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Book Review: The Linen Queen by Patricia Falvey

Review: Shelia McGee–abandoned by her shallow father and neglected by her bipolar mother–knows there’s life beyond her Northern Ireland mill village and dreams of fleeing to England. She enters and wins the 1941 Linen Queen beauty competition and all her hopes of escape rest on the prize money of £200. What she wasn’t planning on, however, is the Belfast Blitz which brings the realities of WWII to her village.

Soon travel restrictions, along with her mother’s fear of being left alone, put a halt to Shelia’s plans. But when the American troops arrive, Shelia sees a way out. Despite objections from Gavin, a childhood friend who pines for our heroine, Shelia sets her eyes on a Jewish-American soldier named Joel Solomon. Trials follow and our heroine goes through a journey which proves to herself that she is strong and not near as self-centered as she thought herself to be.

Falvey is an outstanding and evocative storyteller; would recommend this to anyone who loves historical fiction. I even believe she’s giving Maeve Binchy a run for her money for my favorite Irish author. 4/5.

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Teresa

Teresa (nom de plume: Torrance Sené) is a self-proclaimed geek, a Janeite, a lover of werewolves and bad-ass angels, an aspiring novelist and an avid book reader who freelances as a web designer. You can follow her on Twitter at @eireannoir.

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2011: 04/07
POSTED BY: Teresa
CATEGORY: Historical
TAGS: author: Patricia Falvey
Northern Ireland
publisher: center street
WWII
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The Memory Thief by Rachel Keener

Hannah and Angel lead two completely separate lives, each dealing with her own struggles of identity and family. However as events converge, their meeting becomes inevitable.

Upon finishing the book, my first thought was that the title is misleading. It gives far too much importance to a secondary character who, yes, is pivotal to the plot, but does not deserve foremost billing.

Keener’s two main characters travel through independent timelines and lives. While I recognized her desire to keep the reader wondering what the connection was, I thought it took too long to arrive at the conclusion (although perhaps it was a sign of my own distractedness that I didn’t draw the obvious conclusion before it was stated). By having two main characters whose stories are completely separated for most of the book, it is hard for the reader to focus, and I found myself more interested in Hannah’s sections than those relating to Angel.