The Telegram by Debbie Rix
Genre: Historical fiction, Wartime fiction
Read: 12th October 2024
Published: 15th October 2024
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
One message will change everything…
1915, London: Shaking, she opens the faded red front door and her heart races as the young boy on the steps holds out the telegram. The words swim before her. They can’t be true; this can’t be happening. Nothing will ever be the same again.
1943, London: Elizabeth Carmichael rushes out down the steps of her town house in her smart army uniform, daydreaming of her handsome fiancé posted miles away in the RAF, and determined to play her part in the war effort. Not looking where she’s going, Elizabeth collides with a tall man in the middle of the street. She instantly recognises him from a faded photograph from before the war. This chance meeting will change everything Elizabeth thought she knew about herself.
1960, London: Violet Carmichael wipes the dust from an antique writing desk, not expecting to find a hidden compartment, or the old diaries nestled inside. Peeling apart the yellowing pages, a story unfolds of a family devastated by two world wars and a man who risked his life for freedom and for love. It leads her to discover a telegram that will finally unlock a decades-old family secret…
Inspired by a true story, this is a heart-wrenching, page-turning and unforgettable story of the importance of family and the power of love and forgiveness. Fans of Kathryn Hughes, Kate Quinn and Kate Morton will be utterly gripped by this incredible historical fiction novel spanning WW1 and WW2.
MY THOUGHTS:
One message could change everything...
Spanning the decades, this tale sweeps across three timelines beginning in 1915 with the main story centred in 1943 before wrapping things up in 1959/1960. Whilst no one features predominantly as the main character, which seems a little puzzling at first but once things begin to slot into place we see the story is that of Charles Carmichael, the branches in his somewhat complex family tree and the secret he carries throughout his rather puzzling life. It's a secret that is only uncovered after he has gone though as the reader it's one we had suspected for the most part throughout...all but one tiny piece that became the catalyst for what was to become Charles' life of subterfuge. Intrigued?
1915: It's a beautiful day when the boy delivered the telegram into Tilly's trembling hands. Racing inside, she called to her mother to alert her to the arrival and reading out its contents sent her mother into floods of tears. Her beloved brother - "Bruv" as he was affectionately called - was missing presumed dead. And the in the coming days a letter followed, addressed to her parents written in Bruv's hand. A letter that told them little and gave nothing away yet changed their lives. Bruv was gone.
1943: A chilly day in London as Elizabeth Carmichael readies herself for her post in the War Office, assistant to Captain Valentine, a letch in Elizabeth's opinion who cannot keep his leary eyes or suggestive remarks to himself. She and her mother moved to Notting Hill a year before after much of the city had suffered the deluge of the Blitz and people were escaping to the country and safety. But her mother Madeleine saw an opportunity and built on it. It worked for her as she was posted close by in Whitehall and as a result could remain at home rather than doss in a billet, which were few and far between at any rate.
Elizabeth's eyes strayed to the two solitary photos that always took pride of place on the mantlepiece. Her father in his army uniform and her father holding baby Elizabeth. She never knew her father and whenever she pressed her mother for details, she always clammed up saying she was better off without him. All Elizabeth knew about the man she knew as Paddy was that he had gone to China and stayed there rather than return home. Her mother divorced him and the rest was a somewhat spotted history that Elizabeth failed to untangle.
So when she was walking home from the Tube one evening after work, she was shocked to see a man who resembled her father walk out of the house opposite theirs on Clarendon Road. She called to him "Padraig Carmichael?" The man stopped, turned and looked at her. He paled.
Charles Carmichael had left his past behind him, along with a trail of secrets. So when the pretty young woman stopped him outside his door he was speechless. He tried denying any knowledge but it was clear she was his daughter. She was the image of Madeleine, her mother and his ex-wife. And so the two began to meet and develop a relationship. His next conundrum was telling his wife Violet, who knew nothing of his past, except that he had been married briefly before. And even then only because she saw it on their marriage certificate. How was he to break the news of a daughter to her?
And so life begins to get a little more complicated for the man with so many secrets.
1959: At the age of sixty four, Charles Carmichael - a conundrum himself - peacefully passes away in hospital alone without his wife Violet by his side. And yet she kept his wishes for his funeral and his resting place to be in the village where he was born and grew up. But the man with so many secrets had left her with so many unanswered questions. His sister remained tightlipped and refused to tell her what she knew.
It's not until she is packing away Charles' things that she comes across his diaries, and travels down a rabbit hole and back to 1914 and 1915 where she meets the idealistic young Charles Carmichael in his prose. And as she reads, the pieces thus begin to fall into place and the secrets of Charles' life finally began to surface.
This was an interesting tale that I almost read almost in one sitting, leaving the final few chapters till the morning to finish. I wouldn't call it emotional and in a way it wasn't gripping either but it was intriguing. Something kept me turning the pages. I wanted to see how it would all end and learn about the secrecy that surrounded Charles' life for so long. What had lead to it and why? That was the biggest secret of all that was only unearthed in the final chapters. But it made everything make sense. Throughout the book we are given glimpses of Charles' early life in snippets and the secrecy surrounding his later years was an obvious given. It didn't take Einstein to work that one out but it was only confirmed at the end.
The characters weren't completely developed I felt with not a lot of depth to them. But they were still likable enough. I admit to Violet irritating me somewhat though I can't quite put my finger on why that is. Elizabeth I felt had more depth to her than most. It was interesting, if maybe not completely believable, how the two families bonded together, remaining across the street from each other until the end. Charles was difficult to connect with but I think that was intentional as those who knew him even found him an enigma, if not frustrating at times.
The book's description I found a little misleading as it felt as if it were a different book than the one I was reading.
I have only read one other book by this author, "The Secret Letter" which I absolutely loved so I was excited to dip into this one. It was enjoyable, a quick read that took about 5 reading hours, that kept me engaged till the end.
Four solid stars.
I would like to thank #DebbieRix, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheTelegram in exchange for an honest review.
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