Review: The Librarian Spy

Title: The Librarian Spy

Author: Madeline Martin

Publisher: 3rd August 2022 by Harlequin Australia, HQ & MIRA

Pages: 400 pages

Genre: historical fiction, World War II 

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London comes a moving new novel inspired by the true history of America’s library spies of World War II.

Ava thought her job as a librarian at the Library of Congress would mean a quiet, routine existence. But an unexpected offer from the US military has brought her to Lisbon with a new mission: posing as a librarian while working undercover as a spy gathering intelligence.

Meanwhile, in occupied France, Elaine has begun an apprenticeship at a printing press run by members of the Resistance. It’s a job usually reserved for men, but in the war, those rules have been forgotten. Yet she knows that the Nazis are searching for the press and its printer in order to silence them.

As the battle in Europe rages, Ava and Elaine find themselves connecting through coded messages and discovering hope in the face of war.

My Thoughts

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin is an emotional World War II historical fiction story featuring two young women, one American and one French. These two women come to understand the power of the written word especially during a period of world history where life seemed intrinsically out of control. 

‘The written word held such importance to her through the years. Books had been her solace in a world turned upside down, a connection to characters when she was utterly alone …. In the war, they had given her insight, understanding, and appreciation.’

Madeline was inspired by, firstly, the history of America’s library of spies in neutral Lisbon. The reader is introduced to Ava, who worked at the Library of Congress but was transferred to Lisbon because of her language skills and where she was to serve as a spy. Secondly, we meet Elaine in Lyon, who is helping the French Resistance by working with the printing press and distributing factual accounts of the war through an underground newspaper. These women connect through a coded message sent out through the printed pamphlets.

The Author’s Note at the end of the book is very informative and shows the amount of research undertaken. It’s so rewarding to delve into the history behind the fiction. This is the first time I have read about Lisbon during WWII and the role librarians played in gathering information. I had never read anything about Portugal during the war and I was fascinated by this perspective.

For readers who love historical fiction set during this period, The Librarian Spy is a great addition. A tale full of drama, secrets and suspense, intrigue and history that proved riveting reading. This is a story where the reader will experience the full range of emotions, with some events requiring a tissue box to be close at hand. A truly profound story.

‘There was nothing Ava Harper loved more than the smell of old books. The musty scent of aging paper and stale ink took one on a journey … These were tomes once cradled in the spread palms of forefathers, pored over by scholars … In those fragrant, yellowed pages were stories of the past and eternal knowledge.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Elodie’s Library of Second Chances

Title: Elodie’s Library of Second Chances

Author: Rebecca Raisin

Publisher: 4th August 2022 by HQ

Pages: 384 pages

Genre: women’s fiction, contemporary, romance 

My Rating: 3.5 cups

Synopsis:

An uplifting story about fresh starts, new beginnings and the power of stories, from the bestselling author of Rosie’s Travelling Tea Shop!

When Elodie applies for the job of librarian in peaceful Willow Grove, she’s looking forward to a new start. As the daughter of a media empire, her every move has been watched for years, and she longs to work with the thing she loves most: books.

It’s a chance to make a real difference too, because she soon realises that there are other people in Willow Grove who might need a fresh start – like the homeless man everyone walks past without seeing, or the divorcée who can’t seem to escape her former husband’s misdeeds.

Together with local journalist Finn, Elodie decides these people have stories that need sharing. What if instead of borrowing books readers could ‘borrow’ a person, and hear the life stories of those they’ve overlooked?

But Elodie isn’t quite sharing her whole story either. As the story of the library’s new success grows, will her own secret be revealed?

My Thoughts

I am a big fan of Rebecca’s Van Lifers series, having read about Tea, Books and Christmas stories. So I was eager to escape into what was sure to be another heartwarming tale that involved books and saving a library. 

‘What will a town without books look like? Where will those who seek comfort in reading go? What about those who find joy in walking along the colourful racks in search of a fictional friend?’

These reads are never about big plot twists, rather a collection of often quirky but lovable characters who work together and make a positive difference to communities. On this occasion it’s unique to see both the way the main character is inspired to save the library that allows author Rebecca to cleverly present tales of courage and affirmation. There is the requisite romance which is lovely, however, this is definitely more about community and learning from past mistakes. 

The one thing I simply adored about this book, working my highlighter overtime, was the absolute joy and love of reading that is regularly offered. Thank you Rebecca for so many confirming thoughts and affirmations about the importance of reading to bibliophiles who gained much reassurance that they are not alone in this solitary pastime. 

‘I do prefer books to people, but that’s a  bookworm prerogative, right? … the only place I’ve ever felt like me is when I’m reading.’

