A Discovering Diamonds review of Farewell My Life by Cynthia Sally Haggard

"Ms Haggard's writing is exquisite. Her characters are vibrant with life and colour"

AMAZON UK
AMAZON US 
AMAZON CA


family drama
1920s / 1930s
US / Berlin

"A Cinderella-ish tale with not-so-charming princes in the edgy setting of 1920s and 1930s Berlin during the rise of the Nazis, Farewell My Life spins an operatic tale of dangerous love, obsession and loss; of crumbling, dissolving and nothingness, that revolves around Grace, a shy 17-year-old whose fabulous talent for the violin promises a shimmering career."

Set between the two wars of WWI and WWII, the novel starts in Washington DC where single mother Angelina has a tough life bringing up her two children, but Nicholas Russell is to enter the scene.  A promising career with the violin for the youngest daughter, Grace, takes  us to Berlin. Not the best of places in the late 1930s.

Ms Haggard's writing is exquisite. Her characters are vibrant with life and colour, whilst the storyline is engrossing and in places very moving. The research of actual historical events, neatly woven into the fictional ones, is well done. I felt for this family, eager to read on to find out what happened next - although it is a somewhat large tome at not far off 600 pages.

My only slight reserve is the ending, which I personally found to be a little abrupt. But no spoilers, so I will say no more. Even so, a very good read.

© Anne Holt

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