Kathleen McGurl

A tale of love and tragedy, weaving both past and present in this gloriously sumptuous book that both delights and despairs.

I live close to the boarder between Devon and Dorset so it was like reading about home, making the descriptions of our beautiful countryside that bit more vivid, but even if I lived in a city I would still have been swept away to the seaside alongside Tilly and Ted with the writing that brings the words to life.

The characters are all brought to life before your eyes and as Tilly gets swept away with Ted’s story it is impossible not to get swept away with her. Both Ted and Tilly are extremely likeable so you become emotionally invested in both their stories and I will confess, I may have shed a tear or two!

Tilly is 39 which I really liked the fact she is a bit older and found her a lot more relatable being the ripe old age of 40 myself! (There may still be some life in these old bones yet 😂) Finding herself at her age back living with her father after the brutal ending of her marriage is not how she had envisioned her life turning out but with the help of her father she slowly begins to carve out a new life for herself. She takes on some research of the old railway station and its employees from 1930’s to take her mind off her troubles and finds old diary written by the old stationmaster, Ted.

Ted has worked on the railways his whole life and has been stationmaster for years, his job is his life. He was happy with being a 40 year old bachelor and a quiet life and then he met Annie. She is beautiful, clever and for Ted it was love at first sight. One major issue, he’s never spoken more than a handful of words to her! The other issue, she has just become engaged to someone else, and if that wasn’t bad enough for poor old Ted the train lines will no longer be running come the end of summer so he will have no job and no house.

This is a definite emotional rollercoaster of a read that will make you both cry and smile turning the pages at breakneck speed. It is a perfect summer holiday read for all fans of historical romances and other writers as Kate Riordan and Lucinda Riley, just remember to pack a handkerchief alongside it!

https://debbiesbookreviews.wordpress.com/2019/07/05/the-stationmasters-daughter-...… (mehr)

I would like to thank NetGalley, HQ and Kathleen McGurl for this e arc copy for review

This is a dual timeline story starting in 1911 for the past storyline and 2019 for the modern day. In 1911 three sisters Emma, Ruby and Lily are living in Southampton with their mother when Emma the eldest of these girls gets a job aboard The Olympic for its maiden voyage. Ruby wants independence and feels trapped in her life, and Lily the youngest is a sickly child having had TB and recurring bouts of illness.

In the modern day we find Harriet who is the granddaughter to the past storyline who with her daughter Sally are downsizing her house with a view to move to something smaller as her husband died recently when they find a photograph of three sisters one clearly her Grandmother. As far as Harriet was aware there were only two not three. This gets Harriet thinking did her grandmother have a third sister. With the help of her friend Sheila they check the census for 1911 and establish there were three sisters.

This is the start of a really great read. I really enjoyed the structure of the book telling the story in alternate chapters between the two timelines. As the book progresses we learn that Harriet's family is fractured as her second daughter Davina has not been in contact for quite some time and Harriet has never seen Davina's children. We also learn that Sally’s son Jerome is poorly with leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant.

In the past element we learn about how they lived and their time spent on all three of the White Star Line sister ships Olympic, Titanic and Britannic. I don’t want to go into any more detail as I do not want to spoil the story for anyone.

This story had me engrossed from start to end. There were parts of the book that were heartbreaking and I really wanted to know what had happened to the sisters from the past and hoped that the modern day storyline would also have a positive outcome. I really enjoyed the parallels between Ruby from the past and Davina in the present, how their outlook was quite similar. The ending was all to do with reconnection, reconciliation, hope and forgiveness. I did guess one of the plot outcomes but this did not alter my overall opinion of it. I base my ratings on my enjoyment factor and that is why I gave it 5 *****. I highly recommend this book.
… (mehr)