Review of A Gathering Storm by Rachel Hore

A Gathering Storm is set between present day Cornwall and the early 1930s through to London during the Blitz and war torn France.

Lucy Cardwell is grieving for her father when she comes across a file researching an Uncle that she had never heard of before. Visiting Cornwall soon after, Lucy finds herself standing in the ruins of Carlyon Manor, her father’s childhood home and decides that she must unlock the secret that he was looking for.

Beatrice Ashton grew up near Carlyon and spent much of her childhood with Lucy’s grandmother; Angelina Wincanton. Much of the novel is spent hearing Beatrice recall her life and her connection with the Wincantons to Lucy and there are a lot of surprising revelations. The majority of the story is told from Beatrice’s point of view and follows her desire to help the war effort. Beatrice had a hard life and found herself in many dangerous situations. I did feel that she was the main character and not Lucy, but I think this worked very well in the context of the book.

This is such a fantastic book, I was completely enthralled from the beginning and couldn’t put it down. I particularly enjoyed the way that it moved between the past and present day and I will definitely be on the look out for more titles from Rachel Hore. Recommended for fans of historical fiction.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster for sending me a copy to review.