Why a Booktrail?
1905/1990s: Asta’s book is a diary with many secrets tucked away inside which could prove explosive when discovered.
Asta’s Book
What you need to know before your trail
Asta and her husband Rasmus have come to East London from Denmark with their two sons. Rasmus is constantly away on business, so to keep loneliness and isolation at bay, Asta spends her time writing her diary. Over the years she writes many entries and when they are revealed more than 70 years later they seem to reveal an awful lot more than the day to day ramblings and thoughts of a lonely woman. The diaries it would seem could hold the key to solving a murder. It’s up to Asta’s granddaughter Ann to unearth the buried secrets of the past.
Travel Guide
London
The past of Edwardian England as seen through the eyes of a young woman, a Danish immigrant who settles in East London in 1905 having come all the way from Denmark. Her world is one of darkness and loneliness in Lavender Grove and the life of an immigrant is hard. Even going into the shop on Richmond Road where she buys the notebook that will shape events, she is nervous, the people say foreigners like her live like animals.
The trails of the past and present are highlighted via various forms: a diary, a trial transcript, and a present-day narrative. In present day England, the story is that of the diaries – the turn of the century murder mystery, the whereabouts of a missing child and a changing city too.
Denmark
“I close my eyes and remember Hortensiavej.”
Life as an immigrant is hard. She remembers the sights and smells of Denmark. She searches for flowers in the grey streets of the city but finds none. This is her past life, the life here she had to leave and her identity in this strange and foreign land.
Streetview Maps
A) Lavender Grove
C) Navarino Road
Destination: London Departure Time: 1905, 1990s Hope you enjoy your book trail of Asta’s Book by Barbara Vine. The secrets within this diary are worth finding out.
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