The Christmas Lights - Karen Swan
December 2018, and free-spirited Influencers Bo Loxley and her partner Zac are living a life of wanderlust, travelling the globe and sharing their adventures with their millions of fans. Booked to spend Christmas in the Norwegian fjords, they set up home in a remote farm owned by enigmatic mountain guide Anders and his fierce grandmother Signy. Surrounded by snowy peaks and frozen falls, everything should be perfect. But the camera can lie and with every new post, the ‘perfect’ life Zac and Bo are portraying is diverging from the truth. Something Bo can’t explain is wrong at the very heart of their lives and Anders is the only person who’ll listen.
June 1936, and fourteen-year old Signy is sent with her sister and village friends to the summer pastures to work as milkmaids, protecting the herd that will sustain the farm through the long, winter months. But miles from home and away from the safety of their families, threat begins to lurk in friendly faces . . .
The mountains keep secrets - Signy knows this better than anyone - and as Bo’s life begins to spiral she is forced, like the old woman before her, to question who is friend and who is foe.
Review
Set on a breathtaking Norwegian Fjord farm, a vast remote location with no luxuries - Perfect for professional wanderlusters Bo and Zac who crave cultural authenticity on their travels which they share with their almost 10 million Instagram followers. The farm is owned by mountain guide Anders and his grandmother Signy who soon been to see the cracks in the 'picture perfect lives' their guests portray to the world, but no one is perfect and they too have secrets. As their stories entwine love, lies and truths are discovered but who deserves a second chance?
The tale is told between Bo's present day winter Norway and Signy's 1936 summer Norway. I found the parallels between the two time frames intriguing as both females are experiencing uneasiness and are fearfulness of certain dangers. Signy is strong and fierce character with a wonderful sense of humour evident throughout the book whereas Bo is struggling to find her true sense of self and is running away from and hiding various issues. She soon begins to crave some private moments away from the public eye and the 'brand' that Zac and their relationship has turned into.
Swan's glorious descriptions of this frozen wilderness, the vast plains of snow, the violent waterfalls and the stunning Northern Lights will have you dreaming of Norwegian holidays in no time. Crammed with love, heartbreak and powerful secrets this Christmas story with substance not to be missed!
Thanks to NetGalley & Pan for sending me this in exchange for an open and honest review.
The tale is told between Bo's present day winter Norway and Signy's 1936 summer Norway. I found the parallels between the two time frames intriguing as both females are experiencing uneasiness and are fearfulness of certain dangers. Signy is strong and fierce character with a wonderful sense of humour evident throughout the book whereas Bo is struggling to find her true sense of self and is running away from and hiding various issues. She soon begins to crave some private moments away from the public eye and the 'brand' that Zac and their relationship has turned into.
Swan's glorious descriptions of this frozen wilderness, the vast plains of snow, the violent waterfalls and the stunning Northern Lights will have you dreaming of Norwegian holidays in no time. Crammed with love, heartbreak and powerful secrets this Christmas story with substance not to be missed!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
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