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The New Mrs Clifton
As the Second World War draws to a close, Intelligence Officer Gus Clifton surprises his sisters at their London home. But an even greater shock is the woman he brings with him, Krista - the German wife whom he has married secretly in Berlin.
Krista is clearly devastated by her experiences at the hands of the British and their allies - all but broken by horrors she cannot share. But Gus's sisters can only see the enemy their brother has brought under their roof. And their friend Nella, Gus's beautiful, loyal fiancée, cannot understand what made Gus change his mind about their marriage. What hold does Krista have over their honourable and upright Gus? And how can the three women get her out of their home, their future, their England?
Haunted by passion, betrayal, and misunderstanding these damaged souls are propelled towards a spectacular resolution. Krista has lost her country, her people, her identity, and the ties that bind her to Gus hold more tightly than the sisters can ever understand...
Krista is clearly devastated by her experiences at the hands of the British and their allies - all but broken by horrors she cannot share. But Gus's sisters can only see the enemy their brother has brought under their roof. And their friend Nella, Gus's beautiful, loyal fiancée, cannot understand what made Gus change his mind about their marriage. What hold does Krista have over their honourable and upright Gus? And how can the three women get her out of their home, their future, their England?
Haunted by passion, betrayal, and misunderstanding these damaged souls are propelled towards a spectacular resolution. Krista has lost her country, her people, her identity, and the ties that bind her to Gus hold more tightly than the sisters can ever understand...
406 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2016
152 people are currently reading
1,013 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Buchan
53books290followersElizabeth Buchan began her career as a blurb writer at Penguin Books after graduating from the University of Kent with a double degree in English and History. She moved on to become a fiction editor at Random House before leaving to write full time. Her novels include the prizewinning Consider the Lily � reviewed in the Independent as ‘a gorgeously well written tale: funny, sad and sophisticated�. A subsequent novel, Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman became an international bestseller and was made into a CBS Primetime Drama. Later novels included The Second Wife, Separate Beds and Daughters. Her latest, I Can’t Begin to Tell You, a story of resistance in wartime Denmark, was published by Penguin in August 2014.
Elizabeth Buchan’s short stories are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and published in magazines. She reviews for the Sunday Times and the Daily Mail, and has chaired the Betty Trask and Desmond Elliot literary prizes, and also been a judge for the Whitbread First Novel Award and for 2014 Costa Novel Award. She is a patron of the Guildford Book Festival and of The National Academy of Writing, and sits on the author committee for The Reading Agency.
Elizabeth Buchan’s short stories are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and published in magazines. She reviews for the Sunday Times and the Daily Mail, and has chaired the Betty Trask and Desmond Elliot literary prizes, and also been a judge for the Whitbread First Novel Award and for 2014 Costa Novel Award. She is a patron of the Guildford Book Festival and of The National Academy of Writing, and sits on the author committee for The Reading Agency.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 208 reviews
November 26, 2024
3.5 Stars
It wasn’t brilliant, but it was better than okay.
It’s not a page-turner, and I wasn’t ever on the edge of my seat.
The book begins in London at the end of WW2 when the main character, Gus, arrives home with no notice and he has brought with him a German wife, Krista. He is betrothed to Nella, and both families are very close friends. Feelings are running high between both families and the fact that Mrs Clifton is German doesn’t go down well with his family, friends or neighbours. It’s a strange set up initially and it does make sense as the book progresses.
It wasn’t brilliant, but it was better than okay.
It’s not a page-turner, and I wasn’t ever on the edge of my seat.
The book begins in London at the end of WW2 when the main character, Gus, arrives home with no notice and he has brought with him a German wife, Krista. He is betrothed to Nella, and both families are very close friends. Feelings are running high between both families and the fact that Mrs Clifton is German doesn’t go down well with his family, friends or neighbours. It’s a strange set up initially and it does make sense as the book progresses.
September 4, 2017
Gus Clifton had been working in Germany for the British Government during WWII. The war is now over and he has returned to the home he shares with his sisters, widower Julia, and carefree Tilly.
Gus is not alone though, he has returned with his new wife, Krista, a German National, leaving a furious and devastated fiancee, Nella, who had been waiting for him to return so they could marry.
The war may be over, but the people of Britain are not yet ready to welcome a Germany into their country. Is there more to this marriage than meets the eye, especially when they don’t seem to be madly in love?
The New Mrs Clifton, is a historical fiction novel set in the aftermaths of WWII. Bombed remains are everywhere, rationing is still in place, and most of the British have pure hatred towards the Germans.
The meticulous attention to every little detail from that period shows just how hard the author spent researching, and the passion that she put into this beautiful story.
I found all the characters likeable. They all had their own reasons for behaving the way they did. Whether I agreed with their actions or not, I could certainly emphasise with them. This was a very different time and place to modern society. A time when the country was in ruins, thousands were dead, and emotions ran high.
Shrouded in mystery, this book is gripping, albeit a slow read. I found the chapters rather too long, but this did mean that I kept on reading for longer, as I like to finish a chapter before putting the book down.
The story opens in the present day with the discovery of a woman’s body in a garden, a body that looks like it has been there since the late 1940’s. I found myself eager to know who was killed, and why. Plus, I needed to know if Gus and Krista’s marriage was one of love, or was there more to it.
A wonderful emotional story that takes you back in time. I was absorbed from the beginning into this complex plot that ended with a dramatic climax, one that I certainly didn’t see coming. A 2017 must read.
Reviewed by Stacey on
Gus is not alone though, he has returned with his new wife, Krista, a German National, leaving a furious and devastated fiancee, Nella, who had been waiting for him to return so they could marry.
The war may be over, but the people of Britain are not yet ready to welcome a Germany into their country. Is there more to this marriage than meets the eye, especially when they don’t seem to be madly in love?
The New Mrs Clifton, is a historical fiction novel set in the aftermaths of WWII. Bombed remains are everywhere, rationing is still in place, and most of the British have pure hatred towards the Germans.
The meticulous attention to every little detail from that period shows just how hard the author spent researching, and the passion that she put into this beautiful story.
I found all the characters likeable. They all had their own reasons for behaving the way they did. Whether I agreed with their actions or not, I could certainly emphasise with them. This was a very different time and place to modern society. A time when the country was in ruins, thousands were dead, and emotions ran high.
Shrouded in mystery, this book is gripping, albeit a slow read. I found the chapters rather too long, but this did mean that I kept on reading for longer, as I like to finish a chapter before putting the book down.
The story opens in the present day with the discovery of a woman’s body in a garden, a body that looks like it has been there since the late 1940’s. I found myself eager to know who was killed, and why. Plus, I needed to know if Gus and Krista’s marriage was one of love, or was there more to it.
A wonderful emotional story that takes you back in time. I was absorbed from the beginning into this complex plot that ended with a dramatic climax, one that I certainly didn’t see coming. A 2017 must read.
Reviewed by Stacey on
November 27, 2017
Four and a half stars
Gus, who works for the British government, returns to England after the end of World War 2. To the shock and dismay of his two sisters Julia and Tilly, he returns not to marry their friend and his fiancée Nella. It turns out he is already married. And has brought his German wife Krista home to England. Julia’s husband was killed during the war and given Germans were the enemy she cannot comprehend how Gus has brought home a German wife, especially since they don’t appear to be madly in love. Teddy, Nella’s brother and a long-time friend of Gus, is also outraged. The war may be over but for many it is still going on within.
This is England still in the grips of the aftermath of the war and rationing severe. I found the characters very well portrayed. Their behaviour and reactions came across as real. The horrors of war are presented well and the reader also gets to experience Krista’s attitudes toward their British and their Russian allies. Forgiveness is not something that comes easily, forgetting even less so.
