BOOK REVIEW: Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser

Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser is a buzzed-about book that deserves the hype (IMHO).

This re-imagining of Cinderella turns the tale inside out by taking the part of the evil stepmother. It turns out, Lady Etheldreda Verity Isolde Tremaine Bramley is not evil. She is a woman caught between two worlds. She is, first and foremost, a mother who wants what is best for her two daughters, but has blinders on as to what is truly best. And she is a stepmother who reaches out to her stepdaughter, who tries to be empathetic, but who can’t help resenting a girl who won’t meet her halfway. “Cinderella” is the one who rejects her new family, not the other way around.

The novel uses the framework of the old tale, but fleshes out the characters (Lady Tremaine, her two daughters, Mathilde and Rosamunde, and the Cinderella figure, Elin) so that they are far more complex than purely evil versus purely good. There is no magic, only hard work. Prince Charming’s charm is false. And a long-ago rivalry between Lady Tremaine and the queen (Prince Charming’s mother) has far-reaching implications.

The prose is beautiful. The imagery of the danger of the forest and the parallels between falconry and motherhood elevate the story beyond a simple retelling. And the tension woven throughout make it unputdownable.

BOOK REVIEW: Fables and Lies by Elisabeth Storrs

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

Another WWII novel? This time, my excuse is that Fables and Lies was written by an author whose work I enjoy, Elisabeth Storrs. (Here are reviews of The Wedding Shroud, The Golden Dice, and Call to Juno, set in Ancient Rome and Etruria.)

This time, Storrs places her characters in Berlin during WWII. The story, based on real life events, focuses on Freya Bremer, an Aryan beauty brought up under a broken education system that emphasized Germany’s preeminent place in Western civilization. Her indoctrination into National Socialist ideology is nearly complete. Freya is intelligent, but naive. She has a secretarial job in a Berlin archeological museum, the one holding Heinrich Schleimann’s treasures from Troy, and dreams of one day taking part in excavations herself. But with the coming of the war, her job, along with others at the museum, becomes one of protecting Germany’s treasures (many of which were looted from other countries.) Throughout the war, with (or despite) the massive bombing campaign against Berlin, she strives to help save these ancient relics.

This is not a WWII tale of heroic resistance fighters, daring spies, or of Germans of conscience hiding Jews in their basements. It’s a story of sadistic, seemingly deranged Nazis, drunk with power, and of everyday citizens accommodating the evil in their midst in order to live their lives. The risks and fear are very real. Storrs does a fine job of showing how trapped many felt, and, realistically, how increasingly difficult it was to fight against the Nazi regime.

Freya is married to an abusive SS officer, Kaspar, who gives her and her family some protection, even some privilege. But she is in love with another man, Darien Lessing. Darien is an archeologist whom she met at the museum. Darien disabuses her of her naive assumptions of Aryan supremacy and opens her eyes to the abuses of the Nazis. And yet, he too is trapped by the system.

It is a painful book to read. Parallels with current day authoritarianism and Nazism show the slippery slope between looking the other way and complicity. It shows the level of denial when atrocities are taking place, even as the evidence becomes impossible to ignore.

The details of life in Berlin during the bombings and of how precious artifacts were given priority make this novel unique. Storrs’ meticulous research and powerful storytelling make it worthwhile.

BOOK REVIEW: The Lilac People by Milo Todd

I keep thinking no more WWII historical fiction because I’ve read so much of it. But then another comes along that I want to read. What is especially compelling is a word-of-mouth recommendation from a friend. So I added The Lilac People by Milo Todd to my TBR-pile.

This is a powerful and important novel that, in the current climate, hits very hard. In the immediate pre-WWII era, Berlin was a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community. They had a vibrant nightlife. But even more critically, there was an Institute of Sexual Science, led by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, where all facets of human sexuality were studied. (Unfortunately, this also led to the creation of a registry of “third sex” members of the community, which was a bonanza for the Nazis when they set out to exterminate these vulnerable people.)

The book uses the language of the times, when transgender people were called transvestites, which is not an acceptable term today. The protagonist of the novel, Bertie, is a trangender man, who works at the Institute as a clerk and sometimes tour guide. The book goes back and forth between 1945, the immediate aftermath of the war, and 1932-33, when queer people were targeted, killed in the streets, or rounded up to be sent to concentration camps. Bertie witnesses the violence, but is able to escape with his girlfriend to a farm out in the countryside when the parents of a friend take them in. The friend, Gert, was supposed to meet them there, but didn’t, and part of the heart of the book is the question of what happened to him. Was he killed? Sent to a concentration camp? Or might he have escaped to America?

The tension in the chapters sent in the early 30s is intense. Readers know what is coming under Hitler, while those living through it are blinded by a belief that things can’t get that bad, until they do. Then it’s too late.

But even more horrifying is the aftermath. I didn’t know that when the camps were liberated by the Allies, the prisoners were freed EXCEPT for those wearing pink or black triangles. LGBTQ+ prisoners were pulled aside and sent on to other prisons – by the Allies – for being “convicted criminals.”

Bertie learns this when he finds a half-dead Dachau escapee collapsed in his garden. Karl, a trans man, had been imprisoned at Dachau and managed to run when he saw fellow queer prisoners being segregated out for further incarceration. Bertie knows now they are still not safe.

At the same time, the Allies are determined to punish the German population for their crimes. By virtue of the fact that Bertie and his girlfriend, Sophia, had not been imprisoned, they are now under suspicion as being Nazis. The American soldiers are rounding up German civilians to transport them to work camps. Bertie is between a rock and a hard place.

