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The Hour of Separation
March 1939
Estelle is the headstrong daughter of Fleur, a Resistance legend who disappeared during the Great War, supposedly killed while helping Allied soldiers to escape.
Christa, an only child, longs to break free from the constraints of London suburbia, and fantasises about the ethereal Belgian heroine who saved her father.
When Estelle comes looking for the truth about the mother she believes deserted her, an intense friendship grows between the two young women. Estelle invites Christa to De Eikenhoeve, her family's idyllic country estate. There, Christa encounters Estelle's two brothers - brooding, tempestuous Robbe and dependable, golden-haired Pieter - and during that long hot summer, passions run high. When war breaks out Christa is forced to return home, but not before she has done something she will regret for the rest of her life.
Christa arrives back in England a changed woman, while Estelle decides to follow in her mother's footsteps and join the Resistance. Little do they dream that Fleur was betrayed by someone close to them, and that the legacy of this betrayal will have heartbreaking consequences for them all.
Estelle is the headstrong daughter of Fleur, a Resistance legend who disappeared during the Great War, supposedly killed while helping Allied soldiers to escape.
Christa, an only child, longs to break free from the constraints of London suburbia, and fantasises about the ethereal Belgian heroine who saved her father.
When Estelle comes looking for the truth about the mother she believes deserted her, an intense friendship grows between the two young women. Estelle invites Christa to De Eikenhoeve, her family's idyllic country estate. There, Christa encounters Estelle's two brothers - brooding, tempestuous Robbe and dependable, golden-haired Pieter - and during that long hot summer, passions run high. When war breaks out Christa is forced to return home, but not before she has done something she will regret for the rest of her life.
Christa arrives back in England a changed woman, while Estelle decides to follow in her mother's footsteps and join the Resistance. Little do they dream that Fleur was betrayed by someone close to them, and that the legacy of this betrayal will have heartbreaking consequences for them all.
368 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 14, 2018
18 people are currently reading
458 people want to read
About the author
Katharine McMahon
23 books210 followersKatharine McMahon is the author of 10 novels, including the bestselling The Rose of Sebastopol, which was a Richard and Judy pick for 2007. The Crimson Rooms and The Alchemist's Daughter.
Her latest book, The Hour of Separation, is our in paperback on 22nd August.
Her fiction is based on the lives of extraordinary women. She loves to explore how women in the past - but with a contemporary slant. The Hour of Separation tells the story of a complex friendship played out against a backdrop of resistance and betrayal in two world wars.
Her latest book, The Hour of Separation, is our in paperback on 22nd August.
Her fiction is based on the lives of extraordinary women. She loves to explore how women in the past - but with a contemporary slant. The Hour of Separation tells the story of a complex friendship played out against a backdrop of resistance and betrayal in two world wars.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 11, 2018
A young girl called Christa Geering finds an old photograph wedged between the pages of a bible and her life shifts under the weight of this new discovery. In the photo, an elegant, enchanting woman looks out and instantly captures her attention. Her name is Fleur Cornelis-Faider and because of a single act of sacrifice and bravery, she saved Christa’s father and in doing do saved her own life. Inspired by this one woman and her rich legacy, she learns French and carefully pens a letter to Fleur’s family, voicing her gratitude and appreciation. In reply, Fleur’s daughter, Estelle, travels to Watford to face her mother’s past and discover for herself who she had really been before she died. Christa and Estelle form a close friendship over the ensuing days, both harbouring a curiosity for their parents’ pasts.
Estelle is searching for a better understanding of her mother, something that will enable her to draw a clearer portrait of the woman so many admire and love. Fleur was a big part of the Resistance and saved countless lives but Estelle knows there is more to her story than the bare facts she has been given. Fleur died when Estelle was just a baby and her brothers don’t like to speak of her. But Estelle is determined to find out who she truly was. Whilst she is in England, she finds some of the men her mother saved and is surprised by their reluctance to share their memories of her.
