Without actually living during the era in which the novel was set, It's hard to know how authentic the descriptions are. Except of course from films, TV and dramatisations. So, based on that, The Glittering Hour genuinely evokes a feel of the mid 1920's to mid 1930's in the upper echelons of society. At it's heart there is a passionate love story where social norms are stretched to breaking point and a deep unhappiness follows. Only made bearable by the love of a mother for a child of that illicit union. After almost a decade there is a deathbed reunion which is deeply touching.
Beautifully written and an emotional roller coaster.

The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey is an achingly beautiful historical romance. The vivid portrayal of 1925 England sets the perfect backdrop for a bittersweet story of love, loss and the scars of war.

The book begins with an intense, illicit relationship between the sophisticated Selina Lennox and her captivating suitor, Lawrence Weston. While both know that the affair can’t possibly last, they succumb to their attraction and give in to the thrilling sensations of a secret romance. But as always, nothing is ever simple and it is the aftermath of their reckless actions that form the basis of the second half of the story.

Weaving through this beautiful story is nine-year-old Alice’s determined search for the truth of her family’s past, determined to fill in the missing pieces of her history, one clue at a time. The perfect conclusion to this heart-breakingly emotional novel.

The Glittering Hour is a moving tale of forbidden love and broken dreams that will keep you engrossed from beginning to end. This is one of the best historical romances I have ever read, and it will undoubtedly stand the test of time.

An emotional rollercoaster of a read as it started out a little slow and it was full of delicate prose but once I got used to the story telling styIe was fully immersed.
This is a beautifully written tale of love and loss that will capture your heart and imagination and life will seem better for it

This book alternates between the timelines of Selina's life in 1925 and that of her daughter Alice in 1936.
The flow of the story was almost poetic in its beauty and simplicity and I found myself fully invested in the lives within the pages.

This is a beautifully written tale of love and loss that will capture your heart and imagination and life will seem better for it.

The Glittering Hour is told in dual POV between Selina 10 years ago and her daughter Alice in the present day.

I figured out the plot pretty early on by it still was told pretty well, it just wasn’t really for me. It is set in the 1920’s and I think slightly historical novels are often a bit hit or miss with me. I just didn’t find myself getting into it, but it was a sweet enough book about love and loss.

I am in charge of the senior library and work with a group of Reading Ambassadors from 16-18 to ensure that our boarding school library is modernised and meets the need of both our senior students and staff. It has been great to have the chance to talk about these books with our seniors and discuss what they want and need on their shelves. I was drawn to his book because I thought it would be something different from the usual school library fare and draw the students in with a tempting storyline and lots to discuss.
This book was a really enjoyable read with strong characters and a real sense of time and place. I enjoyed the ways that it maintained a cracking pace that kept me turning its pages and ensured that I had much to discuss with them after finishing. It was not only a lively and enjoyable novel but had lots of contemporary themes for our book group to pick up and spend hours discussing too.
I think it's important to choose books that interest as well as challenge our students and I can see this book being very popular with students and staff alike; this will be an excellent purchase as it has everything that we look for in a great read - a tempting premise, fantastic characters and a plot that keeps you gripped until you close its final page.

Grey’s previous novel, Letters to the Lost, was my favourite book of 2015. I cannot count how many times I’ve recommended it to friends and family. Despite this, I have been neglectfully slow at reading her follow up book, The Glittering Hour. I can’t explain why, although maybe it was fear that it might not live up to expectations bearing in mind how much I loved her first novel.

Well, after finally reading it, The Glittering Hour reminds me just why Iona Grey is one of my all time favourite authors. This book is simply marvellous. I was completely gripped from the very first chapter and read the entire book in the space of a day.

The story is, essentially, that of a treasure hunt which leads lonely 9-year-old Alice Carew on a journey to discover her mother’s deepest, darkest secrets. The book is told in a dual narrative, flipping between Alice in 1936 and her mother, Selina Lennox, in 1925. Selina was one the Bright Young Things who kept the tabloid press, and the public, enthralled by their privileged lifestyle and madcap high jinx during the early 1920’s. 1925 is the year when everything changes for Selina and this is detailed in her letters to young Alice almost a decade later. She wants Alice to understand how her life became what it is now.

