The Forgotten

Echoes from the Past, Book 2

By: Irina Shapiro

Narrated by: Wendy Wolfson

Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

It's 2014. Newly engaged Dr. Quinn Allenby is called upon to examine the skeletal remains of a woman and child found buried naked and facedown in unconsecrated ground on the fringes of a leper cemetery. Quinn must use her psychic gift to unearth the secrets that led to the death of the victims, since there isn't much else to go on, and to discover why the deceased were denied a Christian burial and humiliated even in death, a punishment reserved only for the truly wicked and depraved. 

But as Quinn delves into this disturbing new case, she must confront secrets that are much more recent and closer to home. Some have the power to destroy her future with Gabe, while others may finally shed light on her true parentage and lead her to the source of her unwelcome gift.

©2017 Irina Shapiro (P)2018 Irina Shapiro

Poignant!

This was a poignant story that just about broke my heart. Yes, Petra makes some poor choices because of love, but don’t we all. Unfortunately her choices, and the era she lived in, led to her demise and that of her son. Mind you she wasn’t the only one to blame, however you will have to listen to get the full story. It is a tragedy nonetheless. We do learn more about Quinn and Gabe and there is a huge twist in their lives as well. Another wonderfully written story that left me wanting to move on to the next book in the series! Once again Wendy Wolfson does an exceptional job with the narration. I received a free copy of this audiobook and have voluntarily provided an unbiased review.

Another great one!

I loved this story as much as the first book. I especially enjoy Quinn's continuing story. I highly recommend this series.

Tragic romance

The Forgotten follows two separate stories - Quinn, a modern day woman with the "gift" of seeing into the past, and Petra, a woman from the fourteenth century, whose grave Quinn is called on to investigate. As an anthropologist and historian, Quinn is fascinated by the past. But she also has a gift - when she holds an object that belonged to someone, she can "see" their life, even in the distant past. The woman buried in the grave was murdered and put in an unconsecrated plot. Why? Using her gift, Quinn relives the woman's last year of life - a year full of betrayal, pain, and joy - and ultimately, murder. The author brings the fourteenth century alive - the people, their lives - and the story of Petra, the murdered woman, is fascinating. Her husband, a lout and a brute, has just died, and Petra is alone with her three children and elderly mother and must find some source of income. Petra is educated, and comes from a good family, despite falling on hard times, so she is hired by a wealthy widow to be a companion and to read to her. Petra has a secret, however. And it will ulitmately be the cause of her unhappy fate. Meanwhile, Quinn, is newly engaged to Gabe and trying to find her biological father, the man who raped her mother and then left her. Gabe doesn't believe Quinn's mother's story, but he tried to help Quinn as much as he can. Then, something happens that rocks both Quinn and Gabe's worlds.Without spoiling the story, I'll just say that Quinn and Gabe must come to grips with their new situation, and it isn't easy. I enjoyed the story, and the narrator was wonderful. Listening to it was like riding an emotional rollarcoaster. Readers who liked Anya Seton's "Green Darkness" and lovers of Barbara Erskine will definitely enjoy this book!

Great Story!!

Love this series and Book 2 doesn’t disappoint. If you’re a fan of both modern-day mysteries and historical suspense, you’ll find yourself totally hooked into this series. As stated in the book’s description, there are two separate stories in this series—the modern-day tale of anthropologist Quinn’s life and her quest for the identity of her biological father—and in this book, the story behind the sets of bones found in unconsecrated ground… Petra’s story. I found myself wanting to shake some sense into Petra as we learn of her life and the foolhardy choices she makes and was saddened at the consequences of her actions. I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.

The Forgotten

I thoroughly enjoyed the style of this story. We follow two storylines, one from the past and one from the present. They are linked together by Quinn’s gift of being able to see into the past. Such an interesting concept!

Both the author and narrator did a top notch job and I look forward to their next release!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Shapiro has done it again!

In 2014, Dr. Quinn Allenby’s life is falling into place in some aspects and falling apart in others. While her engagement to Gabe is like living in a dream and her newly forged relationship with her birth mother is off to a timid, yet warm start, the hunt for her biological father is still on and each candidate leaves something to be desired. But it’s not only her uncertain parentage that leaves her feeling uneasy. An accident leaves Gabe with a series of obstacles and trials that forces her to put her needs on the back burner to support him and take on a new role she wasn’t prepared for.

Despite the whirlwind of her personal life, she needs to keep working on the Echoes from the Past television series. It brings her to a pair of skeletons, a woman and a young boy who had been buried face down in unholy ground. Whatever their crimes had been, it had been bad enough to cast shame over them for all eternity. Quinn has to use her gifts to find out who they were in life and how they ended up in the makeshift graves.

