The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy

Stuck in an airport for 7 hours, I quickly made my way to the bookstore and bought the first promising book I came to: The Soldier's Wife, set in WW2 on one of the Channel Islands. Her husband at war, she is left at home with her ailing mother in law, her two daughters and a cat. I'm so glad I picked this book up - it was the perfect get away book, filled with detailed description of life on Guernsey, a forbidden affair, and the truly horrific reality of war.

When Vivienne de la Mare is nearly killed by the bombing of her island by the Germans, she immediately regrets not getting away and heading to London. Something stopped her - the fear of traveling with her two daughters in a small boat across the big open water for such a long distance. So, she takes her chances at home. Soon, her neighbor's house is requisitioned by the German officers assigned to the island. Fearful, she tries to stay hidden, until one day she comes face to face with one of the officers - Gunther, who soon becomes her friend and then her lover. Forced to face the realities of her own marriage, she seek solace in Gunther's arms at night, even while the Germans are bringing prisoners to work in labor camps, starving and beating them to death.

Vivienne is torn between her desire to "fight" against the Germans, and her love for her enemy. The romance is doomed from the start, but it is hauntingly beautiful in the poetic landscape of the island as these two find comfort in each other while they can.

I may find another book by this author to see if they match up to this type of writing.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Looking for a book to take along with me on my cruise, one that would last several days since I read fast, I stumbled across this one in the bookstore. It has a bit of mystery, a bit of romance, and a lot of history to it - just my cup of tea. Once I opened the book, I felt swept away into another time and was immediately hooked.

The story starts in 1913, when a four year old girl has been hidden (stowed away) on a ship bound for Australia. She was taken there by a woman she called "The Authoress" and told to stay hidden until the Authoress came back for her. Unfortunately, the Authoress never returned and the little girl was found on the docks after the ship arrived in Australia by a dock worker. He took her home, thinking someone would eventually come looking for her. No one ever did.

Skip forward about 20 years or so, and the girl, Nell as she was named, has grown up believing she is the natural daughter of said dockworker and his wife. After his wife's deather, at her engagement party, her father tells her she isn't really his child. This throws her into a tailspin, disrupting everything she has believed in, and eventually she turns into this person that is completely different. She practically has nothing to do with her family anymore because she doesn't really know who she is.

Present day, Nell is on her deathbed and she whispers something to her granddaughter, Cassandra about her past. Cassandra then takes up this mystery as to who her grandmother really was, and sets across back to England to find out.

The book moves easily between several time periods, even going back a few generations before Nell to tell the complete story. So mesmerizing, I had a hard time letting go of this book. But, since I knew that I would devour it if it was a smaller book, I'm glad it was a long story, intricately woven between the layers of time and mystery. It took me several days to finish this book, even though I hated to put it down!

Many characters are involved, and you won't realize how deeply you've become attached to them until the end, when the story is completed. I'm now in search of more books along the same line by Kate Morton, hoping for another equally book that is both haunting and beautifully written.