Matt McAvoy Book Review

Heartfelt and warm, this is Jan’s variation on the wonderful, well-trodden path of the premise of love across intersecting timelines.  Pure fantasy at its most romantic, but it’s much more than just a trope.  For starters, Jan is a truly gifted author, whose work I have read enough of to know that not only does she glow with creative writing quality, but she knows her specialist genre well, that being wartime Britain.  The war referred to on this occasion, unlike those I’ve read before from this author, is The Great War, but Jan shows no less of an aptitude for research and passion for the subject.  She is an authority on that era of British and European history, specifically in the context of the world wars.

As portrayed in this book, there is something perhaps a touch more romantic about setting one of the doomed lovers in WW1 – perhaps because of the innocence Tommy exudes; back then, these excited young boys didn’t know what awaited them – by the second war, 20 years later, they knew much more, and could prepare their own sons with their horror stories.  There is something particularly sad about WW1 for this reason: the innocence lost; arguably, it was lost forever for Britain in those years.  And it is that knowledge that both the author and the second lover in the tale, Jen, try to express to poor, naïve Tommy.

This is fiction romance at its purest, with its hint at the potential this is all a dream, or maybe just madness.  Perhaps it is a ghost tale?  If you have read the classic novel or seen the movie The Lake House, you will know what to expect from the story: impossible lovers 50 years apart, who can only meet in a predefined place.  The tragic aspect lies in the element that only Jen knows Tommy’s most probable fate.  As with all good drama, there is a subplot involving a very nasty antagonist, and the teasing conundrum of how and whether there can be a paradoxical showdown between the hero and the villain – all of which this superb author handles perfectly.  I felt the book generally rounded up a little too abruptly, perhaps, and also that the love between Jen and Tommy didn’t really mature on the page as it did in the minds of the characters.  Perhaps this was a timing issue, the final third seeming to cover a lot in a comparatively short word count inconsistent with the rest of the book.  Additionally, the proof could do with a fair amount of polishing.  But from a creative point of view, both eras – the 1910s and 1960s – are vividly and beautifully presented; you feel you’re right there, experiencing those nostalgic times tangibly – even the cold chill of the mist which dictates their passionate liaisons.

It's a wonderful book, and if you like romantic fantasy in that sort of vein, with a period feel, I think you’ll really enjoy it – to be honest, I think you’ll enjoy anything that Jan Lloyd writes, as I do.