I found this an interesting read. While I have read other novels set around the war, this one did tend to give a bit different perspective. Towards the end tension is certainly ramped up and my heart was racing. Ultimately a secret revealed in the first chapter in 1974 is uncovered. It is a book about survival and the lengths people will go to survive. It is not always be a comfortable read but it certainly raises lots of questions. A thought provoking historical novel where a lot is going on under the surface.
Gus, who works for the British government, returns to England after the end of World War 2. To the shock and dismay of his two sisters Julia and Tilly, he returns not to marry their friend and his fiancée Nella. It turns out he is already married. And has brought his German wife Krista home to England. Julia’s husband was killed during the war and given Germans were the enemy she cannot comprehend how Gus has brought home a German wife, especially since they don’t appear to be madly in love. Teddy, Nella’s brother and a long-time friend of Gus, is also outraged. The war may be over but for many it is still going on within.
This is England still in the grips of the aftermath of the war and rationing severe. I found the characters very well portrayed. Their behaviour and reactions came across as real. The horrors of war are presented well and the reader also gets to experience Krista’s attitudes toward their British and their Russian allies. Forgiveness is not something that comes easily, forgetting even less so.
I found this an interesting read. While I have read other novels set around the war, this one did tend to give a bit different perspective. Towards the end tension is certainly ramped up and my heart was racing. Ultimately a secret revealed in the first chapter in 1974 is uncovered. It is a book about survival and the lengths people will go to survive. It is not always be a comfortable read but it certainly raises lots of questions. A thought provoking historical novel where a lot is going on under the surface.
September 1, 2017
There are many historical novels centred around war and the horror it inflicted but none have touched my heart as much as THE NEW MRS CLIFTON by Elizabeth Buchan. Haunting, raw, and so very emotional, this is a story of the wreckage and damage that is left behind, and how people must now face the reality of what they have done to survive.
When Gus Clifton arrives home with his new wife, it sends shock waves through his family and both of his sisters are stunned that he has forgotten about their friend, Nella, whom Gus had all but promised marriage. But the biggest shock is that his new wife is German. Julia cannot forgive her brother for bringing this woman into their home since the love of her life was killed during the War, and with this intrusion, Julia struggles to find her place in the world anymore. Tilly, the youngest sister, has a more open view of life and wants to try to be friends with their new sister-in-law, but dark shadows haunt her as she yearns to be noticed and to truly belong somewhere.
Judged by many as the enemy even though the war is now over, Krista will have to navigate carefully this new life that stands in front of her, no matter how many nightmares from the past try to pull her back down. She misses her homeland even though it haunts her and marrying Gus was her only hope of survival. But can she really trust her unlikely husband? And can this moment of safety ever last? Her life has shown her that nothing can be trusted...
THE NEW MRS CLIFTON by Elizabeth Buchan will make you question just how far you would go to survive, how you would cope with the horrific acts that these characters have witnessed, experienced, and committed, and this novel will make you feel deeply moved throughout. The characters are damaged and broken, but never defeated, and this backbone of inner strength that shines through the pages really is mind-blowing. As the story develops, you will find answers to some of your questions, but it is at the very end that all will become clear.
THE NEW MRS CLIFTON by Elizabeth Buchan is a masterpiece of historical fiction that does not always make for comfortable reading but will consume you from the very first page, and I really hope it receives the huge applause that it richly deserves.
*I voluntarily reviewed this book from the Publisher
When Gus Clifton arrives home with his new wife, it sends shock waves through his family and both of his sisters are stunned that he has forgotten about their friend, Nella, whom Gus had all but promised marriage. But the biggest shock is that his new wife is German. Julia cannot forgive her brother for bringing this woman into their home since the love of her life was killed during the War, and with this intrusion, Julia struggles to find her place in the world anymore. Tilly, the youngest sister, has a more open view of life and wants to try to be friends with their new sister-in-law, but dark shadows haunt her as she yearns to be noticed and to truly belong somewhere.
Judged by many as the enemy even though the war is now over, Krista will have to navigate carefully this new life that stands in front of her, no matter how many nightmares from the past try to pull her back down. She misses her homeland even though it haunts her and marrying Gus was her only hope of survival. But can she really trust her unlikely husband? And can this moment of safety ever last? Her life has shown her that nothing can be trusted...
THE NEW MRS CLIFTON by Elizabeth Buchan will make you question just how far you would go to survive, how you would cope with the horrific acts that these characters have witnessed, experienced, and committed, and this novel will make you feel deeply moved throughout. The characters are damaged and broken, but never defeated, and this backbone of inner strength that shines through the pages really is mind-blowing. As the story develops, you will find answers to some of your questions, but it is at the very end that all will become clear.
THE NEW MRS CLIFTON by Elizabeth Buchan is a masterpiece of historical fiction that does not always make for comfortable reading but will consume you from the very first page, and I really hope it receives the huge applause that it richly deserves.
*I voluntarily reviewed this book from the Publisher
May 13, 2017
Compelling, beautifully written story set in drab, bomb-damaged Clapham just after the end of WW II. The story itself is anything but drab, with an engaging central character in Krista, the German wife who has been brought to London from the ruins of a defeated Berlin, with all its attendant horrors. The author deploys her research with a light touch, and this is expert story-telling. Highly recommended.
February 7, 2017
It is an interesting storyline and shows how the war influences the lives of so many people on all sides. It took a little while to get into the story but I felt that the ending was a little rushed. Many characters did not really add anything to the story or you felt they might play a role to only fizzle away.
August 31, 2017
A body is found in the garden when a new couple move in � but to whom does it belong?
I found The New Mrs Clifton a mesmerising read and one that frequently made me very uncomfortable because so much of it is based on past horrific experiences and I wondered just how I might have behaved and acted in similar ones. I think one of the great successes of the story is that Elizabeth Buchan makes the reader think and question their beliefs and certainties. I had a far better understanding of the effects of WW2 on the ordinary person after the war than I had really had before and reading the book made me glad I was born well afterwards. The uncovering of inherent racism, corruption and manipulation at all levels is totally convincing.
The narrative style was just as good as I hoped and expected from an Elizabeth Buchan novel. There’s an intensity and claustrophobia that is palpable and much of the effect comes as much from what isn’t said as what is so that I experienced the same responses and emotions as the characters. The three main women, Krista, Julia and Tilly, are magnificent creations so that each was very real. I understood their frailties, desires and fears completely. Despite Kritsa’s displacement and the fact that she deserves the reader sympathy, it was Julia I felt most for. She begins as an odious individual but by the end of the novel she had my complete understanding and I felt almost as sorry for her as for Krista.
I loved the plot. The way Elizabeth Buchan drops in the tiny daily details that enhance setting or our understanding of her characters� emotions to her ability to present the most startling information with a pared down sentence that shocks the reader makes her writing incredibly satisfying to read. Towards the end I found my heart rate increased dramatically as I headed to a knowledge of whose body was in the garden.
The New Mrs Clifton is an intelligent, and unsettling, book that makes the reader wonder just what they themselves might be capable of in extreme circumstances. I won’t forget it in a very long while.
I found The New Mrs Clifton a mesmerising read and one that frequently made me very uncomfortable because so much of it is based on past horrific experiences and I wondered just how I might have behaved and acted in similar ones. I think one of the great successes of the story is that Elizabeth Buchan makes the reader think and question their beliefs and certainties. I had a far better understanding of the effects of WW2 on the ordinary person after the war than I had really had before and reading the book made me glad I was born well afterwards. The uncovering of inherent racism, corruption and manipulation at all levels is totally convincing.
