New York City, 1937. Seventeen-year-old Marigold McGrath is coming undone. Her mother is dead. Her father is drawn to dangerous politics. The only place she feels joy is behind a camera — where she can frame the world on her own terms. After a series of her own missteps, she reinvents herself in London. She falls in love with Joop, a charming Dutch student, and shrugs off the war gathering around her.
Readers could be forgiven for thinking there isn’t much more to say about London during the Blitz, yet Carrie Hayes’s The Making of Marigold McGrath is a fresh and sometimes moving story.
Seventeen-year-old Marigold McGrath leaves New York to make a new life as a photographer in London. She tries to frame the world on her own terms, documenting the arrival of Kindertransport children, but the beginning of the devastating Blitz forces her to choose what kind of observer she is going to be.
I particularly like Carrie Hayes’s engaging character development, and the London setting is well researched and authentic. Marigold’s journey from a privileged teenager to a wartime photographer is convincing and often poigniant.
If you like original WW2 historical fiction, this is a story of survival and resilience that I am happy to recommend.
Tony Riches
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About the Author
Thanks so much for hosting Carrie Hayes today, and for your lovely review of her new novel, The Making of Marigold McGrath. We're delighted you enjoyed Marigold's story.
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Cathie x
The Coffee Pot Book Club