#Booksread #14 during May into June

Book Review time!

I have a few reviews and/ or ratings to do for fiction I've read during the end of April and into May. 

Here's one of them (#13 of 2019) that I'm delighted to recommend as being a great read set during an interesting time period, and a very intriguing setting. 

Overture by Vanessa Couchman 

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Marie- Therese, a young lady of many talents and great fortitude. Beginning at the turn of the twentieth century, Marie-Therese has the potential to be more than the fate set down by her parents who are small scale farmers in rural France. Marie-Therese finds insurmountable hurdles in continuing her education but the circumstances which then befall her make it almost impossible to make any choices of her own when she and her mother are forced to move away. 

Marie-Therese is a survivor and a realist. She retains a certain degree of innocence and avoids the traps of rancour but when possibilities for a different sort of future present themselves, she embraces the changes with an open heart and downright hard slog. There’s still an innocence about her many years later, especially when her romantic aspirations don’t keep in step with her professionally improved ones.

Frederic is an interesting character, and one I hope we learn more about in Book 2 of the series. When his fate seems to be very gloomy, I was visibly moved when reading that part of the story, invested so well in the development of his role in the novel.

Marie-Therese’s relatives– her parents, aunt and uncle – seem very realistic and very much a product of their era and traditional beliefs, residence in Paris in the first decade of the twentieth century not having tarnished their standards.

The downright nasty and mildly unpleasant characters are consistently mean – Fabre; at times her aunt; and a few other fellow performers – but fortunately they are outnumbered by the nicer ones throughout the story.

The author pens the specific era in France with great authority, and is excellent at painting realistic images of the settings. The characters interact seamlessly in their environments – in the rural and in the cities mentioned. 

I’d definitely recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a historical tale, and especially to those interested in the Europe of pre-World War I or those who are opera fans!

This got a well-deserved 5* rating from me. 

More reviews to come soon.

Slainthe!