imbos's review against another edition
3.0
A well-to-do Jewish girl in Vienna is sent to live in the English countryside as a housemaid to escape the Nazis during WW2. She meets and falls in love with the young man of the house. Very much takes you to that time and place. The English manor, the beginnings of the war, the endless waiting for news of loved ones left behind or sent to war.
rlk7m's review against another edition
5.0
I loved absolutely everything about this book, but being a huge fan of anything set during the late 1930s-1940s and Downton Abbey, this shouldn't come as a surprise. I loved the characters, and I loved the particular attention paid to Anna and Julian at the beginning (the scene of the family in the bathroom was especially beautiful). I only wish Elise would've been a little stronger in the last quarter of the novel, but I think those events were supposed to happen (or at least seemed the most natural considering the circumstances) and I wasn't disappointed. This is a book I would pick up again and again, and I don't say that very often.
lindasdarby's review against another edition
2.0
I actually thought this book was crap. I read it and read it quickly. Here is one of the problems - the writing was so uneven. Tons of descriptions of the land and the sea - boring. The story went in fits and starts. Maybe everyone isn't like me but I like to have a bit of a timeline when a book is covering years - I couldn't figure out how long she had been gone or anything that happened with time and that really bothered me. Also I don't want to spoil things but there was never any resolve with several important plot points. That really bugged me. Basically this book was kid of crappy and it felt like she hijacked other plots from better books and then ruined them. Not a great read.
kittykornerlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
I liked it... the story starts in Vienna, and have I mentioned that a Viennese setting is always an appeal element to me? Elise Landau, a young Jewish woman who is the daughter of a novelist and an opera singer, leaves her native Austria in 1938 to escape the takeover of her country by the Third Reich. She travels on a domestic visa to become a housemaid at Tyneford, an isolated English country estate. Moving from a sophisticated European capital to the bucolic countryside, and becoming a hardworking servant instead of a spoiled woman of leisure are enormous adjustments for Elise. She worries about her sister, brother-in-law, and parents getting out of Austria in time. The plot unfolds in both predictable and unexpected ways. This is a quietly dramatic story with some situational humor and believable characters. I think it's going to be a good choice for book clubs.
agjuba's review against another edition
3.0
This book opens with one of the best, most evocative descriptions of an English country house, and proceeds from there to tell a heartbreaking story of a Viennese and an English family during WWII.
kathyemmons's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
knitandknits's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
sambooklove's review against another edition
5.0
This book is a beauty. A must-read for anyone recovering from post-Downton Abbey-blues, it is so lovely. One of my favorite reads of the year so far.
pippam's review against another edition
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this book.
At first it started off really slow and it did nit urge me to read further but the more i read the more i fell in love with kit and Elise's characters. Their love story felt genuine and i enjoyed reading it. Till the end of the book i kept hoping that kit would miraculously come back and i'm still disappointed that he didn't.
Honestly i dont know how i feel about alice and daniel. Its true that when elise became alice she became a whole new person but would she honestly be so different as to marry the father of her first love? Its quite confusing considering how much she actually loved kit. (I might be a bit biased because i fell in love with kit's character too).
Overall it was a nice read but the ending just threw me off.
At first it started off really slow and it did nit urge me to read further but the more i read the more i fell in love with kit and Elise's characters. Their love story felt genuine and i enjoyed reading it. Till the end of the book i kept hoping that kit would miraculously come back and i'm still disappointed that he didn't.
Honestly i dont know how i feel about alice and daniel. Its true that when elise became alice she became a whole new person but would she honestly be so different as to marry the father of her first love? Its quite confusing considering how much she actually loved kit. (I might be a bit biased because i fell in love with kit's character too).
Overall it was a nice read but the ending just threw me off.