Guest Book Review: Rosanna Ley - Bay of Secrets

Reviewed by Ceri Kehoe 

Spain, 1939.
Following the wishes of her parents to keep her safe during the war, a young girl, Julia, enters a convent in Barcelona. Looking for a way to maintain her links to the outside world, she volunteers to help in a maternity clinic. But worrying adoption practices in the clinic force Sister Julia to decide how far she will go to help those placed in her care.

England, 2011.
Six months after her parents' shocking death, 34-year-old journalist and jazz enthusiast Ruby Rae has finally found the strength to pack away their possessions and sell the family home. But as she does so, she unearths a devastating secret her parents, Vivien and Tom, had kept from her all her life.

Following the death of her parents, Ruby Rae is clearing out the family home when she discovers a small box of photographs but who is in them? Why has Ruby never seen these pictures before?

In a different era and country, Sister Julia is sent to live in a convent as her parents can no longer afford to feed her. While living there she helps out at a maternity clinic but all is not what it seems and Sister Julia finds some disturbing goings on.

I quite enjoyed this book, I loved the back and fore of the different era's, Ruby's being set in England 2011 and Sister Julia's being set in Spain 1939. At first I couldn't work out how they could be connected but with further reading all became clear.

I enjoyed all the characters, there were plenty of side characters but not enough to get confused as it was easy for me to keep them to their separate timelines.

Towards the end of the book, there was a twist that didn't make the story believable, up until that point it was all going well but that twist was just a bit to far fetched for my liking so did put a slight dampener on it.

Saying that I would recommend Bay of Secrets, a nice holiday read or a good read for a rainy day. Try it and see!