Hazel Gaynor - The Girl From The Savoy

Dolly Lane is a dreamer; a downtrodden maid who longs to dance on the London stage, but her life has been fractured by the Great War. Memories of the soldier she loved, of secret shame and profound loss, by turns pull her back and spur her on to make a better life.
When she finds employment as a chambermaid at London’s grandest hotel, The Savoy, Dolly takes a step closer to the glittering lives of the Bright Young Things who thrive on champagne, jazz and rebellion. Right now, she must exist on the fringes of power, wealth and glamor—she must remain invisible and unimportant.
But her fortunes take an unexpected turn when she responds to a struggling songwriter’s advertisement for a ‘muse’ and finds herself thrust into London’s exhilarating theatre scene and into the lives of celebrated actress, Loretta May, and her brother, Perry. Loretta and Perry may have the life Dolly aspires to, but they too are searching for something.
Now, at the precipice of the life she has and the one she longs for, the girl from The Savoy must make difficult choices: between two men; between two classes, between everything she knows and everything she dreams of. A brighter future is tantalizingly close—but can a girl like Dolly ever truly leave her past behind?

Comment: When I finished the first book by Hazel Gaynor I tried, I was left with a positive experience and have wanted to repeat it. Since that first good attempt, I read another one which was good but a little less impressive to me and, now, I've finished this one and it's yet another small step lower than the other one. My experience has been decreasing with time and I wonder if it's time to stop...

In this book we have the story of Dolly Lane, a young woman who lives in London during the 20s, a time post war where many people uplifted their spirits with cinema and parties and high expectations of positive things, gaiety and dreams of fame.

Dolly also has aspirations to become an artist but her humble origins make it difficult for her to chase that dream and, therefore, that means she needs to work until an opportunity comes her way. When the story starts she is about to begin working at the Savoy, considered one of the greatest hotels in London.

While we follow Dolly through her work and connections, we see her become a wonderful woman but she is someone who has secrets and, like practically all women, sadness and loss over what the war turned reality into. Will Dolly overcome what she faced in her past so she can become who she dreams of being?

This is a story set exclusively during the 20s. We have some references and scenes from the war times but only through letters Dolly exchanged with her sweetheart Teddy.

There are three narrators that help us decode what is happening: Dolly, Teddy and Loretta (a famous actress who helps Dolly at some point) and the story is divided into three parts. To be honest, the division doesn't seem to be that important, since the plot is continuous but I suppose each division creates a barrier in the emotional stage the characters are at.

This is a dramatic story, the main character is poor, she has had disappointments and unfair things happening to her in her past so, on paper, she should be everything I'd look for in the heroine of a novel. However, I didn't always like to follow Dolly's thoughts, perhaps because her eagerness to be an actress even if that meant she would put herself in a situation that could be harmful for her, would strike me as useless and considering the context, even more so.

I like heroines down on her luck that do something of their lives but while still maintaining their feet in the ground and not looking for difficult to achieve goals.

Of course, this means that Dolly's self confidence, especially when other things bring her down or prove to her she should be thankful for the good things she has, is at its highest when she does get praise for what she aspires, in particular in the person of Loretta May, a famous actress who also hides some secrets and her brother Perry, a composer who befriends Dolly when she replies to his ad for a muse.

The relationship between these three is never too complex as I thought it might develop and, to be honest, the way the author chose to develop them and where they go towards the end of the novel doesn't always feel like the best course of action.

I think the idea is there and I was captivated by the notion of these people trying to be the best they could at such a convoluted time and the setting is unusual enough for me, since the 20s don't seem to be a moment in history I'm very fond of, but the plot leads to a very weird situation that I don't think was solved as well as the author could and there was an obvious goal of reaching drama and intensity that the how was a little lost.

I've seen some readers didn't like the end for a specific reason but that didn't bother me that much. I was more annoyed at the fact Dolly wasn't as impressive a character as I wanted hr to be and that such a long time passed from the last chapter and the epilogue. What happened in between is unknown and I don't think the effort and pace were used correctly: I'd rather have a better solution of everyone's issues and less epilogue gap or, even better, no epilogue at all, the best could have been to leave the entirety of the end to the reader's imagination, since the scene with Dolly's last decision.

As a whole, this book has a lot to praise about and it does offer some good reading time. I just think that, for me personally, the characters were never as easy to sympathize with, their plights worthy and complex but their personalities focused on details I can't relate to (like the desire to perform, to be famous) and that I felt were portrayed in a very detached manner.

