Nikola ScottCritiques

The Life I Stole is set in 1953 and follows a young woman named Isobel who is training to be a doctor. Not only is this a challenge due to the expectation that women should not really progress to the higher ranks of medicine, but also because Isobel is living a lie. She's not who she says she is, having grabbed an opportunity to live another woman's life, and in turn take that woman's place to study to be a doctor. I realise that this doesn't portray Isobel in a particularly good light but, without giving any spoilers, the opportunity doesn't hurt anybody and it gives her a chance to break away from a life that had far fewer prospects.

I always enjoy Nikola Scott's books and I enjoyed The Life I Stole very much indeed. The story is narrated by Isobel and I liked seeing it unfold from her point of view. I especially relished the interesting scenes at the hospital following a consultant on his rounds, or those where she was out helping to save lives in the community. I loved Isobel's feisty nature that couldn't help but present itself, even when she knew she should be quiet and fade into the background.

Add some family intrigue, a potential love interest and some fascinating more minor characters and it makes for a really lovely and absorbing work of historical fiction. The early 1953s were an exciting time for medicine in Britain as the NHS, in its infancy, offered treatment to those for whom it had previously been unobtainable or too expensive. Scott has clearly done plenty of research and reading to get the facts right. A storyline packed with secrets, a spirited protagonist and a fascinating medical backdrop made this an excellent read for me.

Beautifully written, Atmospheric and a rollercoaster of emotions

1958 A perfect summer, a young woman in love and having the time of her life.
1999 A family come together on the 1st anniversary of their mother’s death.

This book is written in dual narrative, Addie who is the oldest out of her 2 other siblings, and then through diaries written by their mother Elizabeth Harrington in the 1950’s.
Present day the Harrington family, Graham, the father and his three grown up children, Adele (Addie) Venetia who is heavily pregnant and Jasper all come together on the anniversary of their mother’s death.
Addie’s dad has been struggling since his wife passed away and isn’t in the best of health at the moment so when a stranger arrives on the doorstep looking for Elizabeth Harrington/Holloway claiming that Elizabeth was her mother Addie makes sure none of that reaches her dads ears.
Phoebe claims that she was adopted as a baby and that she was born at exactly the same time and date as Addie which would mean if all of it was true the two ladies are twins!
Obviously Addie and Venetia don’t believe any of it, even with the few bits Phoebe has brought with her. But seeing the writing in the journal, her mum’s writing finally makes Addie want to know more, about how could her mum give up just one of the babies and why did her parents lie to her. As far as she knew her parents were married before she came along but after searching through her parents house with the aid of her best childhood friend Andrew they find her parents marriage certificate along with a birth certificate with only her mothers name on it, the date of birth and the box for father’s name left blank, the certificate didn’t even have a name for the baby so the child’s name was documented as “Baby”
Addie whole life has just been turned upside-down and the only person who could have told them everything has taken the secrets to the grave with her.
As the twins start digging into their mothers history trying to make all the puzzle parts fit they begin to form a bond, a bond that only twins understand.
1958 – Elizabeth Holloway’s own mum Constance is dying of cancer, the doctors have told them that nothing else can be done for her now except keep her comfortable.
Elizabeth had always been close to her mother and had taken up reading sat at her bedside, reading to her, listening to things her dad didn’t approve of and under her mum’s strict instructions try to attend to her mother’s garden, bringing in roses, bringing some of the outside inside so her mum could smell it and imagine she was out in the garden.
So it came as a massive shock when she was told she was going to be sent away for the summer to stay with friends of her mother.
Her mum told her of all the wonderful times she had from her visits there and made Elizabeth promise to have fun, enjoy the countryside and to not worry about her!
Elizabeth didn’t want to leave her mum, not when she was so gravely ill but her parents insisted so she had no choice but to go.
At first she couldn’t settle, couldn’t stop worrying about her mum and decided that it would be inappropriate to be having fun why her mum was almost on death’s door.
But gradually not being happy became impossible with the Shaw family and the other young people staying there.
She learns how to ride a horse, swim and there were no strict rules and regulations. If you were late for breakfast it didn’t matter, she was just served it up whenever she found her way to the dining room.
On her 17th birthday she didn’t think anyone knew and she certainly hadn’t told anyone but to her delight they had a beautiful birthday cake waiting for her, presents and they had arranged a birthday party just for her.
And it was this birthday she received her first kiss! She fell deeply in love but in the end it all came crashing down around her. She found herself single and pregnant which in those times was nothing short of a scandal!
Addie and Phoebe slowly uncover layers of the past it takes us on that rollercoaster of emotions with them.
This book is certainly very engaging and evocative with strong likeable characters, some not so much! With twists and turns, surprises and mysteries, some coming as a bit of a shock!
This is a story about families, family secrets, identities, betrayal and how the past impacts on the future.
I really enjoyed this book, i was a bit wary when advertised for fans of Kate Morton but i was pleasantly surprised by this book, the writing is just sublime and it is hard to believe this is Nikola Scott’s first novel.
Perfect rainy duvet day book 🙂

