Review: The Forgotten Secret by Kathleen McGurl

 

Title: The Forgotten Secret
Author: Kathleen McGurl
Publisher: HQ Digital
Publication Date: 1st March 2019

 

 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Forgotten Secret is a dual timeline novel set in Ireland, both in the present day and during the War of Independence of 1919-1921. In the present day we follow Clare Farrell, who decides to leave her emotionally abusive husband and start a new life for herself in Ireland when she inherits her uncle’s old farmhouse.

Clare was quite a hard character for me to warm to. Her decision to leave her husband was very abrupt and seemingly without any heavy emotional repercussions, which felt highly unrealistic. Having spent 25 years in a manipulative and controlling marriage, she swanned off to Ireland without too much thought, taking a fancy to the first man she met there before divorce proceedings were even underway.

The historical portion of the story followed Ellen O’Brien, a young housemaid trying to find her place in the world at a time of war and turmoil for Ireland. I preferred her story to the present day timeline, and enjoyed learning more about how civilians’ lives were impacted by the War of Independence.

I would have liked to have seen more historical detail through Ellen’s eyes. She was quite a passive character, doing as she was told without questioning the instructions, which meant the actual part she played in the war and the goings on at the house where she worked were never really explained in much detail.

The plot moved along at a good pace, leading to a moving conclusion to Ellen’s story and a fairly satisfying ending to Clare’s. Overall this was a quick read with some interesting historical context, but the present day portion didn’t quite click for me.

 

Review: In a Time Never Known by Kat Michels

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I initially picked up this book because it’s set during the American Civil War – a period I’m interested in learning more about. From its blurb I learnt that it centred around a spy ring, which only furthered my interest.

This book is quite hard to compare to any historical fiction I’ve read recently – and I say this as a good thing, because I found it refreshingly unique. Kat Michels crafted a twisty plot full of suspense, and some quite shocking moments. I could never predict which way the story would go next, and the unpredictability kept me eagerly moving through each chapter.

Probably my favourite aspect of this novel was the complexity of the characters. Multiple perspectives were followed at various points, and every single one of those characters were morally grey. My opinion of each character leapt around repeatedly as Kat Michels explored the lengths people will go to in times of war.

Not knowing much about the period in question, I can’t comment too much on historical accuracy – but it did seem as though a lot of research had gone into this novel. I certainly felt the image of the war created by Kat Michels was believable, and multiple angles were presented, offering depth to the story. The author certainly didn’t back away from describing some of the more disturbing aspects of war – it’s worth noting that at points the book is rather graphic.

While I did really enjoy the story, what made this book a 4* rather than a 5* read was the writing. This was Kat Michels’ debut adult novel, and I felt that it could have done with undergoing another round of edits in order to make the writing really stand out. For me there were often too many chunks of very long paragraphs which halted momentum previously gained. I also feel there could have been more made of the dramatic twists, in order to have them really pack a punch.

All in all, this was a thoroughly enjoyable and intriguing debut, and I’ll be looking out with interest to see what Kat Michels writes next.