Elizabeth Diamond

Elizabeth Diamond is a new author to me, and one I enjoyed. I did feel as if I'd read this type of story many times before, but it was still an interesting read.

Jane is trying to deal with a life which keeps going wrong - she has memories of a difficult childhood, but some of those memories escape her, whilst taunting her in dreams. She's now dealing with a divorce, a disabled son she can't get close to, an illness, plus forever wondering why her brother walked out when they were young.

Despite all this, her character is one I warmed to. After a fairly good start though, the story did seem to slow down, and due to other things going on, I did put it down for a while. However, once I picked it back up, I found the second half of the story better, and it held me well.… (mehr)

A psychological journey.

This was a most enjoyable read, though it benefits from being read in one go - not picked up and put down, as I did, which was a bit confusing. It's an interesting view on the psychological effects of trauma and the suppression of events that can't be faced.

After a bout of treatment for cancer, Jane starts to find her mind triggered by thoughts from the past, a past she has suppressed for many years by lies and evasion, not only to those who are close to her, but also to herself. As the memories start to tumble into her conciousness she also has to deal with problems in the present time. People around her help and hinder this process to varying degrees so that the whole unravelling becomes a fascinating journey of discovery.

My version was a proof copy so I hope the many typos will have been corrected by the time it becomes commercially available. I was more worried about the need for editing - new paragraphs where thought processes change, more clarity in the time line, things like that. It is for that reason that I only gave the book 4* as it didn't really flow. If these problems are corrected then this is definitely a 5* Read.

I have An Accidental Light on my shelves and if it's even better than Underwater, as one Amazon reviewer said, then I can't wait to read it!… (mehr)

This is the second book I have read by Elizabeth Diamond and I have enjoyed them both very mcuh. She is a good story teller and her characters are to me real and believable. The book looks at the efeect of a traumatic event on someone's later life in this case the main character Jane , and also some of the other lesser characters. Jane was not able to talk about what had happened in her life when she was a child and in fact made her self into a new person in a way and kept these events from the important people in her life, even her husband. But in the end she did have to deal with the pain of it all and move on. I do not want to reveal any more of the story. I would rather let it unfold for you as it did for me but as I said it is a book I really enjoyed and I hope she writes another.… (mehr)

This is a first book by Elizabeth Diamond. Just as dusk is falling a fatal car accident takes the life of teenager Laura. The driver of the car is Jack Phillips who is a married police officer with two young daughters. The accident was found not to be his fault - no one was to blame It was just an unavoidable accident. The book looks at the effects of the tragedy on Jack and his wife Sam and their two daughters, and Laura's parents Lisa and Derrick Jenkins. Each has to deal with the grief in their own way but the ripples move out and affect their relationships with the rest of their family. The author takes us into the inner lives of her two main characters Lisa and Jack as we travel with them on their journey through to hope and new life and before the book ends Jack and Lisa's paths will cross too in a surprising way. This is a book that I really enjoyed. The characters will stay with me .… (mehr)