This wonderful novel maintained my interest from the first sentence. Unlike so many WWII novels I’ve read, The Ways We Hide one isn’t about the British who served as intelligence agents. it’s about an American woman’s involvement with MI9 (which I knew nothing about). MI9, the British Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 9, was a highly secret department of the War Office between 1939 and 1945. Their function was two-fold: to help Allied POWs escape Nazi Germany, and help downed airmen evade capture after being shot down. Fenna Vos grew up on Michigan’s harsh Upper Peninsula. On Christmas Eve, 1913, the union holds a party at the Italian Hall in […]
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The Unlocked Path
The Unlocked Path is a historical novel about a “New Woman” of the early twentieth century: educated, career-minded, independent. In 1897 Philadelphia, after experiencing her aunt’s suicide, Eliza Edwards vows to help and heal. In her social circle, a young woman’s chief goal was to debut in society, but Eliza isn’t interested in such a traditional role. Instead, she enters medical college when only five percent of doctors are female. With the support of a team of women and driven by a determination to conquer curriculum demands, battle sexism, and overcome doubts, Eliza charts her life’s trajectory. Author Janis Robinson Daly was inspired to write her debut novel after conducting […]
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The Last Dress from Paris Review
London, 2017. When Lucille’s beloved Granny Sylvie asks her to go to Paris to retrieve a priceless Dior dress, Lucille is happy to oblige. What she finds in a small apartment sends her on a wild goose hunt through the City of Light that changes her life forever. Paris, 1952. Postwar Paris is full of glamour and privilege, and Alice Ainsley is in the middle of it all as the wife of the British ambassador to France. He showers her with expensive gifts, but not his affection. Alice yearns to follow her heart and becomes caught up in a love affair for the ages. The Last Dress from Paris is […]
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Small World Book Review
Jonathan Evison’s Small World tells the stories of a train’s passengers in 2019 and their mid-nineteenth-century ancestors after a disastrous crash. There’s Walter Bergen, a veteran train conductor on his last run before retiring, and a descendent of Irish twin orphans. Malik, a young basketball star, is the descendent of a slave. Then there’s Jenny, a corporate consultant whose ancestors were Chinese immigrants, and Laila, a Native American, fleeing her abusive husband. Small World chronicles 170 years of American nation-building from many points of view across place and time. This inventive work explores the immigrant experience, and that of the modern era in the United States. I read and reviewed Jonathan Evison’s last […]
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The Foundling Book Review
“I trust you’re familiar with the type of girl I’m referring to,” she tells the audience. “You’ve seen her slinking in and out of bawdy houses and illegal drinking establishments… she may seem normal enough—in fact, she’s often quite pretty. Until you see her again, a few years later, ruined and destitute, begging for handouts, surrounded by her own diseased and illegitimate children.”—Ann Leary, The Foundling. So says Dr. Agnes Vogel, the administrator of the Nettleton State Village for Feebleminded Women of Childbearing Age. It’s 1927 and eighteen-year-old Mary Engle is hired to work as Dr. Vogel’s secretary at an institution for mentally disabled women. She’s immediately in awe of […]
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The Diamond Eye Book Review
“Snipers must make themselves calm in order to succeed, and that is why women are good at sharpshooting. Because there is not a woman alive who has not learned how to eat rage in order to appear calm,” Kate Quinn, The Diamond Eye. With each of her historical novels, Kate Quinn gets better. After her 2021 book, The Rose Code, I didn’t think that was possible, but The Diamond Eye is a stellar achievement. In the snowbound city of Kiev, history student Lyudmila “Mila” Pavlichenko’s life revolves around her job as a library researcher and caring for her five-year-old son, Slavka. But when Hitler invades Russia, she forges a different […]
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Amy’s Reads: June 2022
Uff, another delayed book post. This has been an eventful summer with vacations, family visits, writing and pitching a book proposal for one client and pitching a historical novel of my own. I still read, though, just not as much! In June, I enjoyed thrillers, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, Christian fiction, self-help, memoir, relationship fiction, and mystery. So here they are, my June 2022 reads and reviews. There’s something here for everyone! Lights Out by Natalie Walters “Choose fear or choose faith, but only one choice will bring peace.” — Natalie Walter, Lights Out As a CIA analyst, Brynn Taylor developed a new program to combat terrorism, and invited members of […]
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