Shortly after I was sent this book (thank you Georgina Moore Communications Director at Headline Books) I tweeted how much I was enjoying it. Someone tweeted back and asked me what it was about. I replied ;
Love, WW1, duty, sacrifice, despair, hope. It's a wonderful book.
Well this morning I finished reading it and I can say that If You Go Away is all of these things but so much more.
It starts with the girlish delight of Vivian who has recently come out into society and is expecting a proposal of marriage from handsome, rich Nathaniel. Things don't go to plan. Vivian gambles and loses. Her rigid mother Mrs Foster knows without careful handling of the situation Vivian will be ruined and their family dragged down with her. Vivian is shunted into marriage on the day war is declared, with Aubrey, a dull, predictable man she hardly knows and certainly doesn't love.
"If she follows her heart she will be disgraced, ostracised.
If she follows convention she will be bored isolated."
The parallel story is about Howard Henderson, a playwright in London who is enjoying some success. As the threat of war approaches, he realises he can never kill or fight a faceless enemy. He will not volunteer. He is determined not be swept along on the tide of hysteria that is growing in England. He travels with a journalist friend to France and sees first hand the brutality and hell of life in the trenches. Back home Howard is labelled a coward, a conscientious objector
"If he goes, he will become a killer or be killed.
If he stays he will be imprisoned, perhaps shot."
Vivian spends the war in the country where she and Howard meet.
Their attraction for each other deepens into passion and love.
The story sweeps the reader along from the glamour of London society to the battlefields of Belgium. The frivolity of parties and balls where the only consideration is the colour of a new dress to the censored carnage and waste that is every war.
Through it all, a remarkable and enduring love story. Heart breaking letters that are never received. The pressures of family, duty and patriotism mingled with fear and unbreakable courage
How can there possibly be a happy ending for Vivian and Howard?
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I've been a fan of Adele Parks for years. She's a great writer and also a brilliant and inspirational speaker. I saw her in Cheltenham and also at the Festival Of Writing in York in 2013. If you ever get a chance to see her in action, don't hesitate just go. She's friendly, approachable and generous with her time and advice.
I love her books. I was thrilled to be sent this one. I loved her foray into historical fiction with Spare Brides and enjoyed seeing a character from that book (Ava) reappearing in If You Go Away. (I can't help thinking Ava and Beatrice deserves books of their own.)
So, did I enjoy this book? Yes, you know I did.
Would I recommend it? Like a shot. Without hesitation.
Thanks to Adele Parks and Georgina Moore.
She had work of her own to do. This didn't stop her from holding two great workshops. Chris Manby
We were hoping to see Poldark galloping across the cliffs. In fact some of us thought about him quite a lot.
