Today’s team review is from Cathy, she blogs at http://betweenthelinesbookblog.wordpress.com/
Cathy has been reading Living In The Shadows by Judith Barrow in conjunction with Brook Cottage Books
The third and final part of the trilogy picks up the story in the late 1960’s and concentrates on the next generation. Peter and Mary Schormann are still living in Wales with their teenage twins, Richard and Victoria. Richard has gone into medicine, taking after his father, and not letting his hearing problems hinder his career or his life. He is staying with his aunt and uncle in Ashford while he attends interviews for the university hospital in Manchester. He’s rescued from a potentially dangerous situation by Karen Worth who proves to be a catalyst in the story.
His sister, Victoria, bored with life in Wales, makes a very unwise decision, swapping what she considers her restrictive lifestyle for another, much worse and very frightening one.
Llamroth was deserted. True to form, Victoria Schormann thought: there wasn’t a soul around the village. Eleven o’ clock at night and everybody had gone into hibernation. She sighed with impatience. She’s been looking out for Seth’s camper van from her bedroom for the last two hours. Just when she thought she couldn’t stand the waiting any longer she saw it glide silently down the lane behind the church.
An extremely upsetting encounter for nurse Linda Booth, who is still traumatised by an incident from her childhood, at the beginning of the story suggests future distress. The rest of the cousins don’t escape trouble as the shadowy echoes of events from the past have unwelcome and heart breaking consequences for the whole family.
Told in short chapters, each focussing on an individual character, with an interlinking number of storylines merging into a suspenseful, sometimes quite sinister, narrative. Strong, realistic and mostly likeable characters, with one or two noticeable exceptions, all drive the story forward. Issues that were totally frowned upon during 1960s are dealt with, including same-sex relationships and domestic violence. Cults and commune living, the effect they had on the members and their families, are also explored. The coincidences that bring the threads together are worked into the story extremely well, culminating in the final dramatic and moving scenes.
Judith Barrow crafts a skilful tale without downplaying the reality of life for ordinary people in a northern 60’s town. The evocative and convincing descriptions of locations and characters, along with the dialogue, give credence to the story.
Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
I love the Victoria strand of this book! I was only watching a film about the Manson family last night… 🙂
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Thank you, Terry, it was so interesting to research the cults of the sixties.jx
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I enjoyed this book and the first two in the trilogy.
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Mary, you’re a star. Thank you so much.Jx
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This series looks great! I’ve downloaded the first one – Pattern of Shadows – to read over Christmas.
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Lovely to hear, thanks Annabel.
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Thanks, Rosie.Jx
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Oh, thank you, Annabelle. Do hope you enjoy it.
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All of the author’s novels sound fascinating. 🙂
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Very kind of you to say so, Olga,. I love the genre. I did think about trying something else then found myself back with this family again with the next book.jx
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The time period appeals to me, as does the story premise. A wonderful review. Must add the series to my Amazon Wish List–which is now a mile long, thanks to all of you!
🙂
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Thank you, Linda. Quite happy to be on a wish ;list – always happy to be on a wish list!!
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I’m going to treat myself and read the trilogy. 🙂
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Ooooo – thank you so much, Kimberly!!! Do hope you enjoy. Great if you would let me know sometime.
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I keep hearing good things about this book.
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There are some lovely generous compliments her, aren’t there? I’m so lucky. Cathy’s review has made my day..
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🙂
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Reblogged this on Barrow Blogs: and commented:
Thrilled with this review of the last book of the trilogy. Thank you so much, Cathy & Rosie.
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You’re welcome and you are over on Terry’s blog to day with your Zodiac files post, go see.
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Thank you, Rosie. Going over now.
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Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
Judith Barrow receives another great review for the third book in a family Saga.. Living in the Shadows .. I have read and reviewed Judith’s books and can highly recommend all of them.
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Thank you, Sally, that’s lovely of you. I always appreciate your support, both as a fellow, writer, blogger and friend. Jx
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You bring sunshine Judith.. XX
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