The novel is heart-rending. At times, it does get a bit preachy and teachy, when one or another character monologues to get the message across. But it’s an important message, well worth spelling out. This novel is highly recommended.

BOOK REVIEW: The Dove and the Rogue by Harper St. George

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

The Dove and the Rogue is the third book in Harper St. George’s The Doves of New York series, but it can also be read as a standalone.

The Dove sisters are three American heiresses who, by the terms of their father’s will, can only receive their inheritances if they marry into Britain’s aristocracy. Although the requirement is inconvenient, Jenny Dove, the middle sister, is less interested in the inheritance than in making her own way as an opera singer. However, her younger sister has fallen in love with a commoner and needs the money. Jenny feels if she fulfils the requirement, she can convince their guardian to release their inheritances.

Jenny has just the aristocrat in mind. Lord David, who is heir to a dukedom, is the worst rake in the ton. He has been flirting with her outrageously ever since she and her sisters arrived. So she offers him a deal. If he marries her, she’ll grant him one night in her bed. Then she’ll go off to Paris to star in a new opera, and he can continue living his life as he always has. In a short period of time, they’ll divorce, so that he will be free to marry someone more suitable for a future duke.

Lord David, who has grown obsessed with Jenny, agrees. But one passionate night together is not enough. Is it just lust they feel for one another, or something more?

This is an extra-steamy Victorian romance with the marriage of convenience and reformed rake tropes that should appeal to romance readers who like their stories hot. 

BOOK REVIEW: The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science by Sam Kean

The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science by Sam Kean is the next pick for one of my book clubs. What’s it about? The title says it all: scientists gone rogue.

It’s a fascinating (and horrifying) recounting of crimes and atrocities committed by scientists and physicians who either lost or never had a moral compass. Most of the perpetrators have two sides to their stories, real-life Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hydes. Some of these, like Thomas Edison, are recognizable names, and while I had known he was a disagreeable sort, I didn’t know how awful he really was.

Sam Kean is a prolific author who writes popular science that is not only accessible but gripping. He gets to the heart of fraud in science by showing not only the disturbing rationales for shortcuts and cheating, but also the consequences of bad science. It’s a worthwhile collection of cautionary tales. However, readers may want to be forewarned that there are rather chilling descriptions of physical and psychological abuse and of animal abuse.

BOOK REVIEW: May Flowers at the Three Coins Inn by Kimberly Sullivan

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

May Flowers at the Three Coins Inn by Kimberly Sullivan, the third book in the Three Coins series, is a charming work of contemporary women’s fiction set in the picturesque Italian town of Todi in the Umbrian hillside. The novel centers on visitors to the Three Coins Inn, a tourist-focused hotel run by two American ex-pats. The owners’ backstories (the subject of earlier novels?) are touched upon lightly, but with enough information so that this novel stands easily on its own.

A cast of emotionally wounded characters, some Italian and some American, make their way to the inn for various reasons, hoping for healing or to recapture lost opportunities. In this nurturing environment, under the care of the innkeeper, Emma, new friendships are forged and love interests are ignited. One of the characters refers to the inn as an inland Love Boat, a reference anyone who watched Saturday night TV in the late 70's/early 80's will appreciate.

Each of the vacationers has a touching character arc, but the real star of the show is the setting. This quiet Italian town with its medieval treasures, beautiful scenery, magic-fingered masseuse, and delicious food captured my attention and earned a spot on my to-be-visited list. If you’re looking for a warm, immersive, feel-good series, give Three Coins a try.

BOOK REVIEW: Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières

Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières is a historical novel published in 1994 that I recall having had on my TBR list at one point, until it got lost in the shuffle. About a month ago, I saw an instagram post praising the book that reignited my interest, so I took it out of the library. Then, before I had a chance to read it, my husband and I went on a cruise. Our first. We went to Istanbul, then Troy, then Ephesus, Crete, and Rhodes. The cruise ended  in Athens. It was thrilling to see all the ancient sites, but I had a nagging sense of guilt for not knowing anything about modern Greek history. (By modern, I mean anything later than Alexander the Great.)

When we got home, I picked up Corelli’s Mandolin, not knowing that it was set on the Greek island of Cephallonia. (Cephalonia. Kefalonia). I was pleasantly surprised, and then, immediately immersed.

The novel takes place largely during WWII, when the island is invaded and occupied by Italian and German forces. The main characters are Dr. Iannis, his daughter Pelagia, a local fisherman named Mandras who becomes engaged to Pelagia before going off to fight, and Captain Corelli. Corelli is a mandolin player who joined the Italian army during peacetime and is now an officer in the Italian garrison on the island, billeted with Dr. Iannis and Pelagia. (Corelli and Pelagia fall deeply in love, despite the fact that this is essentially collaboration with the enemy.) But these are not the only characters. We are introduced to a large number of the island’s inhabitants and soldiers, and even given a disturbing insight into the mind of megalomaniac Mussolini. Dr. Iannnis is not only a doctor, but also a historian, spending long hours writing and rewriting the history of his island, and by extension, of Greece, a labor of love that is moving to read.

The story begins before the war touches the island, takes us through the war, and continues through the bittersweet aftermath to more modern times when it is tourists invading the island.

This is an extraordinary book. I couldn’t put it down. It coincidentally provided me with a history lesson that I had felt was lacking on my cruise. But more than that, it was a moving story of love (in many forms) and of the confusion, stupidity, barbarism, and occasional heroism of war. It shows how people can succumb to the brutality and become brutal themselves, or else rise above it. It’s heartbreaking and beautifully written. I can’t recommend it highly enough.