The narrative style was just as good as I hoped and expected from an Elizabeth Buchan novel. There’s an intensity and claustrophobia that is palpable and much of the effect comes as much from what isn’t said as what is so that I experienced the same responses and emotions as the characters. The three main women, Krista, Julia and Tilly, are magnificent creations so that each was very real. I understood their frailties, desires and fears completely. Despite Kritsa’s displacement and the fact that she deserves the reader sympathy, it was Julia I felt most for. She begins as an odious individual but by the end of the novel she had my complete understanding and I felt almost as sorry for her as for Krista.
I loved the plot. The way Elizabeth Buchan drops in the tiny daily details that enhance setting or our understanding of her characters� emotions to her ability to present the most startling information with a pared down sentence that shocks the reader makes her writing incredibly satisfying to read. Towards the end I found my heart rate increased dramatically as I headed to a knowledge of whose body was in the garden.
The New Mrs Clifton is an intelligent, and unsettling, book that makes the reader wonder just what they themselves might be capable of in extreme circumstances. I won’t forget it in a very long while.
July 17, 2017
For my full review:
In 1970s London, a couple have just moved into their new home and found a grisly discovery in the back garden. There are the remains of a woman, aged between twenty-five and thirty, wrapped in a garment of blue wool. Estimated to have died between 1945 and 1947, at some point in the woman's short life, she had given birth. She had also suffered from Vitamin D deficiency and the trauma to the back of the head indicated that she had probably been killed by a blunt object. From here, the story loops back to 1945, leaving this dark ultimate fate hovering over the novel, with the reader uncertain as to where it would land. Gus Clifton is back from the war and with him is his new wife, but it is not his long-term love Nella whom he has wed, but rather the skeletal Krista, a German. For his sisters, the widowed Julia and the wayward Tilly, his behaviour is baffling and an utter betrayal of all they have fought for over the past six years. But why has he done it, when the bride is neither pregnant nor in love with him? Is the new Mrs Clifton here to stay or can she be persuaded to go away?
Elizabeth Buchan is an established author with a long and varied career, but it was only with her previous novelI Can't Begin To Tell You that I came across her. Like The New Mrs Clifton, that book also focused on how events of wartime can knock someone's moral compass to the point where they barely recognise themselves. Yet somehow,I Can't Begin To Tell You had a friendlier feel, featuring Ruby and Kay who felt like they were trying to do the right thing. The New Mrs Clifton is instead peopled by characters who used to be nice, who had once had lives that they liked but who have had all that they once cherished stripped away. Julia had been the attractive wife of the RAF officer, carrying his child. After her husband's death, the comrades who had once admired her were keen to have her shuffled out of the barracks, a too sad reminder of the consequences of failed missions. Then the daughter slipped out to the world too soon. No longer a wife, robbed of motherhood, Julia is without purpose and furious at this representative of the nation she feels took away all she ever wanted. Tilly appears less openly combative but her very deliberate attempts to court scandal do not make her a reliable ally.
With a cluster of thorny and fuming British characters, Krista is the most sympathetic character. Indeed, it is her perspective which opens the novel, as the train pulls into Waterloo. We see her uncertainty around her new husband, her quiet acknowledgment of how little she knows of him. He is so solicitous, she shies from his touch. At bedtime in the family home, he offers to sleep in the dressing room and she forces herself to decline although the scent of him makes her nauseous. She has nightmares, flashbacks to post-war Berlin and the repeated rapes by Allied soldiers, the rapes that happened too often to be recognised as individual incidents. The nightmare of the fallen Berlin has left her traumatised but as her secrets are gradually revealed over the course of the novel, we also come to recognise her strength.
Buchan seems to have an interest in the lesser celebrated events of World War Two, such as the Danish resistance inI Can't Begin To Tell You or as in here with the dark events which unfolded after the German surrender. Gus is involved in 'hush hush' work, tracking those suspected of war crimes and although marrying a German has not done his career any favours at all, his expertise is still needed and Krista too is required to help. The sequence in which Mr and Mrs Clifton team up for an interrogation is spell-binding, again offering a portrayal of events which mainstream World War Two fiction tends to overlook. Krista's role as the German collaborating with the Allies is also fascinating, with the Nazi war criminal expressing disgust at her treachery, while on the other side of the table, Gus' colleagues also look at her in disdain. The world was a frightening place for a German after the war, even if one was innocent of war crimes. Krista realises that although she has left the more obvious dangers of Berlin, life as an enemy alien in Britain holds dangers of its own.
There is something deeply sinister aboutThe New Mrs Clifton, with the jilted Nella hovering in the park to spy on Krista, or Julia having angry outbursts in the kitchen, then Tilly's sweet confidences to her sister-in-law that she just might be happier back in Germany with her friends. Throughout the novel, I wondered which of the women would be the one to dug up from the flowerbed thirty years later - likely candidates varied. Unfortunately, I did feel that the denouement for this plot thread was rather disappointing - after such a build-up, it just didn't feel satisfying. That being said, given that the narrative never returns to the 1970s, I did wonder a little where the other characters ever discovered the truth. Still, despite my lukewarm feelings about that aspect of the novel, I was blown away by the novel's final pages which left me analysing the whole story right back to the beginning. I still have a lot of spoilerific thoughts and would love to hear from someone else who had read the book.
The New Mrs Clifton summons up down-trodden and exhausted post-war Britain in painful detail and with a very sharp sense of place. It reminded me of walking along a Victorian street in London with a friend who pointed out 'Bomb hit there', 'And another one', 'A bomb over there too', whenever he saw a more modern semi-detached house scattered among. London was a battlefield in the war - is it any wonder that people struggled to return to their pre-war selves after the fighting stopped? The conundrum of whether to forget, to pretend that certain things never happened at all or that certain others had occurred in a different way to the truth - it is something that we are still struggling with. The spirit of the Blitz was a myth. The French resistance a fairy story. The Germans knew about the Holocaust while it was happening, as did plenty of other people. Very few people come out of the war smelling of roses and it is a sign of Buchan's maturity as a writer that she can construct a novel around these uncomfortable and unpalatable truths. Gus and Krista did meet in a library, but the story of how she became the New Mrs Clifton is not one that their wider circle will ever be told.
In 1970s London, a couple have just moved into their new home and found a grisly discovery in the back garden. There are the remains of a woman, aged between twenty-five and thirty, wrapped in a garment of blue wool. Estimated to have died between 1945 and 1947, at some point in the woman's short life, she had given birth. She had also suffered from Vitamin D deficiency and the trauma to the back of the head indicated that she had probably been killed by a blunt object. From here, the story loops back to 1945, leaving this dark ultimate fate hovering over the novel, with the reader uncertain as to where it would land. Gus Clifton is back from the war and with him is his new wife, but it is not his long-term love Nella whom he has wed, but rather the skeletal Krista, a German. For his sisters, the widowed Julia and the wayward Tilly, his behaviour is baffling and an utter betrayal of all they have fought for over the past six years. But why has he done it, when the bride is neither pregnant nor in love with him? Is the new Mrs Clifton here to stay or can she be persuaded to go away?
Elizabeth Buchan is an established author with a long and varied career, but it was only with her previous novelI Can't Begin To Tell You that I came across her. Like The New Mrs Clifton, that book also focused on how events of wartime can knock someone's moral compass to the point where they barely recognise themselves. Yet somehow,I Can't Begin To Tell You had a friendlier feel, featuring Ruby and Kay who felt like they were trying to do the right thing. The New Mrs Clifton is instead peopled by characters who used to be nice, who had once had lives that they liked but who have had all that they once cherished stripped away. Julia had been the attractive wife of the RAF officer, carrying his child. After her husband's death, the comrades who had once admired her were keen to have her shuffled out of the barracks, a too sad reminder of the consequences of failed missions. Then the daughter slipped out to the world too soon. No longer a wife, robbed of motherhood, Julia is without purpose and furious at this representative of the nation she feels took away all she ever wanted. Tilly appears less openly combative but her very deliberate attempts to court scandal do not make her a reliable ally.
