The Hidden Letters by Lorna Cook
Genre: Historical fiction, WW1
Read: 24th March 2023
Published: 2nd March 2023
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
On the eve of a world war, a forbidden love will blossom in the garden of a stately home and one young woman will make a choice that will change her life forever…
As the storm clouds of war gather, Cordelia seeks refuge in the grounds of her family estate.
Handsome landscaper Isaac has recently arrived to tend to the gardens, and the connection between him and Cordelia is as immediate as it is forbidden.
Isaac begins to secretly teach her how to cultivate the gardens, so when he and all the young men are called away to war, Cordelia takes over.
From the battlefields of Europe, Isaac sends her letters, that give her hope for their future in peacetime.
But when these messages abruptly cease, Cordelia must face up to the worst and take her future – and the fate of the garden they both loved – into her own hands…
An epic, sweeping tale of love, war and the strength of the human spirit. Fans of Lucinda Riley and Kate Morton will be absolutely gripped by this historical page-turner.
MY THOUGHTS:
A world at war...a forbidden love...an impossible choice...
Oh my! It's been some time since I've read a Lorna Cook novel and upon leaving those final pages and closing the book, I remember now why I love them so much. It's like coming home. A feeling of completeness. Of having lived, loved and survived. Everything about her tales are just all encompassing, sweeping you away and back to another time far away and long forgotten. But this tale is one that will not be forgotten. It is one that will stay with you long after you have finished the final page.
It's the summer of 1914 and the Carr-Lyons family have returned to the Pencallick House estate after the close of the London season. And with them they've brought change in the form of a landscape architect who has redesigned their formal gardens as well as their sustainable ones, such as the kitchen and herb gardens. Isaac Leigh may not be from money but he is educated at Cambridge and he has dreams beyond the next commission.
One night he is enjoying the stillness of the gardens when he sees Cordelia flee in the direction of the lake. She is so quick, a vision in ivory, that he imagines he has dreamed it. He follows this vision and sees her fling her all-too-real self into the lake's inky depths. Almost at once he dives in after her as she clambers about screaming for her younger brother Clive, panicking that she's too late, as together they search for him.
And then Isaac hears a titter behind him...and turns. There stands Clive, very dry and very much alive, snickering at the joke he has played on his older sister. Cordelia is understandably angry at him whilst at the same time relieved that the waters had not claimed him after all. But now she stands there cold, shivering and soaking wet. Isaac drapes his pullover around her shoulders and carries her back to the house, where the party she had left was still underway. She does not return, instead going to her room where her maid draws her a bath and she falls into a slumber with the memory of Isaac's arms around her.
When Cordelia takes up an interest in the gardens, her mother's only arguement being that it's "unladylike" while her older brother Edwin wonders if this is something she will stick at for more than a week. Cordelia is determined to prove them wrong. And so she seeks out Isaac's guidance in cultivating and maintaining the gardens from vegetables and fruit to roses and flowers. Their close proximity rekindles the flame they both felt initially whilst still maintaining some level of propriety. After all, he was "a gardener of sorts" and she, a lady of leisure, brought up to marry well and produces heirs and spares for the estate. But class divides mean nothing compared to love in the face of war.
And when that summer is over and war has reached their shores, Cordelia is heartbroken that Isaac has signed up as an Officer, shipping out in days with the rest of the menfolk in the village. With tear-filled farewells, no one knew when they would see their loved ones again...if ever. And Cordelia suffered in silence as her love was a forbidden one that they had kept secret.
Cordelia goes back to the gardens of Pencallick and assists elderly gardener Gilbert whilst she and an Isaac correspond and dream of a life beyond the trenches together. Rumours cited it would all be over by Christmas but that in itself must have just been wishful thinking because Christmas for Isaac was spent in the trenches in a temporary truce with the enemy along the battlelines whilst for Cordelia, hers was spent longing for the day to end and for the week she will spend with Isaac on leave. But when he doesn't arrive as planned nor leaves no word for her, she fears the worst. She checks the papers daily for his name in the list of casualties only to find it absent.
And so she continues her plans to visit an old friend Tabitha in the Lakes District, the perfect place for her rest and relaxation. The perfect place to come to terms with what will be will be...but if that means a life without Isaac, what is she to do? How can she go on without him?
THE HIDDEN LETTERS is a beautiful tale that is a slight departure from her usual offerings. I was fully expecting a dual timeline but this story is focused solely on the past, taking place at the outset of the Great War with the promise of forbidden love. It is beautiful, poignant and touching and had me in tears at times...especially those final pages.
The first part of the story builds with the developing relationship between Cordelia and Isaac. At times, it seems a little slow but there is a also a sense of urgency with the threat of war hanging over the country. And yet with hindsight, would they have done anything different? The story sees Cordelia also posing that very question, particularly in light of the direction it takes. With the waving off of their loved ones, the second part begins and thus do Cordelia and Isaac's correspondence. Also interspersed are letters from her brother Edwin and his fiance Millicent, who became a VAD when war was declared, and her dear friend Tabitha from the Lakes District. The letters bring a life of their own to the story as they detail conditions at the Front whilst life continues back in Cornwall. Until it doesn't. And Cordelia finds herself in the Lakes District on a journey she never thought would be hers. Her life changes dramatically and her devastation is heartbreaking.
It's when the men went off to the Front and through the letters that I felt the story really came alive. Even when everything changes for Cordelia, the writing is thus a return to the style I've come to know and love from Cook, that I was just completely and wholly immersed within the story there was no escaping.
Though it was a departure from Cook's usual dual timeline narrative, I ended up thoroughly enjoying THE HIDDEN LETTERS far more than I thought I would. The final chapters had me on tenterhooks, the final pages in tears. Just beautiful and everything I have come to love about Cook's stories.
I would like to thank #LornaCook, #Netgalley and #AvonBooks for an ARC of #TheHiddenLetters in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Lorna lives in coastal South East England with her husband, daughters and a Staffy named Socks.
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