Bleakly Hall

by Elaine di Rollo

A novel of wit and imagination -- about friendship, loss and the effects of war.
 
Monty and Ada last saw one another on the frontlines of the First World War, when Monty was a nurse and Ada an ambulance driver who drove like the devil. Now, the two friends have been reunited at crumbling Bleakly Hall, where Monty has been hired to look after the grumpy, gouty guests who have come to take the Hall's curative waters.
 
But the end of the Great War has brought changes for everyone at Bleakly, and not all of them are good. Monty, mourning the death of her beloved Sophia, has a score to settle with the elusive Captain Foxley; Ada misses her wartime sense of purpose; the Blackwood brothers must reinvent Bleakly for a new era; while Foxley has his own ways of keeping his demons at bay.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, British Literature

368 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 2011

About the author

Elaine di Rollo was born in Ormskirk, Lancashire and now lives in Scotland, where she is a lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University. She has a PhD in the social history of medicine from Edinburgh University. The Peachgrowers Almanac (aka A Proper Education for Girls) is her first novel. The Peachgrowers' Almanac was shortlisted for the Saltire First Novel Award, the Guildford Literary Festival First Novel Award and the Scottish Arts Council First Novel Award.

Bleakly Hall is di Rollo's latest novel, published in 2011.

Reviews

[Elizabeth☮ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bleakly Hall has seen better days. It is a hydrotherapy hotel and its clientele is much like the building: dilapidated. Roberta Montgomery and Ada worked together on the battlefields in WWI. Ada gets Monty a nursing job at Bleakly Hall and it is here that the story picks up. Monty is interested in one of the hotel's guests: Captain Foxley. He is elusive and abrasive, but Monty knows that he knew a friend of hers Sophie. And Monty means to remind him of just how misguided his actions were in regards to her friend.

The story takes place in the aftermath of the war. The proprietors of the hotel are brothers that fought in the war together. We see the characters in their interaction at Bleakly Hall and we get flashbacks of what occurred on the battlefields.

I think the narrative suffers a little when it switches from present to past, but I found the characters interesting and the time period one I haven't often found in novels I read.

[Kirsty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I've read in 2011. I wish I hadn't read it so that I could go back and read it for the first time.

The story jumps between a crumbling, post-war hydropathic and the trenches of WW2, and both settings seemed so real I could taste them. In a few years, if someone says to me "hey, have you ever visited a crumbling, post-war hydropathic?" (because that's the sort of thing that my friends would say), then I'll genuinely believe that I have – the book is that vivid. The characters are all exaggerated, myth-like constructs, and yet each one lives and breathes so that I can imagine them outside the pages of the book.

Bleakly Hall has everything I want in a novel: beautiful prose, believable characters, an intense setting, and an interesting plot. Get it, read it, love it.

[Verity W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book of the Week on my blog https://verityreadsbooks.wordpress.co...

A really readable look at the effect that the First World War had - featuring a disputer group of people gathered at a hydropathic spa. All have been changed forever by the war - but in different ways. Some are damaged physically, almost all are damaged mentally. Some miss it. Some wish life could go back to the way it was - others find that the world hasn't changed enough. Funny in some places, black horror in others, thought provoking but not ultimately too madly depressing or gory.

If you've worked your way through books like Pat Barker's Regeneration, Graves' Goodbye to All That, Brittan's Testament of Youth, this may be a good next place for you to go.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. was so funny and charming. Elaine di Rollo really is one of my favourite authors.

[Dorothy · Rating 2 out of 5]

What an odd book. The novel has three strands. One is after the war, when Monty is working at Bleakly Hall. The second relates Monty's experiences during the war. The third tells the story of her beloved friend Sophia.

The first strand, after the war, never convinced me. The description of Bleakly Hall and its characters was cartoonish. I think it was meant to be "darkly comic" but I didn't find anything about it funny. I did enjoy the second strand, about Monty's wartime adventures, because they had a ring of authenticity and they were interesting for that reason.

Sophia's chapters jarred. Once upon a time, I doubt she'd have been given any chapters in her point of view. This book is Monty's story, by and large, and we could easily have learned what happened when Monty revealed it to Foxley. However, this being a modern book, we have to wallow in Sophia's story. I felt impatient with that section and just wanted to know the outcome so I could get back to Monty.

Overall, the only character I felt any interest in was Monty. It was interesting because of the historical context but didn't grab me as fiction, really.

