Books : Voyage of Innocence

Rating: - An intelligent romance
Although the book gets off to a confusing start and there are a lot of characters to get to grips with (I went back and read Part 1 when I had read Part 2) this is a really thought provoking book. It's good to read a character driven story that acknowledges that some people are interested in history and politics as well as romance and family saga. It's a fascinating insight into Britain in the 1930s as well as a good story.

---

Rating: - Not a page turner.
A slow start. Lots of text that is just "jabber" and does not move the story on. Rather disappointed.

---

Rating: - Not as good as the first
I loved her first book, and I read the first chapter of this one online. Defintely not as good. I found myself skipping large chunks of text because there was so much about the rights and wrongs of fascism etc that it got quite boring. I persevered and the ending was not as predictable as I thought it would be hence the three stars. However, the person that edited the book should be sacked - 3 dreadful typos/mistakes that really should have been picked up on. Maybe I shall write and tell them!

---

Rating: - Slow starter but worth the wait.
After a rather confusing and seemingly over-populated start, everything began to fall into place. The book quickly gained pace and the tale of love, infatuation, intrigue and betrayal soon took hold. Set in the 1930s when political (as opposed to religious) ideology was still alive, the historical detail is meticulous and the characters totally believable. The only criticism I have is that there was often a comma when a full-stop was required. But this was a minor irritation.

---

Rating: - What a disappointment ...
Having enjoyed Elizabeth Edmondson's first novel I had been eagerly awaiting her second, but it proved to be a huge let-down. The first part of the book is rather fragmented and the novel would have been better beginning at part two. The characters appeared one-dimensional to me - some just seemed completely unnecessary - and we had dull discourses about the virtues/evil of communism versus capitalism and fascism The author couldn't seem to decide what genre the story was - romance, political, spy - and whilst I ploughed through it thinking 'maybe it will be worth it in the end', I'm afraid it just wasn't. I hate writing bad crits, and have given this three stars because I know that Elizabeth Edmondson can write well. Perhaps I could respectfully suggest she sticks to well-written family sagas rather than trying to educate us about the politics of pre-war years.