Between the Pages

It is England 1672, and life is starting to return to some kind of normal after the civil war.  Jonathan Dymond, a young cider maker, leads a happy life with his parents Mathew and Barbara.  However, when Mathew receives a letter from his dying brother Robin, hinting at secrets and lies in the family’s past, Jonathan sets out to discover the truth.  Robin dies before he can pass on his secrets, but Jonathan visits Robin’s wife Harriet – under the pretext of making cider from her apples – where he is clearly not welcome.  At Harriet’s house he meets her untamed servant Tamar, and quickly discovers that Tamar has damaging and shocking secrets of her own…

On the whole, I would have to say I enjoyed this book a lot.  It’s not perfect (more on that later), but the plot is engaging and unfolds at a perfect pace.  There were plenty of twists, some of which I predicted, but others of which took me completely by surprise.  The ending is certainly very satisfying.

The book is narrated by Jonathan, and while I felt that his character was well developed, I found it hard to warm to him.  He was constantly acting rashly and against advice, without giving much thought to the consequences of his actions (not only for himself but for others too).  Tamar and Harriet were also well drawn, but again, not easily likeable characters, although Tamar’s life, which is revealed throughout the book, does go some way to excusing her attitude and behaviour.

The countryside, where the book is set is well depicted and I think this story could only really work in such a setting.  However, I did not feel that the time period for the story was so well evoked.  Some of the language used seemed to be too modern, and it was easy to forget that this was set over 300 years ago.

Overall however, I found the book interesting and I was eager to find out how it ended.  I would certainly recommend this book, and would also be happy to read more by this author.