[Inside A Dog · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as the fourth book in the Readers Summer Book Club list. Of the books on the list, this was one that I wasn't overly keen on or excited by, on reading the blurb on the cover. The quote from The Scotsman read ..."lightly carbonated comedy" (whatever the hell that means!) - the TES Literary Supplement referred to it as "A bold comic creation". With my track record of finding books labelled as 'comedy' and 'hilarious', anything but, I wasn't really looking forward to this book. But I enjoyed it - though I'd have to say the bits I enjoyed least were the overtly comedic bits - maybe I just haven't got a sense of humour!!!

Bleakly Hall is the rambling, ramshackle home of the Blackwood brothers, Grier and Curran, who are trying to keep it going as a health retreat for elderly Edwardians, based around water treatments and their supposed curative powers. Like most of the guests, Bleakly Hall is on its last legs and has become home to a collection of idiosyncratic and unusual characters, some of whom are guests, some are staff and some are the Blackwood family and friends. Into Bleakly Hall comes Monty, having survived her experience as a nurse at home and on the Front Line during the war. Monty arrives at Bleakly with a specific and very definite agenda, to confront and challenge Captain Foxley, now a resident at Bleakly Hall as a permanent guest of the Blackwoods, with whom he served during the war. The events leading up to that confrontation, and the reasons behind it, are a major part of the book.

The comedy in the novel comes in part from the almost classic British farce of some of the events and the interactions between the characters - some of this worked better than other bits for me - personally I found the funniest comedy to be in di Rollo's writing about the plumbing and boilerworks at Bleakly Hall which almost become a character in their own right! There was however a sharper darker comedy that I really did like in some of the passages relating the experiences of the different protagonists during the war. The almost macabre humour is exceptionally well captured in the book and it adds a further degree of poignancy and pathos to the tragedy and horror of their experiences in the War.

The female characters in the novel are all strong, and I liked this about the book. Monty and her friend from the Front, Ada, come across as feisty, determined and confident women, opening up the world around them in their own ways at that time. However there are equally strong female characters in Sophia, who is perhaps a more "typical" female character for the times and yet there's an inner strength and resolve in her. Similarly I liked the character of Curran's wife, Mae. You can't like her for her shallow and cruel behaviour to Curran, whose been left without legs and in a wheelchair by War (I'm giving nothing away about the plot here!) - but though you can't like her, I still warmed to her somehow!

The male characters of Curran, Grier and Foxley weren't as well drawn for me - there was something a little bit cliched or predictable about them - although that may be unfair in that I can see the way they come across may have been an accurate picture of men and their behaviour and attitudes at that time. As I read the book I thought they came across better when the narrative focused on their relationships and interactions with other men - in their interactions with women it all felt a bit "Lord Peter Wimsey" in places to me! (Tried Dorothy L Sayers once - not for me! Hated it!)

The key themes running through the book for me were friendship, the way people carry the past with them through life and reinvention. The strength of the friendships between Monty and Ada, Monty and Sophia, Curran and Foxley, Grier and Foxley, are all brilliantly captured. As I read them it gave the book a real intimacy and I thought it prevented some of the more emotional parts of the book becoming schmaltzy. (Not sure if schmaltzy is actually a word but I like it anyway!).

The tragedy of war and its impact on all of them is the best bit of the book. The depictions of life at the front for the men, officers and for Ada and Monty as Nurses are raw and gut-wrenching in places, but shot through with warmth and humour and an almost fatalistic honesty. In some ways these parts of the book were so good, I could have spent the whole novel happily reading about them during the War itself and by the time I reached the end of the book, Bleakly Hall had almost become unnecessary for me! For all its horror and decay and death, there's also a real feeling of hope for the future and change about the book. It comes through in the changing roles of the women in the novel, in the emerging chattering classes of the young who either survived or missed the war, with their determination to have a good time, and in the changing relationships between the characters themselves.

The book is really well written. The style and use of language is always easy and yet enjoyable to read, and in the humourous parts, when Elaine di Rollo reigns in the comedy to the right side of slapstick, it reads wonderfully!

Although I enjoyed much of Bleakly Hall, I didn't enjoy the ending of the book. I won't say anything in detail about it because I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone else. But for me, this was where the comedy elements didn't work and the more tragic themes of the book weren't strong enough to make up for that. But overall I'm glad I read it and it was certainly a much better book than I'd expected from reading that blurb. I guess that if the critic from The Scotsman is right, then lightly carbonated comedy is just not quite my thing!!!!!

