Historical Fiction

#BookReview Witchcraft for Wayward Girls @PenguinRandomCA #WitchcraftForWaywardGirls #GradyHendrix #PenguinReads

#BookReview Witchcraft for Wayward Girls @PenguinRandomCA #WitchcraftForWaywardGirls #GradyHendrix #PenguinReads Title: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

Author: Grady Hendrix

Published by: Berkley on Jan. 14, 2025

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror

Pages: 496

Format: Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

There’s power in a book…

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.


Review:

Dark, visceral, and atmospheric!

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is an intricate, ominous tale that transports you back to 1970s Florida and into the lives of several teenagers who, after being dropped off at a home for unwed pregnant girls and treated barbarically, decide to impart their own type of revenge using the spells they find in the “How to Be a Groovy Witch” book they are gifted by a strange bookmobile librarian with an agenda of her own. 

The writing is vivid and sharp. The characters are vulnerable, desperate, and impulsive. And the plot is an eerie tale full of twists, turns, secrets, surprises, heartbreak, abuse, survival, childbirth, female friendship and violence, all interwoven with the supernatural.

Overall, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is an intense, creative, disturbing page-turner by Hendrix that, being the unique mix of horror, fantasy and historical fiction genres, certainly left me unnerved and highly entertained from start to finish.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Grady Hendrix

Grady Hendrix is a New York Times bestselling novelist and screenwriter living in New York City. He is the author of How to Sell a Haunted House, The Final Girl Support Group, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, We Sold Our Souls, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, and Horrorstör. His books have sold over two million copies and have been translated into more than twenty languages. He also writes nonfiction and his history of the horror paperback boom of the seventies and eighties, Paperbacks from Hell, received the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Nonfiction.

#BookReview The Girls of the Glimmer Factory by Jennifer Coburn @JenniferCoburn @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheGirlsOfTheGlimmerFactory #JenniferCoburn #bookmarkedbylandmark

#BookReview The Girls of the Glimmer Factory by Jennifer Coburn @JenniferCoburn @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheGirlsOfTheGlimmerFactory #JenniferCoburn #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: The Girls of the Glimmer Factory

Author: Jennifer Coburn

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Jan. 28, 2025

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 480

Format: Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 9/10

From the author of Cradles of the Reich comes a poignant and inspiring tale of resistance, friendship, and the dangers of propaganda, based on the real story of Theresienstadt, for fans of The Forest of Vanishing Stars and The German Wife.

Hannah longs for the days when she used to be free, but now, she is a Jewish prisoner at Theresienstadt, a model ghetto where the Nazis plan to make a propaganda film to convince the world that the Jewish people are living well in the camps. But Hannah will do anything to show the world the truth. Along with other young resistance members, they vow to disrupt the filming and derail the increasingly frequent deportations to death camps in the east.

Hilde is a true believer in the Nazi cause, working in the Reich Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda. Though they’re losing the war, Hilde hasn’t lost faith. She can’t stop the Allied bombings, but she can help the party create a documentary that will renew confidence in Hitler’s plans for Jewish containment. When the filming of Hitler Gives a City to the Jews faces production problems due to resistance, Hilde finds herself in a position to finally make a name for herself. And when she recognizes Hannah, an old childhood friend, she knows she can use their friendship to get the film back on track.


Review:

Compelling, intense, and absorbing!

The Girls of the Glimmer Factory is a charged, intriguing tale set during WWII that takes you into the lives of Hannah Kaufman, a young Jewish woman imprisoned in the Theresienstadt ghetto, and Hilde Kramer-Bischoff, a German filmmaker who is bound and determined to produce a film that shows the world the benefits of Hitler’s Nazi ideology.

The prose is fluid and rich. The characters are resilient, courageous, and strong. And the plot is a captivating tale of life, loss, love, family, survival, sacrifice, courage, selflessness, the unimaginable horrors of war, and the dangers of propaganda.

Overall, The Girls of the Glimmer Factory is an enticing, heart-tugging, atmospheric tale by Coburn that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the feelings, lives, and personalities of the characters you can’t help but be fully engrossed and completely invested throughout.

