The Particular Appeal of Gillian Pugsley by Susan Ornbratt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Rating 3.5
It’s such a strange phenomenon with writers, the way a story starts to breathe life, the way the characters become real, the way a writer becomes a servant to the story as much as its creator.
A grandmother and a granddaughter relationship can have a life of its own. Such is the case in this descriptive witty prose of Gillian and Gilly. Gillian is sharing her life to her granddaughter who is a writer thru her poems of her time during the war and her life in the Great Lakes area of Canada. During a time that is volatile and the future is unsure.
Gillian has a long lost love in Christian whom at first sight was connection for both of them.
They have a sparring that is fun and witty between them. The attraction between them is not just physical but redeeming in that they feed on each other’s strength. However, their world pulls them apart and 14 years later Christian cannot get Gillian out of his mind and goes in search for her. How will find her? Will she feel the same way after 14 years and the after-math of war?
The narration is done in several ways. Thru letters between Gillian and a former employer’s daughter whom she was a nannie for, and her older sister as she shares her life with the doubts and trials that come with it. The letter writing between child and nannie was a little odd for me as she was sharing her feelings for Christian which was somewhat unconventional between a child under 10 and young woman in her 20’s. Shashi however, gives her wisdom and footing in Gillian’s doubts.
Time is another aspect of the narration as you are drawn to the present with Gillian and her granddaughter Gilly and back to the past. Gillian knows her time is short and desires that her granddaughter discovers the mystery of what happened with Christian and the love that they shared thru Gillian’s poems and a visit to her cottage where Christian and Gillian were reunited.
As I am writing this review, it dawns on me that this is a love story that is timeless as it is endless.
A special thank you to Light Messages Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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