Whilst I am onboard for books such as this, I found things to be a little too syrupy on this occasion and found myself just wishing for that bit more. Everything worked out too cleanly and easily. So this book is definitely light, fluffy and swimming in feel good vibes. I appreciate the message Rebecca is trying to get across - not to judge a book (person) by the cover and giving space to learn of another’s story. Yet for me, it was all too well sorted and delivered. 

This is a book to read when you need reassurance that there is good out there in this world. That family and community can come together to right wrongs and make the world a happier place. It is sure to warm your heart and leave you the better for having read it. 

‘Reading is my happy place, my go-to where I can forget the world and relax no matter how short a time I have to get lost in the pages …. When I’m lost in a good book, I escape reality for hours on end and things don’t seem as hopeless. I can relate to a heroine in a bind, a woman whose life isn’t what she thought it would be. It makes me feel less alone, and how funny is it that my best friends are all fictional?’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Joan

Title: Joan

Author: Katherine J. Chen

Publisher: 12th July 2022 by Hachette Australia

Pages: 343 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre:  historical fiction, retellings

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

Girl. Warrior. Heretic. Saint? A stunning secular reimagining of the epic life of Joan of Arc, in the bold tradition of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall

1412. France is mired in a losing war against England. Its people are starving. Its king is in hiding. From this chaos emerges a teenage girl who will turn the tide of battle and lead the French to victory, an unlikely hero whose name will echo across the centuries.

In Katherine J. Chen's hands, the myth and legend of Joan of Arc is transformed into a flesh-and-blood young woman: reckless, steel-willed, and brilliant. This deeply researched novel is a sweeping narrative of her life, from a childhood steeped in both joy and violence to her meteoric rise to fame at the head of the French army, where she navigates both the perils of the battlefield and the equally treacherous politics of the royal court. Many are threatened by a woman who leads, and Joan draws wrath and suspicion from all corners, even as her first taste of fame and glory leave her vulnerable to her own powerful ambition.

With unforgettably vivid characters, transporting settings, and action-packed storytelling, Joan is a thrilling epic, a triumph of historical fiction, as well as a feminist celebration of one remarkable—and remarkably real—woman who left an indelible mark on history.

My Thoughts

"I, Joan, am coming for you."

Joan of Arc, such a well-known historical figure, one could be forgiven for wondering what spin an author could bring to warrant yet another book. Upon reading the first few pages it becomes abundantly clear why. Katherine Chen has written a very special and unique interpretation of this famous historical figure. She makes it very clear that this is a retelling, a reimagining of this incredible woman from history and she does an amazing job in giving a more contemporary and feminist perspective.

The author explores Joan from a completely different vantage point - her upbringing - with the greater part of the book being dedicated to this time. This makes for a highly engaging read as you are given an insight into Joan’s youthful feelings and the trauma she endured. This is not the religious and devout Joan of history books. This is very much a real person brought up in poverty and the impact of living with an abusive father. This is a girl who climbs trees, roams the village with her dog, loves her sister and both witnesses and experiences incredible trauma. This makes her determined to get out and do something … anything. 

Joan is a book that reimagines how her upbringing may have influenced her to become the teenage leader of the French army we are all familiar with. This is not a book about religious piety, in fact, it very much places under the microscope the life and culture of France at the time. Katherine has done an incredible job of melding both fact and fiction that it all rolls into one incredibly engaging tale. If historical fiction about real people from the past is something that interests you, be sure to pick this book up. You won’t be disappointed.

“Perhaps we were both foolish to expect any other conclusion than this. You have been permitted to do so much. You were the exception to every rule. But how could you overturn a game that is as old as time itself? I think now you were always meant to fail."

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: The Italian Ballerina

Title: The Italian Ballerina

Author: Kristy Cambron

Publisher: 12th July 2022 by Thomas Nelson

Pages: 384 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre:  historical fiction, World War II, romance, Italy

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

A prima ballerina. Two American medics. And a young Jewish girl with no name . . . At the height of the Nazi occupation of Rome, an unlikely band of heroes comes together to save Italian Jews in this breathtaking World War II novel based on real historical events.

Rome, 1943. With the fall of Italy’s Fascist government and the Nazi regime occupying the streets of Rome, British ballerina Julia Bradbury is stranded and forced to take refuge at a hospital on Tiber Island. But when she learns of a deadly sickness that is sweeping through the quarantine wards—a fake disease known only as Syndrome K—she is drawn into one of the greatest cons in history. Alongside hospital staff, friars of the adjoining church, and two Allied medics, Julia risks everything to rescue Italian Jews from the deadly clutches of the Holocaust. But when one little girl who dreams of becoming a ballerina arrives at their door, Julia and the others are determined to reunite the young dancer with her family—if only she would reveal one crucial secret: her name.

