When Zoë Carter's mother, Greta passes away at a relatively young age, she is left alone. Zoë was an only child, and her father had died in a car accident when she was three. As far as she knows, her mother had lived a very closed life in Wales, so it was a complete shock when she receives a sealed letter asking that she spread Greta's ashes in Crete. Zoë had no idea that her mother had even visited Crete.
Determined to try and put all the pieces together, Zoë decides to visit the island, and slowly she begins to put the story together. Not only had Greta visited but she had lived there for a period of time during the 1960s
In one time line of the book we follow Greta as she arrives in the picturesque town of Fáros Limáni and joins an art commune. There she meets Andreas and begins a passionate love affair. When she finds out that she is pregnant, Greta is torn because she is concerned that her parents will be ashamed of her but she loves Andreas.
In the other time line which is set in 1984, Zoë tries to find out the truth. She is a silversmith and she is drawn to the jewellery shops in the town. She is surprised when she is called by another name, and even more surprised when it happens again. Why do people keep on mistaking her for someone else.
Along the way, Zoë also gets to meet some of the people who were important to her mother, and they in turn help bring Zoë's truth to life. However, along the way, it is not only Zoë who needs to learn the truth about who they are. Family secrets are revealed, and the truth is quite shocking, to think that things like the key events in the historical story could truly have happened.
I hadn't read Jan Baynham before but i am glad that I took a chance with a new . I found myself getting lost in the world that Baynham has created. While I have travelled quite a bit in Europe, Greece is one of the places I have not yet visited and when I read books like this, it really makes me want to do so! Crete does seem of particular interest given ancient history and more recent history, as well as gorgeous beaches and food and so much more.
I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Zooloo's Book Tours for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.
About the book:
Lost letters. A secret Greek love affair. A daughter's search for the truth.
Crete, 1963. Young artist Greta Ellis arrives at the sun-soaked port of Fáros Limáni, ready to paint and explore the beautiful Greek island.
When she meets passionate local Andreas Papadakis, she is swept up in a world of colour, freedom and forbidden love. But when tragedy strikes, Greta is forced to make an impossible choice that will echo for decades.
Wales, 1984. After her mother Greta’s death, silversmith Zoë Carter receives a sealed letter that upends everything she thought she knew. Greta’s dying wish is for her ashes to be scattered in Crete, a place precious to her . . . but somewhere she had never spoken of.
Searching through her mother’s belongings, Zoë uncovers a series of letters. Written in Greek and dated the year before she was born, they reveal a passionate love affair. And a tragedy that tore it apart.
Determined to know the truth, Zoë travels to Crete to follow the trail left behind in her mother’s letters. Through the olive groves and whitewashed villages of Crete, she begins to piece together a story of love, betrayal and loss — and discovers that her family was never what it seemed.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246324063-the-stolen-sister
Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/stolensister-zbt
About the author:
Fascinated by family secrets and ‘skeletons lurking in cupboards’, Jan’s dual narrative, dual timeline novels explore how decisions and actions made by family members from one generation impact on the lives of the next. Her first three novels look at the bond between mothers and daughters as well as forbidden love. Setting and a sense of place plays an important part in all Jan’s stories and as well as her native mid-Wales, there is always a contrasting location - Greece, Sicily and northern France. Her next books will involve secrets and sibling relationships; the first set in 1943 and 1968 takes the reader back to beautiful Sicily where two sisters work together to prove their father’s innocence of a wrongdoing.
Social Media Links
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Website https://janbaynham.blogspot.com/
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