Title: Hindsight
Author: Sarah
Belle
Publisher: Escape
Publishing
Publication Date: July
1, 2013
Genres: Women’s
Lit, Romance, Humor
Reviewed by: Books4Tomorrow
Source: Received
from publisher via NetGalley
My smiley rating: 4/5
SUMMARY
The universe has sent Juliette a sign. She
wishes it had been an email instead...
Juliette’s career is on fire, her marriage and family are in melt-down, and a red-hot goddess wants her husband. But those are the least of her worries when she wakes up on her lounge room floor in the year 1961.
Without any of her modern conveniences — nanny, housekeeper, surgically attached mobile phone, designer wardrobe, and intravenous lattes — Juliette is just over fifty years out of her comfort zone. But as she takes on the role of a 1961 housewife, with gritted liberated teeth, she discovers an unexpected truth: slower doesn’t mean boring, at home doesn’t mean dull, and priorities don’t mean sacrifices.
As she finds unexpected friendships, a resuscitated love life, tragedy and triumph, Juliette begins to wonder if she really wants to return home after all.
Juliette’s career is on fire, her marriage and family are in melt-down, and a red-hot goddess wants her husband. But those are the least of her worries when she wakes up on her lounge room floor in the year 1961.
Without any of her modern conveniences — nanny, housekeeper, surgically attached mobile phone, designer wardrobe, and intravenous lattes — Juliette is just over fifty years out of her comfort zone. But as she takes on the role of a 1961 housewife, with gritted liberated teeth, she discovers an unexpected truth: slower doesn’t mean boring, at home doesn’t mean dull, and priorities don’t mean sacrifices.
As she finds unexpected friendships, a resuscitated love life, tragedy and triumph, Juliette begins to wonder if she really wants to return home after all.
REVIEW
My main
motivation for wanting to read this book was the absolutely breathtaking cover.
Yes, I’m shallow like that. Many times I’ve been persuaded to read a book
solely based on the beauty of its cover. The synopsis also had me curious, and
now that I’ve finished it, I can tell you that the title suits the story
perfectly and appropriately. I couldn’t have given it a better title had I been
offered a million dollars.
Juliette
is a character I loved and loathed all at the same time. She had her strengths
and weaknesses, but because the story is told from her point of view, her voice
is obviously the strongest and most important. What I loved about her was how
her character developed and how she ended up being a completely different
person at the end of the story than the person she was at the start. I have to
admit, though, that I quite liked the career-driven Juliette we meet early in
the book, as I could in some ways relate to her. I couldn’t identify much with
the person she is in 1961, as I for the life of me can’t imagine what it must
be like to be a housewife / stay-at-home mom, especially in a time before
modern conveniences. I don’t think I would be able to adapt so well to the
sixties or seventies if I had to go back to the past for nine months. She coped
remarkably well.
Imagine
going to hospital to give birth and your husband is told to go home until he
receives a phone call from the hospital informing him how the birth went. No,
no, no. That won’t fly with me. I can’t fathom giving birth without my husband
by my side. If anything, Hindsight made
me look at my life, take stock of my blessings and thank the heavens that I’m
alive in the twenty-first century with pre-packaged frozen dinners, cell
phones, disposable diapers, top loader washing machines and gender equality. The
author brings the sixties back to life in this humorous and often touching
novel of self-discovery and finding the true meaning of family, friends, and
forgiveness. Although Juliette’s self-doubt irritated me at times, she is quite
a complex character who throws herself into her career to avoid having to deal
with the pain of loss and disappointment. Her life changes drastically when she
wakes up in 1961, is told that she has no career, but has extended family and a
best friend for whom she’d give her life. Her work (“women’s work” her husband
tells her) is now inside the house as opposed to working outside the house to
supplement their income. And here is where the laughs start as Juliette knows
nothing about being a housewife and blunders her way through burnt toast, cloth
diapers, laundry, ironing and running a household.
Hindsight is a wonderfully light but meaningful
read similar to some of Sophie Kinsella’s books. I think a lot of women will be
able to relate to Juliette in one way or another as she discovers that home is
really where the heart is. Questioning her motivations for her career choice,
battling her personal demons and accepting her imperfections, is a journey the reader
is made a part of. A host of lovable characters accompanies Juliette on this
journey in which she learns to find a healthy balance between her career and
her family. The ending was a little too convenient for my taste, but overall
this is a really terrific book and I can’t wait to read more from this author!
I
received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for
an honest, unbiased review.
This
review forms part of my three-month participation in the NetGalley Knockout Challenge for 2013.
READ more REVIEWS
Hindsight by Sarah Belle has 6 reviews on
Goodreads. Read it here.
EXCERPT
“What
are we going to have for dinner, bacon and eggs again?” I ask.
“No!”
Chris, Will and Ethan chorus in unison.
I’m a
bit taken aback by their united response.
“What’s
wrong with my bacon and eggs?”
“Nothing
love, but just out of interest, how long did you fry my eggs for this morning?”
“About
thirty minutes. I wanted to make sure they were cooked all the way through.”
He
stares at me with a vacant expression, and his mouth falls open. There is
stunned silence for a minute. Then Chris awakens from his stupor, claps his
hands together and says, “Will, Eth, come with me and we’ll get some fish and
chips for dinner, special treat.”
“Oh,
thank God for that!” Ethan says with relief.
“Ethan,
you know what your father thinks of blasphemy,” I say, trying to remain in
character.
“I don’t
think he was blaspheming, Mum, I think he was just thanking the Lord,” Will
defends his little brother.
“For
what?” Just how honest will they be about my aborted spaghetti?
“For
having a Mum who tries so hard,” Ethan answers, “even when she’s forgotten how
to cook.”
NOTE: Excerpt
taken from the uncorrected ARC I received for review.
PURCHASE LINKS
ABOUT the AUTHOR
Sarah Belle started her professional life in
the hospitality industry, working in some of the roughest hotels in Melbourne
in the late Eighties, surrounded by drug dealers, prostitutes, pimps, and
undercover police. Tiring of the inherent dangers of her working environment,
Sarah completed a business degree and went on to work in the recruitment
industry and the Department of Defence, where she met and married the man of
her dreams: a dashing, romantic Army Blackhawk captain, Jason. They have four
young sons and live on the beautiful Queensland coast, where Sarah's days are
spent being a frazzled mum, an admin superstar for Jason, a writer, a Bikram
Yoga devotee and the only woman in a house of five males.
AUTHOR LINKS
1 comment:
Great review! Sounds like an interesting book :)
Post a Comment