The Girl Who Survived (Midwood)-BoT-Historical Fiction-Available Now

I am a big fan of this author and have enjoyed past books by her.

But I am left in a quandary about this one.

It isn’t a bad book by any stretch, but there’s something missing that I can’t quite put my finger on.

As I have mentioned countless times before, I read historical fiction to learn about known events from different perspectives. Here is another book that checks that box.

The setting of a Minsk ghetto is a stark reminder of just how widespread the German scourge was – even as the Russians ultimately helped defeat the Germans, Jews were not safe in any country.

(And yes, I’m careful of what words I am using because I have had posts flagged for certain phrases – which is ridiculous, considering the setting of WWII Europe). But I digress.

The message of hope and resilience, and doing what needs to be done, is very clear and well-relayed via the characters and their actions, especially Ilse.

Contrary to other readers, I actually like when an author is bold enough to show the humanity of a German soldier or officer. It’s another reminder that humans are individuals and to paint all of them with a single brushstroke does a disservice to humanity.

Sometimes people get caught up in things beyond their control and do what they have to do in order to survive. Doesn’t that apply to both Ilse and Willy – even though they are on opposite sides of the conflict?

Even though I liked the individual characters and felt sympathetic to both for their situations, I’m not sure that the romance aspect rang especially true. But, seeing as how this is a book based on a true story, I guess it did? I didn’t get caught up in that part like I have in other books.

I also thought that the descriptions bogged down the reading – it didn’t move at a comfortable clip. I understand where the author was trying to paint the picture and give the reader the feeling of “being there,” but I didn’t feel as if it was successful all the time.

This appears to be a rewrite/re-release of a book the author wrote a few years ago. Perhaps the author has improved her style since then?

Regardless, it was still a compelling story from a new perspective. If you enjoy historical fiction, specifically WWII, I would recommend it.

Author Bio

Ellie Midwood is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning historical fiction author. She owes her interest in the history of the Second World War to her grandfather, Junior Sergeant in the 2nd Guards Tank Army of the First Belorussian Front, who began telling her about his experiences on the frontline when she was a young girl. Growing up, her interest in history only deepened and transformed from reading about the war to writing about it. After obtaining her BA in Linguistics, Ellie decided to make writing her full-time career and began working on her first full-length historical novel, “The Girl from Berlin.” Ellie is continuously enriching her library with new research material and feeds her passion for WWII and Holocaust history by collecting rare memorabilia and documents.

In her free time, Ellie is a health-obsessed yoga enthusiast, neat freak, adventurer, Nazi Germany history expert, polyglot, philosopher, a proud Jew, and a doggie mama. Ellie lives in New York with her fiancé and their Chihuahua named Shark Bait.

The Paris Wife (Masterson)-BoT-Historical Fiction-Available Now

What a welcome break from the multiple WWII-set historical fiction novels I have read recently. Not that I haven’t enjoyed those, but something completely different was a refreshing change.

And 1856 Paris is pretty different.

I’ll be honest and say that the opening scenes of tarot reading drew me in and hooked me. I know of authors who will sanitize certain aspects of an era, so they don’t offend modern sensibilities.

And while I realize this seems strange to say in light of this book, I have seen reviews of others that were totally turned off by any mention of the potential supernatural or “other-world.”

I, for one, enjoy it immensely. So, I knew I would like the book just from that. But then the author did one better for my tastes and made Livia someone who is highly knowledgeable about the healing powers of plants…and the dangers of poison.

(Side note: while I was reading this book, I had conversations with at least half a dozen people about natural and homeopathic remedies for colds and flu. Totally unrelated to the book itself, but it struck me that some treatments have been around for centuries).

Anyway, I liked that about Livia. Sure, she was a 19-year-old thrust into Paris intrigue, but she was smart and had a mind of her own. I particularly liked the friendship between her and Caterina, as well as the one she formed with Elisabetta.

Even without refreshing my instinct about the book by reading the blurb, it was easy to tell where the author was headed with the plot, especially taking Livia’s first meeting with Elisabetta into account.

What was unknown, was how it would all ultimately play out. And that is what made the story just so page-turning.

