Blossoming of Truth by Susan Gray

  Comprehensive, Complex, Thought Provoking

Genre: Historical Fiction/Suspense/Mystery/Romance

Blossoming Of Truth by Susan Gray Author

I have heard it said that supposedly, we all have a doppelganger, a double, a twin, or just 'one of those faces' that people mistake for someone else...but when it becomes much more than that for Tom Smallwood, and he believes that the woman he is falling in love with is now a woman who was once a young girl from his past, what is he to do? Honesty is Tom's foremost requirement from others, without it there is no foundation for anything. When he raises the subject of her identity with Rachel and she flatly denies it, even though it is obvious that his feelings for her are reciprocated, his principles will not let him take things further, until he has uncovered who she is, the reason for her changed persona, and most importantly heard all this from her. However a spontaneous declaration changes everything....

I was very pleased to be asked by Susan Gray to provide an in-depth review for this comprehensive, fairly complex novel, set in the 1920s. There is an extremely packed narrative for its twenty three chapters, alongside a full-bodied cast, both of which were written extremely well.

Historical Fiction isn't a genre that I have read a lot of, favouring Contemporary, so prior to reading 'Blossoming Of Truth' (a wonderfully fitting title!), I was a bit apprehensive as to whether it would appeal to me. However, I love a good romance novel, and actually one of my favourite books is of the same set of genres, but set many years previous to the time period of this book. From the first page, I sunk comfortably into it instantly, enjoying the ease and gentleness of the era and Tom's polite inquisitiveness, taking care not to upset this mysterious female by being too insistent in his questioning, whilst desperate to know the truth. However, when it becomes clear that Rachel is hiding something, Tom's laid back, forgiving nature started to grate, as her evasiveness concerning her life previously to settling in the village, and only being prepared to take their alliance so far, continued. Then, when Rachel is supposedly scared off by Tom's verbal faux pas, and seemingly forms a new relationship rather too hastily with someone close to Tom, I began to dislike her more, yet Tom doesn't seem to bear any malice towards her, rather blaming the other party. When he starts to suspect that his slip of the tongue may have been the perfect excuse for her to break ties with him, I was really hoping that he would see her true colours. However, he persists making excuses for her at this point, and when she commits the cruel act of revenge, although, confused, mystified and frustrated by Rachel's actions, he just can't seem to bear any ill will towards her which I really couldn't comprehend. But, given that this was a time when men were gentleman and saw woman as somewhat more fickle fragile creatures, this may have gone some way to his excusing her behaviour. From there, the way that the remainder of the story unfolded, seemed a little stretched, as I could not imagine that Tom would have still wanted Rachel in his life, or indeed his family accepting their reunion. Maybe that is because I am living in 2024 when I feel it highly unlikely that Tom and Rachel's companionship would have extended certainly beyond her betrayal, that could have altered his life beyond recognition, whilst he was still in a vulnerable state of mind. I was also quite surprised Rachel's employers were so amenable to what was happening, as they had known Tom and his family for so long. It is noted that they made the decision to remain 'neutral', but I didn't feel that that they would necessarily have taken that stance at that time.

The reason for my feeling that this narrative was complex, is that whilst it is an impressively planned and thought through plot, I found it challenging to keep in mind, the connections between Philomena, Jemima, Rachel's godmother Darcy, and Tom's Uncle, and had to make notes. It is entirely possible that this was just me, currently. It is indeed an immensely clever dynamic that the Author has devised between her characters. Despite feeling frustration with the two main characters, throughout a large proportion of the book, and the ending being for me, somewhat implausible, I thought that the relationships and dialogue were appropriate for the 1920s and particularly liked Peg and Pierre. I cannot say that I bonded with any of the characters though, which I like to be able to do, being a very character based reader. This could have been due to the novel's length, and whilst on that subject, I felt that the book could have done with being extended by further chapters. Once the couple affirm their future, what happened from then, felt quite compacted and rushed. I would have liked there to have been a little more detail, particularly when Tom and Rachel communicated to Tom's family how they intended to proceed. How did they react?

Overall, I did enjoy the book, but did struggle with some elements of the outcome. Thank you to Susan for presenting me with the opportunity to read her work, and I will look out for what she writes in the future.