Dance the Moon Down - R. L. Bartram (Review and Giveaway!)

5 Stars!

ABOUT THE BOOK -

In 1910, no one believed there would ever be a war with Germany. Safe in her affluent middle-class life, the rumors held no significance for Victoria either. It was her father's decision to enroll her at university that began to change all that. There she befriends the rebellious and outspoken Beryl Whittaker, an emergent suffragette, but it is her love for Gerald Avery, a talented young poet from a neighboring university that sets the seal on her future. After a clandestine romance, they marry in January 1914, but with the outbreak of the First World War, Gerald volunteers but within months has gone missing in France. Convinced that he is still alive, Victoria's initial attempts to discover what has become of him, implicate her in a murderous assault on Lord Kitchener resulting in her being interrogated as a spy, and later tempted to adultery. Now virtually destitute, Victoria is reduced to finding work as a common laborer on a run down farm, where she discovers a world of unimaginable ignorance and poverty. It is only her conviction that Gerald will some day return that sustains her through the dark days of hardship and privation as her life becomes a battle of faith against adversity.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR -

Robert's passion for the history of the early twentieth century is second only to his love of writing and it was whilst researching this period that he came across the diaries and letters of some women who had lived through the trauma of the First World War. What he read in them inspired him to write his debut novel “Dance The Moon Down” and the rest, as they say, is history.
Robert is single and lives and writes in Hertfordshire.

MY REVIEW -  Every once in a while there will be books that I will get very excited to write a review about. This is one of those books! Historical Fiction is one of my favorite genres anyway, but I really love one that is written so well. I also really like books that I can learn something from, something that I can take away from it. This story has a lot of historical facts, interesting ones that I will remember. 

This story is mainly about one woman during WW1. I had never read a book that took place in England during the war! So this was a nice first for me. I am not normally interested in books about the wars, but I am very interested in what happens to the people left behind. And this was an excellent account of how the war affected the people and families left behind to pick up the pieces and try to continue their lives regardless of what was happening around them!

This book had excellent character development! As you may have noticed, I do not read many books written by men. This is because men, normally (to me), do not know how to create a good and believable female character. I don't know how this author did it, but he did it, and perfectly too!
I really loved Victoria, the main character. She was nice, but feisty enough, strong and yet submissive enough for the times, and had a very cute and sweet personality. I also loved her friend Beryl who was involved in the women's suffrage movement, yay! Go Beryl! And I also loved the women at the farm where Victoria ended up working at. I am so glad that the author also let you into their lives. Everyone was so unique and interesting.

Here's a quote I liked -

"Does that mean you're against marriage?" Victoria asked, wondering if Beryl's drastic measures extended that far.
"You're missing the point," Beryl replied patiently. "I'm not against marriage as an institution. I'm against it being offered to women as their only option in life." ~ this is probably my favorite quote in the whole book!

This book not only takes you through the war from a woman's point of view it also follows the suffrage movement in England, which was very interesting to me! If you love historical fiction, if you love books about the history of England, and if you love books about strong female characters - this would be a great book for you!

You can get it from Amazon - HERE
and from B&N - HERE

I would like to give a special thanks to the author, Robert Bartram, for sending me this wonderful e-book! We had a few emails go back and forth so I got to chat with him a little bit. He is a very nice man and obviously a great author. He did tell me that he is working on his second book! I do hope I will get the chance to read that one as well. This is an author to watch.

THE GIVEAWAY - The author is offering a signed copy of this book!!!!

 He says he will ship anywhere - so this one is open internationally.

To enter to win -
*Please use the form below

*Please comment on this post if you would like an extra entry.
*Please only enter your info once (I will add the bonus entry).
*Winner will be chosen on 5/28/13