In The Forgotten Promise, the author takes the reader to Malaya in the 1940, just before World War Two breaks out in Asia, and the Japanese Army invades and occupies many countries. Malaya was a British colony back then, where white people lived a live of privilege and luxury, often with local people hired as their (housekeeping) staff. Malaya would later become Malaysia.
Ella McCain, a British woman inherited her father's tin mine in the Kledang mountains, where her husband Johnnie is the boss, they have two young children, Ella and Toby. Her childhood friend Noor, who is a local from Kledang, has become her cook. Ella and Johnnie live a privileged life, but things take a bad turn when there is an epidemic of diphteria, which makes her daughter Grace very ill, and Grace has to be admitted to the hospital and stay alone in quarantine with no visitors allowed. Ella is heartbroken, but as her other child might not get sick too in their house where there are a lot of people and staff walking in and out, she goes with her friend Melody who is visiting, to temporarily stay at her beach residence. But while they are staying there, the Japanese invade Singapore and World War two officially breaks out in Malaya too, as the Japanese army soon lands there too, and it is impossible to go back to Ella's house in Kledang, while her daughter is still in the hospital and the Japanese also invade Kledang. Not knowing that the Japanese invade and occupy her house soon and take her husband Johnny as a prisoner. Ella flees to Ipoh with Melody, waiting for word from Johnny and when he will arrive with Grace to join them. But this never happens, and he orders Ella to flee to Singapore so she can flee to England with Toby to be safe. Ella's life changes forever because of the war. Meanwhile, Noor promised Johnny to take care of Grace and to protect her no matter what. Things get dangerous when the Japanese are in the house. She has to wait till the war is over, when Ella is in a search for what happened to Johnny and Grace and their house. But then a secret unravels itself..

The Forgotten Promise is a thrilling and tragic historical fiction novel set before and during the war. The storyline and the characters are both fantastic. It is written in a way that is easy to follow, and the storyline has no slow or boring parts. It was heartbreaking when Ella couldn't return to her home because the way broke out and it took years to find out what happened to her husband and daughter, who doesn't recognize anymore when they meet again.Their meeting in the end is surrounded by conflict, because Noor formally became the caretaker of Grace, because a secret about her family roots gave her the right to do this, without the knowing of Ella, sadly. This is one of the most thrilling parts of the book.

Overall I found this a moving and very entertaining book, that I recommend reading!

The Forgotten Promise is a dual narrative story that follows the lives of two women caught in the chaotic days of the Japanese invasion of Malaysia and Singapore.
It explores the stories of Ella and Noor - Ella is the rich plantation owner and Noor is the childhood friend - daughter of a servant and one of the native people.
As they grow up their lives become radically different but when the invasion comes, a devastating family event splits Ella's life in half and Noor ends up caring for Ella's daughter while Ella must escape to England.

An interesting exploration of this time in history, with relatable characters and a fast-paced plot.
Fans of Dinah Jeffires and Rosanna Ley would definitely appreciate the storytelling and attention to historical detail.

Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A atmospheric story that will leave you breathless and yearning for a huge hug. I cried so much while reading this beautiful written book.

When I first started thus book I stopped a couple times with a "ugh just another book" well I finally picked it back up and once I got into it?! I loved this book! What an enjoyable read!

Many thanx to NetGalley, the author and publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book

I admit that I found this book very hard going and struggled to finish it, which I finally managed. The story is slightly different from most WW2 books as this is partially set in the Far East and gives a good account of the repercussions of war. Really not my type of book and not what I was expecting to read, can only give 3 stars

As a long-term lover of historical fiction, The Forgotten Promise by Paula Greenlees was just right for me!

Two girls make a promise in the 1920s, which goes on to be tested by war and years of separation. Can they reunite in post-war Malaya despite the hurt of those intervening years?

Using ‘enjoyed’ seems the wrong word when writing about this book as, dealing as it does with the sadness of wartime separation and the threat of death, there is quite a heavy air to some of it, however, I did find it an incredibly compelling read as we follow Ella in a frantic dash to flee Malaya and her urgent searches for news of her daughter and husband who she is forced to leave behind.

This part of the book was, I felt, extremely powerful as Paula Greenlees skilfully evoked the tragedy and urgency of the attempted escape of thousands of British and Eurasian people from South-East Asia in the face of the Japanese invasion. It’s hard to imagine the devastation of having to leave your loved ones behind, just hoping that they will follow, but you may get some idea from these powerful passages in this book.

The sections of the book that I felt most drawn to were those where, on finding out that the war has ended, Ella is able to begin her search for her husband and daughter – Ella’s frustration of not being immediately able to return to Malaya is palpable and the power of bureaucracy is shown as it ever is and was!

