This novel is indicated as the first one Ms Taylor has had published. It is a truly remarkable work for anyone and one that show cases a top tier author with a bright future ahead of her. I have no difficulty calling it a beautifully written book which neatly ties together several interests of the author. She is, by her own admission a World War One adherent as well as a person that enjoys exploring history for it's own sake and a romantic soul. Lt Robert Lovett is an officer serving England during the First World War in the trenches of France and Belgium. He is strongly vested in doing his duty by supplying the soldiers serving under him with skilled and patriotic leadership. He is wounded in 1916 and develops hysterical blindness with no physical reason for doing so. He is sent to Coldbrook Hall military convalescent hospital in Sussex, England.to recuperate from his wounds A century after Lovett is hospitalized Louisa Casson who experienced the sudden loss of her grandmother the only person she had that had taken care of her as well as suffering a severe fall is confined to Coldbrook Hall. In the century between Lt Lovett's hospitalization and today Coldbrook has been converted into a psychiatric hospital. Louisa earns herself a status as a patient that can be trusted gets herself into a position that allows her to be let outside the walls of Coldbrook hospital in order to wander around outside. One day while exploring the area she wanders into a section that is old but quite intact. Entering into a room in that area she stumbles on Robert Lovette. Beginning a conversation with him and returning as often as she can Louisa realizes two things. The first that she is in love with him, and second that she has somehow slipped back in time to 1916 and the man that she has met is the wounded officer we already saw that was sent to Coldbrook in 1916. Ms Taylor shows her knowledge of WWI in describing the battles and areas that Lt Lovett has been involved with. She describes the horrors of being in a trench just a few hundred yards from the enemy with both sides constantly shooting at each other; the dirt, filth, mud and dead bodies. The horror of knowing that death is all around and could come in the blink of an eye. Her descriptions of possible conversations between the men are very much to the point and Ms. Taylor gives her readers a realistic set of ideas and values in the midst of a world that no human being should be immersed in. A well done fantasy that treats a love across time and a period of great horror as factors in describing the levels that the human spirit can rise to. Paul Lane

This is an historical novel of the unexpected. Featuring two characters from different backgrounds who intersect on various levels, this book looks at differences and similarities between different time periods. It looks at impossible, even inhuman situations, and how people react to them. It also has moving moments of great tenderness, as a relationship emerges which defies logic. It is a powerful and intense novel, based on a great deal of human understanding and insight. There is a lot of research represented, but never overstated and beautifully handled. In a contemporary setting the real problems of mental health care is frighteningly portrayed, as a psychiatric patients are kept in awful conditions without much treatment. Meanwhile a soldier in the First World War is discovered and his situation is fully described, combining graphic details of life in the trenches with one man’s motives for fighting. I was pleased to have the opportunity to read and review this original and unexpected book. The book opens in Coldbrook Hall Military Hospital in England, August 1916. Robert wakes up is his room, unable to see, fighting pain when ever the light intrudes. Left alone, he stumbles around his room and falls, wedged between furniture. In April 2017, a bereaved young medical student, Louise, toasts her grandmother with a mysterious drink found in a cupboard. Grieving for the person who brought her up, she becomes confused and slips down a cliff on the Sussex Downs. She is patched up in hospital and shipped off to a psychiatric hospital, which is chronically understaffed and badly organised. It is when she climbs out of the unit into a condemned part of the building that she discovers a single room. When she opens the door she encounters Robert, who is living in 1916, with his blindness. As she manages to escape from the minimal supervision in the hospital, she manages to visit several times and a relationship develops. As time seems to move faster in the earlier time period, they begin to explore the extensive grounds of the military hospital. Louise realises that the clothes she is wearing when she visits Robert belong to a Rose Ashby, someone who she is to discover more about in the book. Their mutual attraction forms the great hope of their difficult lives, even when changes take place. This book combines a searing indictment of contemporary mental health institutions and the way that people are treated within the system, as Louise is condemned to spend time in an inadequate facility with little apparent cause. The detailed accounts of Robert’s progress in the War, on the battlefield, shows how difficult it was, and how misguided the fighting. He is also shown on leave, confronting the armchair generals who believe they know best about the situation from the safety of Britain. The subsequent developments in the novel explore various themes connected with the First World War to great effect. This is a novel which maintains dramatic tension throughout, gives lots to think and wonder about, and deals with very real issues for people. I recommend it to those interested in the historical details of trench warfare and the effects of battle, as well as fantasy and time slips as an effective and engaging read.

I find it hard to resist a time travel book and Beyond the Moon piqued my interest even further as it is partly set in WWI, a period of time I'm getting more and more interested in reading about. This is, however, primarily a love story. Our hero and heroine are Robert and Louisa. There's nothing simple about their love story though as Robert lives in 1916 and Louisa in 2017, just over a century apart. Robert is a 1st Lieutenant fighting in France during the First World War. He's convalescing at Coldbrook Hall when he meets Louisa. She is there because she is a patient at Coldbrook, placed there because it is believed she tried to kill herself. She meets Robert one day when she stumbles into an unused wing and also stumbles into 1916. It's not time travel in the strictest sense, it's more of a falling through the years, and I really enjoyed the cleverly woven tale. The love story is beautifully executed as our protagonists deal with not only their own problems but the issue of how to make a very unusual long distance relationship work. What particularly stands out for me about this book are the descriptions of life for the fighting soldiers. The author has clearly got a passion for the era and has researched extensively to be able to portray so intensely the hell of the trenches. Many times I winced as I read of injuries and the conditions that the soldiers had to deal with. It's done sympathetically though and if it's gruesome at times then that's because it's clearly based on fact. Beyond the Moon has been described as Outlander meets Birdsong and I can't think of a more accurate description and yet it has its own uniqueness. It's quite a gritty story at times. Not only do we have Robert as a soldier but Louisa eventually finds herself in France herself, as a VAD at a hospital. With a desire to be a doctor she's not completely out of place but learning to deal with such problems as how to light a fire, how to make invalid custard (who knew that was a thing?!), are not what she had in mind. It's a fascinating read, both in terms of the detail and the well-plotted storyline. I did feel that maybe the ending felt a tad rushed after the sweeping elements of the story as a whole, but I certainly closed the book with a sense of satisfaction and pleasure that I had read it.

