A Long and Lonely Road - Katie Flynn

...I received this book as a Christmas present; my husband knows that I’m an avid reader and usually buys me two or three books. He knows that he’s safe with James Patterson, John Grisham, Ian Rankin (sometimes), but ask him to use his knowledge of what I read to make a decision on something I might like, and he’s definitely starting to struggle. This year’s collection contained The Big Bad Wolf by James Patterson, The Juror by John Grisham and The ...
...the cover! It depicted a scene in the background of evacuee war children boarding a train, and the main photo was one of a young, strikingly attractive mother with two exceptionally pretty children, in period dress.

***ABOUT THE AUTHOR***

Given that this was my first Katie Flynn experience, I wouldn’t know what genre to classify this writing as. However, during reading about Katie Flynn (who also writes as Judith Saxton), ... more

***INTRODUCTION***

I received this book as a Christmas present; my husband knows that I’m an avid reader and usually buys me two or three books. He knows that he’s safe with James Patterson, John Grisham, Ian Rankin (sometimes), but ask him to use his knowledge of what I read to make a decision on something I might like, and he’s definitely starting to struggle. This year’s collection contained The Big Bad Wolf by James Patterson, The Juror by John Grisham and The Long and Lonely Road by Katie Flynn. Unfortunately, I think my face gave me away as I read the synopsis on the cover and he thought I wasn’t going to like it; I thought so too! So the question is, did I?

I’m ashamed to reveal at this point that I was put off by the cover! It depicted a scene in the background of evacuee war children boarding a train, and the main photo was one of a young, strikingly attractive mother with two exceptionally pretty children, in period dress.

***ABOUT THE AUTHOR***

Given that this was my first Katie Flynn experience, I wouldn’t know what genre to classify this writing as. However, during reading about Katie Flynn (who also writes as Judith Saxton), it would appear that she is a “saga” writer, although this could also be said to be historical romantic fiction.

Katie Flynn has lived for many years in the North West of the UK, and her books are predominantly Liverpool based around the 2nd World War. She originally started off with her early works being broadcast on Mersey radio. She was then encouraged by family and friend to go that step further and to write in more depth and to investigate having work published. Unfortunately, the last few years she has suffered from ME, but continues to write.

***THE BOOK***

Without further ado, what I will reveal is that I enjoyed this book. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised and really liked it. It’s one of those books for rainy Sunday afternoons curled up in front of the fire. It has a certain “feel good” factor and although not overly sentimental, it’s incredibly romantic. But then, the past is romantic, isn’t it?

A lot of this book is written through the eyes of two of the children; the central characters in this story. Perhaps I haven’t been around enough children of late, but I felt that the story from the four year old and her incredible ability at reasoning and logic was a wee bit too hard to believe. But this is a minor criticism.

***THE PLOT***

This story is about a young woman’s journey; her journey through the trials and tribulations of life during the declaration and subsequent Second World War. Rose McAllister is mother to two young daughters, whilst her husband is a seaman. Her husband Steve is a violent and drunken man, but Rose finds the strength to overcome his bullying, and is fiercely protective of her daughters.

Often absent, Rose is effectively a single parent to Daisy and Petal, and when War is declared she gets a job in a factory making military uniforms. The job pays a reasonable wage, and allows her to become independent and not having to worry about where the next penny is coming from. Steve had been supporting his family sporadically and often pawned their most valuable goods (including the children’s toys) to go on drinking binges whilst on leave at home.

Liverpool is a prime target during the Second World War and a lot of children are evacuated. Rose is confronted with, and makes the heart wrenching decision to send her girls to Wales, where they have the most wonderful life on a farm being looked after by a very loving Welsh family. As War progresses, Rose is faced with making the decision of bringing her daughters, whom she misses desperately, back to Liverpool or to leave them in what she knows to be a safe and loving environment.

The story is filled with the adventures of the children, narrated from the girls themselves and is delivered so beautifully that you can begin to understand why older people “romanticise” the War years.

Meanwhile, Rose meets Luke, an American serving in the British Air Force after he helps her and her friend who is expecting a baby and goes into Labour on the worst night of the May Blitz. This meeting sparks off a chain of events, including Rose joining the WAAF as she wanted to do more for the War effort. These events turn Rose’s life upside down and nothing will ever be the same. To say any more would be to give the plot away, so I won’t – read the book if you want to find out more.

***THE CHARACTERS***

The central characters are Rose and her two children, Daisy and Petal. Rose is a strong, independent gritty northern woman who makes the best of her lot. To start with she seemed somewhat stereotypical to me, although admittedly it left me with a warm glow to discover her confidence blossom as she went through her life’s journey.

Daisy is the eldest child, not as pretty, nor as favoured by her father Steve – she is the sensible, quiet child and becomes wise beyond her years, especially after they are evacuated to Wales where she assumes the role of mothering her sister Daisy. Daisy is her daddy’s girl, pretty, blonde and blue eyed and the author conveys her ability to delight and charm with complete integrity.

Steve is the violent, drunken husband and is not a very likeable character at all, although after her joins the Navy and pals up with the intelligent Alby, a young man with ambition, he starts to try to change – but is it too little, too late?

There are many significant characters in this book, and character depth is something that Katie Flynn does really well. She has a talent for developing honest, straightforward personalities that are entirely believable. She also makes them so human that you feel as if you know them intimately yourself.

***MY OPINION***

The old adage “never judge a book by its cover” certainly was true for me in this instance. Although I can’t say the story was difficult to put down, at the same time it was certainly compelling and engaging.

It’s a story that has multiple plot lines running and none are neglected in favour of the other; in my opinion it’s very cleverly done. The historical perspective is interesting and I imagine that an enormous amount of research must have had to be done by the author to gain as much accuracy and authenticity as possible.

The novel’s strength is the power of the story, the drama and the struggle of a young woman living through the Second World War. The characterisation is second to none that I’ve come across to date. The character of Rose gets under your skin in this novel, and you imagine yourself in her position all the time, imagining how you would confront the many moral dilemmas she is faced with.

I would say (although this is supposition, since I haven’t read another Katie Flynn book), that the story itself is rather formulaic. I will have to read another one before I can comment honestly, but to my mind this might be a weakness. The children also sometimes seem too adult like, although as my mother grew up during the War, this is possibly true, since children did have to grow up quickly and take on a lot of responsibilities within the family.

On balance, I thoroughly enjoyed this story even though it’s not my genre of choice. I wouldn’t actively look out for this author in the future, but at the same time, if I came across another of these books, I certainly wouldn’t ignore it either.

I’d give this three stars out of five, this may be unfair due to my normal choice of reading matter and someone who enjoys sagas and romantic historical fiction may think this is the best thing they’ve ever read.

***ADDITIONAL INFORMATION***

440 pages long – it’s a reasonably lengthy tome as the print is small
Published by Arrow Books £6.99
ISBN 0-09-946815-8
Available from Amazon £5.59 new, £0.75 used paperback
Available from Amazon £13.29 hardback

© Christina ;-) x 2005
 

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