[Marshall Moyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bleakly Hall by Elaine di Rollo is an excellent novel that uses characters that seem both real and relatable to tell the story of several World War I survivors that are struggling to comes to terms with the past and what remains of their lives in the present. The internal guilt and grudge in the loyal and rational Monty, the elusiveness and ravaged sanity of the both brave and cowardly Foxley, the naiveity and innocence of Sophia, and the struggle of the Blackwood brothers to deal with their business and wartime memories makes for a fascinating image of post war struggle on an individual level. The novel takes place in a eerie and gloomy Bleakly Hall, which serves as a powerful symbol of trapped-in-the-past mentality of the characters and makes noises that are constant reminders of the damage wrought by humanity in WWI. Only with the present progression of the story, Rollo expertly includes flashblacks that are appropriate in advancing the plot and are incorporated smoothly in the novel. The only downfall of this novel was the abrubt ending...in which pieces come together rapidly and seemingly important details (like Foxley's bizzare bees) are brought up and then concluded in rapid sequence.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in World War I or the early nineteen hundreds. I would also recommend it to anyone who is interested in the social and physcological effects of war, ambulance drivers, the advancement of woman's role in western society, or in learning about the different though processes of new and old generations.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bleakly Hall is in no way a bleak read. Di Rollo crafts a fascinating work that, like any well-written historical fiction, effortlessly combines fact and fiction. The premise of the novel focuses on a post-WWI depleted hydropathic and the lives of its inhabitants and staff. Bleakly Hall itself adds an interesting element to the story, bringing a sense of a twisted whimsy to an otherwise dismal topic.
The novel focuses on Monty, an ex-WWI nurse who finds herself at Bleakly Hall searching for a way to occupy her time and her encounters with the peculiar residents of Bleakly Hall. Di Rollo stitches together the story by utilizing harrowing WWI scenes coupled with the dramatic and nonsensical life of Bleakly Hall. The ways in which Monty’s life is inexplicably linked to Captain Foxley’s – a WWI soldier with undiagnosed PTSD— also provides a sense of melancholic comedy. Somehow, di Rollo fuses the pain of WWI – as Bleakly Hall itself is stuck in the past—with the absurdity of the characters that live there in a delightful, yet thought-provoking novel.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction or fiction in general. Not an overly wrought historical novel or flimsy in its theme choice, this novel is simply the best of both worlds. The only issue I had with the novel was the half-hearted ending, but in its entirety, I have no withstanding complaints.

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This historical fiction by Elaine di Rollo proved to be both insightful and intriguing. It perfectly blended fact and fiction as we travel through time (WWI to a post WWI era) with the main character Monty. Monty served as a nurse during the war, and through her first hand accounts we are enlightened about the hardships of war, and the horrific effects that remain long after. This can be seen as the characters in the novel deal with the post war effects (PTSD, flashbacks, amputations, etc.) One character in particular, named Captain Foxley, suffers from PTSD, which leads to several conflicts throughout the novel. Foxley never fails to cause trouble in the aging hydropathic (Bleakly Hall), where most of the novel takes place. There is also an underlying struggle that takes place between Captain Foxley and Monty. Crystal clear pictures are painted with the author's use of vivid imagery. You must be patient with this book at first, but after the first few chapters, you will struggle to put the novel down. The only downfalls to me were the slow beginning, and in my opinion, the poorly chosen ending. It seemed hurried and utterly convenient considering the circumstances. Overall, i would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys history, or an intriguing novel that will leave you guessing what will happen next.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Di Rollo's, Bleakly Hall, uses a style of writing that combines fact with fiction. This sort of writing style is better known as historical fiction. The use of real relateable stories make for easy relateation to the characters. The main character of the novel is a loyal and hardworking nurse who struggles internally with guilt and grudge. While dealing with her own internal problems she is faced with the innocent Sophia's problems and an arguably insane Captain Foxly. Also she deals with the Blackwood brothers and their family issues in running a business as well as the residence in a run down hydroplant known as Bleakly Hall in a post WWI era. Bleakly hall is the main setting for most of the novel, but Di Rollo creatively uses flashbacks to explain the origins of each character and somehow intrinsically crosses their story at one point or another. Flashbacks to World War I paint some grusome scenes in your head that will make you want to cringe at times but keeps you reading in order to find out more. The only drawback to what I would call a witty novel is the sudden ending that one may or may not have predicted.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes to read about WWI and the effects of war. If you like facts creatively intertwined with fiction, this novel is for you. Not an overly hard read and pretty enjoyable if you ask me. I have not real complaints.

