Category Archives: Historical (40s)

August 1, 2018 · 11:57 pm

Review: Rust & Stardust by T. Greenwood

Title: Rust & Stardust by T. Greenwood
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Historical (40s & 50s), Crime Fiction
Length: 368 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Camden, NJ, 1948. When 11 year-old Sally Horner steals a notebook from the local Woolworth’s, she has no way of knowing that 52 year-old Frank LaSalle, fresh out of prison, is watching her, preparing to make his move. Accosting her outside the store, Frank convinces Sally that he’s an FBI agent who can have her arrested in a minute—unless she does as he says.

This chilling novel traces the next two harrowing years as Frank mentally and physically assaults Sally while the two of them travel westward from Camden to San Jose, forever altering not only her life, but the lives of her family, friends, and those she meets along the way.

Based on the experiences of real-life kidnapping victim Sally Horner and her captor, whose story shocked the nation and inspired Vladimir Nabokov to write his controversial and iconic Lolita, this heart-pounding story by award-winning author T. Greenwood at last gives a voice to Sally herself.

Review:

Set in 1948, Rust & Stardust by T. Greenwood is a heartrending fictionalized novel based on the real life kidnapping of Sally Horner.

After seeing a group of girls become “blood sisters”,  shy and friendless eleven year old Sally Horner agrees their “initiation” to their club. Despite her qualms about getting caught, Sally steals a composition notebook from Woolworth’s. She is caught leaving the store by a man claiming to be an FBI agent who tells her she is under arrest. Unbeknownst to Sally, he is in actuality, a recently released ex-convict  named Frank LeSalle. In an effort to spare her widowed mother, Ella, the truth about her “crime”, Sally convinces her mom that Frank is taking her on a family vacation to Atlantic City with her daughter’s classmate. Ella has no reason to doubt the veracity of his story and she leaves Sally with Frank at the local bus station. Thus begins Sally’s harrowing ordeal at the hands of a skillful manipulator who is also a child predator.

Sally is a lonely young girl who does not want to upset or disappoint her mother after Frank catches her stealing. She naively believes everything he tells her and although she picks up on puzzling inconsistencies in his explanations, she blindly follows his instructions.  When she does ask questions, Sally’s punishment is swift and violent. In a desperate attempt to return home, she inadvertently sets in motion their relocation to Baltimore.

In Baltimore, Sally continues to suffer horrific abuse yet Frank inexplicably enrolls her in school. He frightens her into keeping silent about their home life and she follows his order to the letter. Sally’s teacher, Sister Mary Katherine, instinctively realizes something is amiss with the young girl and she keeps a close eye on her new student. Yet when she finally decides to take action, Frank once again evades capture as he escapes with Sally and moves to Dallas, TX.

Now living in a trailer court, Sally remains firmly under Frank’s control while she forms a close bond with their neighbor Ruth. Unable to have children, Ruth spends many hours with Sally. It does not take long for suspicions to arise about what is going on in the trailer next door, but will Ruth be able to save the frightened young girl?

Rust & Stardust  is a truly captivating novel that deals with some very difficult subject matter. The dark and distressing storyline is relieved by genuine moments of true compassion and caring from the people whose lives are touched by Sally’s plight. This intricately plotted novel is loosely based on real life events and T. Greenwood brings this long forgotten crime vibrantly and sensitively to life. I highly recommend this tragic yet fascinating re-imagining of a horrific crime.

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Filed under Crime Fiction, Historical, Historical (40s), Historical (50s), Rated B+, Review, Rust & Stardust, St Martin's Press, T Greenwood

May 6, 2018 · 11:58 pm

Review: The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews

Title: The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery, Women’s Fiction
Length: 480 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Weekenders comes a delightful new novel about new love, old secrets, and the kind of friendship that transcends generations.

When ninety-nine-year-old heiress Josephine Bettendorf Warrick summons Brooke Trappnell to Talisa Island, her 20,000 acre remote barrier island home, Brooke is puzzled. Everybody in the South has heard about the eccentric millionaire mistress of Talisa, but Brooke has never met her. Josephine’s cryptic note says she wants to discuss an important legal matter with Brooke, who is an attorney, but Brooke knows that Mrs. Warrick has long been a client of a prestigious Atlanta law firm.

Over a few meetings, the ailing Josephine spins a tale of old friendships, secrets, betrayal and a long-unsolved murder. She tells Brooke she is hiring her for two reasons: to protect her island and legacy from those who would despoil her land, and secondly, to help her make amends with the heirs of the long dead women who were her closest friends, the girls of The High Tide Club—so named because of their youthful skinny dipping escapades—Millie, Ruth and Varina. When Josephine dies with her secrets intact, Brooke is charged with contacting Josephine’s friends’ descendants and bringing them together on Talisa for a reunion of women who’ve actually never met.

