Sisters of Night and Fog by Erika Robuck

Violette is young, energetic, athletic, and smart. She is also half-British, half-French and staying with her aunt in France as the country is invaded during WWII. Quickly hustled away with her younger brother, she vows to return to France but her life is complicated. When she finally gets the chance to return with the Special Operations Executive, parachuting into France to help out with the Resistance, she is thrilled but knows that it means her child may grow up without a mother. 

Virginia is an American married to a Frenchman and living in France. When the country is invaded and then occupied, she could easily escape to Florida and sit out the war. But, she won't even entertain the idea. Philippe is everything to her. When Virginia and Philippe realize they can help with the Resistance by working to house soldiers who have been shot down or escaped from Germans, they are happy to have the chance to do their part.

Although they have very different lives, the two women cross paths when they're caught and imprisoned. But, will their fates be the same? 

If you hang around here much, you might recall that I took a writing workshop in August of last year and Erika Robuck was one of the guest speakers. She talked a little about Sisters of Night and Fog, at the time, although I don't think it had an official title, yet. The Invisible Woman (link leads to my review) was either about to be released or just had been and she talked about how she discovered the stories of Violette and Virginia during her research about Virginia Hall for The Invisible Woman. 

Although much of Sisters of Night and Fog has been fictionalized to fill in the gaps, their general storyline is based on the true stories of these remarkable women who risked their lives to fight the Nazis. 

I had trouble getting into the story, initially, but it was my problem, not an issue with the book. I wasn't in the mood to have my heart broken and a little piece of your heart is always shattered when you read about WWII. There was so much cruelty. But, there was a great deal of heroism, as well. and Sisters of Night and Fog is absolutely a story of women willing to lay down their lives in the service of others. 

Highly recommended - I can't say much more without giving away plot points and details that are best revealed slowly but while Sisters of Night and Fog is definitely heartbreaking, it is also uplifting and awe-inspiring to read about the courage of these two women and the people they worked with. I recommend reading it during a time when you're feeling like you can handle intrigue, tension, danger, and sadness. I was fighting depression hard this entire month (improving, now) so I kept picking the book up and setting it aside to read lighter fare but when I finally felt up to it, it was difficult to put down. 

I have a feeling Violette and Virginia will stick with me for a long time and I'd like to read more about them. Obviously meticulously researched and another beautifully written book by Erika Robuck, if a tiny bit overlong. Be aware that the book tells their stories from the beginning of the war to the end and their work was later in the war, so much of Sisters of Night and Fog feels like backstory if you're expecting to jump right into the action, as I was. Initially, I thought the book started too far back in time but I trusted the author's timing and it turned out that you really do need to understand where they came from.

My thanks to Berkley Books for the review copy!

©2022 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Runaways by Holly Webb and Knight's Castle by Edward Eager

Both of these books are middle grade and (surprise!) I read an e-book! You know how often that happens. 

The Runaways by Holly Webb is a WWII story about a young London girl whose mother refuses to evacuate her to the countryside when war is coming. She is a widow and wants to keep her remaining family (two children, one of whom is a teenager) close and needs help running her shop. 

Molly is already upset about her friends leaving when she finds out her mum is going to have the dog and cat put to sleep in preparation for possible bombing. So she packs up, takes the animals, and runs away. 

The cat gets out of her basket and runs back home (which naturally gave the cat lover in me anxiety) but Molly continues on with the dog and eventually comes across two children who are also runaways but from an abusive home. The three travel together until they find a place to settle. But, even that may not end up well. 

Recommended - I thought The Runaways was a very good story, although the writing was occasionally a bit awkward. The occasional awkward sentence, though, certainly wasn't enough to stop the momentum. I felt like you really got a feel for the hunger, the dirt, the grief, and the general horror of war in The Runaways and I'll be watching for more by Holly Webb. 

Knight's Castle by Edward Eager is an older book, the second in the "Tales of Magic" series, copyrighted in 1956. It sat on my wish list for many months (because of last year's book-buying ban) after I read that it was the childhood favorite of an author I admire. 

After I added the book to my wish list, I threw away the interview in which Knight's Castle was mentioned, so I have no idea who recommended it but she said she'd been waiting for it to have it's time in the sun as she thought it was better than Harry Potter. While I'm not a huge fan of Harry Potter, I tend to disagree, but I still enjoyed Knight's Castle.

Knight's Castle is the story of a boy who has a collection of toy soldiers that have been passed down through his family. The oldest one is in terrible shape but when the boy closes his hand around it and makes a wish, he's transported back in time and the way he's positioned the toy soldiers around a play castle is how they are when he materializes in this magical world and the toys become human. 

There's a whole backstory with the boy, his sister, and two cousins. The boy and his sister end up at their cousins' house because something's wrong with their father and he must urgently go to the hospital.The boy is originally transported through time when he makes his wish and then the other children eventually begin to travel back in time with him. But, his wish can't come true until he proves himself worthy. And, he's running out of time.

Recommended - While I wouldn't call Knight's Castle a favorite, I enjoyed it enough to wish I had the entire series to read. I always enjoy time travel and there's a silliness to the book that tickled me. When the soldier's talk, it's like they're trying to speak as if they live in the Middle Ages but they don't quite know how, so it's a bit gibberish and quite funny. I can definitely see how this story would have left an impression on a child. 

©2022 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The London House by Katherine Reay

In the prologue to The London House by Katherine Reay, it's the 1940s in Occupied France. A woman named Caro has gone to the House of Schiaparelli to give her Jewish friend money and encourage her to escape the country before it's too late. But, then a dangerous traitor shows up and grabs Caro. He's going to turn her over to the French police, the Milice, who are known to be even more brutal than the Germans. 

In present-day Boston, Caroline Payne (great niece of Caro in the prologue) is working when she gets a call from an old college friend, Mat. Now a college instructor working toward tenure, he has developed a side business that he hopes will get him onto tenure track, researching family histories and writing about how history sends ripples through families. He's in Caroline's building and wants to talk to her because her family came up while he was researching a German family whose Nazi ancestor was connected to the disappearance of Great Aunt Caro, whom Caroline is named after and has always been told died at the age of 7 from polio. 

Mat has a different story to tell and the documentation to prove it, a letter by a British dignitary who informed her great-grandparents that Caro ran off with her Nazi lover. Mat has already approached her father to tell him that the story will include her family but it's not meant to be incriminating; it's about how the pain of the past reverberates through the generations and how people move on with their lives after tragedy. Caroline's father has threatened him with a lawsuit. 