[David Kenvyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has taken me a long time to read this book, but that is because life kept intervening, and I had things to do like book reviews and proofreading to deadlines, so my reading got interrupted.

Bleakly Hall is a tale of the physical and psychological damage done to people by the First World War, and in this centenary year when people want to celebrate the courage of the combatants and their nursing staff, it is a salutary read. The book centres around the relationships that Roberta Montgomery (Monty, a nurse) has with Sophia (a VAD), Ada (an ambulance driver) and Captain Foxley.

After the war, Monty, Ada and Captain Foxley, all damaged in some way, meet at Bleakly Hall, a hydropathic spa. Their relationship with each other is haunted by the memory of Sophia, even though it is only Monty who remembers her properly and Ada did not know her at all.

Elaine Di Rollo takes us through these relationships with consummate skill, ensuring that our sympathies are engaged with all the main characters as the details of what happened to them become clearer. Di Rollo is also careful to write subsidiary characters, such as the Blackwood brothers, who engage us despite their weaknesses.

This is a thoughtful and thought-provoking book that should be on every reading list about the First World War as we approach the centenary of that dreadful event.

[Taylor Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bleakly Hall, written by Elaine di Rollo, is an interesting read that tells the story of a former World War I nurse Roberta Montgomery, referred to as Monty throughout the book. Monty begins work at Bleakly Hall, which is a hydropathic therapy center center that draws in WWI veterans because of its claim to have curative water. While at Bleakly, Monty meets a variety of World War I veterans each with their own war stories and after effects from the war. She is also reunited with a fellow WWI nurse and fearless ambulance driver Ada. The book is a story of Monty's struggles of meeting the needs of the patients at Bleakly, kindling a friendship with Ada and investigating the mystery surrounding the death of her best friend Sophia during the war. The book switches back and forth between the time periods of World War I, and life at Bleakly, effectively connecting two stories that come together in the end. I really enjoyed this book and found it hard to put down because of the mystery surrounding Sophia's death and one of the particularly curious patients at Bleakly in Captain Foxly. Those who enjoy World War I novels as well as anyone who just is looking for a good read will enjoy this book.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bleakly Hall is an odd mix of farce and tragedy. Brothers Curran and Grier Blackwood run a hydropathic hospital after WWI and many of the characters that work or live at the hospital are veterans of the war including Monty, who is the newest member of staff. But she has come with another reason - to find Captain Foxley.

This is a story about atonement, the impact of war on those who lived through it and the lack of impact for those who did not. The veterans are surrounded by those too old or too young to have served and it serves to heighten the sense of nostalgia they seem to have for their wartime roles and relationships. There are many funny little set pieces in this book that were enjoyable to read although somewhat silly and when juxtaposed against the more serious war stories it's hard to shift into the right frame of mind to read about young men dying in the trenches.

The ending of the book was its weakest section, tying all of the story lines up in a bow. In about a dozen pages everyone has their (mostly ) happy ending. It was all rather quick and unrealistic. This was an enjoyable book to read but it doesn't hold up under much examination.

[Tasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn't get into this book. I went into this book expecting more but instead was disappointed. The characters never felt fully developed and the story, although promising from the first few chapters, went into a completely different direction from what I expected and I never regained interest. I do read a lot of non-fiction war accounts so this may have effected my experience of the fictionalized war accounts in this book. the desperation of the character Sophie really bugged me. Monty not accepting her role in the death of Sophie, and blaming Foxley, bugged me. She was the one who sent Sophie to the hotel that night, if she would have given her full disclosure on the letter she may never have gone there, ugh. Very annoying. All around, the characters felt really flat and undeveloped. I never felt emotionally connected or effected by the characters or the story.