I love the idea of Alice getting to know her mother better through those letters. My grandmother suffered from dementia before she passed away and, having limited memory of the present, she often talked of the past, revealing things that I had never heard before. When clearing out her house after she moved into a nursing home, I came across so many things that I didn’t know about. Of particular significance to me was a letter which my grandfather wrote to her during World War II. It felt odd reading his words and imagining them in their 20’s, not knowing what life held for them. This made me realise how little I actually know about my own parents and I’ve made a concerted effort since then to listen properly to their stories and ask them about their early lives, even silly things like what pets they had when they were younger or what bedroom was theirs at my grandparents’ homes. It’s amazing what you learn from those little snippets of information, and I feel I have a much better understanding of how my parents became who they are today. As such, I really felt an affinity with Alice, learning about her mother’s past and understanding more about her present.

Whilst I loved both Alice and Selina’s characters, the supporting characters are equally compelling. From the froideur of the Lennox’s, to the hedonistic Flick and the proper Rupert, from flamboyant Theo to loyal Polly and the bohemian Edith and Lawrence, as a reader you will get drawn in by these persons.

Whilst the story is well-plotted and seamlessly flows between the decades, with one of two twists that will shock and surprise as the tale progresses. However, it is the writing that really raises this book to another level. Grey has created a vivid and evocative world, from the hedonistic lifestyle of Selina and her chums, to the cold and unwelcoming backdrop of the Blackwood estate. With details of the food, fashion, cars and parties, I simply couldn’t tear my eyes from the page. I was transported into their world, as though the story was being enacted around me in full technicolour. I even opened a bottle of prosecco as I read, it felt like the right thing to do when Selina, Theo and Flick were quaffing the same at their numerous parties.

Be warned, this book is a tear-jerker. The final few chapters didn’t just leave me with tears in my eyes, they made me sob (I blame the prosecco!).

This book is an absolute delight, beautifully written, poignant and captivating. A sweeping love story that will melt the iciest of hearts. I can’t put into words how much I loved The Glittering Hour and I only wish that I had the ability to write a review that would really do the book justice. If you haven’t already picked up a copy, I would highly recommend that you do so.

Massive thanks to Simon & Schuster for providing me with a copy of the book via Netgalley and huge apologies for the delay in reading it.

Beautifully written but sadly not for me. I struggled to click with the characters and found myself losing interest as a result.

What a perfect book this is. Written beautifully. I was swept along with the story, the romance, the 'bright young things', the posh people.
It was the romance which got to me the most, an absolute delight. I can't recommend it enough.

I loved Iona Grey’s debut novel, particularly its time-slip elements, so I was delighted to discover quite early on that this story followed a similar story, albeit with the two timelines separated by only one decade rather than several. The novel’s present day takes place in the 1930s as nine-year-old Alice struggles to keep up with her lessons from the governess appointed by her grandparents after she came to stay with them. Alice’s father is abroad on business – inspecting his ruby mines in Burma – and Alice’s mother has gone with him. Alice is an accomplished artist, but that doesn’t please her grandparents who would rather she excelled, or even was averagely good, at more academic subjects. Fortunately Alice has an ally in the form of Polly, her mother’s former maid, who has returned to the household to take care of Alice in her mother’s absence. Polly comes up with the idea that Alice should write more interesting letters to her mother than those supervised by her grandmother, and soon a reply comes to Alice’s first one – via Polly – with exciting stories and the prospect of a treasure hunt.

In parallel with Alice’s tribulations, and her cheerier attempts to unravel the clues sent to her by her mother – with prizes hidden by Polly that hold more clues to how Alice’s parents met – we watch the story of Selina, Alice’s mother, in the 1920s, as she and her friends live a hedonistic life of parties, cocktails, and treasure hunts. On one of the treasure hunts, Selina quite by chance meets Lawrence – a portrait artist, who dreams of gaining fame and fortune from his photography, rather than through painting idealised images of young men who died in the War. The two are very taken with each other, and soon their paths cross again: with the help of other artists and Lawrence’s socialist journalist friend, who disapproves of the ‘bright young people’ but is able to clue Lawrence in on where they might be on any given evening.