Caroline has a great deal of difficulty adjusting to the idea that her great aunt lived to adulthood. But, once she does, she decides to visit the family's ancestral home in London's Belgravia, where there are letters and diaries that can give her clues. She only has a limited amount of time to get the research done before Mat's article is submitted and she's also on a tight schedule to return to her job. 

Did Caroline's great aunt, her grandmother's twin sister, betray the family and her country? Or, is there more to Caro's story? Will Caroline be able to untangle the clues from the past that will lead her toward the truth?

Highly recommended - I loved The London House. The story is a very believable one because some things about WWII simply could not be known till recently and it makes sense that one may have had to know where to find clues — and couldn't necessarily find answers in any official sense. I loved the way Caroline slowly uncovered her great aunt's story, the Nazi lover's (in the process), and in so doing changed the direction of both her friend's article and her family's understanding of their history. Also, there is a touch of romance and it unfolded slowly and believably. 

My only problem with this book is an issue a lot of Americans probably won't have. The writing and dialogue by British characters doesn't contain any particular use of Britishisms and lacks a British cadence. So, everyone sounded American to me. I think that's an extremely minor issue because the story swept me up so thoroughly that I didn't really give the dialogue much thought. However, it did eventually jump out at me. I still highly recommend The London House, even if you've been to the UK a bazillion times. It's a good story and I found it nearly impossible to put down. 

My thanks to Harper Muse, Katherine Reay, and Laurel Ann of Austenprose for the review copy!

Interesting side note:

Goodreads has some additional description that I found interesting (I opted not to read the publisher's description but saw this when I went to rate the book):

A stand-alone split-time novel
Partially epistolary: the historical storyline is told through letters and journals

"Stand-alone split-time" is a new descriptor for me. I usually call the split-time books a "contemporary historical mix". Also, the fact that much of the book is told through letters and diary entries is crucial, so I'm glad I glimpsed that for the reminder. Now you know. If you're an epistolary fan, you'll undoubtedly enjoy the way this story is told. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Throwback #2 and #3 - The Chaos Loop and Out of Time by Peter Lerangis

These two reviews describe the second and third in the Throwback middle-grade trilogy by Peter Lerangis. I've reviewed the first book, here:

Throwback by Peter Lerangis

In Throwback #2: The Chaos Loop, Corey finds out he had a great uncle who died just before the end of WWII and that his maternal grandmother and grandfather met after her escape from Europe to South America. Corey's best friend Leila's family was also affected by the Holocaust. When Corey decides to try to help facilitate the failed attempt on Hitler's life (a bombing attempt that failed because of timing), Leila agrees to go with him. 

Reminder: Corey is a "Throwback", a rare time traveler who can cause changes in history. Leila can time travel and so can Corey's grandfather, but neither of them are Throwbacks. In The Chaos Loop, Corey's grandfather can no longer time travel because it can change your DNA if you travel too much and he was starting to sense changes in his body. 

Corey ends up going back to three separate time periods. He sees Hitler during his days as a struggling artist and homeless man in Austria, as the Fuhrer well into WWII, and, right before the war ends, Corey meets his great uncle. Will Corey be able to change time and save millions of lives? Will he be able to continue traveling through time without it turning him into some kind of strange creature? 

Highly recommended - I thought the first Throwback book was only so-so, although I enjoyed the adventurousness of it. But, The Chaos Loop was full of action-packed tension and I finished it within a couple days. In each of the books, I learned something new about history but I especially enjoyed learning about the bombing attempt on Hitler's life. I knew it happened but have never read any of the details, before. 

Warning: There are spoilers for The Chaos Loop in the third book's description, so skip down to the recommendation line on the third book's review if you want to avoid knowing what happens in The Chaos Loop but want to read my general thoughts about Throwback #3: Out of Time. 

Second warning!!! - Skip down to the recommendation line and don't read the review of Throwback #3: Out of Time if you don't want any spoilers for The Chaos Loop!

In Throwback #3: Out of Time, the worst possible thing has happened. Corey has suddenly turned into a wolf-like creature and his actions during previous time travel have messed things up in the present. Now, his grandmother never met his grandfather, his mother doesn't exist but his dad has a son by the woman he married instead, and his paternal grandfather is married to someone else. Corey shouldn't even exist! But, he does, as a mangy animal who can talk, and Leila oddly remembers him. Normally, when someone changes time, the people who exist in the new timeline are unaware that things were ever different. But, Leila is somehow able to always remember the other threads of time. 

Corey and Leila go looking for help from his grandfather and he doesn't remember a Corey at all, just a grandson named Gregory. But, he has some ideas and another time traveler has offered her help. After they figure out the only way that it's even remotely possible to change Corey back is to restore the timeline, Corey and Leila go back to WWII and also to the 19th century to talk to Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed Central Park. 

Will Corey and Leila be able to figure out how to restore time? Or is Corey stuck in the body of an ailing wolf-like animal for the rest of his life . . . which might not be long. 

Highly recommended - Wow, what a wild ride. Out of Time is a rollercoaster that kept me on the edge of my seat. I read it in a single evening, which is very unusual for me. I just couldn't bear to put it down. I had to find out what was going to happen! And, I have to say, it was one of the best finales of any trilogy I've ever read, satisfying yet surprising in some ways. I loved it and would recommend this whole series to any adventure-loving child or grown-up. 

Worth mentioning: The first book, which I didn't like as much, did get lower ratings. So, my opinion is a common one. But, I bought the entire trilogy based on the ratings of the latter two and the fact that time travel is totally my jam. I'm so glad I trusted my instincts on this purchase. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Invisible Woman by Erika Robuck

The Invisible Woman by Erika Robuck is a fictionalized account of Virginia Hall's work in occupied France during about the final 6 months before the invasion of Normandy during WWII. Virginia Hall was an American socialite who helped build and support the French Resistance. 

During the time this portion of Virginia's story takes place, she's dealing with her own personal trauma and also post-traumatic stress after her Resistance network was betrayed and most of the people she worked with fighting the Nazis were arrested, possibly killed, although she's uncertain of what's become of her friends. After spending some time in the UK, she is back in France, rebuilding a Resistance network, calling for supply drops to support her recruits and the local Maquis living in a nearby forest, and helping to hold them back from sabotage efforts until she gets the signal that D-Day is coming, so that they can do the most damage to bridges and rail possible without time for reprisals. 

I recently read about half of A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell, which is a biography of Virginia Hall, and I confess I was a little thrown at the beginning of The Invisible Woman because I hadn't come anywhere close to the dates in which this particular part of Hall's time in France took place. So, at first I thought the author had fictionalized a great deal. Then, I realized it was me that was off. It's been a couple of months since I set A Woman of No Importance aside so I was discombobulated, date-wise. But, once I realized the dates were off in my head, I found the story gripping and captivating. Virginia Hall was an incredibly heroic woman and I believe Erika Robuck did an amazing job of bringing her to life. 

