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The Skylark's Secret
The Skylark's Secret | Fiona Valpy
4 posts | 3 read | 1 to read
Loch Ewe, 1940. When gamekeeper's daughter Flora's remote highland village finds itself the base for the Royal Navy's Arctic convoys, life in her close-knit community changes forever. In defiance of his disapproving father, the laird's son falls in love with Flora, and as tensions build in their disrupted home, any chance of their happiness seems doomed. Decades later, Flora's daughter, singer Lexie Gordon, is forced to return to the village and to the tiny cottage where she grew up. Having long ago escaped to the bright lights of the West End, London still never truly felt like home. Now back, with a daughter of her own, Lexie learns that her mother--and the hostile-seeming village itself--have long been hiding secrets that make her question everything she thought she knew. As she pieces together the fragments of her parents' story, Lexie discovers the courageous, devastating sacrifices made in her name. It's too late to rekindle her relationship with her mother, but can Lexie find it in her heart to forgive the past, to grieve for all that's lost, and finally find her place in the world?
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aliasNayNay
The Skylark's Secret | Fiona Valpy
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Pickpick

A haunting tale of secrets. The author weaves a rich irresistible story. The characters sparkle on every page. I highly recommend

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Desiree.Reads
The Skylark's Secret | Fiona Valpy
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Mehso-so

Enjoyable enough to finish, but that‘s about it. There were a couple of “surprises” in the novel, but they fell a bit flat. And somehow, rather than foreshadowing leading to a satisfying turn of events, I was often left wondering why something wasn‘t resolved, only later to have the t‘s crossed and i‘s dotted.

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Desiree.Reads
The Skylark's Secret | Fiona Valpy
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“'I'm not trying to rescue you, Lexie,' he says. 'I'm trying to love you.'“

review
rockpools
The Skylark's Secret | Fiona Valpy
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Mehso-so

Let‘s try again!

1978. New mum Lexie and her baby daughter return home to Loch Ewe, following the death of her own mother, Flora. Alongside, we learn Flora‘s story during the war years leading up to Lexie‘s birth, a time when the remote Scottish community was a hub for Arctic convoys.

This was a episode of history I knew nothing about, and I have come away wanting to visit Aultbea and North West Scotland. There was a good story in here –

rockpools but sadly I think I just wanted more from it. Despite the highly descriptive language, from the first few pages I felt I was being told how very Scottish everything was, rather than being allowed to absorb the sense of place myself. The relationships between the characters didn‘t always ring true for me – I guess I just didn‘t connect with them. And I quite simply did not believe that ending. 4y
rockpools Thanks to Netgalley and Amazon Publishing for an eARC of this book.

📷 Aultbea and Loch Ewe, by Nilfanion CC-BY-SA3.0 https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aultbea_and_Loch_Ewe.jpg
4y
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