The pair contrive – with Polly’s help – to spend some time together at Selina’s parents’ home while the rest of her family are away, and they discuss the possibility of running away together. Then tragedy strikes Selina’s group of well-off friends, and she chooses the safe option of marrying a rich older man – friend to her brother who died in the war – after spending one last night with Lawrence.

Heartbroken, Lawrence emigrates to the US, where he finds an audience for his photography, and tries to forget Selina. She, meanwhile, is caught up in the excitement of her new daughter, although her marriage leaves a lot to be desired. Her happiness is to be short-lived, however.

I picked up the hints that Selina, in her letters to Alice, at least, was an unreliable narrator, but that didn’t detract from the wonder of this story. I felt for Alice, stuck in her drab life, especially when it became clear that her mother wasn’t coming back for her any time soon, but then I grew excited for the possibility of a very different happy ending. And my hopes were repaid in full. This was a fabulous book, and I’m looking forward to rereading it once I can get my hands on a physical copy.

As an impassioned devourer of historical fiction, I was intrigued and delighted to receive an invitation to read The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey and join in the blog tour.

What I thought, was that it might be a sweet, glitzy romance, an enjoyable read. I wasn’t even that positive about the era it's set in – the roaring twenties is perhaps not my period of history, of choice (or maybe that should read wasn’t)

What I didn’t realise is the HUGE impact this book would have on me. Probably the MOST romantic love story I’ve ever read and the most utterly heartbreaking too. The authors' wonderful skill is so great that I actually became the main character, Selina for the duration of the book.

It begins with a lonely 9-year-old, Alice, missing her Mum who has gone away on a business trip with Papa. Left in the dauntingly huge stately home of her austere and remote grandparents, with a stern governess to care for her, her unaffectionate grandparents and the occasional tenderness of her mother’s loyal maid Polly.

Miserable and lost, Alice seizes on the chance to occupy her time until her beloved mother Selina returns, by throwing herself wholeheartedly into a mysterious treasure hunt, left by her mother with clues provided by Polly which lead Alice to discover, in glimpses, the story of Selina’s earlier years. As she discovers hints and clues, we the reader, are treated to a little more depth of detail about this engaging young woman’s youth.

In the 1920s Selina was one of the bright young things, whiling away her time in a flurry of parties, and high spirited japes, often fuelled by alcohol and occasional brushes with drugs, sex and drunken car chases. Always in the news and not always for the right reasons, she is a flibbertigibbet, shallow and spoilt.

With her close friend Flick by her side the two young women dance, laugh and party like there’s no tomorrow, mixing with the well to do and wealthy in whose circle they move.

Circumstances suddenly throw Selina in the path of a handsome and pretty darned gorgeous painter Lawrence. But being from a different class entirely, the two can never be friends or even seen speaking in public. It’s one thing for a young woman of class to be seen falling about drunk at a party (as long as the RIGHT kind of people are at the party) It would be quite another for 2 people of obviously different ends of the social scale to be at the same party and actually socialise – now that WOULD be frowned on!

But as is the way of the world the 2 are drawn to each other like moths to a destructive flame.

What follows is an utterly delightful love story, revealed in spoonfuls that I guzzled down. It honestly made my heart ache.

The stories of then and now begin to intertwine, mysteries unfold and little pieces of my heart began to break off as it becomes apparent that a happy ending is unlikely and not quite everything is exactly as it seemed.

There are some very poignant scenes in the latter portion of the book, which I defy even the most hard-hearted reader not to shed a tear at. But if you’re that unemotional, perhaps this isn’t the book for you, it is unashamedly romantic and a real tearjerker.

This IS a book for anyone who has ever loved, lost or dreamt of something they can’t have.