 

This novel is available now.

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Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Jennifer Coburn

Jennifer Coburn is the author of Cradles of the Reich, a historical novel about three very different women living at a Nazi Lebensborn breeding home at the start of World War ll.

She has also published a mother-daughter travel memoir, We'll Always Have Paris, as well as six contemporary women's novels. Additionally, Jennifer has contributed to five literary anthologies, including A Paris All Your Own.

Jennifer lives in San Diego with her husband, William. Their daughter, Katie is currently in graduate school. When Jennifer is not going down historical research rabbit holes, she volunteers with So Say We All, a live storytelling organization, where she is a performer, producer, and performance coach. She is also an active volunteer with Reality Changers, a nonprofit that supports low-income high school students in becoming the first in their families to attend college. She specializes in college essay development, and interview prep.

Photo Credit: Killian Whitelock

#BookReview The Map of Bones by Kate Mosse @KateMosse @PGCBooks #TheMapOfBones #KateMosse #TheJoubertFamilyChronicles #PGCBooks

#BookReview The Map of Bones by Kate Mosse @KateMosse @PGCBooks #TheMapOfBones #KateMosse #TheJoubertFamilyChronicles #PGCBooks Title: The Map of Bones

Author: Kate Mosse

Series: The Joubert Family Chronicles #4

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Jan. 7, 2025

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 480

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Following The Ghost Ship, bestseller Kate Mosse brings readers a sweeping novel of adventure and hardship, injustice and triumph, in the epic conclusion to The Joubert Family Chronicles.

Olifantshoek, 1688. When the violent Cape wind blows from the south-east, they say the voices of the unquiet dead can be heard whispering through the deserted valley. Suzanne Joubert, a Huguenot refugee from war-torn France, is here to walk in her cousin’s footsteps. Louise Reydon-Joubert, the notorious she-captain and pirate commander, landed at the Cape of Good Hope more than sixty years ago, then disappeared from the record as if she had never existed. Suzanne has come to find her—and to lay the stories to rest. But all is not as it seems.

Franschhoek, 1862. Nearly one hundred and eighty years after Suzanne’s perilous journey, another intrepid and courageous woman of the Joubert family, Isabelle Lepard, has journeyed to the small frontier town once known as Oliftantshoek in search of her long-lost relations. A journalist and travel writer, intent on putting the women of her family back into the history books, she quickly discovers that the tragedies and crimes of the past are far from over. Isabelle must face a race against time—to not only discover the truth, but escape with her life as well.

Moving and ambitious in scope, The Map of Bones tells the story of courageous women battling to survive in a hostile land—of revenge, retribution, and ultimately, redemption. Most of all, it is a poignant novel about the importance of women bearing witness and the power of the written word.


Review:

Captivating, immersive, and memorable!

The Map of Bones is an atmospheric, fascinating tale that picks up a few decades after The Ghost Ship left off, sweeping us to the Cape of Good Hope in the late 1600s and into the life of the fierce, independent Suzanne Joubert who, after arriving as a refugee on the shores of South Africa is bound and determined to do whatever it takes, even amongst the hostility and danger that surrounds her, to once and for all discover the fate of her infamous ancestor Louise Reydon-Joubert, the she-captain of the Ghost Ship.

The prose is rich and expressive. The characters are persistent, resilient, and strong. And the plot is a passionate, engrossing quest full of life, loss, love, courage, action, adventure, family, friendship, sacrifice, savagery, injustice, and revelations.

Overall, The Map of Bones is the alluring, insightful, stunning conclusion to The Joubert Family Chronicles by Mosse which spectacularly highlights her incredible knowledge and research into the vivid, tragic history of the Huguenots.

 

This novel is available now.

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Thank you to PGC Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Kate Mosse

KATE MOSSE is a multiple New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author with sales of more than eight million copies in thirty-eight languages. Her previous novels include Labyrinth, Sepulchre, The Winter Ghosts, Citadel, The Taxidermist’s Daughter, and The Burning Chambers. Kate is the founder director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, a visiting professor at the University of Chichester, and in June 2013, was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to literature. She divides her time between Chichester in the United Kingdom and Carcassonne in France.

