Review – Survivor by Lesley Pearse

This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.

Reviewed by Jennifer Joyce

Seventeen-year-old Mariette Carrera is fed up with life in her small New Zealand village. Mari has always been a rebellious, single-minded child and is a constant worry to her parents. When they find out that Mari has been involved with an older man, they decide to take drastic action and send Mari to live with their old friends back in England. Mari is quite happy to move away to England for a while, where she will be able to spread her wings and live a little. But war is about to break out and with the country on its knees, Mari will need to grow up quickly and learn to adapt to her new setting.

Set during World War Two, Survivor is a bit of an epic journey for Mari as she embarks on a new life with Noah and Lisette in England. She is just finding her feet and enjoying the luxury of London life when war breaks out and her dreams of dancing with handsome men night after night are shattered. Mari is pretty selfish when we first meet her and it took quite a while for me to warm to her, even as she was put through hell during the Blitz, but by the end I felt like we’d been through an awful lot together and I hoped that she would get a happy ending.

The book spans the duration of the war, so we really get to know Mari and see how the events affect her, both physically and mentally. At times it did feel like I was reading a text book about the war rather than a novel as some of the facts and figures mentioned didn’t fit naturally in the storyline for me. However, I did find the book interesting and I was eager to find out what would happen to Mari next and whether she would ever make it home safely. I couldn’t help feeling for Mari as she was stranded in a country ravaged by war with her family on the other side of the world and little means of communication. I could feel her loneliness and despair at times, but Mari isn’t one to sit and dwell on her situation, which is what I liked most about her.

8/10

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