The Faithful

by Juliet West

As Britain is pulled towards war, the secrets within two families threaten to tear them apart, in the outstanding novel from Juliet West, The Faithful . . .July 1935. In the village of Aldwick on the Sussex coast, sixteen-year-old Hazel faces a long, dull summer with just her self-centred mother Francine for company. But then Francine decamps to London with her lover Charles, Oswald Mosley's blackshirts arrive in Aldwick, and Hazel's summer suddenly becomes more interesting. She finds herself befriended by two very different Lucia, an upper-class blackshirt, passionate about the cause; and Tom, a young working-class boy, increasingly scornful of Mosley's rhetoric. In the end, though, it is Tom who wins Hazel's heart - and Hazel who breaks his.Autumn 1936. Now living in London, Hazel has grown up fast over the past year. But an encounter with Tom sends her into freefall. He must never know why she cut off all contact last summer, betraying the promises theyd made. Yet Hazel isn't the only one with secrets. Nor is she the only one with reason to keep the two of them apart . . .From the beaches of Sussex to the battlefields of civil war Spain, The Faithful is a rich and gripping tale of love, deception and desire.

Genres: Historical Fiction, 20th Century, Fiction, Historical

336 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2017

Reviews

[Margaret Madden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to follow...

[Thebooktrail · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid, heartbreaking and fascinating read..

Travel to the locations in the novel: Booktrail it to Aldwick and Suffolk




I've been waiting for Juliet's next novel since I read Before the Fall and this was worth waiting for. She completely immerses you in the life and time of those youngsters growing up under the shadow of war and the political stance of Oswald Mosley and the blackshirts. From the Pears posters to the Pall Mall cigarettes, this is as evocative as they come.

The writing in this novel really is quite something - lyrical and poetic. What a tangled web we weave I said after finishing this. And it's true. Juliet has woven something very special, evocative and moving here.

Put this on your TBR list!

[Mairead Hearne (swirlandthread.com) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘A rich and gripping tale of love, deception and desire.’

The Faithful is the second novel from author Juliet West. Spanning the beaches of Sussex to the battlefields of civil war Spain, The Faithful is a beautiful book full of passion and despair.

Published by Mantle Books (an imprint of Pan Macmillan) on 15th June 2017.

My Review:

I love historical fiction, suffice to say, it is probably my favourite genre of all time, especially the years up the 1950’s. There is something about the people, the history, the fashion that just draws me in.

The title of the book is printed in art deco style, with the side-profile image of a young girl dressed in the summer fashion of the time. The sun is framing her face with the light almost blindingly capturing her form.

The year is 1935. The location is Sussex. The story is fiction but based around true events. Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts descended on the village of Aldwick in their score, bringing ordinary working folk from all over. For the local people of the village it was a sight to behold and for a young impressionable sixteen-year-old it was about to change the direction of her life forever.

The product of a broken marriage, Hazel is a little lost. With her father, Paul, now working in Paris and her very glamorous mother, Francine, flitting about the place and spending most of her time back & forth to London, Hazel soon finds herself caught up in the buzz of the marching bands. With her interest piqued, she attends one of the Blackshirt rallies. It is here she meets Lucia, a very upper-class and incredibly beautiful young girl. Lucia is a dedicated follower of Oswald Mosley. Her enthusiasm is infectious and Hazel is only too delighted to get sucked in to the hype and company of people her own age..

Hazel is somewhat in awe of Lucia with her confident personality and general joie de vivre and is soon swept along in the excitement of the new arrivals in town. Hazel, without a political idea in her head, sees no harm in her involvement with the Blackshirts and is quite happy to pass away her time in their gatherings.

While there she meets Tom. Tom is at the camp with his parents, but he is becoming more cynical of Mosley’s views. Hazel finds herself caught up between Tom’s working-class views and Lucia’s upper-class ones, as she tries to establish her own opinions.

With Hitler’s march across Europe on the horizon and Franco’s increasing and devastating control over Spain, all of their lives are in a constant state of flux.

