BOOK REVIEW: Winter's End by Barbara Pronin

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

We think of D-Day as the beginning of the end of WWII. But it wasn’t the end. Yet. Barbara Pronin’s new historical novel, Winter’s End, takes readers into the lives of Resistance fighters in the Netherlands in the waning days of the war. Nazis are ramping up their cruelty and destruction in a desperate attempt to stave off defeat. Over the devastating winter of 1944-45, peace was still too far off.

The novel follows three women in Haarlem, where the Nazi presence was strong. Evi, a sixteen-year-old patriot, wanting to do more for her country, accepts the assignment of luring lecherous, drunken German officers into the forest to be killed. Zoe, a young veterinarian, repeatedly finds ways to hide (and feed) several Jewish families, Jewish physicians, and a German enemy of the Reich. Mila, the beautiful daughter of a collaborator, uses her position in the father’s home to learn information from high-ranking German officers to pass on to critical members of the Resistance, and, when necessary, perform dangerous missions herself. Along the way, all three women find love in unexpected places.

This is a gripping, inspiring novel of bravery and endurance in the face of fascism.

BLOG TOUR: Nothing Proved by Janet Wertman

Blurb:

 Danger lined her path, but destiny led her to glory…

Elizabeth Tudor learned resilience young. Declared illegitimate after the execution of her mother Anne Boleyn, she bore her precarious position with unshakable grace. But upon the death of her father, King Henry VIII, the vulnerable fourteen-year-old must learn to navigate a world of shifting loyalties, power plays, and betrayal.

 After narrowly escaping entanglement in Thomas Seymour’s treason, Elizabeth rebuilds her reputation as the perfect Protestant princess – which puts her in mortal danger when her half-sister Mary becomes Queen and imposes Catholicism on a reluctant land. Elizabeth escapes execution, clawing her way from a Tower cell to exoneration. But even a semblance of favor comes with attempts to exclude her from the throne or steal her rights to it through a forced marriage. 

Elizabeth must outwit her enemies time and again to prove herself worthy of power. The making of one of history’s most iconic monarchs is a gripping tale of survival, fortune, and triumph.

Review: 

I received an e-galley of this book from the Coffee Pot Book Club in exchange for an honest review.

I=m a sucker for biographical historical fiction, so I was pleased to receive a review copy of Janet Wertman=s novel, Nothing Proved: Book One of the Regina Series. The novel follows the life of Queen Elizabeth I from childhood to her ascension to the throne at age twenty-five. It was a youth fraught with peril. Although somewhat protected by her royal birth, the fact that she was in line for the succession also made her a target. Given the instability of the kingdom after the death of her father, King Henry VIII, it was never entirely clear that she would live to take the throne.

The political machinations during the rein of her young half-brother left her sometimes central to and sometimes on the fringes of the court. Her older half-sister, Mary, was seen as a danger (to Protestant nobility and to England itself) because of her unwavering loyalty to the Catholic Church and her attachment to Spain, yet she was legally next in line. Elizabeth was burdened by the fact that her mother was Anne Boleyn, and her legitimacy was often questioned, which meant she could be booted from the line of succession if Parliament turned against her. There was no love lost between Mary and Elizabeth, but both knew when to feign sisterly care for one another as a political expedient.

Wertman=s novel is meticulously researched, and she does a wonderful job of presenting the tense atmosphere of the times. Elizabeth learned how to keep a low profile and how to bend rather than break when political winds blew against her. She was able to discern who was truly loyal and who were the opportunists, and how to make use of both.

 It=s not a spoiler to say Elizabeth eventually does inherit the throne. The truly impressive feat of this novel is how it kept me in suspense the whole time. With all the jockeying for power, all the self-serving courtiers, all the ongoing bloody religious strife, I found myself frightened for this future monarch. It was fascinating to watch this young princess navigate her path to the throne.

Highly recommended!

