I’m so delighted today to be joining the blog tour and sharing my review of the new novel from this year’s RNA Joan Hessayon Award winner Suzie Hull, Far Across The Ocean. Due for publication on 8th December by Orion Dash, it’s now available for pre-order as an e-book and in paperback (and my goodness, what a beautiful cover!). My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my advance reading e-copy (provided via netgalley).
I really must apologise to Suzie – I ran a feature on the Joan Hessayon award back in June (you can read it again here), and really wanted to read and review more than one of the books on the judges’ list (and yes, that’s sadly all I did manage – just one!). And when I heard Suzie’s wonderful looking book, In This Foreign Land, had won the prize, I tried so hard to fit it into my reading list for the next few months. But when I saw that this novel, her second, was due out before the end of the year, I rather gave up – I loved the look of the new storyline, and it’s so much easier to fit in a book when it’s part of a blog tour. So, at last, I could try Suzie’s writing – and it’s a book I was particularly looking forward to…
The answers to her past and present lie…far across the ocean
December 1913. Clara Thornton won’t allow being jilted at the altar to squash her spirit. Against the wishes of her aunt and uncle, Clara decides to travel to Madagascar to learn more about the tragic shipwreck that took the lives of her missionary family, and marked her forever.
Clara is escorted abroad by Xavier Mourain, a handsome young merchant who works with her uncle. The two of them start off on the wrong foot, but Clara can’t help but be drawn to the mysterious Frenchman who helps her unravel the mystery that has always haunted her. But as their love blossoms, war begins. And the world will never be the same again.
For Clara, all the answers seem to lie far across the ocean. But some of them might be closer than she thinks…
It’s been quite a while since I last read a sweeping historical romance, and this lovely book reminded me how wonderful the genre could be – and not “just” a romance, but crossing continents and filled with drama, with the compelling story of a search for family at its centre.
The prologue sets the scene, and drew me in immediately – 1895, and the Haycroft family fleeing from their missionary life in Madagascar amid the uprising against the French (a slice of history I hadn’t come across before), and the dramatic shipwreck that tore the family apart. We rejoin the elder of their two daughters, Clara, in 1913 Bradford – having been adopted by a mill owner and his wife, protected from any reminders of her past, pushed into a marriage that doesn’t make it to the altar. It proves to be the impetus she needs to find out more about what happened to her family – to heal herself, damaged (and physically scarred) by the experience, and to escape the constraints of society’s expectations – and to travel back to Madagascar.
A suitable travel companion appears, the enigmatic (and distinctly spiky) merchant Xavier Mourain, planning his own trip to the area – and on the long sea journey, their initial enmity changes, and a powerful love affair develops. But these are difficult times – what should have been a happy time on their return to France is overshadowed by the beginning of the war, Clara’s discoveries about her family set aside for a while, as their story becomes one of survival in the most difficult of circumstances, their lives and future happiness in the balance.
This really was one of those superbly told stories that had me entirely immersed from its beginning to its very end, and that was largely because of the strength of the characterisation. Clara entirely won my heart – her dogged determination, her dedication and her bravery were all exceptional, and I loved the way that every fresh challenge only made her stronger. The supporting cast are equally well drawn – I’ll refrain from mentioning characters lest I spoil the story for others – but so are all the settings, showing the quality of the research and the deftness with which the author recreates them. The romance at the book’s core was everything I wanted it to be – it was a love that I could feel. And all the book’s emotional content is extremely well handled – the story becomes particularly harrowing at times, but I always felt I was in a safe pair of hands.
Clara’s search for her family continues throughout – in fact, family and its meaning is a consistent wider theme – with some fascinating twists and turns, and the occasional “flashback” to the time of the shipwreck. Its outcome perhaps wasn’t entirely a surprise, and there were some happy accidents along the way, but I very much enjoyed the journey to its conclusion. And I loved the glimmer of hope that drove the story – very moving, and ultimately particularly uplifting.
Quite a story, and wonderfully told – and a book I’d most definitely recommend to others. I’ll look forward to seeing what Suzie Hull does next…
About the author
Award winning author Suzie Hull lives in Northern Ireland with her family and numerous rescue cats.
As a child she dreamt of being a ballet dancer but instead trained as a Montessori Nursery teacher and has spent the last thirty years working with children in a variety of settings. Suzie has always had an enduring passion for reading and history.
Suzie HulI won the RNA Joan Hessayon Award 2022 with her debut novel, In This Foreign Land.
