Share <Embed>

$5.95

FREE Delivery on first order. Details

Only 2 left in stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon AU.

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Follow the Authors

Katharine McMahon

The Hour of Separation: From the bestselling author of Richard & Judy book club pick, The Rose of Sebastopol Paperback – 27 August 2019

by Katharine McMahon (Author)

39 ratings

See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Amazon Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$12.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$41.36

$39.68

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

$5.93

—

Paperback, 11 April 2019

$5.95

—

Digital

"Please retry"

—

Arrives: 28 Jan - 1 Feb

Fastest delivery: Thursday, 28 Jan
Order within 13 hrs and 51 mins

'An epic yet heartbreakingly intimate novel of conflict and betrayal, and of the pain of lost love' Kate Mosse

A long-buried secret, a heart-breaking betrayal...
Estelle never really knew her mother, Fleur, but is haunted by her legacy. A legendary resistance heroine in the Great War, she had helped Allied soldiers escape from Belgium - and was not alone in paying a terrible price.

Christa's father was one of those Fleur saved - but he returned home a ruined man. So, when Estelle arrives on Christa's doorstep hungry for information about her mother, an intense and complex friendship is ignited.

In 1939, as conflict grips Europe once more, Estelle follows her mother's destiny. Then Christa discovers that Fleur was betrayed by someone close to her and the truth may destroy them all...

'A beautiful, romantic and touching book. The prose is elegant and evocative and, McMahon's research is scholarly and meticulous' Jonathan Lynn, film director

'Katharine McMahon is a historical novelist who can turn her hand to any period and bring it thrillingly alive. [The Hour of Separation is] very possibly her best and most powerful book so far' Readers Digest

'Tender and painterly...rather beautiful' Irish Times

Frequently bought together

Total Price: $39.28

These items are shipped from and sold by different sellers. Show details

Buy the selected items together

This item:The Hour of Separation: From the bestselling author of Richard & Judy book club pick, The Rose of… by Katharine McMahon Paperback $5.95
Only 2 left in stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon AU.
The Crimson Rooms by Katharine McMahon Paperback $18.61
Only 2 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon AU.
The Woman in the Picture by Katharine McMahon Paperback $14.72
Ships from and sold by Book Depository UK.

Product details

Publisher : W&N; 1st edition (27 August 2019)
Language : English
Paperback : 416 pages
ISBN-10 : 1474603467
ISBN-13 : 978-1474603461
Dimensions : 12.8 x 3.4 x 19.6 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 155,578 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 2,672 in 20th Century Historical Romance (Books)
- 6,013 in War Fiction (Books)
- 7,692 in Family Saga Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
39 ratings

Product description

Review

Intense and emotional, The Hour of Separation takes us deep into the shadows cast by violence and conflict. Terrific -- Elizabeth Buchan

An epic yet heartbreakingly intimate novel of conflict and betrayal, and of the pain of lost love, Kate Mosse

It's a beautifully unfolded story about two women in World War Two who are united by a secret that dates back to the previous war. It kept me guessing to the end -- Wendy Moore

Book Description

An epic love story set in the Resistance from the Richard & Judy selected author of The Rose of Sebastopol.
Now selected for ONE BOOK, ONE TOWN.

5 star		61%
4 star		21%
3 star		16%
2 star		2%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How are ratings calculated?

Review this product

Write a customer review

Top review from Australia

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

nicola larg

Clear your day! Once you start you won’t want to stop.

Reviewed in Australia on 27 August 2018

Verified Purchase

Could not put this down a really good read. I haven’t enjoyed a book like this in a long time.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

little bookworm

Rich in historical detail, though let down by the characterisation

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 January 2019

Verified Purchase

Estelle is the daughter of the much admired Resistance heroine, Fleur Cornelis Faider, who tragically lost her life during WW1. Desperate to learn more about her mother, Estelle travels to England where she seeks out Christa, whose father was the last of the men that Fleur helped to escape from Occupied Belgium. A friendship striking up between the pair, Estelle invites Christa to visit her at her family home, De Eikenhoeve, in Belgium. There, Christa spends an idyllic summer with Estelle and her two brothers, Pieter and Robbe, though tensions simmer beneath the surface both at De Eikenhoeve, and on a much larger scale as the word prepares for another war. Nothing after that summer will ever be the same, friendships fractured, loyalties tested and old betrayals coming to light.

