Winston Churchill was not exaggerating when he said that the future of Western civilization depended upon the outcome of the Battle of Britain. Late 1940 and early 1941 truly was an historic time in the life of the world, and for those wanting or needing a refresher, this book is a good one.

All of the stories in the book have been told before by others and better, but Mr. Larson performs a service by telescoping them into one compact book. The book has its flaws: little is written about the Battle of the Atlantic, the importance of Churchill's speeches is underplayed, and it glosses over some of the major strategic considerations that went into Churchill's decisions, but we learn quite a lot about what life was like in London during the bombing Blitz that Hitler and Goering unleashed on the British Isles in the mistaken belief that the British would crumble and seek a peace deal with the Nazis. Clever use of German propaganda minister Goebbels's diaries also remind us — a useful reminder — of how easily some government officials find it to lie.

Mr. Larson relies mostly on secondary sources, but the ones he uses are reliable. Far more detail is available in any good Churchill biography, but those tend to omit stories about everyday life in London. Knowing what Londoners found to eat, the sexual license of the times, the nights of terror, and the unadulterated courage of the English people provides much needed context. And Larson is, as ever, an entertaining writer.

When the United States entered World War II it had been only twenty years since American women were allowed to vote. So perhaps it should come as no surprise that in 1942 the male power structure, especially that of the Army Air Force, believed that women could not fly airplanes.

That was nonsense, of course, as this oral history of the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) aptly demonstrates. It is a well written story of the women who ferried practically every kind of airplane the United States built during the the war all across the country. They were pioneers in the air, but also pioneers in the women's movement and the struggle for equal pay and equal rights which continues.

I wish the book had more historical context. I would have liked to read not only about the women who flew these planes, but also the women who built them, and how women generally fared during the war. It would have been good also to have some information about what happened to women in the military between the sad, unnecessary disbandment of the WASP and U.S. Air Force Major Nicole Malachowski, the first female USAF Thunderbird pilot who addressed these WWII pilots at their last reunion. Hopefully, Dr. Sharp Landdeck will write that book too.

This reviewer assumes the final edition of the book will have an index which the review copy lacked. It needs one.

Women in the United States had come a long way by the time we reach the most moving part of the book. In June 2009 the preeminent American politician of the early 21st Century, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America, Nancy Pelosi, said to them, "We are all your daughters; you taught us how to fly."

I wanted to like this book more than I did, so my feelings about it are mixed. 3.5 would be my ideal rating.

I have always wished that antiques (in this case a piano) could talk and tell us their history---where they have lived, who owned them and what they witnessed.

It is 1962 and Katya lives in Russia and is given a Blüthner piano. She becomes a gifted pianist, but when her abusive husband insists that they move to America to better their lives, she is forced to give up her beloved piano.

Fast forward to 2012. Clara lives in California and works as a talented auto mechanic (I never could figure out why the author made her an auto mechanic). Her father gave her the Blüthner for her twelfth birthday. Shortly thereafter her parents die in a house fire. Clara's current relationship is coming to an end and she decides she needs to sell the piano.

It is after this that the stories start to converge and we learn the connections between the characters and the piano.

The narrative alternates back in forth by chapter and by character. (I'm getting really tired of this method of story-telling, but so many authors seem to adopt this technique these days.)The story felt forced and implausible at times and why do authors feel they need to throw in a sex scene or two? (I'm tired of that too.)

There were times when the book was a bit of a thriller and I would get hooked into thinking that it was going to be a page-turner, but that never happened.

Clara was not a terribly likable character and is perhaps one of the reasons the book fell short for me.

And finally I hated the ending.

If you hate quotation marks, love depressing books, need more reasons to hate America, like upsetting scenes of torture and killing, then this book is for you.

I love Kate Morton's books and was so excited to start reading this one. It was a disappointment. It was disjointed and hard to follow. Every time I thought it would pick up and get "mysterious", it failed to deliver. I will, however, read Morton's next book as she is a good writer. Hopefully this book was just a one-off.

When I read the blurb about this book, I knew I had to read it. Children who spontaneously combust? Who can resist that?

The book is funny, poignant and definitely quirky. Kevin Wilson has created memorable characters that stick with you.

It's a delightful read and I recommend it.