Photo Credit: Ruth Crafer

#BookReview The Kennedy Girl by Julia Bryan Thomas @AuthorJuliaT @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheKennedyGirl #JuliaBryanThomas #bookmarkedbylandmark

#BookReview The Kennedy Girl by Julia Bryan Thomas @AuthorJuliaT @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheKennedyGirl #JuliaBryanThomas #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: The Kennedy Girl

Author: Julia Bryan Thomas

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Jan. 14, 2025

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 432

Format: Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 8/10

This American Girl in Paris might hold the fate of nations…

It’s the 1960s, and the fashion culture of New York, Paris, and Milan is starting to make an impression on the mid-century American woman. Jackie Kennedy’s effortless style leads the nation, although Mia’s bustling bakery job doesn’t often give her the time or money to craft a stylish closet after her idol in the White House. But when a mysterious stranger suddenly offers her a modeling job in Paris at the esteemed House of Rousseau, she takes a chance on it, despite knowing nothing about the world of fashion. As an orphan with big dreams, holding a one-way plane ticket to Paris, she sets off for what she hopes is a better life.

But the job of a model runs deeper than photoshoots and runway walks, and as Mia adjusts to the Parisienne lifestyle, she realizes that not everything is as it seems. Becoming more and more successful in her position as an up-and-coming model, she is soon drawn into the Cold War by the very fashion house she works for. And as she finds herself falling further into national crimes and politics, Mia will soon have to decide which side of history she’s really on.

Jackie Kennedy is no longer the only woman for whom fashion and politics dramatically collide… 

The Kennedy Girl is an immersive and heart-pounding story perfect for history buffs and armchair travelers alike, with glimpses into both the propulsive Cold War era of espionage and the inner-workings of the most prestigious Parisian fashion houses.


Review:

Absorbing, captivating, and vivid!

The Kennedy Girl is a rich, compelling tale set in Paris during the 1960s that takes you into the life of Mia Walker, a young American woman who, after accepting a position to model for the House of Rousseau, finds herself swept up in the glitz and glamour of the City of Light, mingling with the rich and powerful from several countries, and moonlighting as a spy for more than one side.

The prose is descriptive and smooth. The characters are independent, spirited, and brave. And the plot is a mysterious tale of life, loss, love, self-discovery, war, politics, secrets, friendship, determination, betrayal, and espionage.

Overall, I found The Kennedy Girl to be an intriguing, absorbing, atmospheric tale by Thomas that did a lovely job of blending historical times with entertaining suspense.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Julia Bryan Thomas

Julia Bryan Thomas is the author of For Those Who Are Lost. She is married to mystery novelist Will Thomas.

#BookReview The End and the Beginning by K. J. Holdom @SimonSchusterCA #KJHoldom #TheEndAndTheBeginning #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview The End and the Beginning by K. J. Holdom @SimonSchusterCA #KJHoldom #TheEndAndTheBeginning #SimonSchusterCA Title: The End and the Beginning

Author: K. J. Holdom

Published by: Simon & Schuster Canada on Nov. 5, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

At the start of the war, eight-year-old Max Bernot lives with his sister and parents in Lauterbach, Saarland, a narrow strip of territory between the French and German defence lines. His German father, Anton, and his French mother, Marguerite, do their best to shield Max and his sister, Anna, from Nazi violence, but in late 1944, their beloved godfather is executed in their garden by the SS, and Max, now thirteen, is conscripted in the Volkssturm. Less than a month later, Max flees a Hitler Youth camp in Bavaria with his best friend, Hans. His mission: to return home and tell his mother the truth about his godfather’s murder As he escapes, he sends postcards to his family that trace his fraught journey across a country in its death throes.

Unbeknownst to Max, his mother is trapped in the German interior, coerced into working for a fanatical Nazi officer. Desperate to escape and reunite her family, Marguerite must first protect Anna from the sinister attentions of their captor, who could hold information on Max’s whereabouts even as Allied planes circle closer.