Dit verhaal heeft 2 verhaallijnen. Een aan het begin van de Tweede wereldoorlog en aan in 2004.
Violet Etherington is 17 jaar en een lid van een prominente Londense familie, als de oorlog uitbreekt en Londen wordt gebombardeerd door de Duitsers. Tijdens een van die bombardementen komt haar nichtje Romy om het leven en Violet is ontroostbaar. Haar moeder besluit om met de familie Londen te verlaten en bij een familielid op het platteland. Violet wil zich echter nuttig maken en met hulp van Dudley (Duffy) gaat ze onder een valse naam werken op Winterbourne Orchard in Somerset. Stiekem gaat ze er vandoor. Het is hard werken in de boomgaard maar Violet, nu Lily Burns, sluit al gauw vriendschap met een aantal van de meisjes. Dan gebeurt er iets dramatisch en moet Violet gedwongen terug naar haar moeder.

In 2004 is Violet een oude dame, die zich verantwoordelijk voelt voor haar kleindochter Frankie, die als journaliste net is aangenomen bij de Londen Post. Maar het gaat niet goed met Violet en Frankie besluit bij haar oma in te trekken. Ondertussen probeert haar baas Frankie over te halen om haar beroemde oma te interviewen. Iets wat Violet weigert omdat de kans bestaat dat er in haar verleden zal worden gezocht en haar grote geheim aan het licht zal komen.

Goed geschreven. Ik heb er van genoten.½

Dit is echt een lekker zomers boek. Chloe zit gevangen in een huwelijk met een man, Aidan, die haar langzamerhand gaat overheersen. En het begin heeft zij dat nog niet door. Hij vind het niet nodig dat ze haar werk als fotografe voort zet. Hij ziet graag dat ze voor hem zorgt en voor hun huis. Dat ze altijd thuis is en vertelt wat ze gaat doen. Vrienden heeft ze nauwelijks meer. Als ze uiteindelijk zwanger blijkt te zijn, wordt het nog erger.
En dan krijgt ze de vraag of ze een portretfoto wil maken van een schrijfster van kinderboeken, Maddy. Die kinderboeken waren de favoriete boeken van Chloe toen ze klein was.
Maddy woont op een oud landgoed en is inmiddels een bejaarde dame. Zonder dat Aidan het weet gaat ze naar Summerhill en leert ze Maddy beter kennen.½

The Orchard Girls is a dual timeline story set in London in 2004 and Somerset in 1940. I love this kind of read where secrets from the past filter down into the present day.

In war-torn London, Violet Etherington is 17 and fed up of being under her mother's thumb and is also dealing with a family tragedy. She breaks away, calls herself Lily Burns, and joins the Women's Land Army. Whilst it sounds glamorous, she finds that it is not at all what she expected. In 2004, Violet's granddaughter, Frankie, is embarking on a new job as journalist at the London Post and she is thrown back into her grandmother's life after being estranged for ten years. However, Violet is not well and Frankie is learning there's more to her grandmother than she realised.

This is an intriguing story of life at war. There seems a safety to being hidden away in the orchards of Somerset so when the conflict does find the Land Girls it's a shock. I loved the camaraderie between all the women, all different ages and backgrounds, yet thrust together to live and work. It takes Lily/Violet a while to settle in and gain the trust of the other women but she soon found her feet and I was really rooting for her and enjoying it when her sometimes hidden feisty character came through.

There are actually a lot of similarities between Violet and Frankie's characters and experiences. They both work in positions where they are up against people who want them to fail. I really enjoyed the detail of the orchards and the life of a Land Girl, especially when contrasted with Frankie's experiences as a journalist, in a cutthroat environment where it's every man (or woman) for themselves).

This is quite a chunky read and it did take a little settling into the two timelines for me but I was soon into the swing of it and felt quite sad each time I had to leave one character and timeline behind. There's a lot of sadness in the story, for instance Violet's failing memory and Frankie's family woes, but ultimately it's a story of friendship in the face of adversity and is one for historical fiction and dual timeline fans.

