Spare Brides

This book is somewhat of a departure from Adele Parks normal style, normally her books are contemporary fiction but on this occasion she transports us back to the 1920's and the years post World War I.

With it being the centenary of the end of the war features it has been a popular topic both in the media and in books. Parks has decided to focus upon how the loss of so many young males led to a shortage of potential husbands for the young women after the war and how this impacted their lives.

The book features 4 such women, Beatrice who's plainess and lack of fortune makes her a poor catch in society, her sister Sarah struggling to cope with the loss of her husband, Ava who is full of life and money and with no intention of marrying and Lydia who finds herself set to be the next Countess of Clarendale but who cannot forgive her husband for having not served at the front.

I worried before reading this book because of it not being in Parks usual era and my fears proved to be founded. I worried that the stories would mimic those of similar novels set at the same time and unfortunately this was true. A heroine disenchanted with her husband meets a handsome war hero, she's struggling to conceive and unhappy in her marriage. From that point I had the whole plot sewn up and that disappointed me.

In fact the other 3 characters were grossly underused. Their stories playing out as a sideline as opposed to having equal time to develop. I would have enjoyed the book more had they spent more time exploring these rather than picking up and dropping them.

It's brave of any author to try something new and I applaud Parks for trying: it wasn't a terrible book it just fell into the trap many books set in this era can where they become staid and melodramatic. I'd be surprised if the author remained in this time period next time around as she seemed a little out of her comfort zone.