Deftly interweaving the wartime stories of Max and Marguerite, The End and the Beginning maps the loss of innocence of a generation of children raised in the shadow of the Reich and follows the fate of one family, neither wholly French nor entirely German, who find themselves on the wrong side whichever way they turn.


Review:

Poignant, thought-provoking, and moving!

The End and the Beginning is predominantly set in Germany from January to May 1945 and is told from two different perspectives; Marguerite, a French mother living with her family in Saarland on the Germany-France border who, after her cousin is murdered, her husband is arrested, and her son is sent away to fight, spends her days working for a vicious Nazi while doing whatever she can to protect her daughter and locate her son, and Max Bernot, a thirteen-year-old boy who, after being conscripted to participate in the Hitler Youth Program, decides to escape as soon as he has the opportunity in order to make his way home.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are courageous, vulnerable, and resilient. And the plot is a heart-wrenching, absorbing tale about life, love, loneliness, friendship, familial relationships, heartbreak, pain, war, loss, grief, guilt, hope, loyalty, and survival.

Overall, The End and the Beginning is an atmospheric, touching, beautifully written novel by Holdom that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the personalities, feelings, and lives of the characters you can’t help but be affected. It is undoubtedly one of my favourite reads of the year that does an incredible job of highlighting the indomitable spirit of humanity to survive, endure, conquer, and continue to love in even the harshest of environments and situations.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About K. J. Holdom

K.J. Holdom is a New Zealand writer who lives in Auckland. A former journalist, she holds a master’s in creative writing from the University of Auckland, where she won the 2018 Master of Creative Writing Prize for best manuscript. The End and the Beginning is her first novel.

Photo © Frances Oliver

#BookReview The Paris Maid by Ella Carey @GrandCentralPub #TheParisMaid #EllaCarey #GCPInsider

#BookReview The Paris Maid by Ella Carey @GrandCentralPub #TheParisMaid #EllaCarey #GCPInsider Title: The Paris Maid

Author: Ella Carey

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Oct. 8, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 288

Format: Paperback

Source: Grand Central Publishing

Book Rating: 8.5/10

In this heart-shattering WWII novel set during the Nazi occupation of Paris, a brave young woman pays a terrible price to save those she holds most dear. 

Louise Basset works as a housemaid at The Ritz Hotel, home to the most powerful Nazis in France. As she changes silk sheets and scrubs sumptuous marble bathtubs, she listens and watches, reporting all she can to the Resistance. The only secret she never tells is her own.

Everything changes for Louise when a young Allied pilot, hunted by the Nazis, is smuggled into the hotel. As he and Louise share a small carafe of red wine hidden amongst her cleaning bottles, she feels her heart begin to open. But what might happen if Louise finally confides in someone?

Years later, her granddaughter Nicole looks up at the ornate façade of the infamous Paris hotel. She is reeling from her recent discovery: a black and white photograph of her grandmother as a young woman, head shaved, branded a traitor. Devastated by her new legacy just as she’s about to start a family of her own, Nicole begins to search for answers.

When a French historian reveals that Louise once went by a different name, Nicole realizes there is more to her grandmother’s story. Was the woman who taught Nicole so much about family and loyalty a resistance fighter, or will her granddaughter have to live with the knowledge that she is descended from a traitor? And will Nicole be able to finally move forward with her life if she can uncover the truth?


Review:

Captivating, immersive, and sincere!

The Paris Maid is a sentimental, engaging tale predominately set in France during the early 1940s, as well as present day, that takes you into the lives of two main characters. Louise, a hardworking maid who, through courage and determination, uses her job at the Nazi-occupied Ritz Hotel to help the resistance as much as she possibly can; and Nicole, a young woman who, after seeing a photo from the war of her late grandmother labelled as a traitor and sporting a shaved head, decides to embark on a journey to Paris to unravel the secrets from the past and discover the true history of this woman who meant so much.

