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A Girl I Knew
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159 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2013
1 person is currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Valerie-Anne Baglietto
11 books31 followersValerie-Anne Baglietto wrote her first 'book' aged four. A story about a boy whose mother's nose was incredibly long and spiral-shaped. Over twenty years later, her first published novel THE WRONG SORT OF GIRL won the Romantic Novelists' Association New Writer's Award. Recently she was shortlisted in the 2105 Love Stories Awards.
Valerie-Anne contributes to the Novelistas Ink blog and lives in a very full house in North Wales. By day, she can be found hunched over her desk, where, like most writers, she consumes too much tea/coffee. By night, she clears up after her husband, three children, and a Pomeranian with delusions of grandeur.
Blog: http://novelistasink.blogspot.co.uk
Valerie-Anne contributes to the Novelistas Ink blog and lives in a very full house in North Wales. By day, she can be found hunched over her desk, where, like most writers, she consumes too much tea/coffee. By night, she clears up after her husband, three children, and a Pomeranian with delusions of grandeur.
Blog: http://novelistasink.blogspot.co.uk
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 8, 2017
Wychewood has always felt like home to MaryAnn. When she needs a place to stay, together with her young daughter Beth, MaryAnn goes back to the place she loved so much when she was a child. She's being welcomed with open arms. Beth doesn't speak, but at Wychewood, where nothing is ordinary, this doesn't seem like much of a problem.
When MaryAnn meets Gawain she feels immediately drawn to him. He is a wise, but simple man. He's mysterious and he clearly has secrets. What are they? Wychewood becomes much more lively when the handsome Ned arrives. He doesn't make a great first impression, but maybe if MaryAnn gives him a chance he might prove not to be so bad after all. Will Wychewood bring MaryAnn the peace she hoped to find and will she discover why her daughter stopped speaking?
A Girl I Knew is a beautiful story about a magical place. I immediately loved Wychewood because of the wonderful comfortable and welcoming atmosphere. Valerie-Anne Baglietto has given the house a gorgeous soul and to me it felt like it was one of the main characters. MaryAnn is strong and kindhearted and Beth is such a sweet little girl. I enjoyed the fact that they both can be themselves at Wychewood and that being at the house makes them grow and blossom. Gawain is an enigma, which instantly intrigued me. I was curious to find out more about him and his story is incredibly interesting. Ned is more straightforward and he's a good guy. I immediately liked him, especially his honesty. The characters of A Girl I Knew are definitely special, all in a different distinctive way.
Valerie-Anne Baglietto mixes reality with fairytales and I love that about her work. Her stories are enchanting and compelling and she has a great way with words that gives her stories a dreamlike quality. I love her mystical way of writing combined with honest realistic sentences, it makes her books unusual and surprising. I highly recommend any of her stories. A Girl I Knew is fantastic and I enjoyed reading it very much.
When MaryAnn meets Gawain she feels immediately drawn to him. He is a wise, but simple man. He's mysterious and he clearly has secrets. What are they? Wychewood becomes much more lively when the handsome Ned arrives. He doesn't make a great first impression, but maybe if MaryAnn gives him a chance he might prove not to be so bad after all. Will Wychewood bring MaryAnn the peace she hoped to find and will she discover why her daughter stopped speaking?
A Girl I Knew is a beautiful story about a magical place. I immediately loved Wychewood because of the wonderful comfortable and welcoming atmosphere. Valerie-Anne Baglietto has given the house a gorgeous soul and to me it felt like it was one of the main characters. MaryAnn is strong and kindhearted and Beth is such a sweet little girl. I enjoyed the fact that they both can be themselves at Wychewood and that being at the house makes them grow and blossom. Gawain is an enigma, which instantly intrigued me. I was curious to find out more about him and his story is incredibly interesting. Ned is more straightforward and he's a good guy. I immediately liked him, especially his honesty. The characters of A Girl I Knew are definitely special, all in a different distinctive way.
