Title: Under the Golden SunAuthor: Jenny Ashcroft
Published by: St. Martin's Press on Mar. 15, 2022
Genres: Historical Fiction
Pages: 352
Format: Hardcover
Source: St. Martin's Press
Book Rating: 10/10
Jenny Ashcroft’s Under the Golden Sun is a captivating World War II historical love story set against the raw beauty of Australia.
Rose Hamilton is in desperate need of a life change when she reads the want ad in the newspaper for a companion needed to escort a young orphaned child to Australia. There are so many reasons she should ignore the advertisement―the war, those treacherous winter seas, her family, her fiance… but she can’t help herself. Within weeks she is boarding an enormous convoy, already too attached to five-year-old Walter.
Unfortunately, the cattle station home of Walter’s family isn’t anything like either of them were told to expect. Rose can’t leave this little boy who she’s grown to love until he is happy and settled, and she knows the key to this is Walter’s wounded fighter pilot uncle. But how will she ever part with Walter? And what if he isn’t the only reason she wants to stay?
Review:
Captivating, memorable, and exceptionally moving!
Under the Golden Sun is a rich, absorbing tale that sweeps you away to WWII London and into the life of Rose Hamilton, a recently engaged, young British woman who, after suffering a miscarriage and being discharged from her position in the air force, answers an ad to chaperone a four-year-old boy to Australia that not only exposes her to a world unlike any she has ever known before but, ultimately, changes her life forever.
The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are apprehensive, multilayered, and genuine. And the plot is a heartwarming tale of life, love, loneliness, familial relationships, heartbreak, war, loss, grief, guilt, culture, hardships, hope, loyalty, romance, and self-discovery.
Overall, Under the Golden Sun is a beautifully written, exceptionally atmospheric novel by Ashcroft that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the lives, personalities, and feelings of the characters you can’t help but be affected. It is undoubtedly one of my favourite novels of the year, and just like her previous novel, Meet Me in Bombay, I highly recommend it.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or one of the following links.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
About Jenny Ashcroft
JENNY ASHCROFT is a British author of historical fiction books including Beneath a Burning Sky and Island in the East. Having spent many years living, working and exploring in Australia and Asia, she is now based in Brighton where she lives with her family by the sea. She has a degree from Oxford University in history, and has always been fascinated by the past—in particular the way that extraordinary events can transform the lives of normal people.
Photograph by David Myers Photography.