With a cluster of thorny and fuming British characters, Krista is the most sympathetic character. Indeed, it is her perspective which opens the novel, as the train pulls into Waterloo. We see her uncertainty around her new husband, her quiet acknowledgment of how little she knows of him. He is so solicitous, she shies from his touch. At bedtime in the family home, he offers to sleep in the dressing room and she forces herself to decline although the scent of him makes her nauseous. She has nightmares, flashbacks to post-war Berlin and the repeated rapes by Allied soldiers, the rapes that happened too often to be recognised as individual incidents. The nightmare of the fallen Berlin has left her traumatised but as her secrets are gradually revealed over the course of the novel, we also come to recognise her strength.
Buchan seems to have an interest in the lesser celebrated events of World War Two, such as the Danish resistance inI Can't Begin To Tell You or as in here with the dark events which unfolded after the German surrender. Gus is involved in 'hush hush' work, tracking those suspected of war crimes and although marrying a German has not done his career any favours at all, his expertise is still needed and Krista too is required to help. The sequence in which Mr and Mrs Clifton team up for an interrogation is spell-binding, again offering a portrayal of events which mainstream World War Two fiction tends to overlook. Krista's role as the German collaborating with the Allies is also fascinating, with the Nazi war criminal expressing disgust at her treachery, while on the other side of the table, Gus' colleagues also look at her in disdain. The world was a frightening place for a German after the war, even if one was innocent of war crimes. Krista realises that although she has left the more obvious dangers of Berlin, life as an enemy alien in Britain holds dangers of its own.
There is something deeply sinister aboutThe New Mrs Clifton, with the jilted Nella hovering in the park to spy on Krista, or Julia having angry outbursts in the kitchen, then Tilly's sweet confidences to her sister-in-law that she just might be happier back in Germany with her friends. Throughout the novel, I wondered which of the women would be the one to dug up from the flowerbed thirty years later - likely candidates varied. Unfortunately, I did feel that the denouement for this plot thread was rather disappointing - after such a build-up, it just didn't feel satisfying. That being said, given that the narrative never returns to the 1970s, I did wonder a little where the other characters ever discovered the truth. Still, despite my lukewarm feelings about that aspect of the novel, I was blown away by the novel's final pages which left me analysing the whole story right back to the beginning. I still have a lot of spoilerific thoughts and would love to hear from someone else who had read the book.
The New Mrs Clifton summons up down-trodden and exhausted post-war Britain in painful detail and with a very sharp sense of place. It reminded me of walking along a Victorian street in London with a friend who pointed out 'Bomb hit there', 'And another one', 'A bomb over there too', whenever he saw a more modern semi-detached house scattered among. London was a battlefield in the war - is it any wonder that people struggled to return to their pre-war selves after the fighting stopped? The conundrum of whether to forget, to pretend that certain things never happened at all or that certain others had occurred in a different way to the truth - it is something that we are still struggling with. The spirit of the Blitz was a myth. The French resistance a fairy story. The Germans knew about the Holocaust while it was happening, as did plenty of other people. Very few people come out of the war smelling of roses and it is a sign of Buchan's maturity as a writer that she can construct a novel around these uncomfortable and unpalatable truths. Gus and Krista did meet in a library, but the story of how she became the New Mrs Clifton is not one that their wider circle will ever be told.
September 23, 2018
I think I enjoyed this book a lot more than I would have usually as it was sort of a break for me after reading some pretty heavy non-fiction. However, it's still a pretty good read, and it genuinely didn't go how I expected it to go, especially with the ending! I rated it 3* because some parts I found to be quite meh, such as with Julia's story- I LIKE that she ended up liking Krista and that she overcame some of her grief for her husband, but her link with Teddy was so cringe at times. I did like Tilly's change, and some parts of the story actually made me so nervous, showing that I guess I did actually care what happened to the characters at points. I thought the added element of dealing with the relationship between ordinary German and English people was interesting as well. In a way, everybody (the main characters anyway) got their own comeuppance, so there was a good, developing story.
I guess overall i just have more gripe with the writing style, which isn't bad, but at times I found it quite jumpy or slow. But yes! A good read if you enjoy stories set during and after WW2 and also crime/thriller books.
I guess overall i just have more gripe with the writing style, which isn't bad, but at times I found it quite jumpy or slow. But yes! A good read if you enjoy stories set during and after WW2 and also crime/thriller books.
September 10, 2017
Novel set in post WW2 CLAPHAM (finding colour in life)
This review first appeared on our blog where the author talks about her research for historical location:
The novel is beautifully written, with a layering of melancholia that never really lifts, reflecting the era. The wording, too, is suffused with monochrome tones and detai,l as the people in Clapham try to pick over their lives and get back on their feet:
“The colours just aren’t as vivid as they were fore the war�.
It’s 1945 and Gus has been on secret operations in Berlin, and after the war returns to his sisters Julia and Tilly, and to face Nella the woman he was due to marry before he left England. But now he has a German wife in tow, Krista, and together they arrive, to shocked reactions all round.
This is a story of loss and survival, and what people do to get by. Gus, now living in Clapham with his family members, is still the master of secrecy. His wife Krista is plagued by dreadful memories of the war, only alluded to initially.Their marriage is, well, odd � it seems more of an arrangement�
Teddy, Nella’s brother is hell bent on revenge, wishing to punish Gus for rejecting his sister. And his shrewd and shady dealings start to ensnare others into his unpleasant world.
The setting is bleak, the houses around Clapham Common are scored with cracks from German bombing � they look like rows of teeth, with gaps, as portrayed on the cover of the book (pictured). Berlin, where both Gus and Krista spent the war is an utterly devastated city, where women � die Trümmerfrauen � now search the ruins for any means to survive. Krista, as a German living in London so soon after terrible events, meets all kinds of hostility, but she has a strength and perspicacity that helps her manage the onslaught of demeaning and aggressive encounters.
As the novel opens, it is 1974 and new owners in the terrace discover a body, so we may guess that someone somewhere along the line dies�.
This book is in part an exploration of the luxury of having a good moral compass. When life has been destroyed, people have to resort to scheming and subterfuge to cleave their way through daily routine. No food, no luxury and a hand to mouth existence inevitably can lead to moral turpitude. How do you get back to normality and lead a decent life after such a deeply devastating period in world history?
The author pens a fluid and thoughtful contemplation of human resolve and resourcefulness, bringing the aftermath of war to vivid life. Recommended.
This review first appeared on our blog where the author talks about her research for historical location:
The novel is beautifully written, with a layering of melancholia that never really lifts, reflecting the era. The wording, too, is suffused with monochrome tones and detai,l as the people in Clapham try to pick over their lives and get back on their feet:
“The colours just aren’t as vivid as they were fore the war�.
It’s 1945 and Gus has been on secret operations in Berlin, and after the war returns to his sisters Julia and Tilly, and to face Nella the woman he was due to marry before he left England. But now he has a German wife in tow, Krista, and together they arrive, to shocked reactions all round.
This is a story of loss and survival, and what people do to get by. Gus, now living in Clapham with his family members, is still the master of secrecy. His wife Krista is plagued by dreadful memories of the war, only alluded to initially.Their marriage is, well, odd � it seems more of an arrangement�
Teddy, Nella’s brother is hell bent on revenge, wishing to punish Gus for rejecting his sister. And his shrewd and shady dealings start to ensnare others into his unpleasant world.
The setting is bleak, the houses around Clapham Common are scored with cracks from German bombing � they look like rows of teeth, with gaps, as portrayed on the cover of the book (pictured). Berlin, where both Gus and Krista spent the war is an utterly devastated city, where women � die Trümmerfrauen � now search the ruins for any means to survive. Krista, as a German living in London so soon after terrible events, meets all kinds of hostility, but she has a strength and perspicacity that helps her manage the onslaught of demeaning and aggressive encounters.
