Lindsay Ashford

My knowledge of Merle Oberon is fairly limited - she played Lady Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel, the most famous film version of one of my favourite novels (and had a steamy affair with married co-star Leslie Howard, which the author omits here) - but I don't think this novel does the real woman any disservice. I can't understand the fuss made by other reviewers, to be honest. Lindsay Jane Ashford explains in the epilogue where fiction deviates from documented fact, and that's exactly show more what this is - fiction. A really insulting take on Merle's life is the biopic Queenie, based on the biographical novel by Michael Korda. Sheesh!

Anyway, I really enjoyed this fictional take on Merle's life and career, from her teenage years in Calcutta to her first break in London, meeting director Alexander Korda, whom she later married, and her chance to make the big time in Hollywood, playing Cathy in Wuthering Heights. She has dalliances with a former American actor Ben Finney, Leslie 'Hutch' Hutchinson, of the Cafe de Paris, David Niven - and dodges Leslie Howard, presumably to condense her love life into 300 pages! The author invents a friendship with fellow actress Flora Robson and a feud with Vivien Leigh, which I thought worked really well, and the chance of a family reunion, which felt a little forced.

Recommended for those who enjoy a good story and can tell the difference between fact and fiction. show less

As author Lindsay Jayne Ashford notes at the book’s end, Agatha Christie really did take a trip out to the Middle East on the Orient Express in 1928, and she really did meet Katharine Keeling on that trip. However, Ashford has blended in a fictionalized account of that trip that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

Christie, bereft at her unfaithful ex-husband’s impending marriage, took the trip as a distraction. In Ashford’s version of that train ride, Christie encounters not show more just Keeling but another woman with a terrible secret and a frightening future ahead. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that I loved every moment of this exotic, wonderful story. To sweeten the deal, I was able to listen to it for free through Kindle Unlimited. show less

I was wrong in thinking this would be a cozy mystery in the style of Agatha Christie's famous novel. It is more like her autobiographical works: An Autobiography and Come, Tell me How You Live from which Ashford has taken many details. She cleverly follows Christie's life story and how she met Max Mallowan, her second husband. It begins with Christie fleeing England on the Orient Express as her now divorced husband Archie marries his mistress. On the train she met two other women, one show more fictitious and the other a real life friend of Christie's. As a travelogue it was first class, describing the journey, the food, the people, and the sights in detail. Naturally, there is the hint of mystery. It's an enthralling read that held me captivated.

Agatha Christie has been a favourite author since I was a pre-teen, reading all of her work and several books about her. And while "faction" is not a genre that attracts me, Ashford did not disappoint. It has encouraged me to revisit some of my favourite Christie novels. show less

Original Story That Did NOT Quite Live Up to Its Potential

Four stars seems a bit generous. Think 3.5 instead.

There are so many possibilities in this story. It’s original, unlike any other book I’ve read. It’s historical and I usually love that. And it offers characters varied enough that there’s something here for everyone.

The setting is Spain, post World War II. Rose, a British veterinarian with an expertise in herbal remedies, has taken a leave of absence to find out what happened show more to her lost brother, Nathan, who left home eight years earlier to fight in the Spanish Civil War. And hopefully to find his lover and their child.

Rose meets Lola, a talented Roma dancer who dreams of going to Madrid to be in the movies.

Nieve is Lola’s young daughter, rescued by Lola after her parents were killed in the massacre of a small town during Spain’s Civil War.

Lola happens to have a good-looking brother and of course, Rose becomes very attracted to him.

There’s Zoltan, a helpful Hungarian living in a remote area, but keeping secrets of his own.

And an old woman named Maria, who some believe is a witch, who remembers everyone’s secret history and has lots of knowledge about herbal remedies.

As the drama unfolds, and there’s a lot that happens, we learn a bit about the brutality of the Spanish Civil War and its lasting effects on rural communities. A bit of Roma culture creeps in, along with the associated prejudices that were common at the time. And there are references to the recent Holocaust where so many of Rose’s relatives perished.

But somehow, I did not find myself very emotionally involved with anyone, even when dangerous and life-threatening events occurred. I certainly wanted to see how the plot would resolve, and what would happen to all the characters. But I didn’t feel much for any of them. And I’m not sure why.

If you read this book and you figure out why that might be, please let me know. show less