As the camp moves off, Hazel is left with the memories of the times she spent with both Tom and Lucia, but with a black cloud descending on her, life will never be the same for Hazel.

As the years pass, Hazel finds herself in London a fully paid up member of the Blackshirts. Oswald Mosley’s views become dangerous and talk of Hitler’s bombs landing across the channel is on everybody’s lips. War is looming and people are afraid.

Juliet West has written a beautiful story. With the horror of war as the backdrop and the impending sounds of the marching bands and the drone of the planes overhead, the images of the fear and panic are discernible off the pages.

Hazel’s story is heart breaking, a young life torn apart by despair, hurt and pain. Hazel is a very strong character but the cross she has to bear is a heavy one. As Tom heads off to fight under the burning heat and the harsh winters endured during the Spanish civil war, Hazel has her own war to fight at home. As a reader we get to witness the impact of lives destroyed and futures lost, we feel their grief and get an understanding of their hurt.

The Faithful is divided up into sections over a number of years, each dealing with a certain time in the lives of the main characters. As their personal circumstances change, it’s like looking through a window. I mentioned on twitter that I wanted more in this book and I think this is what I meant. I would have loved to know more about how certain events occurred as opposed to reading about it after the fact. Now DO NOT get me wrong….this is only because I wanted to invest even more of my time in these fabulous characters, as it is such a fascinating time in our history.

Juliet West…I think I’m hinting at another book!!!!!!!!!!

The Faithful is a poignant, heart-wrenching story that will leave you bereft when you finish it. There is such a strong sense of time and place on every page, it’s like leaving your friends behind….

A sure-fire Summer bestseller…

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Juliet West’s timely second novel The Faithful has Oswald Mosley’s blackshirts pitch their summer camp near a sidelined and restless teenager’s seaside home, forever changing her life, if not the course of history as is their wider intention.

I think most people will be able to identify with Hazel, her lack of direction and boredom at the prospect of facing a long, hot summer largely left to her own devices, exacerbated by her best friend rushing off to Wales with her family to visit their sick grandmother. It’s only natural that she watches these incomers with interest: the blackshirts march through her town, and later relax on the beach on the other side of her garden wall. I can’t blame her for feeling drawn towards these new people, particularly when she experiences those first sparks of recognition and connection with Lucia and Tom, that friction which can catch you off-guard, signalling the beginning of a friendship or relationship, be it love or lust.

This week turns out to be life-changing for Hazel: her own curiosity is partly at play here, and her choice of summer reading almost makes it inevitable. But Hazel’s coming-of-age is both tender and shocking and it’s her reaction to that which made this book for me. Hazel is a revelation and the character who surprises me in The Faithful: there are hidden depths to her. While I started by sympathising with her summer predicament, I ended up admiring her strength and determination to make the best of the situation. In contrast to others in the book, it has far less to do with ideology for her, and more to do with practicality.

What I enjoyed so much about this book is not only how multi-layered the main characters are, but that their story can be read on a number of levels. You can read The Faithful in one or more of the following ways: as one young girl and boy’s coming-of-age in 1930s England; as a story about first love; as a social history and a look at social norms and acceptable behaviour; as a comment on the state of the English classes at this time and the changes coming, of which Hazel is an unsuspecting pioneer; as a look at this challenging time in (British) post-WWI politics where communists and fascists were coming into the mainstream; or simply as a story about the (often-fraught) relationship between mothers and daughters.

The Faithful is such a richly rewarding read that I’m now firmly in Juliet West’s band of faithful readers, and I’m pretty sure that’s an ideologically sound place to camp out this summer.

[Claire Fuller]

Review and rating to follow. I'll be interviewing Juliet for Bookanista.

[Linda Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s the mid 1930s and the fascists and communists are on the rise so when Hazel and Tom’s lives collide there will be reverberations.