Any time there is a royal court involved, there is going to be intrigue. And if two countries are trying to forge treaties or have their own interests at the forefront of the empire, there is going to be even more intrigue.

And there is certainly plenty of it in this book. The author did a great job of dropping just enough information that it was difficult to figure out who might be responsible for what, who was trustworthy and who wasn’t, and what the endgame of it all actually was.

Nope, I’m not going to tell you.

Just let yourself get swept away to 1856 Paris, take in the lush descriptions and clever writing, and go with Livia on her journey to find her place in a complicated society.

Oh, and pay attention to the entries from her book at the beginning of each chapter. Not only is there good information, but you might get a hint of what is yet to come.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

Author Bio:
Meghan Masterson graduated from the University of Calgary with an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Communications Studies, and has worked several unrelated jobs while writing on the side. When not writing, Meghan can often be found reading at all hours (even at breakfast), practicing archery and roaming through the woods with her dog.

Beyond the Olive Grove (Hewitt)-BoT-Historical Fiction-Available Now

I’m going to forego my usual spiel regarding historical fiction. You can find it on most of my other reviews of other novels in this genre.

Suffice to say that once again, I was introduced to a new arena of conflict from WWII. This time it’s Greece and boy, did I learn a lot.

The author has once again done her homework to create vivid scenes and characters, evoking the fear and desperation of people who are in the path of the Nazis.

However, this book concentrates on more than that. In fact, that is almost a side note, in the sense that everyone knows the Nazis were the bad guys. What I didn’t know (and I’m betting several other readers didn’t either, is that Greece was torn by warring factions trying to fight the Nazis.

There were the communist rebels, but there was also the republican governmental army. It’s too complicated to explain in this review, but the author does a tremendous job of detailing each of the factions and how they related to (and fought) each other.

In the contemporary storyline (there always is one), Ava has traveled to Greece – the home of her grandmother, Sophia – after a great personal loss. This part of the plot details Ava’s time in Greece, living in the house her grandmother grew up in and finding out information about her grandmother from local townspeople.

We get Sophia’s story in flashbacks, but there is no connection between past and present (i.e., no diary, no secret stash of letters, etc.). Just a strange interaction between an old woman in town and Ava, that sets Ava on a slight hunt for info on her grandmother.

I liked that the two stories were independent of each other in this way. It felt more natural than some of the ones with the above-mentioned catalysts. And it allowed me to appreciate each of the women’s stories individually instead of constantly trying to figure out where each part might tie in.

I was very taken with the descriptions of townspeople both past and present. They reminded me of the people I met the times that I traveled to Greece. There was an air of resilience in them…a knowledge that their history is older than almost any other on earth. And they have been through a lot.

But they fight. They get through it all, one way or another. There is grief, there is despair. But there is hope and the knowledge that it all continues. And somehow, things can turn out okay. By the time Sophia’s story (and Ava’s for that matter) comes to an end, that is made crystal clear.

I love that message, especially in today’s world.

Pick up this book. You won’t regret it.

Facebook: KateHewittAuthor
Instagram: katehewitt1
Twitter: @author_kate

Author Bio:
Kate Hewitt is the author of many romance and women’s fiction novels. A former New Yorker and now an American ex-pat, she lives in a small town on the Welsh border with her husband, five children, and their overly affectionate Golden Retriever. Whatever the genre, she enjoys telling stories that tackle real issues and touch people’s lives.

The Girl in the Striped Dress (Midwood)-BoT-Historical Fiction-Available Now

Just when I think that I have a handle on how treacherous and dehumanizing Nazi concentration camps were during WWII, I find another perspective in a historical fiction novel that shows me differently.

I now believe that there will never be an end to the depths of the inhumanity of those camps. The inmates were tortured in every sense of the word, and as the cunning of the German leaders is revealed, so is their utter lack of humanity.

In the case of this book, I learned that one of the cruelest forms of torture was psychological. And the author did an excellent job of detailing the methods without being overtly obvious about it.

As mentioned in the introduction, the plot is based on a true story (for the most part). The Kanada work detail was tasked with sorting the meager possessions of the people who came to the camp on the transports.

It was a cushy assignment by all reports, and the author describes the “benefits” of working in Kanada. However, even if on the surface other inmates felt that working there was preferable, it is difficult to imagine the psychological impact of such tasks.

In Helena, we get a sense of just how infuriating and sickening such assignments were. On the one hand, a woman got to live and even got a few perks out of it – certainly preferable to forced hard labor or death.

However, they were also expected to sort the clothing and belongings of people who were just like them – taken to the camps with the intention of extermination. So, can someone truly enjoy being alive while being constantly reminded that it could end in a second?

The psychological impact is huge: some women started to believe that they were special, and embraced their bits of freedom, forgetting their place. Others kept their heads down and were just thankful to be alive, even as they had to sort the personal items of dead people.

Talk about existential crises of the largest magnitude.

The author writes thoughtfully about all of this but adds a twist that could have seemed hokey or contrived. An SS officer falling in love with an inmate working in Kanada detail? Preposterous!

But as I read the story of Helena and Franz, I realized that the author was using a familiar theme in WWII historical fiction (hope) and presenting it in a different manner.

To me, their story is an illustration that humanity does still exist even in the darkest of places and that the heart wants what it wants. I know that sounds trite, but if ever there was a situation where it applied this is it.

From the powerful descriptions of the Kanada detail to the odd (yet sometimes charming) courtship, I was totally taken in by Helena and Franz’s story. The interspersed chapters (set in 1947) were a good reminder of how complicated the immediate post-war years were.

Truthfully, you have to allow yourself to be immersed in this one. I can’t pinpoint specific events without giving away where the story leads. But it does present several aspects to consider, including the strength of survivor’s guilt, the complicated nature of the camp system, the psychology of the inmates and their oppressors, and many more.

But most importantly, I think it illustrates that people need to be looked at as individuals. Status, uniform, rank…none of those are what really make a person. Helena and Franz eventually realized that in each other – if more people had been like them, history would be different.

And so might our future.

Author Bio

Ellie Midwood is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning historical fiction author. She owes her interest in the history of the Second World War to her grandfather, Junior Sergeant in the 2nd Guards Tank Army of the First Belorussian Front, who began telling her about his experiences on the frontline when she was a young girl. Growing up, her interest in history only deepened and transformed from reading about the war to writing about it. After obtaining her BA in Linguistics, Ellie decided to make writing her full-time career and began working on her first full-length historical novel, The Girl from Berlin.’ Ellie is continuously enriching her library with new research material and feeds her passion for WWII and Holocaust history by collecting rare memorabilia and documents.

In her free time, Ellie is a health-obsessed yoga enthusiast, neat freak, adventurer, Nazi Germany history expert, polyglot, philosopher, a proud Jew, and a doggie mama. Ellie lives in New York with her fiancé and their Chihuahua named Shark Bait.

The Irish Nanny (Taylor)-BoT-Historical Fiction-Available Now

I had high hopes for this book, as it seemed that it would be a unique perspective on WWII on an Irish woman in London. While that is partially true, the larger story is much more than that.

In fact, and to be perfectly honest, the war actually serves as a minuscule backdrop to Rose’s story. It’s there only to provide a couple of plot points and not much else.

That doesn’t mean that the story itself is bad (it’s not). But if you’re looking for heroics in the face of war, or detailed scenes about London in wartime, this is not the place to find them.

I felt like this story was more of a lyrical retelling of a young girl’s journey – one that takes her from her small town in Ireland to places she never dreamed she would visit. If looked at through this lens, the book is highly successful.

I liked how the author used Polly and Rose as the differing opinions on their small town, and I especially liked the message that opportunity finds us when we least expect it. I can’t say more about Polly and Rose’s outcomes without giving the plot away, but it did follow in an orderly telling. The story is very linear.

There were parts of it that reminded me of one of my favorite movies, The Quiet Man. Sure, it might be mostly because of the setting, but I think it’s more that the story seemed like it could be retold in an Irish Pub. There was a quality that just made it float along easily, moving from one part to the next.

I liked the characters. I thought that Rose was enjoyable, and the author really hit on how a young girl might have felt leaving home and going to a big city. I also liked Bridgy – she was a hoot, and Agnes was also interesting. I didn’t get much of a feel for the third sister. (I actually had to go back into the book to even remember her name – she didn’t figure highly in the story).