As the novel opens, it is 1974 and new owners in the terrace discover a body, so we may guess that someone somewhere along the line dies�.
This book is in part an exploration of the luxury of having a good moral compass. When life has been destroyed, people have to resort to scheming and subterfuge to cleave their way through daily routine. No food, no luxury and a hand to mouth existence inevitably can lead to moral turpitude. How do you get back to normality and lead a decent life after such a deeply devastating period in world history?
The author pens a fluid and thoughtful contemplation of human resolve and resourcefulness, bringing the aftermath of war to vivid life. Recommended.
November 2, 2017
I had some mixed feelings about this book, but on the whole it was a very compelling story. It is hard to believe that the author, Elizabeth Buchan,was once the president of a Romantic writers' association since this book is one of the least romantic novels I have EVER read. This is the story of Krista, a German war bride, brought by her English husband to a postwar Britain barely clinging to survival and filled with bitter unhappy people (I sometimes think Britain never really recovered from the two world wars it endured and the empire it lost). Krista,unlike some, did not have "a good war", as the British used to say. Orphaned at an early age she endured the collapse of the Reich, the deaths of the nuns who had raised her, and the loss of her best childhood friend. She was also,like many German women, a victim of multiple sexual assaults, perpetrated mainly but not exclusively by Russian soldiers who captured Berlin in the spring of 1945. In the beginning of the book she is very fragile,emotionally and physically,and receives a very cold reception from her sisters-in-law and her husband's ex-fiancee. As the novel progresses we see how her survival skills emerge and how her relationship with her new husband strengthens. Conversely,her sisters-in-laws's lives begin to unravel, although one of the family achieves a kind of dubious sexual freedom which seems to save her. To me, the novel is marred by a somewhat contrived crime committed near the last part of the story. But the real shocker is the twist at the very end, which makes the reader wonder who really was the victim here. Or maybe what the author is saying is that victims and victimizers are often interchangeable in war and that to survive, one must sometimes do monstrous things under terrible circumstances.
March 22, 2017
The New Mrs Clifton, has a promising storyline and is set between London and Berlin at the end of WWII.
Londoners are bereft of spirit and the resources to rebuild their lives, but this pales into insignificance in comparison to the conditions being suffered in post- war, occupied, ruined Berlin.
The plot and the settings are vivid, unlike most of the characters, who, with the exception of Krista, are difficult to empathise with, and I struggled with the writing style, which seemed to stop the flow at times.
Interesting and enjoyable even so.
Londoners are bereft of spirit and the resources to rebuild their lives, but this pales into insignificance in comparison to the conditions being suffered in post- war, occupied, ruined Berlin.
The plot and the settings are vivid, unlike most of the characters, who, with the exception of Krista, are difficult to empathise with, and I struggled with the writing style, which seemed to stop the flow at times.
Interesting and enjoyable even so.
April 6, 2019
It started promising, mystery and intrigue but evolved into daily goings on of the characters, 5 in total, of which all had secret lives after war was over. The culmination of all these lives came in the last 30 pages.
December 21, 2019
Quite possibly, the most boring book I've ever read😴
September 11, 2018
The Second World War is the basis for a whole raft of historical novels and The New Mrs Clifton takes a different approach in viewing the conflict from a different angle.
Gus Clifton returns from the war to the home he shares with his two sisters with his new wife. This turn of events would always cause shockwaves because he was expected to marry their friend, his fiancée Nella. But Gus hasn’t just broken this loyal woman’s heart, the one who waited for his return, he has married a German woman Krista.
Of course along with the rest of Britain Gus’s two sisters have seen the brutal effects of the war on their country, and those they love the most. Julia is a widow while Tilly is determined to live life to the full.
Elizabeth Buchan recreates the time and place with haunting accuracy. There are bombed buildings, rationing and queues and the concrete fury at the Germans for causing the war. How can Krista damaged by her own experiences of the war can ever be happy in a country where she is hated?
Gus was a member of the British Intelligence forces based in Germany during the conflict and the reader along with his sisters and fiancée are forced to wonder what happened there to choose such an unsuitable wife.
Not only has the author meticulously documented the aftermath of the war in England she has also created some complex characters who interact with each other in an entirely believable manner. The legacy of the polite society is still firmly in place with the snubs against Krista of a low level but persistent nature rather than the locals storming the house and throwing bricks through the window. But the reader gets to peek behind the curtains soon realises that there is something other than love that binds this couple together with Krista battling vivid nightmares and clearly having had no choice but to bind herself to a man she does not love and travel to a country where she is viewed with the highest level of suspicion.
This slow burn of a novel examines how the war has fundamentally changed both Gus and Krista but it also looks at the lives and expectations of those who had no choice but to wait out the conflict with hope diminishing with every piece of bad news. The three British women, Julia with the loss of her love, Tilly with her tentative approaches to their new sister-in-law and Nella who is bewildered and shamed by the turn of events have to find a way to carry on, and to heal. This is a story that will have you asking yourself some difficult questions and to put yourself in the shoes of a woman whose quest for survival has led her into a hostile environment.
The New Mrs Clifton is a deeply moving and sympathetic portrait of life which had the power to examine the way that the perception that a whole nation of people were rotten through the actions of its leaders still persists till this day. It is far easier use the broad brush strokes of the atrocity to paint a picture than to acknowledge that war isn’t kind to anyone, least of all the civilians that are innocent bystanders.
Gus Clifton returns from the war to the home he shares with his two sisters with his new wife. This turn of events would always cause shockwaves because he was expected to marry their friend, his fiancée Nella. But Gus hasn’t just broken this loyal woman’s heart, the one who waited for his return, he has married a German woman Krista.
Of course along with the rest of Britain Gus’s two sisters have seen the brutal effects of the war on their country, and those they love the most. Julia is a widow while Tilly is determined to live life to the full.
Elizabeth Buchan recreates the time and place with haunting accuracy. There are bombed buildings, rationing and queues and the concrete fury at the Germans for causing the war. How can Krista damaged by her own experiences of the war can ever be happy in a country where she is hated?
Gus was a member of the British Intelligence forces based in Germany during the conflict and the reader along with his sisters and fiancée are forced to wonder what happened there to choose such an unsuitable wife.
Not only has the author meticulously documented the aftermath of the war in England she has also created some complex characters who interact with each other in an entirely believable manner. The legacy of the polite society is still firmly in place with the snubs against Krista of a low level but persistent nature rather than the locals storming the house and throwing bricks through the window. But the reader gets to peek behind the curtains soon realises that there is something other than love that binds this couple together with Krista battling vivid nightmares and clearly having had no choice but to bind herself to a man she does not love and travel to a country where she is viewed with the highest level of suspicion.
This slow burn of a novel examines how the war has fundamentally changed both Gus and Krista but it also looks at the lives and expectations of those who had no choice but to wait out the conflict with hope diminishing with every piece of bad news. The three British women, Julia with the loss of her love, Tilly with her tentative approaches to their new sister-in-law and Nella who is bewildered and shamed by the turn of events have to find a way to carry on, and to heal. This is a story that will have you asking yourself some difficult questions and to put yourself in the shoes of a woman whose quest for survival has led her into a hostile environment.
The New Mrs Clifton is a deeply moving and sympathetic portrait of life which had the power to examine the way that the perception that a whole nation of people were rotten through the actions of its leaders still persists till this day. It is far easier use the broad brush strokes of the atrocity to paint a picture than to acknowledge that war isn’t kind to anyone, least of all the civilians that are innocent bystanders.
March 1, 2019
Beautiful and heart breaking. Written with heart
March 26, 2023
I really enjoyed this beautifully written novel.
