I really loved this book. It was gripping, interesting and I connected with the characters. I loved the links between the past and present, and found the themes of gender, memory and dealing with loss really thought provoking. I highly recommend.

I enjoyed Corin Burnside’s debut novel Her Forgotten Promise. Her new book The Memory Keeper deals with the same themes – the impact of WW2 on the lives of those who lived through it, and the way it has affected their families down the generations. When a young boy sees a Spitfire crash on rough ground in 1940 the image is forever imprinted on his memory. As an old man in 2014 he watches archaeologists excavate the scene of the crash, exposing an astonishing secret about the pilot. The story is told in complex dual narration, which Burnside handles skilfully. Her writing is very descriptive, showing an intimate understanding of day-to-day life in wartime. The love affairs of Bella in 1940 and Jennifer in 2014 are set in different time periods and on opposite sides of the world, but a close relationship between them is gradually revealed. I find this book hard to review because for me, The Memory Keeper was a difficult read. My father’s brother was a WW2 pilot who was shot down and killed at the age of 22. It took me a long time to fully comprehend the effect his death had on his siblings. To me this is not history but an account of a family’s trauma.
I recommend Burnside’s well researched and emotional story to fans of historical novels, with a special interest in WW2. Thank you NetGalley for sending me an ARC.

I do enjoy a war story and this was one with a twist. Telling the tale of Bella while intertwining it with the present. The characters came alive and were willing there to be a happy ending for everyone while knowing it would not be.

Tragedy had touched the lives of all of them and the book shows how people deal with this in different ways.

Oh my goodness, what a debut this is! I read this pretty quickly because I didn’t want to put it down. I love a duel timeline and this was done so well, giving the reader the opportunity to really get to know each character. The twists and turns of this book kept me on my toes and to be honest, I can’t say anything else.. I just loved it 💛

So anyone who knows me knows I love a good duel timeline, especially a historical one and I found The Memory Keeper to be an excellent and really enjoyable read. I loved how it was presented - with alternating chapters following each of the main characters story / timeline, how both stories unfolded with a perfect pace to their meeting point and the actual overall story was pretty special and unique.

Bella and Jennifer were both characters built of fire, passion and honour with heaps of emotional integrity and I really found it easy to get involved in their plight - I couldn’t wait for the discoveries to be made and to get all the information. Now I could go on and on but it’s safe to say I loved it and have recommended it to everyone! (My Mum is currently reading it!!)


With thanks to author #CorinBurnside @hqstories and @netgalley - sorry I missed the publication date!

Both are OUT NOW!

-EMILY

@the_book_girls_1

A good dual timeline story set in WW2 and the present day. The two main characters Jennifer and Bella were both strong women and although quite easy to guess the connection between them you still wanted to keep reading to complete their stories. Good book for fans of WW2 series

This review contains spoilers

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for an ARC of The Memory Keeper.

I read and loved Corin Burnside's debut book, and I was excited to get reading this one. However I didn't find it on the same level as her previous book. I didn't enjoy the characters from the WWII setting, and the history was overrun with the stories about the planes and the love story. It was relatively easy to see how the two stories from past and present were going to entwine.
Still a very readable book and I will look forward to more works by this author.

An absolutely brilliant duel time story.
The plots of both story lines merged beautifully.
The characters are based around two strong female characters who both experienced different heart ache in different ways.
The descriptions of the pilots experiences in defending our country during World War Two really made one think of how life had no certainty and if they would even survive to the next day.
Brilliant conclusion

After loving the author’s first book, I had high expectations for The Memory Keeper, and it did not disappoint. 🥹 The author’s talent for creating vivid, cinematic scenes makes reading her work feel like watching a movie unfold. Even though I could sense where the story was heading, the way the narrative unfolded kept me hooked. The Memory Keeper is indeed a true page-turner! 👍

However, I have to admit that the portrayal of grief within Jennifer’s family didn’t resonate with me as deeply as I’d hoped. Despite this, the book shines in other areas. The topics of RAF, spitfires, and archaeology were new to me, yet they were so well-written that I could easily understand and visualize them. The tension during the flying scenes kept me on the edge, and I even picked up some new insights into archaeology.

Overall, The Memory Keeper is definitely an emotional and insightful read. I’m eager to see what the author comes up with next and will definitely be keeping an eye out of for her future works 💖 She’s my go-to historical fiction author to date!

What a really enjoyable book a dual timeline.

Bella lives in Australia and is very much a strong willed woman. She ends up in Edinburgh and goes to Oxford to get her pilots licence as she has been flying planes since she was a teenager. War breaks out and she ends up working at the ATA as a pilot flying the lanes. Aiden her brother des not want to go to War and joins the RAF. Jennifer is an archeologist and ends up finding a spitfire with the body of the pilot inside. Who is this person and how did they end up in the ground.

I enjoyed this story trying to work out who the pilot was and how the story links up altogether. I worked out what was going to happen midway through the book.

I wanted to read on to find out what happened and it certainly did not disappoint.

It was well written and was a wonderful book with sadness and also happiness.

My rating:

Plot: 5 out of 5 stars
Writing: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Character development: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 5 out of 5 stars

Recommended for readers of:

Historical Fiction


Review:

This is a beautiful story, told over a dual time line, one set in the present tells the story of Jennifer and the other, Bella’s story takes place during WWII. The characters are interesting women each with their own story to tell but there are also many similarities. The book is very well written, vivid and with great attention to detail. The story flows well and is very moving with the right amount of mystery, suspense and a bit of romance that keep you going till the end.
The characters are well developed; their actions are explained with enough detail, this makes characters appear realistic.


