I am delighted to share my thoughts of The Memory Box.
Commemorating the plot:
Jenny Tanner opens the box she has cherished for decades. Contained within are her most precious mementoes, amongst them a pebble, a carving and a newspaper cutting she can hardly bear to read. But Jenny knows the time is finally here. After the war, in a mountainside village in Italy, she left behind a piece of her heart. However painful, she must return to Cinque Alberi. And lay the past to rest.
After a troubled upbringing, Candice Barnes dreams of a future with the love of her life - but is he the man she believes him to be? When Candice is given the opportunity to travel to Italy with Jenny, she is unaware the trip will open her eyes to the truth she's been too afraid to face. Could a place of goodbyes help her make a brave new beginning?
Bobs and Books honest review:
This is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. Jenny and Candice are two wonderful female characters and both have so much to offer.
Jenny is 100 and reminiscing, particularly over mistakes made with her younger brother. Both evacuees in the war and sent to Wales, the story unravels from there.
The dual timeline really makes you think and is a great tool to revealing what happened. Unusually I felt equally invested in both timelines. A different and unusual angle on ww2, including treatment of European citizens.
Candice is a fabulous character. A complicated back story and trying to make ends meet as a carer. Is wonderful at her job, but ambitious too. She has a boyfriend that Jenny hates as she can see some horrible characteristics in him and is protective of Candice who is oblivious. Great to see a carer in a book, but also in a positive light.
This tugs at the heart strings over and over with lots of shocks and gasps along the way.
Never mind Jenny's memory box, this is a treasure of a read.