Buy Link:  https://books2read.com/u/bM8Vrk

BOOK REVIEW: The Fire Concerto by Sarah Landenwich

 I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

The Fire Concerto by Sarah Landenwich is a stunning debut. It is a beautifully written novel of Clara Bishop, a piano virtuosa, descended from a (fictional) master composer of the 19th century and taught by a strict and violent pianist who was a musical descendant of that same composer. (Meaning she was taught by someone who was taught by the composer.) Clara’s career was derailed by injuries sustained in a fire, and by the psychological trauma of having been a child prodigy with all the associated baggage.

The novel is infused with music, but so deftly written that you needn’t be a classical musician or even a lover of classical music to understand the passion these characters feel. It explores the themes of exploitation vs supportive pressure when dealing with child prodigies. And, as its protagonist is a woman as was her teacher, it also brings to the fore the historical sexism in the musical world.

But this page-turner is also a carefully plotted mystery. In fact, it is several interwoven mysteries. Avoiding spoilers, Clara’s teacher bequeaths her an antique metronome and a cryptic notice that she should know why. Clara has no idea why. But as it becomes clear that the metronome is sought after, perhaps dangerous to possess, and has a history of its own, she is caught up in solving the puzzle.

There are so many layers to this novel, but I’m going to have to leave my review at this, because for full appreciation, you won’t want any of the plot twists revealed beforehand. It’s a contemporary novel, but with enough forays into the past that I can consider it a little bit of a historical novel, too. Read it and enjoy! 

BOOK REVIEW: Endling by Maria Reva

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Endling by Maria Reva is a startling novel that examines extinction (of a species, of a life, of one’s hopes and dreams) and left me stricken with awe (at the author’s creativity and skill) and sadness (because it grew darker and more hopeless as it progressed.)

It begins as a quirky, literary, contemporary novel, set in Ukraine, that twines together three lives.

Yeva is a conservation scientist obsessed with snails and the rapidity of the rate of extinction of various species. She is a one-woman crusader, determined to save as many Ukrainian snail species as she can. Yeva owns a trailer fitted up as a mobile lab.The information provided about snails is honestly fascinating and surprisingly poignant.

Nastia and Sol are sisters. Nastia is very young and very beautiful. Sol is two years older and plain. They never knew their father and were abandoned by their mother who was a performative activist against the marriage business (matchmaking services that bring foreign bride-seeking men into Ukraine to find beautiful, young, docile mates.) It sounds a lot like legal human trafficking. Angered and despondent over their mother’s disappearance, the sisters have joined a marriage-brokering business in rebellion and to earn a living. Nastia poses as one of the “brides” and Sol follows as her translator.

Nastia has a plan to get their mother’s attention. She wants to abduct a group of the bride-seeking bachelors and briefly hold them hostage as a publicity stunt. If they make the bridal business appear dangerous, it might shut the practice down. Sol follows along. Nastia manages to persuade Yeva to join them so that they can use her trailer to contain the bachelors.

There are pitfalls aplenty, and yet, the plan seems to be working. They kidnap thirteen bachelors and set off. However, here the story screeches to a halt. The Russian invasion of Ukraine begins.

In a meta-twist, the author (a Ukrainian expat, living in Canada) now intrudes on the story. How can she continue writing this quirky tale given what is going on back in Ukraine? 

When the author returns to the storyline, it incorporates this new reality. Events grow darker and quirky turns to surreal. The book barrels along to its ambiguous conclusion.

It’s a fascinating, heart-wrenching book, full of surprises, somewhat reminiscent of If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English, which I also loved.

BOOK REVIEW: Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Money, Medicine, and Mysteries of Blood by Rose George

For a new book club, I just finished Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Money, Medicine, and Mysteries of Blood by Rose George. Using a journalistic approach, the author examines blood from various angles to help the reader appreciate this miraculous fluid.

George starts with an overview: what comprises blood and how has our understanding of it changed over time. Then she zeros in on aspects of blood, including blood-letting, blood transfusions, menstruation and its taboos at home and in developing nations, hemophilia, AIDS, and even vampirism. While it’s a bit rambling, going off on tangents and then circling back to her theme, it’s a surprisingly interesting book. You’ll come away with mixed feelings about blood transfusion. Although life-saving, it is also a big business with all the corruption and danger that comes from mixing capitalism with medicine. You’ll be horrified at the abuse, exploitation, and undereducation of young women in India and Africa, excused on the grounds that they bleed. You’ll shudder at the thought of leeches!

