Spoilers ahead.
As a huge fan of Williams’ books, it pains me to have to review this one so poorly. I’m so thankful that this wasn’t the first of her novels I’ve read because it might otherwise have been the last. If you’re reading this review and haven’t read others, please give her another try, perhaps starting with The Summer Wives. Williams is an excellent writer who just needed better editing this time around.
Unfortunately, I found The Golden Hour exceedingly difficult to follow, about 100+ pages too long, and very depressing. I was very tempted not to finish it. There was way too much repetition and the story got lost in the overly-descriptive text. Generally, I love time-slip novels, but the choice of using two voices (Lulu telling her own story in an overly-familiar way, as if taking the reader into her confidence, and an unknown narrator telling Elfriede’s), combined with the multiple time periods, was just too confusing. To explain, there was Lulu in Nassau and then later in London and then Elfriede in 3 different time periods (none of them chronological).
The choice of using the Duke and Duchess of Windsor was an intriguing one, but the mystery was too heavy on innuendo and too light on solid clues. Even when the story reached its conclusion (the one satisfying part of the book), there were too many unanswered questions. What was in the envelopes Lulu delivered to the Windsors that made her and Thorpe accuse them of treason? When Lulu and Thorpe confess to each other, why does he respond “Christ in heaven, what a miracle”? Who was behind Thorpe’s capture? Why was Freddie framed? Who was Harold Christie and did he kill Sir Harry Oakes and for what reason? Why did Miami police investigate rather than British Intelligence? Was Thorpe in Nassau to spy on the Windsors because there was suspicion that they were Nazi sympathizers or collaborators? Was the entire story built around the public image the Windsors wanted to project (thus why they hired gossip columnist Lulu to write flattering fluff pieces about them), one they would protect at all costs, even murder?
In her other books, Williams cleverly connects two parallel stories, but, in this one, the only apparent connection is the genetic one between Lulu’s lover Benedict Thorpe and Elfriede, Thorpe’s mother. As for Elfriede’s relationship with Wilfred Thorpe, the biggest frustration for me was that he chose not to tell her about why he was spending so much time in Paris, even though it would have laid her suspicions of his infidelity to rest. Their tragic love was just all so heart-breaking and, to me, unnecessarily cruel. As I mentioned, it’s only in the last few pages that I was able to take a relaxed breath, but not before I found myself cursing Williams for her choices. Despite this, I still look forward to her next book.
I received a complimentary ARC of this book from William Morrow through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
As a huge fan of Williams’ books, it pains me to have to review this one so poorly. I’m so thankful that this wasn’t the first of her novels I’ve read because it might otherwise have been the last. If you’re reading this review and haven’t read others, please give her another try, perhaps starting with The Summer Wives. Williams is an excellent writer who just needed better editing this time around.
Unfortunately, I found The Golden Hour exceedingly difficult to follow, about 100+ pages too long, and very depressing. I was very tempted not to finish it. There was way too much repetition and the story got lost in the overly-descriptive text. Generally, I love time-slip novels, but the choice of using two voices (Lulu telling her own story in an overly-familiar way, as if taking the reader into her confidence, and an unknown narrator telling Elfriede’s), combined with the multiple time periods, was just too confusing. To explain, there was Lulu in Nassau and then later in London and then Elfriede in 3 different time periods (none of them chronological).
The choice of using the Duke and Duchess of Windsor was an intriguing one, but the mystery was too heavy on innuendo and too light on solid clues. Even when the story reached its conclusion (the one satisfying part of the book), there were too many unanswered questions. What was in the envelopes Lulu delivered to the Windsors that made her and Thorpe accuse them of treason? When Lulu and Thorpe confess to each other, why does he respond “Christ in heaven, what a miracle”? Who was behind Thorpe’s capture? Why was Freddie framed? Who was Harold Christie and did he kill Sir Harry Oakes and for what reason? Why did Miami police investigate rather than British Intelligence? Was Thorpe in Nassau to spy on the Windsors because there was suspicion that they were Nazi sympathizers or collaborators? Was the entire story built around the public image the Windsors wanted to project (thus why they hired gossip columnist Lulu to write flattering fluff pieces about them), one they would protect at all costs, even murder?
In her other books, Williams cleverly connects two parallel stories, but, in this one, the only apparent connection is the genetic one between Lulu’s lover Benedict Thorpe and Elfriede, Thorpe’s mother. As for Elfriede’s relationship with Wilfred Thorpe, the biggest frustration for me was that he chose not to tell her about why he was spending so much time in Paris, even though it would have laid her suspicions of his infidelity to rest. Their tragic love was just all so heart-breaking and, to me, unnecessarily cruel. As I mentioned, it’s only in the last few pages that I was able to take a relaxed breath, but not before I found myself cursing Williams for her choices. Despite this, I still look forward to her next book.
I received a complimentary ARC of this book from William Morrow through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
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