Customer Reviews

Fallam's Secret: A Novel

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Then I started reading this book, I was sceptical. Can this author really write a good time travel? Yes she can, this book is wonderful and it has the right combination of history, adventure, time travel and of course romance and the ending promises (hopefully!) that there might be another book!! This book goes directly to my keeper shelf! Thanks to the author for this terrific reading experience!

Wow! I didn't even mean to find this in our local bookstore. There was one copy in the way back and it had me interested by the cover. Its wonderfully written with action, adventure, and love. I love how you find out about the main characters life and how she became the way she is before she starts out on her adventure. It also shows that just because you are a 50+ woman, doesn't mean you forget about how powerful love can be. I thought it was slow at first but it really picked up. If you are in the mood for witty and action packed (at least 2/3 packed) book, this one is for you. My review might not be as great as the others here, but I really enjoyed this book, take a chance and i hope you do too.

Yes - this book is like The Outlander series in the theory of "falling through stones" into another era - but the writing is different, the story line different - and both are imaginative and fun. Read The Outlander series first - and then read this with the idea of having a fun read. Yes - she left it open for a sequel when, at the end, the skeleton hides something other than the celtic cross - but isn't that what good books do - take you down more paths and leave story lines open? Take a chance and read this - even if you get it at the library. It is worth the time and you will be rewarded with wishing time travel were a possibility for yourself.

I am usually a big fan of Denise Giardina..."Storming Heaven", "The Unquiet Earth", and "Saints and Villians" are all among my favorite books. Fallam's Secret appears to be a quickly slapped together story without much of an ending (she appears to be leaving the door open for sequels). Denise also tries to weave in her usual "isms" into the story - Environmentalism, Socialism, Feminism, but their role in the plot is uneven and often forced. For example, as a native West Virginia, I am not a big fan of surface/strip mining...but the inclusion of it in the book did nothing to further the plot or to explore the issue.
Worst of all, her character development is way off this book. Denise's strength in writing has always been great characters: believable, well defined and explored. At the end of the Fallam's Secret, I found myself not caring at all what happened to the characters (and definitely not craving a sequel).
I can't recommend this book (unless perhaps you wait for the paperback and read it at the beach).

Giardina is a favorite author, having written on a number of fascinating topics in her novels. Fallam's Secret takes a different approach, one that involves wormholes and time travel with a new twist, given recent scientific advances.

When Carlo Falcone comes to West Virginia in 1918, he is poverty-stricken. After WWII he returns to West Virginia, purchases a plot of land on Fallam Mountain, where he builds his family home in the style of his beloved Italian countryside. One Christmas Eve, a tragic fire destroys their home, killing Carlo's wife and five of their children; only Carlo and the baby, Lydde, survive. The mother's body is found in the ashes, but the other bodies are never discovered and there is no reasonable answer to the absence of the children's bones. Consequently, Carlo spends the rest of his life searching for his children, leaving Lydde to be raised by her aunt and uncle.

Lydde grows, attends school and graduates from college, where she develops a lifelong love of Shakespearean Theater. Lydde is an actor, living in London, until she reaches a certain age, at which time she takes a position as a teacher. Her Uncle John begs Lydde to return home, hinting of an important discovery there, but unwilling to divulge the details prematurely. Unfortunately, she doesn't come home until her uncle's funeral.

Lydde searches through John's personal papers until she finds a key and specific directions for passing through an opening in a cave John stumbled across years earlier. Following the very specific directions, Lydde falls through time like Alice down the rabbit hole, turning up in a village in 1657 England, where she meets her Uncle John, alive. Surprisingly, both are younger, Lydde in her early twenties. John explains about "wormholes" in space and "thin places" where one dimension may be accessible to another, all explained by quantum physics and imagination. No longer wild theories, such possibilities are seriously considered in the world of physics.

The story is believable through the first half of the book, but once Lydde finds herself in 17th century England, the tale turns into a fairy tale. Lydde's adventures work well enough until morphing into a romance novel when she meets the man of her dreams, a sort of Robinhood redux. Thereafter she enters into a passionate, fated romance, one made possible by the gift of a younger, fresher physical body. Lydde makes a critical decision about traveling through time and the future of her love affair, but the story is, at best, formulaic.

The plot device is not as interesting as I have come to expect from the accomplished Giardina, although historically accurate. The premise is interesting: time travel, wormholes and contiguous worlds. Still, the author offers no conclusions, giving the reader, instead, a simple tale of romance and escapism. Luan Gaines/2004.

I stumbled onto this book quite by accident. Boy am I glad I did! What an excellent book! Good plot, story line, believable characters and an interesting fleshing out of theories involving time/space continuum! The story line ended in such a way that a sequel is a possibility! Being that it was published in 2003, maybe there's still hope for a follow up; she can't leave it with the skeleton still in the cave!!! I just can't imagine them getting so close and then failing. On the edge of your seat page turner! ENJOY

I finished this book and the only reason that I finished it was because my library was closed. This book waivers across too many genres. It is about time travel and explores the ideas of paradox, wormholes, and the math involved. But I have just gone as deep as the book did in these areas. Then it changes to a fantasy book, then a 18th century religious-political book, then finally a love book. At no point does this book really suck, but at no point does it really stand out.
I found that it read really slow and at the end of the book it sounded like Ms. Giardina got tired of the characters and finished the book.
I am not angry that I read the book but I also cannot suggest the book to anyone.

I liked Ms. Giardina's story. Set in south-central West Virginia, Ms. Giardina weave the history of the area with the local roadside tourist attractions and creates an entertaining story. Lyddie, with her obscure beginnings, returns home when her beloved uncle (and guardian) dies. While going through his belongings, she finds a key to a red door, located in a local tourist attraction. As she explores the underground cavern, and yes, is transported in time to 17th century England, she unlocks the secrets of her family and her passions.

Appalachia has a mysticism that appeals to many people. Fallam's Secret tells a story that contains the mysticism, the grit, and the integrity of an isolated group of people.

I picked up this book from the free shelf at our local library. The only reason I snagged it was because it mentioned time travel. So I was incredibly surprised to discover a novel of beauty, sorrow and depth that reminded me of a mix between the Time Traveler's Wife and Robin Hood. This is not a romance. It is a drama about a woman who lives an empty life as an actress, then gets a 2nd chance to live those years again, in a different century. There is a lot of fun time travel bits with her and her uncle crossing into 1657, and then people from that era crossing into the modern world. And there is always the underlying question in the book of if it really is the past, or if it is just an alternate world, since many people from our current world appear in the 1657 world. But regardless of what time or world she lives in, Lydde struggles with the same issues of Faith, of gender roles, and of Love. I thought the issue of personal faith was addressed beautifully in several areas of the story. And the ending, the last few paragraphs alone, was fabulous! You are left wondering who the skeleton in the cave really is - what metal did the uncle find? Was it Lydde's ring? Was it the lighter? And if it was Lydde's ring, does that mean that she died and Noah wore her ring on the chain with his cross? Or was the ring on the skeleton's finger, and that means Lydde wore Noah's neckace? I loved the open ending, although I hated it as well!

As I started reading this novel, I was struck by the many similarities between Fallam's Secret and The Outlander Series by Diana Galbaldon. Given the choice, I would strongly urge someone to read The Outlander series instead. As a reviewer before noted, Diana Gabaldon's books really give you a feel for the past and more insight into the characters. Fallam's Secret so closely resembles The Outlander series, that I was able to predict many scenes and the end of the book. If you have already read Diana Gabaldon's books, go ahead and read this and see if you come to the same conclusions.