Valerie-Anne Baglietto mixes reality with fairytales and I love that about her work. Her stories are enchanting and compelling and she has a great way with words that gives her stories a dreamlike quality. I love her mystical way of writing combined with honest realistic sentences, it makes her books unusual and surprising. I highly recommend any of her stories. A Girl I Knew is fantastic and I enjoyed reading it very much.
June 27, 2013
Having read and loved this author’s previous book, Once Upon A Winter, I had high hopes for The Trouble With Knights In Shining Armour. Reading the blurb and discovering that one of the characters was called Gawain only increased my optimism that this would be a story well worth reading. I’m happy to say that it didn’t disappoint. Valerie-Anne Baglietto is a wonderful writer, with the ability to transport her readers to another world where all things are possible. From the very beginning of the story, with its allusions to Narnia, I was already opening my mind and heart to the possibilities of the unseen and the hidden – the realm beyond this reality. There is a tenderness and beauty in her prose that leaves me feeling happier for having read it; a sprinkling of magic in her stories that makes me believe that anything is possible, and what could be better than that?
MaryAnn Laurey and her young daughter Beth arrive at the family home of Wychewood in North Wales, in need of an escape. MaryAnn has had a broken engagement, her mother is embarrassed by her, anxious to send her away until the fuss dies down, and her three-year-old daughter has retreated into silence for reasons that MaryAnn cannot fathom. If anyone needs a knight in shining armour it’s MaryAnn, and when she meets Gawain he arouses feelings in her that she never knew existed. But why are her Uncle Rex and housekeeper Dilys so worried about their budding relationship if Gawain is as perfect as he seems to be? What is his secret?
With Wychewood’s future uncertain and her mother pressurizing her to secure the place for her branch of the family, the arrival of an American relative with plans for the estate causes more confusion and places Beth in great danger. With Gawain, her gallant knight, riding to the rescue, it is only much later that MaryAnn realises the terrible fate that awaits her daughter as a result. As events take a dramatic turn, MaryAnn must face up to the inevitable and recognise that there is more than one knight at the court of Wychewood.
This is a lovely story of love, loss and hope. An enchanting, modern-day fairytale where we learn that people are not always as they first appear to be, and it’s not just a frightened little girl who needs to find her voice.
Utterly spellbinding, like all good fairy tales it will leave you feeling like you’ve just learned a great truth all wrapped up in love and magic. Wonderful.
MaryAnn Laurey and her young daughter Beth arrive at the family home of Wychewood in North Wales, in need of an escape. MaryAnn has had a broken engagement, her mother is embarrassed by her, anxious to send her away until the fuss dies down, and her three-year-old daughter has retreated into silence for reasons that MaryAnn cannot fathom. If anyone needs a knight in shining armour it’s MaryAnn, and when she meets Gawain he arouses feelings in her that she never knew existed. But why are her Uncle Rex and housekeeper Dilys so worried about their budding relationship if Gawain is as perfect as he seems to be? What is his secret?
With Wychewood’s future uncertain and her mother pressurizing her to secure the place for her branch of the family, the arrival of an American relative with plans for the estate causes more confusion and places Beth in great danger. With Gawain, her gallant knight, riding to the rescue, it is only much later that MaryAnn realises the terrible fate that awaits her daughter as a result. As events take a dramatic turn, MaryAnn must face up to the inevitable and recognise that there is more than one knight at the court of Wychewood.
This is a lovely story of love, loss and hope. An enchanting, modern-day fairytale where we learn that people are not always as they first appear to be, and it’s not just a frightened little girl who needs to find her voice.
Utterly spellbinding, like all good fairy tales it will leave you feeling like you’ve just learned a great truth all wrapped up in love and magic. Wonderful.
August 16, 2013
Really liked this modern fairytale. It had me turning the pages - and then wishing it were longer to enjoy the characters a while more.
February 22, 2015
A good read and a page turner.
August 13, 2013
A lovely story :-)
October 18, 2014
Coming soon!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews