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Book Review Title The Dark
Side Of The Sun Fiction-Net Rating Buy It - Buy This Book Cover Story Growing
up under the spell of the captivating
Harding family, Mary Fox knows she will
never share their good looks, wealth or
easy charm. For beautiful Godfrey,
outrageous Nettie and the twins Jonathon
and William, the world is theirs for the
asking. But when
the idyll is shattered by the outbreak of
war, it is Mary's brains that really
counts - while Nettie finds a much more
unusual way of helping the brave boys
fight Hitler. We Say If
you're hoping The
Dark Side Of The
Sun
to be an entirely predictable wartime
romantic story then don't worry - because
that's exactly what it is. It
begins with the arrival of a new governess
and her daughter in the wealthy Harding
household. Author Elizabeth
Palmer
deploys every cliché under both
sides of the sun in the telling of this
story. The difference between the wealthy
Harding daughter (flighty, promiscuous and
spoilt) and the not-so-wealthy servant's
daughter (modest, moral and bright) has
been done a million times before. There
are several mysteries hinted at within
both families. At least, I think they were
meant to be hints but it did feel rather
more like having a big flashing sign held
up in front of your nose every other
page. With a
cast of characters that included names
like Jonty, Nettie and Godfrey, it was
difficult not to feel like I could hear
comedy upper class English accents as I
was reading. Of course, there were spies,
bombs, soldiers and tea dances and it was
all terribly spirited but tinged with
predictable sadness (although this was
kept safely on the fringes). The
descriptions were excessively flowery and
so laden with romantic pretensions that it
was difficult to get to any sense of real
meaning at all. I'm
perhaps being a little harsh and if it
were made into a Sunday night drama (which
it would be perfect for), I'm sure I'd be
quite happily entertained for an hour or
two but, for a book, I felt that The Dark
Side of the Sun didn't go deep enough into
the realities or inspire enough
emotion. Review by: Rachel Taylor Buy It - Buy This Book |
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