I was excited by the blurb as I do enjoy a duel time-line novel, especially those set during WWII. I think it's the historical facts which crop up during the telling that really captures my interest. So I was delighted to find The Orchard Girls telling the story of a group of Women's Land Army girls.

The story flips between 1940 Somerset where socialite Violet has run away from her overbearing mother and joined the WLA, and modern day London where Violet's granddaughter Frankie, a journalist, is piecing together her grandmother's story for an article she does not want to write.

It took me a time to become truly immersed in the story, and I found Violet's story far more interesting than Frankie's modern day excavation of the truth. The historical details made the story for me.

In her debut novel, My Mother's Shadow, Nikola Scott uses the tried and tested dual timeline to draw readers into the story and it works a treat. With secrets to uncover, the pages turn effortlessly as we learn the story of Elizabeth Holloway through her diary excerpts. Her eldest daughter, Addie, never felt as if she was good enough for her mother and her mother's death a year prior means that Addie can never get answers to the questions that still float around in her head.

As the Harrington family gather to remember Elizabeth on the first anniversary of her death, they are disturbed by a stranger at the door. A stranger, Phoebe Roberts, who claims to be Elizabeth's daughter and she has the same date of birth as Addie. When Addie finally accepts that Phoebe is telling the truth, the newly reconnected sisters try to understand why Elizabeth kept one twin and gave away the other. Only by understanding what happened in the past, can Addie make sense of the strained relationship she had with her mother, and find the answers that she craves.

My Mother's Shadow is quite an emotional read; 1958 doesn't seem that long ago but it felt like the dark ages when I was reading this book. It just shows how very far we've come in the treatment of women and it also reminds us all that there are two sides to every story. I had a lump in my throat as Elizabeth's story was revealed piece by piece and my feelings towards her changed at the same time. I couldn't understand how Elizabeth treated Addie different to her younger siblings, Venetia and Jas, although she probably didn't even realise she was doing it. There was no doubt that Elizabeth loved Addie but Addie always got the impression that she disappointed her and she wasn't good enough...now we know why.

I loved how Addie jumped to conclusions, the same conclusions as I did, when Phoebe turned up but it transpired to be so very wrong. It's human nature to make such assumptions but if only we would gather all the facts beforehand we could save ourselves some heartache. The family theme is strong in My Mother's Shadow, both past and present, and it kept the story rolling along at just the right pace.

My Mother's Shadow is an emotional story about unearthing well-buried family secrets and how we like to keep things hidden but sometimes a problem shared is a problem halved.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

Im August 1939 lebt Maddy zurückgezogen auf dem malerischen Anwesen Summerhill in Cornwall. Hier ist sie weit weg vom drohenden Krieg. Sie wartet sehnsüchtig auf die Rückkehr ihrer Schwester Georgiana, die auf einer längeren Reise durch Europa ist. Doch als Georgina wiederauftaucht, hat sie eine Gruppe junger Leute im Schlepptau, darunter auch ihren Freund Victor. Maddy ist irritiert. Ihre Schwester ist ihr fremdgeworden. Nun gibt es ständig Feste auf Summerhill. Victor wird Maddy immer unsympathischer, denn er zeigt auffälliges Interesse an dem Anwesen. Sie ahnt aber nicht, dass Gefahr droht.
Siebzig Jahre später kommt die junge Fotografin Chloe McAllister nach Summerhill, um die Kinderbuchautorin Madeleine Hamilton zu fotografieren. Sie macht das gegen den Willen ihres Mannes Aiden, der eine sehr besitzergreifende Art hat. Chloe hat gerade erst erfahren, dass sie schwanger ist. Mit dem Gedanken kann sie sich noch nicht anfreunden, denn sie hat Angst, dass das Kind eine Erbkrankheit haben könnte, die auch ihr Bruder hat. Ihr Auftrag verschafft ihre also etwas Abstand zum normalen Leben. So lernt sie auf Summerhill die nun alte Maddy kennen und ahnt noch nicht, wie dadurch ihr weiteres Leben beeinflusst wird.
Mir hatte seinerzeit bereits das Buch „Die Zeit der Schwalben“ sehr gut gefallen und so war ich auch auf dieses Buch gespannt. Ich wurde nicht enttäuscht, denn dieses Buch hat mich wieder in seinen Bann gezogen, obwohl es eigentlich eine recht ruhige Geschichte ist. Der eindringliche Schreibstil gefällt mir sehr gut, aber auch wie die zwei Handlungsstränge miteinander verknüpft sind.
Die Charaktere sind sehr gut und vielschichtig ausgearbeitet. Maddy und Georgiana wurden früh zu Waisen und Georgina hat die Verantwortung für ihre kleinere Schwester übernommen. Die Beziehung ist eng, besonders von Maddys Seite aus, doch zunehmend möchte sich Gigi daraus befreien. Auch Cloe und ihr Bruder Danny haben früh ihre Eltern verloren und so hat Chloe sich um ihren kranken Bruder gekümmert. Doch der will in ein Heim, damit Chloe ein eigenes Leben hat. Sie tut sich aber sehr schwer damit, ihren Bruder loszulassen.
Victor und Aidan sind beide sehr unsympathisch, doch Aidan ist noch um einiges heftiger. Er nutzt Chloes Abhängigkeit aus und versucht sie einzusperren – natürlich alles unter dem Deckmantel „Liebe“.
Diese Geschichte erzählt über Verantwortung für andere innerhalb der Familie, über Zusammenhalt und Liebe. Leider ist hier aber auch eine kranke, besitzergreifende Liebe vertreten.
Das Buch ist trotz des ruhigen Verlaufs spannend und zum Ende wird es richtig dramatisch.
Ich kann diesen Roman nur empfehlen.

