Amanda

by H. S. Cross

Love can be a lifeline… or a breaking point.  

In post-WWI Britain, tumult is the order of the day. After a violent incident in Galway, Marion flees to Oxford, the City of Dreaming Spires. Against a background of cobbled streets and off-beat book presses, she meets Jamie, who is returning, shell-shocked, from the frontlines. He alone understands her scars, and the sides of herself she doesn’t show in public. There is something wild and anarchic about their love for one another. A lot, perhaps everything, is at stake. 

Without falling out of love, the pair suddenly falls out of contact. Marion disappears to Switzerland, while Jamie’s work pulls him towards Scotland. Marion continues to be afflicted by voices, “Talkers,” a lingering reminder of her dark past, even as new loss threatens to consume her. In fits and starts, their worlds slowly come back together, leaving readers guessing until the final page.  

In this one-of-a-kind romantic epic, H.S. Cross takes all of this—love, damage, time, conflict, uncertainty—and transforms it into singular prose with the emotional depth of Wuthering Heights. Split between Marion and Jamie’s perspectives, Amanda reminds readers of the infinite varieties of human experience and provides a poignant answer to the age-old question “what’s in a name?” 

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance, Literary Fiction, Fiction, Historical

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 23, 2025

Reviews

[Christy fictional_traits · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Every day you don't tell a thing, you move farther and farther from it...You move farther and farther from the one you have to tell. Not telling is a lie, and you keep lying the longer you go'.

Marion is a nanny in London but she wasn't always that. In fact, you isn't even qualified for that. Having fled both her Irish home and then again from her home in Oxford, it seems as if Marion is destroying her life as fast a she can create it. However, now in London, having changed her name, and living under false pretenses, she makes a living but daily she is still haunted by the love she left behind. Jamie was the one who truly saw her, emotionally scarred from WW1, he is just as broken as her but he didn't truly know her, and that is the knife that wedged their relationship apart.

This book is definitely a mood read best bitten off in chunks. Amanda unfolds with Marion's past, followed by Jamie's, and finally their story together. Altogether, it is a very sad, slow-paced meander along what was to what might be. The haunting tone is so beautifully written and contemplative though, you'll oblige yourself to continue - if only to find out how it all ends. This is a love story but not in an obvious, flashy way. It is more of a balm to an ache.

'How many chances do you think we really get? As many as we can take, don't you think'?

[Translator Monkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars.

Gifted a digital ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in return for this honest review.

I wanted to love this book. The time frame, the characters, the plot line, the magical painting on the cover. The importance of an honest portrayal of the challenges of trying to handle mental illness, and the fallout that results from that endeavor. All of these things should have come together to make a very readable and memorable book.

And they did. And I did care very much for this book.

Cross's writing is at times humorous, at times haunting. Her ear for dialogue translates marvelously to the page, and positively clutches the reader's attention.

Why four stars instead of five? I just didn't love it. It's definitely one for the shelf, after having read it, and it's clearly worth a revisit. I'd particularly like to give it another spin after I get a chance to read this novel's predecessor 'Wilberforce'. There's probably no connection, but it's difficult to shake that the protagonist of that novel is not somehow related to the character of the same name in this one. How many Wilberforces does one encounter in the span of one's life?

This is a very good and highly recommended read.

[Chapters & Chives · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amanda ALC Book Review

3.5/5 stars

Author: H.S. Cross
Narrators: Julian Elfer and Caroline Lennon
Publisher: Europa Editions
Audio Publisher: RBMedia

Thank you to @netgalley, @europaeditions and RBMedia for the #gifted ALC copy of this book! All opinions below are my own.

From the publisher:
Marion has fled Galway for Oxford after her elopement with a violent man ended violently. In the City of Dreaming Spires, where the cobbled streets, barely lit pubs, and underground book presses hum with restless energy, she meets Jamie, a damaged soul like her who is struggling to recover from his experiences at the front. He alone sees her scars. She alone knows his secret name. Their love is wild, anarchic, dangerous, absolute. Everything, it seems, is at stake. When the “talkers” in Marion’s head get too loud and the circumstances of her life too dire, she disappears, leaving Jamie bereft and without word. But their love is like gravity—an undeniable force pitted against the dark forces that would keep them apart.

