Originally published: 1 November 2018

Author: Eliza Graham

Published by: Lake Union Publishing

Genre: Historical psychological thriller

Length: 303 pages

Reading dates: 1-5 November 2018

When we first meet Maud, she is a young woman in an insane asylum charged with a violent crime she has no memory of committing. The story is told as she talks to Dr Rosenstein, her psychiatrist about the events leading up to her crime as she tries to recover her memory. She remembers she was chosen during the Second World War in late 1943 to be an operative in Yugoslavia by a mysterious man called Robert, chosen because of he ability to speak Serbo-Croat and her unusual attention to detail. We learn her code name was Amber and that she was trained in Cairo before being parachuted into Yugoslavia to aid the Partisans there.

I do enjoy a WW2 book, especially one told from a new viewpoint and I knew nothing about what was happening in Yugoslavia during the war. There is a lot of description of the relationships between the Partisans who were a resistance movement and the Chetniks who were more inclined to collaborate with the Germans (if I’ve understood it correctly) in this book. The interesting thing about this novel is that it is a thriller as well as a drama – I loved how we gradually found out about Maud/Amber’s role in the war as her memories also came back. Her perilous journey across Yugoslavia was thrilling. And as we gradually find out what caused her to end up in an asylum I really felt the emotions her feels. Spanning her life from the when she starts her training in 1943 until 1995, this is a touching and tragic look at the long lasting effects war can have on people.

I really enjoyed this! It was a well researched and thoughtful novel, that made me feel quite emotional and captivated me from start to finish.  Thank you ed public relations and Amazon Publishing for sending me a copy of this book for a blog tour.

The Lines We Leave Behind by Eliza Graham is out now, published by Lake Union and is available in hardback, paperback and on Kindle.

About the Author:

Eliza Graham spent biology lessons reading Jean Plaidy novels behind the textbooks, sitting at the back of the classroom. In English and history lessons she sat right at the front, hanging on to every word. At home she read books while getting dressed and cleaning her teeth. During school holidays she visited the public library multiple times a day.
At Oxford University she read English literature on a course that regarded anything post about 1930 as too modern to be included. She retains a love of Victorian novels.
Eliza lives in an ancient village in the Oxfordshire countryside with her family. Her interests (still) mainly revolve around reading, but she also enjoys walking in the downland country around her home.

Website: www.elizagrahamauthor.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/eliza_graham