It’s a book to read at night, tucked under the duvet with a big box of tissues. (Oh yes I ugly-cried myself to sleep over this book - Waaahhh)

It’s about enduring love, abiding friendship secrets and loss. With a nod to the changing roles of women and society and a reminder of how times have changed, a few lovely little twists along the journey, adorable Alice and Selina whom I wanted to despise for her apparent brittle shallowness and instead loved for her rich depth and tenacity.


It is delightful, it is beautifully written, it is immaculately atmospheric and it is perfectly charming. Can you tell I loved it? Go ahead read it, if you’ve got this far I know you’ll love the Glittering hour too.

In 1925, Selina Lennox is one of the Bright Young Things who scamper from decadent party to decadent party, living life at top speed, and whose champagne lifestyles are distinctly at odds with those who haven’t been born to a life of privilege. There’s a great sense of history within the story and the author recreates those hedonistic years following the Great War to perfection. It was such a sad time when so many young men failed to return, lost in the mud and mire of Northern France, and yet for those left to pick up the pieces, there was also a sense of fragility as if living life at top speed made up for their sense of loss.

However, an inadvertent meeting between society girl, Selina and the impoverished artist/photographer, Lawrence Weston will change the course of both their lives forever. Selina and Lawrence’s story is so beautifully described that right from their very first meeting the poignancy of their situation is revealed, and as the story slips effortlessly between two very different time frames so a story of loss, heartbreak and earth shattering love starts to be revealed. I can’t possibly do justice to the beauty of this story as there’s just so much to share about all the special little details, especially about Selina's young daughter Alice, whose own story, in 1936, forms quite a chunk of the narrative and whose aching vulnerability breaks your heart. ♡

As I have come to expect from this talented author, the writing and historical research in The Glittering Hour is impeccable, but it's not just the strong sense of history that draws me to this author's writing, it is her rare talent to hold the reader in the palm of her hand, and the way that she brings life to characters who, very soon, become as familiar as friends, and whose loves and losses strike a resonance within your soul. I was so emotionally connected with both the story, and the characters, that I couldn’t put the book down, or stop thinking about it when the story ended.

Although the title of the book is The Glittering Hour, it’s the glittering few hours I spent reading this book that is uppermost in my mind at the moment.

Events unfold over the course of a decade with the story alternating between 1936, as nine year old Alice embarks on a treasure hunt of a kind to uncover the secrets of her mother’s past, and 1925 in which Selina recalls her heady days as one of the ‘Bright Young People’ and the chance meeting that changed everything for her. Interspersed are insights from other characters, such as Selina’s faithful maid, Polly, and Alice’s governess, Miss Lovelock.

The main characters are so sensitively and vividly drawn it feels as though they could step right off the page. However, I also fell in love with some of the minor characters, such as Patterson the gardener at Blackwood Hall. I admired the way the author conjured up with equal ease 1920s London and the excesses of the ‘Bright Young People – extravagant parties, a never-ending stream of cocktails and champagne, wild late night treasure hunts – and the faded grandeur of Blackwood Hall in the 1930s with its overgrown gardens, chilly rooms and echoing corridors.

The legacy of war, in this case the First World War, is another theme explored in the book: the traumatic memories and survivors guilt of those who came back, and the ghostly presence of those who didn’t such as Selina’s brother Howard. The latter is cleverly connected with the art of photography through Lawrence Weston’s current occupation painting portraits of young men lost in the war based on photographs of them provided by their grieving families. Photographs – what they say and don’t say, the capturing of a likeness or of a moment in time – will play an important part in the book.

There are many more things I could say in praise of this book but I’ll confine myself to merely recommending that you read it for yourself. Be prepared for The Glittering Hour to take you on an intense but spellbinding emotional journey, some elements of which you may find confound your expectations. And definitely have a box of tissues handy.