The author traveled widely to explore the areas she discusses. There are extensive end notes for readers who want to investigate her sources and learn more. I’m looking forward to the discussion at the book club to see what others thought.

BOOK REVIEW: This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Many years ago, I bought a set of four F. Scott Fitzgerald novels, and they sat for a long time on my bookshelf. I eventually re-read The Great Gatsby, which I’d first read in school. In 2016, I decided to read Tender is the Night, which I enjoyed more than Gatsby. But it took me nine more years to pull This Side of Paradise from the shelf.

This is Fitzgerald’s first novel and definitely not his best. There is beautiful language, of course. And he plays around with structure, dividing the protagonist’s life into parts, subdivided into chapters, and then into scenes reading like anecdotes. One of these scenes is even written like a movie script. It’s interesting, but makes the read choppy.

It’s said to be semi-autobiographical. The protagonist is Amory Blaine, an upper middle-class boy growing up in pre-WWI America. He attends private school in the east and adapts to its demands. He’s intelligent, but not as intelligent as he thinks he is. He decides he wants to go to Princeton, and he does.

At Princeton, he looks around at who are the most socially successful of his classmates and imitates them. After a rocky start, his popularity rises, until he fails a math exam and has to resign from the Princetonian, a position that had given him credibility. Then he starts moving with a different crowd, and forms a couple of friendships that more or less last through the rest of the book. His best friend is a poet, and Amory also has a literary side. The book is sprinkled with poetry written by various characters.

There is a very brief interlude where he goes off to war. 

He has a series of love affairs, none of which last, for various reasons. His parents die. A priest that he was very friendly with and considered something of a mentor died. He doesn’t work– he lives off the income from his parents’ investments. And then they fail and he goes broke.

Throughout, he’s egotistical and unlikeable. I read the book with as much emotional investment as the summary I’ve given. I’m glad I read it, since it’s been gathering dust on my shelf. But at the end of the novel, I was left feeling who cares?

It reminded me a little of Catcher in the Rye and a little of Maurice. If you want to read an angsty male coming-of-age story, I’d recommend Maurice. If you want to read a Fitzgerald novel besides Gatsby, I recommend Tender is the Night.

BOOK REVIEW: Ghost in the Garden by Mary Lancaster

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Ghost in the Garden, book three in Mary Lancaster’s Victorian Mystery series, Silver and Grey, is now available! I am hooked on this series.

Constance Silver, a notorious brothel owner and Solomon Grey, a wealthy, upright businessman from Jamaica have both learned enough about aristocrats to circulate along the fringes of the ton, but they both have complicated pasts that would prevent them from ever belonging in that crowd. Thrown together in the past while pursuing their own interests, Constance and Solomon have teamed up to solve murders before. Discovering themselves skilled at this, and adept as partners, they decide to open an inquiry agency as a sideline to their regular work.

It isn’t only an interest in solving mysteries that inspired the agency. They also wanted a way to keep and grow the connection between them. Although a romance is impossible—Constance doesn’t want to leave the brothel, 1) because she has created it as a lifeline for women who have no other place to go, and 2) neither Constance nor Solomon want that kind of relationship. Constance doesn’t sell her own body. And she doesn’t force the down-and-out women who come to her to enter the prostitution business unless they want to. The others, she works to place in respectable jobs.

But, impossible though it may be, there’s a spark between the two that grows hotter with each book.

The first official case the agency takes on is to investigate a ghost-like figure that has been seen in the foggy garden of a wealthy slum lord. The person hiring them is the man’s formidable wife. In order to get into the house, to investigate the ghost, Constance takes a pretend position as the wife’s lady’s maid. The pervasive sense of danger is justified when they find a dead body in the wine cellar. Now, it’s another murder investigation, not just a ghost hunt.

Constance and Solomon hunt for clues while the reader follows along. The identity of the murderer may not come as a surprise to the reader, but the maze of clues and urgency of solving the case makes a compelling story. And the deepening of the relationship between the two protagonists adds to the suspense.

I can’t wait for book four!