I liked the characters' backgrounds a lot more but those were just another element to motivate the characters and not as exploited as I'd have preferred.

This was good but not as good as it could be, I'd say.

Grade: 6/10

Hazel Gaynor - The Cottingley Secret

The author of The Girl Who Came Home turns the clock back one hundred years to a time when two young girls from Cottingley, Yorkshire, convinced the world that they had done the impossible and photographed fairies in their garden. Now, in her newest novel, international bestseller Hazel Gaynor reimagines their story.
1917… It was inexplicable, impossible, but it had to be true—didn’t it? When two young cousins, Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright from Cottingley, England, claim to have photographed fairies at the bottom of the garden, their parents are astonished. But when one of the great novelists of the time, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, becomes convinced of the photographs’ authenticity, the girls become a national sensation, their discovery offering hope to those longing for something to believe in amid a world ravaged by war. Frances and Elsie will hide their secret for many decades. But Frances longs for the truth to be told.
One hundred years later… When Olivia Kavanagh finds an old manuscript in her late grandfather’s bookshop she becomes fascinated by the story it tells of two young girls who mystified the world. But it is the discovery of an old photograph that leads her to realize how the fairy girls’ lives intertwine with hers, connecting past to present, and blurring her understanding of what is real and what is imagined. As she begins to understand why a nation once believed in fairies, can Olivia find a way to believe in herself? 

Comment: Since I've liked another book by this author around two years ago, I've decided to read more of her work and that is how I've come to try this title as well.

In this dual time story, we follow two stories that are somewhat connected.

In the past story (1917) we have a strange plot featuring two cousins who seem to see fairies and they take a picture of them which later on becomes famous even if there are rumors that maybe the picture is not as real as many believed.

In the present story we follow Olivia, a young woman with some negative experiences in her life who inherits a bookshop and cottage in Ireland and she investigates some documents while dealing with is happening in her personal life.

How are both stories connected and why is Olivia know learning all this?

I liked this story but I must say, comparing to the other one I've read, it felt slightly weaker.

This is a dual timed story and we follow two stories simultaneously which are also connected somehow.

The story set in the past seems to be based on a real fact, the Cottingley fairies, something I confess I had never heard of before. The author uses it as the main theme to start of this plot. Apparently two girls in 1917 took a picture with fairies and many people believed it to be real until they were older and confessed how everything happened.

As usual, I tend to prefer one of the stories in this type of books. I think the past story was OK and interesting, considering the base for it, but to be honest I don't think it was as well done as it could. I can understand why the author decided to stick to a certain tone, especially if the details were based on real facts and it would have been too weird to stay too far from that. But although the fictional parts were well thought, I still think everything was a little too artificially done, almost as if we couldn't have it any other way. I just think this part wasn't as engaging to me as it could.

This obviously means I preferred the present time story. In here we follow Olivia, a woman who returns to Ireland to take care of her grandfather's bookshop and cottage after he dies. I liked this part better because I feel the emotions portrayed were stronger and better explained too. I could visualize Olivia and her issues with her doubts about her incoming marriage, her doubts about what her fiancé feels about her, her fears of losing her grandparents' cottage and bookshop. I did like her inner journey towards becoming a different and more confident woman. 

I also liked how her issues were dealt with and how the author used several well placed details here and there to better give us the idea of her evolution in the story.

How the two plots are connected isn't such a brilliant idea (it's no secret that a character from the past is part of Olivia's family) so there's no incredible secret here to grab the reader's attention. The value of this story is precisely the beauty of the prose and he situations surrounding the main characters.

This means that, to me, the story lost some impact it could have had and in terms of enjoyment, it was OK but not as amazing as it could. It was a good reading experience but not great.

Nevertheless, this was a good enough plot to follow and I liked how the end wasn't too sugary nor filled with miracles. I think the author did a good job letting things seem controlled which give us the impression there's a certain tone to keep up with what is happening.

Still, I'd have liked an even more emphasis on the contemporary story or, at least, in how the connection of the stories mattered, because I felt it wasn't just a huge deal. But still an entertaining story for certain.

