Today being Hedy Lamarr’s birthday, it seems an appropriate time to publish this review! The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict was the pick for my book club last month and I found it a quick and enjoyable read. Although it is not greatly detailed on Hedy’s life as a Hollywood actress or as a budding scientist, these… Read more »
Jan 2020 Release – Amazon Link BOOK DESCRIPTION Ahead of the German Blitz during World War II, English parents from every social class sent their children to the countryside for safety, displacing more than three million young offspring. In The Secret Guests, the British royal family takes this evacuation a step further, secretly moving the princesses to the estate of… Read more »
Jan 2020 release – Amazon Link BOOK DESCRIPTION The heiress . . . The Resistance fighter . . . The widow . . . Three women whose fates are joined by one splendid hotel France, 1914. As war breaks out, Aurelie becomes trapped on the wrong side of the front with her father, Comte Sigismund de Courcelles. When the Germans… Read more »
In Lions of the Desert: A True Story of WWII Heroes in North Africa, I tell the tale of the legendary Operation Condor and 1941-1942 Desert War between Rommel’s Afrika Korps and the British Eighth Army, based on recently declassified British and U.S. Military Intelligence records. In May 1942, just before the Desert Fox launched his offensive to drive Eighth… Read more »
Lone Wolf in Jerusalem by Ehud Diskin A Thrilling Tale of Love, Loss, and Revenge BOOK DESCRIPTION Set primarily in post-WWII Israel, Lone Wolf in Jerusalem is a suspenseful, action-packed novel that is a worthy contribution to Jewish historical fiction. Using drama, adventure, and romance, Diskin has created a colorful and captivating story that entertains and educates through the exploits… Read more »
Firsty, I’m not sure it needs to be noted, but there are spoilers here. If you’ve not watched the movie and wish it to be a surprise, you may want to move along. I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society several years ago, and recently was inspired to reread it when I saw a preview of the… Read more »
Dear Mrs. Bird by AJ Pearce The idea for this story stems from a fascinating subject–the content of women’s magazines from the WWII era. What topics were they covering and what was the tone during this time of hardship? In Dear Mrs. Bird, the protagonist, Emmaline Lake, is a young woman planning to become a war correspondent, or a journalist… Read more »
In general I am not one to reread books–with the exception of audiobook versions. In this case, I was prompted to pick Guernsey up a second time because I caught the trailer for the new film and it intrigued me (I loved Lily James in Pride & Prejudice & Zombies). When I read this book some 8 years ago, I… Read more »
THE ROOM ON RUE AMELIE by Kristin Harmel For fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and Martha Hall Kelly’s Lilac Girls, this powerful novel of fate, resistance, and family—by the international bestselling author of The Sweetness of Forgetting and When We Meet Again—tells the tale of an American woman, a British RAF pilot, and a young Jewish teenager whose lives… Read more »
Please welcome author John R. Bell today with a guest post about his WWII novel, The Circumstantial Enemy, and one copy of the book up for grabs! “If you don’t write it, Grandad’s story will be lost forever,” My daughter said. I’ll never forget the yearning in her eyes. That was 17 years ago. Grandad was 80 at the time…. Read more »
As I’m browsing Pinterest I came across this one in a “Top Reads Set in France” post and decided to add it to my wishlist. I’ve seen it all over the place and plan to get it on audio, assuming the narrator is compatible with my ears! All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr BOOK DESCRIPTION From the highly… Read more »
In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen BOOK DESCRIPTION: “World War II comes to Farleigh Place, the ancestral home of Lord Westerham and his five daughters, when a soldier with a failed parachute falls to his death on the estate. After his uniform and possessions raise suspicions, MI5 operative and family friend Ben Cresswell is covertly tasked with determining if the… Read more »
