. It is a fantastic historical mystery and the first instalment of the new series ‘A Village At War’.

The structure of the story, with it’s short and snappy paragraphs and good pacing, meant that it was a very easy read. Although there are some tougher aspects to the plot (such as William’s recovery from his burn injuries and the xenophobia experienced by the Polish refugees living in the village from some of the villagers), as much of the plot focuses on the mystery of the baby’s mother it is a much more light-hearted read than many other World War Two historical fiction works which was really refreshing.

I absolutely love the setting of Bramble Heath and all of the wonderful inhabitants. Seeing the whole village rally together to support the baby and the family caring for her was truly heartwarming and I’m so delighted that the village is going to be the focus of a new series.

Annie was a fantastic protagonist. She was selfless, determined and caring, with a complete heart of gold and it was lovely to follow her role as a nurse caring both for her community and some of the men on the local airbase. I also really enjoyed the friends to lovers romance between her and William. Although largely predictable, it added a really lovely aspect to the story and I look forward to catching up with them in the next book.

*Please note – the next paragraph may contain spoilers surrounding the identity of the baby’s mother*

At the centre of the story is the mystery surrounding who the baby’s mother is. Whilst being mindful of trying to avoid completely spoiling such a major plot point for future readers, I did feel like the reveal of the mother’s identity was quite anticlimactic. As we had had very little interaction with the character at all it was easy to cast her aside as an insignificant character and not consider her at all when trying to solve the mystery. Whilst I appreciate that central to her character was the fact that she had hidden herself away from the community following the birth of her secret child, it would have been good for there to have been a few more mentions of her prior to the reveal which could have provided further clues pointing towards her being the baby’s mother.

My favourite aspect to the plot was the exploration of Archibald McIndoe’s pioneering work improving the treatment and rehabilitation of badly burned aircrew during the war. This was truly fascinating and I do hope we see more of his work in the future books. I also loved meeting the Polish community living in a hamlet within the village. The discrimination they faced was dealt with very well within the story and I hope we hear more from them and their stories within the rest of the series.

Overall, The Ration Book Baby is a heartwarming and easy read for fans of historical fiction. I’m excited to see where Ellie Curzon takes the rest of the series.

Review: Bellegarde by Jamie Lilac*

Title: Bellegarde
Author: Jamie Lilac
Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction

Trigger warnings: Death Of A Parent, Bullying, Classism

Rating: ★★

Evie Clement has perfected the art of avoiding attention as she works at her family's bakery and dreams of a life where she can trade dusting flour for designing dresses. Her focus is on honing her sewing skills - she doesn't need to be fawned over by some teenage boy.

Least of all Beau Bellegarde - the playboy of Paris, the second son of the ultra-wealthy Bellegarde family, the most popular guy in their prestigious high school. Others may swoon over his rakish charm and winning smile, but not Evie.

Unfortunately for Evie, Beau needs her. His conniving step-brother has roped him into an impossible bet: turn the biggest wallflower they know into the winning Bellegarde Bloom at the annual Court of Flowers Ball, or lose his entire fortune.

Evie can't understand why Beau has taken an interest in her, but she can't help but be intrigued. As she befriends Beau, entering a world of high-status parties, she has to ask herself one question... why?

Bellegarde is the debut novel from YA author Jamie Lilac. A historical retelling of the classic 90s romcom movie She’s All That (which is in itself a retelling of Pygmalion, the play which was adapted into the musical My Fair Lady), our story swaps 20^th century America for the ballrooms of 18^th century France.

I want to preface this review by saying that although my thoughts are not overly positive at all, I do recognise that I perhaps was not the intended audience of the book. Bellegarde is perfect for the reader who wants a historic twist on a cheesy 90s romcom but isn’t too fussed about historical accuracy or authenticity. Personally, these are things that I need from a historical fiction novel and my review does reflect this, but I can still see this being an enjoyable read for other readers and especially a teenage audience.

To start with the things the book does well, both of our protagonists were well written. The story is told through a largely dual POV narrative, sharing the perspectives of both Evie and Beau (with occasional input from one of our antagonists Rachelle) and this did help us to connect with both characters. Evie was a headstrong female main character with admiral drive and passion, something I think would be inspiring to a teenage reader. Beau was an incredibly charming male main character and love interest for Evie who, again, I’m sure teenage readers will love. There is a wide range of supporting characters (although admittedly some are written with more depth to them than others and some are completely pointless inclusions altogether) and I was particularly drawn to Evie’s friends who live on the houseboat. I think they were really interesting characters who could make for fantastic protagonists in another story should Jamie Lilac choose to make this a series. I did also really warm to Jo and Mia as characters and exploring their relationship as a same-sex couple in 18^th century France could provide an alternative pathway for a sequel.

My primary criticism of this book is that it felt like for most of the book the narrative simply forgot it was supposed to be set in the 18^th century and mistook itself for a contemporary fiction novel set in a modern-day American high school. We did have occasional references to Marie Antoinette (if you know your French history enough to pick up on them) but that was largely it. The use of repeated unintentional anachronisms, unfortunately left the book feeling like a poorly-executed attempt to jump on the bandwagon of period dramas such as Bridgerton. This was particularly surrounding the language choices made by the characters but also a significant number of the events read as contemporary fiction too. The fashion also was not completely authentic to the time period either, which was a significant flaw in the story given how much of the narrative focused on Evie’s passion for fashion design. Whilst her designs are meant to be ahead of their time, the use of things like zips meant that they felt more like 21^st century fashion than styles you’d expect from 18^th century France.

