Yesterday should have been my stop on the blog tour, but I must apologise as I missed it! Instead, I post today for this fabulous family and historical saga that certainly grabbed me!
Here is the synopsis.
A lost child. A mother’s grief. A daughter’s journey.
In Scotland, in1941, as WW2 increases in ferocity, Rhona Begg goes against her parents’ wishes and enlists in the ATS—a decision that brings with it heart-breaking consequences. After the war, weighed down with regret and grief, Rhona receives news that has the power to change her life.
Across the ocean in Australia, Nell Duncan worries about her husband who is fighting in the Far East. When she receives the dreaded news that he is missing in action, her world collapses. The end of the war brings changes to Nell’s life, but her dream of bearing a child is no longer possible and she grieves for what might have been.
In 1971, when Joy Baker gives birth to her daughter, she begins the journey to discover her ancestry. What she finds shocks her to the core and propels her on a journey to the land of her birth.
Three women. Three mothers. Three astonishing stories.
From wartime Scotland to present day Australia. A Mother’s Story is an emotion-filled sweeping family saga.
A historical family saga is always a little favourite of mine. This particular one spans the decades from 1941 up until the 1970’s. These years are fraught with war, recovery and other issues which creates an amazingly interesting read.
We follow the lives of two families, one in England and the other in Australia. Rhonda in 1941 joins the ATS, leaving Scotland to do her duty for the War Effort. Never realising she would be taken through devastating personal loss and heartbreak. In Brisbane, Nell’s husband is a POW in the Far East and all Nell wishes for is a child to complete their lives. Joy is the third character, she has always been aware she was adopted but after having her daughter in the 1970s, she finds the urge to attempt to discover her biological parents. While her mother is frantically searching for her too.
A saga that is very well told, these three women are all so real and I felt for straight away. We see the twists and turns of their lives play out over the years. The author brings a very strong sense of place with her excellent writing. I love the fact that the history is all wrapped up within this quite emotional story. The search that Joy’s mother undertakes to find her daughter is shown to be so difficult, but let’s face it, without the Internet it was all paper searches. Everything is done by letter and archives, that sort of thing. My heart was breaking for both of them as the search went on.
A saga that I got wrapped up in. I spent a few days, living and breathing these women. That is down to the skilful work of the author and I commend her on her very clever weaving of all the threads of this story. It was so gripping.
Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources and Cala Publishing for the copy of the book.
Purchase Link – getbook.at/AMothersStory
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sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 