In 1346, Petra has just buried her husband, who was a good provider, but an abusive man who had no kindness in his heart. She’s left to care for her son and two young daughters alone and she takes a position as a companion to a sharp, old woman she once served in her youth. Petra’s mother pushes her to remarry, but Petra had only loved one man in her youth, and he had left her pregnant and alone, leaving her to marry in haste to hide her growing belly. An eligible man now wants to marry her, but the reappearance of her first love clouds her mind and before long she’ll need to choose between a man she doesn’t love who can offer her the world, or the man she’s always loved that she can never be with, the father of her only son.

Both Quinn and Petra are strong women who want to follow their hearts and find they true paths, but when their roads intersect in two different times, Quinn finds that Petra’s tale may be too much to bear.

Shapiro has done it again. I listened to this book every spare minute and couldn’t get enough. When I was in Quinn’s car, driving through Scotland, I worried about Petra. And when I was following Petra to market in her seaside village, I wondered what Quinn was up to. It’s easy to get lost in the characters since you’re inserted so firmly into their minds. It also makes their tragedies more painful, but that’s what makes a story stick with you.

At times, I wanted to shake Petra for her choices. As a historian, I understood firmly what her life would be like without a good husband and I wanted to push her into her wealthy suitor’s arms so she could finally have some peace. I wanted her son to get a good apprenticeship and her daughters have high dowries so they might pick their husbands. But she was in love, and although I didn’t want her to suffer for it, I knew she had to live her life her own way.

This book is perfect for mystery lovers, history fans, people that want some thrills with their romance, peppered with dramatics. I’m waiting with baited breath for book three in audiobook, but since the book itself is already on Amazon, I might just jump the gun.

More echoes

he audio on this book is divine. The author constructs this great parallel between past and present to engage the reader. You get the sense you are living in the past through the description. I can't wait to listen to more.

Awesome!!

This book was awesome, especially for not listening to book 1 yet. I loved the storyline, it was very hard to put down. Great job to all involved!! Thank you!!

Dark without a balance of light

I was not engrossed. I stopped and started this multiple times, with other books between.
I was always dreading what would happen next and not invested. The narrator ended each sentence like a question and I didn't feel part of the read. I think I would have enjoyed this more had I read it instead of listened.

Not my fave Irina Shapiro book

I thoroughly enjoyed Irina Shapiro’s Nicole Rayburn series and thought book one of Echoes of the Past was good. This book was not nearly as enjoyable. I found a lot lacking. Both storylines were ok but not great with the 14th c story being pretty blah. The story of Avery & Petra lacked any spark and instead of rooting for true love I found their story to be boring. They seemed like two unhappy wretches who got together without putting any thought into the consequences, not because they were so overwhelmed with true love but because they were both selfish people without any feeling. Petra was unlikable, stringing along a good man who was loving and kind and would be good to her children (and planning on fooling him into thinking the child she was carrying would be his) for a man who was clearly using her and someone she knew for a fact she could never have. Avery’s selfishness was ugly and his tepid interest in his son was equally so. The present story with Quinn and Gabe was grating in this book mainly due to his new found daughter Emma. The child came across as overly precocious and too adult-like. We should have felt so much for this little 4 year old girl who lost her Mom and Grandmother, but the character was grossly one dimensional. It was an outline of a child but not a real child with real feelings. It felt like a person who didn’t know any children trying to write about one. That whole storyline was handled in ridiculous and once again one dimensional terms. There was zero depth. As lovely as a person can be no one newly engaged accepts a 4 year old child into their partners lives without a hint of discomfit, a hint of tension or even jealousy. Especially considering Gabe seemed more excited that he had an unknown daughter than he did about having a new fiancée. I understand and appreciate Quinn supporting Gabe and loving Emma, but she would still have some reservations, some feelings of being second to Gabe’s immediate giddiness at finding out he was a father to a 4 year old with a one night stand. He also goes from pining after Quinn for 8 years to sticking her on a side shelf the moment he finds out he’s a father to Emma. There seemed to be no gray, no nuance. Everything was black and white and terribly unfeeling and/or unrealistic. Shapiro usually does such a good job with character and relationships. This one fell flat. Both love stories felt forced and the characters were hollow. I’m a bit disappointed.

As brilliant as the first book

I love this story...it is as good as the first book 'Lovers'. I don't want to give away any spoilers but there is a lot going on in Quinn's life in this book while the story behind the historical human remains a gripping tale. I can't wait to start the next book. I will keep giving reviews as I go along. High praise for the author and narrator.

Great follow up to The Lovers

1346: A youthful indiscretion forces Petra Ordell to marry in haste in order to hide her growing belly. Unfortunately her husband turns out to be a tyrant who later dies, leaving her alone to provide for her three children and an elderly mother. While working as a companion for Lady Blythe, Petra is reacquainted with Lord Thomas Devon who is also recently widowed. It transpires that Thomas has always had feelings for Petra and is more than happy to take on her children if she would marry him. Petra still pines for her futile first love, the father of her son, who is now an ambitious priest. Faced with a choice, will she choose a man who can offer her financial security or a man who is married to the church?