The whole idea of a group of young men choosing a girl to make the subject of their bet like they were shopping for meat at a livestock market was sickeningly misogynistic. Whilst I do understand that the blame for this largely lies with the source material the story is based on, it did feel like the book made no attempt to adapt this aspect of the story for a more feminist 21^st century audience, which was disappointing.

I did also find that I wasn’t rooting for Evie and Beau’s relationship, which is a shame as I think that is a pretty crucial thing to need from a romance story. She had far more chemistry with the Duke character and their relationship had far more to it than the one which was the focus of the story unfortunately.

Overall, I was regrettably really disappointed with this novel. As I’ve said, younger readers or anyone who wants a cheesy rom-com story without minding about historical authenticity and accuracy might like this book but it just wasn’t for me.

Review: The Girl From Norway by Emma Pass*

Title: The Girl From Norway
Author: Emma Pass
Genre: Historical Fiction

Trigger warnings: War, Domestic Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Drink Driving, Car Accident, Guns, Affair, PTSD Induced Nightmares

Rating: ★★★★★

1942. When Hedda Dahlstrøm flees her abusive husband and Nazi-occupied Norway with her eight-year-old son she doesn't know if they'll make it out alive. In her desperate journey to safety she'll find safety on the rocky shores of the Shetland Islands, rescued by Canadian Flight Sergeant Bill Gauthier.

As WWII's destruction rages at their doorsteps, can love find its way through the rubble?

The Girl From Norway is the latest historical fiction novel from author Emma Pass. It is the perfect combination of mystery, drama and romance, all set against the Second World War landscape of the RAF base in Shetland and Nazi-occupied Norway.

The dual-perspective narrative begins as two separate stories – one about Hedda’s escape from Nazi-occupied Norway with her son and one about Bill’s experiences in the RAF – but they quickly converge when they both find themselves on the Shetland Islands. The story is fast-paced and packed full of action from the very first chapters. I was worried it wouldn’t be able to maintain this momentum once Hedda reaches the safety of the Shetland Islands but, after a number of slower-paced chapters setting the new scene and covering Hedda’s adjustment to life outside of Nazi-occupied Norway, the action quickly returned as the RAF and islanders try to determine the identity of an island spy traitor leaking information to the Germans.

The story was clearly impeccably researched and historical details were seamlessly woven into the narrative. I also appreciated both the inclusion of Shetland dialect throughout the story and the nods to the Norwegian language and this really supported the authenticity of the story.

As the book blurb suggests, there is a blossoming romance between Hedda and Bill throughout the story and this makes the book perfect for fans of a good historical romance. Theirs is a slow burn love and definitely not without its bumps in the road but I really enjoyed this aspect to the story overall as they were a perfect match for each other.

Both of our dual protagonists – Hedda and Bill – were fantastically written with such depth to their character. Hedda was an incredible female protagonist and her strength and courage amazed me throughout the story. Her relationship with her young son Eirich was beautiful and he was a lovely little character himself. I loved seeing his developing relationship with “Mr Bill” as he called him as it blossomed into the father/son relationship the young lad deserved. Bill was another fantastic character and I thought the book really authentically portrayed the mental and physical impact of both his experiences serving on the front-line and of the accident which injured him and resulted in his redeployment to the Shetland Islands. I didn’t find myself particularly connecting with his relationship with his fiancée and it was therefore very difficult to root for them at all. That aspect of the story was quite predictable but I do appreciate that it just served as another barrier for Hedda and Bill’s love to overcome.

Hedda’s emotional abuse at the hands of her husband Anders was also very well portrayed. Although he appears in person very little throughout the story, his voice was a constant presence in the narrative, constantly playing in Hedda’s head in it’s cruel and demeaning tone. Anders was a truly vile character, which is just credit to how well written he was. Whilst being mindful of avoiding spoilers surrounding the island spy plotline, the other primary antagonist of the book was also very well written and I did pat myself on the back for my immediate suspicions of them being well-placed.

The primary setting of the story, a fictional island part of the Shetland Islands, was fantastic and I loved meeting all of the different island inhabitants and seeing them come together as a community. I find the history of the Shetland Bus – a transport link established between Nazi-occupied Norway and the Shetland Islands during WW2, used to smuggle people (including SOE agents and refugees), arms and equipment in and out of the enemy territory – to be a truly fascinating part of Second World War history which isn’t talked about enough within historical fiction so it was exciting to see it play such an important role in Hedda’s story.

I also can't review without giving a nod of appreciation to the beautiful cover art. The imagery and colour palette were perfectly chosen.

Overall, The Girl From Norway is a fantastic piece of World War Two fiction and perfect for fans of the genre and anyone who likes a good spy mystery. Hedda and Bill’s story is endearing and truly moving and I was hooked from cover to cover.

Pages

Review: Her Forgotten Promise by Corin Burnside*

Review: Sisters At War by Jina Bacarr*

Review: The Locket by Natalie Meg Evans*

Review: The Ration Book Baby by Ellie Curzon*

Review: Bellegarde by Jamie Lilac*

Review: The Girl From Norway by Emma Pass*