Highly recommended - An engrossing story of heroism, danger, and the horrors of war. The only problem I had with The Invisible Woman was that I had difficulty keeping the characters straight because there were so many of them. It didn't occur to me to pull out my copy of A Woman of No Importance, which has photographs of many of the key characters, who were real. There is a lot of information to digest because of the complexity of working as a spy in an occupied nation during war but the author presents it well and I found the story fascinating and ultimately satisfying. 

Side note: I got to hear a little about Erika's writing process, yesterday, when she was a guest author in the online writing workshop I'm taking, this month, and I think it's of interest that she chose to write the novel in 3rd person because Virginia kept her story close and was such a private woman that Erika felt like she needed to keep a bit of distance. She believed Virginia Hall's personal preference probably would have been not to have her story told at all so it was necessary not to crawl into her head and tell her story in 1st person. I think that was a wise choice. 

Also, wow, I loved hearing about Erika's writing process. She is incredibly disciplined and I loved how she described the way the characters who need their story told come to her in an almost mystical way. It sounds like she has two more WWII stories under contract, one to be released in the spring of 2022. You can bet I will be putting them on my wish list as soon as I'm able. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac

Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac is a YA novel about a Navajo code talker in #WWII but it begins with the main character's childhood. Sent away to boarding school, Ned Begay was met with harsh authorities who would punish the children severely if they spoke Navajo instead of English.

Nevertheless, the students found ways to keep their language alive and it became a useful skill, speaking Navajo, when the Marines needed Navajo speakers to create and use a code as they invaded islands in the Pacific. 

The book goes beyond the war years as Ned is narrating his story to his grandchildren. So, you also find out that Navajos who served were cut out of the GI Bill (unless, apparently, they bought homes that were not on Native land) and were not given military honors for their bravery. It also gives you a little insight on Navajo beliefs and traditions. 

Highly recommended - Excellent writing, packed with carefully researched facts about military movements and some real-life characters who were important to the story. I liked the fact that not everything was fictionalized and the book went beyond the war years both past and present, so that you got a good feeling for what it was like to be a Navajo, having your traditions and language suppressed, and then serving with honor (some of the code talkers sacrificing their lives) only to return to the a hostile environment in which one was considered lesser at home. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini reviews - Mosquitoland by David Arnold, Reader's Digest War Stories, and Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro

Mini review time! All of these books are from my personal library. 

Mosquitoland by David Arnold is a YA book about a teenage girl named Mim Malone. Mim's parents recently divorced and she has moved to Mississippi (the "Mosquitoland" of the title — accurate, by the way) with her father and stepmother. When she finds out her mother is sick, she decides to take a road trip to Ohio. Nobody is saying anything about her mother so she doesn't know how bad her mom's illness might be. 

Along the way, Mim meets some quirky people, has a lot of unexpected experiences, and discovers a few things about herself. 

Recommended but not a favorite - I had mixed feelings about Mosquitoland but liked it enough to recommend it. It's well plotted (a lot happens) but there were two things that kept it from being a favorite. One is that one of the things Mim sets out to do is resolved but you don't know the full details. That felt like a cop-out to me. The other is that the voice was a little weird and I am frankly tired of super smart young fictional characters. Much of what Mim had to say seemed like it was well beyond her years. She's clearly above average and that just annoyed me. So, that was just a personal issue. 

What I particularly loved was the makeshift family trope. On her journey, Mim picks up a friend here, a friend there and they all bond. I did have a little trouble with the Mississippi portion as it sure seemed like the author knew nothing at all about Mississippi beyond the fact that it's hot, humid, and buggy. But, Mississippi itself was somewhat unimportant to the storyline; I liked the fact that I never, ever knew what was going to happen next; and, I warmed up to the strangeness and humor, the farther I got into Mosquitoland. 

Reader's Digest War Stories is a collection of stories from the Reader's Digest magazine. When I bought the book, I was actually looking for a collection of "Drama in Real Life" stories because it was a "Drama in Real Life" set in London during the Blitz (which I read when I was around 10 years old) that began my interest in WWII. I couldn't find anything like that so I bought the war stories, instead. 

Beginning with stories published in 1956, the book contains personal accounts of war experiences, some historical accounts told by writers, "Humor in Uniform" funnies, and a very nice article about the Churchill War Rooms. I had three particular favorites. One was about a man who fell 18,000 feet from an airplane without a parachute, survived, and had to convince his German captors that he was telling the truth about having fallen from a plane. Another was about a woman who worked for the French Resistance in both world wars. And, the third was "This Secret Place," about the War Rooms. We've visited the Churchill War Rooms but there were two general items of interest to me in this particular article. One is that the war rooms could only be visited by appointment at the time, as there was not yet a museum. The other was the fact that you can only learn so much during a museum visit. I found the article filled out a few cracks in my knowledge and, having been there, it was easy to visualize the rooms mentioned as I'd seen them. 

Highly recommended - The paper Reader's Digest War Stories is printed on is cheap and my copy has already yellowed, even though it was just published in 2012. And, unfortunately, I didn't realize one of the pages in my secondhand copy had a big chunk missing. Wish I'd known that when I bought it so I could have complained to the seller for not being totally honest about its condition. But, I found the war stories captivating, often terrifying, and I'm very glad I came across it. 

Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro is the third book I've read by Ishiguro. A set of five interconnected stories with music as one of their connecting themes, I read it as part of my challenge to read anthologies and collections of short stories in 2021. 

I don't have much to say about Nocturnes, to be honest. The first two stories were very, very odd and I thought I was going to absolutely hate the book, initially. But, I did like the last three. They just weren't brilliant or moving or wise in the way you hope a short story will be. Still, I liked the clarity of Ishiguro's writing style enough to keep going. 

Meh - I gave this one an average rating. The stories are strange and generally disappointing but I don't regret reading Nocturnes. However, it fits the pattern. The only book I've loved by Ishiguro is The Remains of the Day. There are two that I've tried to get into several times but found boring. A Pale View of Hills was confusing (I didn't get the imagery) and then upsetting because it contained a senseless killing of kittens. I will never, ever love a book that contains animal abuse of any kind. But, I love The Remains of the Day so much that I will undoubtedly keep trying to find another Ishiguro that I love. This one was just average. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Evening Chorus by Helen Humphreys

James Hunter, an English officer in the RAF, has been shot down on his first bombing mission and taken to a German POW camp. While other prisoners are digging tunnels and making daring and dangerous escape attempts, James has discovered a pair of nesting redstart birds and decided to spend his war time studying them. He spends hours near the fencing of the prison camp, watching the birds and taking extensive notes, planning to write a book about them when the war ends. His interest catches the eye of the prison camp's Kommandant, leading to one of Hunter's most traumatizing experiences.