In 1916. First Lieutenant Robert Lovett is wounded in France and send to Coldbrook Hall Military hospital in Sussex, England. He’s a talent painter, he’s lost his sight and they believe he’s suffering from shell shock and hysterical blindness. He’s witnessed so many horrific things during the war, a way for his mind to cope, it turns off his ability to see and the doctors doubt his vision will return. In 2017. Louisa Casson has just lost her beloved gran, when she visits the South Downs Cliffs, has a drink to celebrate her grandmothers life and she accidentally falls part way down the cliff face. Doctors are sure she's tried to commit suicide and Louisa's admitted to Coldbrook Hall a psychiatric hospital. The busy consultants and medical attendants won’t accept they have made a mistake with her diagnosis and she has no family to call for help. One day she and a fellow patient Kerry are exploring the derelict Victorian Hospitals old wing and it was used as a military hospital during The Great War. Louisa hears someone yelling for help, she discovers an old hospital room and finds a man lying on the floor. Robert tells her he was injured in the battle of the Somme, Louisa knows it happened over a hundred years ago and maybe she is crazy! Louisa goes back in time as Miss. Rose Ashby, she works as a VAD in a busy hospital in France and luckily she's studied medicine in her previous life. Robert is captured by the German’s and becomes a prisoner of war and he has no idea Louisa is in France and desperately looking for him. I received a copy of Beyond the Moon by Catherine Taylor from The Cameo Press Ltd in exchange for an honest review. It’s a story about war and mental illness, you read about the horrors of both and the couple unconventionally falling in love and doubting their own sanity. I must admit I’m not a big fan of time travel stories, so I was pleasantly surprised by this book, the descriptions of WW I were well written and extremely accurate. Especially the battles, injuries, treatment options and Louisa's experiences as a front line nurse and four stars from me.

I absolutely love discovering new authors and Catherine Taylor is certainly a new author for me. The synopsis appealed to me for a couple of different reasons. Firstly as well as being a book geek, I am a huge history nerd with a particular interest in the First World War and secondly one of the central themes running through the book is mental health, which is something that I am very passionate about. So you can understand why I felt drawn to this book so much. I couldn't wait to start reading so without further ado I grabbed a cup of tea and sat down to begin the book. Oh my word, 'Beyond The Moon' was certainly a read and a half, which I thoroughly enjoyed but more about that in a bit. I couldn't help but feel for the two main characters of 1st Lieutenant Robert Lovett and Louisa Casson. They are both damaged souls separated by a century. I especially felt for Robert because he had to endure such horrors during the First World War that he suffered shellshock and was left forever mentally scarred. This struck a chord with me because whilst doing my family research, I discovered that one of my relatives was diagnosed with shellshock during the First World War. Often men, who suffered with shellshock, were shot for cowardice as their reluctance to fight was taken as a weakness. Mental health problems back then were not properly understood or treated with as much compassion as they are today. Thank goodness for progress! Robert also suffers from 'hysterical blindness'. Louisa also suffers from her own mental health issues, which are exacerbated with the loss of her beloved grandmother, who was the only family member she had. Louisa's coping mechanism is alcohol and she drowns her sorrows whilst sitting above the cliffs. Louisa slips but the authorities think that she made a serious attempt at suicide. Louisa is taken into the local mental health hospital, which happens to be the same hospital that Robert was taken to all those years ago. Their lives and their stories collide in more ways than one. What happens? Well for the answer to that question and more you are just going to have to read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you. It didn't take me long at all to become totally wrapped up in this beautifully told story. In fact by the time I read the first dozen or so pages, I knew that I would find it nigh on impossible to put the book to one side for any great length of time. I would sit down only intending to read for about half an hour but I became so absorbed in the story that I would still be sat there reading over an hour later. I binge read the book over the course of a few days because boring things like real life kept getting in the way. The pages were turning increasingly quickly as my desperation to find out what happened steadily grew and grew. I reached the end of the book quicker than I had expected but that was okay because at least I knew how the story panned out for the two lead characters. 'Beyond The Moon' is really well written. The author has one of those writing styles that is easy to get used to and easy to get along with. She draws you into the story from the start and keeps your attention by keeping the characters interesting and their personal stories so heartrending. I especially loved the fact that I could relate so much to the lead characters as I suffer from my own mental health problems. The author writes so realistically and uses such vivid descriptions that I really did feel as though I was part of the story myself. In short, I really, really enjoyed reading 'Beyond The Moon' and I would definitely recommend it to other readers but particularly to those readers, who love historical fiction. I will definitely be reading more of Catherine's work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.