Rosepoint Rating: Five Stars
The prolific pen of Ms Grainger has churned out another start to a can’t-miss new series with unique empathetic characters in an atmospheric village of the turbulent Irish coastline.
Book Blurb:
As the world teeters on the brink of war in 1937, two young souls separated by an ocean are about to discover a connection that defies logic and time.
Grace Fitzgerald, a fiery-haired dreamer, longs to escape the confines of her windswept Dingle fishing village. Across the Atlantic, Richard Lewis, heir to a Savannah banking fortune, suffocates under the weight of societal expectations he can’t quite understand.
When their worlds collide through a twist of fate, Grace and Richard uncover a bond so profound it shakes the very foundations of their existence. As Europe inches towards chaos, they find themselves caught in a whirlwind of discovery, challenging everything they thought they knew about themselves and each other.
From the rugged Irish coastline to the genteel streets of Georgia, ‘Lilac Ink’ weaves a tapestry of love, destiny, and self-realization against the ominous backdrop of impending global conflict. Grace and Richard must navigate not only their impossible connection but also the turbulent waters of family expectations, social norms, and their own conflicting desires.
This mesmerizing journey through time and place will leave you questioning the very nature of fate and the extraordinary power of human connection. In a world being torn apart, can two hearts, inexplicably linked, find a way to beat as one?
My Review:
Oh my goodness, I love the descriptions of the quaint villages of Ireland, the people who live there, and the immersive stories that Ms Grainger generates!
The new series finds Grace Fitzgerald under the tyrannical thumb of her older sister, Agnes. She has been there since her return from the hospital following a four-year battle with polio. She has been left with a gimpy, painful right leg and is at the mercy of her sister, the headmistress of the school where she works as an assistant teacher.
In frustration and despair one evening, Grace throws caution to the wind off Dingle Peninsula and discovers someone across the Atlantic shares much the same frustration with his own family, though his circumstances are pretty much 180 degrees from hers.
Agnes is a scheming, nasty, spiteful woman bitter with the way her life turned after the loss of both parents and her sudden, unhappy role as Grace’s caregiver. It’s not that Grace isn’t grateful for the roof over her head, but…
Aside from Agnes and Canon Rafferty, who provide strong dastardly antagonistic roles, there are a number of wonderful support characters all given just enough development to engage. (When the time comes, they rally around Grace—I loved it.)
As with all of the author’s books, there is Irish and British history woven into the narrative, and as this book is set just pre-WWII, the tension of the country and its inhabitants. The storyline is a marvelous mix of storytelling, history, suspense, and that Irish sense of humor.
At this point, I’m sufficiently invested to anxiously await the next installment in her promising new series. Character-driven, I’ve got to see where they go and already placing bets, no money involved, as this author is always full of surprises.
I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest opinions. If you aren’t already a Grainger fan, now is a good time to check out her books.
Book Details:
Genre: Historical Irish Fiction, Historical British & Irish Literature, Friendship Fiction
ASIN: B0CYY51D7H
Print Length: 296 pages
Publication Date: July 23, 2024 Happy Release Day!
Source: Author
Title Links: Lilac Ink [Amazon-US]
Amazon-UK
The Author: JEAN GRAINGER USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR
SELECTED BY BOOKBUB READERS IN TOP 19 OF HISTORICAL FICTION BOOKS
WINNER OF THE 2016 AUTHOR’S CIRCLE HISTORICAL NOVEL OF EXCELLENCE
Hello and thanks for taking time out to check out my page. If you’re wondering what you’re getting with my books, then think of the late great Maeve Binchy but sometimes with an historical twist. I was born in Cork, Ireland in 1971 and I come from a large family of storytellers, so much so that we had to have ‘The Talking Spoon’, only the person holding the spoon could talk!
I have worked as a history lecturer at University, a teacher of English, History and Drama in secondary school, a playwright, and a tour guide of my beloved Ireland. I am married to the lovely Diarmuid and we have four children. We live in a 200 year old stone cottage in Mid-Cork with my family and the world’s smallest dogs, called Scrappy and Scoobi..
My experiences leading groups, mainly from the United States, led me to write my first novel, ‘The Tour’. My observances of the often funny, sometimes sad but always interesting events on tours fascinated me. People really did confide the most extraordinary things, the safety of strangers I suppose. It’s a fictional story set on a tour bus but many of the characters are based on people I met over the years. Little was I to know that it would end up as a six-book series…
[truncated]
Many of the people who have reviewed my books have said that you get to know the characters and really become attached to them. That’s wonderful for me to hear because that’s how I feel about them too. I grew up on Maeve Binchy and Deirdre Purcell and I aspired to being like them. If you buy one of my books, I’m very grateful and I really hope you enjoy it. If you do, or even if you don’t, please take the time to post a review. Writing is a source of constant contentment to me and I am so fortunate to have the time and the inclination to do it, but to read a review written by a reader really does make my day.
©2024 V Williams
Rosepoint Publishing 