I loved Nikola Scott's first book, My Mother's Shadow, so was really keen to read her second book. I'm happy to report that I loved Summer of Secrets just as much.

This is one of my favourite kinds of stories: a dual timeline story. The narrative in the past is that of Madeleine, who is 16 in 1939. The world is on the cusp of war but she is cocooned from it to an extent at her beloved Summerhill on the Cornish coast. Her adored older sister, Georgiana, has just returned from the continent with her new beau, Victor. But Victor isn't all he seems, Maddy doesn't trust him but she can't yet imagine the impact he will have on her family.

The current day storyline is that of Chloe. She's in her late twenties, married to dashing doctor, Aidan. Except that Chloe has lost herself and who she once was. Aidan is quietly manipulative and is bit by bit stealing away every bit of independence and life that Chloe had.

The two strands collide in a most interesting way and I particularly loved those bits where Madeleine and Chloe feature at the same time. Each helps the other in ways they could never have imagined and I found their relationship really lovely. Secrets are part of the title and very much part of the story. Both of the main characters have secrets that are very important to them.

The author does a brilliant job of describing Summerhill, the grounds and the crashing waves around the coastline. Madeleine's life there has not exactly been carefree but she adores the place and I could see why. I would love to be able to visit it in real life, but doing so between the covers of this book was the next best thing.

The story jumps around between the two times quite a bit and I loved that. It left me wanting more every time, wanting to find out how the two women would deal with their secrets. The stories are perfectly intertwined and we sort of drift between them, learning more as we go along.

Towards the end there are a couple of shocking events that I didn't expect at all. My heart broke for Maddy and Chloe, and those final chapters were nail-biting as I raced toward the conclusion.

Summer of Secrets is a gorgeous book in every way. It's a story that cannot be rushed, in fact the first third or so was quite slow in that it was scene-setting, allowing me to become engrossed and enthralled by it. Then, once I was familiar with the characters and the setting, it all slotted into place. I found it to be a really moving read. I love this author's writing - it has a quiet beauty to it and I can't wait for her next book.

A captivating dual timeframe novel about love in all its guises and about a house which is very much one of the characters in the story. Set in 1939 and the present day ‘Summer of Secrets’ revolves around two women, Madeleine who is living at ‘Summerhill’ in a world on the cusp of war and Chloe who is visiting the house many years later to take author photographs for a new and upcoming children’s book.

This is a lovely tale with some dark and disturbing moments. The two women whose lives interconnect are great characters - they are well drawn and realistic. Chloe’s story is particularly gripping as she realises some truths about her husband. Madeleine also has her cross to bear as her past continues to haunt her. There is also a fantastic cast of peripheral characters, a couple not particularly pleasant. ‘Summerhill’ itself is just so enchanting! I could easily visualise it in my mind, near the picturesque cliffs and small bays of Cornwall. There is a great sense of time and place which adds to the atmosphere and mood. I found myself totally immersed in the two separate but linked tales.

I very much enjoyed this engaging story about family, the importance of friendship and the courage to follow the right path.