I was not surprised to find out that Paula Greenlees has spent a great deal of time in this region, as the descriptions of Ella’s home – in the plants, animals and stifling heat – are beautifully written and it’s easy to imagine yourself there with her. Such a contrast to the bleak and grey Britain that Ella is forced to retreat to.

This book is a beautifully written story of childhood promises compared to grown-up responsibilities, and has a surprising and rewarding ending – definitely worth your time if you read often in this genre.

The story
Ella’s English father and Malaysian mother left her a tin mine in Malaysia after their deaths, and her English husband Johnny manages the mine. She lives a privileged and affluent life. But, when the Japanese attack Malaysia during WW2, Ella is away at the coast with her American friend Melody, and Johnny urges her to make her way to Singapore with their baby son Toby. He will join her there after collecting their 7 year old daughter Grace from the quarantine hospital. Faced with no other choice as she can’t return home Ella waits in Singapore until she can get a passage to England. Years pass as she tries to locate Grace and Johnny.

My thoughts
Wartime fiction can be an emotional challenge for me, but I so enjoyed Paula Greenlees’ Road to Paradise that I was keen to read her second book. This story is not an easy read, but there is so much history and context woven between the emotion in this story, it makes a beautiful story, especially with the dual POV between Ella and her friend and cook Noor who takes care of Grace in the years that Ella is away. Thankfully, violence is kept off the page and communication between the characters is resolved through open communication. I appreciated that there is resolution for the characters at the end of the story. 🇲🇾

This book was good but, very sad. I found it a difficult read for many reasons. Knowing how much people suffered under the invasion of the far east during WW2 with the Japanese invasion it was not a happy book. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Plot: As children, Ella the daughter of wealthy family in Malaya and Noor the daughter of their cook play together as children and make a pact to stay friends always. Fast forward 11 years later and world war Two hits Malaya, Ella is married to Johnnie with two children, Grace and Toby and Noor is now working as her cook. When the Japanese invade Malaya Ella flees Malaya to England with her Son Toby with the promise that her Husband that he will follow with their daughter Grace who is unwell in hospital. Once in England with the war raging Ella can only wait until the war ends before she can return to find out why Johnnie and Grace never arrived.

Review: This is the second book by Paula Greenlees and just like her first one I loved it. It was full of emotion and heartfelt empathy for Ella's desperation to learn what happened to her Husband, daughter and friend Noor and whether they survived the war. It is beautifully written and I loved all the supporting characters along the way. It also was a great example of how priorities changed after living through a war.

I have chosen this book because of its description and the setting in Malaya. I was not disappointed by what I got, the story was captivating and the setting interesting and unusual. The idea of showing the story from different perspectives is well implemented, even though I sometimes thought that the perspective from England was a bit too long. Sometimes I wished to see the perspective of people still living in Malaya during the war. I can imagine that that was not the idea of the author, but for me it felt a bit not balanced in the stories told.
I still recommend this book.

This was a well written and poignant novel with a compelling storyline that was well researched and engaging and well developed characters. I loved it.

This is my first read of Paula Greenlees, many readers will be familiar with WW2 events in Europe, here we are immersed in the terrors of how it played out in Malaya, with families torn apart and the terrible sacrifices that have to be made, from the perspective of two women, from different ends of the social and economic spectrum. The wealthy Ellie and her husband from Britain, Johnnie McCain, have 2 children, Grace and Toby, with Ellie having inherited a tin mine in the Kledang hills after the death of her father. It is assumed that war will never come to their part of the world, all this changes with the attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese and the unthinkable happens. When Ellie was a child, her best friend was Noor, the two make a promise that will prove to be difficult to keep in the years to come, particularly given the class issues that divide them.

In this well researched narrative, we see the nightmare pressures that Ellie finds herself under, she finds herself leaving with Toby, whilst expecting herself to reunite with Johnnie and Grace, but she ends up travelling to England, having little idea what has happened to them. She has never been to Britain previously, and goes to live with her in-laws during the war years, struggling to acclimatise, stressed and worried about her family, having not heard from them, the war making it difficult to get any information through. She is later to learn of the Japanese prisoners of war, travelling back home, with little idea of how much has changed or even if her family has survived. During the war, it was the courageous and resilient Noor who, despite the challenges she faces, takes care of Grace when the Japanese take over the tin mine and the home.

