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The Undertow (2012)

by Jo Baker(Favorite Author)

3.39 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0307957098 (ISBN13: 9780307957092)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Knopf

review 1: This is an earlier novel by Jo Baker,author of Longbourn. It traces four generations of a lower middle class family in London through the often harsh realities life has dealt them. Starting with WWI and progressing to the present, each Hastings ancestor (Billy, Billy, Will and finally daughter Billie)faces his or her own struggles to survive and to find love carrying the family's history and it's secrets along with them. Jo Baker's prose is beautiful; her characters vivid; her sense of place and time adept. I'll be reading her other novels, The Telling and The Mermaid's Daughter.
review 2: Generations of the Hastings family searching in vain for happiness in life; William dies in WWI, Billy is a failed cyclist, Will cannot be the athlete or fit in for his fat... moreher-until finally his daughter, Billie, finds true love and contentment and purpose in life while also savoring the history of her family. Disappointing style, but I did feel compelled to finish it and Billie's story was the best part. less

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