The High Tide Club is Mary Kay Andrews at her Queen of the Beach Reads best, a compelling and witty tale of romance thwarted, friendships renewed, justice delivered, and true love found.

Review:

Weaving seamlessly back and forth in time, The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews is an engrossing novel that features touching friendships and an intriguing mystery.

In 1941, Josephine Bettendorf, Millie Updegraff, Ruth Mattingly and Varina Shaddix are close friends who are as thick as thieves. However, Millie’s engagement party celebrating her upcoming wedding to Russell Strickland is a turning point in their friendship. The mystery surrounding Russell’s inexplicable disappearance from Josephine’s family’s island has endured for decades.  All of the women but Varina went on to marry and over the years, the women stopped speaking to one another.

In the present, ninety-nine year old Josephine Bettendorf Warrick lives in the house her father built on picturesque island off the Georgia coast. Full of regret for events in the past, she asks lawyer Brooke Trappnell to ensure her property will not be purchased by the state and added an existing state park. Josephine also requests Brooke track down Millie, Ruth and Varina, all of whom she has been estranged from for decades. Fully realizing the women are most likely no longer alive, Brooke nonetheless sets out to locate them. Ruth has indeed passed away, but Brooke convinces her granddaughter, Lizzie Quinlan, to meet with Josephine. Varina is still living and along with her great niece, Felicia, they also join Lizzie at Josephine’s estate. Millie has also passed on, but Brooke locates her daughter and invites her to the meeting where Josephine begins recounting the events of the past. However, right before she can clear up the mystery of what happened to Russell, Josephine passes away, leaving the fate of her estate up in the air.

Brooke is a single mother to three year old son, Henry. She is barely eking out a living in the small town in which she lives and she is definitely curious when Josephine summons her to the island. When she discovers there is a conflict of interest with one of her new client’s requests, Brooke enlists the aid of her former mentor and boss, Gabe Wynant, to take care of those duties.  Despite Josephine’s death, Brooke and Gabe continue working together to try to fulfill her last wishes. Along with Lizzie and Felicia, Brooke tries to prove a stunning claim that could have unexpected ramifications for Josephine’s estate if it turns out to be true. In the midst of all of the uncertainty surrounding her client’s affairs, Brooke’s life is complicated by an unexpected romance and the sudden appearance of someone from her unresolved past.

With a delightful cast of endearing characters, an idyllic setting and a perplexing mystery, The High Tide Club is a captivating novel. This well-plotted story moves at a brisk pace and the events from the past are just as fascinating as the ones in the present. As the storyline unfolds, long held secrets are revealed through riveting flashbacks that whisk readers back to the 1940s. Mary Kay Andrews brings the novel to an exciting, jaw-dropping conclusion that wraps up all of the various story arcs. A wonderful novel that I absolutely loved and highly recommend.

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Filed under Contemporary, Historical, Historical (40s), Mary Kay Andrews, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, The High Tide Club, Women's Fiction

February 5, 2018 · 11:58 pm

Review: The Glass Forest by Cynthia Swanson

Title: The Glass Forest by Cynthia Swanson
Publisher: Touchstone
Genre: Historical (60s), Mystery
Length: 352 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Bookseller comes a gripping literary suspense novel set in the 1960s about a deeply troubled family and three women who will reveal its dark truths.

In the autumn of 1960, Angie Glass is living an idyllic life in her Wisconsin hometown. At twenty-one, she’s married to charming, handsome Paul, and has just given birth to a baby boy. But one phone call changes her life forever.

When Paul’s niece, Ruby, reports that her father, Henry, has committed suicide, and that her mother, Silja, is missing, Angie and Paul drop everything and fly to the small upstate town of Stonekill, New York to be by Ruby’s side.

Angie thinks they’re coming to the rescue of Paul’s grief-stricken young niece, but Ruby is a composed and enigmatic seventeen-year-old who resists Angie’s attempts to nurture her. As Angie learns more about the complicated Glass family, staying in Henry and Silja’s eerie and ultra-modern house on the edge of the woods, she begins to question the very fabric of her own marriage.

Through Silja’s flashbacks, Angie’s discovery of astonishing truths, and Ruby’s strategic dissection of her parents’ state of affairs, a story of love, secrets, and ultimate betrayal is revealed.

Review:

The Glass Forest by Cynthia Swanson is a gripping mystery about a missing woman and the suicide death of her husband.

