Could You Be This Brave?

Most of us have read WWII fiction, and here's another!  The Baker's Secret is a well-written, easy to read book about a brave and determined 22-year-old woman.  In a small German-occupied village in France just before D-Day, the local Jewish baker is taken away.  The German army needs bread and Emma was the baker's apprentice.  A small resistance team is created when Emma figures out a way to distribute needed food (and hope!) to villagers while living in a home occupied by a German officer. 
Strong characters and wonderful descriptions of the countryside, the smells of bread and the villagers. This story made me think about what I would do in Emma's situation and if I could be this brave?? SW

Walking to the Ocean

What happens when an 83 year-old woman decides to walk across Canada to see the ocean? somewhat interesting adventures—that’s for sure.  Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper deals with a journey, both physical and reminiscent, by three elders whose lives are intertwined. Etta, Otto, and James live in Saskatchewan. They have lived through WWII and the Great Depression. Each one of them have a story to tell and a longing to fulfill one last desire. Then there is James. There is definitely something magical about James. The story unfolds in letter and narration format and jumps from present day to past memories. It definitely arouses the reader's interest. DB  

spoils of war

Jacqueline Winspear is a terrific historical writer. She writes about England during two world wars, and without blood or gore illustrates the terrible cost wars have, not only to young people dying but the ones at home who love and miss them. Readers who love the Masie Dobbs series will like her new stand-alone The Care and Management of Lies. Set during WWI, the story follows two young women, Kezia and Thea. Although Kezia is marrying Thea's brother, they have become estranged from their former friendship over Thea's involvement in the suffragette movement. When war comes, their lives, and indeed, the lives of everyone around them changes. Thoughtful and well written, this is a good read. ML

The Power of Imagination

Debra Dean's The Madonnas of Leningrad explores the importance of memory and imagination.  During the Seige of Leningrad, docent Marina takes shelter within the Hermitage along with other staff members, protecting the museum's priceless works of art.  In the present, Marina struggles to separate her recollections from reality as her memory starts to deteriorate.  A very quick and engaging read.

Stop by for our discussion of The Madonnas of Leningrad on Wednesday, June 6th from 1-2pm. HM

An elegy for a lost world

This love story set during WWII is a story of a lost world, pre-war England and a beautiful country house. Nineteen-year old Elise grows up in Vienna to a cultured and wealthy family. As the Nazi's gain power her family sends her to England to be a maid at a country manor. She struggles with her change in status and the sheer amount of work required of a servant at that time. As war comes to England the old ways of doing things change as well as her life. Romantic and touching, if you like Downton Abby you will love this novel, The House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons. ML

Death Tells a Story

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak is narrated by Death himself. Since the story takes place during World War II, death is an appropriate narrator to this story of a young girl, Liesel, who becomes a book thief. The first book she takes, before she has even learned to read, is "The Gravedigger's Handbook" stolen from a gravedigger working on her younger brother's grave. The Book Thief is about Liesel, the books she steals and her life on Himmel Street in Germany. "The Book Thief deserves a place on the same shelf with The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel’s Night. It seems poised to become a classic" (USA Today). SG

Escape to... The Clearing

With The Clearing, author Heather Davis spins a short but (bitter)sweet story of relearning to live, love, trust, and stand on one's own: Hoping to escape an abusive relationship, high school senior Amy leaves her home and friends in Seattle and moves to a rural Washington town to live with her non-intrusive, but still loving Aunt Mae--who she barely knows. Unfortunately, the fresh start isn't everything Amy has hoped for. In trying to mask her deep emotional scars, Amy puts up walls and comes across as defensive and unfriendly to her peers. After a particularly depressing day, Amy escapes the confines of Mae's trailer and wanders off into the wilderness beyond. Here she finds a clearing that seems perpetually shrouded in mist--no matter the weather elsewhere. Beyond the mist, Amy finds the unexpected: Here she meets Henry, who is unlike any boy she has ever met. The friendship-to-love-relationship the two young people begin soothes Amy's deep wounds and helps her to again believe there is good in the world. The whole experience seems almost, well...magical to Amy. And it is. Still, something nags the back of Amy's mind whenever she and Henry are apart--like why are apple trees blooming in autumn?

What Amy eventually learns is that Henry and his family have been caught in the endless cycle of reliving the summer of 1944. Worried about his brother off fighting in WWII (and about to be shipped off to war himself), Henry, in a moment of desperation, wished for a miracle--and got it. Amy knows there are choices she and Henry must both make. Choices to move on with their lives. But these choices could separate them forever.

The Clearing is beautifully written. An ideal book for a quiet evening at home or a day at the beach.

When a Scratch Could Kill You

Lauren Belfer's new novel, A Fierce Radiance, takes place in New York during WWII, with all the fears and uncertancies of that era. There are interweaving plots,a murder,a love affair, and death. The main storyline, however, is the development of penicillin. Before antibiotics, you could die of a scratch,an infection, the flu, or meningitis. Penicillin changed life as the people then knew it. Big drug companies were competing to see who could develop the technology to produce the drug because of the huge profits involved. The government was trying to control production to be able to use penicillin for it's armed forces. Although this sounds grim, the novel is a complex, interesting read.