A pleasure today to be joining the blog tour and sharing my review of The Map Maker’s Promise by Catherine Law: published by Boldwood Books on 16th August, it’s now available as an e-book (free via Kindle Unlimited), in paperback, and as an audiobook. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my advance e-copy (provided via netgalley).
It was such a pleasure to discover Catherine’s lovely writing when I was attracted by the description of of The Officer’s Wife in April last year – reminiscent of books I’d loved by the likes of Kate Morton and Katherine Webb, an emotionally compelling family drama, with just the right degree of historical detail for a story that begins at the start of WW2 and spans the years through to the 1960s, and a story that stayed with me for some time thereafter (you’ll find my review here). Over the last year, I’ve missed a few of her books – The Runaway, The Code Breaker’s Secret, The French Girl and The Land Girl’s Letters – all books previously published but retitled and repackaged with lovely new covers by Boldwood, but they’re all on my kindle awaiting that unlikely moment when I have nothing new to read (sadly, that doesn’t happen very often!). But her latest is another new one – and with a blurb that caught my imagination every bit as much as the first I read…
One night, everything changed…
It is yet another night of air raids, and instead of heading to the basement of her London workplace – risking being in the same vicinity as him, the man who hurt her in the worst way possible – nineteen-year-old Clare runs to the first place she can think of…
… and makes a decision that will haunt her for the rest of her life.
Over a year later, and Clare is heartbroken to be saying goodbye to her newborn Mirren. Leaving her in the care of her sister, in the remotest – and therefore safest – village in Scotland, she heads back south to take up the position of mapmaker in the Air Ministry department.
The work is tough, and Clare struggles with the fact she has a direct hand in hurting the enemy – hurting people. Combined with the guilt for leaving her sweet angel behind, the dark thoughts could destroy her… or make her stronger than ever.
A heart-breaking tale of love, loss, and redemption, this is a moving and poignant story of motherhood and the complexities of healing in the aftermath of war.
Underpinning this story is the “war work” carried out at Hughenden Manor, Disraeli’s former home in Buckinghamshire – only known about in any detail since 2004 when the MoD released those who worked there from the constraints of the Official Secrets Act. It had the code name “Hillside”, and focused on providing accurate maps for bombing missions, updating them from multiple sources. The work is absolutely fascinating – so well researched by the author, and the emotional toll too on those who carried out the work knowing their part in causing such destruction.
Hughenden Manor
But that’s only part of this sweeping and emotionally affecting dual time story. Working with the BBC in 1940, Clare is flattered when invited to eat with her charismatic manager – young and naive, she has no idea what will follow. Distraught and pregnant, she’s invited to live with her married sister Anne in the Scottish Highlands and finds some solace and support there – but is haunted by the sequence of events that changed her life. Her mental health is fragile – a near disaster only avoided when a caring man is in the right place at the right moment – and she makes the heartbreaking decision to leave her young child with her sister, unable to have a family of her own, joining the war effort at Hughenden Manor. In the 1980s, brought up by her loving family, Mirren has few memories of her mother – other than the fact that she once visited, leaving a treasured pair of earrings, but leaving her behind.
The story is wonderfully told, moving seamlessly between past and present, and capturing so well the emotional impact of Clare’s difficult decision on her own peace of mind and Mirren’s need to understand how her mother felt able to abandon her. There’s far more to the story – with Clare’s past catching up with her, and Mirren’s gradual uncovering of the course of events that separated them – and I found it absolutely enthralling. The impact on Clare’s mental health is sensitively and realistically portrayed – despite her actions, she remains sympathetic throughout – and I particularly liked the drawing of the family relationships with their many complications. There’s a strong supporting cast too – every individual beautifully drawn, all playing their significant part as the many secrets are slowly uncovered. The author is a wonderful storyteller, and the ending was both satisfying and uplifting – and, after a particularly emotional journey, everything I wanted it to be.
This was an engrossing – often heartbreaking but entirely compelling – story that I thoroughly enjoyed, and one I’d very much recommend to others.
About the author
Catherine Law lives in Kent, 10 minutes from the sea, having grown up in Harrow. And ever since she was a child, she has loved to create stories. She writes romantic novels set in the first half of the 20th century, in and around the First and Second World Wars. Her books are inspired by the tales our mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers tell us, and the secrets they keep.
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