I hate giving negative reviews but it appears i am on the minority as many seem to enjoy this book.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bleakly Hall is a book about transition from wartime back to civilian life. Elaine di Rollo depicts very vivid images of the characters past and present struggles. The main character Monty takes a new job as a nurse at Bleakly Hall and is thrown back into people from her past. Though Monty has her head on straight, she is haunted by memories of the loss of her best friend Sophia. Other characters, such as Captain Foxley, never got over their past and suffer from PTSD (post-traumatic stress syndrome). Residents’ flashbacks are crafted to bring to life the gruesome battle scenes and emotions of characters. The plot unfolds one chapter at a time, keeping the reader wanting more, always guessing what happened in the past and what is to come next. As one continues the book, curiosity takes over and one wants to read more. The book gains momentum and has an intense climax, but ends suddenly with every problem resolving. For a book filled with such tragedies, the ending did not fit and was too perfect.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bleakly Hall tells the story of a run-down hospital in the aftermath of World War I. The main character Roberta Montgomery, better known as Monty, is a former World War I nurse who goes to work at Bleakly Hall. There, she is reunited with Ada, a fellow World War I nurse who drove ambulances for the hospital she and Monty worked at. While at Bleakly Hall, Monty encounters a variety of men who fought in the war, from psychotic Captain Foxley to traditional Curran Blackwood to fearful Grier Blackwood. Throughout the story, all of the characters fight with demons of their pasts. Some have to deal with flashbacks, some are having difficulties coping with guilt from watching their dear friends die. Rather than just a statement of World War I facts, Bleakly Hall tells a unique story where the reader can empathize and relate to the characters. Recommended for people who like historical stories that are not just repeats of facts already known.

[Kamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very bipolar book. Parts of it bored me to tears, while other scenes were compelling and even a little touching. The characters had a similar dichtomy, if on a smaller scale, with some being poorly written and seemingly without any purpose other than to annoy the main characters. Maybe it's just me, but I think any quality fictional character should be at least two dimensional and possess some mix of redeeming and damning qualities. I'm really only speaking of a couple of characters, however, and they don't ruin the book by any means. The beginning, to be frank, sucks. It's dull and uninspired, but the book picks up steam from there on out. Monty and Foxley are fleshed out quite well as the book progressed, and Monty's flashbacks become quite emotional as the book progresses. The ending is a little contrived, and leaves a lot to be desired. Still, not a bad book at all. An enjoyable read if you have any interest in post-WWI England.

[Drea AF · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bleakly Hall was not at all what I expected. It started out a little slow and confusing, but the novel ended up being very intriguing and exciting. We travel through the war era with Monty, who was a nurse during the war. She tells of the hardships of war and how she was affected before and after. The characters staying at Bleakly Hall show the aftereffects of war from PTSD, terrible flashbacks, and medical issues. Captain Foxley, a captain in the war who is staying at Bleakly, has PTSD and causes a lot of problems for everyone in the novel. I thought the novel was hard to put down once I got into it. The end seemed rushed and very unexpected, and I wish it could have ended a little differently. Overall, though, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys history, but also anyone that likes to read about love, hardships, war, and friendships.

[Ruthiella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give Bleakly Hall 3.5 stars if I could. I thought as a whole, it was an ambitious tragic-comic novel, that didn’t quite realize its potential. It is packed with eccentric characters, but they aren’t all as fleshed out as I would have liked. However, when it is good, it is very good. I found the flashback portions of the book to be especially compelling. The story takes place a few years after WWI at a neglected hotel spa in the English countryside that caters to aging hypochondriacs. The owners of the hotel, Curran and Grier Blackwood, are veterans of the war, along with the hotel’s semi-permanent resident, Captain Foxley, who has a rather tenuous grip on reality and Ada, the girl-Friday who drove ambulances on the frontlines. Into this mix comes Nurse Monty who has a mysterious grudge against Foxley. Read for the Readers' Summer Book Club 2012.

[Rosie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have certain expectations of books published by Vintage (Random House's "decent literature" arm) and this fell well short.

I tried; I gave it a good shot (up to p.75) and I didn't want to give up. I haven't given up on a book since Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close a year ago, and although Bleakly Hall is pretty bad it's not as god-awful as Extremely Loud, and it's a shame to give it the same star rating as such trite and vapid drivel.

But it is pretty bad. It's dull, the characters are unengaging, the prose has an air of cliche waiting to burst out (if anything so interesting as bursting could occur in such bland writing) and the dialogue is forced and unnatural. All in all, I didn't like it and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. (Ouch!)

