I am so excited to share my review of The Lengthening Shado (The Linford Series) by Liz Harris. Thank you so much to The Coffee Pot Book Club for your invite to take part in this tour.
The Lengthening Shadow
(The Linford Series)
By Liz Harris
Dorothy and Franz go to live in a village in south-west Germany, where they have a daughter and son. Throughout the early years of the marriage, which are happy ones, Dorothy is secretly in contact with her sister, Nellie, in England.
Back in England, Louisa Linford, Dorothy’s cousin, is growing into an insolent teenager, forever at odds with her parents, Charles and Sarah, and with her wider family, until she faces a dramatic moment of truth.
Life in Germany in the early 1930s darkens, and to Dorothy’s concern, what had initially seemed harmless, gradually assumes a threatening undertone.
Brought together by love, but endangered by acts beyond their control, Dorothy and Franz struggle to get through the changing times without being torn apart.
The sole reason I agreed to read this book was not because of the blurb, but because of the cover. I mean, have you looked at it? It’s gorgeous. Anyway, that is besides the point, as once you open a book, the cover means nothing, as you can’t see it, and the story means everything. And oh my days, if this story didn’t mean everything.
If I am familiar with one era of history, it is that of the World Wars, as that is the era I studied at school for my exams. Something else I remember from school, from English class, is the phrase ‘dramatic irony’, which basically means that the reader knows something that the characters don’t. Therefore, I would like to start by formally apologising to my teachers for being such a pain, as I was unaware of how this knowledge would help me later in life. With that out of the way, allow me to gush about this book.
I started reading late at night, a huge mistake, for I did not want to go to bed and my husband had to forcefully remove my means of reading and tempt me with hot chocolate to get me to get off the sofa and into bed. The world that has been created inside this book is so wonderfully written that you don’t read the words, you live them, and you don’t just follow the characters, you meet them and feel everything they feel. Dorothy, in particular, almost made me cry a couple of times. She falls in love, and her family shun her for it, which is simply rude. On the other hand, she did fall in love with a German, in England, during the First World War, so maybe they can be excused a little. She moved to Germany, married, had children. As I was reading, I imagined myself in her shoes. While the village she moves to is simply delightful and I’m sure I could cook like she does (although my husband may disagree), there is no way I could move to another country and learn a whole new language like she does. My French teacher at school can attest to that. Dorothy is incredibly brave and (this is where the dramatic irony comes in) I read in horror as events started to unfold in front of me, the Nazi party coming into power while Dorothy is enjoying life in the village amongst her Jewish friends. The First World War was supposed to be the war to end all wars, so no one, but the reader, is expecting a second.
Back in England, we meet Louisa, Dorothy’s cousin, and her extensive family. It may be a large family, but I didn’t get as lost as I initially expected, for every character is their own person and are very easy to tell apart. Louisa goes through a very traumatic incident, entirely of her own making, which sets her on a path that none of her family could have expected from the little terror teen she used to be. Compared to Dorothy, Louisa is a very different person, for Dorothy is gentle and kind and Louisa is very strong spirited, but they both go through their own trials and, with Dorothy in exile from her family, Louisa is one of the only people, other than Dorothy’s sister, who writes to her. Despite not seeing each other for many years, they become very close and it was heartbreaking to see Dorothy’s joy at another member of her family writing to her, giving her another link to home.
This book was absolutely wonderful from start to finish. I have to be careful, as my husband is getting fed up of the amount of money I keep spending on books each month, but if he can have his ridiculously expensive coffee, I can have my books and I think my next purchase is definitely going to be the rest of the books in this series, for as soon as I finished reading, I wanted to be back among the Linford family.
I received my copy from The Coffee Pot Book Club but you can grab yours from Amazon Uk or Amazon US.
A few years later, she returned to London and completed a degree in English, after which she taught secondary school pupils, first in Berkshire, and then in Cheshire.
In addition to the nine novels she’s had published, she’s had several short stories in anthologies and magazines.
Liz now lives in Oxfordshire. An active member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Historical Novel Society, her interests are travel, the theatre, cinema, reading and cryptic crosswords. To find out more about Liz, visit her website at: http://www.lizharrisauthor.com
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What a truly wonderful review. Thank you so much, Oh, look, another book!, for everything you've written about the Linfords and their world. Your review was quite moving.
ReplyDeleteSuch a wonderful review, Maddie. I am so glad you enjoyed The Lengthening Shadow.
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting today's blog tour stop!