The Dubrovnik Book Club by Eva Glyn - #bookreview

Prologue

He raises his head from the sink and looks in the mirror. Sunken eyes, stubble. The bruise a livid purple-red on his cheek...

The Blurb

In a tiny bookshop in Dubrovnik’s historic Old Town, a book club begins…

Newly arrived on the sun-drenched shores of Croatia, Claire Thomson’s life is about to change forever when she starts working at a local bookshop. With her cousin Vedran, employee Luna and Karmela, a professor, they form an unlikely book club.

But when their first book club pick – an engrossing cosy crime – inspires them to embark upon an investigation that is close to the group’s heart, they quickly learn the value of keeping their new-found friends close as lives and stories begin to entwine…My Review

Each chapter is the name of the book which the book club is reading each month. At the back of the book the author provides a list along with the author of each of these books in case the reader would like to read them for themselves.

Helpful glossary at the beginning of the book which translates some of the words used throughout the novel.

My Review

As a member of two book clubs myself, I am often drawn to books which have a book club as their setting.

The titular book club is set in Croatia, within the walls of The Welcoming Bookshop. This book uses this setting to introduce the readers to a lovely array of characters. 

The book is told from the perspectives of main characters Claire and Luna. Claire has left England to join her grandparents in Dubrovnik for a year. She has had long Covid and as a result has lost her confidence and fears groups of people. Her grandmother is convinced that working in the book shop will help her regain it. 

Luna works with Claire in the bookshop. She comes from a rural Croatian village where she finds the community small-minded. She is hiding a secret of her own but finds a friend and confidante in Claire.

Setting up the book club allows the author to introduce an array of other characters, who each have an important part to play in the story. Vedran is Claire's cousin. He is a lawyer who has been through a tough time – and then there is Karmella, an academic who retreats to a place of safety behind her books.

These characters all come together within the book shop and find an emotional support circle. The book has much to say about friendship, self-acceptance and facing our fears.

The author depicted the charm and history of Dubrovnik beautifully without shying away from the hardships that the residents faced during and following the war. In fact, having read this made me want to hop on a plane so that I could stroll around its streets and have coffee outside a café, whilst reading a book. 

This was a gem of a book to read.  It had me absorbed by every page. It was a life-affirming book which made for wonderful reading. In fact, I already have the next book in the series, The Santorini Writing Retreat, waiting to be read. 

I highly recommend this book. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Book Details

ISBN:  978-0008648114

Publisher:  One More Chapter

Formats:  e-book, audio and paperback (currently available on Kindle Unlimited)

No. of Pages:  384 (paperback)

Series:  Book 1 in the Bookish Escapes series

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

Amazon UK

Amazon US

About the Author

Over the last couple of years Eva has become adept at writing with two hats on; under her own name Jane Cable it’s romance with a twist, and as Eva Glyn she creates escapist relationship-driven fiction. MHer inspiration comes from the nuggets of history she discovers both at home and abroad, and the beautiful places she finds them.

Eva Glyn’s books are mainly set in Croatia, a country she fell in love with in 2019. Her friendship with tour guide Darko Barisic has proved invaluable to gain an insight into Croatian daily life that few foreign authors can dream of. Her first book set in the country, The Olive Grove, was inspired by Darko’s experiences of the war in the 1990s. Both An Island of Secrets and The Collaborator's Daughter are dual timeline looking back to a little known period of World War 2 history.

 Eva is published by One More Chapter, a division of Harper Collins and has been contracted to write two books about unlikely friendships... and books under the title of Bookish Escapes. The first, The Dubrovnik Book Club, was published in March 2024 with The Santorini Writing Retreat following a year later and The Croatian Island Library in early 2026. 

Although she is Welsh she lives in Cornwall with her husband of more than thirty years. Unless, of course, they're off on their travels!

You can also find Eva at:

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(media courtesy of the author's website)

(all opinions are my own)

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The Foyles Bookshop Girls' Promise by Elaine Roberts - #bookreview #blogtour

 Rosie Burrows and Fran Wilson joined others leaning against the wrought-iron railings, soaking in the view of the Southend seafront and all the talk of war because of some archduke from Austria getting shot...

***

The Blurb

London, 1918: war rages on, but the girls of London’s Foyles bookshop always have a place to feel safe.

Rosie Burrows loves being part of the Foyles team, and outwardly, she’s a happy young woman, engaged to the love of her life. But inside, Rosie faces a horrible dilemma. When Alfie enlisted, she promised to wait for him to return from France. And she has waited, quietly preparing for him to come home so they can marry. But for years her letters to him have gone unanswered, and now she doesn’t know where she stands.

