⭐️⭐️⭐️½ I’m a fan of Pam Jenoff, but I’ll be honest—her books tend to run hot and cold for me. Code Name Sapphire landed squarely in the middle. Lukewarm. Set in 1942, the novel follows Hannah Martel, a Jewish woman who escapes Nazi Germany after her fiancé is killed in a pogrom. When her ship to America is turned away, Hannah finds refuge with her cousin Lily and her family in Brussels. With no safe way out of occupied Europe, Hannah is drawn back into the resistance, joining the Sapphire Line. When a devastating mistake leads to Lily’s family being arrested and placed on a train bound for Auschwitz, Hannah faces an impossible […]
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A Tender, Sweeping Story of Love, Loss, and the Ties That Bind
⭐⭐⭐⭐½ Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash is a quiet, deeply moving novel that sneaks up on you and then stays put. Set during World War II, it follows eleven-year-old Beatrix Thompson, sent from London to live with a family in Massachusetts as part of the wartime evacuation of British children. What begins as a temporary arrangement stretches into years, and Bea grows up shaped by two homes, two families, and two very different versions of herself. Spence-Ash handles this emotional balancing act with real grace. Bea’s American host parents are kind, flawed, and loving in their own ways, while her mother back in England remains a powerful, aching presence—distant […]
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When One Choice Changes Everything
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Susan Meissner is such a fabulous storyteller, and Secrets of a Charmed Life shows her doing what she does best. The novel opens in modern-day Oxford, where young American scholar Kendra Van Zant interviews elderly Isabel McFarland, who is finally ready to share the truth she’s guarded for decades—starting with her real identity. What she passes on to Kendra is equal parts gift and weight, something that shakes Kendra’s tidy ideas about who she wants to be. Then Meissner sweeps us back to 1940s England. Emmy Downtree, fifteen and fiercely ambitious, dreams of returning to London to work in fashion, while her little sister Julia just wants to stay close to […]
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This Literary Recipe Misses the Mark
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Julia Child had a larger-than-life story even before she held a whisk, so a WWII spy novel based on her early years sounds like a five-course feast. Sadly, this one tastes more like reheated leftovers. The Secret War of Julia Child follows a fictionalized version of Julia on a covert mission in the Asian theater, but the story strays so far from history it stops feeling like her life and starts feeling like an ordinary action caper wearing her name tag. If you know a bit about Julia—and I’ve cooked, read, and studied her world for years—you’ll likely raise an eyebrow at the liberties taken. This Julia frets endlessly about her […]
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A Story of Courage, Kinship, and One Small Spark of Hope
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Georgia Hunter has done it again—and honestly, I liked One Good Thing even better than We Were the Lucky Ones. The story follows Lili and Esti, two Jewish friends in 1940s Italy, whose lives flip upside down when Mussolini’s Racial Laws and the German occupation force them into hiding. When Esti is brutally attacked, she begs Lili to take her young son, Theo, and run. And so begins an unforgettable journey across a war-torn country, where danger is everywhere and love is the only currency they can still count on. What struck me most is Lili’s quiet bravery. She’s not fearless—far from it—but her love for Theo keeps her moving, step by terrifying […]
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A Brisk, Banter-Filled Spy Romp Through Wartime Lisbon
Evelyne Redfern returns in Julia Kelly’s A Dark and Deadly Journey, a smart, stylish mystery set amid Lisbon’s glittering wartime underworld. Fresh off recovery from a gunshot wound, typist-turned-spy Evelyne is eager to rejoin Britain’s Special Investigations Unit. When a British informant vanishes in Portugal after hinting at intelligence that could alter the course of the war, Evelyne and her infuriatingly charming partner, David Poole, are sent to track him down. But before they even leave the airport, a fellow passenger turns up dead and Evelyne stumbles upon a diary linking the murder to their missing contact. Kelly layers her plot with hidden identities, stolen jewels, and coded messages while keeping the […]
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A Love Story Etched in War: The Courage of a Nurse, the Secrets of a Lifetime
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I rarely cry when I read a novel, but The Lies We Leave Behind completely undid me—I was a sniveling mess by the ending. This sweeping WWII story follows Kate Campbell, a fearless flight nurse who risks everything to save others. From the blistering skies over the Pacific to the misty fields of England, Kate’s journey is one of heartbreak, duty, and unrelenting courage. After an injury grounds her from active service, she’s reassigned to a quieter post in the English countryside. There, she meets William, a wounded officer with a quick wit and a tender soul. Their bond offers Kate her first glimpse of peace—but secrets from her […]
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From POW Camps to Code Rooms: Hold Strong Reveals the Brutal Truth of War
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ What an unforgettable book! Hold Strong is one of those rare novels that grips your heart from page one and doesn’t let go. Based on true events, it’s both a sweeping love story and a harrowing survival tale set against the darkest days of World War II. Sam Carlson, a small-town Minnesota projectionist turned soldier, endures the unimaginable—from the Bataan Death March to the horrors of Japanese POW camps. Meanwhile, his sweetheart Sarah Haber uses her brilliant math skills to become a wartime codebreaker in Washington, D.C. Their paths are worlds apart, yet fate ties them together in one of the most shocking and tragic episodes of the war. The authors […]
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When Truth Glitters: Friendship, Betrayal, and Survival in Hitler’s “Model” Settlement
⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ (4.5 stars) rounded up to 5 Before reading this book, I wasn’t very familiar with Theresienstadt. The Nazis portrayed it as a “model ghetto,” but in truth it was a stage-managed prison where starvation, fear, and deportation loomed over daily life. Jennifer Coburn tells this story through two women who once shared a childhood bond. Hannah Kaufman, a Jewish girl stranded in Prague with her grandfather, is swept into Theresienstadt and forced to survive inside the Nazi illusion. Her former best friend, Hilde Kramer-Bischoff, a war widow and German national, sees the Reich as her only chance at status and belonging. When their paths collide, both must decide whether […]
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Strong History, Weak Storytelling
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Werner Sonne’s Where the Desert Meets the Sea is set in Jerusalem during the late 1940s, a time when the city was fractured by politics, religion, and the looming birth of Israel. It follows two women—one Jewish, one Arab—whose lives become unexpectedly intertwined against this backdrop of conflict and change. Through their experiences, readers see how personal loyalties, faith, and survival collide in a world on the brink of war. I appreciated learning more about the history of the British in the Holy Land and how deeply disliked they were by the Jewish community. That context gave me new insight into the period and its struggles. Unfortunately, much of […]
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