Present Day. With the recent loss of her grandfather—a beloved small-town doctor and WWII veteran—Delaney Coleman returns home to help her aging parents, even as she struggles to pick up the pieces of her own life. When a mysterious Italian woman claims she owns one of the family’s precious heirlooms, Delaney is compelled to uncover what’s true of her grandfather’s hidden past. Together with the woman’s skeptical but charming grandson, Delaney learns of a Roman hospital that saved hundreds of Jewish people during the war. Soon, everything Delaney thought she knew about her grandfather comes into question as she wrestles with the possibility that the man she’d revered all her life had unknown ties to Rome and may have taken noble secrets to his grave.

Based on true accounts of the invented Syndrome K sickness, The Italian Ballerina journeys from the Allied storming of the beaches at Salerno to the London ballet stage and the war-torn streets of WWII Rome, exploring the sometimes heart-wrenching choices we must make to find faith and forgiveness, and how saving just one life can impact countless others.

My Thoughts

Author, Kristy Cambron, writes at the conclusion of her novel: In this way history is powerful. To remember. To learn. To see and understand the human experience through another’s lens. And we hope to give empathy a foothold to grow in our own hearts. Let us be changed. I love this and found her latest book, The Italian Ballerina, to be a wonderful piece of historical fiction full of empathy and hope.

‘A voice inside told Court as sure as anything he’d known in his entire life - he was there for a reason. The reason was her.’

There is a little girl with a battered suitcase, memories she has locked safely away from the invading soldiers. Two kind soldiers who go to incredible lengths to save her and a ballerina who learns what it really means to give and succeed in life. In the contemporary timeline, there is a soccer star who seeks to protect those he loves and a young American searching for answers surrounding a battered suitcase she has inherited from her grandfather. This is an exquisitely written tale that delightfully comes full circle. 

“What does a ballerina have to give? Truly?” Julia tipped her shoulders in a delicate shrug. “I’d dreamed all my life of dancing on the grandest stages in the world. I thought to achieve that would bring me happiness. Or purpose. And it did, for a time. But I stand here with you and find what we’re doing in this one moment matters more to me than all the years of dancing that have come before it. I’m not even certain how I know that, except that I’ve found the most beautiful things in this life to be not of my own hand. And I can see a plan in all of that.”

The only drawback to this wonderful novel is the scattered timelines - rather than being a dual tale there are four timelines that sadly, make it difficult to follow at times. This is compounded through erratic switching and streamlining for smoother transitions would have been desirable. If not for these disconnections I would have rated the book more highly. This is a tale certainly worth reading but concentration is required and flicking back and forth is near impossible on a kindle. 

The Italian Ballerina is a wonderfully rich take full of despair and courage, loss, love and hope. The time spent in modern day Rome and the wartime hospital learning of Syndrome K was a definite highlight. There is romance, drama and the reader walking away all the richer with a full heart. Recommended to lovers of historical fiction. 

“We’re all human, Matt. We all make mistakes and we learn from them. You have to allow for forgiveness in there somewhere. Without grace, none of us would make it a day.”

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Gone to Ground

Title: Gone to Ground

Author: Bronwyn Hall

Publisher: 3rd August 2022 by Harlequin Australia, HQ & MIRA

Pages: 272 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre:  contemporary, mystery, adventure, romance

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

HUNTED. ALONE. AFRAID... A heart-in-the-mouth and utterly addictive adventure thriller from a phenomenal debut Australian talent. 

UN surgeon Rachel Forester is posted at a remote medical clinic deep in the jungle of Democratic Republic of the Congo. With violence escalating in the region, Dr Forester risks her life by remaining to tend an injured child while the rest of her team evacuates. On the cusp of her final desperate chance to leave, a soldier is carried into the camp by three other members of his unit, his condition so critical, his airlift must take priority over hers.

With no help coming, and in the path of warring militias, this small unit must flee through the heart of the jungle to reach the safety of the province capital. But in the dark wilderness lies a strangling web of crime and corruption. As they get deeper, they discover a sinister mining operation and stolen children with evidence indicating shadowy ties to the UN. But aren't those the people Dr Forester works for? The only people who know she's still lost out there? And now, the people who want her dead?

The further they delve, the more the web closes around them. Will they make it out alive?

My Thoughts

WOW! Just wow! What a journey! Gone to Ground was unexpected and totally thrilling - this debut novel by Aussie author Bronwyn Hall was brilliant! Fast paced action, packed full of a thrilling adventure with a steaming romance that is not to be missed. I loved it!

 ‘There’s no room. You can’t all fit.’ ‘He’s coming instead of me,’ I said. ‘What?’ ‘It’s okay, I’ll … hide or something. They’ll think I’ve gone with you, so they won’t look for me.’ Both of us knew I was talking crap.’