As a girl finding the photo of Fleur in the bible, sparked something in Christa and so when Estelle arrives on her doorstep years later, the moment holds a deep resonance for her. Estelle invites her to De Eikenhoeve, her family home in Belgium and Christa jumps at the chance. She loves her parents but feels shackled by the life that awaits her and meets the prospect of finding her way through a new world and discovering more about the woman she has idolised with excitement and joy. But as she and Estelle discover that there was so much more to Fleur, they also discover a seam of betrayal running through the past. And Christa’s perception of everything will once again shift.
The Hour Of Separation by Katharine McMahon is a tale about love, loss and the power of betrayal. Fabulous!
Emotional. Intriguing. Intense.
Estelle is searching for a better understanding of her mother, something that will enable her to draw a clearer portrait of the woman so many admire and love. Fleur was a big part of the Resistance and saved countless lives but Estelle knows there is more to her story than the bare facts she has been given. Fleur died when Estelle was just a baby and her brothers don’t like to speak of her. But Estelle is determined to find out who she truly was. Whilst she is in England, she finds some of the men her mother saved and is surprised by their reluctance to share their memories of her.
As a girl finding the photo of Fleur in the bible, sparked something in Christa and so when Estelle arrives on her doorstep years later, the moment holds a deep resonance for her. Estelle invites her to De Eikenhoeve, her family home in Belgium and Christa jumps at the chance. She loves her parents but feels shackled by the life that awaits her and meets the prospect of finding her way through a new world and discovering more about the woman she has idolised with excitement and joy. But as she and Estelle discover that there was so much more to Fleur, they also discover a seam of betrayal running through the past. And Christa’s perception of everything will once again shift.
The Hour Of Separation by Katharine McMahon is a tale about love, loss and the power of betrayal. Fabulous!
Emotional. Intriguing. Intense.
November 15, 2018
When Christa, the impressionable daughter of a traumatised First World War veteran, starts a correspondence with the family of Fleur, the Belgian heroine who saved her father's life, her action provokes a visit from Estelle, Fleur's volatile and self-possessed daughter.
An immediate friendship springs up between the two girls and Christa soon finds herself travelling to Belgium to meet Estelle's family. In the evocative atmosphere of the family farm feelings between Christa, Estelle and Estelle's two brothers run high. Emotions become intense but also confused. The outbreak of another war forces her to return to England prematurely but the rivalries she has set in train cannot be so easily set aside.
Like Katharine McMahon's bestseller, The Rose of Sebastopol, The Hour of Separation is both a complex, layered and powerfully-realised study of infatuation and a dispassionate enquiry into the fragile nature of heroism.
An immediate friendship springs up between the two girls and Christa soon finds herself travelling to Belgium to meet Estelle's family. In the evocative atmosphere of the family farm feelings between Christa, Estelle and Estelle's two brothers run high. Emotions become intense but also confused. The outbreak of another war forces her to return to England prematurely but the rivalries she has set in train cannot be so easily set aside.
Like Katharine McMahon's bestseller, The Rose of Sebastopol, The Hour of Separation is both a complex, layered and powerfully-realised study of infatuation and a dispassionate enquiry into the fragile nature of heroism.
January 24, 2019
Estelle is the daughter of the much admired Resistance heroine, Fleur Cornelis Faider, who tragically lost her life during WW1. Desperate to learn more about her mother, Estelle travels to England where she seeks out Christa, whose father was the last of the men that Fleur helped to escape from Occupied Belgium. A friendship striking up between the pair, Estelle invites Christa to visit her at her family home, De Eikenhoeve, in Belgium. There, Christa spends an idyllic summer with Estelle and her two brothers, Pieter and Robbe, though tensions simmer beneath the surface both at De Eikenhoeve, and on a much larger scale as the word prepares for another war. Nothing after that summer will ever be the same, friendships fractured, loyalties tested and old betrayals coming to light.
