Blog Tour: The Map Maker's Promise by Catherine Law

I was supposed to post this last week but I am travelling and we have been having trouble getting the laptop to connect to wi-fi, so apologies for being late.

Clare has a good job working at the BBC, but when she finds herself compromised by a married man, her parents disown her due to the shame, without making any effort to understand what happened. Pregnant and alone, she moves to Scotland to live with her sister until the baby comes. However, soon after, she finds herself called upon by a former colleague asking her to come and do her part for the war effort.

This means leaving behind her baby, Mirren, with her sister and her husband to look after, but at least Clare knows that she will be safe in the last house on the lochan. Anne and Allistair are good people, and she knows that they will take good care of Mirren, especially seeing as they have not been able to have children of their own. There are also some other people who Clare will be sad to leave behind, including the friendly postmaster, Cal McInnis.

I have read quite a few books about women who helped break the codes at Bletchley, but this is the first time I have read anything about the kind of work that Clare does, which is about taking existing maps, and adding in the new information that is obtained  from spy photographs. These new maps are then going to be used to determine targets for bombing runs. This work was done in the house of the former British prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli.

Clare is good at her job, but she is very aware that the work that she is doing is contributing to the death of many people, and this is something that weigh's heavily on her. Combined with the lasting impact of the events which led to her pregnancy, Clare is somewhat emotionally fragile.

Fast forward to the 1980s and Mirren is trying to deal with her past and how it has impacted her present. She knows that Clare is her mother, but she has very few memories of her, and the only tangible link she has is a pair of earrings. When she is given some letters she finally begins to understand her full story, but is it possible for these new truths to help her put her own life back together.

I love a good dual time but I am concious that they don't always work. This one did.  I understood Mirren's feelings of being abandoned and how that impacted on her relationships through her life. I also really loved the 1980's references sprinkled throughout the book. For example, at one point Mirren and her husband sit down to watch the Band-Aid concerts which was a fun detail.

The timing for me to read this book was also fortuitous as I started to read this book just before landing in the UK, and now, as I write this review, we are just about to start our tour of Scotland which will take us into the Highlands.

I hadn't read Catherine Law before but I will definitely read more from her as I really enjoyed her storytelling. 

Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resourses for the review copy of this book. I am sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host, and also with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review blog.

About the book

The Map Maker’s Promise

One night, everything changed…

It is yet another night of air raids, and instead of heading to the basement of her London workplace – risking being in the same vicinity as him, the man who hurt her in the worst way possible – nineteen-year-old Clare runs to the first place she can think of…

… and makes a decision that will haunt her for the rest of her life.

Over a year later, and Clare is heartbroken to be saying goodbye to her newborn Mirren. Leaving her in the care of her sister, in the remotest – and therefore safest – village in Scotland, she heads back south to take up the position of mapmaker in the Air Ministry department.

The work is tough, and Clare struggles with the fact she has a direct hand in hurting the enemy – hurting people. Combined with the guilt for leaving her sweet angel behind, the dark thoughts could destroy her… or make her stronger than ever.

A heart-breaking tale of love, loss, and redemption, this is a moving and poignant story of motherhood and the complexities of healing in the aftermath of war.

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/mapmakersocial

About the author

Catherine Law writes dramatic romantic novels set in the first half of the 20th century, during the First and Second World Wars. Her books are inspired by the tales our mothers and grandmothers tell. Originally a journalist, Catherine lives in Kent.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @catherinelawbooks

Twitter: @AuthorCathLaw

Instagram: @catherinelawauthor

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/CatherineLawNews

Bookbub profile: @lawcatherine