Hannah Richell
Reviewed by Helen
I don’t know where to start, this one has left me in awe what a story, a compelling, captivating story, a story of two woman Lillian Oberon and her granddaughter Maggie Oberon related not by blood but by love and caring and a family estate with treasures and secrets and what happens in their lives sixty years apart, this is a story that pulled me in, the characters so alive and genuine I felt their pain and their love, this is a story that you will not want to miss.
Lillian lives a quiet life in the country after the war with her sister and the wonderful lady who took them in after she lost her mother and father, fate steps in when she is riding her bike one day and she meets Charles Oberon and his young son Albie, Charles is a strong man and a widower it is the 1950’s and soon he is proposing to Lillian. The wedding is small and soon she is living at Cloudesley Manor in the Chiltern Hills, and Lillian is determined to be the best step-mother to Albie and a good wife, she does love Albie but she soon learns that her husband can be a very hard and difficult man to live with and her life is changing.
Charles hires a young artist Jack Fincher, during the summer to make over the nursey in the manor he wants this to be very special, but as Jack spends time living at Cloudesley he and Lillian become very close and the world that Lillian knew is turned upside down and there are many hurts to more than one person.
Years later Lillian’s granddaughter Maggie arrives at Cloudesley dropped off by her father Albie, she is brought up by Lillian and they are very close, but when Maggie runs from the village years later wanting to leave behind what she has done and arrives in Australia looking for who knows, she just wants to forget, but when her grandmother takes ill Maggie returns to care for the one person she has always loved and felt loved by, this is going to make her face up to a lot of truths and there are a lot of secrets to be unearthed.
I did love this story, Lillian what a woman truly a beautiful caring loving person who never thought of herself only of others, living all of those years with her damaged and cruel husband, worrying over Albie and his disappearances, but she will never forget that summer of love with Jack. Then we have Maggie her life with Lillian and her invalid grandfather, a father who was not around much, her best friends from the village and then the shock of returning to Cloudesley and finding the room that helped her discover the truth. MS Richell thank you for a story that is going to stay with me for a long time to come, there were tears and heartbreak but it is beautiful, amazing and one that I highly recommend.
5/5 stars for a fabulous story
Expected publication:
July 1st 2018
by Orion
(first published June 28th 2018)