Oh my goodness. The Faithful is exactly my kind of read. Firstly, there’s an era I didn’t know too much about so that reading The Faithful enriched my understanding of British history just prior to the Second World War. The balance of brilliantly researched authentic detail and wonderful fiction is spot on. Every syllable adds depth and nuance to the narrative so that I felt the tensions and the passions just as much as the characters did.

I thought Juliet West’s writing was so skilful. I loved the prophetic imagery so that, at times, The Faithful feels almost Shakespearean in its quality and I kept thinking of Macbeth with the portents woven throughout. It’s difficult to say too much without spoiling the superb plot.

The narrative is taut and affecting. I slowed down my reading towards the end as I knew how I wanted the story to end but until the last few pages I didn’t know if Juliet West had the same ideas for Hazel as I did and you’ll have to read The Faithful for yourself to see what I mean! Revelations reverberate and shock throughout and the layers of deceit pervading everything from the most mundane through the political to characters’ self-deceptions are realistic and disturbing. I hated Bea’s actions, for example, but her desperate need to belong and to maintain her family makes them completely understandable.

Indeed, I am slightly in awe of the way in which Juliet West manipulated me as a reader when it came to character. Francine is quite vile, but she’s equally vulnerable and pitiful so that although I wanted to loathe her, she had my sympathy instead. Even the louche Charles had my grudging understanding. This is characterisation at its most sophisticated.

The Faithful is a book about love and deceit, about the personal and the political and about how we convince ourselves of truths that have no basis in reality. This makes The Faithful a book about humanity and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

[Martine Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a huge admirer of Before The Fall, Juliet West’s powerful debut. Her new novel, The Faithful is just as fine an exploration of lives vividly rendered as they suffer joy, love and loss. Written in exquisite, economic prose, we follow the life of Hazel, a lonely and emotionally neglected adolescent, who falls for working class Tom, a would-be reporter visiting a British Fascist camp with his parents. The marvellous cast of characters include Hazel’s vain and shallow mother and her intriguing lover Charles, whose shady source of income leads to a shocking revelation. We see a darker side to British culture, both in the lure of the blackshirt movement and also in petty prejudice and snobbery. The story builds beautifully, the plot naturally quickening in pace to a gripping denouement. I was completely drawn into the novel’s world and engaged by its issues of loyalty and loss. Highly recommended.

[J.A. Corrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cleverly plotted, well-written, and engaging novel. The history flows through the narrative seamlessly.
My main niggle with this book (and it only minor) was the motivation of Lucia in taking Hazel in during her time of need.
There are four viewpoints in the narrative, and for me the weakest voice was Tom; the strongest, Hazel's mother, Francine, whose relationship with her lover is so skilfully drawn by the author. The Faithful is a wonderful page-turner. I will be looking up Juliet West's other work.

[Louise Marley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the cover of this book and the plot intrigued me. I don't read many books set in the 1930s and it's a period that I don't know much about. I had heard of Oswald Mosley and the blackshirts, and I thought it an interesting choice of background for a novel, so I couldn't wait to read the book.

The story starts in West Sussex in 1935. Sixteen year old Hazel has been mainly left on her own for the summer with just the family housekeeper for company. Lots of opportunity for mischief! Her father has gone to live and work in Paris with his mistress, and her mother keeps flitting off to London with her married lover. Hazel's family are well-to-do and they live in a big house with only an old flint wall dividing their garden from the beach. When Hazel sees a group of people in uniform set up camp on the beach she is fascinated. These are Oswald Mosley's 'blackshirts', the British Union of Fascists, and when Hazel sees them parade through the town she thinks they are very glamorous.

Tom, a young working class lad from Lewisham, feels differently. He is at the camp with his parents, who are attracted to Oswald Mosley's party because of the apparent anti-war stance, but he is already starting to question the blackshirts' politics. And then he meets Hazel.

The Faithful is a coming-of-age story, about two young people who make choices and then have to live with the consequences of their actions. Because the characters were so engaging I found their story completely gripping. It is very well written and I loved all the descriptions of Sussex at the height of summer and the period detail about the 1930s - although I did find myself wincing every time Hazel lit up yet another cigarette! From my 21st century viewpoint, I also found it hard to understand why Hazel continued her association with the blackshirts after she realised exactly what they stood for. But I could appreciate she had a good reason, which I won't go into because of spoilers.

