A Time to Heal

by Una Horne

Theda and Clara Wearmouth were named after their mother's favourite film stars, but that is the only glamour in their lives; the thirties are lean years in the Durham coalfields, and the Wearmouths are hard pushed to get by. Nursing offers an escape and when war breaks out, Theda's skills are in great demand. Her career compensates her for the loss of her fiance, Alan, lost in action. She meets Major Ken Collins, whose cool exterior belies his warm and passionate nature and allows herself to love again, but then Theda is faced with the most agonising dilemma of her life...

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 1998

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read if you like romantic historic fiction with nice descriptions of what it was like to live in that era, that is small rural northern towns during WWII. Most of it was good, however for me, it was let down by a few things a good editor should have picked up. Without giving away too much, one example is a scene where a man storms off, and one of the women says "oh, did he not know?" Now that in itself is fine, yet I had to reread what had been said previously, because I didn't recall anyone actually letting the cat out of the bag, and on rereading, they hadn't. Little details like that annoy me.