Blog Tour: Elusive Dawn by Gabriele Wills

I reviewed Summer Before the Storm back in November, and since I really enjoyed it, it seemed only natural to agree to read the second book in the Muskoka trilogy, Elusive Dawn

This follows the story of our Muskoka residents throughout the darkest portions of the Great War. Picking up where the first book left off, we see Ria join the WATS--female ambulance drivers--in an attempt to find purpose and clarity after discovering her husbands betrayal. The book also follows the lives and loves of the rest of the ensemble cast, including Ellie, who becomes a doctor, Zoe, who becomes a nurse, and Pheobe, who battles serious mental illness in an oppressive environment.


I have to say, I felt more capable of keeping track of the characters throughout this book. I still maintain that there are too many, but my familiarity with them has increased so that I have some vague clue of everyone's place.

The characters are very real, and their development felt honest without becoming melancholy--something that's not easy when you're talking about such a grim time period. I've really grown attached to Ria. She's struggling to cope with her own infertility and the fact that her husband has a son with another woman, things that no woman would like to deal with. Her time among the WATs was perhaps the most interesting portion of the series for me so far. Not only does she recover some of her independence and find a sense of purpose, she also discovers love, forgiveness, acceptance, and ultimately the power to make her own family.

There were many characters other than Ria that I wish we could have spent more time with, and that is precisely what I mean when I say there are too many. Ellie, the doctor, is simply begging to be the heroine of her own drama. Pheobe's story is fascinating in a terrible train wreck kind of way, and I think the authors efforts at writing her world view are quite admirable. I find that in each case, I feel like I'm getting a slice of life instead of an entire story. It's both tantalizing and frustrating, and I think how you feel about it will depend largely on personal taste. Ensemble casts work well in movies, but I'm not so sure they belong in books.

To conclude, this is shaping up to be an excellent historical drama series which will fully immerse it's readers in World War I era life.I highly recommend it. 4 stars.

Blog Tour Review of Summer Before the Storm by Gabriele Wills

Historical fiction reviews are rare around here. Not because I don't like historical fiction, but rather because there are so many other books that take priority. It's nice to change things up now and then.

Set in Muskoka, a popular Canadian vacation spot for the wealthy and privileged, this book follows the joy and trials of one family just before, and after the start of World War 1. The first half of the book details the charmed lives of the islands' inhabitants, as they attend balls, canoe, skinny dip, fall in and out of love, and squabble over family money. The second half deals with the start of the Great War and how it affects the lives of our bright young characters--with many of the men enlisting, and everyone else trying to do their part.

Positive Comments

 

While I am by no means an expert in history, this book felt rather realistic and authentic to me. I have to believe that the author spent a lot of time on research and really immersed herself in the era, so that readers could in turn become immersed in the era. I really enjoyed the details about the lifestyle of the women in particular. On one hand, they are terribly sheltered and still politically powerless. Their bathing outfits include stockings and caps. On the other hand, you see a lot of spirit among the female characters, with several of them trying to further their educations, becoming doctors and mechanics and the like. It's a time of progress, slow though it might be, and the author captures that very well.

For me, the second half of the book was far more enjoyable than the first. I loved the drama and pain of the war, and how the characters are forced to change to survive. The character development is fantastic. Victoria, once one of the more immature members of the family, goes through great trauma and comes out of it with a stiffer backbone.

I love how flawed the characters are, and how even the best of them make terrible choices and errors in judgement.

Critical Comments

The biggest flaw is the shear number of characters that the book asks us to keep track of. Even with a cast list at the beginning of the novel, I found it impossible to get them all straight--I felt like I needed to take notes. I think that's why the second half of the book is so much stronger--it focuses more on just a handful of characters instead of the dozen or more that we meet in the first part.

Recommendation

I would recommend this book to historical fiction fans. It has a lot of rich period detail. It has romance and emotional turmoil. It has a bit of action and a lot of drama. Overall, it's a very enjoyable read. 4 stars.