I'm a fan of McMahon and this book certainly started off well for me. I enjoyed the historical detail and appreciated the research that had clearly gone into the writing. Unfortunately I was left somewhat disappointed in this book overall though. Having read The Rose of Sebastapol, which is a firm favourite of mine, I could but see a number of parallels between quite a few of the characters in that book and this one. Indeed, it is almost as if McMahon decided to re-use the main characters of that novel here, but play around with them a little and alter the relationship dynamics between them. Unfortunately the re-hashed versions of the characters came across as much less likable here.
Coupled with this, I failed to really connect to Fleur as a character as well, hence her backstory again didn't engage as well with me as it perhaps should have done.
Perhaps if I hadn't already read The Rose of Sebastapol, I may have enjoyed this book more, as it was, however, it could but fall a little short for me.
I'm a fan of McMahon and this book certainly started off well for me. I enjoyed the historical detail and appreciated the research that had clearly gone into the writing. Unfortunately I was left somewhat disappointed in this book overall though. Having read The Rose of Sebastapol, which is a firm favourite of mine, I could but see a number of parallels between quite a few of the characters in that book and this one. Indeed, it is almost as if McMahon decided to re-use the main characters of that novel here, but play around with them a little and alter the relationship dynamics between them. Unfortunately the re-hashed versions of the characters came across as much less likable here.
Coupled with this, I failed to really connect to Fleur as a character as well, hence her backstory again didn't engage as well with me as it perhaps should have done.
Perhaps if I hadn't already read The Rose of Sebastapol, I may have enjoyed this book more, as it was, however, it could but fall a little short for me.
April 19, 2021
Dull and long, characters were 2D, the descriptions overly wordy. I couldn't wait for it to end! It was a book club read, I only finished it for that reason, but it turned out that none of the others could be bothered to finish it either!
I was also really frustrated that the the details about Watford were wrong, the road listed wasn't built until after the war, the road described was called something similar but spelt differently, so every time I read it it jarred. If you are going to use a real place get the information right or make the town some non descript general place.
I was also really frustrated that the the details about Watford were wrong, the road listed wasn't built until after the war, the road described was called something similar but spelt differently, so every time I read it it jarred. If you are going to use a real place get the information right or make the town some non descript general place.
August 14, 2019
This is a marvellous novel which doesn’t put a foot wrong. Why, I kept wondering, isn’t Katharine McMahon better known?
We begin in wartime London in 1942. Christa is in a government office somewhere in Whitehall and is having a difficult interview. She is being asked to make a difficult decision - to name which of two brothers is betraying a Resistance network in Belgium. She asks for time to reply and the rest of the novel works towards the answer to that question.
But after the action and excitement that are promised in the opening to the novel we take a deep breath and slow down. The imminent war is forgotten, for the moment at least, and we are immersed in the life of the Belgian farm which Christa visits just as war is about to break out and which is home to the two brothers and their sister Estelle.
The portrayal of the farm is entrancing but entirely unsentimental; and a whole web of complex relationships comes to life. Katharine McMahon really does this so well - how many novels are there with a huge cast of characters where you never stop to question their authenticity, where you never feel that the author has fallen back on some lazy but unconvincing convention from central casting?
Christa returns to England before war breaks out - and the novel changes pace. I felt as though I had been walking slowly and happily up a slight incline, admiring nature as I went and generally taking everything in. But now I suddenly found myself at the crest of the hill and then was running down the other side helter skelter and completely out of control. It is as if someone had suddenly shouted Action!
And there is so much of it, action, that is. In Belgium Estelle joins the resistance. In England Christa joins the war effort. We see how the German occupation gradually tightens its grip on Brussels - and how much of the plot can I give away? At any rate you, like me, will be reading faster and faster, just to keep up with what is happening. And it is all marvellous.