Back home, James's wife Rose has adopted a dog to keep her company and fallen into an affair with another man. James writes home but his letters are almost entirely about the redstarts he watches, with occasional questions about them that he'd like her to look up for him. She feels as if he must not really love her at all and has begun setting his letters aside, unopened. 

James's sister Enid has been driven from London after her home was bombed and her lover killed. She writes to Rose, asking if she can come stay with her, and Rose agrees. There is a little friction between them but they gradually come to respect each other until Enid challenges Rose's occasional disappearances. 

In 1950, we see these same characters and what has become of them since the war. It doesn't appear that any of it is positive, for a while, but the book ends on an uplifting note for everyone. What made these three people feel like life is worth living? 

Highly recommended - Set during and after WWII, The Evening Chorus is about the healing power of nature but with an unflinching eye toward the horrors of war. The Evening Chorus was, for me, a book that simply would not let go. I had a terrible time moving on to my next read. I think I may have mentioned this, but I felt like I needed to find something dramatically different or I would have ended up not reading at all for a few days (hence my reading of the sci-fi classic The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester). The Evening Chorus is a beautiful, sad, hopeful story about 3 people and how nature's healing touch helps them to move on after tragedy and trauma. 

This is my second read by Helen Humphreys. I read Coventry, a few years ago and only wrote a mini review of it in a post with several other short reviews, here:

Coventry by Helen Humphreys

I can't say if the same will happen with The Evening Chorus, but Coventry has stuck with me. My review of it, on looking back, seems a bit tepid. But, I still remember scenes from Coventry and it's been nearly 8 years since I read it. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse

I bought and read Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse after finding out there was going to be a "buddy read" (really, a small group discussion) on Instagram. I ordered the book, signed up for the group, and dived right in. It's apparently classified as Young Adult but it didn't have the feel of a YA. It was much like any other WWII book I've read, with plenty of tension although lacking any harrowing scenes like torture. 

It's 1943 in Amsterdam and Hanneke Baker rides her bike around town delivering goods bought on the black market. She's doing it as part of her day job and she knows there's some danger but so far she has had few problems beyond the occasional attention from German soldiers — not for what she's doing but because she's a young lady. 

On one of her deliveries, she's asked to help find a missing girl, Mirjam, who was staying in a hidden room at a widow's home. The widow has lost her entire family, misses her young companion, and is worried about what's become of her. Hanneke is hesitant but reluctantly agrees. Then, she begins to look into Mirjam's life for clues and it's there that she comes across something unexpected, the brother of the man she loved and intended to marry. He knows the young woman Hanneke wants to talk to and invites her to a dinner party, where she can ask her questions. 

At home, Hanneke's parents are unemployed and one is disabled. So, Hanneke is the sole income earner in her household and it's this that she thinks about at the dinner party.  When no food appears and the "dinner" turns out to be something else entirely, a meeting of one little faction of the Resistance, Hanneke is not interested in helping out. How can she? She is responsible for her parents and they would be helpless without her. Even staying out past curfew makes them crazy with worry. 

The main questions are always whether or not Hanneke will be able to locate Mirjam, what became of her after she left the widow's house, why did she leave, will Hanneke join this Resistance group, can Hanneke trust the Resistance members or are they hiding something from her, and will Hanneke's new Jewish friends be able to survive the war or continue working at the local detention center and nursery, from which they know people are regularly being deported to concentration camps. It's a little harrowing, at times, but only a few scenes are particularly frightening.

Recommended but not a favorite - I love WWII books, enjoyed Girl in the Blue Coat, and gave it 4/5 stars but it's not a favorite WWII read because it felt more like a mystery than a WWII book, in a way. And, yet, it becomes more interesting as the story progresses. It was particularly fascinating to be in the head of someone with Hanneke's dilemma about her parents and just how much danger she could or should put herself in. I often wondered what I would do in her situation. I don't think one can really know till the circumstances exist in real life.

There are a few unexpected twists and the ending is definitely surprising (what became of Mirjam). It leaves you with a question that I can't mention because it's a spoiler but I didn't feel like it was one that annoyed me. It's simply unknowable. 

I especially enjoyed being part of a small group discussion. I felt like I got a lot more out of the book by reading other readers' thoughts, just as in an F2F discussion group. The only problem I had with this particular type of group is that sometimes it's easy to fall behind. At least in this case, the discussion moved quickly. While you're reading a discussion question, answering it, reading other replies, and then formulating your own thoughts to those replies, it can feel like you have to race to keep up with the conversation. But, I enjoyed it so much that I plan to keep my eyes peeled for more buddy reads, especially while my F2F group isn't meeting (in person or otherwise). 

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

They Called Us Enemy - George Takei, Elsinger, Scott, and Becker

They Called Us Enemy is George Takei's graphic novel about his family's time in two separate internment camps during WWII. It tells a little about his life before the bombing of Pearl Harbor and how sentiment turned against Japanese Americans, the signing of the bill that led to the imprisonment of both American citizens and those who had been residents of the US for a long time without becoming citizens, how traumatic leaving their home was, the conditions they lived in at the camps, and how people banded together to make their lives more tolerable.

Takei talks a little about how this experience fed into the kind of escapism and pretend that led to his acting career and how this story was told as a play.

Highly recommended - I'm not a big fan of graphic memoirs but this one is excellent and very moving. It has very clear illustrations and text. My distaste for graphic memoirs is two-fold: sometimes people seem to share a little too much for my taste (a little harder to ignore if there are illustrations) and I don't always understand what's happening. There was never a point that I didn't understand what was going on in They Called Us Enemy. It's very well done. I thought Takei's story was also fascinating for the fact that his story was a little different than the other tales of Japanese Internment I've read because his parents made the choice not to sign a document saying they rejected the Emperor of Japan, due to the wording. That put them in much worse circumstances, for a time.


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Prisoner's Wife by Maggie Brookes

In The Prisoner's Wife, Izabela is a Czechoslovakian farm girl and Bill is a British prisoner of war. It's 1944 as the story opens. Bill is one of a half dozen prisoners brought to help with work on the farm where Izzy lives and works with her mother and younger brother and it's love at first sight when Bill and Izabela's eyes meet. Izzy finds ways to get closer to Bill and starts learning English so she can communicate with him better. And, then they secretly marry, deciding to run away with the hope that they can meet up with the partisans and join the resistance against the Nazis.

