New Publication Spotlight & Review: Love In A Time Of War by Adrienne Chinn

Love in a Time of War by Adrienne Chinn

 Three sisters

The Great War

The end of innocence…

In 1913, in a quiet corner of London, the three Fry sisters are coming of age, dreaming of all the possibilities the bright future offers. But when war erupts their innocence is shattered and a new era of uncertainty begins.

Cecelia loves Max but his soldier’s uniform is German, not British, and suddenly the one man she loves is the one man she can’t have.

Jessie enlists in the army as a nurse and finally finds the adventure she’s craved when she’s sent to Gallipoli and Egypt, but it comes with an unimaginable cost.

Etta elopes to Capri with her Italian love, Carlo, but though her growing bump is real, her marriage certificate is a lie.

As the three sisters embark on journeys they never could have imagined, their mother Christina worries about the harsh new realities they face, and what their exposure to the wider world means for the secrets she’s been keeping…

A duel-time line novel visiting far-off lands...

On the cusp of WWI, nineteen-year-old Celia Fry and her younger twin sisters, Etta and Jessie, are young women who have very clear ideas on how they want to live their lives. Living in comfortable means with their parents, Christina and Gerald in Clover Bar, London, none are prepared for the harsh realities of the impending Great War and the locations it will lead them to.

The title and the blurb drew me to this enchanting novel, but it took some time and patience for me to fully digest the initial introduction to all the characters. Once, achieved, I fully embraced the narrative, as we not only follow the Fry sisters but also the intriguing flashbacks from their mother's point of view.

This is the second novel I've read by this author and again, I am blown away by the descriptive details of the various backdrops as these determined young women face up to the realities of adulthood. I appreciated how Ms. Chinn wrote the sisters so that their differing personalities shone through as they embrace the suffrage movement in their own individual way. It contrasts to how their mother is trying to prevent her daughters from making the mistakes she did herself as we learn about her life before she married Gerald.

As you would expect from such a novel, it ends on a cliffhanger… and a promise, leaving the reader craving for what could happen next? Therefore, this first instalment of this evocative trilogy sets the scene of what promises to be a truly memorable saga.

***arc generously received courtesy of One More Chapter via NetGalley***

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Time-War-sweeping-historical-ebook/dp/B09B6HXHR5

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https://www.amazon.ca/Love-Time-War-Adrienne-Chinn/dp/0008517835/

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https://www.amazon.com.au/Love-Time-War-sweeping-historical-ebook/dp/B09B6HXHR5

https://www.amazon.com.au/Love-Time-War-sweeping-historical/dp/0008501602

https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=Yw86EAAAQBAJ

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-in-a-time-of-war-adrienne-chinn/1139904619

https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/love-in-a-time-of/9780008517830-item.html

Adrienne Chinn was born in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, grew up in Quebec, and eventually made her way to London, England after a career as a journalist. In England she worked as a TV and film researcher before embarking on a career as an interior designer, lecturer, and writer. When not up a ladder or at the computer writing, she often can be found rummaging through flea markets or haggling in the Marrakech souk. Her second novel, The English Wife -- a timeslip story set in World War II England and contemporary Newfoundland -- was published in June 2020 and has become an international bestseller. Her debut novel, The Lost Letter from Morocco, was published by Avon Books UK in 2019. Her latest novel, Love in a Time of War, set during WWI, is the first in a series of three books based around the changing lives of three English sisters and their half-Italian mother, with a timeslip to 1890s Capri and London.

https://www.adrienne-chinn.co.uk/love-in-a-time-of-war/

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Spotlight, Review & Author Guest Post: The English Wife by Adrienne Chinn

Exploring World War II Norwich

My second novel, The English Wife, begins with English war bride, Ellie Burgess Parsons, at Liverpool dockside with her baby, Emmett, and her father and younger sister, Dottie, as she readies herself for the long voyage across the Atlantic to her new life on in a remote fishing village on the rugged island of Newfoundland. Ellie is a Norwich girl, the daughter of the headmaster of a local boys’ school, and, as I wrote her 1940s story, I wanted to recreate her world in this bustling medieval city as faithfully as I could. There was a lot of information to be found online, of course, but nothing beats visiting a place to walk in the footsteps of your characters. So, in February 2019, I took myself up to Norwich on the train and spent five days exploring the city with my writer friend, Melvyn Fickling, a long-time Norwich resident.

In Melvyn I had an ideal guide – he is the author of three World War II novels and has an extensive knowledge of Norwich at that time. We traced the path of bombing raids; bought trinkets in the open market (where Ellie has a heated scene with her Newfoundlander husband-to-be, Thomas Parsons); followed her route into Jarrolds Department store (which is still there, looking much as it would have in 1942) and on to Bethel Street Fire Station where she worked in the Auxiliary Fire Service; found the original location of the Rowntree-Macintosh chocolate factory by Chapelfield Gardens – renamed Mcklintock’s Chocolates in The English Wife, where Ellie’s fiancé George works in administration; and refreshed ourselves in The Gardeners Arms (AKA The Murderers), just as Thomas and Ellie do.

On a walk past the impressive Cathedral of St John the Baptist – Ellie’s local church – we discovered the somewhat hidden entrance to the lovely Victorian Plantation Garden, with its moss-covered fountains, and winding paths through the terraced hillsides, and I knew I had to use it as a setting for one of Ellie’s and Thomas’s clandestine meetings. Similarly, a walk along the Wensum River brought us to the ruins of the medieval Cow Tower, where Ellie and Thomas share an illicit tryst.

