The Secret Notebook by Julia Wild : Review

The Secret Notebook by Julia Wild

Release Date: 8th July 2021

Publisher: One More Chapter

Genres: Historical Fiction / Romance / WW2 dual timeline

When Izzie Dean’s beloved nan, Molly Blackshaw, passes away, Izzie returns to the Blackpool bungalow where she grew up, to say goodbye once and for all. When Izzie’s homecoming reunites her with her first love, Justin Swift, every emotion that Izzie has repressed since the day he broke her heart comes rushing to the surface. But then an unexpected discovery changes everything.

Between the pages of the battered secret diary Molly kept during WWII, Izzie discovers a story of love, heartbreak, and the incomparable hardship of life in a world at war. Reading her grandmother’s words soon puts her own story into perspective, and suddenly Izzie realises that the only thing holding her back from happiness, might be herself. Now she just has to convince Justin that they deserve a second chance at forever…

Izzie, at only 29 years old is still reeling from the death of her husband when she suddenly has to deal not only with the death of her beloved grandmother Molly but also having to accept help from her past love Justin. It all feels so overwhelming and she begrudgingly leans on Justin and accepts his offers of help to clear her grandmother's house but she tries desperately to fight off her old feelings of love for him. Their past makes it impossible for Izzie to forgive him and give into her feelings.

While clearing her grandmother's house, Izzie comes across a notebook hidden in her old room. It was clearly very important as it was one of the last things her grandmother told her about on her death bed. Within the pages of the notebook Izzie reads about her grandmother's secrets and her loves during a time of war. Soon Izzie realises just how much impact her grandmother's history has on her future.

I really loved this book. I adore the idea of things hidden in the pages of a notebook. Family secrets and revelations. Skeletons coming out of the closet at long last. I'm intrigued by diaries and old notebooks and have a bit of collection of them myself so this book instantly drew me in. The thought of so much history between pages, held within the written word was enough to immediately entrance me. 

The book is written in a dual time line - present day and WW2. We see things from both Izzie and Molly's perspectives and their lives, past and present soon become intertwined. Being a huge fan of dual timelines, I absolutely adored this story and it really hit home just how difficult war time life and love could be. Julia Child has written an absolutely beautiful book that really tugged at my heart strings. What a wonderful piece of writing and as an aspiring writer has taught me what a good dual time line story should look like. At times I got frustrated with Izzie and Justin. Clearly some sort of misunderstanding lead to their breakup and I wanted to scream at them many times just to sit down and talk about it! Can true love really overcome every obstacle? Can a war stop true love? Read the book to find out. Highly recommended read.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lancashire born, I moved to Bedfordshire in the late seventies, married and started a family. I’m a past Hon Sec of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, have been a member since 1993 when I joined their New Writers’ Scheme as a probationer. That came about after winning a week’s historical writing course on the strength of the first chapter of my third Poldark-era romance. The tutor on the last day loved the story and handed me details of the Romantic Novelists’ Association – she said I absolutely must join as they would be able to help me towards publication.

Some four years later my first published book, Dark Canvas, won the RNA’s New Writer’s Award in 1997, the sixth, Illusions, won the RNA’s Romance Prize in 2003.

After working in the local library service for 18 years, during library cut-backs I took the leap to become self-employed as a writer and worked on releasing my backlist as eBooks for Kindle.

Most recently, I’ve had the pleasure of working with amazing Charlotte Ledger when she pulled me from the writing wilderness and have now signed a three-book deal with One More Chapter.

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Website:  www.juliawildauthor.co.uk