Thinking the Russians are coming soon and Izzy will be safer dressed as a boy, Bill cuts her hair and she dresses in her older brother's clothing. But, when they're caught and sent to a prison camp for soldiers, every moment is fraught with danger. How will Izzy keep her secret from the Nazis? If she's caught, she will undoubtedly be thought a spy and shot.

Based loosely on a true story, in The Prisoner's Wife, Maggie Brookes has created a harrowing tale of love, danger, and the horrors of war, a story in which a woman's identity is kept secret with the help of courageous men willing to risk their own lives to keep her alive.

Highly recommended - I don't use the word "harrowing" lightly. I found The Prisoner's Wife a difficult and exhausting read because the vast majority of it is about the couple's time in a prison camp, a work camp, and then taking a "long walk" to keep the prisoners from joining up with the Russians when they close in on the prison camp. It was gripping but nerve-wracking enough that I had to occasionally take breaks, walk away and do something like step outside to feel the breeze or paint or just goof online, and then I'd return to the book. I don't know why I found this particular story so much harder to read than other WWII stories. I've been reading them all my life, after all. Maybe it was because I cared about the couple and so desperately wanted them to survive. At any rate, after the long march I felt frostbitten and hungry and sad for the lives lost, in awe of the danger people are willing to face to help each other and a little sad at the interplay of good and evil, a thing that never changes. A moving tale that I'll be thinking about for a long time.

One side note: The story is told using alternating viewpoints. One chapter will be told in 3rd person (Bill's viewpoint but not his voice) and the next in 1st (from Izzy's viewpoint). I did find that a little bit jarring but it was never what I would call problematic. The shifts just interrupted the flow a bit. I presume the purpose was to tell both sides of the love story, male and female, and in that way I do believe it was effective.

My thanks to Berkley Books for the review copy!


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini Reviews - In Another Time by Jillian Cantor, The Roundhouse by Louise Erdrich, and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

More minis! And, all of these were excellent, all from my own shelves. Although Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an ARC, I didn't receive it from the publisher.


I just wandered around my house, looking for In Another Time in all the usual places for books I've read but not yet reviewed, and then it came to me . . . oh, I put it on the favorites pile. I loved In Another Time that much.

Hanna is Jewish; Max is not. When they fall in love in 1930s Germany, Max is worried about the growing anti-Jewish sentiment and Hitler's rising power. He wants to marry and leave the country. But, Hanna's musical education is too important to her and she's not concerned about Hitler. She thinks the Nazi party's rise is a passing phase.

In 1946, Hanna finds herself alone with no memory of the past 10 years of her life. Though she doesn't seem to know about it, the reader knows that there was a time portal in Max's bookshop. Did Max send Hanna into the portal and save her from the Nazis? If so, how did she lose her memory and what happened to Max? Why isn't he there with her?

Highly recommended - An utterly captivating and unique WWII story with a sci-fi twist. I went into the reading of In Another Time blind and was pleasantly surprised by the time travel aspect. I love a good time travel book. You don't know the truth of what happened till the end. Cantor kept me guessing all the way through the book.

The Roundhouse by Louise Erdrich is a book that I bought and read at the request of a friend who wanted to hear my thoughts. I love it when that happens (a valid excuse to acquire a book I wanted to read, anyway). It's a book that was once offered to me for review but I presume I wasn't aware of how fabulous Louise Erdrich is, at the time.

When a woman is brutally raped and beaten, she is so traumatized and depressed that she can't talk about the rape and retreats to her bed. The police investigate but don't seem to be getting anywhere and her teenage son, Joe, is unwilling to accept the lack of progress.

Determined to solve the crime himself, Joe begins to investigate between biking around with his friends and working at his uncle's store.

Highly recommended - The crime is truly shocking but even more appalling is the fact that the raped woman is the wife of a judge and even he can't make sure that when a suspect is found he remains behind bars. Joe, meanwhile, is a fascinating character because he is so beautifully drawn. The story is told from his point of view and besides being very angry and confused about the crime and lack of progress by police, he's a typical teenage boy who is not a little obsessed with women and food, which took me back to the days when I had teenage boys of my own sticking their heads in the fridge all day long. I was very impressed by the authenticity of Joe's point of view.

My copy of The Roundhouse was published by Corsair, a British publisher. In the US, the publisher is HarperCollins and the cover is quite different.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford is one of those WWII books that I have wanted to read for years. Why didn't I get to it, before now? I have no idea.

The story of Henry Lee, a Chinese American, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet goes back and forth between 1986 and the 1940s. In 1986, Henry finds out the Panama Hotel at the corner of Seattle's former Japantown has a basement full of luggage left there by Japanese-American citizens who were rounded up and sent to internment camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

In the 1940s, Henry and Keiko Okabe, a Japanese American, are outsiders at an elementary school and lovers of jazz who become fast friends. When people begin to panic after Pearl Harbor, worried that Japanese Americans will side with the Japanese, Henry's father forces him to wear a button saying he's Chinese to prevent trouble with authorities. His father dislikes Japanese people and insists that Henry stay away from Japantown. But, Henry values his friendship with Keiko and wants to help her in any way he can.

Back in 1986, Henry gets permission to search through the luggage to see if he can find a prized possession that he gave to Keiko. Henry is widowed and was happily married but he has never forgotten Keiko. Will the discovery of the luggage lead Henry to finally seek out Keiko? What drove them apart, years ago?

Highly recommended - A lovely and, yes, bittersweet story about friendship, music, racism, and the power of memories. So lovely. I didn't realize Jamie Ford is such a romantic. I expected something a little different, less sweetly touching. I'm glad I finally got around to reading Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and I will definitely read more by Jamie Ford.

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini Reviews - Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen, Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers by Sara Ackerman, and Angel in a Devil's Arms by Julie Anne Long

More minis! I've put my favorite of the three at the top, just in case anyone decides my reviews are boring and can only get through the first. It is soooo good.

Here and Now and Then is about Kin Stewart, a man who was a time-traveling agent till he got stuck in the past for 18 years. Although it was against the rules to get involved in the time period he visited, after getting stuck in the 90s Kin got a job in IT, married, and had a daughter, Miranda. But, now he's back in 2142 and traveling through time again could kill him. When Kin figures out a way to email Miranda and then finds out her life is in danger in the timeline he's left behind, can he come up with a way to save her? Or, will he have to sacrifice himself trying?