Overall:

This is a, well written and researched story with great character development, the right amount of intrigue and suspense to keep you captivated till the end.

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!! The best book I've read this year so far and it will be hard to beat. I enjoyed this author's last book but this tops it by a mile!
It's a dual timeline story and the two timelines blend seamlessly. Every second chapter is about Bella, in the past and Jennifer in the present up to the last few chapters so you always know where you are in the book.
The opening pages were a brilliant hook and it never waned. Both Bella and Jennifer have suffered trauma in their lives. They are both strong women with Bella doing something completely out of the ordinary. There's a great cast of characters and so much information on different subjects, yet it never gets bogged down. I did have an inkling part way through and then guessed where it was going but it didn't stop my enjoyment of the read. For me it enhanced it.
Even though I knew a certain outcome, a wave of sadness washed over me when it came out. It's a very emotional read with grief, love, joy and acceptance running through it. A phenomenal amount of research must have gone into this story. The dog fights in the Spitfires were so well done you could feel the tension of the pilots.
I'd highly recommend it to anyone who loves dual timelines and stories set around the war. Can't wait for her next book!!

Many thanks to HQ Digital and NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

I was completely enthralled with The Memory Keeper. The prologue had me in tears and I couldn't wait to discover what it was referencing. The dual timeline had me on the edge of my seat, waiting,.. just waiting.

Jennifer has a really cool job as an archaeologist. She works for a company that unearths planes downed during WW2. She is on a job and about to give up in a boggy field. Then it happened. Someone found just enough to keep the dig going. The discoveries that follow gave me chills. I wanted to be part of the investigation. I wanted to be there the story exploded. This story was mine until I reached the end. The lack of sleep was worth it.

England is at war. It needs pilots, but only male pilots. Bella has known how to fly for many years because she lived in the Australian Outback. Bella does the next best think and joins the ATA. It just wasn't the same.

She saw an opportunity. She took it. Bella was so brave. Bella was an Ace and an inspiration. But she had a secret. If it ever came out, her life would end as she knew it. I was intrigued with Bella' career. The author used words to show the reader what it was like to be a pilot in the Battle of Britain. I learned of hardships. My heart broke over the loses. My heart radiated for Johnnie and Bella. It was an inspiration, that during the horrors of war, happiness could still be found.

A beautiful dual timeline book. The strong female characters really shine and the connections between the two stories are wonderful. A delight to read

This is a rattling good story. It brings to life the experience of a spitfire pilot and lifts some of the mystery concerning an archaeological dig. The premise is simple, an elderly man witnessed a spitfire crash when he was a boy. A dig is set up and the identity of the pilot is uncovered. The most important fact is that the pilot whose body had been preserved in a boggy marsh was a woman. As well as being important, the book makes a statement about female equality. No occupation should be denied a woman merely through gender. The book also makes a timely comment about handling grief a topic we find easy to ignore. All in all a really good read.

What an amazing book ! Dual time line was written so well and the characters were so real. The story of an amazing pilot and the secret within and an unbelievable coincidence . Read it and you won’t be disappointed.
My thanks to NetGalley and HQ Digital for the early read

I thoroughly enjoyed The Memory Keeper. It is a dual time historical novel set in 2014 and WW11. The story is well thought out and the pace is just right. The characters are well rounded and believable. I did work out where the narrative was going about half way through but this didn't detract from my reading pleasure at all. I can recommend giving this book a try if you enjoy a good read.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

So Corin Burnside was a new author to me but given how much I love WW2 historical fiction with dual timeline storyline involved, it was a no brainer that I had to read this, plus the cover to the book is gorgeous.

It didn't take me long to be drawn into the stories of both Bella and Aidan back in 1940 and that of Jennifer in present day 2014, I was captivated right from the first few chapters, really enjoyed getting to know all of the characters and to discovering each of their stories. I loved how the story went back and forth from 1940 to present day 2014 which was done so seamlessly. I loved the mentions of the Spitfires, Hurricanes planes, really added something special to the story.

The archeological element to the story was a really insightful one, as I learnt a few things that I never even knew, like how the process worked when they discovered/found something and the hoops they have to jump through with people of authority before they can proceed with the evacuation of a dig site.

So if you love books that tell a story in the present and in the past then I can highly recommend this beautiful tale of love, sacrifice, friendship, courage, discovery and so much more.

"The Memory Keeper" is a dual time-line novel set during WW2 and the present day. In 1938 Bella Gardner travels to Edinburgh to visit her maternal grandmother. In the present day archaeologist Jennifer Dawson is working on a project to locate planes which crashed in Kent during WW2.

There are a couple of minor "suspend belief" plot lines, but the book is so well written that these can be forgiven. There are many aspects to the tale, including family, friendships, love and duty, with PTSD being another key element. Corin Burnside has produced an entertaining and very readable novel covering some lesser known aspects of WW2, while also highlighting the work of modern charities supporting veterans.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Loved every single word!
The characters leapt off the page, the aspects of war were sensitively dealt with, from the feelings of the objectors to the feelings of the pilots when planes were struck.
I did struggle a little with the men's continued oblivion to Bella's true nature but I suppose it is a great example of seeing only what you expect and want to see!
A lovely story, beautifully told.