Customer Reviews

Playing with the Moon

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

I'm so happy I bought this book. It had everything I look for in a novel: terrific writing, intriguing characters, plot twists that work, beautiful passages, a genuine mystery, and a lot more.

I can't believe this is Eliza Graham's debut. More please. Yes, walk don't run to the bookstore or here to Amazon and get this novel now. I loved it!

Though I did not intend to, I read Playing With the Moon in one sitting. I'll read just one more chapter, I kept telling myself, but I was hooked and kept turning the pages. I had to find out how the two stories tied together, and tie together they did. Ms. Graham did a superb job of bringing together the past and the present.

This is an impressive debut by an author whose next book I eagerly await.

Mesmerizing story with two plot lines, expertly woven together by the author. Sixty years separates the action and each story has a mystery to it. I love WW II era books and this one is haunting and beautiful. Sign me up for whatever Graham writes next.

I loved Playing With The Moon! It's a beautifully written story about dealing with loss, grief, and, ultimately healing - told through the story of new friendship between Minna and Felix, 60 years apart in age but brought together by the discovery of a dead, black U.S. GI from World War II.

Eliza Graham's powerful writing drew me in from the start. I was immediately hooked, wanting to discover the whole story behind the mystery detailed on the first pages and not revealed to the very end - after a couple of shocking plot twists. Ms. Graham took me on a journey that spanned 50 years, adeptly and seamlessly moving from WWII-era to present day. I loved this book and can't wait to read more of her work.

A beautifully written novel with images as vivid as a well-drawn portrait. The characters and their stories stayed with me even when I was forced to set down the book to attend to "real life." This is a mystery with a heart, and well worth the read.