Highly recommended - I loved the world building in Here and Now and Then but the main thrust of the story is about the importance of family, which I also loved. In fact, I loved the book so much that I immediately pre-ordered Mike Chen's next book, which is due to be released on the 14th of January (one week!!!) so I'm probably going to drop everything and read till my eyes pop when that arrives. The new book is called A Beginning at the End. I love Chen's titles.

There are some references to Dr. Who (although nothing overly exciting), hence the painting of the TARDIS in the background. And, that little car in the front is called a "car of the future" — it was a gift from my eldest and since they have flying cars in 2142, I thought it was appropriate.

Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers by Sara Ackerman is about a woman whose husband has disappeared and whose daughter is traumatized. It's the 1940s and America is at war. Violet and her daughter Ella are just trying to survive after the disappearance of Violet's husband, a year ago. Ella knows what happened to him but she's terrified and unable or unwilling to speak about what she saw. Violet doesn't know what's wrong with Ella, although it's not for want of trying to get her to open up.

When finances become tight, Violet and her friends come up with the idea to open a pie stand and sell pie at the local encampment of soldiers nearby on Hawaii's Big Island.

There's a lot going on in Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers. Some soldiers Violet and her buddies befriend start hanging out at the house she shares and Violet becomes attracted to one of them but doesn't know quite how to behave. Is her husband alive or dead? She's devoted to her husband but it's nice to have the comfort of a kind man. Other things happening: a neighbor of Violet's with Japanese ancestry is arrested and then Violet is accused of spying. And, the soldiers have a pet lion cub whom little Ella becomes attached to.

What happened to Violet's husband and why does Ella refuse to talk about it?

Recommended but not a favorite - I had mixed feelings about Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers. I liked it but I didn't love it. And, yet, I would definitely read more by Sara Ackerman so maybe the timing was wrong. I did love how it ended.

I read and loved the first book in The Palace of Rogues series by Julie Anne Long, Lady Derring Takes a Lover, but I don't know if anyone offered me the second book (I may have deleted an email offer when I was shutting down intake of review books). When I heard it had been released, I ordered Angel in a Devil's Arms because I so enjoyed Lady Derring's story.

Lucien Durand, The Duke of Brexford, was thought drowned in the Thames a decade ago but now he has returned to London in search of revenge. And, he's staying at The Grand Palace on the Thames.

Angelique has a painful history. It's only since her unusual partnership with Lady Derring, now happily married and still running The Grand Palace on the Thames with Angelique, that her life has become secure and comfortable. The last thing she needs in her life is another man to use and discard her. But, after a single kiss with Lord Bolt, she is conflicted and Lord Bolt's heart is lost to her. Can Julien convince Angelique that she's safe with him?

Recommended - Angel in a Devil's Arms didn't stick with me in the way that Lady Derring Takes a Lover did but I enjoyed it. My very brief Goodreads review says I thought it had great characters and a fantastic ensemble cast, most of whom are likable, but I thought the author occasionally lost the plot in this particular installment. I also said I loved it. So, I'll keep reading this series.


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris and F2F Report

I knew I would read The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris eventually, since it's a WWII novel. But, it was my F2F group's selection of the book that prompted me to buy a copy and then read it for discussion. As it turned out, I was totally not in the right mood to read about the Holocaust. But, it didn't matter. Once it came up to the top of the stack and it was time to read the book, I made myself open it and found that it's an engrossing story. No worries about not being in the right mood. It probably helped that I've missed out on F2F meetings for several months and was determined to show up.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is the novelization of a true story about a young man who was sent to Auschwitz in 1942. A Jew, his family was told that they must pick one person to work for the Nazis and Lale volunteered to be the one, since his brother was married and had children. Packed into the cattle cars of a train, Lale spent days on the ride from his home to what turned out to be not a workplace but a concentration camp. There, he was told to turn over his possessions, his hair was shaved off, and he was given the clothing of a Russian soldier. On the first night, he was headed to the trench where people relieved themselves when he saw a Nazi open fire on the men who were there, a horrifying way to begin his imprisonment but one that made him vow he would survive till the end of the war.

I can't recall exactly how he became the tattooist and that doesn't matter. The job that Lale was given protected him from trigger-happy guards; and, his determination to behave in a way that would keep him from getting any attention also helped. But while Lale was given extra rations and a safer place to sleep, people were starving around him and he felt obligated to find a way to help them. The Tattooist of Auschwitz describes how one prisoner in a death camp survived, found a way to acquire extra food and medicine to share, met a beautiful prisoner and fell in love, and helped as many as he could to survive.

Recommended but what a gut-wrenching read - It's always difficult reading about life in the concentration camps of WWII but doubly hard when it's nonfiction or based on a true story, as The Tattooist of Auschwitz is. The one thing that really kept me going during a time when I was not in the mood to read about this dark chapter of history was the fact that I knew the author had interviewed Lale. Although he was safer than others, he wasn't completely safe from the possibility of brutality or death. At any moment, Lale could have been taken for torture by Dr. Mengele, whom he frequently encountered, or shot and replaced. But, if the author was able to interview him, clearly he survived.

F2F Report:

We discussed The Tattooist of Auschwitz in my book group, this week, but it was not the best discussion and I found some of the tangents immensely frustrating. It's only natural that the idea of concentration camps would bring up the current situation on our Southern Border. Unfortunately, that meant exposing some of our group's prejudices. I tried to bring up the fact that the path to citizenship is almost impossible for those who enter the country undocumented. "You mean the illegals," one of our members said. Yes, those who enter illegally but then become productive members of society can be here for 25 years, own several businesses, employ dozens of Americans, and still get deported because they don't have the option to become citizens, I thought. But, I didn't say that aloud because I was already feeling outnumbered, by that point. Immigration sadly is a complicated subject that people are determined to simplify. And, as one of our members mentioned, the news skims the surface and doesn't go in depth, complicating our lack of understanding by misleading viewers.

At any rate, we talked about the fact that The Tattooist of Auschwitz was unusual for a Holocaust book because there was a romance and therefore a happy ending, how some parts of the book felt a little exaggerated or questionable to some members, and whether or not Cilka was truly a collaborator or was she a victim of the Nazi who forced her to submit to him. I thought she was a rape victim; someone else called her a prostitute. I don't recall her getting anything in return but the chance to live, but it almost seemed like we read 4 different books. Not the best discussion we've ever had but I'm glad I read the book and I'm always glad I went to my F2F discussions because it's nice to hang out with other book lovers.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Map of the Heart by Susan Wiggs

Camille used to be a photographer but she put away her camera and her fearless lifestyle after her husband's tragic death. And, her daughter Julie may as well be packed in bubble wrap. Now, she processes found rolls of film, teasing out images that could easily be ruined. When Julie has an accident, in her rush to get to the hospital Camille ruins an important roll of film preserved from the Vietnam War, throwing her in the path of Finn.

