I am not always a fan of duel narrative and time in books, but this technique was ideal for the telling of both stories. The switching between Lexie's story and Flora's did not bother me as I wanted to continue their journeys as they were both engrossing.
Flora, Lexie's mum, has her story told in the third person. During the second world war the home fleet was based at Loch Ewe and Flora, Alec and the rest of the community have their lives changed forever.
Lexie tells her story in the 1970's. After a successful career as a singer in the West End, Lottie returns to Loch Ewe after the death of her mother,with her small daughter and her career in ruins. With the help of Flora's friends she starts her new life and discovers the secret of her birth .
I really enjoyed this well researched book. The two beautifully entwined stories brought the two eras to life. Highly recommended.

What an enjoyable book. While characters and circumstances are fictional, they are all based on things that actually happened during WWII. This book is centered on a hidden cove in Scotland called Loch Ewe. There are 2 time periods that we jump between.

Flora and her father live as keepers for the big house where Flora's beau resides. This book takes us through the struggles of watching loved ones leave over and over from this safe haven and cross the deadly seas to take supplies to allied countries. I loved the descriptive nature of this book. I really felt that I was walking the wind-swept trails with the characters. I could hear the wind, smell the salty sea air, and understood the heartache of a war that took far too many loved ones.

Decades later we get to follow Lexie, Flora's daughter through a lost career in London's West End and back to her home town at the Loch. She uncovers secrets she never even knew to look for and while her world is rocked, she also finds acceptance and love.

An overall uplifting story.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is really good will look in future for books by Fiona Valpy.

This is the story about Lexie Gordon returning home to her birth place. The story goes from Lexie in the present day to the time of her Mother Flora in World War 2. I was crying in places at the sad bits. Lexie wants to know more about her Father as her Mother had never talked about him. Flora's best friend Bridie still lives in the village and does not want to tells her anything. Eventually the story comes out.

I would read this book again as it is a really good story.

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. I didn't expect to like it as well as I did since it's not my usual type of story. Unlike most of the other novels about World War II, this was set in Scotland, which gave it a unique twist. It follows two generations of women living in Scotland, the mother's story centering around the World War II era and the impact of the war on the villagers, and her daughter, who returns from London three decades later to her home village after the death of her mother. While there is romance in both women's lives, I certainly wouldn't call this a genre romance. The romance is coincidental to each woman finding her own path in life.

Flora, the mother, loves her childhood chum, despite being from different social classes. Her story revolves around the uncertainty and loss she and the rest of the village must endure when war comes to their village. Lexie, her daughter, whose singing career has fallen apart as well as her romance with her director, returns, with her young daughter, to the village she grew up in and left behind all those years ago. With her dream crushed, she must find a new meaning to her life. The story is told from alternating viewpoints of the two women. There is a symmetry to the way their stories play out and the end of the novel brings things to a neat conclusion.

My only criticism is that the author seems a tad prone to overusing clichés. I lost count of the number of times people knew something "like the back of their hand". And the final reveal was a bit predictable but still satisfying. Overall I enjoyed the read.

Despite some obvious issues, I really liked this book. The main character was well defined, not overly emotional and goal oriented. She finds herself in a situation where she has to go back to her hometown in Scotland, and find out about her mother’s life. The most obvious issue I found is the title of this books. It did not evoke any response to me, indeed, it was just confusing. And her mother’s secret? Meh. However, I was drawn to both stories and enjoyed the book.

A story of secrets, sacrifices and broken families. Flora was not able to live the life she wanted but should her daughter Lexie be forced to suffer as well. Will Lexie get the answers that she wants or will she discover that her life was not as it seemed. Can she find happiness and find her place in life?

This is the 1st book I have read by the author Fiona Valpy. It was a lovely dual time story of mothers and daughters, secrets and growth.

The story follows Flora, the daughter of the local Laird’s gamekeeper during WWII and her forbidden love with the Laird’s son Alec, and Flora’s daughter Lexie and her daughter as they retreat from their life in London to the small cottage where Flora lived and loved. Lexie spends her time researching her mother’s past and realizes how strong and resilient her mother was.

This is a wonderful book of mothers and daughters, secrets, lies and the hope that come from finding the truth and growing from it. The book also has some very interesting and to me unkown aspects of WWII and the Royal Navy.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves dual time novels, historical novels and family dynamic novels.
I will definitely look for more from Fiona Valpy.

I received a copy from Netgalley for an honest review.

