The Dark Horizon by Liz Harris – review

The Dark Horizon is a poignant love story full of drama and intrigue set between the wars.

When Joseph Linford meets his new daughter in law Lily, he is utterly convinced his beloved son Robert has made a dreadful mistake that will cause him great future unhappiness. A dynamic and successful patriarch, Joseph tells an unpardonable lie, supported by other members of the family. Heart-breaking repercussions follow for years to come. Finally, the family is forced to confront the secrets, lies and an impossible situation if any of them are to secure a chance of happiness.

The characters and their dilemmas were well drawn. Initially, I felt sorry for Joseph’s daughter in law, working class Lily, as she struggled to find acceptance within the Linford family. The injustice of Joseph’s lie was reprehensible and the result truly terrible. As the story unfolds, Lily’s hard work and determination to overcome her despair develops her strength of character and leads her to an unexpected and successful career.

This page-turning family drama has been carefully researched and brought to life by the details that capture the atmosphere and time period. I particularly enjoyed the vivid glimpse of what life was like for the immigrant Jewish community in New York as a strong contrast to everyday life for the middle class Linford family living in Oxford. It was also interesting to have a behind-the-scenes look at Joseph’s house building business and how it adapted to the changing social requirements of the British populace.

I loved The Dark Horizon, which is the first in the Linford series, and has left me eager to read the next. I suspect the stories of other members of the Linford family will have their own secrets and dilemmas!

I received a copy of The Dark Horizon from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. 

Buy The Dark Horizon here

2 thoughts on “The Dark Horizon by Liz Harris – review”

  1. Thank you so much for a really lovely, review, Charlotte, and for inviting me to be a guest on your blog. I found the period between the wars absolutely fascinating. It was a period during which the conventions of society changed, but many of those changes were still in their infancy. An additional pleasure was that in setting a part of the story in the US, I had an excuse to return to New York, a city I love and have visited on a number of occasions. This time, though, I found myself exploring for the purposes of the story, a part of New York that had been hitherto unknown to me. I hope that those who read the novel will enjoy living for the duration of the novel in that interesting period of history, just as I did while I was writing it.

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    • This is a period of history that interests me because it’s not so long ago and yet a world away from life today. I particularly enjoyed your description of life in a New York tenement block.

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