My opinion:
The book’s plot is slow to start, but it’s worth hanging in there until it picks up 1/4 of the way through. Amanda is more of an inner journey into the two central characters, Amanda and Jamie, who both take on new identities post-WW1 in order to find healing from their traumas. The book provides an in depth look into their experiences, a mature love that hangs on despite all odds, and healing from war time traumas.

I really liked the voice actors for this audiobook. They display very good emotion, pacing, and clarity. I like how they have accents that match the characters. There are also two separate narrators, one male and one female, for each main character.

If you are a fan of the books Tom Lake and On Chesil Beach or the film Passaendale, then this is the book for you! If you love deeply moving stories of love, found family, and strong character development, then you won’t be disappointed by this book!

[T'Jae Freeman]

this is right up my alley

[Ellen Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Love the setting this takes place in post WWII England. A very strong cast of characters made this book very captivating for me. Marion and Jamie’s forbidden love really drew me in. The chemistry between them is palpable in the pages of this book. The themes of love and trauma (to name a few) went very well together and I felt my heart racing throughout this story. If you enjoy historical fiction this book will draw you in and keep you gasping till the last page.

[Critter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an audio ARC.

I really wanted to fall in love with this book. It has a fantastic premise. I love the cover, it was very well done. However I just really struggled with the writing style. I had a hard time being drawn into the story. This really just feels like an its me not the book situation. There are a lot of wonderful themes in this book that should be discussed. I know I felt just okay with the narrators performance. There was nothing that really stood out to me.

[Flops · Rating 4 out of 5]

"They were occupied with eternity.
Now she wondered if eternity weren’t another name for the whole of time. You were always inside it but locked in the present, barred forever from the past no matter how much you cried to return. All the past was unreachable whether ancient days—When they rode around in phaetons and wore enormous skirts—or just a year ago, all barred. And the other end of time was also barred even though you were always moving towards it, tomorrow and tomorrow until the last day."

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book by the beautiful painting on the cover. The story itself starts out dramatically with the title character fleeing a bad situation. She meets a kindred spirit, a man also fleeing his military past. But society doesn’t think they are right for each other. The rest of the novel is about how she tries to make her way in the world and how he tries to find her again in post WWI England. It has some interesting/odd twists along the way and especially at the end.
Definitely evokes a time and place. Well written and well narrated.
My thanks to the author, @RBMedia, @RecordedBooks, and #NetGalley for access to the audiobook for review purposes. It is currently available.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amanda by H.S. Cross was an experiential read. This complicated, non-linear story follows two characters in post World War I England and Scotland. While they love each other deeply (almost to obsession), they are no longer together, and this book meanders through their lives and the circumstances that led to their estrangement.

To be honest, I nearly gave up and shelved this a quarter of the way through, but I kept on and at the half way mark I was attached to the characters and so glad I persevered. There are so many interesting ideas about identity explored in this book and ultimately I found the story deeply moving.

I don’t think this book will be for everyone. If you love literary fiction and post WWI England this book may be for you!

Thank you to Net Galley and Europa Editions for the digital ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

[mariana ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A woman haunting the narrative of a man? I am in! This is a book about two people who are struggling with identity. Marion, running away from her past while struggling with her mental health and grief, while being haunted by it, sold it for me at the beginning. Her perspective hooked me completely—intertwining trauma, violence, war, despair, and religious trauma—giving a really immersive and melancholic experience from the start. Unfortunately, that feeling doesn’t stay throughout the whole audiobook.

Sexual discovery and exploration, but with religious trauma engraved—and patriarchal ideas—in Marion’s mind, is something that really resonated with me as a girl who grew up in catholic schools all my life. I’d never read a book that depicted these issues, and it really made me sympathize with her in so many ways, feeling closer to her each time.

On the other hand, I got hit like a truck with the perspective change because I had a hard time connecting with Jamie, and I got really confused about what was going on when the male narrator came in. (I swear it's not the man-hating part of me saying this.) Although I can recognize that the aspects of mental health being a veteran in his character are very well developed in my opinion.

