Juliet West

First let me start by saying I do not like what passes for modern romance. That is the uber handsome, chisel chinned, smooth chested stallion drivel. I’ve reviewed a few of those and do not wish to ever read another. Each to their own.
Before the Fall is none of that, not even close. Set in London’s docklands during the First World War it is the last place you’d want to find Mr Tall Dark and Handsome. What we do have is a real world populated by real people. The story is based on true show more events from the time. Our hero is not a hero he’s a welder. The heroine is mother of two whose husband is at war. Their romance should never have been, but it was and it tore families apart.
This a work of craftsmanship. A first novel to be proud of. Beautifully written and well told. So much so it was the only romance novel I have wanted to sit and read. It has been well researched not just fragments from postcards joined hastily together. There are copies of police statements, witness accounts and letters from the family all of which build upon the reality of a truly desperate love.
I will not speak of the plot as it is so tight any clues would just spoil it. Juliet West wastes no words, there are no needless side stories just the plain facts all woven together in a rich tapestry of old London. This is not a war story, it is about those left behind: the mothers, the children, the unfit and few white feathers. To read this novel is to see how romance should be coloured in anything else is just shades of grey.
A truly brilliant book and a well-deserved 5 stars. show less

This was a perfect holiday read, involving a rich cast of characters. There's privileged Hazel, living with her largely estranged parents in a Sussex village. Francine, Hazel's mother, has an almost resident lover, Charles. There are Tom and Lucia, blackshirts from London in Aldwick for a rally and camp. Hazel is drawn to Tom, and he to her, but this is no simply woven love story. The blackshirts, Lucia, Francine, the Spanish Civil War all conspire to prevent easy contact between these two show more young people.

The characters are well-drawn, the history well described, as is the day-to-day life of the period. I read the book eagerly and was sorry when it finished. show less

First let me start by saying I do not like what passes for modern romance. That is the uber handsome, chisel chinned, smooth chested stallion drivel. I’ve reviewed a few of those and do not wish to ever read another. Each to their own.
Before the Fall is none of that, not even close. Set in London’s docklands during the First World War it is the last place you’d want to find Mr Tall Dark and Handsome. What we do have is a real world populated by real people. The story is based on true show more events from the time. Our hero is not a hero he’s a welder. The heroine is mother of two whose husband is at war. Their romance should never have been, but it was and it tore families apart.
This a work of craftsmanship. A first novel to be proud of. Beautifully written and well told. So much so it was the only romance novel I have wanted to sit and read. It has been well researched not just fragments from postcards joined hastily together. There are copies of police statements, witness accounts and letters from the family all of which build upon the reality of a truly desperate love.
I will not speak of the plot as it is so tight any clues would just spoil it. Juliet West wastes no words, there are no needless side stories just the plain facts all woven together in a rich tapestry of old London. This is not a war story, it is about those left behind: the mothers, the children, the unfit and few white feathers. To read this novel is to see how romance should be coloured in anything else is just shades of grey.
A truly brilliant book and a well-deserved 5 stars. show less

I enjoyed - whilst not being entirely blown away by - this novel of WWI in the East End. It taught me that bombing took place on the British mainland during that war - I had previously thought it all took place down a trench in Belgium, so I have learned something and that's always good. Interesting too was the incidental information about fashion and make-up during a time of "make do and mend". In the story, the central characters face a dilemma which develops gradually to a crescendo very show more close to the end. It was all resolved within a page or two - and given that this was where much of the real drama was to be found, it was perhaps a shame more time and space wasn't given to it. It left me with an interesting puzzle concerning the character Daniel: is the reader supposed to consider him culpable for the events? My instinct would be yes, but the book felt studiously neutral on this point. show less