UJALA RAI

•A very engaging story from the beginning to the end. Betty,a fisherman's daughter who got married at the age of sixteen and left with a shell shock husband after WW,and a bully mother-in-law, decides to dissapear from her own life and to begin another story for herself. •With a new name(Mabel) and a new character as she starts her new life,she felt starting again is much harder then she thought (especially when she is pennyless). •Long after when she is settled into her present and somehow happy than before, situation unfolds and she had to mix her present with the past to save someone's life who actually don't deserve her consideration.Despite knowing,this can make her present miserable,she acts selflessly. •The novel is set against background of the great war.It deals with many themes- soldiers returning to home after war and their aftermath life,the Spanish flu epidemic,the class system back then, soldiers life in POW camp,the social change throughout England after the war and the necessity of women coming forward for everything after the war. The tinch of rising women power made the story vividly luring.Lesley tried to show a less bit path of spirituality back then. •Basically it's a very busy story,yet everything worth recognising. Enjoyed reading it. • A highly recommend book for historical fiction fan✨