When I first started this book I almost sent BookBrowse a "Just not my forte" note - but I decided to read on and now must say I absolutely loved this book!! It was a depiction of early to mid- nineteenth century London at its best and its worst.. It enveloped sadness, hatred, kindness, selfishness - and just the simple joy in living. The characters in Epstein's novel were so vivid and each one so different from the other as were the scenes depicted in this story so vivid of a sordid London. I, as the reader was transported to a much seamier time and place and side of life that is unknown to most of us. Yet the novel was so full of life!!
For me this was one of those rare books that one does not want to end -but alas, all good things must come to an end!

I was totally disappointed in this book - I thought it was a horrible plot - totally distasteful.......not at all what I expected - I read a lot of different thrillers and authors but this one I will not read again.

Another amazing Australian author!! This is a powerful novel about friendship, all its nuances and its power to destroy another. A co-dependent relationship existed for many years between Daphne and Finn, developing and morphing into something else - "like a vine that snakes around a tree until the tree and vine can no longer be separated.....holding each other up...." This story is also about secrets and how a secret in the telling can destroy someone and a secret in the knowing can give a person power over another.

The author graphically depicts the rawness of each character - and brings them to a level of development like the coming together of a great symphony.. I had to read this novel with new acceptance and tolerance and lose prejudices. It is totally amazing how the mind can block the obvious to keep one from seeing what is truly in front of them.....as this novel does. This was a wonderful novel!!

I could not put this book down...it was so compellingly good!! Yet I was left with some questions regarding the chat room. I loved the main characters in this great mystery novel yet at times I was so frustrated with the naivety of the central character, Theo. I felt there were also loose threads at the end of this novel - unresolved...but overall I was totally absorbed in this mystery as I read it! A frighteningly good mystery!

This was an extremely heavy and political novel - and as in all politics - nothing ever really gets resolved in this tragically beautiful country. The "summary" makes it seem as if Matt Amaker and his diving for treasure are the main theme of this novel but that is not true. Matt plays an integral part in this novel but he is not the main theme. The novel is packed full with the history of Haiti and its relationship with the US and all the integral players in-between.that have influence on the outcome of Haiti. The politics at times got quite complicated..and many times beyond my comprehension and the suffering of the Haitian people became quite oppressive at times.......All the players in this novel were vivid characters - some likeable some not so likable......

This was a difficult novel to read with all its complications and directions it took off in.......but the one constant - the binding factor in this novel was the simple theme that at the end of the day - with nothing else really resolved.......and in spite of all the chaos,, the killings, the deceit - at the end of the day what mattered was just the simplicity of the act of just gathering up the jugs of water and heading for the house.

And this left so much unresolved and hanging - but I suppose that is Haiti?

I had reservations about this novel and almost did not finish it after I read the first few chapters, (I am not a "chick-lit" fan) but the further I read the more I warmed up to this novel and the wonderful characters in this story - each so different from the other. Each character had their own specialness and gift to give as well as the sadness they were experiencing in their lives at the time. The trip to Italy and their stay in the Splendido Hotal was such fun - certainly exactly the hotel I would have preferred as well, compared to the luxurious
Grand Hotel Castello Bella Vista up on the hilltop. And Nico - the Splendido Hotel's owner touched my heart - as he did with all the characters in this delightful story.

And Ginny - who "sponsored" this trip to Italy for these four winners of her Italian holiday found out that her own life needed "fixing" as well as her four traveling companions.
I believe that Ginny - in the midst of it all - learned that sometimes we have to turn around and view ourselves differently. We must gather the courage and desire to come out of our comfort zone when we suddenly realize that what we thought was our comfort zone may actually be holding us back from freeing ourselves and living our life to the fullest.

Just a good, feel-good story!

I really loved this story - the author had done well with character development - the reader really got to know each character and who they were. There were a few things in the story that made one pause and question what had just transpired (in order to not spoil the story, I will not elaborate) but those events were not enough to deter from the story as a whole and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. It was one of those stories that you wanted to continue on to find out where the characters you had grown attached to ended up.

This is a beautifully written novel enlightening many of us about a time in WWII history that most of us never knew about - a time "swept under the rug" that was not taught in our history classes. This is not just a story about what happened to so many children of the war, but also a story about the entanglements and justifications of religion that allowed these children to be "kidnapped" without guilt and kept from their birth families.

This is a story about the "lost' Jewish children of WWII that were initially handed over - or stolen from terrified, distraught Jewish parents to be protected and saved from the war but then deemed necessary to save them their Jewishness as well. Most of these children who were to be temporarily protected never saw birth families again. They were shuffled from family to family, place to place.......by those who felt they were really saving the children.

Each child depicted in this novel is so beautifully real that you can almost feel their breath upon you as you read their stories. And I suppose the underlying question that this novel - and history itself - leaves us with is - were the children really protected? Was this undertaking that morphed into something entirely different, justified by religious views, really in the best interest of the children involved? Hard question - with so many different answers and justifications.

Beautifully written book!

This was exceptional writing of a very difficult and horrific time in our history - World War I at its very worst - the aftermath which left all of its horrors, betrayals, and rawness out in the open for those soldiers who literally were left to pick up the pieces and find some closure to it all. In the midst of it all comes a young proper English woman trying to find her missing fiancee. What she ends up face to face with is beyond comprehension. This novel is so intricately woven and, interspersed in the midst of it all are such detailed characters - totally bonded into the story. The author's descriptions of the characters and the atmosphere was so vivid - I totally felt a part of the story. I felt I was witnessing all that the characters were involved in - all the horrors left by this war and it's participants.
This is a part of history that should not be forgotten and with authors like Philip Gray - the history will live on and all that gave their lives or those who suffered so greatly in the aftermath will not be forgotten.