The prose is eloquent and rich. The characters are tenacious, resilient, and determined. And the plot is a touching tale about life, loss, family, secrets, separation, desperation, regret, grief, love, tragedy, survival, friendship, and the horrors of war.

Overall, The Paris Maid is a lush, intriguing, absorbing tale by Carey that does a lovely job of blending historical events with palpable emotion and thought-provoking fiction.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

     

 

 

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Ella Carey

Ella Carey is a writer and Francophile who claims Paris as her second home. Her previous books are Paris Time Capsule and The House by the Lake, and her work has been published in the Review of Australian Fiction. She lives in Australia with her two children and two Italian greyhounds.

Photo by Alexandra Grimshaw.

#BookReview The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman @leverus @PenguinRandomCA #TheBrightSword #LevGrossman #PenguinReads

#BookReview The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman @leverus @PenguinRandomCA #TheBrightSword #LevGrossman #PenguinReads Title: The Bright Sword

Author: Lev Grossman

Published by: Viking on Jul. 16, 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Pages: 673

Format: Hardcover

Source: Penguin Random House Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a spot on the Round Table, only to find he’s too late. The king died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, leaving no heir, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table survive.

They aren’t the heroes of legend, like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Tables, from the edges of the stories, like Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill. Together this ragtag fellowship will set out to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance.

But Arthur’s death has revealed Britain’s fault lines. God has abandoned it, and the fairies and monsters and old gods are returning, led by Arthur’s half-sister Morgan le Fay. Kingdoms are turning on each other, warlords are laying siege to Camelot, and rival factions are forming around the disgraced Lancelot and the fallen Queen Guinevere. It is up to Collum and his companions to reclaim Excalibur, solve the mysteries of this ruined world and make it whole again. But before they can restore Camelot they’ll have to learn the truth of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell and lay to rest the ghosts of his troubled family and of Britain’s dark past.


Review:

Poignant, creative, and compelling!

The Bright Sword is a captivating, mystical tale that takes us back to Camelot two weeks after the death of King Arthur as kingdoms are falling, Britain is in chaos, the remaining colourful, mediocre knights are struggling to find a leader amongst themselves, and a young man with a dream to become a Knight of the Round Table finds himself a little too late but nevertheless swept up in a journey to bring Excalibur back where it belongs and a responsibility to bring harmony to a world cloaked in ruin.

The prose is vivid and rich. The characters are lost, conflicted, and burdened. And the plot is an enigmatic, absorbing tale of life, loss, battles, love, betrayals, friendship, self-identity, magic, confrontations, adventure, courage, and heart.

Overall, The Bright Sword is an imaginative, passionate, epic, fantastical novel by Grossman that combines the classic Arthurian legend with the magic of the supernatural to weave a fresh, contemporary spin on a centuries-old story that is bursting with soul-searching dilemmas, dangerous quests, and complex, intriguing characters.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Magicians trilogy—The Magicians, The Magician King, and The Magician’s Land—which has been published in thirty countries and adapted as a TV show that ran for five seasons on SYFY. He is also a screenwriter and the author of two children’s books, The Golden Swift and The Silver Arrow, and his journalism has appeared in Time, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, among many other places. He lives with his wife and children in New York City.

#BookReview The Secret War of Julia Child by Diana R. Chambers @DianaRChambers @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheSecretWarOfJuliaChild #DianaRChambers #bookmarkedbylandmark

#BookReview The Secret War of Julia Child by Diana R. Chambers @DianaRChambers @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheSecretWarOfJuliaChild #DianaRChambers #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: The Secret War of Julia Child

Author: Diana R. Chambers

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Oct. 22, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 400

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 8/10

Before she mastered the art of French cooking in midlife, Julia Child found herself working in the secrets trade in Asia during World War II, a journey that will delight both historical fiction fans and lovers of America’s most beloved chef, revealing how the war made her into the icon we know now.

Single, 6 foot 2, and thirty years old, Julia McWilliams took a job working for America’s first espionage agency, years before cooking or Paris entered the picture. The Secret War of Julia Child traces Julia’s transformation from ambitious Pasadena blue blood to Washington, DC file clerk, to head of General “Wild Bill” Donovan’s secret File Registry as part of the Office of Strategic Services. 

