This is the story of Rose Courtenay, brought up in a big mansion house in Dorset she is destined for one thing, to marry who her parents think is most suitable and live her life accordingly exactly like theirs. Rose is different she wants more from life, and decides the only way to get this is to break free from family constraints.
So she becomes a nurse, first of all in London and then as the story progresses further afield in France and Russia. But The Great War has started and Rose has to face on a day to day basis the horrors that war brings with it. Work becomes her focus after the male distraction of Alex Denham and Michael Easton from back home is brought to the fighting fields of the France.
Rose’s heart tells her one thing, her head another and after some rather soul searching episodes, she makes a decision but is it the right one and will the injured party be prepared to forget or will Rose’s life be made even more difficult? Wrong love affects people you love and sacrifices have to be made. But then right love brings its own challenges.
The Silver Locket, a rather tenuous title for this book is basically a love story set on the background of war. A rather common theme for novels and one I have always enjoyed in the past. I think Margaret James handles the setting of the scene and capturing the war scenarios very well and they produced some evocative descriptions. However, this aside, there is a lot of weaknesses to the story. Both Alex Denham and Michael Easton seem to be mere fleeting acquaintances from Rose’s past when they are thrown together again because of the war. All of a sudden it seems more happened in the past that the reader was not previously made aware of, too much assumption on the author’s part for me. I felt I was missing something, but going back over it, it was not there to miss. The sentence structure is somewhat ‘loose’ and I had on a number of occasions reread sentences until I could make sense, this really spoilt the book for me. It did not flow more stumbled along which did not make for easy reading or a book you could lose yourself in.
This is the first in what is to be a trilogy of books, the second The Golden Chain (can you see a theme?) is out in May 2011 and I would read the book if offered because there was something niggling away at me at the end of this book which made me want to find out what happened to the three characters but I would not part with money to read it.
Thank you to Amazon Vine for allowing me to receive and review this book. I am sure many others enjoyed this book and the reviews reflect that on Amazon but it was not completely for me, which is why I gave it 3 stars.
I am intrigued by the title, especially as I learn that it was previously released in 2005 as The Morning Promise. The new title reflects on something in the book that is mentioned in a kind of ‘blink and you will miss it’ way. The Morning Promise does not make sense either to the story line. The second book The Golden Chain was previously published as The Long Way Home and the third book new title yet unknown but originally called The Penny Bangle.
The Book Jotter 