Grade: 7/10

Hazel Gaynor - A Memory of Violets

1876. Among the filth and depravity of Covent Garden's flower markets, orphaned Irish sisters Flora and Rosie Flynn sell posies of violets and watercress to survive. It is a pitiful existence, made bearable only by each other's presence. When they become separated, the decision of a desperate woman sets their lives on very different paths.
1912. Twenty-one-year-old Tilly Harper leaves the peace and beauty of her native Lake District for London to become assistant housemother at one of Mr. Shaw's Training Homes for Watercress and Flower Girls. For years, the homes have cared for London's orphaned and crippled flower girls, getting them off the streets. For Tilly, the appointment is a fresh start, a chance to leave her troubled past behind.
Soon after she arrives at the home, Tilly finds a notebook belonging to Flora Flynn. Hidden between the pages she finds dried flowers and a heartbreaking tale of loss and separation as Flora's entries reveal how she never stopped looking for her lost sister. Tilly sets out to discover what happened to Rosie—but the search will not be easy. Full of twists and surprises, it leads the caring and determined young woman into unexpected places, including the depths of her own heart.

Comment: This is a book I've gotten interested in and recommended to a friend and then we decided to read it as a buddy read, meaning we both read it around the same time and now we will chat about it to compare thoughts. I liked the book and I know, from the grade used, that my friend also enjoyed it a lot. This was a wonderful surprise!

 

In this book we follow two women through their lives and their feelings. In 1976 Florrie is a young Irish girl who sells flowers with her younger sister, Rosie. After their parents die, Florrie tries her best to help and protect Rosie but one day she is taken from her in a busy market day and blind Rosie can't get back to her sister. For decades, Florrie looks for Rosie but doesn't find her and dies not knowing what happened to her.

In 1912, Tilly Harper is young woman starting to work at Violet House, one of several houses taking in crippled or orphaned girls who used to sell flowers and now work in factories that make beautifully done fake flowers. Tilly doesn't want to think about her past and she quickly sees herself part of Violet House and the girls she takes care of. But a diary found in her new room and the time spent with people who care for her will make her want to uncover a mystery and give closure. Can she do it?

 

I liked this book a lot. I confess I begin to read dreading the awful sad and unfair parts where the girls who sold the flowers would be mistreated and abused somehow but thankfully the story isn't a study on the disgraces of the world, it's a story more centered around the key characters, their lives and the people they know. We do have a realistic idea of how difficult and poor life was for people who didn't have money or any means to survive with decency, but the focus is on Florrie's desire to find Rosie and then on Tilly's life and her wish to help Florrie's spirit or soul by finding Rosie and letting her know she was loved and looked for until Florrie couldn't go on anymore.

This was a very emotional read but I can say it's not as depressing as I feared and in the end it's actually sweet and slightly uplifting.

 

Florrie's part of the story is mostly told from her diary, that Tilly finds. It's emotional, heartbreaking because she loved Rosie and dies without knowing and how that sometimes it's the hardest part, not knowing where our loved ones are, if they are well... I wish Florrie's life had been kinder and that she could have found more happiness other than the flower houses and the girls, but maybe the fascination is precisely that, a love that doesn't let anything else get in the way...but I wish Florrie could have found her sister sooner. 

The last scene made me cry, despite the happy ending.

 

As for Tilly's parts, obviously they are bigger, more developed, for she's the main character after all. Tilly is young but she lives with guilt and fear and some other feelings from her childhood she can't exactly process. Closer to the end, she also finds closure, a very needed one, and some situations are explained. I think some things were dramatized in an unnecessary way, but since the majority of the novel is well done, well executed and I had such a pleasure reading and unwillingness to put it down I just put aside any little things I didn't find as amazing.

 

Tilly arrives in London, where everything is different, but she's wise, she learn to cherish her friendships and she even grows to respect and like Edward, a young man who will understand her back.

I liked Tilly, I could accept her actions based on what she thought was the way things really happened in her past, I understand her decision to move and how she couldn't avoid developing feelings for the girls, Edward and mr Albert Shaw, the person who made it all possible.

I wanted to keep reading, I wanted to see Tilly find out about what was right or not and I had a good time seeing how Tilly grew up to be an amazing woman and how she tried to help Florrie's spirit.

 

I think the author thought well about the story, about how to tell it. At some moments, certain parts seemed to lose speed, but that isn't a bad thing in my opinion. The author did a good research, I was convinced I was reading things about real situations, about possible real actions and moves in history. The fiction part was lovely, emotional but not depressing and there's a happy end, despite some sadness that one can't avoid.

 

I was really impressed and very glad I decided to risk on reading this book. I like historical fiction but it's not the thing I look for the most. I think that, for a buddy read, my friend and I did pretty well. I recommend this one.

Grade: 8/10