The story is divided into three parts. Part one ends just before a pivotal event, and part two continues a year after that event. It was not hard to guess what that event was, and I would have preferred to have read about it as it happened, rather than have it hinted at later in the story.

Beside Hazel and Tom, the other viewpoints are Hazel's rather selfish mother Francine, bitterly seeing her youth slipping away from her and, by contrast, Tom's mother Bea, who would do anything to protect her son. They are both flawed characters, which I always find interesting and, like their offspring, they both made choices that would affect the rest of their lives. I did feel that Francine's story could have been developed a bit more, and there were a few other issues/questions I'd have liked to have seen resolved at the end.

But I did really enjoy reading The Faithful and would certainly recommend it to anyone who loves reading historical fiction. It would probably appeal to fans of family sagas too. I'm planning on lending my copy to my mother, who loves this kind of thing - but she had better let me have it back!


Thank you to Mantle/Pan Macmillan for providing me with an advance review copy of this book in return for an honest review.

[Susan Lanigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Review to follow

OK first before starting the review of what is a really well-written and vivid story, I have to say I've taken a star off it because of our heroine Hazel's encounter with a magical healing Irishman on the Tube when she is taken ill with a panic attack. This magical healing Irishman is of course (a) drunk, (b) a down-and-out and speaks with (c) a comically "musical" accent which the dialogue does not spare us. Given it's the one and only encounter with an Irish character in the whole book, it is very irritating to have one who is an indigent drunk. There, rant over.

That said I've only downgraded it from 5 stars to 4 so it's not a big demotion. This is a really worthwhile read, drunken Paddy notwithstanding - it is a romance and serious comedy of errors surrounding the mid-Thirties rise of Mosley's Blackshirts and ending with the Second World War. The detail of the summer when Hazel first meets Tom and gets sucked into Mosley's Blackshirts who are camping out in Sussex is vividly done. West knows the geography and history intimately and a picture of the dress and surroundings of the characters is very well made. Writing in this genre myself I know how much work goes into setting up the world in this fashion and I truly envy how well West does this. Occasionally there is a bit of over-research (I did not need the newspaper headlines about Dr Crippen for a brief flashback, I was happy to accept it was 1909 without buttressing detail) but for the most part the detail roots you right in the action. The part of the story where little Jasmin enters the narrative was particularly well done - either West is a mother herself or she has read up thoroughly, and these passages are entrancingly sweet. But it's the little details that root me - Hazel's smoking, her corsage and evening dress and half-styled hair when Tom's mother Bea calls around, or the wet-ice champagne that Hazel's mother Francine drinks with her amour Charles (who is a bit of a bogeyman, I thought) or the night where all is silent except for "the whirr of the gas meter wheel"

Characterisation is also good - Hazel, Francine and Charles particularly, Tom was a bit of a Marty Stu and Lucia's psychological makeup needed more exegesis to satisfy me - but it was a great read and the style is lovely and unobtrusive. Recommended, with the caveat above for Irish readers :)

[Jaffareadstoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the summer of 1935, sixteen year old, Hazel is left pretty much to her own devices as Hazel's father is on business abroad, and her mother, Francine spends time with her lover, Charles, in London. The seaside village of Aldwick has long been Hazel's home, and she is more than familiar with its dull routines but when a group of Oswald Mosley supporters arrive to spend a summer camp in the village things start to liven up considerably for Hazel, when, almost inadvertently, she gets drawn into the group. Amongst the Blackshirts, she comes into contact with are Lucia and Tom, two very different people, who are set to have a long lasting effect on her life.

What then follows is a realistic coming of age story which is set in the tumultuous years in the run up to WW2. The rise of communism and the ideology of the fascist movement are explored in a very readable way, and bringing Hazel into contact with characters who support and then challenge this philosophy makes for fascinating reading.

