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Chateau Of Secrets (2014)

by Melanie Dobson(Favorite Author)

4.21 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1476746117 (ISBN13: 9781476746111)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Howard Books

review 1: I really liked the way this book jumped between the present day and 1940-45. I liked all the characters and was very engaged with the story. I have studied this period of French history in great depth (though less so the northern zone; more Vichy) so it was also nice to see that the author had taken great pains to be subtle and fairly accurate. The only thing that irritated me about the book was the extreme emphasis on religion. It was appropriate for the 1940-45 scenes but not for Chloe and the film maker. In my opinion, the author (who is explicit about her own religion in the author's notes pages and thanks Jesus Christ more than anyone else) let her own views influence her into creating characters too similar to one another.
review 2: Chateau of Secrets was... more a novel that takes place in the past and the present. In the present we have former school teacher Chloe who is trying to fit the mold her fiancé has made for her as he runs for political office. Her parents and fiancé want her to travel to France to the family chateau to be interviewed for a documentary for World War 2. Chloe really wishes that her paternal grandmother, Gisele and late grandfather, had shared more about their time during the war. Now her grandmother is deteriorating mentally and asking for her daughter Adeline, whom no one in the family knew ever existed. In the meantime, Chloe finds out some devastating news about her fiancé, and cannot wait to go and hide away in France. There she meets filmmaker Riley, who has secrets of his own and an interesting connection to her family. She also meets with a mysterious older woman, who is living near the chateau who knows things about her grandmother but refuses to speak to Chloe. In the past, we have Gisele’s viewpoint of what is going on from the time the Nazi’s have entered her beloved city and home and have changed her life forever. Trying to protect her family she finds her Jewish neighbors’ daughter seemingly abandoned and pretends she is her own child to protect her from the soldiers. While we are in Gisele’s story in the past, everything is unfolding for us as it does for her. Fast forward to the future with Chloe and we are right there with her slowly uncovering her grandmother’s lifetime of secrets. This was a well written novel and I absolutely enjoyed how Melanie uncovered the secrets in the way the story was told. Not only that, but I learned some things about the war I did not know and to be honest shocked me a bit. I received this book from the publisher however, the opinions are my own. less

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