The Very Thought Of You by Rosie Allison – 336 pages
Book Blurb:
England, 31st August 1939: the world is on the brink of war. As Hitler prepares to invade Poland, thousands of children are evacuated from London to escape the impending Blitz. Torn from her mother, eight-year-old Anna Sands is relocated with other children to a large Yorkshire estate which has been opened up to evacuees by Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton, an enigmatic childless couple. Soon Anna gets drawn into their unhappy relationship, seeing things that are not meant for her eyes – and finding herself part-witness and part-accomplice to a love affair, with tragic consequences.
My review: 1 star
It’s troublesome when a highly reviewed book comes my way as an ARC and I’m thoroughly disappointed.
The characters are unreachable perhaps because this story is “spelled out” to me with little space for me to learn about them through their actions. When they did have actions, they were so blatantly told to me, i felt the author took her audience for fools. I wish this story held more of what was promised and focused on the mother and daughter’s separation rather than the predictable affairs of almost every character in the book.
Sad, but the one thing that leaves me from the book is that there was a female character called Peter. I found that annoying but really the only thing I think I’ll remember from these 300+ pages.
