In Pale Battalions by Robert Goddard

Following her husband's recent death, Leonora Galloway, sets out on a trip to the Thiepval Memorial to the dead of the Battle of the Somme with her daughter Penelope. There they find the commemoration to Leonora's fathers death recorded as 30th April 1916. However, Leonara was not born until the 14th March 1917.

Penelope assumes that this is a simple story of a wartime illegitimacy but as Leonora begins to tell her the story of her
birth and her sundered connection to her wealthy and aristocratic family there are huge surprises ahead that Penelope could never have guessed at.


I was gripped from the tantalizing opening line from the prologue of this book:

"This is the day and this the place where a dream turns a corner and a secret is told."

This line sets the tone for the whole book. It is a novel full of intrigue, mystery and tragedy told in gently captivating prose. The book is broken down into three parts with an additional prologue and epilogue. Each part is narrated from a different character perspective and moves seamlessly across time and place.

The prose is simply beautiful and it was a joy to read. Mr. Goddard's style of writing perfectly captures a time almost forgotten and he is able to portray the tragedy of war within a gentle poetic prose. I regard this as hugely skillful and a great achievement on the author's part.

In fact, it is the choice of words which enables the reader to form judgments of each of the characters as they slowly develop and unravel as the book progresses. The characters are multi layered and nobody is quite as they seem and therefore, makes guessing the plot outcome very difficult. Not until the final page does the story wrap up and everything become clear to the reader. Few novels have kept me guessing as effectively as this one.

Mr. Goddard has established himself to me as a very intelligent and skilled writer through this book. It was perfectly paced with enough plot twists and turns throughout and I loved it. I am thrilled that the author has several other titles to his name and I am looking forward to reading these. I highly encourage you to read this book and am very grateful to my friend for recommending and loaning it to me.

ISBN:   978 0552162968

Publisher: Corgi

Price (based on today's price at Amazon.co.uk): £5.59

Total saving so far: £364.56

Then and Always by Dani Atkins

Rachel Wiltshire has a glittering future ahead of her. She has a loyal group of friends, a gorgeous boyfriend
and is just about to start university. However, as she and her friends meet up for a farewell dinner, tragedy strikes and Rachel's life changes forever.

Five years later Rachel is still struggling to come to terms with her past. Now, she has to return home for her best friends wedding and confront those issues that she has tried so hard to leave behind. Whilst there, Rachel has a fall and wakes in hospital to find that nothing about her life is as it should be. In fact, everything seems better in this new life that she has awoken to; but can she trust any of her memories?

Having slogged through my last read, Cross Stitch/Outlander, what I really needed was something light and entertaining which I was going be able to whip through and this book proved to be the perfect thing.

It would be true to say, that I found this book to be a little predictable and sugar sweet at times. However, in this case, predictability proved to be a good thing and I found myself itching to get back to this book at every available opportunity. I am not going to give anything away by saying that I ended my reading of this novel with a very satisfied sigh!

The characters were portrayed in such a way that it was clear from the outset who we were meant to like and who we should distrust. The latter characters were rather superficial but the authors portrayal of Rachel was excellent. She is an adorable character and her sense of confusion concerning her own memories made her into a thoroughly endearing person.

I could imagine this book transferring very well to the screen and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the film rights to this are rapidly acquired. It is a lovely gentle romance with an absorbing alternate reality theme and makes for a thoroughly enjoyable read. I am not going to pretend that this is a great work of literature but it is well worth a read if you want a book that will not be too taxing but will keep you absorbed right through to the end. I will certainly be looking out for other novels by this author.

ISBN:  978 0804178525

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Price (based on today's price at Amazon.co.uk): £9.00

Total saving to date: £358.97

Cross Stitch (UK) - Outlander (US) by Diana Gabaldon

1945 and Claire Randall is reunited with her husband, Frank, following the war. She served as a military nurse during the war years and now she and Frank are spending some time together in the Highlands of Scotland while he researches his genealogy.

Whilst out on her own one night Claire somehow steps through some standing stones and finds herself transported to 1743 and where the Scottish Highlands are a dangerous place to be. Not only is this a time of war but Claire is an outlander and somehow she has to convince these people that she is not an English spy.

Claire soon finds herself torn between two time zones because as much as she loves Frank she soon realises that she has feelings for a young Scottish clansman. How can she begin to reconcile her feelings for these two men separated by time?

