OMG! Where has this amazing author been all my life?
1959 sees Stella falling madly and deeply in love with Ray,
an American marine who is posted to her home town of Derry .
In a head over heels romance, and with her father’s blessing, Stella
plans to leave her family and home and travel to America to be with the man she
loves until tragedy strikes and her life takes a most unexpected turn.
Meanwhile in 2010, Stella’s daughter Annabel Jackson, who is
dealing with the loss of her father just days before, reluctantly agrees to
visit Derry with her newly widowed mother and meet
a side of her family she has never met before leaving behind her a rocky
relationship with boyfriend Craig. Spending
time in Derry makes them both wake up and see
the future how it could be, rather than as it is.
The book is written in two time periods which swap back and
forth. Sounds complicated, but it
actually flows incredibly well and I’m not normally a fan of books that aren’t
set in the last couple of decades but I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the trials
and toughness of the days that Stella grew up in and learning about their
family values some of which are very different to those we experience today.
This was one of the most scrumptious books I think I’ve ever
read. A fantastically brilliant story-line
made this such a wonderfully delightful book. I don’t think I’ll ever be able
to sing it’s praises high enough. You’ll
have to read it to believe me. It is a real
old-fashioned love story with a most perfect ending!
I do have to confess that I shed a tear or two. OK then – I admit
it! There was lots of snivelling to start with before I turned into a complete blubbering
wreck! Claire knows that this book was
very close to by heart as I lost my dear and much loved Dad at the beginning of
May and had lost my darling Mom nearly 7 years ago. This book brought back some awfully familiar memories
and last night I found myself sobbing my heart out, feeling that it was my own
heart that was breaking!
I am gobsmacked that I’ve never discovered or read anything
by Claire Allan before. She is an exceptional author, who just picks you up and
transports you full blast into her marvellous story feeling every single
emotion possible and becoming at one with the characters.
This is an outstanding book and I’d love to spend a whole weekend,
at the start of a pile of Claire Allan books working my way through them all
and not moving until I have! If someone could pop round and make me the odd cup
of coffee, but not expecting any more than a grunt of thanks from me, that
would be the mark of a real friend!
Unfortunately, this book is not available to buy until 28th
August although you can pre-order it right here.
You can however, buy Claire’s other books and the link to
her Amazon page can be found here
You can find out more about Claire at her website www.claireallan.com.
You can follow Claire on Twitter
You can like her page on Facebook
Claire grew up and still lives in Derry ,
with her husband and two children and two cats.
She still writes very proudly for the Derry Journal and has a weekly
column called Skirting The Issue. The
highlights of her career with the Journal are being part of the award winning
team that covered the Saville Inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday and being
appointed the paper’s first female columnist in 2002. She wrote her first book in 2004 following
the birth of her first child loosely based upon her experience of post natal
depression.
When she’s not writing books, she loves social media,
baking, reading and has also discovered a love of exercise, and enjoys spending
time enjoying her family.