July 19, 2019
Wow. This book gripped me from the second page and I couldn’t let it go till the end.
The characters were amazing and the characterisation was fabulous. It was a novel of bleakness and the starkness of poverty, death, destruction, grief and betrayal were recurring themes throughout the book.
I thought it was an excellent portrayal of the aftermath of WW2, and I could feel the misery dripping off the pages. The sheer amount of destruction that had been dealt to countries after the war, the rebuilding, the knowledge that one had to find humanity and civilisation again, the desperation, the hatred and distrust between countries and people of different nationalities. It was humbling, and it left me feeling so grateful for the generally peaceful times that we live in today.
There was a boat load of mystery surrounding Gus and Krista, and when the end came around. Gosh. What an ending. I read it several times and with each re-read, I’m taken over by a different emotion and something new is revealed to me. But, there was hope too, theirs is a story symbolic of finding growth and life, beneath the ashes and rubble of cities destroyed in the war.
A beautiful, beautiful tale. This one will stay with me for a long time after.
The characters were amazing and the characterisation was fabulous. It was a novel of bleakness and the starkness of poverty, death, destruction, grief and betrayal were recurring themes throughout the book.
I thought it was an excellent portrayal of the aftermath of WW2, and I could feel the misery dripping off the pages. The sheer amount of destruction that had been dealt to countries after the war, the rebuilding, the knowledge that one had to find humanity and civilisation again, the desperation, the hatred and distrust between countries and people of different nationalities. It was humbling, and it left me feeling so grateful for the generally peaceful times that we live in today.
There was a boat load of mystery surrounding Gus and Krista, and when the end came around. Gosh. What an ending. I read it several times and with each re-read, I’m taken over by a different emotion and something new is revealed to me. But, there was hope too, theirs is a story symbolic of finding growth and life, beneath the ashes and rubble of cities destroyed in the war.
A beautiful, beautiful tale. This one will stay with me for a long time after.
August 25, 2017
After reading the book description I thought I had a good idea of what the story would be about. Wrong! Instead of a straight forward murder I found something much deeper, rich in historical detail and both shocking and moving in content. As the story unfolded I became really attached to the Clifton family and wanted only the best outcome for them all. Did I get what I wanted? I will leave you to find out.
A thoroughly good read and one I would recommend.
A thoroughly good read and one I would recommend.
September 29, 2017
I listened to the audiobook and I was absolutely engrossed with the story that enfolded.
Set in post war Britain the story starts with the discovery of a body in a shallow grave and the events leading up to that moment.
The new Mrs Clifton is one of the best books that I have listened to and I will be on the lookout for more from this talented author.
Very highly recommended and I will read again in the future.
Set in post war Britain the story starts with the discovery of a body in a shallow grave and the events leading up to that moment.
The new Mrs Clifton is one of the best books that I have listened to and I will be on the lookout for more from this talented author.
Very highly recommended and I will read again in the future.
October 27, 2017
Disappointing. Very stop-start written style so it didn’t flow well. Coupled with two dimensional characters who had no like ability. The whole book was spent leading up to finding out who died only for the ending to be left half finished. Did they ever get found out or did they escape justice? The aftermath which was arguably the most interesting part of the story was left out!
September 22, 2018
Very underwhelmed with this book club read (which I would never had read otherwise mainly due to the cover). The writing was very disjointed in places and non of the characters were particularly likeable. The big ‘reveal� was a big let down and the ending felt like Ms Buchan had somewhere more exciting to be.
August 3, 2020
Intriguing and promising start, but just didn’t flow right - kept thinking I’d missed pages as the book jumped about between characters and storylines which was confusing.
The whole story seemed to be centered on why Gus had married and brought a German woman back to England, but the big reveal was flat, and the twist at the end just seemed a little unbelievable and rushed.
Odd!
The whole story seemed to be centered on why Gus had married and brought a German woman back to England, but the big reveal was flat, and the twist at the end just seemed a little unbelievable and rushed.
Odd!
September 8, 2017
'Wrapped in the roots of the sycamore was a skeleton; the remains of a woman, between twenty-five and thirty. She had carried a child . . .�
Set against the backdrop of London, post WW2, this is a very intriguing book. I read many, many books in the Historical Fiction genre and I can honestly say that this book delivers a very unique take on life at that time in our history.
Where to start…�
The New Mrs Clifton opens with quite a shocking scene. It’s 1974 and the body of a woman is discovered buried in a garden by the new owners of the property.
We are immediately taken back to 1945. Gus Clifton arrives into Waterloo station with his new German wife Krista by his side. From the outset their relationship seems fraught with tension as they approach Gus’s home. Krista is in awe of the buildings but is also immediately wary of her safety in this strange place.
‘The house? In the middle of a terrace of handsome semi-detached houses that faced on to the Common, it had an innate elegance�..somehow because it was central in the terrace perhaps, Gus’s house appeared to have survived intact�.Was it a place of safety? Please God, it was.�
Gus’s two sisters, Julia and Tilly, have maintained the house in his absence.
Julia, is a widow, after the war claimed her husband. With Krista’s arrival into the household, Julia’s world tilts on it’s axis. Julia is very bitter towards Germany and it’s people. They took her husband, they destroyed her city and they stole her happiness.
�"You’re German?� Her voice rose in scandalized question. “German?� “Yes.� It was said and everything was set in stone. Julia looked absolutely dumbfounded…”And you brought her here to us?�'
Tilly is more accepting of Krista. To Tilly, Krista’s arrival is an adventure ‘”How perfect! German…How wicked of you Gus. How brilliantly perverse. That will set the cat among the pigeons.�'
Two very opposing views on the the new Mrs Clifton�.
Meanwhile Gus was betrothed to Nella, the sister of his life long friend Teddy. With this announcement, Gus has left Nella feeling visibly hurt and betrayed. She herself had been part of the war effort but her love for Gus had sustained her through the toughest of times. Nella is distraught at this news of the marriage and Teddy is angry, very angry for his sister’s pain.
Krista is aware of all these feelings surrounding her. She is German, she speaks minimal English. She looks unhealthy and is quite cold towards Gus. For Julia, Tilly and Nella there are serious questions to be answered. Why did Gus marry Krista? What secrets are being hidden at No. 22 on Clapham Common?
Krista attempts to settle into life as the new Mrs Clifton but at every turn she is faced with difficulty. On the streets outside her door, in the local shops, inside the four walls of her new home, Krista faces racist remarks about her German origin. The local people are very wary of her presence and as a reader so was I?
From the outset, it is clear that Krista and Gus have a story to tell, a story with it’s roots among the ruins of a devastated Berlin. Gus, on his return, continues in his work for his country and we are given brief insights into what this involves yet their story remains elusive.
As the book progresses, the relationships between all the characters is intense and oppressive. As they all struggle to survive on rations and post war allowances, the different personalities begin to break through.
Tilly and Julia were fascinating to read about. Tilly a free spirit, a poet with a constant need for love and companionship is such a sad and ultimately very lonely person. Tilly speaks of this heaviness that she carries around with her always, leading her into some very destructive patterns. Julia, on the other hand is shackled by the bitterness inside. A young widow, she soon comes to the realisation of the life she now faces alone in the world without her husband. As life moves on and the recovery starts to take place, both are faced with some life-changing decisions and heartbreaking moments. What position in society do either of them now hold?
It is the complexities of all these relationships that Elizabeth Buchan expertly weaves together in The New Mrs Clifton.
This is historical fiction with a difference. Yes we are exposed to the trauma and destruction faced by many of society in the aftermath of the war. But this book is more than that. It is a study of human behaviour. We are all very much aware of the atrocities that took place in the Nazi camps by a heinous bunch of people but what of the German people who weren’t involved? What about those ordinary folk who did not agree with the Nazi regime but had to suffer horrendous racism from the rest of the world, as all were tarred with the same brush. Krista has a story to tell and Elizabeth Buchan slowly reveals this story to the reader in snippets that reveal a frightening record of a time in history that should never be forgotten.
