Friday 5 October 2012

Friday Recommends - Time's Echo by Pamela Hartshorne

My thanks to newbooksmag for a review copy of Time's Echo

My Friday Recommended Read 

is

Time's Echo 

by 


Published 6 September
PAN


The Book Blurb: 


York , 1577: Hawise Aske smiles at a stranger in the market, and sets in train a story of obsession and sibling jealousy, of love and hate and warped desire. Drowned as a witch, Hawise pays a high price for that smile, but for a girl like her in Elizabethan York, there is nowhere to go and nowhere to hide.

 Four and a half centuries later, Grace Trewe, who has travelled the world, is trying to outrun the memories of being caught up in the Boxing Day tsunami. Her stay in York is meant to be a brief one. But in York Grace discovers that time can twist and turn in ways she never imagined. Drawn inexorably into Hawise’s life, Grace finds that this time she cannot move on. 

Will she too be engulfed in the power of the past?



My 5***** Review



Time's Echo opens with the details of very graphic experience which quickly sets the scene for this dual time narrative set in the city of York. When Grace Trewe is called to the city to oversee the closure of her deceased godmother's house, she is totally unprepared for the effect that the house has on her. Grace, a very modern woman is drawn into the troubled story of Hawise Aske, a young woman who has been grievously wronged, and whose voice echoes down the centuries.

With most dual time narratives there is a tendency to favour one time period over another, but in Time’s Echo both time frames are equally valid with neither one trying to outshine the other. The natural blending of the storyline with parallels in both the past and the future is seamless, and as both Grace and Hawise spiral out of control, the story takes on a momentum all of its own. From the beginning the story explores the historical significance of everyday life in Elizabethan York, and as Hawise and the ordinary people go about their everyday business, a story of thwarted lust, greed and ignorant superstition begins to evolve. In modern day York, Grace battles her own demons whilst at the same time experiences the insecurities and challenges of living day to day in two very different time periods.

Without doubt this is an extraordinarily good debut novel. Pamela Hartshorne is a very talented storyteller, and in Time's Echo she has combined her love of history, with a totally believable story of malicious superstition and overwhelming evil.




Time's Echo one of those rare finds that you want to keep on your book shelf in order to re-read and discover all over again.

It is one of my books of 2012.


Read it for Samhain- "when the worlds of the living and the dead become as one"...

Perfect.






4 comments:

  1. Thank you (and Jaffa!) for such a thoughtful and positive review. I'm really glad you enjoyed it.

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    1. Hi Pamela - Thanks for taking the time to read and comment on my review. Your interest is much appreciated:)

      Best of luck with your writing career.

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  2. Great review> It's a fabulous book and definitely on my keeper shelf. Can't wait for Pamela Hartshorne's next book! Could she PLEASE write a bit faster?

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    1. Hi Louise - Thanks for taking the time to read my blog post. Like you I am eagerly waiting Pamela's next book !

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Thanks for taking the time to comment - Jaffareadstoo appreciates your interest.