Georgianna Grove is about to celebrate her 70th birthday when she receives a letter that takes her back to a trip that occurred when she was four years old. During that trip her mother was murdered and her father confessed to the murder. She decides to recreate the canoe trip and takes her reluctant family with her. Can she find the answers to her mother's murder?

I think there were too many characters in the book which resulted in no character being fully fleshed out. I had to re-read parts of the book to try to figure out who everyone was and how they fit into the story.

The author goes back and forth in time and uses different narrators.

There are themes of racial discrimination and bigotry and these too are not well-developed.

Without giving anything away, I found the ending wholly unsatisfying.

Loved this book. Wonderful complex main characters and interesting minor characters. Many themes, including man vs nature, pain and suffering, grief, loss and love, are explored in this beautifully written book. It is a meaty and smart book. I know I will read it again.

I enjoyed reading The Dry and was anxious to read this book. It did not disappoint. Harper does an excellent job of creating believable characters. A group of women goes on a retreat in the Australian bush and one of the women goes missing---or so it appears. The story shifts back and forth from the search to a gradual unfolding of what happened to the women. Well plotted and a good mystery. I am now a fan of Jane Harper and look forward to her next book.

A friend recommended this mystery to me and said she had just discovered Norwegian author Karin Fossum. This book is in a series of Inspector Sejer mysteries. Now I'm hooked!

Fossum creates a tension and feeling of dread in the very first chapter. Filled with psychological suspense, the book is about the murder investigation of a young woman. Inspector Sejer uncovers the secrets and hidden relationships in what appears to be an idyllic town. Lots of twists and turns.

I recommend it!

An excellent mystery and I want to read more of her work.

The Girl on a Train meets Rear Window. Alcoholic agoraphobic traumatized main character with nothing to make her sympathetic. Not recommending this one.

A fascinating story about a daring theft of rare bird feathers and the obsession behind it. Reads like a whodunit.

I tend to love mysteries that involve old houses with some kind of secret history. Black Rabbit Hall is such a place. The story is woven between generations, the first being the Alton family in 1968 and present-day Lorna who is looking for a venue for her upcoming wedding. Life seems simple and good for the Alton family until tragedy strikes. The past and the present unfold until the stories collide at the end. The characters are believable and have interesting interior lives. I was kept guessing up to the end. If you are a fan of Kate Morton you will like this book.

My favorite thing about this book is that it made me laugh. Arthur Less is about to turn fifty and his longtime partner is going to marry another man. In order to avoid the wedding he decides to accept all the invitations he has been offered and travel around the world. With each stop we learn more and more about his past. The writing is wonderful and the book is witty, poignant and tender.

I wanted to like this book, but I found the characters lacking in depth. I just didn't care about them. On the positive side, there was some beautiful writing in it. But two weeks after reading this book, I can't even remember it.

I loved this book. It is the story of three widows whose lives become intertwined during WWII in Germany. They are brought together as a result of the failed resistance plot to assassinate Hitler in July 1944. Marianne von Lingenfels promises one of the resisters that she will find and protect the other wives. She brings them together and from then on we learn about their joint and individual past and present struggles.

For me this book was deeply personal. My mother was a German war refugee and at so many points in the book I was reminded of her "story". Millions of Germans had similar stories and I was once again reminded of their suffering and the atrocities of war.

I also loved that this story was about and told by women. Their experiences and the ripple effects of war as well as their own actions and decisions makes this narrative even more compelling.

I do have some minor criticisms. The narrative goes back and forth in time and sometimes it is confusing to keep track of what has or has not happened as you read it. (Why are so many authors using this technique these days?) And there is a chapter after the book ends that the author did not include in the main narrative. I think it should have been included.

I highly recommend this book.

The author does a good job with a familiar plot line. Man returns to his childhood town for the funeral of a friend. Secrets from the past dog him as he is called on to help solve a present day murder. The story shifts from past to present as all is revealed. I enjoyed this book.

I was excited to read this book because of all the buzz about it. The first third of the book was gripping and wonderful, but when I finished it I found that I was furious and disappointed. At the end I wondered: Is this really how a 14 year old behaves and talks, even if raised as a survivalist? Did the author want to impress us with his knowledge of guns that we had to have repeated laborious passages of guns being taken apart, cleaned, put back together? Did the book have to have so much violence in it? Did it have to end the way it did? After I finished it, I kept wondering how the book could have been written to make it live up to the hype. Sadly, I don't recommend this book.