Since the change in perspective in Chapter 4, it became harder to follow, and I often felt disconnected from the narrative. And then whenever the woman narrator came in again, I got engaged once again, which made it very hard to puzzle everything out.

Also, the story is not linear, and the characters give themselves nicknames, which interfered with my understanding and following of the narrative. I am quite sad about not being able to connect because the way the author writes is beautiful, and the whole premise is so interesting.

Disclaimer: I do believe that when listening to audiobooks, you are not only reviewing the writer but the narrator(s) and I guess I might be used to something else I cannot pinpoint yet what the difference is apart from the strong accents which I love but English being my second language makes it a bit more difficult to grasp everything as easily as I would like.

Review also at: https://substack.com/@moonymariana

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eAlc of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

[Nadine in NY Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early review copy.  I was looking for an audiobook on NetGalley, and the absolutely gorgeous cover of this one caught my eye.  (Based on other reviews, I can see I am not alone in that!  Well done, art department!!)  The idea of a forbidden love is usually up my alley, so I decided to give this book a try.

It is such a relief to be done with this book.  I never knew what was going on because the writing was so opaque, refusing to spell out exactly what was happening.  Why were they forced apart?  Why did she refuse to speak to him?  I HAVE NO IDEA. (The information may have been there, but it was not clear to me.)  The ending might have been satisfying if I'd been at all invested in the story, but I was not.  

Julian Elfer has that annoying habit of continually varying his speaking volume from soft to loud, which probably works really well on-stage with proper acoustics, but it's absolute rubbish coming across my car speakers with all the usual road noise.  Caroline Lennon does a fine job, and her singing voice is beautiful, but this was not a good audiobook.   Normally I enjoy multiple POV books that are narrated by multiple readers, but in this case, if Marion was reading a letter from Jasper, suddenly the male narrator's voice would pop in, and vice versa. It was jarring.

The story jumps back and forth in time, and back and forth between the actual plot and stories being told within the plot, and stories within the stories, and memories within memories, and characters all seem to go by multiple names, and it's all a hot mess and impossible to keep track of it when listening, because there are no audible cues to let the listener know about a time jump.  It just seamlessly rambles back and forth.  

Perhaps the author's intent was to give the reader the feel of what it's like to live inside an unbalanced mind that has no (or little) grip on reality?  If so, well done!  Mission accomplished!  But that's not the kind of book I was looking for.

And, the ultimate insult - that gorgeous cover had nothing to do with the story!  Yes, it ends at the seaside, but not with anyone standing on a cliff contemplatively looking out over the ocean.

[Courtney Pityer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very serious historical fiction novel that not only deals with the country recovery of the great war but also deals with the themes of mental illness. I wilk admit that this novel is slightly dark but it comes with an important message. I for one think that this novel is a very good teaching method on just how serious the mental health crisis was after the war or just in general everyday life. This book really opened my eyes.
We are introduced to Marion who has arrived from Oxford after the failed elopement to a violent man. Early on we discover that she is prone to making impulsive descions and can hear voices. She ends up meeting who is recovering from his own demons caused from the war. The two seem to really take to each other and understand their feelinga. However, when Marion acts on her impulses and runs away leaving Jamie in a haze.
I received an arc copy from Netgalley and all opinions are of my own.

[Rickie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Beautifully written—masterful, even. And yet I found it difficult to fully grasp what was happening at times. I suspect that’s more a reflection of me than the book itself. Amanda feels like the kind of novel that rewards a reread, and I look forward to returning to it with fresh eyes someday.

[Miss Wuthering · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers important topics about mental health in all its gravity. The historical part is also well researched.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Suzanne]

There’s sad and then there’s Sad. This one fits that very European “art is suffering” vibe and capitalizes the S.

[Nicole Pi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I forgot to write a review (whoops)!

Great style, great writing, dragged a little (hence the 4 stars) but I'm still a fan.

Europa Editions, I love you! (thanks for the eARC)

[⋆｡°✩₊˚༚♡ ୨⎯Ridley Snickett⎯୧ ♡༚˚₊✩°｡⋆ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Confusing writing style and hard to follow what’s going on. Gave up shortly after starting.

[Janice Masvidal]

DNF