Jan Lloyd Author

This is an excellent book, which throws one curve ball after another. I had no idea that it was going to go in the direction it did, and I defy you to predict it too, even beyond halfway. If I had one gripe it is that the ending was perhaps a little abrupt and something of a shorn wick, but in other ways this perhaps suits the story arc, which is actually a little unsatisfying, but in a good way., because it is a true- to- life realistic narrative.

Jan knows her subject matter very well, and truly grasps and portrays the unimaginable horrors of the holocaust and ethnic cleansing in Nazi-controlled Europe, during World War Two, uncompromising in the despicable cruelty of it; be warned this book does not hold back, and the characters live through the worst abuses among those recorded. I read many books on the Holocaust, and this is as good as any out there; the author is very knowledgeable. Further more, she is very good indeed, presenting humanity and inhumanity, callousness and humility with insight and objectivity; the characters- including the principal- are multi-layered and ambiguous in their "goodness "or "badness"; good people do questionable things and supposedly "bad" people can be heroes. That character development is what makes War Torn the quality book it is.

The story Jan has crafted takes on an almost odyssey of a journey with its main character, a renowned French concert violinist forced to flee Nazi Occupation with her Jewish husband , only to be picked up in the English Channel by a German U-boat. It is heart breaking at times, but the emotional puzzle and subsequent self-analysis Frances goes through is intriguing to witness. She never act incredibly, and we come to learn a good deal about her character, both in terms of  its strengths and flaws. I suspect the author had a lot of fun crafting Frances, and you tend to find that tenacious characters such as these  are based heavily on the life of the author; it would be fascinating to know the real-life person on whom Frances is based, if this is indeed the case. I enjoyed the book very much. It told me a great deal about Jan Lloyd and her talent. This book, clearly a labour of love and importance to her , has done her justice- that she can be sure of. I am in no doubt whatever Jan puts out next will be equally good, and hope to read it very soon .