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Book Reviewed by:A broken family, a house of secrets - an entrancing tale of love and courage set during the Second World War.
After Rebecca's mother dies, she must sort through her empty flat and come to terms with her loss. As she goes through her mother's mail, she finds a handwritten envelope. In it is a letter that will change her life forever.
Olivia, her mother's elderly cousin, needs help to save her beloved home. Rebecca immediately goes to visit Olivia in Cornwall only to find a house full of secrets—treasures in the attic and a mysterious tunnel leading from the cellar to the sea, and Olivia, nowhere to be found.
As it turns out, the old woman is stuck in hospital with no hope of being discharged until her house is made habitable again. Rebecca sets to work restoring the home to its former glory, but as she peels back the layers of paint and grime, she uncovers even more buried secrets—secrets from a time when the Second World War was raging, when Olivia was a young woman, and when both romance and danger lurked around every corner...
A sweeping and utterly spellbinding tale of a young woman's courage in the face of war and the lengths to which she'll go to protect those she loves against the most unexpected of enemies.
The author handles the narrative voices superbly; both Becky and Olivia come across as unique and interesting characters, fully-formed and multi-faceted. Johnson enables her readers to create a deep bond with each of the women; they're people I came to love and understand over the course of the novel, and each is captivating in her own right. However, the story is often predictable and occasionally veers into melodrama, and a large number of loose ends are wrapped up far too neatly in the book's final chapter. I was having too much fun to mind these last faults much, though, and the strengths far outweigh the weaknesses...continued
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(Reviewed by Kim Kovacs).
One of the characters in Jane Johnson's novel, The Sea Gate, is a foul-mouthed, multilingual African grey parrot (Psittacus Erithacus). Parrots are members of the Psittacidae family, which is comprised of over 300 species including lovebirds, cockatoos, macaws and budgerigars (aka "budgies"). While most people are broadly familiar with parrots, there's a lot of interesting trivia and history that isn't common knowledge.
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Genevieve Graham, #1 bestselling author of The Forgotten Home Child
I was swept away by this mesmerizing book, and I savoured every moment of the journey. History, intrigue, suspense, romance, the evolution of two strong, engaging women, and a parrot—everything I longed for and more! The Sea Gate will stay in my heart for a long time.
