Isabell's Reviews > Connectedness

Originally posted on Dreaming With Open Eyes



Sandra Danby at her best!

Having read and loved the first book (Ignoring Gravity) in the Identity Detective series I looked forward to reading a new novel from Sandra Danby. Connectedness is the book in the series, yet it can easily be read as a standalone novel. The books in the series all feature Rose Haldane, who helps to reunite adopted children and their birth families, and who was adopted herself. Connectedness centres around the artist, Justine King, whose life is a tangle of lies and secrets. Justine Tree asks identity detective Rose Haldane to search for the daughter she gave up for adoption in 1983.Will this terrible secret that Justine carries close to her heart threaten her art career?

I’d like to thank Sandra Danby for the opportunity of reading such a gem. I'm not sure why but I had been putting off reading this book for months, and I am of course now kicking myself, as its an amazing book.I did not know what to expect of this book in the beginning but it has had everything I wanted from a a great read in the end. I quickly found out that Sandra has a very compelling style of writing peppered with a healthy dose of love, betrayal, secrets, regret, grief and loss and adoption mixed with engaging characters that keep you turning page after page. Sandra Danby’ gorgeous writing and the intriguing format the story is told in really did make this a special kind of novel. The story is told mainly through Justine’s viewpoint, flitting effortlessly between present-day London’s art world to isolated Yorkshire, and the hot streets of Málaga, Spain in the early 80s, where Justine went to study art. Danby definitely added a nice flavor of London, Yorkshire and Málaga. Even I don’t know all the cities I could not help but feel enveloped in each city's atmosphere and aesthetic background. Not only were the settings in this book researched well, also there are lots of information of art as it plays a hugh part in this novel. This is a novel that I found hard to put down as it swept me along on a roller-coaster of an emotional ride. I had to pull myself together not to burst into tears. Highly recommended to readers who enjoy a very well-written story about a family saga.

There is one thing that actually bothered me. During Justine‘s collage years in Málaga there were a lot of words written in spanish when she spoke to a friend. The spanish words were not translated I had to actually look up all the words to understand the main message of the conversation. Thankfully my kindle has a translation function so it was not too much trouble for me.