Beautifully written so that, as a reader, you quickly form an emotional attachment to the characters and from very early in the novel I really warmed to Hazel even though her youthful exuberance is tempered against the restrictions of the time in which she lived. Practically ignored by both of her parents and taught to fend for herself, Hazel has a natural resilience which is very reassuring and lends focus for what is to follow in her life. The other characters who add the necessary light and shade are so finely drawn that they seem very realistic, particularly, Hazel's mother, Francine, who has more than enough angst of her own to fill an entirely separate story.

The Faithful is one of those fascinating multi-layered stories which focuses on, not just the difficulties of coming of age in a time when war was inching ever closer, but which also emphasises the complications of living in a challenging time when so much was left unsaid and people hid their thoughts and feelings from one another. It was time when stigma and doctrine went hand in hand and to be living life in such a time was fraught with difficulties.

Imaginatively described and beautifully researched, The Faithful takes us from the Sussex seaside to the battlefields of the Spanish Civil war and shares an emotional depth and resonance which lingers long after the story is finished.

[Tracy Fells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Juliet West’s new novel ‘The Faithful’ is being tipped as a top summer read. I’d highly recommend to pack a copy for any holiday but I also think this is a top read for any time of the year. The story is told with fluid and yet still lyrical writing - I quickly became immersed in the lives of teenagers Hazel and Tom and devoured this eagerly as I had to know what happened to them along with their families.

‘The Faithful’ sweeps easily across continents and through time, taking us from the sunny seaside of West Sussex then into the Spanish Civil War and ending during the London blitz. In 1935 strong-willed Hazel (16) meets the glamorous Lucia while Lucia is holidaying with her family in Sussex. Lucia is staying on a campsite with other supporters of Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirts. Hazel also meets idealistic Tom, another Blackshirt who comes from the opposite end of the social spectrum to Hazel and Lucia. From that moment on the lives of these three teenagers become irreparably entwined.

This is a love story but for me it was also a novel about how two very different mothers keep faith, or not, with their children. Bea and Francine, mothers to Tom and Hazel respectively, are very different people from very different backgrounds but they are both mothers facing similar challenges. I found their stories intriguing and they soon became as important to me as Hazel and Tom in the narrative.

Francine is forever faithful to her lover, Charles, regardless of his behaviour. Bea is stubbornly faithful to her belief in Mosley and overwhelming in her love for her son Tom. Both Hazel and Tom face enormous challenges to remain faithful to the ideals of their youth, while learning to adapt as their world disintegrates with war and a changing political climate.

The period detail is excellent and I learned a lot about a time I thought I knew. Juliet West is a superb writer and this is historical fiction at its very best. A terrific novel.

Note: If you enjoy ‘The Faithful’ then I recommend you also read Juliet West’s debut ‘After the Fall’ set during WWI.

[S.P. Moss · Rating 3 out of 5]

'The Faithful' is an engrossing, not too demanding story about coming-of-age against the context of an interesting period of British history - the 1930s, with the rise and fall of the British Union of Fascists. It's a story that follows two young people and their respective mothers as main characters, and certainly kept me gripped through all the family secrets, romantic tangles, questions of loyalty and human misunderstandings.

I found the way the author uses the very human motivations that the various characters have for their involvement in politics of various shades most compelling and believable. The main characters are well-portrayed and I particularly enjoyed reading about the glamorous but decidedly louche couple, Francine and Charles, who definitely had a touch of Patrick Hamilton about them.

The period setting and depiction of the moral codes, class system and values of the time felt authentic, but occasionally there was a little too much of that 'period detail' for me in the descriptions of clothing or everyday activities.

An involving story set in a fascinating period of history, which I think would be enjoyed by teenagers as well as adults.

