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My Name Is Eva: An Absolutely Gripping and Emotional Historical Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Suzanne Goldring (Author), Diana Croft (Narrator), Hachette UK - Bookouture (Publisher)

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You can pay a terrible price for keeping a promise....

Evelyn Taylor-Clarke sits in her chair at Forest Lawns Care Home in the heart of the English countryside, surrounded by residents with minds not as sharp as hers. It would be easy to dismiss Evelyn as a muddled old woman, but her lipstick is applied perfectly and her buttons done up correctly. Because, Evelyn is a woman with secrets, and Evelyn remembers everything. She can never forget the promise she made to the love of her life to discover the truth about the mission that led to his death, no matter what it cost her.

When Evelyn’s niece Pat opens an old biscuit tin to find a photo of a small girl with a red ball entitled "Liese, 1951" and a passport in another name, she has some questions for her aunt. And Evelyn is transported back to a place in Germany known as "The Forbidden Village", where a woman who called herself Eva went where no one else dared, amongst shivering prisoners, to find the man who gambled with her husband’s life.

A gripping, haunting and compelling story about love, courage, and betrayal set in the war-battered landscape of Germany. Fans of The Letter, The Alice Network, and The Nightingale will be hooked.

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Product details

Listening Length	9 hours and 16 minutes
Author	Suzanne Goldring
Narrator	Diana Croft
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	11 September 2019
Publisher	Hachette UK - Bookouture
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07XP78DQM
Best Sellers Rank	4,386 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 150 in Women's Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) 252 in Historical Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) 1,013 in Historical Fiction (Books)

Customer reviews

5 star		52%
4 star		29%
3 star		12%
2 star		4%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from Australia

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IGLE PIGLE

Beautifully Written and such an enticing story

Reviewed in Australia on 16 September 2019

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I couldn't put it down. This book was so well written and the story was so interesting. Very realistic and so obviously well researched. A lot of thought has gone into writing this book. I loved how it swapped between decades to show how previous events have affected the life of Evelyn and how she coped with life's tragedies post WW2. Also, it seemed to really give insight into her frame of mind, reasoning and actions. This sort of thing gives a depth to the book and story that can sometimes be lacking in historical fiction.
The sections where she is living in a rest home really resonated and the actions of Pat her niece were something that I have often seen reflected in family members who grow frustrated when their elderly relatives are no longer as sharp as they used to be.
Overall, amazing, would recommend to anyone who wants a book to keep you enticed from the first page to the last

4 people found this helpful

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Margy

Enthralling

Reviewed in Australia on 11 October 2019

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I really enjoyed this book. It’s told quite differently from memories and then dips into the present day, reminding us that old people were once young and led lives we cannot imagine. I also learned a bit more about what happened after the end of the Second World War, something not commonly discussed. But mostly, Eva’s character kept me wanting to know what happened next. Well written.

3 people found this helpful

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Beth Todd

Such a fantastic read

Reviewed in Australia on 24 September 2020

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I loved this book. I usually read historical novels and this one was just a bit different. Although it is based on a women life during the Second World War, the main character writes letters to her deceased husband about the events of her life up until the present day, where she is in a Nursing Home. The novel switches between narration of the main character’s life and the letters she writes to her husband. This gives the reader insight into how she is feeling about situations. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will be reading more from this author.

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Wendy

My Name is Eva.

Reviewed in Australia on 10 August 2020

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This has got to be the most memorable book I have read for so long, I loved Eva so much, I loved her love for her deceased husband Hugh, I loved her love of her child that she gave up. I did shed a tear of the ending, What a wonderful remarkable woman.What a beautiful and powerful story that will stay with me for some time.This book deserves more then 5 stars.

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Kindle Customer

Intriguing story

Reviewed in Australia on 27 January 2020

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This is a cleverly woven novel with twists. I must admit I struggled with it to start with as I found Evelyn's pretence at dementia rather irritating and condescending. The letters she writes to her deceased husband are unusual but they also tie the story together. Her niece Pat is very pragmatic and annoying but somehow I got hooked by the desire to know why Evelyn was so locked into her " role" and enjoyed this unusual novel of intrigue and tragedy very much. Different and highly recommended for those who like a mystery.

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Verona Lucas - V.E.Lucas

Well written about the worst of human behaviour

Reviewed in Australia on 17 November 2019

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This book is extremely well written in an excellent style. The content is so bad I will remove it from my library and I will not read anything of this author again. The old adage "Two wrongs do not make a right" applies here. Set in the second world war with its focus on dealing with Germany and the irrational behaviour of the British intelligence does not make healthy images and the end is appalling.

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Colleen

Eva brilliantly written.

Reviewed in Australia on 3 February 2020

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Absolutely loved this novel couldn’t put it down, it gave an insight to the 2nd world war and some of the harrowing events that occurred. I must say there were times I not only laughed but cried as well.... the twists and turns kept me riveted till the early hours of the morning.
Then of course the going from the early years to the present and learning all about Eva and her feelings were brilliantly written, one could at times feel her emotions.Highly recommended.

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Lee Simmons

A thriller with a great twist.

Reviewed in Australia on 13 October 2019

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This book had me hooked. Not only was it a pleasure to read as the prose was intelligent and concise
it was also a real page turner.
I would absolutely recommend it to those of us who like a mystery with historical references and places
of geographical significance..

One person found this helpful

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Bionicwoman

Far from 'gripping' as described.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 December 2019

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A perfectly good novel for a bedtime read, but no more than that.
Somewhat pedestrian plot, often, I felt, used by the author to show off her knowledge of the history of post-war action to deal with the thousands, if not millions, of displaced people. Clearly she'd done her research, but the writing produced no visceral response in me. Sadness and concern, but not a horror of the reality of what was happened in those years.
Stylistically, I dislike writing that relies on correspondence or diary entries to carry the plot forward. In my opinion they never ring true; setting out too exactly what the writer thought and what the writer did. Far better using good old narrative, even if that does take a bit more effort.
Whilst it was amusing to watch Evelyn play games with the staff and then the police regarding her mental state, there was no rational argument as to why she should choose to do this; it seemed to me to serve no useful purpose.
It wasn't a 'page turner' and whilst, as I said, it was an undemanding bedtime read, I won't seek this author out in the future..

28 people found this helpful

Toscana

"Untold history"

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 October 2019

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This is one of my absolute favourite reads of 2019. Wow! So clever! A book with so many layers. I truly couldn’t put down. If I could give it 10 out of 5, I would!
I love WW2 historical fiction, but this was written with such an original approach. I don’t want to give anything away – no spoilers – but I was enthralled.
I felt the author really enjoyed introducing us to the main character, Eva/Evelyn – of many different names. I laughed and cried and was appalled by her story. I visit my own mother-in-law in a dementia home, and I can easily see how Goldring was inspired to write her book. How many stories are hidden in the befuddled minds of our elderly and would we? can we? believe the half of them? I love the way Eva acts up, sits in the home and completes her crossword puzzles and then deliberately muddles up the answers in order to give a semblance of being demented. Eva was a SOE operative and has lived with subterfuge all her life. It continues to the end and she has good reason. To discover these reasons, you will have to read the book for yourselves.
It would be easy to write a review of this brilliant book and give half the story away, but I shall not do that. Basically, the book deals with the aftermath of war. The way it destroys lives; the mental effects on people who were ordinary before these cataclysmic events. Eva is a disturbing woman – but we learn to condone her violence when we learn of the tragic events of her life. And we grow very fond of her. This is a book that tells more than one tale and I was constantly surprised. I loved the quintessential picture of a girl born into an upper-class English way of life (although she is of Polish descent). Her passion for her gardening and her country house, which “still frowned beneath its drapes of wisteria”, contrasted with the upheaval of war and the way she was drawn into a radical new lifestyle, which changed her forever. In her new roles of, firstly an SOE agent and later, working for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in post-war Germany, she learns about the “capacity for cruelty … always present in making, just hidden beneath a façade of civilisation.”
What else did I love about this book? The poignancy and beauty of the writing: the love letters Eva writes to her dead husband, the grief she experiences when she has to part with her baby, the wit of the author: the crossword puzzle clues and the titles of some of the chapters (“The Fox Cafe” – no spoilers: you will understand when you read the book!); the strong moral feelings that rights should be wronged: “There were thousands of these monsters [war criminals – sic] and only a tiny proportion is ever going to pay for their hideous crimes.” Eva says, “Money, land, possessions, they’re not important… Life is important…”
I learned so much from this book – about the “wretched aftermath” of the war and the plight of the displaced and the slave workers (Seven million slave workers brought into Germany from eastern Europe). At the same time, I was royally entertained and I will definitely read more by this author.

19 people found this helpful

sally whitfield

Extraordinary

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 September 2019

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This book was a exceptional read considering this was the authors first book. This story focuses on an elderly lady in a care home Mrs T C and takes you back to the 40's, 50's, up to the present day, she is a remarkable lady with a very intriguing and engrossing story which I found was expertly crafted and very interesting. But I didn't particularly like her I found her cold and I didn't agree with what she did although I can understand why. I was going to give this 4* but on reflection it didn't spoil this wonderful story, which has a very poignant ending.

17 people found this helpful

HelenMK

A Fascinating Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 October 2019

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I thoroughly enjoyed 'My Name is Eva', the debut novel by Suzanne Goldring, which opens with a seemingly harmless elderly woman, Mrs Evelyn Taylor-Clarke, marooned in Forest Lawns Care Home pretending to suffer from dementia. But Evelyn's mind is still razor sharp and she takes the reader on a rollercoaster journey back to World War II and its aftermath where she was Eva (and Evie) working in post-war Germany, initially with prisoners and later, in a resettlement camp for displaced people. A revenge story unfolds across multiple timelines between the past and the present. The book is gripping with various twists, some of which the reader can solve, though others are more subtle. What I particularly admired was Goldring's immaculate research into the Forbidden Village and the displaced persons' camps, and I was fascinated to learn about an aspect of post war reconstruction which was totally new to me.

11 people found this helpful

L Woodward

Gave up

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 January 2020

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I did not like this one little bit. The bits about period of old age and faked dementia felt ridiculous and disrespectful to those who have the condition. The rest did not flow or ring true and there was no depth of characters. I finally gave up at chapter 54! The events of that one chapter intoduced out if the blue and wrapped up in so few pages just made me despair. I am hard pushed to understand the 5 star reviews?? The description of this book as 'gripping and emotional' is beyond belief.

10 people found this helpful

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My Name Is Eva: An Absolutely Gripping and Emotional Historical Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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