This was a superb little package. I really enjoyed it.

Julia Martin decides a long holiday in Europe, visiting her best friends in Germany, will be just the ticket to help her get over her divorce after her cheating husband’s infidelity. The Bavarian chocolate-box countryside is just what she needs. One afternoon, when out cycling with her friend, they come across a concentration camp. Insignificant in terms of notoriety, but just as significant in terms of the well-known atrocities that took place in such camps. A tour round the museum-converted camp turns out to be a shocking experience for Julia. Horrifyingly, she realises that, in a past life, she was murdered there as a young girl. With the help of her good friends and a very handsome doctor, she tries to unravel the mystery of who murdered her. As the facts slowly reveal themselves, the truth is quite shocking.

I don’t believe in the concept that we all have a past-life. As far as I’m concerned, we’re the product of an egg and a sperm, end of. This didn’t make a scrap of difference to my enjoyment of this book, however. It’s a story well told with a balanced mix of elements: the developing relationship between Julia and Theo, the doctor, was tender and endearing and provided a mellow contrast to the horrors of the Holocaust. There are also some surprises: in Julia’s love life and in the outcome of the research into the events of her past life.

There’s passion and emotion in Melissa’s writing. You can feel it both in the romantic part of the book and in the portrayal of events in a war which will never be forgotten. Talent, indeed.

Highly recommended.
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