When Anya is sent to rural England to work as a spy, she’s glad to escape a terrifying situation at home in war-torn Russia. But as she settles into life as a land girl, she fears she’s made a terrible mistake.
With her life at risk every day, she can only turn to her fellow informer, Nikolai, who she finds herself impossibly drawn to. They both desperately want to join the fight against the Nazis and when they are told Russia has switched allegiance, they start to believe their love might stand a chance.
But no one can ever know their secret history, and being together puts them in the gravest danger. So they devise a plan. If they’re ever separated, they will find their way back to each other. They just have to follow a series of secret coded messages. Clues no one else could possibly understand. Starting with a small key, left in the place that has become most precious to them: the secret garden.
Now, England: When Laura agrees to restore a beautiful garden in the grounds of an English stately home she sees the opportunity for a new start, away from heartbreak. But when she finds a box buried under the weeping willow tree, she is spellbound by its contents – a key and a cryptic note. As she begins to piece together the fragments of a love story that stretches across wartime Europe, Laura doesn’t realise it, but she is embarking on an unforgettable journey. One which will change her own life forever.
Author Bio:
Suzanne Kelman is a 2015 Academy of Motion Pictures Nicholl Finalist, Multi-Award-Winning Screenwriter and a Film Producer. As well as working in film she is also an International Amazon Bestselling Fiction Author of the Southlea Bay Series – The Rejected Writers’ Book Club, Rejected Writers Take the Stage and The Rejected Writers’ Christmas Wedding. Born in the United Kingdom, she now resides in Washington State.
https://www.suzannekelmanauthor.com/
https://www.facebook.com/suzkelman
Buy Link:
Amazon: https://geni.us/B09RGD1VMWsocial
Audio:
Listen to a sample here:
My Review
I've read quite a few books set during or just after the second world war recently, this one is a little different. Set mostly in England, it tells the story of a pair of Russian spies who first come over to the country when Russia is still on the side of the Nazis. Neither of them is particularly passionate about their cause but they have their own reasons for having left their homeland on this dangerous mission.
At the same time, we have the modern-day story of Laura, who has recently separated from her boyfriend. She also carries the scars, mentally at least, of an accident that happened when she was just a child. As she starts to renovate the walled garden at a stately home, she uncovers a seventy-five-year-old mystery.
I enjoyed both of the stories in this book, both the modern-day one and the spy story from during the war. There is a certain bittersweet ending to the older story and while I could see where it was going, I did hope that it might not quite play out the way that it did. While I enjoyed the modern-day story, I was a little disappointed with how incredibly passive the main female character was. At one point, she simply stands by mutely, not speaking up about the way that she feels or what's happening. While things do resolve themselves eventually, I am a little over these doormat women, who seem to think being quiet is a virtue. Give me some fire!
This was a good read overall and one that I enjoyed.
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