This is one of those books that make you feel as if you are coming home. It's heartwarming, intriguing, and soul touching.

I enjoyed the dual timeline following Lexie's journey back home and her mother, Flora. It has a hint of family mystery and unabashed friendship. I love how the war wasn't just a forgotten backdrop but lead ipthe characters down a winding path through life.

Beautifully done.

I found this to be a lovely, heart-warming story told in a dual time-line, about a mother and daughter. The setting is a small town on Loch Ewe in the Scottish Highlands. The mother, Flora’s story is told during the war, she has secrets, including a lover above her class. The other timeline is her daughter,Lexie in the 1970s who returns to the small town after a brief singing career in London. She brings a daughter with her and tries to adjust to returning to this small town. The people of the town embrace her and slowly Lexie learns the story of her parents and grandparents and she makes a home for herself there again.

This is may first book by this author. It is set in Scotland and the storyline about a mother and daughter, goes back and forth between two time periods. It was an enjoyable story and I loved the description of the setting. .
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy in exchange for my review.

Skylark''s Secret is set in a crofters' village in the Scottish Highlands at the edge of Loch Ewe (an inland sea).. Two storylines alternate between a young woman (Flora) during WWII and her daughter (Lexie) in the late 1970s. Village life for Flora, the gamekeeper's daughter, changes dramatically during the war as she becomes a Wren and falls in love with Alex, the laird's son. Their relationship is forbidden by the laird, who does everything in his considerable power to squash it. Alex sails in and out of Loch Ewe as a naval battleship commander assigned to protect the merchant marine convoys supplying Russia with food and weapons.

Lexie's story begins with her return to the village after a promising career as a London musical theatre star plummets when she becomes pregnant and then loses her voice. Battling her lose of self-esteem and grief over her mother's death, Lexie wants to know more about the father she never met. Her mother always refused to talk about him and his family, and the village keeps those secrets close when Lexie starts asking questions.

I enjoyed this book, although it dragged some in the middle as Lexie was stonewalled when she tried to learn more about her father's and his family. But the historical detail and depth of characters, especially in Flora's storyline, kept me reading. After reading many WWII historical novels set in Europe and England, I enjoyed reading one set in Scotland (glad I read this with the Kindle app so I could look up local terms as I read!). The author vividly describes the food, music and family life of a rural community that is pressed into service during WWII hosting naval armadas as they gathered in the inland sea to form convoys during the war. We shared in their loves, frustrations, growth and sorrows. I recommend this book. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for me to read.

This is the first book I've read by the author Fiona Valpay, and I like her style. I found my "reading to myself voice" having what I would consider my highland brogue! It was a very enjoyable-to-read book. I was immediately pulled into the story of both the mother, Fiona, and the daughter, Lexie. as told through two different timelines. The way the author wove the two story-lines together was very thoughtfully done, bringing in two of the mother's friends to help Lexie understand her mother's story. I thought the characters of friends in both timeframes were an integral part of their lives.. Fiona had a heartbreaking story revolving around Lexie's father, Alec, and his domineering father (who plays an important part in their lives).... and Lexie wants desperately to know what it is that everyone seems to be shielding her from.. I found the historical information about the Royal Navy's Arctic convoys very interesting as this was not something I was aware of occurring during WWII. I definitely recommend this book to others who enjoy historical fiction. Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing for the ARC of this book in return for an honest review, which this has been. #NetGalley #TheSkylarksSecret

I really enjoyed reading this book, both for the strong female characters and the history l was unaware of. In the long years of WWII, a small town called Loch Ewe in Scotland became the base for many while in the Russian Arctic convoy, delivering needed supplies to the Russians. Flora was in love with Alec, a member of the convoy. Flora, with her best friends Mairi and Bridie, join the WRENS. In the 1980’s, Lexie returns to Loch Ewe after leaving London once her famous voice suffers and she cannot sing anymore. Returning home with her daughter, Daisy, she understands the challenges her Mom faced, and is anxious to find out about her past. This is a good one to dive into, and I recommend it and thank NetGalley for the ARC.

The Skylark's Secret is historical fiction/romance that takes the action to Loch Ewe, Scotland during WWII and tells of the courage of the citizens of that village when it became a base for the Royal Navy. From there they escorted Merchant Marine ships on dangerous routes to bring needed supplies to Russia, their ally during the war.

The story follows two strong female characters, mother and daughter, in alternating chapters. Flora's story takes place during the war years of 1939 to 1944 where she became a WREN to do her part to help the war efforts. She has a love interest in Alec. However, she's from a working class background and Alec is the son of a laird.