The difficulties faced by all the characters as each try to come to terms with their new reality is portrayed with clarity. These are real people with real lives, real hopes and dreams just trying to move on in the best way they can.
Of course, let’s not forget the dead body discovered in the opening pages!!!!!
The New Mrs Clifton has a very authentic feel to it. It’s a novel that will pull you in between the covers as the mystery is slowly revealed. It is also a historical reference to the post war period, revealing a different slant on the atrocious events of the time in both Berlin and London.
A chilling yet compelling read, written with an expressive narrative. A fascinating historical tale with a rather engrossing plot at it’s centre.
Set against the backdrop of London, post WW2, this is a very intriguing book. I read many, many books in the Historical Fiction genre and I can honestly say that this book delivers a very unique take on life at that time in our history.
Where to start…�
The New Mrs Clifton opens with quite a shocking scene. It’s 1974 and the body of a woman is discovered buried in a garden by the new owners of the property.
We are immediately taken back to 1945. Gus Clifton arrives into Waterloo station with his new German wife Krista by his side. From the outset their relationship seems fraught with tension as they approach Gus’s home. Krista is in awe of the buildings but is also immediately wary of her safety in this strange place.
‘The house? In the middle of a terrace of handsome semi-detached houses that faced on to the Common, it had an innate elegance�..somehow because it was central in the terrace perhaps, Gus’s house appeared to have survived intact�.Was it a place of safety? Please God, it was.�
Gus’s two sisters, Julia and Tilly, have maintained the house in his absence.
Julia, is a widow, after the war claimed her husband. With Krista’s arrival into the household, Julia’s world tilts on it’s axis. Julia is very bitter towards Germany and it’s people. They took her husband, they destroyed her city and they stole her happiness.
�"You’re German?� Her voice rose in scandalized question. “German?� “Yes.� It was said and everything was set in stone. Julia looked absolutely dumbfounded…”And you brought her here to us?�'
Tilly is more accepting of Krista. To Tilly, Krista’s arrival is an adventure ‘”How perfect! German…How wicked of you Gus. How brilliantly perverse. That will set the cat among the pigeons.�'
Two very opposing views on the the new Mrs Clifton�.
Meanwhile Gus was betrothed to Nella, the sister of his life long friend Teddy. With this announcement, Gus has left Nella feeling visibly hurt and betrayed. She herself had been part of the war effort but her love for Gus had sustained her through the toughest of times. Nella is distraught at this news of the marriage and Teddy is angry, very angry for his sister’s pain.
Krista is aware of all these feelings surrounding her. She is German, she speaks minimal English. She looks unhealthy and is quite cold towards Gus. For Julia, Tilly and Nella there are serious questions to be answered. Why did Gus marry Krista? What secrets are being hidden at No. 22 on Clapham Common?
Krista attempts to settle into life as the new Mrs Clifton but at every turn she is faced with difficulty. On the streets outside her door, in the local shops, inside the four walls of her new home, Krista faces racist remarks about her German origin. The local people are very wary of her presence and as a reader so was I?
From the outset, it is clear that Krista and Gus have a story to tell, a story with it’s roots among the ruins of a devastated Berlin. Gus, on his return, continues in his work for his country and we are given brief insights into what this involves yet their story remains elusive.
As the book progresses, the relationships between all the characters is intense and oppressive. As they all struggle to survive on rations and post war allowances, the different personalities begin to break through.
Tilly and Julia were fascinating to read about. Tilly a free spirit, a poet with a constant need for love and companionship is such a sad and ultimately very lonely person. Tilly speaks of this heaviness that she carries around with her always, leading her into some very destructive patterns. Julia, on the other hand is shackled by the bitterness inside. A young widow, she soon comes to the realisation of the life she now faces alone in the world without her husband. As life moves on and the recovery starts to take place, both are faced with some life-changing decisions and heartbreaking moments. What position in society do either of them now hold?
It is the complexities of all these relationships that Elizabeth Buchan expertly weaves together in The New Mrs Clifton.
This is historical fiction with a difference. Yes we are exposed to the trauma and destruction faced by many of society in the aftermath of the war. But this book is more than that. It is a study of human behaviour. We are all very much aware of the atrocities that took place in the Nazi camps by a heinous bunch of people but what of the German people who weren’t involved? What about those ordinary folk who did not agree with the Nazi regime but had to suffer horrendous racism from the rest of the world, as all were tarred with the same brush. Krista has a story to tell and Elizabeth Buchan slowly reveals this story to the reader in snippets that reveal a frightening record of a time in history that should never be forgotten.
The difficulties faced by all the characters as each try to come to terms with their new reality is portrayed with clarity. These are real people with real lives, real hopes and dreams just trying to move on in the best way they can.
Of course, let’s not forget the dead body discovered in the opening pages!!!!!
The New Mrs Clifton has a very authentic feel to it. It’s a novel that will pull you in between the covers as the mystery is slowly revealed. It is also a historical reference to the post war period, revealing a different slant on the atrocious events of the time in both Berlin and London.
A chilling yet compelling read, written with an expressive narrative. A fascinating historical tale with a rather engrossing plot at it’s centre.
January 8, 2018
After a war that left millions dead and cities in ruins, how to you return to normal life? Is it possible to see the people who were 'The Enemy' as fully human? How do you deal with grief and loss? These are the questions that the New Mrs Clifton examines.
The central focus of the plot is the marriage of British Intelligence officer Gus and the German Krista. How do Gus' sisters and former fiancee cope with suddenly having a German woman enter their life, only 6 months after the end of the war? Why did Gus and Krista get married in the first place, when the don't seem particularly in love? But the novel is about more than just the difficult process of reconciliation that is necessary for a lasting peace.
While May 1945 may have seen the end of the war (in Europe at least), normalcy did of course not return the next day. The New Mrs Clifton explores the period directly after the war; the joy of victory has passed, and now it is becoming clear that it will require long hard work to get things back to normal. But is the normal of before the war even something that should be desired? For some of the characters, perhaps not...
All of the main characters have suffered some form of loss, whether of loved ones, of morals, of a homeland, or of love. The book explores the different ways they try to deal with that loss; through anger, through seeking revenge, or replacement, or redemption of the guilt they feel. In the end though, the novel suggests we may just have to accept the fact that we must carry our grief for the rest of our lives.
With its vivid picture of post-war life, a compelling cast of believable characters, and just enough mystery to keep you anxiously turning the pages, the New Mrs Clifton is a great read. Despite its heavy themes, it holds out the hope that reconciliation and happiness are still possible, and sometimes that's just what you need.
The central focus of the plot is the marriage of British Intelligence officer Gus and the German Krista. How do Gus' sisters and former fiancee cope with suddenly having a German woman enter their life, only 6 months after the end of the war? Why did Gus and Krista get married in the first place, when the don't seem particularly in love? But the novel is about more than just the difficult process of reconciliation that is necessary for a lasting peace.
While May 1945 may have seen the end of the war (in Europe at least), normalcy did of course not return the next day. The New Mrs Clifton explores the period directly after the war; the joy of victory has passed, and now it is becoming clear that it will require long hard work to get things back to normal. But is the normal of before the war even something that should be desired? For some of the characters, perhaps not...
All of the main characters have suffered some form of loss, whether of loved ones, of morals, of a homeland, or of love. The book explores the different ways they try to deal with that loss; through anger, through seeking revenge, or replacement, or redemption of the guilt they feel. In the end though, the novel suggests we may just have to accept the fact that we must carry our grief for the rest of our lives.