The wartime journey takes her to the Far East, to Asia’s remote frontlines of then-Ceylon, India, and China, where she finds purpose, adventure, self-knowledge – and love with mapmaker Paul Child. The spotlight has rarely shone on this fascinating period of time in the life of (“I’m not a spy”) Julia Child, and this lyrical story allows us to explore the unlikely world of a woman in World War II spy station who has no idea of the impact she’ll eventually impart.


Review:

Immersive, interesting, and well-written!

The Secret War of Julia Child is a rich, intriguing tale set predominantly in Asia during WWII that follows Julia McWilliams, a young woman who, after taking a position working for the OSS, suddenly finds herself in the Far East protecting valuable information, surviving war’s atrocities, finding her true spirit, and meeting the man whom she would love forever.

The prose is polished and evocative. The characters are feisty, driven, and resilient. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel into a sweeping saga of life, loss, heartbreak, betrayal, secrets, espionage, danger, survival, tragedy, friendship, and romance.

Overall, The Secret War of Julia Child is an absorbing, evocative, fascinating novel by Chambers that does a beautiful job of revealing the remarkable life of a woman most of us probably only know or remember due to the cooking feats and successes she had later in life.

 

This novel is available now.

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Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Diana R. Chambers

Diana R. Chambers was born with a book in one hand and a passport in the other. Her first explorations were in the library, plotting adventures on her world globe. She went on to study Asian art history at university, work at a Paris translation agency, and dream in French. Fate landed her in India, where she began a handicrafts export business, which led, circuitously, to Hollywood costuming…and, later, scriptwriting. She was enthralled by the magic of creating worlds, but after one of her scripts was optioned then never made, her characters started demanding their own novels! Diana had just the novel in mind, working on it while on location with a Canadian/French/American detective series. She also wrote several articles about her travels and research in various borderlands.

Diana has followed her stories around the world and back in time. She is the author of four novels, including The Star of India, from Penguin Random House India. Her latest, The Secret War of Julia Child, inspired by Julia’s OSS service in WWII Asia, will be published by Sourcebooks Landmark October 22, 2024.

She lives in Northern California and Aix-en-Provence, France, with her fellow-traveler husband, artist daughter, and feral cat, Marco Polo.

Photographer: Carol Scotti

#BookReview The Two Loves of Sophie Strom by Sam Taylor @FaberBooks @PGCBooks #TheTwoLovesOfSophieStrom #SamTaylor #PGCBooks

#BookReview The Two Loves of Sophie Strom by Sam Taylor @FaberBooks @PGCBooks #TheTwoLovesOfSophieStrom #SamTaylor #PGCBooks Title: The Two Loves of Sophie Strom

Author: Sam Taylor

Published by: Faber & Faber on Oct. 8, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 400

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

One man, one choice, two lifetimes.

A house fire, Vienna, 1933: thirteen-year-old Max is orphaned, disfigured and adopted by an Aryan family who change his identity – and his prospects.

A house fire, Vienna, 1933: thirteen-year-old Max saves his parents and escapes unharmed, to face life as a Jew in 1930s Austria.

In one unforgettable night, Max Spiegelman’s life splits in two. As war looms and Nazism continues to rise, Max is forced into choices that place him and his alter ego on opposing sides of a divided world. Tethered by their dreams, the boys watch helplessly, haunted by visions of what could have been. But in each parallel universe, they share a magnetic bond with an enchanting, grey-eyed girl.

The Two Loves of Sophie Strom is a profound story about how tragedy, choice and life-altering love shape our future.


Review:

Intriguing, thought-provoking, and gripping!

The Two Loves of Sophie Strom is a moving, parallel-universe tale that takes us into the life of Max Spiegelman, a young Jewish boy whose life is split into two completely different paths when one night he dreams that his house is burning down, his parents don’t survive, and thus he becomes an orphan raised by a german family with a new name, Hans, who eventually becomes a member of the Nazis or does he awake to find the house filled with smoke, his parents alive, and a future that involves persecution, an escape to Paris, the French resistance and the possible enduring love of a woman both versions of himself can’t seem to live without.

