Welcome! Nadine Dorries is the author of The Lovely Lane series, Ruby Flynn, The Tarabeg Series and The Four Street Trilogy which can now be purchased in one volume. Nadine grew up in Liverpool and trained as a nurse in the 1970s. She has been an MP in Mid-Bedfordshire since 2005. Nadine Dorries is on Twitter (@NadineDorries) and Facebook (@NadineDorriesAuthor).
Book Summary
Snow Angels by Nadine Dorries takes
us to Liverpool, England in the 1950s at St. Angelus Hospital. Emily Horton and her husband, Dessie cannot
wait to finalize the adoption of Louis. Emily
is busy teaching the student nurses during the day and gets assistance from the
staff at St. Angelus in the care of Louis. Someone, though, does not like how
Louis is being raised and decides to take action. Emily told a lie that could have devastating consequences. Mrs. Duffy loves her job as housekeeper to
the ladies who live in the Lovely Lane nurses’ home. It is getting harder for her to get up each
day and her memory is not as sharp as it once was, but she has no intentions of
retiring. Matron hires Gracie
Botherwaite as Mrs. Duffy’s assistant and Mrs. Duffy is not happy. Victoria is pregnant and her due date is
close to Christmas. She is determined,
though, to attend the Christmas festivities at St. Angelus with her
friends. The snow starts falling heavily
as they make their way to Liverpool and Victoria starts feeling
uncomfortable. A woman turns up one
night at the Seaman’s Stop asking for a room.
Malcolm Coffey reluctantly allows her to stay. She says she needs to be close to St. Angelus
and people see her outside the gates frequently. It looks like it will be an eventful Christmas
for the staff at St. Angelus.
My Thoughts
Snow Angels by Nadine Dorries is the
fifth novel in the Lovely Lane Series. I
like the authors engaging writing style (like having a conversation with a
friend) which drew me into the story. I
suggest reading The Lovely Lane series in order. It will allow you to get to know the
characters and their storylines since each book in the series builds upon the
previous. There is a great cast of
characters in The Lovely Lane series. I
find them realistic and relatable. Most
of them are friendly, but there is one or two squeaky wheels. The story concentrates on Sister Emily Horton
and her husband, Dessie. They have loved
Baby Louis since he came to the hospital and his adoption is very close. I like how the story unfolded and how it all
came together at the end. We do get to
catch up with the rest of the nurses. I
liked getting to know Gracie Botherwaite.
She is only fourteen years old, but she is very mature for her age. I like that she did not take any guff from
her father. Gracie has great potential
and I am sure that the staff at St. Angelus will help her achieve it. Teddy regrets his actions and misses
Dana. He wants a chance to explain and
see if they can find a way to move forward.
Snow Angels is such a sweet story.
It has its ups and downs which is just like real life. Snow Angels is a gratifying story that will
delight fans of The Lovely Lane series.
Extract from Snow Angels
The fire burnt well in the grate and he had lit the long brass standard
lamp with the burgundy fringed shade, frayed and tattered, still soot-stained
from the Blitz. It was the lamp his mother had sat under to read every night of
his childhood and he was loathe to change it, regardless of how many times
Melly complained. ‘There’ll be nothing left if I try and clean that again.’ He
would not let it go because with it, he feared, the ghostly image of his mother
that he often conjured for comfort, would disappear too. The lamp stood to the
rear of the tanned leather armchair with arms wide enough to support an ashtray
with his pipe on one side and his opened copy of the evening edition of the
Echo on the other. It now sat neatly folded, waiting, tempting and the
ashtray winked at him in the firelight.
Malcolm lit the fire at six o’clock and not a moment before, regardless
of the temperature or the weather outside and the pulling of the cord on the
lamp to light the room was a luxury he left until the point where the room was
so filled with dusk that the landmarks of domesticity faded into the gloom
until he could barely see at all. The polished oak furniture that had once
belonged to his parents stood neatly around him and it shone under the years of
being rubbed by Melly with daily helpings of wax and elbow grease, the room
smelling of lavender polish during the day and pipe smoke at night. The table
at which he sat, scrubbed with Vim, was now depositing a thin film of white
powder on the sleeves of his jacket, and a faint aroma of bleach competed with
steak and heel, tickling his nostrils.
It was at moments like this that he pondered on the fact that he had
almost sold the house, the life, the routine that made him as happy as a man
who had lost his family could expect to be. He had to constantly chase up Melly
to clean behind the toilet doors and to cease flirting with the coalman, but he
couldn’t fault her delicious pies. He had pierced the pastry with his fork to
allow the steam to rise and was just about to dive in when a loud knock on the
door burst his bubble of anticipation. More often than not, according to their
sailing rota and the tide table, which was as accurate as it could be, the sea and
stevedores allowing, his paying guests rebooked their next stay as they checked
out. He grunted with irritation, reluctant to leave the buttery shortcrust
pastry, hot and melting, and the wafting smell of rich gravy under his nose.
‘Who is it?’ he called. His paying guests each had a key so this must
be someone looking for a room.
Snow Angels is available at Amazon*, Amazon UK, Kobo, iBooks, and GooglePlay. The Lovely Lane series consists of The Angels of Lovely Lane, The Children of Lovely Lane, The Mothers of Lovely Lane, The Angel Sings (a Christmas novella), Christmas Angels and Snow Angels. The books in the series are available through Kindle Unlimited. I am lucky to have an ebook version of Snow Angels to give away to one lucky viewer. All you need to do is leave a comment for me and include your email address (so I can contact you if you win). If you are uncomfortable leaving your email address, please email me at Doodlesink@hotmail.com with "Snow Angels" in the subject line. The contest ends on October 31 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Good Luck! Thank you for stopping by today. I will return tomorrow to feature Fudge Bites by Nancy Coco. It is the seventh A Candy-Coated Mystery. I hope you have a brilliant day. Take care and Happy Reading!
Kris
The Avid Reader
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