Sleeping Through War by Jackie Carreira @matadorbooks @rararesources #BookReview

Happy Sunday all! Hope you’re having a lovely weekend!

Delighted to be on the blog tour and share with you my review for this book that was both beautiful and eye-opening. Many thanks to Rachel for my invitation and to Jackie Carreira for her wonderful stories!💕

It is May 1968. Students are rioting, civil rights are being fought and died for, nuclear bombs are being tested, and war is raging in Vietnam. For three ordinary women in Lisbon, London and Washington life must go on as usual. For them, just to survive is an act of courage. How much has really changed in 50 years?

My Thoughts

Poignant! Tumultuous! Important!

1968: both Martin Luther King and Robert F Kennedy are assassinated, Man orbits the moon for the first time, and the Vietnam war rages on… categorized as one of the most tumultuous years in our history… and as an American who was not born until the last two months of the 60s, I’ve never given any thought to the fact that other countries had things going on during this decade… in my defense when we have studied European history in school we generally never made it to the 20th century, so needless to say this book was definitely eye-opening…. this book not only taught me things about history, but also some things about myself…. this book is all about the impact war and political unrest as well as civil unrest have on all of us…Three women living in three different countries, with one thing in common the turbulent times of 1968…Rose has just moved to London from St. Lucia, where she is a care nurse… unfortunately she has to deal with both subtle and overt racism on a daily basis, and she handles it with grace and intelligence… Amalia is a young widowed mother living in Lisbon Portugal, determined to give her young beloved son a good life… she is willing to do whatever it takes… mrs. Johnson is a mother as well, but her son is fighting in the Vietnam war and we get a glimpse of her life in Washington DC through her letters written to her son…. all three of these women’s stories tugged at my heart strings and resonated with me in different ways… as a woman, as a mother, and as a human…

This is a beautifully told masterfully crafted story of courage and love… these women’s characters were so well developed I felt as though I knew them by the end of the book… I also really appreciated the news snippets sprinkled throughout the story it gave everything a sense of authenticity… absolutely recommend this book it will make you look at the late 1960s from a different angle…

*** many thanks to the author and Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for my copy of this book ***

Purchase Links

https://wordery.com/sleeping-through-war-jackie-carreira-9781788038539?cTrk=OTI4NjYyNTF8NWIzNGE4OGEyMTcwNzoxOjE6NWIzNGE4ODE5OTMzZjQuMDY5MzQ4MzE6NTNkMGNjYzU%3D

https://www.waterstones.com/book/sleeping-through-war/jackie-carreira/9781788038539

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sleeping-Through-War-Jackie-Carreira-ebook/dp/B078XF7351/

Author Bio –
Jackie Carreira is a writer, musician, designer, co-founder of QuirkHouse Theatre Company, and award-winning playwright. She mostly grew up and went to school in Hackney, East London, but spent part of her early childhood with grandparents in Lisbon’s Old Quarter. Her colourful early life has greatly influenced this novel. Jackie now lives in leafy Suffolk with her actor husband, AJ Deane, two cats and too many books.