Out of place at boarding school, scholarship girl Evelyn Varley realises that the only way for her to fit in is to be like everyone else. She hides her true self and what she really thinks behind the manners and attitudes of those around her. By the time she graduates from Oxford University in 1939, ambitious and brilliant Evelyn has perfected her performance.

War is looming. Evelyn soon finds herself recruited to MI5, and the elite counterintelligence department of Bennett White, the enigmatic spy-runner. Recognising Evelyn’s mercurial potential, White schools her in observation and subterfuge and assigns her the dangerous task of infiltrating an underground group of Nazi sympathisers working to form an alliance with Germany.

But befriending people to betray them isn’t easy, no matter how dark their intent. Evelyn is drawn deeper into a duplicity of her own making, where truth and lies intertwine, and her increasing distrust of everyone, including herself, begins to test her better judgement. When a close friend becomes dangerously ensnared in her mission, Evelyn’s loyalty is pushed to breaking point, forcing her to make an impossible decision.

An intriguing spy novel set during World War II, Rebecca Starford’s The Imitator is an ambitious blend of literary fiction, historical fiction, and espionage thriller. Whilst there were certain aspects of the novel that I enjoyed, the story did fall a little flat for me and certainly wasn’t what I was hoping for.

Rebecca captures the era seamlessly, thrusting readers into the depths of the Second World War — the paranoia, the fear, but also the unearned cockiness from some people who think they’re invincible at a time like that. Meeting all the different characters in the novel — main or secondary — allows for an enjoyable read.

Tension and pacing is managed incredibly well, allowing for a build-up of tension and a natural desire from the reader to keep turning the pages to find out how events during the war transpired. I personally found Julia to be quite the enigma, and I felt drawn to her as a character.

I also really enjoyed the structure of the novel. Rebecca switches back and forth between 1948 — a time when Evelyn is incredibly secretive about her role during the War, especially when she runs into an old colleague Julia — and 1930/1939/1940. The time shift structure is common in historical fiction, and by moving between these dates we get a glimpse of how a character’s personality has altered over time, and how events of the past have affected them years later.

“We trade in secrets here, Evelyn. There’s no shame in having a few of your own. Our only concern is for who might discover them.”

Truthfully, I never really felt like we got any glimpse into Evelyn other than her actions. She comes across as stiff, and her character impenetrable. A little cardboard cut-out. And because I never really felt like I understood the character, I couldn’t warm to her or develop any empathy towards her. So her struggles and plights — the complications she faces — didn’t really evoke much emotion in me. I sometimes wondered if writing this book in first person would’ve allowed for a more intimate portrayal of Evelyn, that might help readers connect with her better.

Additionally, I would’ve liked more of an insight into her role as a spy. I was expecting more instances of betrayal — more moments where Evelyn had to choose between friends and her job. In reality, we witness only a couple of moments. And the subplot with her parents felt a little rushed and underdeveloped, I would’ve liked to see that become a bigger part of the story.

“She felt a throb of tenderness for him. What courage it must take to sit down each day and work on the decryption, to unpick those messages typed up in the language of his childhood, all the while knowing what those people — his people — had done to his own parents. She felt sick at her ignorance.”

The Imitator is suitable for readers of historical fiction.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Imitator
Rebecca Starford
February 2021
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers

In the year of our Lord 1894, I became an outlaw.

On the day of her wedding-dance, Ada feels lucky. She loves her broad-shouldered, bashful husband and her job as an apprentice midwife.

But her luck will not last. It is every woman’s duty to have a child, to replace those that were lost in the Great Flu. And after a year of marriage and no pregnancy, in a town where barren women are hanged as witches, Ada’s survival depends on leaving behind everything she knows.

She joins up with the notorious Hole in the Wall Gang. Its leader, a charismatic preacher-turned-robber, known to all as The Kid, wants to create a safe haven for women outcast from society. But to make this dream a reality, the Gang hatches a treacherous plan. And Ada must decide whether she’s willing to risk her life for the possibility of a new kind of future for them all.

A feminist and dystopian Western novel, Anna North’s Outlawed is a rollicking adventure for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale and Cormac McCarthy.

Set in 1894 after a Great Flu has wiped out a significant portion of the population, fertility is considered sacred. Women exist to be married and impregnated, so when our protagonist fails to become pregnant after one year of being wed, she is suspected of being a witch. To avoid hanging, she has no choice but to escape.

“My throat was scraped raw and my whole body aching when, out in the black to the left of the road, I heard someone playing a fiddle. The music was lively and dreamy at the same time, a tune I’d never heard but that reminded me of stories Mama told us when we were very little, about pirate ships in the time before America, about elves and goblins meeting at midnight in the woods.”

Outlawed explores the suppression of women, but also paranoia and superstition, and how this can fuel hysteria when left unchecked. Outlawed is about the outcasts taking control — barren women, gay women, black and non binary people. They escape their oppressive surroundings in search of a better life, where they are accepted by others. Where they are believed.

The strength lies in the first person narration, which captures an intelligent, worldly protagonist, without ever feeling self-indulgent or insufferable. Anna’s writing is eloquent and seamless, and her way of describing even the simplest of visuals is a most joyous reading experience.

