Synopsis
London 1940: Sandbags line London’s streets, but for Beatrice Bone, WWII feels distant and dull. It doesn’t help that she’s stuck at home while her younger sister Clemmie is away doing secret war work at a mysterious place called The Park.
Everything changes when Clemmie is killed in a fire. Plunged into grief, Beatrice treasures her sister’s last gift: an antique pocket watch, inscribed with the words memento mori: remember death. She soon realizes the watch is more than a memento when it transports her back in time, giving her the chance to save Clemmie. But changing the past causes a ripple effect, and Beatrice is faced with a devastating choice: her sister’s life, or her country’s future?
London, 1915: While her husband is off fighting in the Great War, Alice is breaking new ground as she treats wounded soldiers at Endell Street Hospital, London’s first medical center staffed entirely by female doctors. But the horrors she witnesses awaken long-buried memories of her mother's death―along with strange visions she has spent years trying to forget. Visions which now seem to afflict her eldest daughter, Beatrice . . .
My Thoughts
The author is back on track. The Enigmas is a fantastic account of two world wars from the perspectives of a mother and daughter. The dual timeline offers the stories of Alice Bone who was a pioneering female surgeon during WWI and Beatrice Bone who worked at Bletchley Park during WWII. Both women appeared to have a brain disorder. Alice's mother had schizophrenia and Alice fears that she inherited the disease. Beatrice had encephalitis when she was young. It's a brain disease that causes high fevers, seizures and psychosis. Alice feared that she gave Bea the disease or even the female hysteria that we now call schizophrenia. Frank and Clemmie Bone round out the family. Frank came home from war with just one leg and Clemmie is a free spirited lesbian. The reader doesn't know this, though, until at least halfway through the story.
The memories of Alice and Bea are retold several times with different outcomes. Alice is haunted by the birth of Clemmie (Clementine). During her birth Clemmie was delivered breech with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. Since Alice had attended medical school she knew how to save Clemmie and barked orders to the midwife. Alice knows inwardly that Clemmie was able to cheat death because of her medical knowledge. Alice also knows that Clemmie will die young because she should have died at birth. Bea is haunted by memories she had during psychotic episodes and has an unusual affinity for death. Bea loves gothic novels, gothic clothing and jewelry. The mental illnesses of both ladies offers the reader a reason for time travel. Ingenious!
The last forty pages offers the denouement. If it hadn't been drawn out I would not have believed the ending. It was a shocker and resulted in re-reading the entire novel. Surely I missed a lot of clues. I didn't. 5 out of 5 stars.