My Mother's Shadow is a beautifully written book that pulled out all the emotions; humor, grief, anger, joy, and contentment. Addie has always had a contentious relationship with her mom so when her mom dies she doesn't know how to react she's congratulating herself for how well she's dealing with the loss. But now a year after her death a woman (Phoebe) is on her father's doorstep claiming to be her sister, her twin sister. How could this be? Addie knows everything about her parents, sure they didn't really talk about the past but she knows her dad would have told her.

As we are reeling from this information Ms. Scott takes a back to her mother's time through her diaries. We find that Addie's mother, Liz, is dealing with her mother's imminent death from cancer. The way Liz talks about her the relationship with her mother was so beautiful, the bond they shared was something that brought tears to my eyes and made my breath catch in my throat . . . but part of that was for the way the story turned out.

Phoebe and Addie have their story and interwoven is Liz's story. I laughed at their other sister Venetia (who really seemed like the older sister - and I saying that being an older sister).

I really enjoyed the beginning of the story, it was like Ms. Scott is trying to tell us that we will be put through the emotional wringer and wanted to give us notice. I was chuckling, crying, and hoping & praying I was so caught up in the story. I really can't wait to read more from Ms. Scott.

Adele Harington trauert um ihre Mutter Elizabeth, die vor einem Jahr tödlich verunglückte. Da geht erst ein merkwürdige Anruf ein und dann steht plötzlich eine Frau vor der Türe, die behauptet, ihre Zwillingsschwester zu sein. Kann das sein? Was ist damals geschehen? Die beiden Frauen machen sich auf die Suche, um das Rätsel zu lösen.
So erfahren wir nach und nach die Geschichte der jungen Elizabeth. Ihre Mutter liegt 1958 im Sterben und daher wir die Tochter den Sommer über zu Freunden nach Sussex geschickt. Dort erlebt sie unbeschwerte Tage und verliebt sich.
Die beiden Zeitstränge werden abwechselnd erzählt und erst so nach und nach erschließt sich, was geschehen ist.
Zunächst konnte ich nicht verstehen, wie kalt und distanziert sich Elizabeth gegenüber ihrer Tochter Adele, genannt Addie, verhalten hat. Warum hat sie die jüngere Tochter Venetia immer vorgezogen? Je mehr ich über Elizabeth erfahren hatte, umso besser konnte ich sie verstehen. Sie stand mit den Folgen ihrer Verliebtheit plötzlich alleine da und wurde von einem sehr strengen und engstirnigen Vater überfahren. Zum Glück hat sie einen wunderbaren Mann geheiratet, der ein liebevoller Vater für Addie geworden ist.
Addie und Phoebe machen sich gemeinsam auf eine Reise in die Vergangenheit und es ist schön zu sehen, wie gut sie sich nach kurzer Zeit verstehen. Addies jüngere Schwester Venetia ging mir wirklich oft auf die Nerven, aber ich denke, dass sie auch mit allem, was geschehen ist, ein wenig überfordert war.
Es ist schon erschreckend, wie unverheiratete, schwangere Frauen früher behandelt wurden und wie man unter dem Deckmantel der Wohltätigkeit grausame Entscheidungen über ihren Kopf hinweg getroffen hat. Moralvorstellungen und Angst vor dem Gerede der Leute waren wichtiger als die Gefühle der betroffenen Frauen.
Ein sehr emotionale Geschichte, die mir gut gefallen hat.

My Mother's Shadow is recommended for readers who also enjoy Kate Morton, which is me. I'm pleased to report that I agree with this and Nikola Scott is now an author whose future books I will look forward to reading.

This book is a dual time narrative story. The majority of it is made up of Addie telling us about the year that has passed since her mother's death. They had a sometimes difficult relationship that Addie has never been able to understand the reason for, especially as her mother and her younger sister, Venetia, got along famously. So you can imagine that a long lost sister turning up out of the blue was a bit of a shock!

The other part of the story is Addie's mother, Elizabeth's, diary entries from decades earlier in the late 1950s which nicely fill in the blanks in Addie's first person narrative.

It's a charming and beautifully written story. Not one to be rushed but one to take your time with and take in all the details of the cleverly woven tale. I loved following Addie on her journey of discovery, finding out more about her mother's life and in turn examining her own hopes for the future. It's my favourite kind of book I think, where two different times collide and where secrets are uncovered.

There are lots of surprises and mysteries and I couldn't always work them out which was nice. It's an evocative account of coming of age in post-austerity Britain and of the consequences that actions can have many years down the line.

I found My Mother's Shadow to be hugely pleasurable to read and a little bit heart-breaking. I'll definitely be looking out for Nikola Scott's next book.