Finn wanted a family but instead he ended up divorced. Now, he lives and works in France, not far from where Camille's father grew up. When something goes wrong at Camille's father Henry's French estate and a mysterious crate is exposed, a set of photos and a camera are sent to Henry in the United States and they pique Camille's interest. As frightened as she is to leave the safety of home, Camille's curiosity about her paternal grandmother convinces her to accompany her father and daughter to France for the summer, where once again she'll meet up with Finn. But, will she let herself dare to open her heart again?

There's also an unfolding mystery set during WWII, which I really enjoyed, but I think the contemporary romance part of the book dominates Map of the Heart.

Recommended but not a favorite - I don't know what it was about Map of the Heart that made it drag, but I had a terrible time getting into it. Once I did, though, I enjoyed it. A sweet, fairly predictable story of WWII combined with a present-day romance. Good for summer reading but not brilliant. I found the fact that Henry's estate just happened to be near the place Finn was working in France a bit too convenient.

I received a copy of Map of the Heart from HarperCollins for review (many thanks!) It's my second book by Susan Wiggs. While I found this one so-so, I absolutely loved the first book I read by her, Between You and Me, and will definitely give her another try.

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Wunderland by Jennifer Cody Epstein

You know how nervous you can get about a book that so high on your wish list that you're afraid it won't meet your soaring expectations? Wunderland by Jennifer Cody Epstein was that book. I still remember scenes from The Gods of Heavenly Punishment by Epstein. So, I also knew from that experience that Jennifer Cody Epstein tears your heart into tiny bits and then sets them on fire. Still, I got to Wunderland as quickly as I could because I was so excited about it, even knowing what I was probably getting into.

Wunderland is the story of two German girls, school friends, one of whom becomes a Nazi (a member of the BDM, the girls' version of the Hitler Youth) and the other who finds out she's half Jewish. A contemporary/historical blend, the second storyline is about the daughter of the Nazi, who receives her mother's ashes and a bunch of unsent letters that explain everything her tight-lipped mother would never tell her.

Highly recommended - Perfectly paced, devastatingly realistic, clearly well-researched, and magnificently plotted. The author firmly, painfully plants you in her characters' shoes to tell a bittersweet story about a friendship tested, a mystery revealed, and the horror of war. Wunderland is one of the best books I've read, this year. Not an easy read but one that will make you feel the emotions of the characters, for better or worse.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner

The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner is about two girls who meet in an internment camp during WWII. Elise Sontag's father is a German immigrant who has been in the country for nearly 20 years. Neither he or his wife thought there was any urgent need to become American citizens. Elise and her brother were born in America and have never learned any German. 5 random things lead to Mr. Sontag being accused of siding with Germany in the war and he's arrested. Without his income, things slowly go downhill for Elise's family and eventually Mr. Sontag asks to be transferred to Crystal City Internment Camp in Texas to be reunited with his family.

Mariko's parents are Japanese immigrants and, like Elise, Mariko is as American as apple pie. But, she's from California, where all of the Japanese Americans have been rounded up. First taken to Tanforan, an internment camp at a race track where horse stalls served as their homes, the Inoue family eventually ends up in Crystal City.

Elise and Mariko meet at Crystal City's American school and their friendship is immediate and deep. They have much more in common than differences. But, their friendship eventually ends when, for different reasons, both of the families end up being repatriated to their home countries and then Mariko's family cuts off communication when she's forced to marry in Japan.

As the book opens, decades later, we find that Elise has Alzheimer's and knows it will eventually kill her. Elise's friendship with Mariko was one of the most important of her life and she has always been sad that they weren't able to keep in touch. She decides to look for Mariko and is helped by a young housekeeper who teaches her how to use Google. On impulse, Elise buys a ticket to San Francisco to meet Mariko's daughter and writes a reminder note on her arm, knowing that she may need help remembering where she's headed.

The story then returns to the story of Elise and her family, how her German father was arrested, the family's struggles, and how Elise and Mariko met. While the storyline does go back and forth between the historical and modern parts of the storyline, the bouncing back and forth is minimal. Most of the focus is on the historical storyline and the denouement takes place during Elise's journey to find Mariko.

Highly recommended - Wonderful characters, well-described historical settings, and a truly meaningful, beautiful story of friendship made this a 5-star read. The Last Year of the War has rocketed to the top of my favorites list for 2019. It's beautifully told, believable, and accurate to what I've read about the internment camps. In fact, there was even a little crossover with Learning to See by Elise Hooper, a book I just reviewed about 10 days ago, because Dorothea Lange (the subject of Learning to See) photographed and was horrified by the conditions at Tanforan, the camp at which people were originally housed in smelly horse stalls.

Elise (the character, not the author of the other book) is the narrator. She's an only child whose friends abandon her when her father is arrested and there is nothing more important to Elise than having someone to connect with. Her anguish is visceral during the times when she's friendless and the depth of meaning of friendship to her is immense. I couldn't count the number of times I teared up; so many heartbreaking moments for Elise. I loved both the historical and contemporary parts of The Last Year of the War equally -- which is extremely unusual. I expected a predictable storyline with the typical balance of historical and contemporary storylines. But, The Last Year of the War is far from trite and predictable; it's surprising in many ways.

I received a copy of The Last Year of the War from Berkley Books for review and every time I think of it I want to clutch the book to my chest, I love it so much. Many thanks to Berkley/Penguin Random House for the review copy.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Alpine Ballad by Vasil Bykau

Alpine Ballad by Vasil Bykau is a WWII novel like none I've ever read, before, a story of escape and survival. Near the end of WWII, an Italian girl and a Belarusian soldier escape from a Nazi concentration camp in Austria and run into the surrounding mountains with Germans in pursuit. Both a survival story and a romance, the short novel takes place over a 3-day period.

Ivan has lost his shoes and Giulia is wearing clogs. While his feet become unsurprisingly battered, Giulia's clogs slow her down. Ivan considers abandoning her. His new companion is bizarrely, even dangerously cheerful and he doesn't want her to hold him back or give them away. But, he slowly becomes attached to her as they try to find their way to safety and learn to communicate in a hodge-podge of languages cobbled together. Eventually, they fall in love. But, the Nazis are closing in.