In 1960, twenty-one year old Angie Glass is deliriously happy with her husband, Paul, and their baby son P.J. Trouble arrives  with a phone call from Paul’s seventeen year old niece Ruby who informs her undle of her father’s (Paul’s brother Henry)apparent suicide and her mother, Silja’s, disappearance.  Angie insists on accompanying Paul to Ruby’s home in Stonekill, New York to plan Henry’s funeral and settle his affairs.  Angie quickly discover all is not as it appears with Ruby, Silja and Henry but she is woefully unprepared for the information she uncovers about Paul.

Angie is a bit naive but that is most likely a result of her sheltered life in Door County, WI. She and Paul married quite soon after they began their romance and she takes care of P.J. while Paul works as a bartender to supplement the income he earns selling his landscapes to tourists. Angie does not know much about Henry or his family since they only briefly met at her and Paul’s hastily arranged wedding. Not much older than Ruby, Angie wants nothing more than to take care of her suddenly parentless niece.

Ruby is a resourceful young woman who keeps to herself after her aunt and uncle’s arrival. Unexpectedly composed considering she discovered her father’s lifeless body, she is no help to police as they try to figure out where Silja has disappeared to nor can she provide a reason why her mother might have run away. Ruby has no friends her age but she does have a friendship with a mysterious man she meets in the forest behind the family home.

Silja is only seen in flashbacks that detail her first meeting with Henry in 1942 and her life following their marriage. Falling in love at first sight, their whirlwind romance culminates in a sudden wedding right before he ships out for Europe during World War II. She gives birth to Ruby while he is still fighting in the war and she impatiently awaits his return. However, the Henry who comes home is not the same man she wed and their marriage becomes more and more strained over the years.

Angie’s tranquil life slowly unravels before she, Paul and Ruby leave Stonekill. The police are suddenly not certain Henry’s death was a suicide and even more perplexing is Silja’s whereabouts. Whispers and rumors from the small town slowly make their way to Angie and as she tries to separate fact from fiction, she learns some very troubling information about the family she has married into. After she begins searching for the truth, Angie unearths shocking secrets that turn her world upside down.

The Glass Forest is an intricately-plotted novel with a clever storyline and a chilling cast of characters.  Angie is a little too trusting and lacks much experience with the world outside her small town, but she is quick to realize something is not quite right with Ruby, Henry and eventually, Paul. Ruby is somewhat precocious but she is also very pragmatic and does not hesitate to do what she believes needs to be done.  The setting is eerie and adds to the overall disquiet that permeates the unfolding story. Cynthia Swanson slowly builds the tension as the novel steadily wends its way to an absolutely stunning conclusion.

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Filed under Cynthia Swanson, Historical, Historical (40s), Historical (50s), Historical (60s), Mystery, Rated B+, Review, The Glass Forest, Touchstone

February 4, 2018 · 11:58 pm

Review: The Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard

Title: The Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Genre: Historical (40s), Fiction
Length:384 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

In the bestselling tradition of Hidden Figures and The Wives of Los Alamos, comes this riveting novel of the everyday people who worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II.

“What you see here, what you hear here, what you do here, let it stay here.”

In November 1944, eighteen-year-old June Walker boards an unmarked bus, destined for a city that doesn’t officially exist. Oak Ridge, Tennessee has sprung up in a matter of months—a town of trailers and segregated houses, 24-hour cafeterias, and constant security checks. There, June joins hundreds of other young girls operating massive machines whose purpose is never explained. They know they are helping to win the war, but must ask no questions and reveal nothing to outsiders.

The girls spend their evenings socializing and flirting with soldiers, scientists, and workmen at dances and movies, bowling alleys and canteens. June longs to know more about their top-secret assignment and begins an affair with Sam Cantor, the young Jewish physicist from New York who oversees the lab where she works and understands the end goal only too well, while her beautiful roommate Cici is on her own mission: to find a wealthy husband and escape her sharecropper roots. Across town, African-American construction worker Joe Brewer knows nothing of the government’s plans, only that his new job pays enough to make it worth leaving his family behind, at least for now. But a breach in security will intertwine his fate with June’s search for answers.

When the bombing of Hiroshima brings the truth about Oak Ridge into devastating focus, June must confront her ideals about loyalty, patriotism, and war itself.

Review:

The Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard is an absolutely fascinating novel about four disparate people who work at the atomic research lab in Oak Ridge, TN during World War II.

Eighteen year old June Walker is a farm girl whose future husband is killed not long after he enlists in WW II. Leaving her family and small town behind, she goes to the super secret military reservation in the newly created Oak Ridge, TN which, coincidentally, is built on land her grandfather and his neighbors were forced to sell to the Army. After filling out reams of paperwork, she is assigned to a boring job adjusting knobs for a project she knows nothing about.

