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    300 Days of Sun: A Novel
    300 Days of Sun: A Novel
    300 Days of Sun: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    300 Days of Sun: A Novel

    Written by Deborah Lawrenson

    Narrated by Nicole Poole and Fiona Hardingham

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Combining the atmosphere of Jess Walters’ Beautiful Ruins with the intriguing historical backstory of Christina Baker Kline’s The Orphan Train, Deborah Lawrenson’s mesmerizing novel transports readers to a sunny Portuguese town with a shadowy past—where two women, decades apart, are drawn into a dark game of truth and lies that still haunts the shifting sea marshes.

    Traveling to Faro, Portugal, journalist Joanna Millard hopes to escape an unsatisfying relationship and a stalled career. Faro is an enchanting town, and the seaside views are enhanced by the company of Nathan Emberlin, a charismatic younger man. But behind the crumbling facades of Moorish buildings, Joanna soon realizes, Faro has a seedy underbelly, its economy compromised by corruption and wartime spoils. And Nathan has an ulterior motive for seeking her company: he is determined to discover the truth involving a child’s kidnapping that may have taken place on this dramatic coastline over two decades ago.

    Joanna’s subsequent search leads her to Ian Rylands, an English expat who cryptically insists she will find answers in The Alliance, a novel written by American Esta Hartford. The book recounts an American couple’s experience in Portugal during World War II, and their entanglements both personal and professional with their German enemies. Only Rylands insists the book isn’t fiction, and as Joanna reads deeper into The Alliance, she begins to suspect that Esta Hartford’s story and Nathan Emberlin’s may indeed converge in Faro—where the past not only casts a long shadow but still exerts a very present danger.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateApr 12, 2016
    ISBN9780062446138
    Author

    Deborah Lawrenson

    Deborah Lawrenson studied English at Cambridge University and worked as a journalist in London. She is married with a daughter, and lives in Kent, England. Deborah’s previous novels include The Lantern and The Sea Garden.

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    Reviews for 300 Days of Sun

    3.5/5

    39 ratings6 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Journalist Joanna Millard goes to Faro, Portugal to escape a relationship and a career that are both going nowhere. She meets Nathan Emberlin in a language class and is charmed by the younger man and his easy manner. But Nathan confides that he is really interested in a decades old child kidnapping, and Joanna gets caught up in helping him. Soon they are in danger of coming afoul of the criminal element and powerful political influences. This started out slowly but picked up steam as small revelations led to bigger discoveries. A significant clue is a 1954 novel written by Esta Hartford, that purportedly described true events during World War II, though the names of the main characters were changed. Lawrenson interrupts Joanna and Nathan’s story arc to give the reader Hartford’s novel. I found this technique of parallel story lines interesting but sometimes jarring. Still, this technique kept this reader in some suspense and turning pages, as slowly pieces fell into place. I virtually flew the last 100 pages. Others have commented on Lawrenson’s ability to bring the landscape and culture of Portugal alive, and I have to agree with those reviewers. I’ve been to Portugal and found Lawrenson’s descriptions vivid and true to my own memories
    • 5/5
      I love finding a novel that focuses on an aspect of World War II that I am not familiar with. In the present timeline, Nathan enlists the help of a reporter to delve into the mystery surrounding his adoption as a child. The World War II timeline centers on Portugal as the last refuge for Jews and citizens of neutral countries fleeing in advance of the German Army. Do you remember that Lisbon was the desired destination of all the characters in the movie Casablanca? Yes, there is mystery, there is romance, there is history, and of course, there are also spies! The story drew me in from the beginning, and I'm eager to read another book by Lawrenson.
    • 4/5
      Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This novel takes place in a small Potuguese town with a past that is questionable and a story about events decades apart. This was a great mystery but at times a bit slow which is why the three stars! The story alternates between present day and World War Il. Joanna, a journalist who is in Portugal trying to escape a failed relationship meets Nathan in a language school where they are both trying to learn Portuguese. Nathan enlists Joanna in trying to find out who his real parents are after recently finding out that he is adopted. There begins the mystery and intrigue as they delve into the past. The beautiful setting of Portugal was vividly described and made me want to travel to Portugal.
    • 4/5
      This novel takes place in faro and the Algreave area of Portugal. Joanna travels there to take a language course. She meets a fellow student Nathan who then involves her in a mystery about his life. He wants to find out if he was an abducted child. So the novel follows their quest.The search leads them to an expat who suggests they read a fiction novel that really is about the families they are researching.Everything comes together in the end. I enjoyed this novel mainly as it was so descriptive of Portugal now and in WW ll,as described in the novel in the novel. A good read.
    • 4/5
      I became quite caught up in this one, a story within a story about events decades apart. In the current story, Jo comes to Faro, Portugal to escape a relationship with someone who wanted more than she could give. A journalist by trade, she enrolls in a language course where she mitts Josh, a young man who wants Joanna to use her journalistic skills to help him uncover the secrets of his parentage. During the course of their investigation she meets and older man, Ian, who tells her to read a book written about the second World War, called The Alliance.The setting attracted me, have not read many books set in Portugal and knew little about its role during the war. A hotbed of journalists, Nazi agents and black marketers converged in this country, the last bastion of freedom for those who wanted to escape the Nazi terror. A thrilling roller coaster of a ride it was easy for me to become involved in both parts of the story. Likable characters, a love story and some unknown history kept me fascinated. At books end, the author's note tells exactly what was true or not.ARC from publisher.
    • 3/5
      The author, Deborah Lawrenson, set this novel in the beautiful scenic backdrop Faro, Portugal. Our protagonist, Joanna Millard, is a journalist. She’s taking time off and running from a broken relationship. While in Portugal, she’s studying Portuguese at a local Language School. One of the other English students, Nathan Emberlin befriends her. A younger guy. She assumes he’s a party guy and not much more, but then he approaches her to help him with some research and everything about Nathan seems to change. He wants her to find out about a man he knows as Terry Jackson. In addition, he needs to understand more about a child who was kidnapped here more than two decades prior.After a bit of research into local news archives, she connects with Ian Rylands, a historian. He provides her with a book, The Alliance written by American Esta Hartford in the late forties. Ian leads Joanna to believe that the story written as fiction is actually true. The Alliance related the experience of a couple and their association with Germany during WWII. This all seemed far-fetched from the information she was seeking. Could it all be connected?Because of the introduction to The Alliance, 300 Days of Sun actually became two books – a story within a story. I hadn’t expected this and would rather have had our protagonist, Joanna, summarize it as it related to her research. The beginning of this novel was most interesting and moved at a rather quick pace. The sideline into The Alliance drew away from the plot and slowed the story down. It’s clear the author did due diligence in researching Portugal’s past as it connected to WWII giving the reader a realistic feel — yet the story itself is pure fiction. Rating: 3 out of 5.