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bleakly Hall was an outstanding look at the struggles and effect of war on the both the people fighting in it, those helping on the front lines, and civilian effects. IT shows the emotional damage and guilt of loosing a friend, the bravery of two women working in a man’s world, and the psychological trauma of fighting. A seemingly appropriate phrase is for Bleakly Hall would be “a wet place to wait to die”. The novel was a quick and fun read. Perhaps one of my favorite parts was the interaction between the guilt ridden, self punishing long time clients, and the new free loving, champagne drinking, music playing younger generation collide to create a mix of unhappiness on both sides. In the end Bleakly Hall gets destroyed, which shows a modernist departure from war time society.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a bit torn over Bleakly Hall. The main characters, Foxley, Monty, Grier, Curran, Sophia & Ada were very well done, and I felt like I could really get a feel for their personalities. It went from well-written battle and casualty scenes, to cliffhangers, to mundane saga-like day to day life at Bleakly. I could envisage the hall and the huge weight of all the attention & cash that it needed.
Foxley's syphilis diagnosis made sense near the end (combined with PTSD).
The ending was frustrating - how the money worked out & Curran was quite happy to marry Ada instead & raise the child. However I liked the fact that Monty stuck to her guns and left to live her own life - I thought she'd end up staying, marrying Grier & living happily ever after.
Overall, a good read & 3.5 stars.

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Day One:
It's a very good sign that I read over 100 pages at my first go. After a long day at work.
Late at night.
Tired.

It was also fun in that I had no idea what kind of book this is or what it is about.

UPDATE: Finished!
In the words of George Carlin, "Could be meat, could be cake."
This could be comic, could be tragic. I suppose it's tragicomic, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The main character, Monty, is a girl ahead of her time and a very sympathetic character. There were interesting & harrowing flashbacks to The Great War. I enjoyed Ada and her love for speed. Quirky Bleakly Hall was almost a character itself.

[Kara Hoganson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even for those who aren't interested in war-related literature, Bleaky Hall is a surprisingly captivating novel about life on the homefront and the attempt to achieve normalcy following World War II. Monty, the book's female protagonist, embodies everything a modern strong, independent woman should be, and reading about her personality being lightyears ahead of her time is inspiring. Filled to the brim with interesting and diverse characters, this novel proves to be a fast read. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants to befriend a few characters and explore war-related subject matter without losing touch of an endearing and well-developed plot.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story follows Monty Montgomery, a nurse during the first world war and afterwards when she travels to Bleakly Hall, a dilapidated hydropathic hotel run by two brothers who were also in the war. There she finds her friend Ada, with whom she traveled to the front during the war and brought back wounded soldiers. Monty comes to Bleakly to settle a score with one of the inhabitants, a Captain Foxley, who is trying to deal with his own horrible memories of the war. The author is often amusing, but also clearly brings across the horror and trauma that the soldiers and nurses faced during the war.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Survivors of WWI meet (as employees / guests / owners) at a run-down hotel which is promoting its ‘restorative waters’.

The first 100 odd pages are dull then the recollections of “frontline WWI” start and the book comes to life. Some of the writing is flowery (at least in my opinion) and there are too many different themes / ideas in the book (many of which I thought distracted from the central story of lives shattered by war). The interweaving of the different periods of time (during and after WWI) worked well.

I’ve given this a 3 star rating, but if the writing / storyline had been tighter I would have given it a 4 rating.

[Laurenthompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bleakly Hall is a fantastic story about dealing with ones past. The story is set shortly after WWI in a run down old bath house known as Bleakly Hall. The people that inhabit this place are haunted by ghosts of their past. The main character Monty, meets a mess of characters that are trapped in the past. The story starts a bit slow but it quickly picks up when the characters pasts are revealed. The author does a good job at developing the characters. Each is unique and each has a story. The book is filled with action and keeps you interested the entire way through the book.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt that this book was probably my second favorite of the semester. The content and character development was very thorough and much easier to follow than the other books this semester. This novel provided a storyline that was entertaining and easy to follow since it held my attention. At first it was a little slow and not really up my alley, but as the characters are developed and we learn more about their stories and history it engulfs the reader into their lives. I have not read many novels that revolved around events of WWI so it was an interesting book of historical fiction.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although not as detailed and rich in characterization as Ken Follett's Fall Of The Giants, Bleakly Hall nevertheless portrays the after effects of World War I very well. Monty Montgomery is a war worn nurse who comes to work at Bleakly Hall, a hydropathic treatment centre. Monty also wants to pass on a message to the cad Captain Foxley. Meet eccentric guests, war veterans with various injuries and enjoy this black comedy about adjusting back to civilian life and living with loss.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story set during and after WW1, follows a young woman that works as a nurse during the War, and her interactions with a dashing rotter at the front. Returning to work at Bleakly Hall, a health spa outside of London, she attempts to confront the man. The confused story is interesting but there doesn't seem to be any real point to it.