Reviewer: Emma
I received a review copy
Summary:
A heartbreaking and deeply compelling debut, Mrs. Sinclair’s Suitcase is a compulsive page-turner about thwarted love, dashed hopes, and family secrets—book-club fiction at its best.
Roberta, a lonely thirty-four-year-old bibliophile, works at The Old and New Bookshop in England. When she finds a letter inside her centenarian grandmother’s battered old suitcase that hints at a dark secret, her understanding of her family’s history is completely upturned. Running alongside Roberta’s narrative is that of her grandmother, Dorothy, as a forty-year-old childless woman desperate for motherhood during the early years of World War II. After a chance encounter with a Polish war pilot, Dorothy believes she’s finally found happiness, but must instead make an unthinkable decision whose consequences forever change the framework of her family.
The parallel stories of Roberta and Dorothy unravel over the course of eighty years as they both make their own ways through secrets, lies, sacrifices, and love. Utterly absorbing, Mrs. Sinclair’s Suitcase is a spellbinding tale of two worlds, one shattered by secrets and the other by the truth.
Review:
I really, really, really loved this book. The writing was done in many different perspectives, mainly that of Roberta and Dorothy. Two different generations telling stories that abstractly intertwine. I enjoyed the writing style and the poetic letters written between Dorothy and Jan. The story had many plot twists that kept me interested and the chapters were the perfect length. To me, it was the perfect blend of old and new. I would also like to add that I think the book cover art is fantastic. I think it is beautiful and very eye-catching. All around – I applaud this author for a book well-done! 5 out of 5 stars from me.
5 stars