This book has many of the attributes that I like in a book; an exciting plot, time travel, romance, is well written, seems well researched and is historical fiction. I have also wanted to read this book for years and bought a copy when I first got my kindle a couple of years ago.

There has been a recent increase in the popularity of this book and I decided to jump right on that band wagon with the prospect of eight books in the series. It has also been turned into a television series in America which may well make it over here at some point.

Why then, has this book been a real slog for me? It has taken me a ridiculous amount of time to read as I was feeling so disinclined to read it. Now, usually when I am not enjoying a book I grudgingly give up but because of all the hype surrounding this book I decided to keep going.

On the positive side this book really does have an exciting plot accompanied by a time travel element. It works well and the transition from 1945 to 1743 is completely believable. Ms Gabaldon has done her research well which contributes to a believably atmospheric shift in time.

However, I personally found this novel too heavy handed with the sex and violence that it completely detracted from the things I actually liked about the story. This is not a book for the faint hearted or the young as there are repeated scenes with explicit descriptions of rape, domestic violence and sodomy.

I understand that this is a very popular book and that I am in something of a minority in my opinion about it but it just wasn’t my cup of tea and I shall not be continuing with the rest of the series.

ISBN:  978 0099911708

Publisher:: Arrow

Price (based on today’s price at Amazon.co.uk for the kindle version) £3.95

Total saving so far: £349.97

Blessings by Anna Quindlen

When a young couple abandon their newborn child and leave her by the garage of the Blessings Estate they have no way of foreseeing the profound impact this will have on the lives of those who live there. The baby is discovered by Skip, the caretaker, who secretes the infant away and cares for her. However, when the estate matriarch, Lydia Blessings, discovers that Skip is caring for the newborn infant her reaction is surprising - most of all to herself.

This is another of those books that has been gathering dust on my shelves for years waiting to be read. Now that I have read it I have put it straight back on my shelf as there is no way I want to part with it and am certain I shall be re-reading it.

This is one of the most exquisitely touching novels I have ever read and by that I do not mean it is sentimental. What I do mean is that the prose is so beautifully and sensitively written that it was impossible to read this and not be stirred emotionally. It maintains a lovely tenderness throughout that meant I meandered through the beautiful prose. This is not a fast paced novel but a gentle stroll along the narrative and which made this a joy to read.

The book's main theme is love; not of the romantic variety but of the platonic love that grows between individuals or the love between parents and children. It also looks at how love has the ability to change a person and can be ultimately redemptive.

This is one of those few books which moved me to the point that I was afraid to read on because, as a reader, I firmly suspected that this situation was not going to end well. I was so engaged by the two main characters and the complicity that develops between them, along with the intelligent way in which the author bridges the social divide between them.  She has an exceptional ability to take an unlikely situation and make it completely convincing through such believable characterization.

This is an utterly compelling novel and if you haven’t already read this then I highly recommend that you do. For me, this book is a real treasure that I shall be keeping safe for the next time I want to read it.

ISBN:  978 0099558354

Publisher: Windmill Books

Price (based on today’s price at Amazon.co.uk):  £6.39

Total saving so far:  £346.02

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

This is the second book in the All Soul’s trilogy. There are no spoilers for this book in my review but if you have not yet read the first book A Discovery of Witches I highly recommend that you do and you can find my review for it here. Also, you may wish to not read this review any further as, by necessity, there are spoilers for the first book in this review.

At the end of the first book we left Diana, who is an historian and descended from a long line of witches, and Matthew, a long lived vampire time travelling to Elizabethan England. They have broken the laws which divides their two species and Diana has discovered a lost alchemical manuscript which has provoked an uprising between witches, vampires and daemons.

This book picks up at the point where the previous one leaves off and continues the story of their foray into the past to seek refuge from those who mean them harm, to search for the elusive Elizabethan manuscript that Diana has uncovered in the present day library at Oxford University and to seek out a witch who can help her to control her powers.

I liked the way the book picks up exactly where the previous one ended as it provided an instant transition into the next part of the story.

However, I did find the plot a little repetitive and felt that the book would have been improved had it been tighter and a little less waffly. There were times I felt it meandered about rather than getting on with the story and would have benefited from being less lengthy. The narrative moves from place the place but the plot didn’t seem to progress along with the book. I did not find myself wanting to rush back to read more.

