Never Look Back - Lesley Pearse

I think I’ve been going through one of my book “lulls” of late since I haven’t managed to read anything since October. It happens. Next, I’ll probably go into one of my “read to the exclusion off everything else” phases. Anyway, I went to Los Angeles in January and it’s amazing what a 10+ hour flight each way can do in re-introducing the greatness of reading, lol.

I finished this book in Jan whilst I was away but just hadn’t got around to writing about it yet. It’s a pretty hefty book so I did well to read it within 10 days I reckon. The story focuses on the life of Matilda “Matty” Jennings and her epic journey as she leaves England to begin a new life in the States in the 1800’s (very appropriate for my trip then!), firstly in New York and then travelling across the country on a wagon train – alone and… pregnant! Not a good position for a woman to be in in those times of course.

The story is great. Poor old Matty has a great head on her shoulders and successfully turns her hand to anything she needs to in order to survive. But life never seems to run smoothly for her and you can’t help but hope as you turn the pages that surely she’s got to catch a break soon…? But alas, life is never that kind. She is a lovely character; kind, sensitive, wiley and canny, loved by everyone (except the bad guys) and although life gives her all the things she needs materialistically speaking, you sense there is always an emotional need that is never fulfilled for her. She spends most of her life trying to make lives better for those less fortunate and again, she does a great job. I think she dies happy. I guess I am an old romantic though and I really wanted her to get the guy and live happily every after. I know I might be giving a little away here so I do apologise, but to be honest when you read the story you know deep down that she’s not ever going to get the fairy-tale ending. But then, would our Matty have been any happier with that than the life she led otherwise…? Probably not :)

It’s a fab book; Lesley has done us proud again! I've released this book into the wild via http://www.bookcrossing.com/ and it's BCID is: 675-5135918. Enjoy it.

Till We Meet Again - Lesley Pearse

It looks like I might be back on the reading wagon again, having read this book in under a week :) But then again, it could just be that it has Lesley Pearse an the author - and Lesley never lets me down with a good story.

Till We Meet Again doesn't disappoint at all. It's possibly not quite as hard-hittingly graphic as some of her others have been but this doesn't make her plotting and and story-telling any worse or better. It continues to be great. Pearse still writes a fantastically good story and once again makes the reader question things that maybe we take for granted.

The story opens immediately with a double murder. Susan Wright walks into a doctors surgery and kills the two people seemingly in cold blood. She then gives herself up, wishing to be punished for the crimes she has committed. In a cruel twist of fate her childhood friend Beth Powell is randomly appointed as her solicitor. And thus begins the unraveling of the past lives of these two characters and the events which lead them to this point in their lives. How circumstances and actions affect each other and how two seemingly very different women can have so much similarity at their core.

Once again, Pearse handles what are quite difficult subjects in a forthright but sensitive manner, always taking the time to explain clearly the motives which justify the actions of her characters. Her sensitive handling of Beth's traumatic past but without shying away from details enables the reader to really feel for Beth and to want to understand her more deeply. Similarly the way she leads the reader to develop their own sympathies for Susan's restrictive and manipulated childhood enables us to care so much about the characters and to want justice for them. It is fairly obvious to me why Lesley Pearse is one of our best-selling authors :) An engaging story-line and well thought out characters who you can't help but care deeply about.

I've released this book into the wild via www.bookcrossing.com and its BCID is 112-5135927 - enjoy!

Father Unknown - Lesley Pearse

Lesley Pearse is, beyond any doubt, a gifted writer. I have only read one other of her books before which was Trust Me - a harrowing story based on true events about two children who were sent to Australia on the pretext of starting a new life, which turned out to be little more than a life of slavery, abused by those in a position of trust.
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Father Unknown therefore, had a fairly tall order to live up to based on how engaging Trust Me was. And indeed it doesn't fail to deliver. It opens with the story of dizzy Daisy who, after her adoptive mother's death, goes in search of her real mother in the hope of understanding her past. Much of the book is taken up with the story of Daisy's real mother Ellen and Ellen's half sister Josie and how their lives move in two totally different directions, shaping their lives and personalities to a tragic end for both. Pearse tells the tale of parental cruelty, abandonment and lost innocence in such a way that you can't help but feel sorry for those involved. The story is also set in Cornwall, an area which although vibrant and full of life in the summer, becomes drab and isolated in the winter - an area discarded by the tourists after their fun in much the same way as Josie's character is discarded by men. A lot of time is spent on Josie in the book as her character surprisingly is the pivot on which much of the story falls. Pearse does a great job on capturing the hardship of both girls' situations and how the personality of each goes a long way in turning their lives into what they are - an idea highlighted in it's extreme once again by Josie's character.
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This book, just like Trust Me is not for the faint-hearted. Pearse is not a woman who shies away from detail in the most extreme situations or makes pretty scenes purely to appease. Some paragraphs describing Josie's life are so harrowing I had to read them twice to make sure I'd read them right. Pearse should be commended for this. She doesn't put these scenes in purely for shock value - they are there because afterwards we understand more about the character and their actions and why they are the way they are. She writes life like it is and is not afraid to put in the nitty-gritty either which I personally feel is one of her most admirable qualities. On the other hand she also expresses love and happiness with equal vehemence which makes a wholly balanced and entertaining story for the reader with brilliant plot development, character assassination and an engaging twist to the story at it's climax. Ellen and Josie may have been let down by society, but you won't be let down by Pearse.
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I've released this book into the wild via http://www.bookcrossing.com/ and its BCID is 881-5133217 - enjoy!