The Glittering Hour is a stunning novel that I struggled to put down. With Selina in 1925 and Alice in 1936 I couldn’t decide which narrative I preferred. Selina is a Bright Young Thing, an embarrassment to her family but loved by the media. There were parties, alcohol and drugs but she wasn’t as wealthy as the others and struggled at times to keep up. And go with her heart. One of the reasons she behaved like she did was because of her older brother’s death in WW1, there were just the right amount of references to those who came back and were reduced to selling matches on street corners. It made me consider what a strange time it must have been to live in. So much heartache but also the desire for a carefree life.

Alice is her daughter, nine years old in 1936 and left with her grandparents whilst her parents were away. Missing her mother, she is encouraged to do treasure hunts so she can discover more about her mother. Whilst I liked the hunt and reading the letters from her mother I enjoyed the friendships she built more, especially with Polly.

Whilst most of the novel concerns Selina and Alice there are also short chapters that tell the reader what the minor characters are feeling. Some likeable, some not, but they are all important in both of their lives.

It’s an astonishing novel, one that I will definitely like to read again. And next time I will have the tissues ready.

It has been many years since Iona Grey's stunning début novel – Letters to the Lost was published and the wait for book number two seemed to go on and on. As her first book had been such a huge success due to its utter perfection I knew the wait would be more than worth it despite the high expectations I had set for it. At the same time, admittedly, I had a slight sense of trepidation before beginning to read The Glittering Hour as I desperately hoped that magic and unique storytelling spun throughout book one would be present here. Now I can safely say The Glittering Hour was an utter triumph. It is such a beautifully crafted novel one in which you can see the attention to detail, the research and all the emotions so carefully poured into the writing of it by Iona. It more than tugs at your heart strings and I found a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes on more than one occasion. This is a heartbreaking read at times but one you must not hesitate to pick up and read as you become so deeply connected to the main characters in what proves to be an epic story packed full of such honesty, intensity, love and powerful writing that will long linger on in your mind once you have read the last words.

The Glittering Hour opens with an intriguing prologue that instantly has you alert and eager to continue reading on. Iona has this unique ability to captivate you very early on in a book and you are held in the grasp of the story right until the very end. A part of you wants to take things slowly and savour every carefully chosen word as the writing is so lyrical, descriptive and emotive and also the fact I know it could be quite some time before we can read more from this remarkably talented author. Yet another part of me couldn't wait and I wanted to race through the pages as quickly as possible to discover what exactly was going on and why? The prologue had my attention and soon I was deeply lost in the incredible and moving story that was awaiting me with each turn of the page.

In 1936 Alice Carew has been sent to stay with her mother's family home at Blackwood Park. Her mother Selina and father Rupert are away travelling for his job far away in the East in Burma. Alice doesn't really know her mothers family and she feels the days are stretching endlessly ahead of her with very little to do with little or no interaction with her grandmother. But Selina has left a trail of clues behind for her to discover and follow in the hopes it will distract her and help the time go quicker until her parents return. Alice sees this as a challenge but the further she delves into the treasure trail it becomes a way of getting to know more about her mother as there are letters written by her. The past slowly starts to make itself known and will ultimately culminate in a very surprising twist and turn of events. So many questions arise for Alice but will she get the answers she so desperately seeks.

On occasion she also receives letters from Burma where her parents have reached describing all the wonderful and exotic sights and sounds they are experiencing. This somewhat sates Alice's pangs of loneliness but at the same time she longs to be back in her mother's embrace. The focus then shifts back and forth between Alice in 1936 and back to the 1920's to when Selina was young and ran with a crowd in London who embraced the glittering hour , when all things shimmered with promise. They were a wild and reckless bunch having the time of their lives but will their actions have consequences for their future?

Changing back and forth between Alice and Selina's perspectives worked seamlessly. The contrast between the long days at Blackwood for Alice and the exciting parties, events and encounters experienced by Selina were the total opposite of each other and helped develop the two sides of the story. Alice can't comprehend that the mother she now knows was once someone who threw caution to the wind and embraced changes in her life and plans at the drop of a hat. Running alongside Selina were her best friends Flick and Theo who have an extravagant and newsworthy lifestyle packed full of scandal and gossip. Any invitation that comes their way is accepted as soon as it hits the mat. The more wild and carefree the better. Excitement and thrill seeking runs through their veins as much as the alcohol they consume. But this is the time of the Bright Young Things. Attracting public attention is a regular occurrence even though it often comes with both amusement and disapproval. Being high spirited and engaging in fun and revelry is de rigour.