[Jeane · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a beautifully written story taking place between 1935-36 in England, starting with the summer of '35 and the young Hazel facing a boring summer along with her mother. All changes when her mother goes to London for some days with her lover and the Blackshirts arrive in Aldwick. It will change Hazel's life in many ways till far in the future. Two people will be the cause for it, Lucia who is upper class and passionate about the blackshirt's cause and Tom, working class and belonging to the Blackshirts but distancing him more and more from the cause. We meet Hazel again the year after. She isn't the young girl anymore, but in many ways grown up. The past keeps influencing her present and future life, just as its secrets.
The faithful started as a story where nothing much happened, besides some young people meeting. But the author developed it at a perfect pace, with always just enough revelations, changes and secrets affecting the characters, which were all developed perfectly. As a side note, I also liked that the Blackshirts were integrated in this story. It is a part of the English history which isn't often part of a story.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed ‘The Faithful’, I couldn’t put it down. It’s such a compelling tale, full of twists and deception and at its heart, a love story.

The story follows Hazel and Tom, who have a chance meeting in the summer of 1935 and following one night in that July their lives are blown apart. Not only do we follow Hazel and Tom, there’s Bea Tom’s mother and Francine, Hazel’s mother. Bea wants only the best for Tom and Francine is too busy with her lover Charles, who is a vile, vile man, to notice Hazel. All their lives become intertwined, secrets are weaved and truths are hidden.

When we meet Hazel she is a lost sixteen year old. And becomes caught up with the blackshirts in an attempt to forge a friendship with Lucia, who I really took a disliking to. As a way to entertain and herself and learn about the world, Hazel reads a copy of ‘Ideal Marriage’ – the snippets of this book were hilarious, a very outdated view of marriage and the instructions on marital relations are clinical and amusing! I loved their inclusion in the book. Hazel’s character starts out naïve, looking for adventure but she has to grow up fast and quickly learns life can be cruel.

I do enjoy a book that prompts me to visit Google and ‘The Faithful’ did that. I had never heard of the blackshirts movement in Britain so it was interesting to learn about this group of people who thought Hitler was doing the right thing.

There are so many little twists in this story that I just had to keep reading. Lies are told and Tom and Hazel are kept apart because of them. I got so frustrated, I just wanted everything to come out and for everyone to have a happy ending! You’ll have to read it to find out for yourself of course. Full of emotion, vivid characters and an absorbing plot ‘The Faithful’ is a superb read that I just loved. And just look at that utterly stunning cover.

[Ozbernie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

I got through this book quite quick although I must admit that even in the middle of it I was bored although by the end I got into it a bit more.

Even though the author did try to weave a unique kind of plot, it just wasn’t solid enough for me and it felt like there were gaping holes for me in characters and the flow of it too.

I didn’t gel with any of the characters, Hazel, Francine, Bea, Tom, Charles or Lucia. The political aspect of the book based on the real “Blackshirts” and their Fascist seaside camps and wartime detentions of Oswald Moseley’s fascists didn’t appeal to me much either. I was glad to glimpse an insight to this real history but it wasn’t presented in the most interesting way for me and felt quite dry - although for me most politics are dry.

I didn’t like the ending at all - I felt Bea got away with what she did to her son Tom even though she said it was for his own good. And Charles and Francine were just the most self absorbed characters and what an ending for them too.

[Rachael Eyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book overall, but why did Lucia have to be a lesbian? She was the story's most reprehensible character, other than Charles, and the selfish, thoughtless way she treated Hazel didn't tally with someone in love. Perhaps I'm being too sensitive, but I really do hate it when the one LGBT character is psychotic and totally unsympathetic.

That aside, I knocked off a few stars due to the lack of closure. It may be more realistic, but I didn't like how Bea got off scot free for nearly wrecking Tom's life. Did the author think she'd done enough in the karmic punishment line by presumably killing off Francine and Charles? I also struggled to believe that any mother, however shallow and silly, would marry her daughter's rapist. I know rape wasn't considered the great evil then that it is now, but this development strained belief and left a nasty taste in the mouth.

