Stephanie Keating

Busily involved as we are in moving house, moving countries (France to UK), this book, billed as a 'perfect holiday read' seemed a nice, non-demanding choice. A father's will reveals to his children that they have a previously unknown half-sister in France. The half-sister, Solange is equally shocked by this knowledge. So far so good. But soon we get to hear the father's history and that of his friends, all Resistance workers, as the book switches between 1970s Ireland and France and war-torn France. German-occupied Paris, and the effects on the survivors of their concentration camp experiences are all brought vividly to life, and all at once the story became a gripping one. The characters themselves are not so rounded and believable: it was easy to guess very early on for instance, how the story would end for Solange: but I knew neither her nor her Irish half-sister at all by the time the book ended. It's worth reading though, as an account of the dismal events of the Second World War as far as Paris was concerned. It added to my understanding of the period.… (mer)

Blood Sisters is the first book in the Langani Trilogy. It begins in 1957 and continues into 1966. Three girls meet in a Kenyan boarding school and become inseparable. Hannah is the daughter an Afrikaner farmer, Sarah the daughter of a family that lives on the southern tip of Kenya near the Indian Ocean, and Camilla the daughter of a British diplomat and his socialite wife living in Nairobi.

The transition of Kenya to independence (1963) from Britain is a large part of the plot. The authors, sisters who grew up in Kenya during this period, don't shy away from the turbulence of those years. Each of the girls suffers through family crises, heartbreak and personal doubt as they mature, but they arrive at the end of the book stronger than ever.

It's been a long time since I've read a saga of this type and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Though almost 600 pages it held my attention until the end and I've already got the second in the trilogy in my bookcase.… (mer)