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The Iron Necklace by Giles Waterfield

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Vanessa
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4378
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
Preferred HF: Any
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

The Iron Necklace by Giles Waterfield

Post by Vanessa » Tue February 17th, 2015, 3:39 pm

The Iron Necklace by Giles Waterfield

The magical wedding of Thomas, an idealistic German architect, and Irene, an English artist, brings together the Curtius and Benson families. But their peace is soon shattered by the outbreak of war in Europe.While Irene struggles to survive in a country where she is the enemy, her sister Sophia faces the war as a nurse on the Western Front.


My Review:

A beautifully written family drama set during World War I. It begins with the wedding of a young and wealthy English woman to a German architect in 1910. The story follows them through their lives and their respective families' lives as they learn to cope with the advent of the war and its aftermath.

I really enjoyed the style of writing and how the tale is told. The chapters are all quite short, which I think kept the momentum of the story going. It was very interesting to read about the ordinary person's life on both sides of the fence in England and Germany. It's very much a character based narrative, all of whom I thought were realistic and totally believable.

This is not a fast paced novel. It's a gentle, sympathetic, intuitive and absorbing tale about people and their foibles. It's about loyalty and patriotism, but most of all it's about family. I loved it!

Many thanks to Real Readers for giving me the opportunity to read and review The Iron Necklace. I look forward to reading more by Giles Waterfield. Will there be a sequel, please?
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

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