Spun Stories

“Don’t you love when you get to the part in the book where the title makes an appearance and you’re like “ohhhhh”?! That was me with Farewell My Life!

“The newest book by Author Cynthia Sally Haggard is a long one but the way she divides it into three parts really help breaks it up. Plus the writing and the story are both so great that the pages just fly by.

“Farewell My Life tells the story of Angelina and her daughter, Grace. Angelina features mostly in the first part of the book, and then Grace features in parts two and three. She is a gifted musician and her talent takes her from Washington DC to Berlin where she trains with the most famous violinist in the world. The third part was a little darker as the Nazis start taking over, and the Oster Conspiracy of which I knew very little, is talked about.

“Beautifully written and hard to put down, I highly recommend Farewell My Life! Part coming-of-age, part mystery, part life story – it’s an incredible read.”

“The author…adeptly summons the era in all its manners and details with her descriptive prose…Her omniscient, third-person narrator effectively flits through the heads of various characters, offering momentary glimpses of their inner lives.”

“I loved the elaborate descriptions of all the places in this book. This is the kind of book that shows instead of just telling.

I also loved the historical setting and how the everyday situations were described. The novel is set in Berlin, in the middle of the two wars, so the Nazis are obviously an important factor in the story.

The characters are very well-developed and interesting to read about. Angelina is a fascinating character, as is Grace. Along the duration of the book, Grace learns a lot about herself. I was amazed by her quiet yet vibrant personality, and her brilliant talent.”