“Notkon tried not to show it, but I could tell he was intrigued. I took the book out of my satchel and laid it on the counter before him, open to the diagram of the woman sliced open to reveal the baby inside. He recoiled, then leaned closer. He began flipping pages. The minute hand of the grandfather clock ticked once, then twice.”

Admittedly, I don’t think I’m the desired reader for this book, or perhaps there was just something that didn’t quite land with me, because I couldn’t help but feel the plot got lost a bit, like I didn’t see a clear direction with the book. Our protagonist does seem to wander aimlessly for quite some time, and it isn’t until the final pages that her story seems to gain some significance. Until then, the pacing slows, the conversations still, and I was bored mid-way. In a way, this book reminded me of the TV series Westworld, but in this instance, you don’t have the visuals to keep you entertained.

Additionally, our protagonist Ada joins The Hole in the Wall gang, but a lot of the other members merge together in my mind — their characterisation does not feel distinct enough for them to be memorable. Characters blended together. The leader of the Gang, named Kid, felt very bland and two-dimensional, I was expecting a leader that was a lot more dynamic and charismatic than the one we actually got.

If this book were any longer, I fear I would’ve stopped long before the end.

Reading reviews of this book and I realise everyone else seems to love it, so perhaps I’m just not the intended audience. Another time in my life and perhaps this book will speak to me a lot more.

“Mama had always told me never to drink anything offered to me by a stranger, but I was thirsty and exhausted and confused and I took the glass and drank. I’d had champagne only once before, on my wedding day, and this was different — sweeter, spicier, with a strong poisonous scent like paint thinner.”

Recommended for seasoned readers, not reluctant ones.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Outlawed
Anna North
January 2021
Hachette Book Publishers

When Lee first came to Amsterdam, it was with a newborn baby and a secret. Five years later, her life is approaching normal: her career as a celebrity photographer is flourishing, her son Jasper is growing up, and they are enjoying the run-up to Christmas with their tight circle of close friends.

But all this changes one morning when Lee finds a book in the basket of her bicycle – and scrawled inside it, a desperate message. Who left it for her, and why? Lee feels compelled to help and tracks down the book’s author, Sam. With an instant, undeniable connection it seems they might have a shot at a real future together.

Until her past comes calling. As the snow falls and ice thickens on the city’s canals, the secret Lee has never told resurfaces. Suddenly everything she holds dear hangs in the balance. Christmas is a time for being together – but what if the truth means she ends up alone?

Together by Christmas is Karen Swan’s latest festive read, this time predominantly set in the brisk cold winter of Amsterdam, and following a guarded and reserved photographer with a hidden past.

Lee used to be a Pulitzer prize-winning war photographer, but now she photographs for magazines and editorial articles — her life is a far cry from what it used to be, and there’s a lot of pain she’s been hiding from.

Together by Christmas definitely deals with much heavier themes, compared with Karen’s recent novels. A female photographer working in Syria and Turkey means there’s heightened danger for that character, and Lee’s involvement in the Middle East certainly accounts for her inability to form relationships. She’s suffering from PTSD and is a bit of a loner, only spending time with her son and colleagues — she struggles to date, or form romantic connections with men. Slowly, over the course of the novel, we find out why.

“She might have expected many reactions to her behaviour yesterday, but tenderness hadn’t been one of them. The ground kept moving beneath their feet and she never quite knew where things were between them.”

Stylistically, this novel is much like Karen’s previous works. Written in third person, Karen always includes a lot of exposition and internal monologue within her chapters — this may not be for everyone, but I always enjoy it. I feel it gives the characters more depth, and the reader gets more insight into their characterisation.

Except for the novel being set at Christmas time, it’s doesn’t really feel like a Christmas read. Although there are some messages in the novel that resonate with this time of year — being with family is more important than being alone, Christmas is more than just gifts, it’s important to reach out to those who are alone or struggling, and the importance of making amends and processing trauma is also a key takeaway in the book.

“She sat there for several moments more, trying to still her wildly beating heart, knowing she couldn’t stay out here, knowing she had to go back in there and eat with all those guests.”

I love Karen’s novels, but this was the first time where I felt like the elements in the story didn’t really gel together — Lee and Harry’s backstory in Syria, Lee’s job in present day Amsterdam, Sam, his family’s particular sporting obsession, Harry’s new wife, the mysterious couple that lives next door, the note in the basket. Truthfully, it took me quite a while to make my way through this book.

I’m normally drawn in by the romance in these novels but the story of Lee and Sam seemed drowned out by an array of other plot points. Was there too much happening? Perhaps. Karen talks in the author’s note about how she struggled with this book in particular, and the plot, and I felt like that was quite evident when I was making my way through the story.

I wonder if the sub-plot about Sam’s family — which I think was put in there to create some tension between them, and the need for a fight and subsequent reconciliation — could’ve been removed to allow for a more streamlined story. And also the storyline about the neighbours felt a bit crammed in, only really relevant right at the end of the book. I’m not sure it was as seamless as it could’ve been

“For several long seconds, they stood there, eyes locked, feeling the energy flow between them. Then she stood on tiptoe and kissed him again, once, twice, feeling his lips respond, his barriers weakening, chivalry collapsing…”

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Together by Christmas
Karen Swan
November 2020
Pan Macmillan Publishers