Set in the Democratic Republic of Congo, this is about a UN doctor risking her life to save others and a secret op Canadian military team on a mission. When things go horribly wrong they are forced to set off on foot to safety through the jungle.This book truly had it all - UN military scenario, diamond mining, child abduction, medical dramas, scary jungle with things blowing up all round. The slow burn romance between a down to earth Aussie doctor and a French Canadian soldier makes it worth the read alone - if there is a follow up book with these two I’m queuing up to buy it! All these aspects perfectly combined to produce a rollicking good tale that had me furiously turning pages with a climactic end that had me on the edge of my seat!

‘I spoke of the Congo. Of the instability, the poverty, the health needs and what I’d been doing since I’d left. There was enough colour and detail that they got insight into the difficulties and tragedy’

For a first time author who was not a doctor or had not been ‘lost’ in the jungle this was amazingly well done! I walked every painstaking step and will think of Rachel with every spider I now see 😉 The drama, the mystery and the romance all come together to form the perfectly told story. The plot builds with perfect pacing with the descriptions of the jungle terrifyingly real, the drama in the operating theatre horrifying true.

‘Being a doctor means I look after the health and wellbeing of others, and that territory comes with a lot of abstaining from judgement. But in this part of the real world, staying neutral feels like a stupid, blind luxury.’

Rachel’s writing was on point, richly detailed and immersive particularly when it comes to romance. The connection and sexual tension between Rachel and Anton was palpable. I would read it for this alone. The writing, particularly the ‘kaleidoscope’ scene is off the charts. The secondary characters enabled this to become an  incredibly exciting plot - the ones you loved (Lucas and Jax) and the ones you despised (Christopher).

‘His words pierced straight through the lustful ache dominating my bloodstream and sank into my soul like water into sand.’

If you are looking for an exciting combination of a fast moving, tension filled drama that is overflowing with action this is your book. The steam of the romance smokes off the page with super writing that you can easily lose yourself in. Gone to Ground is a superb debut novel that truly excited me and I highly recommend it as I found it so engaging and fulfilling. 

‘The jungle seemed impenetrable, yet I knew it was filled with creatures in their comfort zone, creatures adapted to their environment in a way I wasn’t.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: The War Girls

Title: The War Girls

Author: V.S. Alexander

Publisher: 26th July 2022 by Kensington Books

Pages: 368 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: historical fiction, world war II

My Rating: 3.5 crowns

Synopsis:

Casting light into one of the darkest periods of World War II, acclaimed author V.S. Alexander’s powerful historical novel tells of two Jewish sisters of Polish descent who unite in a fight to save their family from the Warsaw Ghetto.

It’s not just a thousand miles that separates Hanna Majewski from her younger sister, Stefa. There is another gulf—between the traditional Jewish ways that Hanna chose to leave behind in Warsaw, and her new, independent life in London. But as autumn of 1940 draws near, Germany begins a savage aerial bombing campaign in England, killing and displacing tens of thousands. Hanna, who narrowly escapes death, is recruited as a spy in an undercover operation that sends her back to her war-torn homeland.

In Hanna’s absence, her parents, sister, and brother have been driven from their comfortable apartment into the Warsaw Ghetto. Sealed off from the rest of the city, the Ghetto becomes a prison for nearly half a million Jews, struggling to survive amid starvation, disease, and the constant threat of deportation to Treblinka. Once a pretty and level-headed teenager, Stefa is now committed to the Jewish resistance. Together, she, Hanna, and Janka, a family friend living on the Aryan side of the city, form a trio called The War Girls. Against overwhelming odds and through heartbreak they will fight to rescue their loved ones, finding courage through sisterhood to keep hope alive . . 

My Thoughts

Having read and enjoyed V.S. Alexander, The Taster, I was excited to return to his writing. As he states himself, “(I) feature strong women protagonists whose lives take them on incredible journeys in settings fraught with danger and intrigue. Along the way, they learn about life, love, and themselves.”

‘You can be a War Girl, like the rest of us - someone who stands against the Nazis and fights for freedom.’

An incredible amount of research has gone into The War Girls inclusive of topics such as Judaism and the Warsaw ghetto, with spying operations during WWII -  specifically, the SOE from England. It was interesting to read about the lengths many Jews went to in trying to preserve their religious and cultural values during the Nazi occupation and time spent in the Warsaw ghetto. 

‘Like a caged animal clawing to escape; she coveted the power and determination to break free’

With overarching themes of family and friendships, bravery and tragedy, loss and hope readers will lose themselves in the three main characters - one life in the ghetto, one a Polish Catholic in Warsaw and one an SOE operative. Although slow at times, the details are rich and incredibly heartbreaking. If the atrocities that occurred in Poland during WWII, specifically in the ghetto, are something that interests you then this is a must read. 

‘No one will know the truth, and we will be no more significant than the dust we’re made from.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.