Jamie Ford's new novel. A wonderful blend of historical fiction, unlikely friendship, coming of age, romance and a smidgeon of mystery. The story toggles between 1909-1911 and 1962, using the Alaska Yukon Pacific (AYP) of 1909 and Century 21 Expo of 1962 as bookends to the story. The story skillfully uses a true story of a child offered as a prize at the AYP World's Fair as the basis for the story about a young Chinese child sold for transport to America (human trafficking of Asian children used as slave labor) and later raffled at age 12. The winner, a 'Madam', of a highly respected house of prostitution sets the stage to integrate Seattle's colorful and seedy past as a central character in the story.
"Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" is one of my all time favorites and sets a high bar. This new novel is close to that high bar. The characters are wonderful, and I could picture so many of the scenes in my mind. I hope to see this book as a movie.

I requested to review "Manderley Forever" because I have read two of Tatiana de Rosnay's books, but I have never read any du Maurier books, but was aware that several were NY Times bestsellers and movies. I was not aware that one of du Maurier's short stories was the basis for the Hitchcock movie 'The Birds'.

I was positively surprised by the book. The majority of the book reads like a novel, but with great detail about Daphne's childhood, relationships, influences on each of her books, famous author grandfather, famous actor father and other relatives. I found her husband's career ascension equally fascinating.
It's obvious that de Rosnay is passionate about du Maurier's life and writing, but I suspect also some similarities in ancestry (Anglo-French), and each having a book that with commercial success that overshadows all other published works by each author.

The book leaves questions about the psyche of du Maurier, as well as same sex and other relationships. Yet, in the end Daphne du Maurier had three wonderful children and a 33 year marriage that began with great passion and mutual admiration. And, close relationships with her two sisters, one who also had more than a dozen published books.

As a result of reading this book, I may decide to selectively read some of Daphne's books and watch the film versions, but I don't know that her stories appeal to me, but this biography does. I think this book would appeal to Bookclubs.

Karolina's Twins doesn't have the opening chapter hook that would not let me put down Once We Brothers. This story is told from the prospective of Lena Scheinman, a fictional character.
Once a again, Ron Balson writes a historical fiction novel with a gripping backstory and this time focused on women during the Holocaust. The story has the emotional grip of The Nightingale.
The beginning is choppy, dialogue dry, but once the woman characters become slaves of the Nazi regime, I could not put the book down. In-depth historical content, ethical dilemmas, strong women and romance.
There is a very relevant and important contemporary legal story involving elder care and dementia threaded through the Holocaust recollections.
Some of the pieces of story didn't make sense to me, but in order to convey historical context characters experience a composite reality.
This is a good selection for bookclubs.

The sequel to Girl Waits with Gun is equally enjoyable and clever. Lots of plucky descriptions. A lot of period research is evident in both these novels. Throughout the book there are references to women's employment options and rights in 1915-1916. I was struck by how much of everyday life was unregulated especially the medical practices.

I like the main character, Constance Kopp, who is tenacious, mildly stubborn but not stumbling. She listens to smart, thoughtful people who she solicits for advice and who advise her to take a contrarian approach to her 'detective' work, and then, she methodically follows through.
This book follows two separate crimes, totally unrelated. The common thread being the suspects are housed at the same jail, and Constance has contact with them as a jail matron and later involvement using crime solving skills.
I really appreciated the author including historical notes and sources as an addendum. Understanding how the information was gathered and assembled is a credit to the author's creativity.

I would describe 'Lady Cop' as a true crime-historical fiction novel. I think this book will appeal to fans of cozy mysteries and women's history.
I also think this book can be read as a stand alone. There is just enough backfill but not much spoiler from 'Girl Waits With Gun.'
I hope to read more of the Kopp Sisters in the future. Each sister has unique personalities that deserve a future!

Excellent debut novel and an engaging read. I'm not a fan of the main topic of the book - reincarnation. But, the story felt like a suspense novel for most of the book and kept my interest.

Those who loved Kate Atkinson's " Life after Life" will probably enjoy this book more than I did. I found this book more interesting, more tolerable and easier to read than Atkinson's book.

I found the perspectives about world views and academic research on 'reincarnation' interesting. It makes me think hard about when someone is described as having an old soul.

Even the title will be a topic for a great book club discussion.

This book grabbed me from the start even though I put the book aside and restarted several times, I knew I wanted to wait until I had time to savor. I loved the story. I love the cover, and want to frame it. You can judge this book by the cover. Not only did the cover draw me in, but so did the early part of book.

The author did a wonderful job of creating three well developed personalities and back stories for the three Kopp sisters-Constance, Norma and Fleurette.
The book is narrated by Constance with humor and wonderful descriptions. There are some shocking revelations that are rolled out so subtly that you have to keep reading.

