Ten years before this book begins, Kaija and Minna flee their village with their grandmother. Behind them, their mother is burned as a witch. Escaping to the birchwood the two girls grow up safe, learning to use their magical powers under the tutelage of their grandmother, Mormor. As the book begins, the Mormor has died, and decisions need to be made. Kaija wants to return to the village she left, remembering friendship, and community, maybe even gaining a husband and family, and willing to suppress her magic in order to live there. Minna wants nothing to do with the village, being too young to have known it as Kaija did. She wants revenge on the village for burning her mother. Each one knows their path is the right one and is convinced it is the right one for her sister too, if only she'd listen. But neither does; Kaija leaves for the village and Minna casts a curse. Which one will have the life she wants?

This is an enthralling book, exploring family and sisterhood, and the ties of the past. Fascinating bits of Norwegian mythology are woven into the narrative, and life in a small, relatively isolated village are explored in detail. Both sisters are fully developed characters, relying on each other, even though they don't know how much they do. This is a relatively short book, perhaps too short as relationships develop a bit too quickly, but this doesn't detract too much from the book. While I would have liked to see more of Kaija's life in the village, dealing with friends who don't remember her, and viewing it with adult eyes, the shortened timeframe makes for a tight plot, that races to its finish.

I would recommend this book to fans of Mary Sharratt.

My initial impression--Vietnamese immigrants in a spooky old mansion? With a banyan tree in the yard? And a ghost? While I still maintain this impression, Thao Thai's book is so much more. Successive generations of Vietnamese women of the Tran family create their lives and themselves always remembering the violence that shadows their lives. Enduring their lives as single mothers, they realize that they can be more, no longer trying to fill a social image of what they should be , but empowering themselves—swimming lessons, new men in their lives. Reinventing themselves in a new country with new rules, and always trying to hold on to the idea that they are family, even if they don't like each other much. When one of them inherits the falling down, mildew-smelling house, called the Banyan house these emotions emerge. While exploring the old house of many rooms, secrets are discovered, some overturning a lifetime of belief. As the granddaughter returns to the family in Florida, each woman must deal with the idea of motherhood that her mother had, and how to make it better for her, how to be the mother they all wished they had.

I found this book to be rich in atmosphere and full of sympathetic characters. As the granddaughter of refugees to the US the large family gathering scenes are absolutely spot on. I have aunties just like them! Although I did not find Mitra's reason for her sterilization once that part of the book was over, I found Mitra completely believable and sympathetic. Hidden family secrets, patriarchy and nepotism, and the modern American women's ideas mix together in a realistic situation at the 1year anniversary of her sister's death. Susanne Pari writes excellent characters, ones that I would love to meet in person. The revolution in Iran serves as a background to the family's immigration and their individual difficulties in adapting to the US are informative. And on top of this, it's a very engrossing book, hard to put down. Recommended for those who are interested in fiction concerning immigrants and Iranian family life

This was a very interesting book, showing the daily lives of two members of an old Chinese family just before and after the Chinese Civil War in 1949. As the Communists take hold of their power, two sisters are separated for about 40 years, one on the Communist mainland and one on the Nationalist Islands and in Taiwan. Neither sister is very political, and each makes life choices based on her immediate circumstances. Alternately following the story of one sister, then the other, this book shows bits of Chinese history, showing vignettes of the Cultural Revolution and the relocation of intellectuals to rural areas for "reeducation" and how the actions of the sister in Nationalist China is aware of how her actions affect her family on the mainland. Lots of personal details about life in the countryside, or in the Taiwan society. I enjoyed it and did learn a bit about this era so often ignored in modern textbooks. I was a bit confused with the timeline because each section would follow one sister's life and then jump back to an earlier time to follow her sister's life. Dates at the beginning of each chapter would have helped. I also disliked the maps as they were too small and faint to be useful. I would have liked maps of the broader area, not just the cities on the Mainland so I could see where the locations in the story were. I am not familiar with much of China and I don't imagine many other readers are either. Overall, enjoyed it but a better sense of time and better maps would have made it much better.

Fencing with the King is a marvelous book, taking the reader back to a time that is close enough for us to remember, but totally unknown from a non-American viewpoint. The atmosphere of 1970s Lebanon is one of the highlights of the book, and strange yet familiar to me. As an Armenian, I am very familiar with the immigrant/refugee experience in the US but to see that it also happened in the Levant (as it was called pre-WWI) was new to me. A distraught mother, hiding a heart-breaking secret, an American-Lebanese granddaughter trying to understand the family dynamics, and a cast of believable, loveable characters make this truly a new and different book. After I started this book, I made a note to find the author's other books to see what they have to show me.

