love, secrets and betrayal in a story that spans the most tumultuous decades of the twentieth century.
What happens when the truths you have built your life on start to crumble?
Emma Temple sits looking out of the window in her beautiful apartment in the heart of London, surrounded by memories of her younger years as one of England’s most influential artists. Nearly ninety, it would be easy to overlook her as a forgetful older lady. But Emma’s past, including her great love affair which survived two world wars, is about to come crashing into the present.
When her granddaughter Laura arrives asking questions about the portrait that hangs above her bed, Emma is transported back over sixty years. The picture was painted by the only man she ever truly loved, the one soul on earth who knew her deepest secret. But when a newspaper claims that the portrait is a fake, everything Emma believed to be true starts to collapse. Suddenly she is transported back to a sunny house in the south of France in 1923 and the moment when her life changed forever…
An incredibly emotional and totally compelling historical novel about the relationships that shape us and the secrets we never forget. Fans of My Name is Eva, Fiona Valpy and Rhys Bowen will be completely transported from the very first page.
My Review
The Things We Don't Say is the second novel I have read by Ella Carey. Like the previous one, this story takes part both in the past and the more recent past. The story focuses on a painting, titled The Things We Don't Say. It was painted back in the '30s and is now worth a small fortune. Emma, the subject of the painting has used it as collateral for a loan for her Granddaughter, Laura's tuition at the Royal College of Music. When it's authenticity is questioned, it puts not only Laura's course at risk, but also throws into question the love that she shared with Patrick who painted it.
This was an interesting and entertaining read. I loved the way that the characters were based on the Bloomsbury Group. I also enjoyed the crossing from the 1980s to earlier. The story unfolding in the 1980s is just as interesting as the mystery of who painted the portrait and how the belief that it might be fake has occurred.
There was one little thing that I didn't quite buy into. The loan that Laura has for her study is enormous. Even today, it would cost nowhere near that much to live in London and study at the Royal College of Music. Entry there isn't restricted by cost, but by talent. Even if she had completed her undergraduate degree there, fees weren't charged for bachelor degrees until the late 1990s. Why such a huge loan is taken out is never explained. Without it though, there would be little drive for the bank to make such a fuss. I suppose we can put it down to artistic licence, it just struck me as odd.
This was a very enjoyable read. I wasn't entirely sure how it was all going to resolve itself, but was happy with the way that it all played out in the end.
This was an interesting and entertaining read. I loved the way that the characters were based on the Bloomsbury Group. I also enjoyed the crossing from the 1980s to earlier. The story unfolding in the 1980s is just as interesting as the mystery of who painted the portrait and how the belief that it might be fake has occurred.
There was one little thing that I didn't quite buy into. The loan that Laura has for her study is enormous. Even today, it would cost nowhere near that much to live in London and study at the Royal College of Music. Entry there isn't restricted by cost, but by talent. Even if she had completed her undergraduate degree there, fees weren't charged for bachelor degrees until the late 1990s. Why such a huge loan is taken out is never explained. Without it though, there would be little drive for the bank to make such a fuss. I suppose we can put it down to artistic licence, it just struck me as odd.
This was a very enjoyable read. I wasn't entirely sure how it was all going to resolve itself, but was happy with the way that it all played out in the end.
Author Bio:
Ella Carey is the international bestselling author of The Things We Don’t Say, Secret Shores, From a Paris Balcony, The House by the Lake, and Paris Time Capsule. Her books have been published in over fourteen languages, in twelve countries, and have been shortlisted for ARRA awards. A Francophile who has long been fascinated by secret histories set in Europe’s entrancing past, Ella has degrees in music, nineteenth-century women’s fiction, and modern European history. She lives in Melbourne with her two children and two Italian greyhounds who are constantly mistaken for whippets.
Ella loves to connect with her readers regularly through her facebook page and on her website.
Buy Link:
Amazon: https://bit.ly/39EPAQh
Apple: http://apple.co/3mAasMV
Kobo: http://bit.ly/34t4c3m
Google Play: http://bit.ly/3nHnauS
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