Through flashbacks, we get to know how Ivan has been imprisoned by the Nazis several times and came to be captured, each time. Through dialogue, we learn Giulia's story. And, in a letter entitled "In lieu of an Epilogue," the reader finds out what happened after the war, a finale that will warm you down to your toes.

Highly recommended - Heartbreaking and achingly beautiful, Alpine Ballad is so gripping that I occasionally realized I was holding my breath. It's also an excellent translation. I didn't have any trouble following the story, as I sometimes do with translations, and there are footnotes defining the occasional mixture of non-translated words that are used to show how Ivan and Giulia communicate using a blend of languages. I absolutely loved this book and am going to seek out more of Bykau's writing.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Huntress by Kate Quinn

I'd like to think I jumped the gun reading Kate Quinn's The Huntress (a February, 2019 release) early because I was in a hurry to grab something out of the Guest Room when guests were coming (if Kiddo counts, I still have one guest) but I really think I was just in the mood for this particular story and neglected to look at the release date on the spine. At any rate, it sucked me in so thoroughly that by the time I discovered I was reading a February release in December, it was too late. I was hooked.

The Huntress is the story of three people who are Nazi hunters. Ian has lost a brother to the Huntress, a child-killer who has disappeared from Nazi Germany after WWII without a trace. Tony is his partner. And, Nina barely escaped from the Huntress when her plane went down in a German forest.

Across the ocean, Jordan McBride yearns to become a photographer but her father wants her to take over his antique business. When he brings home a German widow he's fallen in love with, Jordan captures a photo of an icy gaze that makes Jordan suspicious.

The Huntress jumps back and forth in time. You get to know Nina's story as she goes from being a peasant with an abusive father, living on the shores of Lake Baikal, to a pilot with the infamous Night Witches. In the second timeline, after the war, you're following Ian, Tony, and Nina as they search for the Huntress while across the Pond in America, you follow Jordan McBride as she goes from a teenager with a new stepmother to a young woman whose suspicions are renewed when she finds out Annaliese is hiding the truth. Will the team of Nazi hunters find the Huntress before it's too late for Jordan and her family?

Highly recommended - The Huntress is longish at a little over 500 pages but throughout, it remains absolutely gripping. Because it was the holiday season when I was reading the book and I always save my focus for the family when they're around, I only managed to read about 50 pages, most nights, so the book took about 10 days to finish. I didn't care. I enjoyed every minute of the reading. I was very impressed with the detail about the Night Witches, loved the exciting bombing scenes, and found Jordan's story very fitting for the time and place, in addition to enjoying the slow investigation into the whereabouts of the Huntress.

I received a copy of The Huntress from HarperCollins' William Morrow imprint for review. The Huntress is scheduled for release in February.

Addendum: I forgot to mention that this is my final review of books read in 2018, so tomorrow I'll post my full list of everything I read in 2018 (with links to all reviews or month-in-review posts in which I wrote about them).

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Everything I Didn't Review in 2018, Part 2

This is the second installment, which gets me to all but the final book of the year. There's only one book, of these three, that I didn't read in December, and one book that I'm leaving out for separate review.

The Truth Pixie by Matt Haig is just what it sounds like: the story of a pixie who is unable to tell a lie. Unfortunately, this gets the pixie into all sorts of trouble, as you might imagine. Eventually, she's kicked out of her home. There are all sorts of fantastical creatures that she encounters and some bits of wisdom about when it's good to be truthful and when it's not.

I am a big fan of Matt Haig's writing. It's so unencumbered by expectation. You just never know what you're going to find in a Matt Haig book and I adore that. However, the two Christmas titles I've read by him have left me flat. As I was reading The Truth Pixie, I would find myself thinking of ways the pixie could have rephrased her words to make them less hurtful. It was maybe a failure of imagination on my part that I couldn't just allow myself to be swept up in the story.

I don't recall the ending but I do remember I liked how the book ended. Unfortunately, I read The Truth Pixie in November and it just didn't stick with me. It's gotten sparkling reviews so it's a book that I plan to give a second chance, probably during the next Christmas season. If it still doesn't enchant me the second time, I'll pass it on.

Their Finest Hour and a Half by Lissa Evans is the story of a Welsh woman, Catrin Cole, who is hired to write the women's dialogue in a WWII propaganda film designed to keep hopes high during the war by focusing on the story of twins who joined in the Dunkirk rescue operation after borrowing their drunken father's boat.

The true story, which Catrin finds out when she interviews the Starling sisters, is rather disappointing. But, when she pitches the idea to her fellow writers, they immediately take up the story, romantically fictionalize it, and turn it into something inspiring.

As they're writing the script, improving it, and finally putting it on film, you also get to know the actor who plays the twins' drunken uncle, a washed-up older actor who has difficulty tolerating small roles. The majority of the story is set during the London Blitz and I confess that much as I loved the unfolding story of how a film went from idea to theater, I most loved the visceral sensation of the bombings. But, honestly, I love everything about Lissa Evans' writing. She has become a new favorite author in recent years and I've yet to read anything less than stellar by Evans. Wonderful characterization, obviously well-researched settings, smart writing, and plenty of humor make her writing a stand-out.

I've mentioned Their Finest Hour and a Half, already, because we watched the movie before I read the book. The movie is also excellent, with wonderful actors, lots of funny moments, and that sense that you were there that you get from the book.

Down in Mississippi by Johnette Downing and Katherine Zecca is a children's book that Kiddo bought for our eldest grandchild for Christmas. Naturally, I can't pack up a children's book to mail away without reading it first, so I read it -- and it hasn't made it out the door, yet (but it will, I promise).

Down in Mississippi is apparently based on a song and also is a counting book. The first page confused me because I didn't realize that.

Down in Mississippi in the surf and the sun lived a mother dolphin and her dolphin one. "Splash," said the mother. "We splash," said the one, and they splashed all day in the surf and the sun. 

I don't know how long I looked at "dolphin one" thinking, "What? What does that mean?" before I decided to move on and realized it was a counting rhyme. Duh. At any rate, I liked the book after that. After the counting rhyme, there is a section on various flora and fauna that are officially designated (state bird, state flower, etc.) in the state of Mississippi. I loved that part. And, then the book ends with the music to "Down in Mississippi" (treble part), the song.

While the illustrations are understated (or, maybe you could go so far as to call them "dull" of color), I liked the rhyme, the information about state flora and fauna, and the fact that in the end you can learn the tune if you're able to read music, so I gave the book four stars. I really do dislike the subtlety of the illustrations, though. In a children's book, I'm a fan of bold color.

Next up will be a review of The Huntress by Kate Quinn (probably tomorrow) and then I'll be able to post my full list of 2018 reads with links to every review.

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