Iona captured so perfectly the daring, foolhardy and adventurous spirit of the times. So vastly different from the times we live in today. Such a glamorous picture was painted and the research undertaken must have been so interesting. It certainly made me want to look up more about this time in history. Yet behind it all Selina has her own deep held insecurities which are masked but she must keep going and paper over the cracks. A chance meeting with Lawrence Weston, an impoverished painter sets in motion a chain of events which will have a significant forbearing on the future of all those concerned. Lawrence is mesmerised by Selina but he knows she is well out of his reach as he is no where near the upper echelons of society and nor will he perhaps ever be. Their differences attracted them to each other but they belong in different worlds. Selina has rules and regulations put in place by her family but partying with her friends is the rebellious nature in her attempting to emerge. She is tired of rigidiness, hypocrisy and control instead she wants to push the boundaries and explore the inner her and if Lawrence can help all the better. She learns to live for the moment, to dismantle her armour against the world. But is she playing by societies rules or rather embracing the changing and shifting attitudes emerging following the war?

The story from this point unfolded at a suitable pace. At times it felt relaxed and I was embracing all that Selina was experiencing this was in contrast to the fast paced parties and adventures. There were times where I questioned just why Alice in later years was getting such prominence as apart from the letters which did give us an insight I thought she was slightly surplus to requirements at certain points. But I needn't have worried, Iona knew exactly what path she was taking her readers down and all the connections very slowly began to make themselves apparent as did the reasons for everything. When that moment of revelation made itself known I was left gasping in shock and frozen so to speak with the tears gathering. It made me appreciate even more what an astonishing read this was, so carefully constructed as to reel the reader in and have them fully embrace all the goodness and emotions that exist between its pages. No doubt about it Iona Grey's second book was every bit as good as the first and that is not often the case when trying to write a follow up to a début book that no doubt is destined to become a classic. I can't say one was better than the other as I loved both and couldn't possibly choose .Iona has done it and this compelling and brilliant book deserves to be read by as many people as possible. I only hope we are not left waiting as long for book number three.

First of all can we just take a moment to appreciate this stunning front cover! I’d be lying if I said the eye-catching artwork adorning the sleeve wasn’t one of the reasons I was initially drawn to this book! It is simply gorgeous!

I was truly lost for words when I finished it because his book is quite simply: magnificent. I became very quickly immersed in this shimmering show of a story, with it’s beautifully written, deep, meaningful and elegantly flowing prose. I was dazzled by Grey’s spectacular story telling and floored by how magical this book is.

It was hard not to be spellbound by the sparkling Selina (the main protagonist) and I was taken by both her and her heart-achingly beautiful story. Her surrounding cast were equally as vivid and all were lustrously illuminated by Grey’s sumptuous style of writing.

The Glittering Hour is one of those rare books that left me feeling utterly bereft when it ended. It is one to be savoured and indulged in and I didn’t want to end. It is an epic tale, and the pages ooze pure, unadulterated joy.

Delicious, dazzling and truly spectacular; this book is everything and everyone should read it.

What a great book this is. I found it very hard to put down, but the closer I got to the end of the book I started to slow my reading pace as I just didn’t want it to end!


The story flits between the Roaring 20’s and the 1930’s. Where the country is slowly getting over WWI and just before WWII is on the horizon.

In 1925’s Selina Lennox and her friends were called “the Bright Young Things”. I guess in today society they would be know as the “it Crowd”. Wherever Selina and her friends went the camera’s followed. They were always in the newspapers, with photographs of them getting up to things that the older generation looked down on, but that never stopped them.