D-Day Girls is an intriguing narrative of several women of the SOE (Special Operations Executive) who were sent to France ahead of D-Day (originally scheduled for 1943) to disrupt the Nazis in France. Somewhat sketchily trained, they were to link up with the French Resistance and use any means to sabotage the Nazis—bombings, disrupt communications, and gather and transmit intelligence on German movements. Their story is fascinating, and several of the women's lives in the SOE are described in detail. It is clear that there were more women working in France than included in the book (the number 50 occurs frequently) and so this is a partial history, with references to other women and a good bibliography for further reading. Although I enjoyed the book, I was left wondering who the target audience was. I wanted more details of their training before they left England, more information about how they established themselves in France and worked with the Resistance, and how they were able to accomplish their incredible missions. In some ways, the lack of detail seemed a way to keep the book shorter, which made me think it was written for the YA audience, although it doesn't seem to have been marketed that way. Overall, I would recommend this to anyone interested in how the SOE operated in France.

I was excited to hear that Yangsze Choo was writing a second novel, as I had found her first one, The Ghost Bride, an enthralling work with a blend of mythology and history. The Malaysian setting, seen through a Chinese girl's eyes, was completely unique. I hoped her second novel would be as good. Instead, it is even better. Still set in Malaysia, in the 1930s, this is a remarkable historical novel, full of historical details, a fully realized plot, and characters that make you think of them long after you finish the novel. The girl Ji Lin and the houseboy Ren are united by the mythology surrounding their names - two of the five Confucian virtues. The search for the other three people/virtues is complicated by Ji Lin's secret life as a paid partner at a dance hall, and her desire to move beyond the limits of a girl's life in a traditional family, and Ren's mission to locate and reunite an amputated finger with its recently deceased owner - before the 49th day after the owner's death when he could become a dangerous monster. Oh, and the unexplained deaths by tiger - a tiger no one sees and who seems to know an English man's secrets that can't be exposed in the closed society of colonial English society. Be sure to have plenty of time to read this book because you won't want to put it down until you finish it.

The Imperial Wife by Irina Reyn is a book I really wanted to like more than I did. I usually love books of this type, split between the past and present, and the premise of the book was intriguing. Tanya works as the Russian expert at an auction house and is handling an artifact that may be the Order of Saint Catherine, once belonging to Catherine the Great. I know nothing about the fine art world and was immediately captivated by Tanya and her various Russian buyers, eager to be the first bidders on the jewelry, although there are hints that it may not be genuine. The bidders, Russian strongmen now trying to develop a softer side, are avid collectors, interested in bringing Russian art back to Russia, or maybe just their own private collections. Tanya is married to Carl, an author with one very successful book, who is trying to write another, and dealing with writer's block and, I think, depression. This part of the story was not as well done. Tanya and Carl didn't interest me as much, the characters weren't appealing somehow. Tanya is pretty clueless and Carl not well-developed, and I found myself losing patience with them both. The sections in the past, leading up to Catherine's coup to become Empress were better but other novelists have also written about this period in Catherine's life, so there was nothing new. I also found myself irritated by small things Reyn includes—mimeographed sheets? Gas station attendants who actually pump gas? What time period is this? Yet the modern Russians are clearly contemporary.

The Secret Language of Stones is the sequel to M.J. Rose's atmospheric The Witch of Painted Sorrows. Like the first title, Stones takes place in Paris. But not the Paris of the late 19th century, sunny, happy and centered on the new art movements of the time. Paris, in this book, is somber, under constant threat of bombardment, and empty of men save for the elderly, the boys, and those returning from war too wounded to continue to fight. This Paris is cold, somber, and always raining. Taking place a generation later, this book focuses on Sandrine's daughter, Opaline. Opaline works as a jeweler in Paris, creating memorial amulet jewelry for mothers and wives mourning men killed in World War I. She also serves as a channel for last messages from these men, her powers unlocked by the stones she uses in her creations. In the midst of her own mourning, Opaline hears rumors of German spies in the tunnels under the city, and secret meetings of Russian czarists, desperately trying to discover the fate of the Romanovs. Her own employer is said to have ties to the deposed Russian monarch. As Opaline learns to use her powers and amulets, she meets a ghost. And, unlike the others, this one does not go away. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and M.J. Rose is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. Her writing is atmospheric and sometimes lyrical, the supernatural elements well done and her characters are memorable. Opaline's relations with her family are the only quibble I have with this book—her reluctance to follow her mother's path of their shared magical heritage is not clear and I wanted more details about why Opaline rejected it until later in the book. I also was not happy with the brief glimpses of Sandrine, a bit imperious and with questionable morals regarding the use of power. Overall though, this book drew me in and long after I finished it, the characters and atmosphere remained with me. Thanks to Bookbrowse for including me as a reviewer of Rose's works and introducing me to a new author.

