Memories Are Made of This

by June Francis

From one of the genre’s best-loved names, an enthralling historical saga set in 1950s’ Liverpool. - Liverpool, 1954. Young Jeanette Walker often wonders what became of her mother who disappeared without trace during a wartime bombing raid thirteen years before. Was she killed outright, or did she run off with another man, as tyrannical Great Aunt Ethel insists? Embarking on a dual mission to find out what really happened to her mother and to track down the handsome stranger who came to her rescue, Jean is little prepared for the hornets’ nest of family secrets and lies that her investigations will stir up

Genres: Historical Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2013

About the author

Although, June was born in the seaside resort of Blackpool, she has lived all her life in the port of Liverpool, home of the Beatles. One of four children, her love of stories began when her father told her 'The Little Match Girl', which left her in floods of tears, but also with a desire to make up stories, herself. As soon as she could read she was doing a three mile walk to the local library. She passed the scholarship to Liverpool Girls' College where her English teacher told her that she had a great imagination. Despite this, June did not believe she could ever be an author, so on leaving school, she became a cash clerk. She married at twenty-two, has three sons, ran a church playgroup for ten years and it wasn't until her youngest started school that she joined a Writers' Club and turned her hand to writing articles about What She Knew for a woman's magazine. But her first love had always been books and eventually she wrote her first two medieval romances for Mills & Boon. After doing another two, she had an urge to write a family story set in Liverpool during WWII. This was bought by another publisher. Since then she has had thirty-three books published.

Reviews

[Dale Harcombe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars.
Jeanette Walker, almost eighteen, has spent years wondering what happened to her mother who disappeared during the war. She just went out one day and never came back. Is she dead? Or still alive and if so where? That was thirteen years before. Since then Jeanette, her stepbrother and stepsister, Sam and Hester have lived with their father and great aunt Ethel. She is tough and often mistreats Jeanette. When Jeanette meets a handsome stranger who comes to her rescue during an altercation, she wants to know more about him. And she wants to finds out exactly what happened to her mother in 1941. Jeanette’s quest will uncover several family secrets. Meanwhile Hester, a policewoman, finds she has nothing with which to combat the pain life throws at her. How will she cope?
Jeanette and her step siblings are all likeable characters I had trouble accepting that their father doesn’t know what a tarter Aunt Ethel is and of the mistreatment going on. Ethel is a thoroughly nasty piece of work. The story moves along well, although at times it does seem to contain times of dialogue which don’t actually contribute anything to the story. Made it feel as though it had been padded a bit and then comes the ending which was wrapped up so abruptly. Despite these quibbles, this is an entertaining read of Liverpool in the early 1950s.

[Dawn Goudie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

Omg this has me gripped from the very beginning. Read the whole book in 3 days well 10 hrs in total. One of the best books I've read about Liverpool wish I could give more than 5 stars

[Margaret Hislop · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abrupt ending.

I hate reading books with such an abrupt ending. It leaves too many questions unanswered and makes me feel it was a waste of time reading it. It's the second book I've read by this author and although the stories themselves were enjoyable both of then ended abruptly which let them down.

[vickie probert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book this was the first June Francis book I have read and after realising the talent of this authored it definitely won't be the lzst

As abo ve loved this book and will be reading a lot more June Francis books thoroughly enjoyed it very well written

[Tracey Carnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant read

I really enjoyed this book.loved the characters,especially aunt Ethel.great storyline.I really hope there's a carry on to this fabulous book

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely book got so into the family didn’t want it to end
Would have loved to know how each persons live continued Definitely worse a read

[Chery · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story was good but the ending.... are you kidding me... I'm like....where is the rest....hmmmm....my stars are for the storyline....not so much the ending.

[Aoife · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars
This book is extremely bland and I will admit that it disappointed me. I was expecting a much better and even well told story than what I read.

I feel like all the characters fell short and most were not extremely realistic. The aunt was too cruel to have been getting away with it under the father's nose and Jeanette was too...Mary Sue like I suppose. Everything was too blunt, there didn't seem to be any good description which would have been easy to do seeing as the tale is set in Liverpool. I'm sure there is lots of hustle and bustle to describe to brighten up a story but it was lacking and you definitely miss it.

[Mari · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed listening to this book (mainly because of the accent of the narrator), I am really not sure what the plot of this book was. It focused on a few things, but none of them really drove the story. I guess the main plot is Jeannette finding her mother, but it didn't really seem like it was that important to her overall.

[Robert Kradoska · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 Life in Liverpool after WW11. A Mother disappears and years later she is found.

[Psammead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started good then slowed and by 3/4 thru really started to drag. I was bored and so gave up and didn’t finish it. Could have been a good story but too long. Shame.