Official Review: Sarah's Dream by Eileen Bird
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Official Review: Sarah's Dream by Eileen Bird
Sarah's Dream by Eileen Bird is a historical fiction story that follows Sarah, who is ready to sacrifice anything to marry the love of her life, William Lewis. Her dreams come true in that regard, and she has two children, Edward and Sally, but William is a troubled man and does not love her. She has to endure emotional abuse, being forced to cut off her close friends, and loneliness through six years of marriage. Eventually, William abandons her, sells their house without her consent, and moves away with another woman. Sarah is forced to take her chances in the streets while caring for her children. She has the chance to experience love again when Joe Micklethwaite takes her in. How different will this be from her previous relationship?
The story is set in England from 1904 to 1918, and the author does well to give readers a good feel of that era. A few details are included to paint pictures of the places, modes of transportation, and events that occur throughout the story. The author is not overly descriptive in her writing, however. The story also explores the discrimination of Jews that was evident around that period, and misspelled words are employed in the dialogues to give readers a feel of the characters' accents. We also get a glimpse of how the war, which affected some of the characters, unfolded in that time. The story's setting is well executed and is my favorite aspect of the book.
The plot is also interesting and explores a few other intriguing themes. Besides emotional abuse, we see how Sarah's son, Edward, picks up on his father's unfair treatment of Sarah and how it affects him negatively. There is also a lot of depth to the characters in the story, especially William, as I could see how his relationship with his family shaped the man he became. Also, Sarah's Dream is an exceptionally well-edited book. I didn't find any errors while reading, and, besides a moment of trying to decipher a misspelled word in the dialogue, my reading flow was maintained throughout.
On a negative note, I would have liked the author to have spent more time narrating the harsh experiences Sarah suffered. Almost throughout the story, it felt like she got the solutions to her problems quite easily. There was a scary twist that involved her son and would have been a difficult situation for her, but besides that, I could not connect to the issues she faced, as I always felt that a solution was nearby. In addition, there are a few unnecessary dialogues that do not advance or add anything to the story, and the author's use of misspelled words in dialogues is not consistent, especially in dialogues involving characters like Caitlin McGuire, Sarah's friend.
All things considered, Sarah's Dream was a light, interesting read, but it wasn't properly executed in some aspects. Therefore, I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. I mentioned a few issues above, and the book's ending was slightly confusing, but the setting and character depth convinced me against rating the book any lower. Readers who enjoy historical fiction novels may enjoy reading this book.
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Sarah's Dream
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The misspelled words you mentioned were what I considered to be that particular dialect of the character. It was interesting to me, but it did make it really hard to follow. I felt like I had to interpret as I read.
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