Elsa Hart's "Jade Mountain Dragon" is a wonderful book, and I hope it is the first in a new mystery series. Set in eighteenth-century Yunnan, China, it blends Chinese culture with frontier culture and the Jesuit missionary attitudes of the time. Li Du, the central character, is a great blend of educated upper class Chinese with a touch of Hercule Poirot. The setting is unusual, not the usual bustling Chinese city, but a small town, the last Chinese town before the Tibetan border. Li Du, exiled for reasons that aren't clear, becomes involved in a murder of a Jesuit, five days before the Emperor makes a ceremonial visit to the town to be presented with a European mechanical marvel. I found the unusual setting very intriguing and the mystery challenging enough to hold my interest until the very last plot twist. Hart writes well, describing her characters memorably, the plot moves along quickly, and since Li Du has not yet crossed out of China, I hope we will see more of him, and learn more of this fascinating period.

I was very excited to receive my copy of M.J. Rose's newest book, The Witch of Painted Sorrows. Rose is one of my newest favorite authors, and this book did not disappoint. In an atmosphere of old mansions, family sorrows and secrets, played out against a background of 1890s Paris, Sandrine arrives in Paris, fleeing a tragedy in New York. She plans to stay at her grandmother's ancient mansion, which she remembers as full of art and elaborate salons, while she decides the direction of her life. But the house is locked and her grandmother won't allow anyone in it.

Sandrine begins a new life, studying as the first woman to attend the Ecole des Beaux Arts with Gustave Moreau and develops her painting skills surprisingly quickly. But her grandmother forbids her to continue with her art and orders her to leave Paris, warning of danger if she stays. I found this book a perfect addition to my gothic collection, with its background of witchcraft and possession, and Rose vividly recreates the underground occult world of Paris, and the lively art world Sandrine joins.

The characters are believably developed, including Sandrine's awakening as a sensual creature instead of a frozen wife. And I must say a bit about the absolutely gorgeous cover—moonlit Paris superimposed on the gauzy dress of a mysterious woman. Perfect. This is the first in the series "La Lune" and I look forward to more.

I was excited to receive the book, That Summer, by Lauren Willig because I love her Pink Carnation series. Also, this book is my favorite kind of novel--a mystery portrait by a possibly new Pr-Raphaelite artist, an old house that protagonist Julia Conley almost remembers, and maybe even a ghost. Plus one of the characters is a descendent of Miles Dorrington! (Although he didn't inherit the charm). The part of the book set in the present was well done, the characters believable and the house was so well done that I could have recognized it if I woke up in it. I really felt for Julia, depressed and alone, trying to decide if her new acquaintances are really trying to help her or rob her. However, the scenes in the past were less intense, especially the main character. I just didn't feel her husband was explained well enough to believe his final actions; although it was said that he was cold and unloving, it didn't really appear that way to me. He just wasn't developed, just a one-dimensional character. I couldn't reconcile his last acts with his character throughout the rest of the book--he just didn't seem to care enough about his wife to do what he did. And some of the clues discovered in the search for the missing artist were just left hanging, such as the tickets for 3 to New York. I did mostly enjoy the book, I just expected more characters like in the Pink Carnation series--distinct personalities, the subtle charm and wit of the women, and the dare-devil actions of the (oh so handsome) men.

I requested this book to review because there is so little written about Turkey in World War II. The rescue of the Jewish citizens of Turkey from Hitler's troops could only be thrilling. I thought the relations between the characters in Turkey and abroad in Vichy France would be fascinating and looked forward to learning more about Turkish culture in the middle of the 20th century. I wish I had read that book. I found this story slow and surprisingly dull, considering the situation. The women in the book mostly came off as hysterical, and the men, as calm and patient with them. Although one set of main characters was a Jewish/Turkish couple, which should have set up a lot of tension and suspense, because of their different religions if nothing else, the relationship didn't seem any different from the Turkish girl's parents. Although the Jews in France were in real danger, I didn't get that from this book. I felt distanced from the characters and their lives. Perhaps this was due to the fact that it was a translation, the author is a best-seller in her native language.

