Title: In Falling Snow
Author: MaryRose MacColl
Review: Well, this book was interesting when I was
finally able to get far enough into it.
At the beginning it jumps around too much and I had trouble keeping
track of what time period I was supposed to be in.
That said, the book was
an interesting read with some language that I thought was totally unnecessary
to the story line, it did absolutely nothing to further the story or to build
the character. My advice TAKE IT OUT!!
The following is taken
from the publicity that was sent with the book “A World War 1 novel of love,
loss and the strength of two women’s spirits….When Iris receives an envelope
bearing the Royaumont logo memories of her bittersweet past shatter the
tranquility of her contented, elderly life.
Suddenly, she remembers her first love, her best friend and the tragedy
that changed everything.”
The story starts in 1914
when our heroine, Iris, makes the trans-continental journey from Australia to
France with the hope of bringing home her fifteen year old brother who had
enlisted. While waiting for a train in Paris to take her to the front, she
meets the charismatic Miss Ivens, who is starting up a field hospital in an old
Abby in the countryside in France. Since
Iris is a nurse and seems to have time on her hands, Miss Ivens enlists her
help in delivering supplies to the up and coming hospital. The experiences she has while there and the
friendships she makes shape and change her life forever.
Parallel to the story of
Iris’s adventures is the story of a young woman doctor in 1971 named Grace, who
is Iris granddaughter. Her story
revolves around her struggle to be accepted into a male dominated work place,
trying to balance home-life and a demanding profession with her concerns about
her grandmother, who raised her and who is aging badly and the failing health
of her sweet little son.
The story was
interesting but the reading is slow. The
book at times seems to go on forever and ever and maybe even ever! It did not keep my interest, but I read to
the end and there at the end was a surprise I had not foreseen coming.
The story takes an
unexpected twist and I think will take just about any reader by surprise. The author is very good at descriptive
writing and at slowly building the story and her characters. Her descriptions are vivid and you can see
and feel the cold of the winter nights in the old abbey at Royaumont, France.
I give this book of
three out of five stars.
Publisher: (first published September 26th 2012)
ISBN:
Page
Numbers: 448
Quick
Review: 3 out 5 stars
Why I Read
this Title: I love WWII novels and this was sent by the
publisher for review.
Synopsis: A vivid and compelling story of love, war and
secrets, set against the backdrop of WWI France. 'In the beginning, it was the
summers I remembered - long warm days under the palest blue skies, the
cornflowers and forget-me-nots lining the road through the Lys forest, the buzz
of insects going about their work, Violet telling me lies.' Iris is getting
old. A widow, her days are spent living quietly and worrying about her
granddaughter, Grace, a headstrong young doctor. It's a small sort of life. But
one day an invitation comes for Iris through the post to a reunion in France,
where she served in a hospital during WWI. Determined to go, Iris is overcome
by the memories of the past, when as a shy, naive young woman she followed her
fifteen-year-old brother, Tom, to France in 1914 intending to bring him home.
On her way to find Tom, Iris comes across the charismatic Miss Ivens, who is
setting up a field hospital in the old abbey of Royaumont, north of Paris.
Putting her fears aside, Iris decides to stay at Royaumont, and it is there
that she truly comes of age, finding her capability and her strength,
discovering her passion for medicine, making friends with the vivacious Violet
and falling in love. But war is a brutal thing, and when the ultimate tragedy
happens, there is a terrible price that Iris has to pay, a price that will echo
down the generations. A moving and uplifting novel about the small, unsung acts
of heroism of which love makes us capable.
Author
Information: Mary-Rose MacColl is an Australian writer
whose first novel, No Safe Place, was runner-up in the 1995 Australian Vogel
literary award. Her first non-fiction book, The Birth Wars, was a finalist in
the 2009 Walkley Awards. In Falling Snow (October 2012), Mary-Rose's fourth
novel, tells the largely unknown story of a small group of Scottish women who
ran a field hospital for France in World War I in an old abbey. MacColl holds
degrees in journalism and creative writing and lives between Brisbane,
Australia and Banff, Canada with her husband and son.
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