Summerland focuses on a harrowing part of world history, the children freed from concentration camps at the end of WWII. Brigitta arrives in London in 1946, and after running away from her Red Cross group she travels to a place called Summerland Hall.

This is a story that makes you ask a lot of questions. Why is she hiding so much of her past? Why did she go to Summerland? Who is she searching for? What happened to her during the war? Brigitta is a compelling main character, and there is a pretty big twist near the end after which the big questions are answered and her actions make sense. Interspersed throughout are flashbacks to Brigitta’s time in hiding, I’m often not a fan of flashbacks but they added tension.

There were a few historical notes which jarred, especially rationing as although it was mentioned as an issue, food seemed to be more plentiful than I would have expected. There is a small amount of romance, and overall I’d recommend it, especially to those who enjoy positive and inclusive love stories and the post-war Britain setting.

The concept of a museum where people donate items symbolising a broken promise frames the central story of life in the later years of Czechoslovakia. It has a lot to say about European politics of the time, and it gives a wonderfully vivid portrayal particularly of Paris, and also of Prague.

The book jumps rather dizzyingly between decades and countries which has its positives and negatives. I enjoyed seeing how the main character Laure evolved through time, she was a different person as curator of a museum than as a more innocent young arrival in Prague. There was one seen between Laure and Petr near the end that I really didn't like, it didn't ring true for me and was a bit uncomfortable. And it took a while for me to work out what the book was trying to be. Overall it was an interesting read.

Sleep is a book about guilt, with everyone affected for one reason or another. Anna is an interesting and flawed protagonist, feeling responsible for the deaths of her coworkers in a car crash and escaping to the island of Rum. From a dramatic opening it develops into an enjoyable and satisfying thriller which I raced through to find out what was going to happen.

There was a cast of characters that occasionally felt underutilised, I understand why a lot was kept mysterious but I would have liked learning more about some of the characters earlier in the story as some of it felt a little last minute.

Overall I really enjoyed it, Sleep is the first book I've read by C.L. Taylor and it has tempted me to search out more.