12 Jul 2025

The dandelion years (by Erica James)

The dandelion years (by Erica James)
(Amazon UK link)
It’s over nine years since I acquired and read ‘The dandelion years’ by Erica James. I had no memory of the story at all, or any of the people, so it was definitely time for a re-read. 

The main character is a young woman called Saskia, who is celebrating her 32nd birthday as the book opens. Not that she’s out partying or drinking. She lives at home with her father and two grandfathers, and has done so since her mother and two grandmothers died in a car crash, when she was ten. 

The grief never left her, and for a while she became somewhat reclusive. But her grandfathers educated her at home when she started to hate her school, and she has turned into an intelligent, free-thinking and confident woman. She recently ended a relationship that her grandfathers weren’t too happy about. Not that they are over-protective: they would love her to find someone to love. But he didn’t seem like the right person.

Saskia’s father Ralph owns an antiquarian book shop, and Saskia works in a specially-built studio at home, restoring old books to something like their original splendour. She’s clearly very talented at this, and quite a perfectionist. She sometimes helps in her father’s shop, but her passion is book restoration. And she’s very happy with the status quo. 

Inevitably things change. Ralph is contacted by a woman he used to be in love with, and they agree to resume a friendship… and possibly something more. And Saskia meets a man called Matthew, who has recently lost a dear and elderly friend called Jacob. He has inherited the house, and an extensive - and valuable - book collection. Saskia goes with Ralph to start valuing the books.

Around the same time, Saskia discovers an old hand-written diary tucked inside a large family Bible, amongst some books that have been delivered. She starts reading, and is hooked…

Much of the novel then works in a dual-timeline way, as Saskia struggles through trying to decipher writing that’s hard to read. But the story is so interesting, that she keeps going. It’s written by a shy young man who is chosen to work at Bletchley Park, during World War II, attempting to decipher messages from the German government. It was very secretive work there and nobody was supposed to talk about it or what they did, even amongst themselves. And this shy young man falls in love.

It’s a beautifully written story, clearly well-researched and demonstrating some of the privations of war. The author of the old diary is billetted with a most unpleasant woman who is a terrible cook, and who doesn’t allow her lodgers to heat their rooms or have hot baths. And it’s a gentle love story at the same time, told from the perspective of someone who cannot believe that a beautiful, outgoing girl could ever be interested in him. And unfortunately, her snooty family agree. 

But we only learn what happens to these young people a chapter at a time, as the main story continues. It’s primarily character-based, which is what I like about Erica James’ novels. She brings people to life, and I find I care about them. When tragedies happen - and there are two in the course of the novel, in addition to the ones that took place a couple of decades earlier - I could begin to feel for them, and thought the descriptions of their emotions were sensitively and helpfully written.

Definitely recommended if you like character-based women’s fiction that’s not too predictable, and which has something a bit deeper than some. By the time I was half-way through, I didn’t want to put this down. 

Review copyright 2025 Sue's Book Reviews

No comments: