After reading what seems to me, every vampire book available at present I was grateful for my work colleague Lyn’s “lend”, a book that she stated as being an “easy read”, and not a blood sucker insight!
The book I will now review is - “Grand affair by Charlotte Bingham”
The story starts ... Read review
Advantages: A heartwrenching and fantastic read. Disadvantages: Didn't flow as well until after she was adopted.
...the sumptuous surroundings of the grand hotel, this complemented the reading perfectly setting the scene and drawing you in.
There are many funny moments in this book, but as the beginning of the synopsis suggests many more heart wrenching ones, I did on occasion have a tear or two for the main character, such was the way of life in the 40’s and 50’s that she seemed completely oppressed by circumstance and then later on by her jealous ... ...a chic lit type book, though no where near as fluffy as the newer books around, still very worth a look and recommended by me.
For more information visit - www.booksattransworld.co.uk
As with most books this can be purchased from www.amazon.co.uk for around the £5.00 mark, though second hand it would be available for pennies.
After reading what seems to me, every vampire book available at present I was grateful for my work colleague Lyn’s “lend”, a book that she stated as being an “easy read”, and not a blood sucker insight!
The book I will now review is - “Grand affair by Charlotte Bingham”
The story starts with a tragic scene, in a dilapidated little bedsit a young woman has just died in childbirth. Attending the scene is a midwife who is devastated at the idea that a woman would die in her area and on her shift and also a doctor who has been called to assist with the death certificate.
After much deliberation it is decided that the baby, a little girl who appears to be fading fast, should be left with the local areas “Mrs Mac”, an Irish lady who has designated herself the mother of the slums, and who has always got a crust of bread or a cup of milk for any child wanting in the area.
Mrs Mac (a nickname for a self appointed do gooder in the slums at that time), or as her real name is, Ma O’Flaherty, is over the moon as she has a brood of boys, and now her husband has gone to sea (left her!), there is little chance of her getting that elusive thing…… a daughter.
After taking her in, naming her Otillie and raising her for the first four years of her life as one of her own Otillie knows nothing but love, but after a long sort after move from London to Cornwall tragedy strikes again.
Otillie is again adopted out to a young couple that own a local hotel, the grand, she is brought up spoilt and pampered and treated as a pet to the many aging visitors to the hotel, but as she ages the bond between herself and her “parents” begins to break down.
Will she cross the divide and re enter her adopted family, will she ever she her childhood brothers again and will she ever find out the circumstances of her coming into this world, or will she forever be the little girl at the grand………
Please don’t think I have given too much plot away, the synopsis is barely scratching the surface of the storyline, there is something fantastic and new on every one of it’s 479 pages.
The book is separated into three sections, Otillies birth and adoption into the larger than life character of Ma, then the move to Cornwall and all the complexities of a new area and getting into the close knit and somewhat “clicky” communities too. The final chapter is by far the longest and most enjoyable, this being her adoption by the Catarats.
There is much emphasis and descriptive text upon the sumptuous surroundings of the grand hotel, this complemented the reading perfectly setting the scene and drawing you in.
There are many funny moments in this book, but as the beginning of the synopsis suggests many more heart wrenching ones, I did on occasion have a tear or two for the main character, such was the way of life in the 40’s and 50’s that she seemed completely oppressed by circumstance and then later on by her jealous and alcoholic mother.
This is of course a chic lit type book, though no where near as fluffy as the newer books around, still very worth a look and recommended by me.
For more information visit - www.booksattransworld.co.uk
As with most books this can be purchased from www.amazon.co.uk for around the £5.00 mark, though second hand it would be available for pennies.
