Drumbeats
It’s 1965 and 18 year old Jess escapes her stifling English background for a gap year in Ghana, West Africa. But it’s a time of political turbulence across the region. Fighting to keep her young love who she believes is waiting back in England, she’s thrown into the physical dangers of civil war, tragedy, and the emotional conflict of a disturbing new relationship. So why do the drumbeats haunt her dreams?
This is a rite of passage story which takes the reader hand in hand with Jess on her journey towards growing into the adult world.
Drumbeats Purchase Link Amazon
My review....
I have just finished the final page of this book and raced to pick up my pen to start this review. What a book! Crafted to perfection with poetic and descriptive language that I fell in love with. Julia Ibbotson certainly has a way with words.....the Ghana landscape was brought to life before my eyes and the story line picked me up and transported me to another life filled with hope and uncertainty in equal measures.
Jess is the perfect character that commanded my attention throughout and I marvelled at her bravery and courage as she negotiated life in Cape Coast. The difficult living conditions and heart wrenching situations she found herself in created a captivating story and I hung onto each and every word. Julia painted a picture that was descriptive and emotive in nature and I particularly loved the haunting rhythms of the drumbeats that seemed to speak to Jess with echoed warnings of what was to come or to enchant and lull her to sleep. Their rhythmical beats wove through the story line in a rich tapestry to create a poetic cultural layer to the story.
Drumbeats is a story that is crafted to perfection and one that I didn't want to end. The historical moments threaded throughout were extremely well researched and helped create a well-rounded story that is both emotional and inspirational. I couldn't recommend this book enough and can't wait to read the next two installments in the trilogy.
The Drumbeats Trilogy
The love of a woman and the story of a country.
It’s 1965 and 18 year old Jess escapes her stifling English background for a gap year in Ghana, West Africa. Over the next three evocative novels, follow her journey as she encounters new cultures and loves in this stirring series.
The Drumbeats Trilogy is a passionate saga of love, betrayal and second chances – and of one woman’s bid to reclaim her self-belief and trust. A feel-good up-lit story of a woman’s strength and spirit rising above adversity.
Author Bio –
Award-winning author Julia Ibbotson is fascinated by the medieval world and concepts of time travel. She read English at Keele University, England (after a turbulent but exciting gap year in Ghana, West Africa) specialising in medieval language, literature and history, and has a PhD in socio-linguistics. She wrote her first novel at 10 years of age, but became a school teacher, then a university lecturer and researcher. Finding Jess (2018) is her sixth book and the last of the Drumbeats trilogy (which begins and ends in Ghana). Apart from insatiable reading, she loves travelling the world, singing in choirs, swimming, yoga and walking in the countryside in England and Madeira where she and her husband divide their time.
Acclaimed author of:
Drumbeats (2015), the first of the trilogy set in 1960s Ghana: sometimes you have to escape to find yourself.
Walking in the Rain (2016), the second in the trilogy set in 1970s and 1980s England: never give up on your dreams.
Finding Jess (2018), the last of the trilogy set in 1990s England and Ghana: can the past ever be left behind?
Also by Julia Ibbotson:
A Shape on the Air (2017): historical (Dark Ages/early medieval) time-slip romance. Two women 1,500 years apart, with one aim: to reclaim their dreams and fight the dangers that threaten them both across the ages …
The Old Rectory: Escape to a Country Kitchen, (first published 2011, rereleased 2017) a feel-good story of the renovation of a Victorian rectory interwoven with period recipes to feed the soul, all from the rectory kitchen.
S.C.A.R.S (first published 2012, rereleased 2016) (children’s novel): a troubled boy slips through a tear in the fabric of the universe into a parallel medieval fantasy world of knights, dragons, and a quest for the triumph of Good over Evil. But can he save himself?
