The Girl With No Name

Bitlibro, 320 paĝoj

Lingvo: English

Eldonita de Hodder & Stoughton.

ISBN:: 978-1-5293-8421-5

(1 recenzo)

She may not remember her name, but her body knows.

1940: When a French family is forced to house a German soldier in their spare room, young Noemie finds herself drawn to the enemy living under the family roof. A forbidden romance unfolds with life-changing consequences.

1946: In the aftermath of the war, a little girl is found sitting on a bench with no memory of who she is - not even her own name. Justin, a young gendarme, takes her under his wing. He is desperate to unravel the mystery surrounding her sudden appearance.

Who is the little girl?

And what happened to her family?

The truth he discovers is spine-chilling.

1 eldono

Stephanie Jane recenzis The Girl With No Name de Reine Andrieu

An enjoyable and rewarding read

4 steloj

The Girl With No name has a wonderful premise which caught my attention when I saw the book for review on NetGalley. It is a shame that the English language publication didn't share the novel's French language title - Solveig's Winter being more enigmatic and tempting for me than yet another 'The Girl ...' title. Aren't publishers weary of that gimmick yet? Titles aside, I did enjoy reading Solveig's story, discovering what becomes of her and her family as well as what had already happened to leave this ten-year-old child with amnesia.

The Girl With No Name switches between three timelines and several narrators so I found I had to concentrate on each chapter heading in order to remember whose voice was currently speaking. Some characters do have distinctive voices, but others are less easily recognisable. The mystery element of who did what and why is satisfyingly complex and nicely …

The Girl With No name has a wonderful premise which caught my attention when I saw the book for review on NetGalley. It is a shame that the English language publication didn't share the novel's French language title - Solveig's Winter being more enigmatic and tempting for me than yet another 'The Girl ...' title. Aren't publishers weary of that gimmick yet? Titles aside, I did enjoy reading Solveig's story, discovering what becomes of her and her family as well as what had already happened to leave this ten-year-old child with amnesia.

The Girl With No Name switches between three timelines and several narrators so I found I had to concentrate on each chapter heading in order to remember whose voice was currently speaking. Some characters do have distinctive voices, but others are less easily recognisable. The mystery element of who did what and why is satisfyingly complex and nicely dripfed to readers so I was kept pretty much glued to this book over the two days in which I read it. I could not help but feel for Solveig through her story and especially when she realises the full extent of the 'if only' denouement towards the end.

I did sometimes feel though as if The Girl With No Name could have benefited from fewer narrating voices in order to make space for greater depth in the storytelling. As a young adult Second World War novel it is more aligned with the works of Ella Zeiss than, say, Ruta Sepetys, but I thought that this was an enjoyable and rewarding read all the same.