Having read and loved Janet Doolaege’s other novels, I was
delighted to receive an ARC of Woman in Blue & White, a story that
engrossed me from the very start. I soon
found myself so absorbed in the story that there were times I was unable to put
it down and sat up very late into the night on more than one occasion, never
knowing quite where the next twists and turns would take me. I can tell you now, it took me on a great
journey.
The story is set between France and Greece. I always love the way this author writes
about France with a curious combination of reverence and honesty that places the
reader so firmly in the scene, you feel you are physically there. She achieves the same with her descriptions
of Greece. I’ve been to Greece, though
sadly not to Santorini, but now I feel as if I actually have been there. The beautiful, evocative descriptions are
what make Doolaege such a masterful author.
The plot of Woman in Blue & White is also very
clever. The rather naïve Zoe finally
wakes up to the sort of person her long-term boyfriend is and finds the courage
to leave him. A last minute opportunity
to travel to Greece on holiday with a colleague hurtles her into an adventure
that changes her life.
When Zoe finds a watch on the beach, she also experiences
strange kinaesthetic powers that seem to suggest a tragic, possibly violent
history and the feeling is so strong that Zoe believes the watch to have huge
sentimental significance for its owner, whom she determines to track down to return the precious object. This is
Ivar, a rather enigmatic and talented artist - and a fascinating character with
whom I confess I fell just a little bit in love. If you only read the book for this gripping
part of the adventure, read it you must.
The author’s handling of Zoe trying to find Ivar is superb in its
control of tension and drama.
I worry about giving too much away in reviews, and this is a
story I would not wish to spoil for anyone.
It’s a must read and one I definitely plan to re-read (hopefully sitting
on a beach on a Greek island this summer).
Ingenious plot, sensitive characterisation and haunting descriptions –
what more can I say about this truly five star read?
About the author:
Janet grew up in Wimborne, Dorset, within the sound of the Minster bells
and the Dean’s Court peacocks. English was her best subject at the grammar
school, thanks to a dear eccentric English teacher popularly known as Fishy.
After university she moved to France and worked at UNESCO in Paris as a
translator, eventually becoming Chief of English Translation. Her husband is
French and she has put down roots here, but still feels a strong attachment to
England and its literature, particularly its wealth of children’s literature.
She has written three novels, all of them featuring just a hint of the
supernatural and the unexplained, subjects which fascinate her, and all three
are set at least partly in Paris. Woman in Blue & White is the latest. Her
three novels for children are embroidered versions of old legends, told in a
form that she has tried to make more interesting for the children of today. For
example, The Story of an Ordinary Lion
is told by St. Jerome’s lion himself, and the adventures in Tobias and the Demon are related by
Tobias’s dog.
Birds and animals have always been very important to her, and Ebony and Spica is a true memoir of two
rescued wild birds, a blackbird and a starling. Each lived with her for many
years and was an unforgettable character.
She tells me her house contains more books than she will ever have time
to read! Reading and writing have been her life.