Most nights you would see them drinking copious amounts of cock-tales and champagne, before they either went on to parties or carried on to paint the town red. At one particular party she bumps in Laurence Weston who she had met previously when she was a damsel in distress. Laurence is a poor talented artist who paints portraits of deceased sons of the rich who died fighting in WWI, but his biggest passion is photography.

Selina and Laurence spend as many stolen moments with each other, behind her family and friends backs, as nobody can find out she’s spending her time with a man below her station. Selina and Laurence manage to spend one prescious week together at her familys home, as the rest of them have gone to Scotland for the summer.

However Selina ends up marrying her dead brothers best friend as he vowed that he would look after her and he could give her everything that she could ever want. The night before the wedding she meets up with Laurence one last time.

Then we start to flit to the 1930’s and to Selina’s daughter story. Alice is nine years old and has gone to live with her mothers parents, while her mother and father travel to the Far East. As her father has business to deal with out there and he needs his wife with him.

While Alice is staying with her grandparents she feels so alone and unloved. The only person that shows her any warmth or love is her mothers old ladies made, who agreed to go and care for Alice.

The only thing that keeps Alice going are the secret letters she is sending and receiving from her mother. As the letters progress Selina sends Alice on a treasure hunt, which is Selina’s way of telling her daughter about the man (Laurence) who she really loved.

The further Alice gets on her treasure hunt it becomes obvious that everything isn’t as Alice has been lead to believe, and it explains why her father and grandparents treat her in the way they do.

This is such an epic love story, and so well written that you are dragged into the characters highs and lows. I could have gone in to far more depth about this book, but I feel it would spoil it for those yet to read it and reading it is a must if you enjoy historical fiction and romance.

1925 Selina Lennox is one of the 'Bright Young People', the society set who came out after the war. She leads a frivolous life whilst awaiting the staid marriage expected of her. One night she meets artist/photographer Lawrence Weston and her world is turned upside down. 1936 Selina is away in Burma with her husband and her daughter Alice is staying with her maternal grandparents in Selina's old home. To pass the time Selina has set a treasure hunt but the conclusion will only lead to heartbreak.
This book has been the subject of glowing reviews and I can see why it appeals. Grey understands the idea of a good story, the two timescales are handled deftly and there is a lot of understanding of the lives of women between the wars. Where is falls down for me is that it is just too obvious - the 'twists' are not twists - in addition there are references to events but they are so subtle that it seems everything occurs within a bubble. The sense of loss following the war is the one area where Grey shows empathy and a subtle approach to her writing, Lawrence's work in painting portraits of lost sons is very emotive. I understand why this would be a book that appeals to the masses and I can see why many readers love it however it is too simplistic for me to enjoy other than as a pleasant escape.

This book had so many layers to i I could never predict where it was going. It has a fairly slow pace and so the storylines are gently woven and slowly spun out in front of you but that makes for an absorbing read, or an absorbing listen in my case. I thought the audiobook was incredibly well done with the two main characters have very different voices and tones in keeping with the physical book.

I enjoyed the fact that this book jumps around in terms of what time we are in and whose storyline we are following, it definitely makes for a page turner because you want to hear from both sides and find out what is happening in each of the time frames. I would definitely recommend making sure you've got some time to dedicate to the beginning of the book as I ended up reading the first few chapters twice because my mind had drifted and I hadn't realised the shift in time or characters. I don't mind too much though because Iona Grey's writing is beautiful.

Selina's story is really heartbreaking and so emotional. The fact that we get to see two major points in her life in a real treat because she is a complex character. I love the fact that she begins the book in one life and then we get to see her exciting world as a bright young thing in the glittering hour and see how she could have ended up. Lawrence is such a great character too and I couldn't help but feel for him at every turn of the page. I wish he had had an easier life but then it wouldn't have made for the romance that it did if he had.

I enjoyed this book even though I am not normally a fan of books set in this time period. Iona Grey has a beautiful writing style and just such a way with weaving a story that will suck you in and have you turning the pages until the bitter end.

Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy in return for an honest review
A very good read and one I can highly recommend to others.
I could not put this down.
Thoroughly enjoyable with an amazing cast of characters that you cannot help but engage with.