Greenlees provides a great sense of the historical period, colonialism, and the location with her rich descriptions in this emotional and heartbreaking story of the horror and the price of WW2 paid by ordinary families and people on the other side of the world. I particularly loved Noor as a character and reading about the close relationship between her and Grace. I found this to be an engaging, informative, educational, dark historical war read, a war seen through the eyes of women, with its fascinating focus on the nature of the relationship between Ellie and Noor, from children, a promise made, the changes they have to endure and their development through the years. I think this will appeal to many readers who love their historical fiction and those who are interested in different aspects of WW2. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Amazing, well researched and evocative tale of love, loss, hope and redemption. A reminder of the fragility of human life and the strength of the human spirit.

I was very drawn in by the premise of this book: Best friends Ella and Noor make a promise to always be close, but as they grow up they are separated by class and then further by World War II arriving to Malaysia (then British Malaya), as Ella flees with her son to England while her husband puts their daughter into Noor’s care. Sadly, just as Ella and Noor had trouble keeping their promise to each other, I felt that the story had trouble delivering on the promises it made to me.

It felt like almost everyone in the story was, to some extent, just a sketch or a stand-in for anyone who might find themselves in that particular situation, defined primarily by their backgrounds, hobbies, or jobs rather than unique character traits. I was thoroughly captivated by the history, and Greenlees made me care and even do further research about the people and events in Malaysia before, during, and after the war— if you are primarily interested in seeing depictions of what it may have been like for people and especially women at the time, this book really delivers. It also kept me curious about what would happen, but as it wrapped up, I was disappointed by how little Noor appeared on the page and how little I felt about how Ella’s story ended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cornerstone (Penguin Random House) for providing an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This is a novel that really captured my attention from the first sentence and did not let up until that final full stop. In fact, this book was so captivating that I stayed up very late to finish it.

The historical detailing in this novel has to be commended, the author has certainly done her homework and that shines through in the believable setting. Likewise, I thought the characters came across as very real in the telling and I enjoyed reading about both Ella and Noor. This is, however, a very emotional reading, so be sure to have some tissues to hand.

If you enjoy quality historical fiction then this book will not disappoint. I highly recommend it.

*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.

I really, really enjoyed this story! I found particularly captivating the beautiful, pittoresque and vivid description of Malaya landscape and meteorological conditions; fascinating was as well the description of the English countryside and weather through Ella's Eurasian eyes, as opposed to the Malayan colours; and finally, I found very interesting to re-visit Malay after Ella's return, again through her eyes. I felt it was very realistic indeed.
The characters were well defined and relatable, their psychological development felt very credible as well.
I also learned a lot about WWII in Asia, about colonialism in this part of the world, all very well woven within the story.
Highly recommended!
I received a complimentary ARC of this novel from NetGalley and I am leaving voluntarily an honest review.

Ella and Johnnie McCain own a small plantation and a tin mine in the Kledang hills in Malaysia and Ella inherited the property from her late father. The couple have two children Grace and baby Toby. Ella lives a very comfortable lifestyle, she has a cook, nanny, gardener, houseboy and a driver.

Johnnie’s from England, his parents still live there and the couple have been worried about them, and due to the Second World War breaking out. Everyone assures Ella that Malaysia is well defended and the Japanese wouldn’t attack the island and she has no reason to make a fuss!

Then the Japanese decimate Pearl Harbor, Malaysia could be next and many of the Europeans families are fleeing to Singapore and Ella doesn’t know what to do? Grace is in the fever hospital in Menglembu, Ella reluctantly leaves for Singapore with Toby and the plan is for Johnnie and Grace to meet them there. When they don’t arrive, Grace makes the difficult decision to sail to England and she can stay with her in-laws in Oxfordshire.

The Japanese move into the McCain’s villa, Noor the cook remains, she takes care of Grace and she doesn’t know what happened to Mr. McCain. Communications between the two countries have been cut, Ella has no idea what happened to her family in Malaysia and she's extremely worried. Ella finds living in England hard, she hates the cold weather and she feels guilty for leaving Grace behind. Her mother in-law Polly is lovely, she’s concerned about her son and granddaughter and she has two children from the city billeted with her. As the war years drag on, both women struggle to keep positive, they feel tired, drained, rundown and get overwhelmed.

The war finally ends, Ella can’t find out what happened to Johnnie and Grace and eventually she’s able to travel back to Malaysia, she has no idea if they survived the Japanese occupation and she's shocked by how much it has changed.

I purchased a copy of The Forgotten Promise by Paula Greenlees and I decided to review it for NetGalley as well. The story is told from two points of view, Ella’s and Noor’s and when they were little girls they were best friends and this changed when Ella went to school. You read about the struggles they faced during the Second World War in the narrative, the uncertainty, danger and deprivation and a huge secret from the past is revealed at the end. I highly recommend this book for fans of wartime historical fiction and five stars from me.