To keep occupied, Rosie starts volunteering at the local school. She loves reading to the children, and takes solace in her growing friendship with the kind and gentle class teacher. But Rosie knows she can’t allow herself to develop feelings for Sam – she gave her word.

But why hasn’t Alfie answered her letters? Has he changed his mind about her? And how long should she wait for a man who may never come back?

My Review

This book is set in London during World War One and is wonderfully atmospheric. 

It follows the lives of the women who work there, and in particular, Rosie. She has promised Alfie that she will wait for him while he is away fighting for King and country. However, Alfie is missing in action and neither she nor his mother hear from him for two years. Rosie is in a quandary as to whether she should continue to wait for him or move on with her life. Furthermore, she questions whether she really loves him and wants to marry him!

Although I had worked out where this book was heading at a fairly early point, it absolutely did not impede my enjoyment of the book. In fact, it just made me want to read on all the more to find out if I was actually correct.

It is a well written book with fantastic characters who I was completely engaged by. I felt frustrated every time I had to put it down, and I could hardly wait to get back to it. It had everything that you would expect to find in a book of this genre; great characters in a historical setting with a bit of romance and angst to add to the tension.

This is the second book in the Foyles Bookshop Girls series. As much as I like to start a series from the first book, this worked perfectly well by my coming into the series at book two.

It was a wonderfully heartwarming and hopeful book which was a delight to read. I have not previously read anything but this author but I am excited to now read some of her back catalogue.

This was a fabulous read, and I highly recommend it.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1805497110

Publisher:  Boldwood Books

Formats:  e-book, audio, hardback and paperback (currently available on Kindle Unlimited)

No. of Pages:  280 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Blackwell's

Waterstones

About the Author

Elaine Roberts is the bestselling author of historical sagas set in London during the First World War. Previously published by Aria, she is bringing her successful Foyles Girls titles to Boldwood who will publish the fourth in this series in September 2023.

You can also find Elaine at

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(ARC and media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)

(all opinions are my own)

The Testing of Rose Alleyn by Vivien Freeman - #BookReview #BlogTour

 

Along with grey clouds and a consequent drop in temperature, there comes the return of what is never far away in these parts, a keen easterly breeze. Borne upon it, the plaintive sound of a concertina makes me think of the cold sea even further east. The tune reaches its conclusion as I draw level with the church and glimpse beyond it, in the school playground, a Maypole with its rainbow of ribbons. The end of each ribbon is held by a child who stands still in his or her starting place, returned from all the weaving intricacies of dance.

***

After her mother's death in January, late in her twentieth pregnancy, sixteen-year-old Rose had resolved never to marry. Defying expectations, she has escaped the same fate as her siblings in service, and left her rural home for the market town of Widdock. Here she now works as the assistant in a bookshop owned by inspiring and charismatic Leonard Pritchard, with whom she shares a love of poetry. At Apple Tree House, where she lodges, Rose has forged strong friendships with the other young women residents and with the hostel's cultured owner, Mrs. Fuller.

Rose enjoys her independence. But as her relationship with her employer deepens, her joy is tempered by reawakening fears about the reality of women's lives. Preoccupied, Rose is unprepared for trouble when it strikes. Coming from the least likely source, one in which she has always found solace, it threatens the very person now closest to her heart. How can words prove to be so damaging and dangerous? What can she do? As the storm gathers, will she ride it?

***

Set in 1900 the author has captured the period perfectly. It is slow paced to echo the time period and it would be easy to believe that this had been written contemporaneously.

Rose is a very likeable character and it is easy to sympathise with her fear of pregnancy and child birth. Consequently, when she falls in love and she is forced to confront those fears, the reader can engage with and understand her apprehension.

The setting is nicely described, and the author provides telling descriptions of the environment. It was very easy to share Rose's appreciation of the rural countryside. When there is a heatwave it was easy to identify with the feelings that they all shared.

I enjoyed reading about her life in the young woman's hostel. Mrs. Fuller, the proprieter, was an enjoyable character to get to know, as were the other young ladies who resided there.

For me, the main theme of the book was that of a young woman of her class and experience being able to break free of the expectations that were placed upon her. Like the rest of Rose's family, she had been expected to go into service. That she was able to secure employment as a book shop assistant speaks volumes about her character.

I think anyone who enjoys the gentle pace of fiction set during the turn of the twentieth century will enjoy this book.

ISBN:  979 8770841268

Publisher: 186 Publishing

Formats: e-book and paperback

No. of Pages:  269

About the Author:

Vivien Freeman grew up in North London and graduated in Art History from the University of East Anglia before settling in Ware, Hertfordshire. A published poet as well as a novelist, she taught Creative Writing for many years and has an M.A. in Scriptwriting from Salford University. She now lives in rural Wales in the Vale of Glamorgan with her husband, the poet, John Freeman.