A wonderful gripping story. I will be reading more of Hartshorne. ( )

This is the second historical/paranormal time travel novel I have read by this author. Like the first Time's Echo, it is set in contemporary and Elizabethan York. I read this during a visit to the city over Easter (I read Time's Echo just under three years ago after my previous visit to this great city). The main character here is Tess, who has fled back to York from London and her emotionally manipulative husband Martin. She begins to experience episodes in the life of an Elizabethan girl, Nell, who goes through a similar, but a more physically violent marriage to a merchant, Ralph Maskewe. Needless to say, Tess finds almost no-one believes her, apart from an old flame Luke. While this is a gripping read, especially the explosive finale in both time periods, and the historical aspects and locations are interesting, it was rather predictable and very similar in theme to Time's Echo; without the York connection I would very likely not have read this. I am sure I will read her next two novels at some point, but I understand they are also based on a similar theme. On its own, though a worthy 4/5. ( )

This is a great, gripping mystery story. I loved reading it for two main reasons: it is set in an English town I love for its beauty and history, and it conveys with vivid realism the stories of two extraordinary ordinary women.

The supernatural element, a constant travelling through time, is the device Pamela Hartshorne chooses to connect the two story-lines. The narration quickly shifts from Elizabethan York and Nell's hard, tragic life enlightened only by her passionate love for Tom, to present-day York, where Tess struggles to overcome the wreckage of her marriage and to protect her son and herself from the rage of Martin, the man she is hiding from, her husband.

The rich descriptive pattern and the care for the details let the readers live in their minds the changes of landscape Tess herself experiences, comparing and contrasting the charms of present and past York. Tess finds herself distressed and displaced, when she realizes that what is happening to her is not simply "dreaming" another person's life, Nell's life in the 16th century.

Go to http://flyhigh-by-learnonline.blogspot.it/2014/08/the-memory-of-midnight-by-pame... to read my complete review ( )