Catherine Raynes: Nine Hidden Lives and Strangers in Time

Nine Hidden Lives by Robert Gold  

Secrets only survive in the dark 

When journalist Ben Harper is asked to help re-examine an unsolved murder case from thirty years ago, he immediately agrees. It's not just that the victim was also a journalist, murdered after she'd published a series of shocking interviews with victims of domestic abuse. It's also that he understands all too well the need of victim's daughter, Doctor Uma Jha, for answers. 

But it's not long before their investigation leads to threats being made on Uma's life. Ben needs to unravel this crime before it's too late, but instead he finds himself tangled in a web of lies and deception. After all, a crime like murder has implications for many people. 

People who have been keeping secrets for thirty years, and will do whatever it takes to protect them. 

  

Strangers in Time by David Baldacci  

Fourteen-year-old Charlie Matters is up to no good, but for a very good reason. Without parents, peerage, or merit, he steals what he needs, living day-to-day until he’s old enough to enlist to fight the Germans. After barely surviving the Blitz, Charlie knows there’s no telling when a falling bomb might end his life.   

Fifteen-year-old Molly Wakefield has just returned to a nearly unrecognizable London. One of millions of children to have been evacuated to the countryside Molly has been away from her home for nearly five years. Her return, however, is not the homecoming she’d hoped for as she’s confronted by a devastating reality: neither of her parents are there.   

Without guardians and stability, Charlie and Molly find an unexpected ally and protector in Ignatius Oliver, and solace at his bookshop, The Book Keep. Mourning the recent loss of his wife, Ignatius forms a kinship with both children, and in each other they rediscover the spirit of family each has lost.   

But Charlie’s escapades in the city have not gone unnoticed, and someone’s been following Molly since she returned to London. And Ignatius is harboring his own secrets, which could have terrible consequences for all of them.  
 
As bombs continue to bear down on the city, Charlie, Molly, and Ignatius learn that while the perils of war rage on, their coming together and trusting one another may be the only way for them to survive.    

  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to this Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at b It.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Is twenty to twelve, which means Catherine Rains, our book reviewer,
standing by with her picks for this weekend. Hey, Catherine,
Let's start off with Nine Hidden Lives, written by Robert Gold.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
So this story centers on the murder of a journalist,
a Koja, and she was killed thirty years previously, and
her killer has never been found, and she'd been working
on some cases and exposing some domestic abuse. And so
thirty years later her door, her daughter, who's now a
doctor and works as a GP, is determined to uncover

(00:47):
the truth and she en lists the help of an
investigative journalist, a guy called Ben Harper, and both live
in the town of Hadley. And it's quite packedless secrets
this town, and these residents add a real layer of intrigue.
And some are helpful and some are clearly hiding some things,
and some are people that you just really don't want
to meet. And so after all of these years, she

(01:09):
really firmly believes that someone must know what happened to
her mother. But people have been keeping secrets for so
long that now they'll do whatever they can to keep
themselves safe, and the more the two of them dig,
the more dangerous and threatening things become. And the first
half of the book almost begins quite slowly, and the
building of events and the characters and meeting those characters,

(01:33):
and when it all starts to meld together, all of
a sudden, all of the secrets are being revealed. And
it's a very cleverly potted tale as this whole story
melds together, and it's also about a reflection of past
events and the change life brings, and just the way
Robert Gold managed to tie all of their stories together
was very well done.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Nice, okay, cool, And it's Nine Hidden Lives by Robert Gold.
You've also read Strangers in Time by David Balbarci, so
this is a.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Real departure from his previous novels. He's normally more thriller
and set in modern time, and this one revolves around
the London Blitzeres of nineteen forty four, so you have
that backdrop of World War two German aircraft bombing London,
and he paints this picture of these unlikely people getting
together to help each other. And so one of those
characters is Charlie Matters, and he lives with his grandmother

(02:21):
and following the deaths of his parents, and so that
in this one room apartment without much food to survive,
Charlie's dropped out of school and he's stealing what he
can and he works jobs for a few shillings. And
then he's Molly Wakefield, who has been raised completely differently
in luxury, and she's returned from the countryside where her
parents had sent her years before, and when she returns home,

(02:42):
she finds only her nanny and no one really seems
to know where her parents are, and so they end
up meeting each other. And these two teens are thrown
together with another person, a bookstore owner called Ignatius O
Oliver who's grieving the loss of his wife, and they
all need to help each other, but they suspect each
other of different things. And with these bombs raining down

(03:04):
night after night, it's not just about the war. They
have an adventure in there's mystery and heartbreak and how
these people from incredibly different backgrounds and this unamenable hardship
that they're going through and that loss and the tragedy
can help each other. And Baldoucci is particularly good at
creating really good characters that are complex and vulnerable but
at the same time unraveling their secrets to the reader.

(03:26):
And it's just it was brilliant storytelling and it's well
worth a.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Read, so good. Thank you. That's Strangers in Time by
David Baldachi, Catherine's first pick nine Hidden Lives by Robert Gold,
and all the details for both of those books will
of course be on the News Talk's EDB website for.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
More from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live to
News Talks EDB from nine am Saturday, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.