I'm a fan of McMahon and this book certainly started off well for me. I enjoyed the historical detail and appreciated the research that had clearly gone into the writing. Unfortunately I was left somewhat disappointed in this book overall though. Having read The Rose of Sebastapol, which is a firm favourite of mine, I could but see a number of parallels between quite a few of the characters in that book and this one. Indeed, it is almost as if McMahon decided to re-use the main characters of that novel here, but play around with them a little and alter the relationship dynamics between them. Unfortunately the re-hashed versions of the characters came across as much less likable here.

Coupled with this, I failed to really connect to Fleur as a character as well, hence her backstory again didn't engage as well with me as it perhaps should have done.

Perhaps if I hadn't already read The Rose of Sebastapol, I may have enjoyed this book more, as it was, however, it could but fall a little short for me.

TemmaD

A Historical Novel with Contemporary Resonance

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 September 2018

Verified Purchase

The Hour of Separation is a gripping love story centring on two generations of women resistance fighters who are both human and heroic; these are flawed but dynamic heroines who grab the narrative and our hearts. It looks at the way wounded men hide their vulnerability in bluster and machismo, the rise of fascism, and how people react under repressive regimes: in short - an historical novel with very contemporary resonances. McMahon's characters are well-rounded and convincing, and she evokes time and place - London, Brussels and the Belgian countryside in the war years, as if she had been there herself. I felt completely swept up in her story and could not put the book down - staying up late into the night to finish it.

One person found this helpful

D R Handley

Like running downhill and unable to stop

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 August 2019

Verified Purchase

This is a marvellous novel which doesn’t put a foot wrong. Why, I kept wondering, isn’t Katharine McMahon better known?

We begin in wartime London in 1942. Christa is in a government office somewhere in Whitehall and is having a difficult interview. She is being asked to make a difficult decision - to name which of two brothers is betraying a Resistance network in Belgium. She asks for time to reply and the rest of the novel works towards the answer to that question.

But after the action and excitement that are promised in the opening to the novel we take a deep breath and slow down. The imminent war is forgotten, for the moment at least, and we are immersed in the life of the Belgian farm which Christa visits just as war is about to break out and which is home to the two brothers and their sister Estelle.
The portrayal of the farm is entrancing but entirely unsentimental; and a whole web of complex relationships comes to life. Katharine McMahon really does this so well - how many novels are there with a huge cast of characters where you never stop to question their authenticity, where you never feel that the author has fallen back on some lazy but unconvincing convention from central casting?

Christa returns to England before war breaks out - and the novel changes pace. I felt as though I had been walking slowly and happily up a slight incline, admiring nature as I went and generally taking everything in. But now I suddenly found myself at the crest of the hill and then was running down the other side helter skelter and completely out of control. It is as if someone had suddenly shouted Action!

And there is so much of it, action, that is. In Belgium Estelle joins the resistance. In England Christa joins the war effort. We see how the German occupation gradually tightens its grip on Brussels - and how much of the plot can I give away? At any rate you, like me, will be reading faster and faster, just to keep up with what is happening. And it is all marvellous. Including the ending, which of course I can't reveal to you.

One person found this helpful

Ruth

A book of two halves

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 December 2020

Verified Purchase

I could’ve easily given up reading this book at the halfway stage; ostensibly a story about resistance workers in WW1 & WW2 - but the first half was more of a love story, all about the mixed up emotions of Christa and Estelle. I was expecting much more about the resistance work itself - but I had to wait until the last third of the book to get to that. Not sure I would recommend ... sorry!

Fe Robinson

Wonderful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 August 2018

Verified Purchase

A brilliant book, it had me gripped until the final page. It’s an amazing thing when a book transports you - I feel like I’ve been living in Belgium and lived through the war! I grew to love the main characters and by the end was devoted to them and their mission.

2 people found this helpful

See all reviews

Follow the Authors

Similar authors to follow

Similar authors to follow

The Hour of Separation: From the bestselling author of Richard & Judy book club pick, The Rose of Sebastopol Paperback – 27 August 2019

Frequently bought together

Product details

Product description

Review

Book Description

From the Publisher

About the Author

Customer reviews

Review this product

Top review from Australia

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries