I was SO excited to receive an email from Hayley at Simon & Schuster inviting me to view The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey! I can’t wait to read it!

I absolutely LOVED Letters To The Lost and have just realised that this was my first ever Netgalley read, before I even started my blog!! I’ve also just noticed that it was published four years ago today! Happy Book Birthday, Iona 🙂

So, I thought I’d re-share my review with you all now. If you haven’t read this amazing book then I highly recommend it to you. It has stayed with me ever since I read it four years ago and I talk about it often.

I can honestly say I’ve loved this book!
This is a powerful love story and one that I think will stay with me. I found myself thinking about Stella and Dan (and Jess and Will) when I wasn’t reading, wondering what might happen to them next. I found myself eager to get home and read another chapter or two.
I could almost feel Stella’s and Dan’s pain when they were unable to be together and I was desperate for them to have a happy ending. Obviously I don’t condone adultery, but you can’t help who you fall far and no-one deserves to live in an unhappy, abusive marriage. It is also sad that Charles felt unable to be who he really was, but then life was very different in the 40’s. It certainly highlights how different life is in today’s, generally, more accepting society.
I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Stella and Dan in the 40’s along with getting to know Jess and Will as they learn all about Stella and Dan, through their letters, in 2011 and discover each other in the process. The relationship that develops between Jess and Dan, as they try to find Stella, is also very special.
This story is a rollercoaster of emotions. With loveable and some not so lovable characters. It made me smile a lot. It also made me cry and it’s been a long time since a book did that!

Winner of the Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2016

1943, in the ruins of Blitzed London…

Stella Thorne and Dan Rosinski meet by chance and fall in love by accident. Theirs is a reluctant, unstoppable affair in which all the odds are stacked against them: she is newly married, and he is an American bomber pilot whose chance of survival is just one in five.

… He promised to love her forever

Seventy years later Dan makes one final attempt to find the girl he has never forgotten, and sends a letter to the house where they shared a brief yet perfect happiness. But Stella has gone, and the letter is opened by Jess, a young girl hiding from problems of her own. And as Jess reads Dan’s words, she is captivated by the story of a love affair that burned so bright and dimmed too soon. Can she help Dan find Stella before it is too late?

Now forever is finally running out.

The Glittering Hour…..

The epic and long-awaited new romance from the author of Letters to the Lost, winner of the RNA Award.

Selina Lennox is a Bright Young Thing. Her life is a whirl of parties and drinking, pursued by the press and staying just the right side of scandal.

Lawrence Weston is a penniless painter who stumbles into Selina’s orbit one night and can never let her go.

Spanning two decades and a seismic shift in British history as World War II approaches, this is an epic novel of passion, heartache and loss.

Praise for Iona Grey’s storytelling:
‘Captivating characters, convincing and compelling’ Fern Britten
‘An epic story of love and loss that will break your heart’ Santa Montefiore
‘A beautiful, tender story from a naturally gifted storyteller. A wonderful debut novel and a real weepy!’ Lucinda Riley
‘A captivating and deliciously romantic tale of life-lasting love that will tear your heart in two’ Rachel Hore
‘Extraordinarily vivid, compelling and beautifully told’ Miranda Dickinson
‘Sweeping, wonderful and truly, truly romantic’ Julie Cohen
‘A moving period love story’ Sunday Mirror
‘A beautiful love story’ Prima
‘A touching story that swept me along to its end’ Woman & Home
‘Tender, heart-rending and utterly compelling’ Good Housekeeping