#Review: Tapestry of War by Jane MacKenzie by @JaneFMacKenzie @AllisonandBusby #TapestryOfWar

Release date - 19th April 2018
Book length - 320 pages
Publisher - Allison & Busby
Book Depository - www.bookdepository.com
Amazon UK - www.amazon.co.uk
Amazon US - www.amazon.com

I want to thank Jane and www.allisonandbusby.com for providing me with a copy of this book for review.


ABOUT THE BOOK

From the deserts of North Africa, to the waters of Scotland, the Second World War touches the lives of two women from two very different worlds.

In Alexandria, Fran finds her world turned upside down as Rommel's forces advance on the idyllic shores of Egypt. The life of luxury and stability that she is used to is taken away as she finds herself having to deal with loss, heartache and political uncertainty.

Meanwhile, in the Firth of Clyde, Catriona struggles between her quiet rural life and her dreams of nursing injured servicemen on the front lines. As the war rages on, the two women's lives become intertwined - bringing love and friendship to both.


MY REVIEW

TAPESTRY OF WAR by Jane MacKenzie is a rich and soul-stirring story of strength, courage, and love set during the Second World War, and it is certainly a must for historical fiction fans the world over.

In Alexandria, Fran is a determined woman who works as a journalist and lives a content and happy life with her family and her friends. But as the danger moves ever closer, it will bring new people into her life who set her heart on fire, while also bringing the enemy ever nearer. And when tragedy strikes it will change her life in more ways than one.
Connected to Fran even though they haven't met, Catriona lives in Scotland which is also deeply entrenched in the war. Working as a nurse specialising in rehabilitation is everything she wants from her career but with her brother fighting in the war and her father alone and wanting her to stay at home with him, will she be able to fulfil her dreams whilst also taking care of her family? And with death and despair around every corner, can love shine a light in the darkness?

Absorbing, poignant, and beautifully detailed, TAPESTRY OF WAR by Jane MacKenzie is breathtaking in every possible way. I loved the contrasting settings of Alexandria and Scotland and it really opened my eyes to how all-encompassing this war was in every part of the world, and not just in those countries closer to home. The characters are magnificent in their depth and ability to draw you into their lives and make you really care about them, and I could not put this book down once I had started reading it. The war in all of its darkness and tragedy is not shied away from but there is also so much spirit and determination to survive and find happiness that echoes through these pages, that it really will bring a tear to your eye at times. 

Friendship, love, and resilience are beautifully portrayed throughout TAPESTRY OF WAR by Jane MacKenzie while also bringing you a historical novel that will transport you back in time and I cannot recommend it highly enough!


AUTHOR BIO

Jane MacKenzie has lived an exceptionally adventurous life, working in such far-flung corners of the world as the Gambia, Bahrain, and Papua New Guinea, and Switzerland and France nearer to home. 

She is as much at home teaching in an African village as organising the research budgets of Nobel scientists, and is a natural linguist, picking up languages wherever she has lived, to complement the fluent French from her first degree in French Language and Literature. 

She is an entrepreneur, an international expert in education, and latterly helped transform the UK Government’s Office at CERN in Geneva during two years as its Head. In her fifties Jane turned to writing novels, for a new challenge, and to fulfil a long-held dream.

Jane splits her time now between her homes in the Scottish Highlands, and in her beloved Catalan village in France, the region where her three novels have been set.

Jane is widowed with grown up children.

For more information:
Website - janemackenzie.co.uk
Twitter - twitter.com/JaneFMacKenzie
Facebook - www.facebook.com/jane.mackenzie.co.uk