Goodreads Review ~ The Silver Locket

The Silver Locket by Margaret James

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The year is 1914. Rose Courtenay is an eighteen year old girl, who in keeping with her upper-class upbringing, is expected to do no more than marry a man of similar social standing, who will be able to ‘form her opinions for her’. With aspirations to go to university, it is clear that Rose has valid opinions of her own. It is also apparent that, though she thinks Michael Easton, the man chosen as suitable by her parents, is handsome, Rose does not feel the same flutter of excitement she experiences in the presence of Alex Denham, a most unsuitable, sullen man: the fruit of his mother’s scandalous affair and who has no social standing. Denying her attraction and stifled by her dull existence, Rose runs away, determined to do more with her life than be a good wife. Thus, we follow Rose’s progress as she volunteers at a hospital – something she is ill-equipped for, finally to end up a dedicated and proficient nurse seconded to the front line. Her flaw, of course, is that she did not consider the devastation she would cause her parents, disappearing without a trace.

Meanwhile, in the muddy, lice-infested pits that serve as trenches, Alex and Michael are fighting side-by-side to defend that front line. Alex is Michael’s superior and though Michael is a gentleman he is not a noble man. Alex, on the other hand, has many heroic qualities; embarking on an affair with Rose while married to another woman perhaps not being one of them, unless, of course, one pauses to consider why he would immediately offer to marry a woman he didn’t love, who claimed to be carrying his child. Because of the stigma he carried as a child born out of wedlock possibly?

What makes The Silver Locket outstanding, for me, is the excellent portrayal of what life might have been like for those poor souls in the trenches and for the medical staff that fought tirelessly to care for them when their bodies and spirits were broken. The author obviously put a tremendous amount of historical research into the writing of this book, and managed to relay it – seamlessly – in a way that was compelling, accurate and thought-provoking. Margaret James tells a beautiful story of love, of tragedy and hope.

I got the silver locket link. I also purchased The Penny Bangle.



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