Where the story faltered for me was in the details. I never felt like I got a good enough answer for why Alice was the way she was. Raffi just seemed like an impertinent brat. David was a mystery. None of it seemed to jibe together very well. I particularly did not like the resolution for Alice and Raffi. It was contrived and answered no questions.

There were also places where the writing became tedious. I got very tired of reading “darling girl” or “dear child.” It was repetitive and frankly annoying. And don’t get me started on the scenes set in Brooklyn. I thought those were the most manipulative of all.

In fact, upon reflection, it kind of felt like this was Forrest Gump for the Irish nanny population. Rose is buffeted from one “event” to the next and just happens to be there for whatever occurs.

But I did like the messages of hope and resilience, as well as following the path that God may have laid out for you, even if you can’t figure out why that is the case. Rose certainly grew up (as did Polly). It was a sweet story.

Facebook: SandyTaylorAuthor/
Twitter: @SandyTaylorAuth 

Author Bio:

Sandy Taylor grew up on a council estate near Brighton. There were no books in the house, so Sandy’s love of the written word was nurtured in the little local library. Leaving school at fifteen, Sandy worked in a series of factories before landing a job at Butlins in Minehead. This career change led her to becoming a singer, a stand up comic and eventually a playwright and novelist.

A Light in the Window (Kummerow)-BoT-Historical Fiction-Available Now

This was one of the more interesting historical fiction novels I have read lately, not necessarily because of a unique setting but more because of the story itself.

Let me see if I can explain without giving the plot away, but I will say that you can actually get a big chunk of it from the blurb itself.

At the very start of the book, Margarete is given a Hobson’s choice. I found her instantly relatable in this regard because I think many people would make a choice to live – even if it meant undertaking dangerous subterfuge.

What follows is a story focused on the role she must play and the things she must be aware of in order to survive. She soon realizes that the seemingly simple choice at the beginning was in fact only the beginning of her journey, not the pass to freedom that she might have initially thought it to be.

Interspersed with her chapters are those from the perspective of Wilhelm, a relation of those who suffered a terrible fate in the opening chapter – an event that Margarete has arguably taken advantage of for her own interests.

I’m not sure what else to write about, because the story itself relies on Wilhelm’s perspective of his family (not very favorable) and Margarete’s cunning to propel itself to the conclusion.

In some ways, Margarete’s choices validate Wilhelm’s opinion of “her kind.” But that’s too simplistic, because it really was a matter of life or death, especially as Margarete had found out what was to become of her had the tragic event not happened.

What I have not mentioned in this review is that Margarete is a Jew and Wilhelm is an SS officer, and the time is 1941 Europe. You can see where this is going.

I think what I found most strange was that the story itself could really have been set at any time and place. The identities of the two, and the situation, seemed to be more of a plot ploy instead of actually meaning something. I’m not quite sure why I feel that way.

I just kept thinking that everything was skimming along and seemed contrived in more than a few places, instead of having some actual depth to it. Characters came and went, some had one role to play and then disappeared.

A major plot twist occurred late in the book, which led to another twist. Neither of them seemed plausible to me. And in fact, almost derailed the story.

I realize this sounds like I didn’t like it, but I did. What kept me reading was that I was eager to see how Wilhelm and Margarete “ended” – if they would stay true to form or if they would buck tradition and expectations to forge a new path.

There was character growth from both of them, and that I enjoyed. And I seriously did NOT see the end coming – that was an interesting and bold choice by the author. I guess it ended up being about the sacrifices we are willing to make to protect the ones we love.

And that’s certainly enough to make a book worth the read.

Facebook: AutorinKummerow
Twitter: @MarionKummerow
Instagram: marionkummerow

Author Bio:

Marion Kummerow was born and raised in Germany, before she set out to “discover the world” and lived in various countries. In 1999 she returned to Germany and settled down in Munich where she’s now living with her family.

Inspired by the true story about her grandparents, who belonged to the German resistance and fought against the Nazi regime, she started writing historical fiction, set during World War II. Her books are filled with raw emotions, fierce loyalty, and resilience. She loves to put her characters through the mangle, making them reach deep within to find the strength to face moral dilemmas, take difficult decisions or fight for what is right. And she never forgets to include humor and undying love in her books, because ultimately love is what makes the world go round.

Radar Girls (Ackerman)-Blog Tour-Historical Fiction-Available Now

I picked this book up for a few reasons.

1) I like historical fiction.

2) I like new perspectives in historical fiction – learning about known events from a different point of view.

3) I have a soft spot and many fond memories of Hawaii.

One of my strongest memories of my first visit to Hawaii actually involves the memorial at Pearl Harbor, and it’s a place that I always associate with WWII. This made the book even more interesting to me.

The WARD (Women’s Air Raid Defense) program was vital to the War in the Pacific and the author certainly did her research to fully explain the jobs the women were tasked with. This was one of the strongest areas of the narrative. The historical parts were fascinating.

The author also did a nice job with the descriptions of the different women who joined the WARD program. The islands were rife with distrust (for good reason) and it is not unrealistic to believe that the women didn’t always get along, but understood the importance of being able to rely on each other.

I thought that the author captured “old Hawaii” in a very authentic manner. The words were correct (at least from my memory and the few that I looked up). That’s important because I remember how my friends’ grandparents stressed using Hawaiian as much as possible, so it didn’t get lost among new generations.

Buy Links can be found underneath Author Info

I realize I kind of skipped a beat there, but the Hawaiian language has always been magical to me. The words and phrases I learned still resonate in my head often. The same could be said with the locations.

That’s another area where the author did her homework. I could easily picture the different places where the action took place – even though some of the areas have become much more commercial and developed since the 1940s, the relation to each other remains clear.

Less successful in the book were smaller subplots about a horse that went missing the day Pearl Harbor was bombed and some of Daisy’s other personal issues (like with her dad). While they weren’t awful, I thought they were unnecessarily distracting from the main story at hand.

Especially the horse. Pretty sure there were more important things to worry about at the time. But I do understand the importance of a touchstone, as that’s what its purpose seemed to be.

There were also places where the writing didn’t exactly feel polished. I felt that this author’s Red Sky Over Hawaii was slightly more…advanced? That’s not exactly the correct word. Maybe the story in the previous one flowed better?

That’s not to say that this one was bad in any way. In fact, reading both of them will certainly give the reader an excellent feel for World War II Hawaii. It’s a place that was pivotal in U.S. involvement but is often overlooked beyond the one fateful day.

I’m thankful that there are authors like this who work to keep history alive.

Facebook: @ackermanbooks
Twitter: @AckermanBooks
Instagram: @saraackermanbooks

About the author: USA Today bestselling author Sara Ackerman was born and raised in Hawaii. She studied journalism and earned graduate degrees in psychology and Chinese medicine. She blames Hawaii for her addiction to writing, and sees no end to its untapped stories. When she’s not writing or teaching, you’ll find her in the mountains or in the ocean. She currently lives on the Big Island with her boyfriend and a houseful of bossy animals.

Buy Links:

The Shut-Away Sisters (Goldring)-BoT-Historical Fiction-Available Now

I am a huge fan of this author. I’ve read all of her books (links to those reviews at the bottom), which have all featured WWII. I was very excited to see that she went further back to WWI for this story.

As with several Historical Fiction novels, there are two storylines, one historical and one contemporary. And, as usual, there is the draw of trying to figure out how the two are connected. In this instance, the connection is pretty clear.

From the blurb and other reviews that recount the plot, the reader knows that Kate (contemporary, 1999) has had a personal crisis and is asked by her father to help clean out his Aunt Florrie’s house, and she is the voice of the historical storyline.

The way Florrie’s storyline is told is clever. It took me a bit to make the connection to an early chapter, but once I did, the story flowed. The method allowed for Florrie’s voice to be clear and her attitudes to color the retelling of her story (which makes sense).

Now that we have the basics out of the way, I want to talk about specific things that jumped out at me.

I found the parallels between Florrie and Kate to be intriguing. As Kate struggles with the stresses of work and rebuilding her personal life, so does Florrie struggle with the events of her time. It’s not a spoiler to say that because of the timeframe, Florrie has to deal with WWI, the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, and post-war troubles.

There is a commonality in the way that each woman handles their particular issues. I liked this, because family has always told Kate that she looks like Edith, but it is clear that her mettle is solely Florrie.

I thought that the historical timeline was much more fleshed out than the contemporary one. In spite of all of the tribulations, there was a lyrical sense to Florrie’s account of history, and those chapters lulled me right into her world.

In other words, there is sometimes a jolt between contemporary and historical timelines in books of this genre. That wasn’t the case for me here. Each time we went back to Florrie, it was literally like stepping back easily into time.

The author did a phenomenal job of recounting the little things of the period. Yes, WWII and the 1918 Spanish Flu were horrific, but so where the countless repercussions that each of them caused.

Men who didn’t want to fight in the first place and then who weren’t released from service post-war, families that were dealing with the double hit of war and illness…not to mention the longer-lasting after-effects of war, including mustard gas.

But where the author really excelled was the slow mental decline of a person who could not face reality. I don’t want to say too much and give away an excellent part of the story. But the way the sisters are written showed two very different approaches to dealing with adversity.

Kate’s storyline seemed almost inconsequential at times, and I think that might have been on purpose. While living in Florrie’s house, she gets to know the people of the neighborhood and realizes how trivial and superficial her knowledge of people can be.

Indeed, it’s a realization that should wake us all up – previous generations have faced much more challenging times and come through them. Although, given the events of the past in this book, not everybody came through them intact and better off.

I know I’m kind of rambling but points just keep popping into my head that I think are important. For example, around WWI, it was important for young women to find a beau and get married young.

But what happens to a woman when her chosen suitor goes off to war? And what happens when that war almost decimates a large portion of the male population? What is a woman supposed to do then? Again, Florrie and Edith have two very different approaches.

I did think that the end of both storylines seemed rather abrupt. The event that essentially ends Florrie’s part (and finally ties the two time periods together) served its purpose in that there was a sense of resigned fatefulness for her – there was nothing more that could be said or done…so there wasn’t. It became what it ended up being.

I promise that all makes sense in the book.

For Kate, it also seemed a tad hasty. I would have liked to see a comeuppance of her sisters-in-law, for example. As it was, they (and her brothers) just sort of faded away. The same could be said with Florrie’s brother. Although, the reader does have to make some connections to realize his importance in the story even though it isn’t specifically spelled out.

This is probably the longest review I have written. I have so much more to say about this book, because each time I think about it, I find some other parallel, or something else that struck me.

I guess that’s the sign of a really good book – it continues to make you think long after the last page has been read. This definitely qualifies.

My reviews of other books by this author: My Name is Eva, Burning Island, The Girl Without A Name

Author Bio:
Following an eventful career as a public relations consultant, specialising in business and travel, Suzanne Goldring turned to writing the kind of novels she likes to read, about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people. Whether she is working in her thatched cottage in Hampshire or her seaside home in North Cornwall, Suzanne finds inspiration in the secrets hidden by everyday life.

Lady Sunshine-Blog Tour (Review)-Women’s Fiction-Available Now

Part historical fiction, part coming-of age, part family mystery, this book had a lot going on. Most of it was successful, making it a great beach read.

Told in dual timelines, the narrative belongs to Jackie in both 1979 (as a teenager) and 1999 (as the inheritor of her uncle’s old estate, The Sandcastle. It was effective to have a singular character be the focal point because the memories and impact of events were consistent.

I guess in a way it could be considered a dual historical timeline, since the contemporary line is set 22 years ago.

Anyway, the Jackie of now has a lot of unfinished business from her time at The Sandcastle. That’s where the family mystery comes in.

I thought the author did a fantastic job of recreating a summer full of idyllic memories. As the flashbacks occurred, it was easy to relate to Jackie. We all have those fond memories of a summer where the littlest things seemed important while nothing was really important at all.

She also captured the 70s vibe so well that I felt like I could see the tie dye and smell the patchouli and neroli oils mixed in with the seaside air. Those parts of the book really took flight for me.

Buy Links can be found underneath Author Info

I thought the parallels between the summer Jackie remembers (when everything changed) and what occurs in 1999 were interesting. It made me wonder if the present was influencing Jackie’s memories of the past.

Turns out I was sort of right.

There weren’t a whole lot of big moments in this book, more like important or pivotal moments that you don’t realize the importance of until you read Jackie’s reactions. I know that sounds convoluted, but I don’t know how else to describe it.

The writing just lulled me into the swing of the story, sort of hazy and blurry, just like memories often are. The parts capturing the 70s music scene were reminiscent of some rockumentaries I have seen, especially the one of the group Chicago. The author did some great research here.

It wasn’t a bad way to spend a few lazy summer afternoons.

Headshots by Sash Photography http://sashphotography.com

About the Author:AMY MASON DOAN is the author of The Summer List and Summer Hours. She earned a BA in English from UC Berkeley and an MA in journalism from Stanford University, and has written for The Oregonian, San Francisco Chronicle, and Forbes, among other publications. She grew up in Danville, California, and now lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and daughter.

The English Girl (Mitchell)-BoT-Historical Fiction-Available Now

This book had easily one of the most thrilling openings I have ever read.

I think maybe because it is one of the first times that at least part of the historical events in the book took place in a time that I actually remember. The fall of the Berlin Wall is etched in my mind for many reasons.

One, the 80s were a pivotal time for me, and the fall of the Wall was a pinnacle of Western achievement and diplomacy. I have clear memories of Reagan’s impassioned speech, and of watching the coverage when it actually came down. The euphoria from the people of Berlin was palpable even through the television screen.

Secondly, I had visited Berlin with my parents only 5 years earlier, and we had taken a tour from West Berlin to East. Even as a young teen, I recognized the difference in the two cities. It was noticeable in everything from the architecture to the faces of the people.

So (back to the book) the opening involving Tiffany in West Berlin in November 1989 was something instantly relatable to me.

What was interesting, however, was that after that introduction, the reader is catapulted back to England in October 1946. And it takes a very long time to get around to what the two time periods have in common.

That’s no complaint because the storyline set in 1946 was absolutely fascinating. I’ve never made a secret of how much I enjoy learning new things from historical fiction, and this one certainly fits the bill.

I think the author did a phenomenal job of covering how English townspeople would have felt having a POW camp in their midst. There were sympathizers, people who were angry, and people who just wanted to move on. Every perspective that I could think of was covered by a townsperson in some way.

There was a lot going on in this town as well. For example, the person in charge of the camp was obviously suffering after-affects of the war. His wife had other interests. A young man who had been unable to fight realized the depths people would go to so that he remained safe. A woman struggles with her feelings about a prisoner in the camp.

I don’t want to say too much, but it all made for compelling reading. I never felt like the story jolted too much around and each plot thread seemed to take place accordingly and in the flow of the story.

I was especially taken by Fran. She is central to many other threads. There was something about her that I just liked. I could see myself making the same decisions she did and having the same thoughts and feelings. I also liked Martin for these same reasons.

I thought one scene set around Christmas time was especially poignant and illustrated the human side of war that is so often forgotten. Germans and townspeople alike were in a new world and were able to see each other for the humanity (at least most of them did).

In the course of this, the author also makes some stark points with perspectives that are thought-provoking (What makes a soldier? Were all Germans bad? Can individuals be held accountable for a whole country?). There was a lot of depth here, but it was never preachy or overdone.

Honestly, this was just a good solid story, with many threads, that gave the reader insight to the people in a small town in England in 1946/47. And it was very well done.

Oh, and we don’t get back to Tiffany until the end. Have the tissues ready. There’s a lot that happens in the end to wrap everything up, including a “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” reference to an earlier event that was subtle and touching.

A thoroughly satisfying and excellent story.

Author Bio:

Sarah grew up in Norfolk and studied law at Cambridge University which led to a career as a barrister, working mainly in the field of human rights. After nearly twenty years she was tempted off-track by a creative writing course at the Open University and fell in love with making up stories instead of constructing arguments. Three years later she completed, with distinction, an MA in Creative Writing – Prose Fiction at the UEA.

Now she lives in Norfolk again, this time with her husband and three almost-grown-up children, where she combines writing with some legal work – and thanking her enormous number of lucky stars.

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