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merrynthomas's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and War
lectora21's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Moderate: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Dementia, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and War
thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Child death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Kidnapping, and Abandonment
Moderate: Suicide, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy
Minor: Infertility and War
what_heather_loves's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Cornwall, 1933 and at the Midsummer Party of the wealthy Evadvane family's home, their youngest child, Theo, goes missing, never found. Seventy years later, the Met's DC Sadie Sparrow, staying with her grandfather in Cornwall, is on enforced leave from work after becoming too involved in a missing mother case; she uses her idle investigative talents to look into Theo's disappearance.
I listened the Bolinda audiobook read by Caroline Lee on Borrowbox from my local library. Despite being over twenty one hours long, it was one of those books that was irritating to have to put down when life got in the way. The narratives switch between teenage Alice Edavane in 1933 and Sadie Sparrow in 2003 (when Alice is now an octogenarian crime fiction author). As the plot progresses, more characters were introduced, other perspectives (both historical and modern) were added into the complex mix. Despite this I didn't find either the characters or the plot difficult to engage, perhaps because of the enjoyably slow and languid pace. The author perfectly captures the character, landscape, summer climate and atmosphere of the titular Lake House (Loeanneth in Cornish). Alice's and mother Eleanor's beloved home (busy in 1933, abandoned in 2003) is a magical, sylvan setting, but it harbours secrets. The two mysteries, the missing boy and missing mother, share elements and the reader learns how both investigations progress through conversations and letters. The devastating impacts of both the First and Second World Wars in the Edavane family in particular, are deftly explored. Fictional books are present in both timeframes: in Mr Llewellyn's (Alice's 'mentor' for her childhood stories) novels and later in Alice's crimie fiction and her protagonist, Diggory Brent - I'd love to read that series!
Grief, love, loss and hope are explored in this complex and engrossing family saga, as are the lengths to which a parent would go, to protect the child they loved. Nostalgic, character-driven historical fiction at its absolute best, Morton remains one of my auto-buy authors that I never hesitate to recommend.
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Abandonment and War
Minor: Suicide, Dementia, and Pregnancy
kim_104's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Miscarriage and War
iluvbooks13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Minor: War
seekittyread's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I think it important that it is made clear that a cord being wrapped around the neck during childbirth is a common occurance and not a fatal one. I believe the author's use of this as a manor to further plot quite distasteful and probably led her own miseducation due to gaslighting by the medical industry. Parents who seek out doctors are led to believe that a cord around the neck is fatal and a baby only survives due to the "greatness" of the abusive doctor they have hired to deliver their babies. In reality fatalities due to a cord being rapped around the neck are minimal and most often happen before the baby can be born. Cords wrapped around the neck are simply slipped off by mother after birth during natural births when doctors and the overbearing hands are not involved. I would encourage this author to research more about the abuses of medically led deliveries before casting it as the normal and right way for babies to enter the world.
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Sexism, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and War
Warning for misrepresentation of the "benefits" of adoption and for the promotion of abusive medical deliveries.