Playing with the Moon [Hardcover]

Eliza Graham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2007

Shattered by a recent bereavement, Minna and husband Tom retreat to an isolated village on the Dorset coast, seeking the solitude that will allow them to cope with their loss and rebuild their foundering marriage. Walking on the beach one day, they unearth a human skeleton. It is a discovery which will plunge Minna into a mystery which will consume her for months to come. The remains are soon identified as those of Private Lew Campbell, a black American GI who, it seems, drowned during a wartime exercise in the area half a century before. Growing increasingly preoccupied with the dead soldier’s fate, Minna befriends a melancholy elderly woman, Felix, who lived in the village during the war. As Minna coaxes Felix’s story from her, it becomes clear that the old woman knows more about the dead GI than she initially let on.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Playing with the Moon is Eliza Graham's debut novel.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 282 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan UK (June 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0230528872
• ISBN-13: 978-0230528871
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,410,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Linking time and people, July 22, 2008

By 

Lance Mitchell (Hampshire, UK, Northern Hemisphere, Planet Earth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing with the Moon (Paperback)

This book is based on the truth of what was happening in southern England in the build up to the Allied invasion of France in the Second World War. It also plays on the connections between those times and the early 21st century. These connections are built on the characters who have grown from the children of the earlier period to complex adults, who have harboured their personal secrets through all of those decades.

The opening chapter commences with the discovery of the skeleton of a GI who lost his life before the invasion started. But the mystery around how he died and who, if anyone, witnessed his untimely death, is something which is explored as the chapters switch back and forth between the time zones. The couple who discover the bones on the beach have their own problems, and their stress adds to the mounting tension that links the characters who have survived the fifty-something years since those horrible events.

The threads, as you would expect, all come together in the end, but I found that as I read a chapter in one time zone, I couldn't wait to get back to the last, where I knew I would find myself in the next. Confused? You won't be if you take the trouble to pick up this book and read it. It is fairly easy to follow, I promise you, and it was a pleasure to read. I shall definitely be first in line for Eliza Graham's next book. I can't wait!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars STELLAR WRITING!, July 3, 2007

By 

Carrie Kabak (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing with the Moon (Hardcover)

An intriguing opening that keeps you hooked from then on--PLAYING WITH THE MOON is a very difficult book to part with for too long.

"I push past his restraining arm and see what he's dug up: a long white object. A bone... it's a human leg bone. Tom digs a little more and exposes a row of ivory-coloured arches. A ribcage."

The writing is stellar, the prose vivid, and the atmosphere perfect as we seamlessly switch between the present and the nineteen forties. The players in this poignant tale will stay with you for some time. I absolutely loved it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing story, October 17, 2007

By 

K. Ringstrom - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Playing with the Moon (Hardcover)

This book is a story of loss, and how we can't overcome it unless we face it. The story weaves between both timelines: the modern-day Minna and Felix grappling with their own ghosts, and Felix as a girl in a tiny village that must be evacauted so soldiers can practice landing on the beach. The characters are engrossing, the story is rich, layered and developed and the writing is graceful. This is a wonderful debut and I can't wait to read more.