June’s roommate, Cici Roberts, is a beautiful yet shallow young woman who is popular with the men but not very well liked by women other than June. Cici is a fun-loving, good-time girl who has a very selfish reason for accepting a job in Oak Ridge. While the two women are initially rather good friends, they eventually fall out over June’s boyfriend, Dr. Sam Cantor.

Originally excited to leave academia for a job at the lab, Sam’s enthusiasm soon wanes once he fully comprehends the magnitude of the  work he is doing. He is rather morose and drinks to excess to deal with his conflicted feelings. He works in the same building as June and their chance meeting at a New Year’s Eve party is the beginning of their unlikely romance.

Joe Brewer left his wife and three children behind in Alabama when he took the job as a construction worker at Oak Ridge. The negro workers are not allowed to live with their spouses and Joe misses his family desperately. He is also growing quite concerned over his friend Ralph’s friendships with other activists who are working to improve condition for the negro workers.

With the war in Europe finally winding down, the race to develop a bomb before the Germans loses its urgency but work still continues at Oak Ridge and Los Alamos, NM. The project remains shrouded in secrecy although Sam has confided in June the exact nature of their research. The various situations for June, Sam, Cici and Joe quickly come to a head as the US continues fighting the Japanese and the scientists’ research finally culminates in success. Cici is disgusted by June’s romance with the much older, Jewish scientist and their friendship suffers as a consequence. Joe is increasingly worried about Ralph as racial tensions increase. As Sam becomes more despondent and his drinking escalates, his relationship with June continues to deteriorate.

The Atomic City Girls is an educational exploration of a mostly unknown piece of American history.  The characters are well-developed and add vital insight to the events that are unfolding. Although Los Alamos is famous for its part in the building of the atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Oak Ridge, TN’s role is not well publicized.  Janet Beard’s meticulous research brings this little known but immensely interesting portion of history vibrantly to life. This all around riveting read also includes a lovely epilogue so readers know what happens to the various characters long after their lives intersect in Oak Ridge.

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Filed under Fiction, Historical, Historical (40s), Janet Beard, Rated B+, Review, The Atomic City Girls, William Morrow Paperbacks

October 4, 2017 · 11:57 pm

Review: The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain

Title: The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Historical (40s), Fiction
Length: 384 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Steeped in history and filled with heart-wrenching twists, The Stolen Marriage is an emotionally captivating novel of secrets, betrayals, prejudice, and forgiveness. It showcases Diane Chamberlain at the top of her talent.

One mistake, one fateful night, and Tess DeMello’s life is changed forever.

It is 1944. Pregnant, alone, and riddled with guilt, twenty-three-year-old Tess DeMello abruptly gives up her budding career as a nurse and ends her engagement to the love of her life, unable to live a lie. Instead, she turns to the baby’s father for help and agrees to marry him, moving to the small, rural town of Hickory, North Carolina. Tess’s new husband, Henry Kraft, is a secretive man who often stays out all night, hides money from his new wife, and shows her no affection. Tess quickly realizes she’s trapped in a strange and loveless marriage with no way out.

The people of Hickory love and respect Henry but see Tess as an outsider, treating her with suspicion and disdain. When one of the town’s golden girls dies in a terrible accident, everyone holds Tess responsible. But Henry keeps his secrets even closer now, though it seems that everyone knows something about him that Tess does not.

When a sudden polio epidemic strikes Hickory, the townspeople band together to build a polio hospital. Tess knows she is needed and defies Henry’s wishes to begin working at there. Through this work, she begins to find purpose and meaning. Yet at home, Henry’s actions grow more alarming by the day. As Tess works to save the lives of her patients, can she untangle the truth behind her husband’s mysterious behavior and find the love—and the life—she was meant to have?

Review:

The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain is a well-researched, historically accurate novel set during the mid 1940s in North Carolina.

Twenty-three year old Tess DeMello is happily engaged to next door neighbor Dr. Vincent Russo. Looking forward to her upcoming wedding and completing her nursing studies, she is disappointed yet understanding when Vincent goes to Chicago to help out during a serious polio outbreak. When his return date continues to get pushed back, she and her best friend take a trip to Washington, DC that forever alters Tess’s life and eventually leads to a loveless marriage to furniture maker Henry Kraft.

