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1920s: From Cornwall to London, Paris and Corsica in the 1920s where the a love story spans the decades and the ages until war changes everything
The Book of Lost and Found
What you need to know before your trail
London 1986
Kate starts to sort through her grandmother’s belongings when she finds a painting of a woman Celia, drawn by the famous artist Thomas Stafford. Wanting to know more, she starts to look into her family’s past. She’s always known she was adopted but the search takes her down roads and via stories she never could have imagined
Paris 1939
Alice Everly and Thomas Stafford meet again after having met in 1913 Cornwall and meet over the years as war tries to intervene once again. Tom is now a world-famous artist, Alice is a different person too. Can they rekindle what they once had and what they once dreamed of?
Travel Guide
London
Kate Darling finds a painting of a mysterious woman called Celia. Who this woman is and wanting to know more of her mother June’s past, who was a famous ballerina, she sets off on a trail of discovery. Evie, the grandmother who gives her the painting is hiding many secrets. Her trail follows that of Alice and Tom many years before her as she experiences their story too.
Cornwall and Paris
Meeting for the first time when on holiday in Winnard Cove, Cornwall, Tom and Alice are from different sides of the track – Alice is almost of aristocratic stock while Tom is middle class.
Love knows no boundaries however and the two fall in love. War intervenes and they meet again years later at a house party. The world is changing around them
From this party, Alice’s story unfolds as she travels across Europe during one of the most dangerous times in history. The year is 1938 and war is everywhere. Small details show how people saw the occupation –
And it is strange because the German soldiers don’t look like men of war. Most of them look like boys, sunburnt and flushed with excitement.
Corsica
Artist Tom is now an elderly man living on the island of Corsica and when Kate visits him, he tells the tale of a beautiful yet bitter sweet love story which takes them back to England and then Paris during the war and the time of occupation
Corsica is evoked with passion –
“The heat was heavy, tangible and the air shimmered above the dry earth..”
“Corsica is sun and dirt and herbs”
Three main time periods, each explores the life and lifestyle of the times, how people acted and made decisions during times such as war. How one decision made one day could have an effect on the future.
What things are lost and which are found…..a story of life itself.
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
Totally and utterly loved this book. A story which takes you from the present day to the past and back again. The mystery of a painting found after so many years. And a link to an old Corsican house where secrets unfold and the past slowly comes to light…
I love a good story with a secret which unravels across time and place but this one took on so many emotions such as heartache, regret, nostalgia and sacrifice that I was absolutely engrossed. Kate was an interesting character and I felt I was right beside her every step of the way as she searched for the truth. My heart was in my mouth if I’m honest as I wasn’t sure what she was going to find.
Oh the locations were evocative and mesmerizing – like a treasure trail as one clue led to another. Corsica was a magical place and ideal for the denouement of this story with the history and emotions it involved. I can‘t say much more without giving a clue to the plot but to read this and see it revealed is a joy that I don’t want to spoil for anyone.
Oh and Tom! The story of Alice -the roaring twenties! I need this to be a film. Right now. That’s how it played out in my mind’s eye after all. I’m still dancing to the music which played in my head.
Sumptuous and delectable in every way.
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