The Samson & Hercules nightclub on Tombland, where Ellie and her friend Ruthie often danced with George, Thomas and other newly-arrived soldiers, is now a restaurant, and fibreglass replicas of the original 17^th century Samson and Hercules statues hold up the portico (the original, restored Samson is on display at the Museum of Norwich, though Hercules is too fragile and is safely stored in the museum’s vaults).

The weather during those February days was a gift of bright blue skies and warm early spring sun, and, as we walked through the winding cobbled streets of the ancient city, still so unchanged from those war years of the 1940s, it was easy to imagine that just around a corner I’d bump into Ellie and Ruthie hurrying down a lane on their way to the latest showing at the cinema, or a dance at the Samson & Hercules.

The English Wife by Adrienne Chinn

Two women, a world apart.

A secret waiting to be discovered…

VE Day 1945: As victory bells ring out across the country, war bride Ellie Burgess’ happiness is overshadowed by grief. Her charismatic Newfoundlander husband Thomas is still missing in action.

Until a letter arrives explaining Thomas is back at home on the other side of the Atlantic recovering from his injuries.

Travelling to a distant country to live with a man she barely knows is the bravest thing Ellie has ever had to do. But nothing can prepare her for the harsh realities of her new home…

September 11th 2001: Sophie Parry is on a plane to New York on the most tragic day in the city’s history. While the world watches the news in horror, Sophie’s flight is rerouted to a tiny town in Newfoundland and she is forced to seek refuge with her estranged aunt Ellie.

Determined to discover what it was that forced her family apart all those years ago, newfound secrets may change her life forever…

This is a timeless story of love, sacrifice and resilience perfect for fans of Lorna Cook and Gill Paul.

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The English Wife is a captivating novel about two women and how their lives are intertwined. 

As a reader, I'm always cautious when I pick up a novel when duel times lines are involved because quite often I feel overwhelmed trying to remember names and details. I needn't have worried about The English Wife as Ms Chinn has produced an easy to follow narrative which also includes multiply points of view too. The novel has two distinct parts. The first follows Ellie's life in Norwich during World War II and Sophie's unscheduled arrival in Newfoundland in 2001. Part two focuses on Ellie's life after she arrives in Newfoundland in 1946, and Sophie's second visit back to the island in 2011. 

Tippy's Tickle, what a wonderful place it is. The descriptions bring the place alive making it easy to visualise the rugged landscape and to see it through the eyes of Ellie as she arrived in Newfoundland after travelling thousands of miles from Norwich. I enjoyed learning about the lifestyles of the habitants and the history. Mostly I appreciated how Ellie's life evolved away from her family and the people she surrounded herself with.

Family drama, secrets and the complexities of relationships. The English Wife is emotionally charged, with tragedy and heartbreak as well as regret and sacrifice as the lives of Ellie and Sophie collide in an unexpected way. The outcome gives both women closure in what turns out to be a complicated situation and highlights that actions have consequences. The narrative begins slowly, but there's a gradual increase in pace building to a satisfying but bitter-sweet outcome. 

Overall, expect to embark on an emotional journey full of twists and turns in this beautifully written and engaging novel. 

***arc generously received courtesy of 0ne More Chapter via NetGalley***

Adrienne Chinn was born in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, grew up in Quebec, and eventually made her way to London, England after a career as a journalist. In England she worked as a TV and film researcher before embarking on a career as an interior designer, lecturer, and writer. When not up a ladder or at the computer, she can usually be found rummaging through flea markets or haggling in the Marrakech souk. Her second novel, The English Wife -- a timeslip story set in World War II England and contemporary Newfoundland -- is published in June 2020. Her debut novel, The Lost Letter from Morocco, was published by Avon Books UK in 2019. She is currently writing her third novel, The Photographer's Daughters, the first of a 3-book series, to be published in 2021.

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Release Day Review: An English Wife by Adrienne Chinn

The English Wife is a captivating novel about two women and how their lives are intertwined. 

As a reader, I'm always cautious when I pick up a novel when duel times lines are involved because quite often I feel overwhelmed trying to remember names and details. I needn't have worried about The English Wife as Ms Chinn has produced an easy to follow narrative which also includes multiply points of view too. The novel has two distinct parts. The first follows Ellie's life in Norwich during World War II and Sophie's unscheduled arrival in Newfoundland in 2001. Part two focuses on Ellie's life after she arrives in Newfoundland in 1946, and Sophie's second visit back to the island in 2011. 

Tippy's Tickle, what a wonderful place it is. The descriptions bring the place alive making it easy to visualise the rugged landscape and to see it through the eyes of Ellie as she arrived in Newfoundland after travelling thousands of miles from Norwich. I enjoyed learning about the lifestyles of the habitants and the history. Mostly I appreciated how Ellie's life evolved away from her family and the people she surrounded herself with.

Family drama, secrets and the complexities of relationships. The English Wife is emotionally charged, with tragedy and heartbreak as well as regret and sacrifice as the lives of Ellie and Sophie collide in an unexpected way. The outcome gives both women closure in what turns out to be a complicated situation and highlights that actions have consequences. The narrative begins slowly, but there's a gradual increase in pace building to a satisfying but bitter-sweet outcome. 

Overall, expect to embark on an emotional journey full of twists and turns in this beautifully written and engaging novel. 

***arc generously received courtesy of 0ne More Chapter via NetGalley***

https://amzn.to/2KpCBpb

https://amzn.to/3bqYKPZ

https://amzn.to/2VpSoLk