Reviewed by Emma Crowley
London, present day: Everything in Charlotte’s life is about to change. As she clutches a small box in her palm containing a diamond ring and a Norwegian crest, she knows she must return home to be reunited with her beloved great-grandmother Amalie and her Norwegian family.
Accepting her dream job as a head chef at Norway’s most prestigious hotel, Charlotte is welcomed by the hotel’s head designer, Harrison. For years, Charlotte sacrificed everything for her career. As she tours her new surroundings with Harrison, she soon starts to see a way of focussing on her heart too.
But when Charlotte takes the box to Amalie, everything Charlotte thought she knew about her family changes in an instant. As Amalie clutches the ring that she thought had vanished forever, she reveals a tragic love story and a precious secret that stayed buried for years.
When Charlotte discovers the huge sacrifice Amalie made to keep her family safe, will it give Charlotte the strength she needs to follow her heart? Or will she leave Norway forever?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Hidden Daughter to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
I’m constantly saying in reviews of books that form part of a series that said book can be read as a standalone. Well if ever there was a prime example of this then it would be this book, The Hidden Daughter by Soraya Lane. Soraya is a new author for me and it was only just as I was about to begin the book that I realised that this was the seventh book in the Lost Daughters series. Truthfully, had I known this I don’t think I would have chosen to read it because I hate coming into a series when it has been very well established. I prefer starting with the first book and working my way through them. But still I chose to give it a go and yes it stands very well on its own and at no point did I feel as if I had missed out on the previous books or was confused as to what was going on. There wasn’t any major reading between the lines to try and figure out what had happened before as just the right amount of titbits of information were provided. In fact, the blurbs at the end of the book detailing some of the previous stories made me want to go back and read them at some stage in the future. Initially, I thought this was giving off The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley vibes but it was completely different and honestly really nothing could ever compare to the brilliance of that series.
The main arc of the series is of a woman reuniting people with various items from Hope House which leads in turn to the uncovering of fabulous and intriguing stories each focusing on remarkable women from all corners of the world. What initially attracted me to this book was the fact that it was set in Norway. I think I’d only read one book before set in Norway. Ironically that being, The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley, and I had loved the setting so was keen to read more from such a beautiful country. The plot effortlessly moves back and forth between the early 1950’s and the present day and with such brilliant and vivid descriptions of the setting and the characters feelings and emotions I can say I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it whetted my appetite and had me keen to discover the other books in the series.
Present Day London and chef Charlotte is finishing up her job as executive chef in a top London hotel. She is a workaholic and shows her feelings through food. Working is her form of escape as it gives her a chance to clear her mind and to try and find peace with the world. I say peace with the world because Charlotte has a complicated family history which has not seen her return to her home country of Norway for several years. The relationship between herself and her father is complex for many reasons which are slowly and studiously developed over the course of the book. Charlotte little by little reveals more about herself and the comparisons but also the contrast between the past and the modern day story start to become apparent. In doing so, Charlotte comes to some realisations which help her decide her future and make her understand that she can live truly live again and take some time off the wheel that she has been on for many years. This story is just as much Charlotte’s as it is Amalie’s.
Unexpectedly a woman called Mia arrives to the hotel saying she has something that belongs to Charlotte’s great grandmother Amalie and she wishes to reunite her with it. Mia has had a mission which is nearing its completion and through this process she hopes to understand her own grandmother Hope more. Inside the box is a diamond ring, a piece of cloth with the Norwegian emblem on it and a black and white photo of a young couple who clearly look very much in love. Of course, Charlotte is intrigued and agrees to contact her grandmother in Norway who thinks that it is best to reunite the box with Amalie even though she is deteriorating in her care home. Charlotte could have just posted the box over and continued to run from having to confront certain personal/family situations in Norway but she took the brave step of going over herself. Also helped by the fact she was offered a job as chef in a brand new hotel which strives to be the best. There at the hotel she meets the architect Harrison and to say there was an instant spark between them would be an understatement. Although this strand of the story too is not without its complications and it weas interesting to see how everything would unravel and then be put back together.
But what of the story of the past and how does it link to the present day? As Amalie enters the later weeks of her life she recounts an incredible story to Charlotte and her grandmother which sees a whole secret history come to the fore. Well, this is a story of the love and its strength and endurance through challenging times. Amalie is a maid in a hotel when she meets Oskar, the son of the wealthy owners who is there working for the summer as a chef. They fall for each other very quickly even by fiction standards and spend several blissful months together. But the pair are from very different backgrounds and the issues of the class system and how the wealthy view the lower down in society is highlighted by the actions of Oskar's family. They wish nothing to do with Amalie when something makes itself known and this where the pairs love is truly tested.
Amalie seemed a bit gullible initially in that I thought she fell for Oskar very quickly and yes love knows no bounds but given they were from polar opposite backgrounds could she truly trust Oskar to fulfil his every word especially when things came down to the wire and a situation had to be confronted and a solution found. Then I felt guilty in doubting the sincerity of the love that Oskar had for Amalie. The more that was revealed of Amalie’s story I could see how the plot connected back to the contents of the box and their origin. This became a story of love, dedication but also heartbreak and rising up and keeping going in the face of adversity.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book but I wanted more mystery to it. More of a sense of Charlotte and Harrison having to put things together piece by piece in order to uncover the hidden secrets of the past. Instead, everything became clear through Amalie simply recounting her story the minute details of which she had kept secret for so long. Don’t get me wrong the themes explored were good and maybe if I had started with book one I would be really deeply invested in everything but I just felt things were explained to easily. I wanted more urgency and to thrown some curveballs. Yes, there were one or two but I could see them occurring long before they came to fruition. So apart from what I’ve just mentioned, The Hidden Daughter is definitely worthy of a read and shows that love never diminishes and only grows stronger. Book 8 will be the final book in the series which I’m sure long term fans will be eagerly awaiting. I’ll hold off until that one until I have read the others.
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