A Silver Lining

by Anne Douglas, Lesley Mackie (Reading)

1937, Edinburgh. Attractive, dark-eyed Jinny Hendrie is happy enough in her job in the accounts office of a large bakery - until handsome Viennese cake expert Viktor Linden walks into her life. Although her father and her kind-hearted boss, Ross MacBain, warn against it, Jinny is determined to marry Viktor but, when war is declared, all her plans are in ruins. Austria has joined forces with Hitler; Viktor has become an enemy and must return home to fight. Troubled years lie ahead without news of him, and while Jinny finds the strength to move on, there are huge question marks over her future. When the war is over, will Viktor return? And if he does, will this lead to happiness or heartbreak?

Audio CD

First published October 1, 2014

About the author

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Reviews

[Dave Hoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could be a YA book, nothing objectionable in it. 3 sisters and a widowed father who wants them to live out their lives with him. Romance gets in the way, along comes WW2 and Dad learns things change. Never sure if the German or the Englishman gets #2 daughter, but all works out in the end.

[Nightwitch · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of those typical British weepers set during World War II with lots of period details (everyone goes to see Lost Horizon and drools over Ronald Coleman) and characters who are essentially made out of cardboard; as the back cover says our heroine, Jinny, falls in love first with a Viennese baker and then with her former boss but there's no real personality to any of them so why - or who she'll choose in the end - is left a mystery. My issue here is that one of our romantic leads, Viktor, is Austrian and when he went home, it was to serve in the German army. The author continually reminds us that he's Austrian as a way of making him less complicit, I guess, but... he left the UK to serve in the German army. When he comes back to Edinburgh, heavy emphasis is placed on his sufferings in a Soviet POW camp; at no point does Jinny seem to register that, you know, he was fighting on the other side. She's lost at the very least one almost brother-in-law in the war and she doesn't care that her ex-boyfriend was fighting on the other side? I just feel like the near-total lack of emotional heft in this book didn't work given the complexity of the emotional issues the author was taking on.

[IE · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of typos and not a lot of depth.

[Mary Shreffler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should jinny wait for Viktor or marry Ross. Will Hitler keep his promise for peace? After ward the war ends but who knows wholl return

[Lorraine Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

[Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Should be considered YA