When I first read the description of this book it didn't sound like something I'd ever pick up on my own. But the setting in early 19th-century Constantinople was a nice change from England and the Ottoman princess was certainly exotic. What difference did it make if she was also a murderess? Not as much as I thought it would. I found this book very atmospheric; the Bosphorus was almost a character in its own right. The (other) characters were well done, the secondary ones surprisingly so, and they were believable enough to keep me interested. While Esma Sultane's actions did not make sense to me, the history included in her reminiscences were fascinating, and I was very taken with Ivan and Esme's harem ladies. If you want something very dark and moody, with a wonderfully realized setting and characters that come alive, this book is for you.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The blurb suggests that it is the story of a soldier and his young wife during the Napoleonic wars, but it is really about a lot of different people, each affected differently by the war. I appreciated the fact that several of the characters remained in England, so that there was the homefront point of view as well. Since there were so many characters, the book moved between them in short sections, not really long enough to be called chapters, which may put off some readers as the action jumps around quite a bit. But I found these bits fascinating, especially the sections with Nathan Rothschild and Kitty Wellington, the Duke of Wellington's wife. The inside glimpses of the financial world (very similar to today's) were fascinating and I learned quite a bit about Wellington through his wife. I didn't even know he had a wife during his military period! Although it seems they did not get along well--part of the explanation of England's stock exchange came through the sections of Kitty's investments with the Rothschilds in order to provide herself an independent living. While I enjoyed to variety of viewpoints, it did make the story a bit disjointed and I didn't really feel that I knew the supposed main characters, Harriet and James. This is not a book with a single story line, so readers who want to get lost in one character or story may not enjoy it, but the variety of experiences and details will engage others.

I was excited to hear about this book because Shanghai in the early 20th century was such a fascinating time--the transition between the old imperial China and the modern one. The description indicated that it spanned many years and centered on the place of the mother in the Chinese family. I hoped for exotic atmosphere, fascinating characters and a real feel for the period. Unfortunately, I got none of this. Instead the main character, Feng, was totally unlikable, very bitter and vindictive, and she hardly left her rooms in her house. The events of World War II and the Cultural Revolution mostly passed her by and she seemed to live in a total vaccuum. I found her motives impossible to understand and her determination to make everyone pay for the difficulties in her life was not attractive, nor did it allow us to see the other people in her life as fully-developed characters in their own right. While she was resentful at her forced marriage (and how was that worse than being raised solely to take care of her parents in their old age?), we never saw what her husband thought of the marriage. He didn't get the bride he expected either, and was pretty much under his parents control for many years, and all his wife did was blame him for her condition and belittle him. As far as examining the Chinese mother's place in the family, there is only one place--the dictator. Each mother lived at quite a distance from her children and seemed set-dressing for Feng's selfishness. All in all, this is one book I cannot recommend.

The Borgia Betrayal is the sequel to Poison by Sara Poole, the first book about Francesca Giordano, but readers who start the series with the second one will have no trouble picking up the story, as it really stands alone. I was surprised that a series based on a female Italian poisoner was not about Lucrezia Borgia, but although she makes several appearances in the book, she is thirteen and waiting for her wedding, that may or may not actually take place. Francesca is the personal poisoner and protector of the Borgias, Lucrezia, Cesare (her lover) and Pope Alexander VI and is trying to protect them and, at the same time, kill her father’s murder, a mysterious priest who is the enemy of the Borgia pope and supporter of the fanatic Savonarola. Amid poisoning attempts and obscene graffiti, underground tunnels and an army of thieves, Francesca must always be one step ahead of those who threaten the Borgias. Although the papal and international politics of the time form the background of the plot, readers unfamiliar with them will not be disadvantaged as enough information is scattered in the chapters to make it clear what’s happening outside of Rome. No big paragraphs of history, just enough conversation to guide readers in the complex politics of the time. The hot, humid atmosphere of Rome in the summer makes you want to turn up the air conditioner full blast—or at least get a cold lemonade. Although taking place in a small part of the city, I felt that I knew it when the book was done and could have greeted the glassmaker and Captain of the guard by name. Sara Poole writes well, the story is well paced and I really got a sense of Francesca and her friends. Although the repeated references to Francesca’s “darkness” and “the beast inside” make me wonder if this was going to be one of the trendy vampire mashups, it wasn’t (thankfully) and even Francesca’s psychological issues were well integrated into the story. Now I need to read the first book and find out what started Francesca on her dark road. The conversation with the author at the end of the book indicates that Poole has several more volumes planned in Francesca’s story, so more to look forward to. Thanks to BookBrowse for sending me The Borgia Betrayal, and introducing me to this fascinating woman and her times,