We begin in wartime London in 1942. Christa is in a government office somewhere in Whitehall and is having a difficult interview. She is being asked to make a difficult decision - to name which of two brothers is betraying a Resistance network in Belgium. She asks for time to reply and the rest of the novel works towards the answer to that question.
But after the action and excitement that are promised in the opening to the novel we take a deep breath and slow down. The imminent war is forgotten, for the moment at least, and we are immersed in the life of the Belgian farm which Christa visits just as war is about to break out and which is home to the two brothers and their sister Estelle.
The portrayal of the farm is entrancing but entirely unsentimental; and a whole web of complex relationships comes to life. Katharine McMahon really does this so well - how many novels are there with a huge cast of characters where you never stop to question their authenticity, where you never feel that the author has fallen back on some lazy but unconvincing convention from central casting?
Christa returns to England before war breaks out - and the novel changes pace. I felt as though I had been walking slowly and happily up a slight incline, admiring nature as I went and generally taking everything in. But now I suddenly found myself at the crest of the hill and then was running down the other side helter skelter and completely out of control. It is as if someone had suddenly shouted Action!
And there is so much of it, action, that is. In Belgium Estelle joins the resistance. In England Christa joins the war effort. We see how the German occupation gradually tightens its grip on Brussels - and how much of the plot can I give away? At any rate you, like me, will be reading faster and faster, just to keep up with what is happening. And it is all marvellous.
August 22, 2019
I recently read The Hour of Separation for the second time and was as swept along as the first. I don’t know that I can recall ever feeling so utterly consumed by a novel; Katharine McMahon’s characters, are so well drawn, so fully realised, that my heart was theirs from the opening pages. This is storytelling at its finest.
Set against the panoramic backdrop of the Second World War, The Hour of Separation concerns the fated coming together of two young women, Estelle and Christa; Estelle, spirited and glamorous, is the daughter of Fleur Cornelis-Faider, a brave and beautiful Belgian Resistance heroine of the Great War who helped Christa’s father escape home to England. Both generations are driven by danger, infatuation and daring.
This is a bold and ambitious novel rich with evocative historical detail and a plot line full of pace. But it is much more besides. The Hour of Separation examines love, friendship, betrayal and heartbreak. It is full of depth and passion yet the writer maintains the critical distance so necessary for a novel to feel convincing and real. All good art helps us make sense of our lives and Katharine McMahon goes to the heart of what it means to be human. A stunning achievement.
Set against the panoramic backdrop of the Second World War, The Hour of Separation concerns the fated coming together of two young women, Estelle and Christa; Estelle, spirited and glamorous, is the daughter of Fleur Cornelis-Faider, a brave and beautiful Belgian Resistance heroine of the Great War who helped Christa’s father escape home to England. Both generations are driven by danger, infatuation and daring.
This is a bold and ambitious novel rich with evocative historical detail and a plot line full of pace. But it is much more besides. The Hour of Separation examines love, friendship, betrayal and heartbreak. It is full of depth and passion yet the writer maintains the critical distance so necessary for a novel to feel convincing and real. All good art helps us make sense of our lives and Katharine McMahon goes to the heart of what it means to be human. A stunning achievement.
October 26, 2020
Tsja, je weet het van tevoren hè, met oorlogsboeken. Tranen! Dit verhaal, over hoe sterk een onmogelijke liefde is in tijden van oorlog, is soms een beetje cliché maar vooral prachtig.
Het boek leest vlot, om en om een hoofdstuk vanuit het perspectief van een van de twee hoofdpersonen. Het volgende hoofdstuk begint in tijd steeds net iets voor het einde van het vorige hoofdstuk, wat zorgt voor véél spanning.
Dat is soms lichtelijk frustrerend, je wil zó graag weten hoe een bepaalde situatie afloopt, maar dan word je eerst een stukje terug in de tijd gegooid om het vanuit een ander perspectief te zien. En dan is het opeens 1 uur ‘s nachts en had je allang willen slapen. Zo’n boek dus.