A solid read nonetheless. I will definitely be checking out Before the Fall.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Faithful by Juliet West

Summer 1935, Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirts arrive in Bognor, amoungst those attending are Tom and his parents fresh of the coach from London to attend a camp.
16 year old Hazel, about to experience a dull summer at home, her father 'away' in Paris and her mother more interested in her lover than her daughter, sets of for town and walks straight into a passing Blackshirts March.
Through this encounter she meets Lucia, upper class, glamorous and passionate about the cause. The meeting is about to throw Hazels life into turmoil.
I really enjoyed this story, got caught up into it straight away and was given a great feel for the characters. I liked the journey through this part of history but always keeping to the fictional story. The descriptions of the two very different lives and those experiences each character had were well written.
Will look out for more from this author.


[Helen Eddon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hazel's story begins in 1935 and takes us to 1940. Living in Aldwick on the Sussex coast with a self-absorbed mother and a mostly absent father, Hazel is expecting a dull summer. However, all this changes when Oswald Mosley's blackshirts set up their summer camp in the village. Hazel becomes friends with Lucia, a devoted Mosley supporter and Tom who is having serious doubts about his involvement in the movement, finding himself drawn to communist ideas instead. Hazel gradually becomes drawn into their world of speeches, meetings and marches until one fateful night changes her life forever. A series of naive and misguided decisions follow as war approaches. Interesting characters, great historical detail and a heartbreaking story make this an excellent second novel from Juliet West.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a perfect holiday read, involving a rich cast of characters. There's privileged Hazel, living with her largely estranged parents in a Sussex village. Francine, Hazel's mother, has an almost resident lover, Charles. There are Tom and Lucia, blackshirts from London in Aldwick for a rally and camp. Hazel is drawn to Tom, and he to her, but this is no simply woven love story. The blackshirts, Lucia, Francine, the Spanish Civil War all conspire to prevent easy contact between these two young people.

The characters are well-drawn, the history well described, as is the day-to-day life of the period. I read the book eagerly and was sorry when it finished.

[Goosegirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 a very readable, above average book set during the war, but capturing a slightly different angle- the black shirts in the UK and fascist movement that infiltrated everyday society. A personal, perhaps not unusual story of an unplanned pregnancy, love and family estrangement with the setting and context to make it stand out from others. I wouldn't rave about it but it was enjoyable.

[Emma Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this wonderful book on Audible - excellent narration. This love story set in the 1930's against the backdrop of rising fascism and the march to war, is so beautifully told, exciting and moving. I highly recommend it.

[Melanie Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Am generally not a fan of WW2 era fiction but I really enjoyed this. The writing is amazingly evocative and the story compelling and original. The only thing I didn't like was the multiple POV (it's one of my pet peeves). 4.5 stars.

[Rosalind · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice easy read.

[Tolkien InMySleep · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superior love story, set against a backdrop of pre-war fascism in 1930's England

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say I didnt finish it. I got halfway and was so bored I've given up on it.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was randomly plucked off the library shelf by my five year old. I trust his judgement and he didn't let me down. A good period novel with engaging characters.

[Jilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. I'm eagerly awaiting Juliet West's next novel

[Helen Christmas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met this author at a book fair in Bognor; more specifically the launch of a booklet ‘Fiction set in Bognor Regis.’ As a resident of Bognor, (a town in which one of my own books is set), I was intrigued by Juliet’s novel, which refers to a 1930s Blackshirts camp in Aldwick. What unravels is a fascinating piece of history and wartime drama, filled with romance. I really engaged with the characters, Hazel and Tom, moved by their stories and the separate paths they are drawn down. The descriptions of Aldwick, the beach and the roads were familiar, the writing an absolute joy. I will definitely be recommending it to friends.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Bra och lätt sommarläsning, kul med annan era..." tänkte jag. Låt mig presentera det cringe-worthiaste citatet: "He knew for a fact that Hazel was easy. Hadn't she given herself in the summer-house that stormy night? Kissing him, unbuckling his belt. LETTING HIM TAKE HER WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A MURMUR OF PROTEST." Ehm, no thank you.