Book Challenge - Dancing with Eva

This book was written by Alan Judd and for some reason I actually have his signature inside the book!! I know for certain that I did not go to a book signing or meet him in person. I do, however, have a vague recollection of buying this book at the Martello Bookshop in Rye and they often have books signed by the author.

Well, on with the review - this is the fourth book of my Book Challenge and it has been the most surprising so far as the end of the book has quite a twist! Naturally, I wont be mentioning any spoilers here as I think that there is nothing worse than reading spoilers (whether for books, film, theatre, whatever!) particularly if you weren't actively looking for them!

Dancing with Eva is a relatively short book and it gives you the conversation between two people over a day and a night - Eva and Hans are talking about what happened to them during the Second World War - in particular, it is Hans that wants to talk about this, Eva is somewhat reluctant.

The author skillfully builds up the story and maintains the mystery right up until the end, although as I was reading the book, I was not aware that there was a mystery to be had, which is part of what makes the book so good. All I was aware of was that Hans wanted to talk about the war but Eva didn't and the story covered Eva's suspicion of Hans and how he managed to get her talking about something that she had not spoken of for decades, indeed, Eva feels that the conversation is something of a catharsis even as she resents Hans' questions.

I certainly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone, I am just sorry that I left it on my shelf for longer than I should have done, but that just goes to show that you never know what you will find between the covers! I don't know why I sometimes hesitate to read a particular book, what I do find though is that once I have bought or borrowed a book, if I do not read it within the week, it tends to find its way onto my shelves and languish until I take pity on it!!! ;-) Or...as is more probable - I am desperate for something to read and just cannot find anything that I fancy right there and then!!