By Sun And Candlelight
a moving and uplifting novel of friendship and the bonds that tie us together from bestselling author Susan Sallis
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- £0.99
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Publisher Description
Fans of Rosamunde Pilcher, Maeve Binchy and Fiona Valpy will love this incredibly poignant and emotionally resonant novel of friendship and fate from multi-million copy seller and Sunday Times bestselling author Susan Sallis.
WHAT READERS ARE SAYING!
'So very well written, couldn't put it down' -- ***** Reader review
'A wonderful story that is a must-read' -- ***** Reader review
'A compelling read' -- ***** Reader review
'Love this book - I've read it several times' -- ***** Reader review
'Excellent story - true Susan Sallis' -- ***** Reader review
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SOME BONDS ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO BREAK...
They discovered the empty cottage in 1940 - when they were still at school, four teenage friends from wildly different backgrounds and with the war casting its shadow over their lives.
The cottage became a place of refuge for them - symbolising their loyalty to one another which held in the face of jealousy, passion, tragedy, and betrayal.
It was to the cottage that Monica came, pregnant, alone, frightened, and it was there that their story really began. For Bessie, born secretly and shamefully to one of them, raised by another, and loved by them all, came to represent what was the very best in their lives...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pleasure-seekers who aren't fussy about plausibility might be momentarily diverted by this tale of four English friends, women bound in an increasingly intricate web of relationships. On V.E. Day, teenage Monica tells her best friend, Carol, not only that she is adopted but that she is now pregnant with the child of her adoptive brother--all this within four pages. Sallis's speeded-up soap opera makes a heroine of Carol, whose mother adopts Monica's baby; a glamorous but hard woman of Monica; and quasi-husband-swappers of their friends Liv and Myrtle. This willingness to share babies and husbands is presumably praiseworthy but is rendered as far less than lifelike. Meanwhile, tragedy strikes often and in suitably dramatic international settings. One member of the quartet is killed off early on; her death creates a gap in the narrative for which Sallis tries to compensate by forcing the survivors into even more strenuous contortions. Eventually she overwhelms the innate and genuine appeal of her own protagonists, who virtually cry out to be rescued from this exaggerated plot. British writer Sallis is the author of Summer Visitors and YA books.
