Two ordinary people, meet, date, part, then reconnect under the watchful eye of Queen Elizabeth, fresh to the crown herself. The cover is what drew me, plus the idea of getting an inside look at Christmas for the young, as yet untried, Queen. Although still in mourning for her late father, who died of lung cancer, Queen Elizabeth is determined to carry on his tradition of giving a Christmas greetings radio speech on Christmas Day. Elizabeth and Philip, however, are really minor characters in the story. Instead, the focus is on Jack, who is working in the royal kitchens of Sandringham, and gutsy Olive, who with a bit of luck and pluck, earns the BBC job of covering the speech. They have a past. Needless to say, they meet again.
I won't detail the plot. It covers five years of Christmas meetings and slowly coming to realize that there are still feelings there. As the book opens, Jack has just lost his wife in the London fog storm, I guess you'd call it, of 1952, and Olive is a single mother. She has a secret although, quite frankly, if I were a betting woman, I'd say you'll figure out what it is pretty easily and quickly. That said, it remains her secret for years as they meet and separate. In the process, Olive forms an unexpected bond of sorts with the Queen as both are young mothers, while Prince Philip offers advice to Jack. It was a delight to imagine the royals as "real people", you know, just like us, even if it took awhile for Jack and Olive to ultimately come together. Oh, come on. This is a holiday romance. You know there will be a happily ever after. It's the getting there that will alternately charm and frustrate readers as slow build romance meets its true match here. You'll like the characters, however, and learn quite a bit of history and human spirit, so to speak, as you follow them through those years.
Bottom line, despite finding it slow at times, I thoroughly enjoyed this charming historical love story. Be sure you read the authors' notes at the end, too! It was beautifully written with multiple themes. ranging from the expected second chance at love, to love and loss, aspirations and dreams, of somehow maintaining traditions while beginning new traditions as well, themes as applicable to the Queen and her Prince as Jack and Olive, I might note, and doing one's duty through it all, never letting your dreams of the future slip through your fingers. Yes, a bit of a cliche, but it works. My thanks to #WilliamMorrow for giving me an early peek behind the scenes of Sandringham, so to speak. Despite the setting, the authors created a cozy feeling with characters you'll enjoy spending time with. It also made me wish I'd "known" Queen Elizabeth in her younger days. I admired her greatly as a Queen but the woman behind that throne, you know, the one who in more modern times than related here made an appearance with both James Bond and Paddington Bear, made her relatable to us "commoners".
No comments:
Post a Comment