My Name is Eva by Suzanne Goldring
Genre: Historical fiction
Read: 20th September 2019
Purchase: Amazon
(release date: 11th September 2019)
★★★★★ 5 stars
WOW! I absolutely loved MY NAME IS EVA! I was so anxious to finish this beautiful story that heaven help anyone who interrupted me! And when I did...I was left breathless.
I laughed, I cried, I cheered and I fell in love with the rather cheeky Mrs T-C. She is clever, she is resourceful but she is also very sweet. And she is definitely not what others seem to think she is!
Evelyn Taylor-Clark is well into her 90s and now resides at the Forest Lawn Care Home (which to me sounded more like a crematorium/cemetery) after a fall from a ladder, in which she broke her hip, trying to remove any further evidence of the secrets of her past. Having lived at Kingsley Manor for most of her life, her estate is now being left in the hands of her somewhat harried niece Pat to sift through and sort out and get into some sort of order. But Kingsley holds some secrets that Evelyn would much rather stay buried in the past.
No stranger to subterfuge, Evelyn lead something of a double life during the end of the war where she was known simply as "Eva". Multi-lingual, she was fluent in both German and Russian, making her the perfect addition to a team to be based in Germany interviewing detainees to give up their secrets. The work was brutal, her commanding officer - Colonel Stephen Robinson - even more brutal. But she chose this job to get nearer to him for he was the man responsible for her beloved husband Hugh's death. And for that, she swore revenge. How? She did not know. But she would bide her time until it was right.
However, the work got to her and she sought a position elsewhere where she would be better placed and needed. Her new work saw her taking in Polish refugees and working to re-home them either repatriated to their country or a new life in America. It was a job she loved and she thrived in. She spent many years here in Germany until the late 40s there before returning to England. But she found herself returning several times...for in Germany she had a secret. One which she had told no one...except the nurses she had worked with. A secret she found herself hard to part with. But she had to. Life goes on. But still, she never forgot Colonel Stephen Robinson and that one day she would get her revenge.
Back in England, at Kingsley Manor, Eva became Evelyn once again and lived her life as normal until the death of her parents afterwhich she inherited the estate. As the years went on, one would never suspect the part Evelyn had played at the end of the war...nor the secrets she kept. And yet, she had more secrets to come.
Back to the present day in 2016, Evelyn - or Mrs T-C, as she is now more fondly known - is playing her hand at subterfuge once again. Despite her ailing body, Mrs T-C's mind is as sharp as it ever was and yet she cheekily plays at a vagueness everyone puts down to age and senility. She has such fun you can almost see the twinkle in her eyes and the smirk on her lips. Her niece Pat grows increasingly impatient with her inability to hold a proper conversation or answer any questions. It is understandable as it can be frustrating but on the other hand I found her attitude somewhat irritating as well. After all, this was her aunt, a loved one. Had her mind really been ailing she would need understanding and TLC, not impatience and anger.
One day, Pat brings an old tin of photos, its contents which seem to bring back memories and shock Mrs T-C into some quick thinking. Pat has no idea who these people are or what they mean to her aunt, and Mrs T-C is quick to dismiss them, taking the tin back to her room and destroying remaining evidence. But what is even more shocking is what Pat finds in the suitcases her aunt had been trying to lug down from the top of the cupboards when she had her fall. She questions her aunt who continues to be vague and unable to remember where she came about its contents. So Pat goes to the police.
Enter Inspector Williams who, not only questions her about the suitcase's contents but is also looking for an ex-Colonel Stephen Robinson, who went missing from his flat in the mid-80s and was never heard from or seen again. The Inspector is incredibly patient with Mrs T-C's vagueness of her dim recollections and would often humour her as she goes off on her tangents. I especially love the way Mrs T-C treats the care home as if it were her own house and she was calling on the staff as her servants - "I think we'll have some and some of those biscuits please!" - putting in her order for her favourite kind. These chapters were so enjoyable and amusing to read. I found myself chuckling often at Mrs T-C's wit and cheekiness. She puts on an award-winning performance of senility to keep her secrets hidden. And I guarantee, you will fall in love with her also.
Told through the many voices of Evelyn/Eva/Evie/Hilda/Mrs T-C, MY NAME IS EVA spans some 70 years from 1943 to 2016 and is a historical novel with a difference. It is cleverly plotted and so well written it had me engaged from beginning to end. I especially love the alternating chapters written in letter form to her beloved husband Hugh...even long after he had gone. Her love for him spanned a lifetime which was clearly evident as her story unfolded.
The final chapter is so beautiful and so touching I had tears in my eyes as I read it. Such an appropriate end that was so breathtaking to an equally magnificent and brilliant story. It seriously blew me away.
I loved MY NAME IS EVA - so much there is so much more I could say about it but I don't want to ruin it for others. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Many thanks to Suzanne Goldring - I'm not sure how you can top such a brilliant debut as this or as sharp and as quirky character as the beloved Mrs T-C/Evelyn.
I would like to thank #SuzanneGoldring, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #MyNameIsEva in exchange for an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment