- Paperback: 268 pages
- Publisher: Pintail Press (2 Jan. 2020)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 191285595X
- ISBN-13: 978-1912855957
Synopsis
In the North of England in1938, two ten-year-old girls, Lily Hetherington and Stella Marsden, form a close if unlikely friendship that endures despite their wartime experiences. After the war, the two women are working as nursing auxiliaries when Lily meets male nurse Will Bagshaw. Stella begins to hear sinister rumours about the man, but the besotted Lily won’t listen to a word said against him. Can Stella make her see sense before it’s too late?
Building to a tense, dramatic climax, this is a story of friendship, love, loyalty and the ultimate betrayal.
Review
Towards The Vanishing Point is a story of friendship, loyalty and betrayal that take us the reader for 1938 to 1957. In 1938 Lily and Stella become friends after being partnered in the school three legged race, and even though they are from different backgrounds they form a strong friendship. They face the war time years together, overcoming challenges and post war both girls become nursing auxiliaries. While nursing Lily meets Will, a male nurse, charming and good looking but there are rumours, and for the first time Lily and Stella’s friendship is fractured, and Lily may be in danger.
Towards The Vanishing Point has a little bit of everything in it, historical fiction, romance and thriller which make it such a engaging read. The main characters of Lily and Stella are very different but form a friendship more like sisters, working and socialising together they are inseparable. As a reader we watch them grow from children, to young women and into adulthood. We are party to their high’s and lows, and their loves and losses over the nineteen year period. This book could have started with them later in life, but by starting their stories as children Jan Turk Petrie draws us into their lives, making us more invested in their stories. The nemesis in their friendship is Will Bagshaw, a widower with a young son, and a nurse like them. He may be full of charm and good-looking but rumours follow him, and he carries and air of mistrust and suspicion that Lily can’t see. The whole feel of the book changes with his character’s appearance, it moves into a darker realm with underlying fear.
Jan Turk Petrie captures the pre and post war years, the challenges people faced and the social culture of the period in her writing. Through her characters we see the fear and death caused from the bombings, the families who fear for their sons and husbands fighting in the war, and the losses suffered, and the lack of money making lives difficult. There are also the fun times, the dancing, going out on the town and the pull of the bigger cities from those who lives in the smaller towns. Jan Turk Petrie also uses colloquial language, which again adds to the natural and believable feel of this book.
Towards The Vanishing Point is atmospheric and perfectly captures the period and its social and cultural climate. I was so engrossed in Lily and Stella’s story that I ended up reading the book in one sitting, I barely looked up from the page throughout. Friendship and loyalty are at the heart of this book, a bond that ultimately can never be broken. A powerful and extremely engaging and compelling read.
I would like to thank Pintail Press and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of the blog tour for this book.