With its vivid picture of post-war life, a compelling cast of believable characters, and just enough mystery to keep you anxiously turning the pages, the New Mrs Clifton is a great read. Despite its heavy themes, it holds out the hope that reconciliation and happiness are still possible, and sometimes that's just what you need.
March 17, 2018
I have looked up Elizabeth Buchan and discovered that she has written several books. I’m puzzled as to why her novels have received so little publicity and tend to be rather unknown. Buchan is a very gifted writer, going by The New Mrs Clifton.
This is a very good book indeed. Very well-written, the atmosphere of the time has been captured very well - the fear, the despair, the grudges as well as the urge to just start living and put the past behind you. It is impossible to dislike any of the characters despite the choices they make or actions they take. Buchan clearly shows how war brings out the best - but sadly, too, the worst - in people. In the end, it all boils down to survival.
A great book and the only reason I hesitate to give it 5 stars is because the pace is a bit too slow. Particularly at the beginning. 4.5 stars.
This is a very good book indeed. Very well-written, the atmosphere of the time has been captured very well - the fear, the despair, the grudges as well as the urge to just start living and put the past behind you. It is impossible to dislike any of the characters despite the choices they make or actions they take. Buchan clearly shows how war brings out the best - but sadly, too, the worst - in people. In the end, it all boils down to survival.
A great book and the only reason I hesitate to give it 5 stars is because the pace is a bit too slow. Particularly at the beginning. 4.5 stars.
April 26, 2024
I had high hopes for this book as the premise is intriguing: a British officer bringing home a German wife at the end of the Second World War, throwing over his English fiancée and shocking his sisters. And it opens with the discovery of a long-buried body in 1974. So, you've got two strings to go at for drama.
This isn't a murder mystery at all though. Which is fine if it wasn't kind of set up as one at the start of the book. Knowing that one of the women was going to die an unnatural death wasn't really necessary to the story.
Instead, the book focuses on the first element - Krista, the young German bride, still traumatised by everything she has seen and experienced throughout the war, facing stiff resistance from all she encounters in her new home. There's also some mystery as to why she and Gus married at all given that they don't appear to love each other.
The problem for me with this book is that it seemed more like separate character studies than a novel with a plotline. It meandered along talking at length about things that set the scene without doing anything to drive the narrative forward. It didn't help that most of the characters are unlikeable.
The book doesn't really pick up any pace until the last 10% of it, where things start happening without any real sense that it had been building to this. I also found myself thinking that one of the people involved in the denouement was only there to stop another character from exacting revenge on Gus for jilting his girlfriend. It just all seemed so unlikely and trumped up for the sake of creating drama.
I can't help but think that there is a cracking story in here somewhere but it was drowned in mundanity and minutiae.
This isn't a murder mystery at all though. Which is fine if it wasn't kind of set up as one at the start of the book. Knowing that one of the women was going to die an unnatural death wasn't really necessary to the story.
Instead, the book focuses on the first element - Krista, the young German bride, still traumatised by everything she has seen and experienced throughout the war, facing stiff resistance from all she encounters in her new home. There's also some mystery as to why she and Gus married at all given that they don't appear to love each other.
The problem for me with this book is that it seemed more like separate character studies than a novel with a plotline. It meandered along talking at length about things that set the scene without doing anything to drive the narrative forward. It didn't help that most of the characters are unlikeable.
The book doesn't really pick up any pace until the last 10% of it, where things start happening without any real sense that it had been building to this. I also found myself thinking that one of the people involved in the denouement was only there to stop another character from exacting revenge on Gus for jilting his girlfriend. It just all seemed so unlikely and trumped up for the sake of creating drama.
I can't help but think that there is a cracking story in here somewhere but it was drowned in mundanity and minutiae.
January 8, 2020
Really good to start the year with this one. Completely different to what I was expecting and what the cover made me feel it would be about (I know, never judge a book...).
Gus arrives home to the UK at the end of WWII with a German wife. His 2 sisters who have been home keeping the family property, can tell that neither Gus nor his wife, Krista are in love. And how dare he bring a German into their world. This book is fascinating how people in the local area react to a German person in their midst. I also loved the character of Gus' elder sister Julia - Julia has had her own fair share of torment during the war losing her husband and a stillborn daughter. She is naturally very sad about the state of her own life and at the German's who she feels resentful towards.
Gus arrives home to the UK at the end of WWII with a German wife. His 2 sisters who have been home keeping the family property, can tell that neither Gus nor his wife, Krista are in love. And how dare he bring a German into their world. This book is fascinating how people in the local area react to a German person in their midst. I also loved the character of Gus' elder sister Julia - Julia has had her own fair share of torment during the war losing her husband and a stillborn daughter. She is naturally very sad about the state of her own life and at the German's who she feels resentful towards.
June 7, 2017
I enjoyed this story, although there was one rather large challenge that I could not overcome.
The book starts with a captivating teaser: a skeleton found in the garden � intriguing! Who is it? and whodunit?
We then rewind to just after WW2 and are introduced to our cast of characters: Gus, an Englishman who returns from war with a German bride, his two sisters who have a hard time accepting this new reality, his jilted fiancée who REALLY has an issue with Gus getting married behind her back! And the jilted fiancée’s brother who just hates him. That right there is a TON of possibilities for who killed whom!
The story moves along at a good pace, we get to know all the players and learn about their intrigues and secrets, guessing along the way who had motive to do what to whom� all in all really great stuff.
The reason I was challenged is that on top of the secrets everyone is hiding from everyone else, we are kept in the dark as to why Gus married his German bride. Instead of adding to the intrigue it just annoyed me because the bits and pieces just made no sense � in fact, on multiple occasions, I wondered if we WERE told why and I just missed it because I tuned out at the wrong moment. This situation made their storyline frustrating instead of interesting and when we do eventually learn the truth it’s just stupid.
Frankly, I don’t feel like we even needed a secret reason to up the tension and add another potential murder to the list by creating the premise for a jilted fiancée in that way. Gus could have just genuinely fallen in love with his German bride and that would have pissed everyone off just as much!
Aside from that complaint, it was a great story.
The book starts with a captivating teaser: a skeleton found in the garden � intriguing! Who is it? and whodunit?
We then rewind to just after WW2 and are introduced to our cast of characters: Gus, an Englishman who returns from war with a German bride, his two sisters who have a hard time accepting this new reality, his jilted fiancée who REALLY has an issue with Gus getting married behind her back! And the jilted fiancée’s brother who just hates him. That right there is a TON of possibilities for who killed whom!
The story moves along at a good pace, we get to know all the players and learn about their intrigues and secrets, guessing along the way who had motive to do what to whom� all in all really great stuff.
The reason I was challenged is that on top of the secrets everyone is hiding from everyone else, we are kept in the dark as to why Gus married his German bride. Instead of adding to the intrigue it just annoyed me because the bits and pieces just made no sense � in fact, on multiple occasions, I wondered if we WERE told why and I just missed it because I tuned out at the wrong moment. This situation made their storyline frustrating instead of interesting and when we do eventually learn the truth it’s just stupid.
Frankly, I don’t feel like we even needed a secret reason to up the tension and add another potential murder to the list by creating the premise for a jilted fiancée in that way. Gus could have just genuinely fallen in love with his German bride and that would have pissed everyone off just as much!
Aside from that complaint, it was a great story.
November 19, 2017
I found this post-war story interesting and disturbing. I'm intrigued by the flatness and boredom of ordinary life following great traumas, and how people deal with that feeling, how the ordinary can ever be reclaimed, ever feel as real. Also intrigued by questions of how people are changed by their experiences, what happens to the person they were before, is there any such thing as a stable core identity? Also, what would I be prepared to do to survive, put into certain situations, and what do I believe I could never do?
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