The Tudor Secret is C.W. Gortner’s first novel, although not his first published, which I got as an ARC from BookBrowse. It’s set in an interesting time in Tudor history, the tense period surrounding young King Edward VI’s death and his sister Mary’s successful bid for the throne. Most of the story focuses on Elizabeth, but there are scenes with Mary and Lady Jane Grey. The hero of the story, Brenden Prescott, a bastard foundling the Dudleys have raised, is brought to court as a squire for John Dudley, and quickly, almost too quickly, becomes involved in the spying and secrets of the court. I found Brenden interesting, but there wasn’t enough time for the story to be reasonable, in my opinion. In about 2 weeks or less, Brenden falls in love, becomes a trusted confidant of Princess Elizabeth and King Edward’s friend and body servant, is recruited by Cecil as a spy, becomes a secret messenger for both Cecil and Queen Mary, and discovers the secret of his noble birth. While I enjoyed the story, this was just too much to be believed. Who would trust such an unknown with such dangerous secrets? I also found some of the characterization unbelievable, especially the Dudleys. They were all such monsters, and given Elizabeth’s relations with Robert and her intelligence, I found it hard to believe he had no redeeming qualities, but this book shows otherwise. Between the broad characters and the breathless pace, it shows as a first novel. It is the first in a series, so hopefully, the others will improve. I found Gortner’s second novel, The Last Queen, much better and so am looking forward to the next one.

This is a wonderful book with a setting that is unique for historical fiction. Set shortly after the opening of Vietnam after the war, on the surface, it is the story of a Viet Nieu (refugee) woman returning to Vietnam to discover the fate of her father, left behind when she and her mother escaped at the end of the war. In reality, it is the story of the Vietnamese coming to grips with the new world of united Vietnam, returning refugees and the modern world. In my mind, the star of the book is Old Man Hung, a pho-seller who ties the other characters together. Maggie's search for her father never quite clicked for me, I never felt that I understood her feelings for her father, but the rest of the characters made up for that. Even the incidental characters are fully realized, and the setting was perfectly described--I felt I was there in the heat and humidity, the old city decaying and the new city rising, and over all of it were the characters who, lacking their original families, make new ones with what is left. This book made me want to run out and find some pho! The writing is beautiful, the characters stayed with me long after putting the book down and the atmosphere was wonderful. I was especially interested in the views of the war from the Vietnamese viewpoints, which I hadn't encountered before. I would have liked a glossary though, as there were many Vietnamese words included in the text and it would have been easier to look them up in a glossary than try to find them again so I could puzzle them out.

When I first received this book, I realized that it wasn't the sort I'd usually pick up. No grand courts, no fancy gowns, no famous historical personages. Just poor, old women, poorer farms and some hints of the events of the times. Then I started reading it and Mother Demdyke hooked me. An old peasant woman, who becomes a healer late in her life, she had such a personality that I had to learn everything I could about her. Through her reminiscences, we learn of the closing of the abbeys, the Spanish Armada and the accession of King James I of England. She also remembers the church festivals and holidays (more for the frolicking and feasting than the services!) and some of the folk wisdom of the time. Her experiences with her familiar, Tibb, gives a view of early 17th century witchcraft that history books leave out--the healer who chants old Latin prayers as she "charms" the people and animals she cures. Another old woman, once Demdyke's best friend, is the local evil witch, cursing the man who raped her daughter. this deed comes back to haunt the community in the end, though.

Mother Demdyke narrates the first half of the book and her granddaughter narrates the second. I liked Mother Demdyke better as a narrator, she had the personal experiences to relate while her granddaughter only knows what her grandmother told her. In the second half, Mother Demdyke is merely an old, blind woman, not the powerful matriarch of the first half. Her granddaughter, while beautiful, is not nearly as smart, which brings the whole family to disaster, charged as witches and taken to the nearest town for trial and execution. I felt the second half of the book lacked the depth of the first half, and the ending was both rushed and obvious. However, the setting was wonderfully described and the characters extremely memorable.