A very good read that I enjoyed and it had good characters too. I would read more from this author.

I was a bit half and half on this one. It wasn't a bad story but it wasn't particularly entertaining either.

For me personally I found this boom quite hard to get into and yet I really thought thr description would be my cup of tea. Sad to say I gave up reading the full book.

Well written and enjoyable albeit a little slow. Set in Cornwall at the start of WW1. Plenty of intrigue and secrets. Good plotting. Recommended.

This book is very apposite, having been published before, about the first world war. It has been re-issued to coincide with the centenary of the end of the war in November 2018.
It is all about one family, who own a country estate. The eldest brother is a farmer, and an employer, who cannot be spared to go and fight in the war. The next brother goes to fight, but is killed in action. The next brother, goes to fight, is reported "missing in action", but has been blinded by a shell, having achieved the status of an officer of men, who are dead, or dying all around him.
The youngest brother, is 16 and cannot wait to go to war, where he wants to prove he is as manly as his brothers, and he cannot wait to train, and go into action. Against all this, their grandmother has dementia, and a local girl is employed to care for her 24/7. Unfortunately, the grandma slips out one day, hurts herself, and in the process of trying to rescue her, the girl is knocked over, and gravel goes into the eyes of the brother.
No spoiler alerts in the review, but the book is written, in great depth, and great humanity about, family love, employers, and the employees, filial love, and how love will not necessarily conquer everything. The drama between the characters is reproduced in great detail, and the start, and finish of the book is superb. I would not hesitate to recommend anyone to read this novel, for its foresight, and charm.

Thanks to NetGalley and to Canelo for an advance copy of Touch the Silence, by Gloria Cook.

This book was first published by Severn House in 2003 and was republished in 2018. It's the first in the Harvey Family saga, of which there are currently six volumes.

I found the book quite difficult to get into at first. There were a lot of characters to find out about and the first time "Lucy" was mentioned, I had no idea who she was. At one point I thought there might be two Lucys.

However, once the book got going for me, I struggled to put it down. It's not really gripping reading or fast-paced, but I wanted to know more about these characters and how they'd all get along.

The character of Alec sometimes came across as a bit one-dimensional. He spoke a bit like the narrator and so he didn't really jump off the page for me. All the others did, though.

The story follows the lives and loves of some of the Harvey family, and it's set very well in Cornwall and on the western front in the first world war. I found the soldiers' descriptions particularly colourful and realistic, of both the trenches and what happened to so many men.

It was nice to have some surprises along the way, but it was also a little predictable in only a very few places.

The ending seemed a little rushed. However, I enjoyed the story and I'll certainly look out for more books by the same author.

Book one of the Harvey Family Saga sets the scene to this series well.
Cornwall at the time of World War I and Emilia a farm hand is suffering rejection from one of the Harvey Brothers as he blames her and consequently pushes her away frustrated with now been declared unfit to serve his Country due to a horrific injury. Upset she turns to his brother and a drama unravels as they become a couple.
With believable characters, guarded secrets, plenty of scandal and period detail this book was very enjoyable and I read it one day. Book two I will be reading straightaway intrigued to see just what the future has in store for Emilia.
My thanks go to the author, publisher and Netgalley in providing this arc in return for a honest review.

Set in 1917 and all the aspect of the first world war have on a farming family very well researched and enjoyable
read.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and didn’t want to put it down. Found the story flowed well with lots of twists and turns leading to a satisfactory conclusion. I look forward to reading more books by this author. Definitely recommended.

An interesting story about three brothers and the challenges they faced in Cornwall during the First World War.

I love historical fiction and particularly enjoy books set in that time period. Whilst this book held my interest sufficiently for me to read and finish it, it didn’t create a desperate need for me to read it - it was lacking some pizazz!

Whilst the characters were a broad range of people, I felt that you didn’t really get to know some of them well enough - they didn’t really reveal much about themselves and the great secret about one of the characters was nothing much at all!

Interesting setting - I think the book would have benefited from more description eg Em’s parents are introduced in one or two sentences and then not mentioned again for 100 pages so was difficult to remember exactly who they were.

An interesting read but needs a little more oomph for me to rate it higher than a 3.5*

As war takes its toil and shatters a family, hope come to the surface, and family blood is thicker than water and love will come shining through. A well written book

Set during the First World War, this book is full of well rounded characters. This isn't a period I'm accustomed to reading, but the setting and the seemed authentic and believable.

Many thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers for allowing me to read a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. Although it was essentially a family saga, there was also a social history element with it being set around the First World War and it highlighted what life was like at that time, especially for women. It was set in Cornwall but there wasn't a lot that was Cornwall specific so it could have been set anywhere rural. This added to the realism though. It was a well written book with a good story and believable characters. I'm really looking forward to reading the other parts of the saga and catching up with where the characters are then. I intend to look up the author and see if she has done anything else!

I was lucky to receive 2 books in this series and will be looking to read the series. It focuses on 3 Harvey brothers, their wives, children and friends. Emelia works for them and is seeing Ben Harvey one of their sons. When an accident causes him to lose the sight in one of his eye he blames Emily and rejects her. She turns to his elder brother Alec and they fall in love and get married. There is of adultery, scandal and lots of drama to keep you wanting to read more. I would highly recommend this book.

A good little book with lovely, believable and well rounded characters. The style of writing was really good and I enjoyed the book but I thought it was a bit flat. It felt like a family story that was handed down through the generations without an actual climax.

I enjoyed this book. I do like a good family saga. This one is set during the Great War (1914-18) and finishes with the Spanish flu. The people are as ordinary as anyone really is. There are 3 brothers, 2 farms and sundry other characters - and lots happening. Not too girly or romantic - very real

For some reason I found this book a little slow at the start. Once I got into it I loved following the lives of the Harvey family. Set during WW1 you follow the ups and downs and tragedies of the family trying to survive the war in Cornwall. I’m glad to know this is a series and I will definitely be reading the other books to find out how they are all getting on.

Not having heard of this author before reading this book I can honestly say I've missed a treat. Until now. This book is a real page turner. I absolutely could not put it down. The story is excellent and the characters strong and well developed. I particularly enjoy family sagas and I'm really happy to find that there are 6 in this series. My thanks to netgalley for the first 2.

Not sure about this story. Although it was well written, and a very moving story of men lost during the war, I didn't feel any connection to any of the characters, who really seemed very lucky and a little bit spoilt to be living in almost luxury in a time of great sacrifice.

A wonderfully rich tale set in World War One with plenty of interesting characters and their tales to keep you interested would recommend this book I thoroughly enjoyed it.