The writing is dynamic and fluid. The characters are flawed, vulnerable, and tormented. And the multi-layered plot is a heartfelt, absorbing tale about life, loss, love, destiny, survival, heartbreak, choices, war, and the question of what if?

Overall, The Two Loves of Sophie Strom is a fascinating, pensive, engaging read by Taylor that does a remarkable job of highlighting that it only takes one moment, decision, or circumstance to completely change your life forever.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to Publishers Group Canada for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Sam Taylor

Sam Taylor is a novelist and literary translator. His previous novels have reached an international audience, and his award-winning translations include works by Laurent Binet, Leïla Slimani and Marcel Proust. Born in England, Sam was a writer and editor at The Observer before moving to France. He now lives in the United States with his family.

#BookReview The Sky Beneath Us by Fiona Valpy @FionaValpy @FireflyDist @AmazonPub #TheSkyBeneathUs #FionaValpy #LakeUnion #FireflyDist

#BookReview The Sky Beneath Us by Fiona Valpy @FionaValpy @FireflyDist @AmazonPub #TheSkyBeneathUs #FionaValpy #LakeUnion #FireflyDist Title: The Sky Beneath Us

Author: Fiona Valpy

Published by: Lake Union Publishing on Sep. 10, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 320

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Firefly Distributed Lines

Book Rating: 9/10

An inspiring, uplifting story of love and loss, courage and adventure, from the bestselling author of The Skylark’s Secret.

1927. Violet Mackenzie-Grant is embarking on her dream of studying at the Edinburgh School of Gardening for Women. She doesn’t yet know that it’s a journey that will take her to Kathmandu and beyond, deep into captivating landscapes and cultures that are worlds away from everything and everyone she’s left behind in Scotland.

2020. Daisy Laverock has dreamed of retracing the footsteps of her great-great-aunt Violet ever since discovering her long-lost journals, whose accounts of plant hunting in the 1930s inspired Daisy’s own career. Divorced, and facing an empty nest, Daisy decides to embark on the trip of a lifetime. She arrives in Nepal, ready to start trekking in the shadow of Everest. But fate, and the pandemic, have other plans.

Stranded and alone, Daisy must fall back on the kindness of strangers, taking inspiration from Violet’s determination and resilience to keep going in the darkest of times. As she gradually pieces together the fragments of Violet’s story and uncovers long-held secrets, can Daisy finally reveal a path forward to her own future?


Review:

Passionate, vivid, and compelling!

The Sky Beneath Us is an intriguing, adventurous tale set during 1927, as well as 2020, that takes you into the lives of two main characters. Violet Mackenzie-Grant, a young woman whose passion for gardening takes her from the streets of Scotland to the mountainous Katmandu; and Daisy Laverock, a middle-aged woman who, needing to find a purpose of her own, embarks on a journey to discover more about her great-great-aunt’s legacy and the life she ultimately lived.

The prose is eloquent and well-turned. The characters are vulnerable, strong, and courageous. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel seamlessly into a heartfelt, touching tale of life, loss, secrets, surprises, separation, heartbreak, desperation, survival, danger, friendship, discovery, recognition, purpose, and love.

Overall, The Sky Beneath Us is an intricate, fascinating, atmospheric tale by Valpy that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the personalities, feelings, and lives of the characters within it that you can’t help but be continually absorbed and invested.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

          

 

 

Thank you to Firefly Distributed Lines for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Fiona Valpy

Fiona is an acclaimed number 1 bestselling author, whose books have sold millions of copies and been translated into more than thirty different languages worldwide.

She draws inspiration from the stories of strong women, especially during the years of World War II. Her meticulous research enriches her writing with an evocative sense of time and place.

She spent seven years living in France, having moved there from the UK in 2007, before returning to live in Scotland. Her love for both of these countries, their people and their histories, has found its way into many of the books she’s written.