I met Emma at Britmums Live in June and we discovered that we both live in Henley. She then told me about her book and I was fascinated. I am always impressed by the authors who publish as an e-book and hope, through hard work self-publicising their book, that it will get picked up by a publisher. Emma is a talented story teller and very quickly you are drawn into the web she weaves. Her characters are extremely believable as they are flawed but very likeable. The book spans three generations of one family who lived through the war and then through all the dramas that any, and nearly all, families have, death, illness, heartbreak and love. The book keeps you interested and intrigued throughout even though you sort of second guess how it is going to turn out you are still willing it to be so as you genuinely care for this family. Emma’s description of Ibiza is particularly real, coming from her own intimate knowledge of the island, her grandmother having retired to the island many years ago. It is this grandmother who inspired the story in that she worked as an actress during the war, then afterwards as a TV presenter before deciding to move to Ibiza however the rest of the story is entirely ficticious. I absolutely loved this book and will miss the family that I became so involved with over the past few days. I hope Emma has another book in the pipeline!
STOP PRESS Congratulations to Emma for being a finalist in this year’s Britmums’ awards for her charming blog called An Author’s Notebook.