Whereas, I had really liked the characters in the first book and found them fully formed, they became a bit two dimensional in this book and I was disappointed with that.

That said, I did read right through to the end and I still intend to read the final book in the trilogy and I hope I will find the conclusion a tad more satisfactory than I found this one. However, the middle book in a trilogy often stagnates a little and just seems to provide the launching pad for the finale. So, I do not want to be too hard on the author for this book but look forward to being able to assess the story as a whole when I have read the final one.

All that said, my husband read this book straight after the first and virtually gobbled it down in one as he found it completely gripping. He then rushed on to read the final book and thought the entire work was excellent. So, I am glad to say that we find our old friend subjectivity rearing his head again and telling us that what appeals to one does not necessarily appeal to another. I would love to hear your thoughts if you have read any of this trilogy.

ISBN:  978 0755384754

Publisher: Headline

Price (based on today’s price at Amazon.co.uk): £8.27

Total saving so far:  £339.63

The Vanishing Witch by Karen Maitland

King Richard II’s reign was troubled. It was a time when the rich got richer and the poor got poorer.

Respected cloth merchant Robert of Bassingham has acquired his wealth over many years through much hard work. Married to Edith and with two sons to whom he can teach and hand over his business to in the course of time he has little to worry about.

When wealthy widow, Caitlin, seeks him out to ask business advice Robert is only too happy to help. However, others can see that Caitlin is slowly worming her way into his affections but Robert refuses to see this. Will Robert’s good sense prevail before it is too late or can the mysterious Caitlin weave some kind of spell over him that he will not be able to extricate himself from?

Set during the Peasants Revolt in 1381 the narrative of this medieval thriller concentrates on the lives of Robert and his family. Although most of the characters were extremely well portrayed in this book I found Robert himself to be a little naïve considering the position he holds in society and which made his character a little unrealistic for me. However, throughout the book the author is suggesting that he is being induced by witchcraft into this gullible state and the plot proceeds along these lines throughout.

A time of myth and superstition, the plot is dark and rich in atmosphere and the breakdown of this one family is clearly designed to reflect the similarity of the destruction occurring within the wider society of the time.

What I really liked about this book is the way the author took a well known period of history and concentrated on the ordinary day to day lives of both the poor along with insight into the response of the merchant class. There is much written in history which focuses on the effect that history has on society with a concentration on nobility but here, the focus is on those trying to live through outrageous circumstances whilst being part of the lower echelons of society. It is this concentration that made this an engaging read and encouraged an empathy with the characters.

The author has clearly researched her topic with thoroughness and has thus made this period of history accessible to a modern audience. She is an intelligent writer and it was a pleasure to read this book.

I also loved the way each chapter opens with a superstition and introduces the idea of the significance that these beliefs had upon the actions of the characters.

Anyone, who enjoys historical novels with a mystery running through it and a hint of the supernatural will enjoy this book very much. This is the first novel I have read by Karen Maitland and I will be reading more by this author in the future.

ISBN:  9781472215017

Publisher:  Headline Review

Price:  £9.09

Total saving so far:  £331.36

**GIVEAWAY** of The Undesirables by Dave Boling

While the vastly outnumbered Boer commandos fight in the field, half a million British soldiers torch a flaming path across the South African veld. As they go, the British imprison thousands of displaced Boer families, including Aletta Venter's, and cast them into newly devised 'concentration camps'.

In a crowded tent with her mother and sibling, Aletta finds ways to cope with the confinement, privation and loss, but searches for the rarest of comforts - a bit of adolescent normalcy, perhaps even the spark of forbidden romance. Her weapon of choice in this personal battle; a young girl's powerful sense of hope

I have been wanting to host a giveaway for a while but have been waiting for the right book to come along and this looks like just the book.

If you want to be in with a chance of winning this book then there are a few ways in which you can enter:

1) Leave a comment on this blog telling me what your favourite book is.
2) Follow me on Twitter using the button on this page and RT the tweet about this giveaway.
3) Give me a like on facebook and share the giveaway posting  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Left-on-the-Shelf-Book-Blog/703940969641318?ref=hl

You will get extra entries for each one of those that you do e.g. if you leave a comment here and then follow on Twitter and RT or 'like' me on Facebook and share then you will get 3 entries.

I will run the giveaway for two weeks and I will use a random number generator at midday (BST) on 14th August 2014 to decide on a winner.

The giveaway is open worldwide.

GOOD LUCK!