I did, however feel that as powerful as this novel was, the ending left confusion and felt a bit deflated. We shall see if that changes in the final version..

This thriller went above and beyond any expectations I held when I began this novel. For some reason English authors have a special way with writing thrillers that make them incredibly good!! And Erin Young has outdone herself with this novel. What an impeccably put together story with characters and scenes so vivid you feel you are there with the characters. I read a lot of thrillers, but this one is at the top of my list!! I can not wait to read Ms. Young's next book in this promised series. This is an exceptionally put together novel - in Iowa, of all places - by an English author!

I liked this book and did not like this book. I felt there was a flaw in the relationship between Jackie and Paul - I found it odd that she shared nothing with him about her past and relationship to the property she inherited - nor any information about the property she inherited.

I found it even stranger that when Paul showed up at the property he was not totally shocked nor showed hardly any emotion, There were also a couple of writer inconsistencies I noticed - wonder if anyone else did?

But as the story moved on I grew fonder of the characters and let myself get enveloped into the story.

The end was a surprise, however I did suspect that may be the outcome.

But all-in-all I really did love the story and the characters and the overall theme of the story.

I was disappointed in this novel and certainly did not find it to be anywhere near "a juicy thriller". I just could not get a good read on this novel - literally or figureatively....too many things left undone, unsaid, the plot tending to be unatainable. I could never get a good feel on any of the characters - and seemed that whenever the book was about to "go somewhere" instead it would move on to another venue leaving one confused and floundering. Issues were left unattended to and left hanging and the characters were left unfinished.
The timeperiod seemed more like a millenial novel rather than taking place in 1966. - Just not my cup of tea!

It is amazing how intricately woven many lives are - sometimes revealed and many more times sadly, never discovered. This is such a beautiful story of lives lost, lives found.....loves woven together by fate - or was it coincidence? Their stories of their losses, their pain, their joys - all that got them to this one day in time in which the story takes place is a beautifully woven together book of the four lives of the four central characters of this novel. This is such a sorrowfully moving story.

This novel was a wonderful historical insight into the Kennedy family during the 1930's and 40's. It seems during that time, life was simpler without all the electronic devices and social media clogging it up. What you got was real...
I found myself several times Googling the Kennedys for further details on this time in their lives. I loved the central character - "Kick" Kennedy - with her tenaciousness, her strong beliefs, her loyalty to her family and most of all, her spunk. She was a "breath of fresh air" during a time of impending war in England.
I feel the author did an amazing job of bringing this little known Kennedy daughter to life for her readers. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and all of its sumptuousness.

I love Beatriz Williams and her amazing novels. I could not put The Summer Wives down! It was a wonderful story that took me back to a different era and to the scenic New England coast. The characters and scenery were all so real that I felt a part of this wonderful story and did not want it to end.
This is just a great read to simply get lost and taken away in.

We all handle grief differently and we all get beyond it differently - although some of us may take longer or may never get beyond our grief. Thus Emily Dickinson's opening epigraph in this lovely new book by Deborah Reed: These are the days when birds come back, A very few, a bird or two. To take a look.....

Even though this book is so filled with the sorrow of the characters it is also filled with so much life. The vivid detailing in the landscape surroundings is as soulful and beautiful as the main characters - June and Jameson. I only wished for more development on June's father to better understand what occurred and why - but considering June was only seven when she lost him, it was apparently as foggy for her as for the reader. I could not put this book down and relished every page.

A wonderful read!

I had a hard time getting through this book - I kept putting it down and going back hoping it would get better but I felt the storyline kept bogging down. This is a book for the new millennial generation...not my cup of tea. I read mostly thrillers however this book simply did not have what it takes to keep me interested. Lola was a great character and very believable in our world today, however the story felt empty and lacking in substance.

This book was so frustrating – the author made me so angry with his awkward characters and rambling plot that suddenly went into great detail for several pages, then skipped over major issues as we do in life to avoid reality and unpleasantness. I could not understand the actions and reasoning of the characters with all that was going on around them. I almost put the book away a couple of times but the beautiful prose kept me reading – until suddenly it all came together in one sentence. I then understood each character's actions and then their subsequent path to healing. This book was so full of the beauty of life in spite of all the ugliness of the sadness the story carried.

I opened this book and was immediately swept away into the lush, coastal farm Maine landscape and the amazing characters inhabiting this landscape from 1900 through 1948. This small piece of the world was Christina'a world, a misshapen, crippled young girl, growing into adulthood and stubbornly trying to be normal when she was not.

When Andrew Wyeth came into her world, her life opened up in ways she never imagined. Wyeth found in this "world" subjects for his greatest works in the simple lives of Christina and her brother and the surrounding windswept landscape. This is a story of the beginnings of a great artist and a crippled young woman who led a life of amazing hardship and simplicity - and how their two worlds collided. Christina discovered that the greatest kindness is acceptance – and to be seen.

I discovered: BBC Michael Palin in Wyeth's World on YouTube. Go and view this video – It is lovely and shows Christina's home in this gorgeous part of Maine which now can be toured.

I wasn't sure I was going to like this book but ended up loving this story of Lillian Boxfish and her amazing walk through New York City on New Year's Eve, 1984. It caused me to reflect on my own life of 72 years and surprised me that the author, Kathleen Rooney, was so young to have written such an insightful novel of age. I loved Lillian's spontaneity, her fearlessness, and her honesty which enabled her to be who she was and to interact with people of all ages and walks of life. This wonderful book should inspire all who read it to live life with a bit more gusto and openness. What a beautiful story of a life lived so full of life!