Het boek leest vlot, om en om een hoofdstuk vanuit het perspectief van een van de twee hoofdpersonen. Het volgende hoofdstuk begint in tijd steeds net iets voor het einde van het vorige hoofdstuk, wat zorgt voor véél spanning.
Dat is soms lichtelijk frustrerend, je wil zó graag weten hoe een bepaalde situatie afloopt, maar dan word je eerst een stukje terug in de tijd gegooid om het vanuit een ander perspectief te zien. En dan is het opeens 1 uur ‘s nachts en had je allang willen slapen. Zo’n boek dus.
August 19, 2020
I loved this book. I live in Watford where the UK side of the book is set, and I was on holiday in Belgium as well. So I could really relate to the locations described.
I loved everything about the characters and scene setting but the ending wow. I wasn’t expecting it and felt really emotional. It’s played on my mind since finishing reading.
Definitely recommend this one!
I loved everything about the characters and scene setting but the ending wow. I wasn’t expecting it and felt really emotional. It’s played on my mind since finishing reading.
Definitely recommend this one!
October 25, 2019
This was a very sad read featuring betrayal and concentration camps. I didn’t particularly enjoy it and was glad to finish to be honest.
December 31, 2019
A good book set in ww2 france/Belgium about a woman enticed into working for the allies
February 25, 2020
Really enjoyable story of two girls and their journey before and through WW2.
March 9, 2020
I did enjoy this book but found it a little hard to get into in parts.
That said I was completely hooked to read the final few chapters.
That said I was completely hooked to read the final few chapters.
Read
August 15, 2021DNF not for me
November 20, 2021
Resistance and resilience in two World Wars provide the background for a story of romance and betrayal.
February 5, 2022
The first 200 pages were slow. Fleur never really came to life for me as a character. Non of the characters were indepth enough to really care about their story.
October 12, 2023
Ik vond de eerste helft wat lastig om in te komen, twijfelde zelfs om het weg te leggen. Maar na pagina 150 ongeveer kreeg het verhaal meer vaart en heb ik het alsnog in 2 dagen uitgelezen.
April 1, 2024
Clearly described and evocative use of language; no sentimentality in this story of WW2 in Belgium and the relationship between the two women.
February 9, 2025
Fijne roman met veel lagen. Wel jammer van het open einde. Daar kan ik nooit zo goed tegen.
May 22, 2025
Langdradig. Op momenten had ik wel wat meer actie of wending verwacht.
January 19, 2021
De moeder van Estelle heeft in de eerste Wereldoorlog in het verzet gezeten. Ze is toen opgepakt. Estelle wilt graag weten wat er toen allemaal is gebeurt. De vader van Christa is tijdens de oorlog geholpen door de moeder van Estelle. Ook zij is benieuwd wat er allemaal is gebeurt. Haar vader wilt niet praten over de oorlog. De vrouwen komen met elkaar in contact.
Het boek is verdeeld in periodes en je leest vanuit Christa en Estelle. In het begin gebeurt er nog niet zoveel maar op een gegeven moment zit je helemaal in het verhaal en worden er steeds meer dingen duidelijk. Het verhaal is heel gedetailleerd geschreven zodat je je goed kan voorstellen wat er allemaal gebeurt is.
Het boek is verdeeld in periodes en je leest vanuit Christa en Estelle. In het begin gebeurt er nog niet zoveel maar op een gegeven moment zit je helemaal in het verhaal en worden er steeds meer dingen duidelijk. Het verhaal is heel gedetailleerd geschreven zodat je je goed kan voorstellen wat er allemaal gebeurt is.
May 23, 2021
Beautiful story that starts a bit slow but becomes a page turner towards the climax.
2021 Books #27
2021 Books #27
Read
August 13, 2024DNF (150 blz gelezen). Ik vond dat de de moeder te veel geheiligd werd en rare wendingen in het boek. Ook lang duren tot het echte "verzet gedeelte".
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews