The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
Pure Pleasure Reading (1/1/2024)
Chanel Cleeton does historical fiction so well! This very gothic novel is done in two timelines. The first is around 1920 with Anna and Robert Barnes, who are looking to join the up and coming Miami area. Robert builds Marbrisa, an enormous showy house, as a gift to Anna; Anna is not so thrilled. The second timeline is in the late 1930's with 19-year-old Carmen coming to Marbrisa to live with her sister, Carolina, and her husband, Asher. Because of several accidents that happened during construction some of the locals believe the house is haunted. Anna seems very nice but very remote; the reader doesn't really get to know her. This is a book for pure pleasure reading.
Mrs. Plansky's Revenge
by Spencer Quinn
Good but not great; I miss Chet! (4/11/2023)
Mrs. Plansky is a 70-year-old widow living in Florida. When she receives a late-night emergency call from her grandson, of course she wires him the $10,000 he says he needs. Problem is, when she gets up the next morning every penny in all of her accounts is gone. She's been scammed. Loretta's a charming character and her despair at losing her money is palpable. My stomach sank as I read this part. I think this premise will resonate with a lot of readers and spark many discussions in book clubs about scammers and financial security. Overall, I found the characters likable, but one-dimensional. And Loretta traipsing through Alba Gemina on her own and meeting characters involved in the scam is pretty unbelievable. I'm a big fan of Spencer Quinn's work, but this didn't live up to the fun of the Chet and Bernie series.
The Woman Before Wallis: A Novel of Windsors, Vanderbilts, and Royal Scandal
by Bryn Turnbull
A Great Backstory to a Major Moment in History (7/21/2020)
This book picked me up and set me down in the 1930s. Clothing, cars, nightclubbing all felt so authentic. I've never been a member of British high-society, but I am still appalled by how they "raised" their children. In his first 6 months, I don't think baby Tony saw his parents more than a handful of times. This is my favorite kind of historical fiction; the kind that seems so real that you have to research to find out how much is true. Answer: a lot! I do feel that the first 3/4 of the book rolled out in a leisurely manner, but the last 1/4 sped by skimming over a lot of the details. I want to know how Thelma's break-up with David happened, and how Wallis further slithered her way into his life and Thelma's reaction to it.
The Women with Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II
by Katherine Sharp Landdeck
More WWII Unsung Heroes (1/7/2020)
This is truly an untold story. It starts out like a basic nonfiction book about a group of women and their piloting escapades, but very quickly you're brought into the details of these women's lives and suddenly you're right there with them. There were 1100 women trained to fly various types of planes around the country during the war to free up male pilots for combat. They were considered civilians, although their training was definitely military. It must have been so frustrating to perform so well and then be told that you're not needed anymore, go back to your knitting and having babies. It is galling to look back and realize that even in the 70s there were men (and some women) who didn't think these women should receive military veteran status so they could be honored as veterans and receive retirement and health benefits. They make me proud to be an American woman and I plan to go to the Air Force Academy museum to see the display on their achievements.
D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II
by Sarah Rose
Long Overdue (3/26/2019)
A treasure trove of WWII-era documents was released several years ago, leading to some great books like this one. It's about time that women who served in such critical roles got their due. Rose's book concerns a handful of these women. Trained up like men, dropped behind enemy lines and responsible for radio transmitting, couriering and receiving and distributing caches of arms and materiel, these women deserve to be called heroes.
The book is sometimes frustrating because it seems to jump around a fair bit and I found myself flipping back and forth to figure out what was going on. To be fair, I think that's a natural problem in a non-fiction book where many documents may have been lost. Overall, this is a great book and even fiction readers will enjoy the exciting cloak and dagger exploits of these very brave women.
Vox
by Christina Dalcher
A not-too farfetched future? (5/11/2018)
There will probably be a lot of comparisons to A Handmaid's Tale and that's an apt description, but Vox stands on its own merits. In a world where women are controlled by means of a band on their wrists limiting them to 100 words a day, no longer allowed to work and urged to take become "pure" in the new national religion, Dr. Jean McClelland is struggling to adapt to her new life. The horror and difficulty of parsing your words for the day comes through loud and clear. I wish the author had dealt with this issue a little more, and the whole conspiracy thing a little less though. Once Jean is allowed to speak again, the novel loses some of its impact. But it's a great, fast read and I think it would spark lots of interesting conversations in book clubs. These cautionary tales are something we should be taking more seriously these days.
Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved, and Died Under Nazi Occupation
by Anne Sebba
WWII wasn't just the big battles (7/25/2016)
Anne Sebba's meticulous research into the lives of Parisian women during WWII is truly remarkable and an epic achievement. It's wonderful that so many stories of those "behind the lines" are now being told. Unfortunately, there are so many characters that there seems to be no cohesion to the story. It doesn't work well to tell their stories in a chronological fashion. It might have worked better to do a series of short sketches. There's a great deal of emphasis on the fashion and cultural worlds which seems somewhat non-essential to the story. While I found the book difficult to read, it's a worthwhile effort for the stories of these women to finally be told.
The Light in the Ruins
by Chris Bohjalian
Great mix of historical fiction and mystery (2/20/2016)
This is the first of his books that I've really enjoyed. It's WWII historical fiction set in Italy mixed with a mystery. In 1943, the Rosati family owns a large estate near Florence in a small village. As WWII escalates, the Nazis begin imposing themselves on the family and stealing artworks from the tombs located on the estate. In 1955, someone begins murdering the remaining Rosati family members. Investigating the murders is a female detective who has her own connection to the Rosati estate. The detective, Serafina, is the most interesting character, and I'd love to see a follow-up featuring her. Some of the characters are kind of blank - Cristina Rosati and Francesca Rosati mainly. We learn very little about Cristina post-war and nothing about Francesca pre-war. But those are minor quibbles in what is overall an excellent novel.
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