A well-researched work of historical fiction that also exposes the beginnings of the long road ahead for women with desires to remain independent.

One of my favorite paragraphs describing the collision of a changing world..."Everyone knew that the horse was never to blame in these collisions. A horse could watch where it was going, but an automobile with an inattentive driver could not."

Recommended for historical fiction readers, people from NJ, pre-WWI, sister stories and book clubs.

I hope a movie or series is made from book's characters. This book is a 2015 favorite!

Once upon a time ... a Wild girl and a Grimm boy, and an Ogre (Napoleon) shaped the history of early 19th century Europe. The book melded early 19th century German (Hessian) life with historical events and folklore. I found myself looking up the Grimm's, Wild's Napoleon, the kingdom of Hesse-Cassel on wiki. There is an extraordinary amount of history buried in this book.

The author builds a dark side to Dortchen Wild's life and times, and in that way, frames the book into its on folktale that the reader hopes will have a happy ending.

A little disappointed that so much of the familiar story tales were in second half of book, but the historical aspects of the book maintained my interest throughout. In addition, there are 'wives' tales, folklore, herbal medicine scattered throughout, reminding me of Sarah Addison Allen's book Garden Spells.

I highly recommend if you are interested in Disney classics or folktales and desire to know the basis for the modern retellings. Also, if you like books that lead you to want to research more about the key characters, and places.

A Reunion of Ghosts is a novel of wordplay, dark comedy (tragedy, gloom, morbidity) and absurdity mixed with historical fiction. What a zany combination!

A series of coincidences prompts three sisters: Vee, Lady and Delph, the 4th generation of the Alter family, and the great-great granddaughters of Lorenz Otto Alter (roughly based on Fritz Haber, Jewish born, 1918 Nobel prize winner in chemistry who discovered processes to produce poison gas for chemical warfare, synthetic fertilizers and pesticide Zyklon) to join their sister, Vee, in a millennium suicide pact.

Despite the subject matter, the book has plenty of levity and historical facts. Around page 150, gets darker, gloomier, then picks up again, and much later in book some surprises.

Great topics for Bookclub discussions along with interesting characters and clever writing, tragedies of science and the coincidences of the universe.

Despite the core subject matter the book will leave you thinking ... chuckling ...but not crying.

I was intrigued by the premise of a WWII story about a Jewish RAF pilot, but concerned about WWII fatigue. This book is really two coming of age stories, each written in distinct styles. I admit bias toward the 1980s portion due to the Boston metro setting. I found reading the WWII era sections challenging due to constant need to refer to the dictionary. Also, later sections contained Shakespearean analogies, interesting but challenging.

I think this book is a stellar literary effort by a debut novelist and parts of it reminded me of Paul Auster's, Brooklyn Follies, while the book as a whole reminded me of Dara Horn's Guide to the Perplexed, and City of Thieves by David Benioff.
I would recommend this book for those who like male coming of age stories and for book clubs. The title of the book is open to interpretation and therefore discussion.

I've never read a Kristin Hannah book, but a few are on my 'want to read' list.
It was easy to read 100 or more pages of this book in an evening. I've read many WWII books. This story about two non-Jewish sisters surviving occupied France was interesting. The book builds from spring 1995 back to 1939 and the back stories of characters and life before the war and the progressive harrowing changes in everyday life. It primarily focuses on women's roles during the war as mothers, teachers, businesses and the resistance movement. It also highlights life as war progressed from Occupied zones and Free Zones of France to total occupation. Loose ends are tied up in last 40 pages with Kleenex box ending.
I recommend, if you like sister stories, France, romance and history.

I couldn't put this book down! Yes, there are stereotypes, humor, satire, and creepiness. But there is a certain genius to the book as a whole package - including the cover, the layout (chapter numbers in descending rather than ascending order), the book within a book, and possibly some similarities between the author and the character Marcus.

The self published version of the book was recommended to me earlier this year, and I didn't really want to read another Holocaust book. Once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. The opening premise of a Nazi possibly hiding in America as a Jew was a new twist. In addition to the historical fiction, the legal and romantic aspects kept my interest.
The current day dialogue is a little choppy, but the WWII sections about Poland are written in a precise and deliberate manner, and this historical background was enlightening.

I would rank this in my top 5 Holocaust book picks for those written in the past decade. I would not hesitate to recommend this book to bookclubs.

I found this book too long and too cerebral for my tastes. Although this book was long, it was somehow comforting and nostalgic. The beginning of the book reminded me of "Rich Boy".
I struggled with the author's writing style - dialogue interrupted with long descriptions of what was in each character's head - making for a long read regarding contrasting personalities and generational continuance.
First half of book held my interest, but I pushed through the second half.