2014: When the skeletal remains of a woman and child are found buried face down in non consecrated ground on the fringes of a leper cemetery, Dr Quinn Allenby is assigned to the case. With little to go on other than a cross and the circumstances surrounding their burial, a punishment which is usually reserved for the truly wicked and depraved of society, Quinn attempts to piece together the events that led to them ending up in their makeshift graves. As she delves deeper into a past full of hope, pain, betrayal and ultimately murder, Quinn must confront secrets closer to home, some threatening her new found happiness with Gabe while others shedding light on her parentage and possibly the source of her gifts.

The Forgotten is the second instalment of the Echoes from the Past series and spans the centuries between Medieval England and the present day. Once again the author has managed to paint an evocative picture in bringing the 14th century to life. The limited choices that many women faced in a largely patriarchal society, is once again highlighted in this instalment. However, while I had felt empathy towards the tragic Elise in The Lovers, I found myself frustrated with the choices that Petra made at times. A part of me desperately wanted her to realise that there was and never would be a future with Avery and to appreciate all that Thomas was willing to offer her. Despite this, when the moment of reckoning came as foretold in the epilogue, it was not for the reasons I was expecting. The misconceptions towards epilepsy, a condition which was woefully misunderstood at the time, unfortunately having far reaching consequences.

Quinn and Gabe really went through the wringer in this instalment, at times dominating the dual timeline story. Quinn’s search for her biological father sees her rule out another particularly nasty candidate only to learn of a possible fourth. Meanwhile Gabe learns that’s he’s the father of 4 year old Emma, whose mother has died in an car accident, leaving him with sole custody. Much of the book deals with the repercussions of this new development on their relationship as Quinn tries to piece together Petra’s life.

I received an advanced free audible copy of The Forgotten and I am voluntarily reviewing it. Again I was impressed by Wendy Wolfson’s smooth and concise narration. Her excellent pacing had me getting lost in her recitation without ever noticing the time. I recommend this series for fans of dual time mysteries, historical fiction and psychic abilities.

More echoes from the past...

Having enjoyed the first book in this series, The Lovers, I was looking forward to catching up with Quinn and Gabe in book two. It was interesting to see their relationship grow, especially given the momentous changes that were unsuspectingly thrust upon them fairly early-on; in both their relationship and the story. I thought this complication (for want of a better spoiler-free term) was fairly obvious from the moment Gabe received the phonecalls, and felt the same way about the other surprise later on in the book. It was hard to believe that Quinn had not been more proactive with regards to the second bombshell, especially considering the issues she was experiencing with Sylvia. Both surprises were a little too convenient, and not terribly consistent given how responsible and conscientious the characters generally purport to be. These developments each felt a little forced at first, but ultimately served to cement the newly affianced couple as a family by the end.

I found Gabe's vulnerability during his conversation with his mother very commendable. It was lovely to glimpse their relationship in more detail, and his sensitivity was shown to be a strength and not a weakness. Such representation is so important, and it was very sweetly done without being over the top.

The historical flashbacks seemed fairly well researched and painted an evocative picture of medieval life. Despite knowing from the earliest moments of the book that Petra and Edwin would meet a difficult fate, I still found myself wishing for a happier end. It was impossible not to be drawn into their heartbreak, but the hardships they endured were lightened because of the way Shapiro wove Quinn's contemporary experiences with Petra's.

The narrator, Wendy Wolfson, once again delivered an entertaining performance. I still find Quinn's sing-song voice a little weak and wishy-washy but am beginning to notice it less as I get to know Quinn better. Wolfson coped very well with the challenge of portraying a child's voice, helping endear the listener to four-year-old Emma.

I am looking forward to seeing where Quinn's search for answers takes her next, and how the repercussions affect her nascent, fragile, family.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical mysteries with a supernatural twist, though I would urge listeners to start with Book 1, The Lovers , as it plays a very important part in setting up the series.

*I received this audiobook free of charge in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Loved it

Love love loved this book story the characters I can’t wait for the next book

Very good

This the second book in the triogly is another good read with a gripping story line that passes between two different times in history. Looking forward to the final book in this series.

Entertaining

This book involves the story of an archeologist who can sense the memories of objects which she touches.She has to balance her understanding of the past associated with objects with her current life in the current day.

This book is very emotional and gripping as the book flips between the past through her storytelling of the memories and her own life and emotional issues.

The book will well written and keeps your attention throughout. It is truly enjoyable. The narration was also very good.

This book was provided free of charge with the expectation of an honest review.

Great story

Loved it. Great series for romance historical fiction fans. Really looking forward to book 3.

The forgotten Review

I will never understand the hate of some people from any timeline...
but what Quinn has to go through is more then any women should ever have to go through, and too add insult to injury she starts looking for her birth parents. But what she finds out would stop any person in there tracks.

But OMG what those horrible people did to Petra and her son will haunt me for a while.

I can’t wait to start book 3 in the series, just to see what will happen with Quinn, Gabe and Gabes sweet little girl.