Her daughter, Lexie's story starts forty years later, from 1977 to 1980. Lexie never knew her father; her mother never really talked much about him except to tell her that he died during the war. When she returns to Loch Ewe with her daughter after her mother dies, Lexie is determined to discover what she can about her father. As she talks to the villagers, she gradually learns more and more about both of her parents. Of course, she has a love interest as well, but their relationship does not go smoothly.

This is the fourth book I have read (and enjoyed) by Fiona Valpy. I found The Skylark's Secret to be a fascinating and informative story, both in the historical details as well as the romance. I look forward to reading future books by this author.

The Skylark's Secret by Fiona Valpy
This was a page turner of a novel with an intriguing storyline and well defined characters. It was told from two different point of views in two different timelines , Flora a gamekeepers daughter in 1940 and her daughter Lexi, a decade later. The setting is a remote highland village in Scotland, Loch Ewe, to which singer Lexi returns to the small cottage where she was bought up, with her own daughter. Here Lexi uncovers her parents story and the villages secrets from the time when the village became the base for the Royal Navy’s Arctic convoys. The romance runs throughout the book and connects the two timelines. The narrative moves the story on at a good pace and it flows nicely. The detailed descriptions of both time and setting bring to life the historical era it’s trying to convey. There is plenty in the plot to keep you happily turning the pages. The characters, especially mother and daughter stayed with me long after I have finished the novel. I felt totally immersed in the story whilst I was reading it. A lovely novel, and a five star read

The Skylark's Secret by Fiona Valpy is a beautifully written novel that explores the secrets between a mother and daughter and is told in a dual timeline point of view. We meet Lexie, a young mother who returns from her lost career as a singer in London in the 1970s with her young daughter to the village of Loch Ewe in Scotland where she was raised by her mother, knowing nothing about her father except his name. The other point of view is her mother Flora's story. Flora was an ambulance driver for the Wren's when Loch Ewe was made into a British base for their Arctic Convoys during WWII.

I enjoyed both storylines, especially the well researched information on how the Scottish Highlands figured into the British efforts during WWII. This was a fascinating behind the scenes story into those tragic times and how the war touched the lives of those in this small Scottish community. Absolutely heartwrenching.

Thank you to the author, Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this novel for my honest review. You won't be disappointed with this novel!

A very enjoyable book. I rarely read romances or war stories but this book brings them together beautifully. Flora and her friends have lived all their lives in Loch Ewe when a naval base is set up to support merchant convoys in WW2. Flora's daughter, Lexi is a singer in the seventies but damages her vocal chords while pregnant with her daughter Daisy. After her mother's death Lexi returns to Loch Ewe hoping to find out more about her father who had died before she was born.
Story is told in 2 time lines - Flora's and Lexi. It is very clear whose story is being told and the book is beautifully written. Valpy describes vividly what it must have been like for the women of the village watching their menfolk leave with the convoys not knowing if they would return. To balance this, the author includes singing and the words of lots of traditional songs.

The Skylark's Secret is set in two timelines - WWII and 1970's, telling the story of a mother, Flora and daughter Lexie. It is a beautiful, well researched book. I enjoyed reading about the lives of those in the Highlands of Scotland during both periods. The camaraderie of village life and people never fails to amaze me and Ms Valpy showed this in abundance throughout the story.

Gentle tale about a small community in Scotland. Told in two time frames, World War II where Loch Ewe becomes a Royal Navy base leading dangerous Arctic missions and the late 1970’s where the secrets of the past come to light. Lexi Gordon returns to live in Loch Ewe to raise her child and perhaps find out about the father she never knew. Embraced by the community who knew her and her mother Flora we hear their story of love, friendship, and courage. Although much of this takes place during war with all its horrors it is still more about the compassion and commitment these people have for each other and the secrets they keep to protect those they love. Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon publishing for an advanced reader copy of this enjoyable book.

If you fancy a jolly good cry this is the perfect book for you. A real tear-jerker. Better than anything Hollywood ever produced.
This is the story of Flora and Lexie: mother and daughter. It is also the story of a community: Loch Ewe, during those daring and deadly days of arctic convoys, and a population swollen by more than three thousand during World War Two, and thirty years later when memories are being revived and secrets told for the very first time.
The writing is passionate and honest. The story is gripping and at times heart-breaking. It is a book I will never forgot.