A very enjoyable dual-timeline historical fiction happening in 1940 and in 2021. The print book must be a great comfort read too, but the audio book was just amazing! Sophie Bentinck did such a great job, I'll be looking out for books narrated by her in the future, that's for sure!

This novel has a lot of strong female characters, just the right amount of romance, espionage and digging up family history.

A good solid story of romance, sadness and bravery.

The story is a well written one with endearing characters and a very good narrator on the audiobook version.

It gives more of a dimension to WWII and is very credible in it’s telling.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

During the Second World War, people across the world listened for the tolling of Big Ben on their radios. It was a sign that England was still standing strong against the Nazis, a time for people to reflect and pray for the end of the war. Wood’s story is about a fictitious (as far as we know) plot by the Nazis to destroy Big Ben and all that it represented. It’s the story of Nell Spelman, who’s forced to leave London to protect her young daughter from the barrage of bombs raining down on London, at the same time leaving her husband Arthur, Big Ben’s caretaker behind. This is also the story of Ellie in present day New York, who decides to unravel the mystery of the watch that belonged to the grandfather she never knew. This is a beautiful story of courage, belief and the ability of love to overcome evil . The narrator’s presentation of this book is so good. so believable, that she literally becomes the characters she reads

I’ve just started to get back into historical fiction after a long time of taking a break from it. Not intentionally, just veered more towards thrillers.

I’m glad I received an email asking if I’d like to take a look at this one because although it’s based around 1940’s and the Spelman family live in London, hectic bombings going on from the Germans, this really featured on the fact that Author (Nells husband) has gone missing.

Before that though, Arthur needs for Nell to be safe.
Arthur looks after the clocks in Westminster Palace so he cannot go. He’s needed there.

When Nell receives a frantic call from Arthur saying he’s been arrested, Nell becomes so desperate, what is happening, why has he been arrested.

Returning to London Nell finds herself uncovering dark things.

This is a two timeline story that is easy to follow.

I learnt some things about the clocks in various areas that are known landmarks.

The past to present day elements in this was so good.

I listened to this on audio and found it so easy to follow. The voice of the narrator had great power, pitch and pace. The characters voices so well done.

I thought that this audio was excellent!
The story was a dual time line which was effortlessly switched between the two, even on an audio book, you could tell the era if you happened to miss the date given.

I found some parts of the story incredibly moving and well described that it was incredibly easy to envision.
It is hard to believe that this is the authors first venture into writing books aimed at an adult audience, a fantastic debut book.

If you enjoy WW2 historical fiction that are powerful and keep you enthralled then this is a great book and it deserves to do well.

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook on my commute. The story of Nell Spelman and her husband Arthur, their families and experiences during the early war years was well paced and the attitudes and ideals fitted well with the era. This is told in two timelines, 1940-42 and the present time.

Nell’s granddaughter Ellie returns to London from NY to try and find out more about Nell, what happened to he and how she died, to fill the gaps in her family history for her mother a Alice (Nell and Arthur’s daughter). It really is a Great War time London based story with great emphasis on Westminster and Big Ben.

When Ellie meets Brenda, well the story really hots up.
I would definitely look for more books by Daisy Wood on the strength of this story.