Blog Tour ~ The Guardian of Lies by Kate Furnivall

✴✴ Delighted to host today's stop on this exciting Blog Tour ✴✴

On Hist Fic Saturday 


Let's go back to ....1953

Simon&Schuster
31 October 2019

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

1953, the South of France. The fragile peace between the West and Soviet Russia hangs on a knife edge. And one family has been torn apart by secrets and conflicting allegiances. 

Eloïse Caussade is a courageous young Frenchwoman, raised on a bull farm near Arles in the Camargue. She idolises her older brother, André, and when he leaves to become an Intelligence Officer working for the CIA in Paris to help protect France, she soon follows him. Having exchanged the strict confines of her father's farm for a life of freedom in Paris, her world comes alive. But everything changes when André is injured - a direct result of Eloise's actions. Unable to work, André returns to his father’s farm, but Eloïse’s sense of guilt and responsibility for his injuries sets her on the trail of the person who attempted to kill him. Eloïse finds her hometown in a state of unrest and conflict. Those who are angry at the construction of the American airbase nearby, with its lethal nuclear armaments, confront those who support it, and anger flares into violence, stirred up by Soviet agents. Throughout all this unrest, Eloïse is still relentlessly hunting down the man who betrayed her brother and his country, and she is learning to look at those she loves and at herself with different eyes. She no longer knows who she can trust. Who is working for Soviet Intelligence and who is not? And what side do her own family lie on?

What did I think about it..

The Guardian of Lies opens in 1953, and is a dramatic look at the events in Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War, when peace was a fragile commodity and the threads of the Cold War between Russia and the world were beginning to pull ever tighter. Eloïse Caussade and her brother, André, have a close relationship however, when Eloïse inadvertently gets caught up in the dangerous game her brother is playing as an intelligence officer in post-war France, it opens up a whole series of dramatic events. Eloïse is a strong and determined young woman who sets out to discover the secrets her family are keeping from her, even though it puts those she cares for in extreme danger.

Eloïse and her family have been guardians of this land in southern France for generations, farming the Camargue landscape along the banks of the River Rhône, but when an American airbase is placed adjacent to their land it causes great unrest in the nearby town of Arles, putting Eloïse, and her family, in grave peril.

The story gets off to an exciting start and this drama continues with a set of characters and events which bring the whole story to life in a remarkably authentic way. The author writes this type of strong historical fiction very well, and with The Guardian of Lies she has given us another beautifully researched story about a troubled time in our collective history. The mystery at the heart of the novel is filled with just the right amount of tension which allows the story to evolve gradually, and as those who are caught up in this deadly game of espionage get drawn deeper and deeper, so the pressure builds towards a dramatic conclusion.

The Guardian of Lies is published by Simon&Schuster in Ebook and Paperback and is out now.

About the Author

© Kate Wright

Kate Furnivall was raised in Wales, went to university in London, and worked in advertising before becoming a bestselling writer. Her first historical novel, The Russian Concubine, was inspired by her grandmother’s real-life story – she fled the Russian Revolution and became a refugee. Kate has written ten novels since, including The Betrayal, and has been shortlisted for the RNA Historical Novel of the Year Award. She now lives in Devon with her husband. Her books are translated into over 20 languages and have been on the Sunday Times and New York Times Top Ten Bestseller lists.

Twitter @KateFurnivall #TheGuardianOfLies

@simonschusteruk

@ed_pr

Amazon UK

Review ~ The Survivors by Kate Furnivall

Simon & Schuster
November 2018

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book.

Germany, 1945. Klara Janowska and her daughter Alicja have walked for weeks to get to Graufeld Displaced Persons camp. In the cramped, dirty, dangerous conditions they, along with 3,200 others, are the lucky ones. They have survived and will do anything to find a way back home.

But when Klara recognises a man in the camp from her past, a deadly game of cat and mouse begins. He knows exactly what she did during the war to save her daughter. She knows his real identity. What will be the price of silence? And will either make it out of the camp alive?

My thoughts about it..

Klara Janowska has so many secrets, they threaten to overwhelm her and yet, throughout all the heartache of her life, her priority has always been her daughter, Alicja, whose well being is beyond anything that Klara would endure for her safety.

The Graufeld Displaced Persons camp is marginally better that what Klara has left behind in Germany, and with bitter memories of her treatment at the hands of men who used and abused her, Klara's psychological scars run deep. When Klara discovers that a man from her past is now a resident at the camp, she is determined to protect both herself and her daughter from him, regardless of the cost, to both her safety and sanity.  However, for Klara and Alicja to succeed in this dreadful post-WW2 world, they need to learn how to survive.

The author writes well and always gives such a realistic historical view of the world that she creates so beautifully.I raced through this book with my heart in my mouth, never quite knowing what was going to happen next to Klara and her daughter. Both the bleakness of the internment camp and the constant sense of danger comes across so well that it makes for difficult and emotional reading. I particularly enjoyed reading the hints at Klara's back story which made sense of her erratic behaviour, whilst at the same time it gave some fascinating historical background into this very dark period in world history.

The Survivors is an atmospheric and tension packed novel which shows the absolute strength of survival, and of the overwhelming power of a mother's love when the need to protect her child from danger is all consuming.

About the Author

Kate Furnivall is the author of eleven novels, including the international bestsellers, The Russian Concubine, The Liberation and The Betrayal. She lives in Devon.

Website

Twitter @KateFurnivall

#TheSurvivors

@simonschusterUK

Amazon UK

Hist Fic Saturday...The Betrayal by Kate Furnivall

On Hist Fic Saturday

Let's go back to....Paris, 1938

Simon and Schuster UK
November 2018

My thanks to the publicists edpr for my copy of this book

The story starts in Paris in 1930, when a devastating family tragedy occurs when twins, Florence and Romaine Duchamps are teenagers, only for the story to then flip forwards to 1938 when the twins are living very different lives. Socialite, Florence is married to a powerful business man and she has a five year old child, whilst Romaine is a female aviatrix who regularly risks her safety to take to the air in her flimsy, Gypsy Moth, aeroplane. That, Romaine is risking much more than her safety in the skies becomes apparent in her interaction with those who are fearful of the shadowy threat posed by Hitler in the dangerous months before the outbreak of WW2.

The story is compelling, from its decidedly dark beginning, through to the description of life in Paris for both Florence and Romaine. The sisters may be bonded by their birth but they are separated by their lifestyles and the secrets they keep from each other. The action is exciting, particularly Romaine's story as she gets drawn further and further into a dark underworld and yet, Florence's life is equally compelling, as she mingles with the social elite of pre-war, Paris.

The Betrayal is a truly compelling read, not just for the description of the relationship between the sisters, but also for the accuracy of the historical background which explains the build up to the outbreak of war, and of the steady increase in restlessness and apprehension which pervaded all levels of society. The author writes well and certainly brings time and place alive with an authenticity I found fascinating. The action is fast and furious and doesn't shy away from revealing danger and violence and of the consequences of actions which have devastating repercussions for both Florence and Romaine.

This is well written historical fiction which has an absorbing edginess which lasts throughout the whole of the story, from its startling beginning, through to its timely and dramatic conclusion.

About the Author

Website

Twitter @KateFurnivall

#TheBetrayal

@simonschusterUK