A Thousand Painted Hours by Barbara O’Neal
ARC from Amazon Pub and Netgalley for an honest review
Book Blurb:
In the shadow of the London Blitz, artist Elsie Turner clings fiercely to her canvases, refusing to let war dim the colors that define her. The bombs test her nerve, but the struggle also stirs memories of her golden youth in India and of the long-lost love of her life. The daughter of a British civil servant in the Himalayan station of Nainital, Elsie crosses cultural divides to forge an unlikely bond with Tanveer Singh, a Sikh prince with hopes, dreams, and far-reaching ideas. What begins as shared sketchbooks and stargazing becomes first love and a secret correspondence. When Elsie’s father is summoned to England, Elsie is severed from the world she knows—and is determined to preserve it through both her art and a connection with Tanveer that endures through the most tumultuous years of their lives. Across four decades and two continents, Elsie navigates a journey from lush colonial India to war-torn London, amid landscapes of beauty, protest, and peril. As past and present collide, the most impossible choices and sacrifices are yet to be made in the name of love, war, and survival.
My Review: 4 stars
A Thousand Painted Hours by Barbara O’Neal was a standout novel that historical fiction lovers will soak up with pure glee. I learned so much about the cultural disparities between England and India. Three children from different families grow up together, caught between the cultural divide of these two countries.
Elsie’s family was living through the Blitz in London, while her friend/married lover Tanveer, was in Nainital, India. Their long-distance relationship was told with such beauty as their letters to one another became their currency. Through drawings, expressions of longing and finally having their time together kept me glued to the audio version of this novel.
Their relationship changed from friendship to quiet young attraction to so much more. I couldn’t get enough of it. The descriptions of sand on the desert, the bombs landing in London, the art Elsie painted came to life vividly. Enjoy this lovely story.
Quotes I liked:
Why do we still solve problems of nations by flinging the bodies of young men into the void.”