Tess is a strong, confident young woman who has a close relationship with her mother and Vincent’s family. Her one misstep has far reaching implications and she loses everything dear to her the aftermath. Not expecting Henry to offer marriage, she nonetheless accepts his proposal and relocates to his hometown of Hickory.  Needless to say, neither her mother-in-law Ruth nor her sister-in-law Lucy welcomes her into the family and Tess grows incredibly lonely in her new circumstances. She is also puzzled by Henry’s lack of interest in their marriage and although she would like to confront him, Tess is fearful of upsetting their fragile bond. Tess remains hopeful things will improve over the coming months and despite her reluctance to go against her husband’s wishes, she nonetheless holds firm when it comes to attaining her RN license.

Tess is definitely a fish out of water in her new home. She is expected to conform to Ruth’s wishes and she gradually loses her sense of self under the weight of these expectations. Dealt a crushing blow in the aftermath of tragic losses, Tess unexpectedly finds the opportunity to fulfill her prior dreams when the town comes together and builds a hospital for polio patients.  When her past crashes headlong into the present, Tess realizes the enormity of everything she has lost, but will she find a way to escape her increasingly unhappy life?

The Stolen Marriage is an enthralling historical novel with a rich cast of vibrantly developed and life-like characters. Tess is an extremely sympathetic and appealing protagonist who is a victim of not only her impetuous decisions but the strictures of time period. The small town of Hickory is realistically depicted but it takes the townspeople’s generosity in the face of adversity for Tess to realize she has misjudged most of its residents.  Diane Chamberlain’s meticulous research of Hickory’s past highlights a remarkable but little known piece of important history. An incredibly captivating and thought-provoking novel that provides an insightful glimpse of turbulent race relations, haunting polio epidemics and limited choices women endured during the mid 1940s in America.

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Filed under Diane Chamberlain, Fiction, Historical, Historical (40s), Rated B+, Review, St Martin's Press, The Stolen Marriage

August 6, 2017 · 11:58 pm

Review: Map of the Heart by Susan Wiggs

Title: Map of the Heart by Susan Wiggs
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Contemporary, Historical (WWII), Romance, Women’s Fiction
Length: 368 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

Love and family. War and secrets. Betrayal and redemption.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs returns with a deeply emotional and atmospheric story that spans oceans and decades, from the present-day Delaware shore to the battlefields of WWII France.

Widowed by an unspeakable tragedy, Camille Palmer has made her peace with the past and settled into the quiet safety of life with her teenage daughter Julie in a sleepy coastal town. Then the arrival of a mysterious package breaks open the door to her family’s secret past. In uncovering a hidden history, Camille has no idea that she’s embarking on an adventure that will utterly transform her.

Camille, Julie, and Camille’s father return to the French town of his youth, sparking  unexpected memories — recollections that will lead them back to the dark days of the Second World War. And it is in the stunning Provençal countryside that they will uncover their family’s surprising history.

While Provence offers answers about the past, it also holds the key to Camille’s future. Along the way, she meets a former naval officer who stirs a passion deep within her — a feeling that she thought she’d never experience again.

Review:

Map of the Heart by Susan Wiggs is a beautifully rendered, poignant novel that mainly takes place in the present but also flips back in time to World War II in order to solve an intriguing family secret.

Camille Palmer Adams was at one time fearless and adventuresome as she embraced love and life without reservation. However, five years ago, in a heart-stopping instant, a tragic loss changed her into a woman who now refuses to take risks and rarely steps out of the sedate, safe life she has created with her fifteen year old daughter Julie. After experiencing another life-altering moment, Camille becomes aware that she has somehow overlooked some important changes in her daughter.  Will this stunning realization allow her to see past her own fears in order to allow Julie the freedom to spread her wings and enjoy life to the fullest? Or will Camille continue to let her past to shape her future?

Camille is quite close with her father, Henri Palmer, who left his small town in the French countryside to emigrate to America. As an American who romanticizes and idealizes the French, I immediately turned to my husband and asked, “why would a Frenchman abandon an idyllic life in FRANCE to permanently move to the United States?” The answer to that question stretches back to World War II and the beautiful, brave woman who refused to allow the Germans to defeat her after they invade her small country village.

In Map of the Heart, Susan Wiggs seamlessly weaves these two seemingly disparate story arcs into a heartwarming novel of healing and love. The novel’s picturesque settings spring vibrantly to life and readers will have no difficulty visualizing the coastal town of Bethany Bay or the bucolic French countryside.  The characters are multi-dimensional with true to life human frailties and foibles that make them easy to relate to as they attempt to make peace with their respective pasts.  I absolutely adored and highly recommend this captivating novel to fans of the genre.

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Filed under Contemporary, Historical, Historical (40s), Map of the Heart, Rated B+, Romance, Susan Wiggs, William Morrow, Women's Fiction