All warfare is based on deception. That is what Sun Tzu said in The Art of War. In The Lost Girls of Paris, we learn that deception can carry a high price. New York, 1946. When an accident blocks her usual route to work one morning, Grace Healey is forced to cut through the bustling concourse…
Fans of stories centered around the Second World War won’t want to miss Julia Kelly’s The Light Over London. It’s a dual timeline novel that tells the story of two women living years apart, each struggling with questions of love and self-worth, and I’m so glad I got a chance to read it. Cara Hargraves…
In this story based on the real-life experiences of Roxanne Veletzo’s grandmother, a young girl is left by her Jewish mother on the stoop of a house in Bucharest, believing that this will be the only way to save the child from the Nazi invasion. She’s taken in by a kindly concierge, who brings her…
The Nightingale is a book I’ll hold on to because I enjoyed quite a lot of it. On the other hand, I don’t plan on rereading it very often, because a certain major aspect of the story was fingernails-on-a-chalkboard grating. Too bad I couldn’t have the one without the other. The novel starts with Vianne…
News of Our Loved Ones tells the complicated story of the Delasalle family, four generations of hard-working people who hail from a Nazi-occupied village in Normandy. Since I absolutely adore novels that center around the Second World War, I was really excited to dive into this one. Unfortunately though, it ended up failing to meet…
I know whenever I pick up a novel about World War Two that I will most likely be reading a story that has a lot of heartache and sorrow in it. I hadn’t, however, expected Hidden Among the Stars to affect me quite as powerfully as it did. A haunting, atmospheric tale of love and…
I absolutely adore historical novels that center around the Second World War, but I will admit to being the tiniest bit tired of all the books set in either Europe or America. So when I saw that A Girl Divided took place in China, I was eager to read it, thinking it would give me…
In Grounded Hearts the storyline is simple – an RAF pilot bails out of his damaged bomber, sustains injuries and seeks help from a lovely woman in enemy territory. The storytelling, however, is anything but simple. Here, I found romance, adventure, spiritual wisdom, humor, pathos, and a picture of World War II I never knew,…
Elise Valmorbida’s The Madonna of the Mountains is a sweeping historical saga set in Italy during the first half of the twentieth century. It’s the story of one woman’s desperate struggle to ensure her family’s survival as the Fascist party comes to power and her country enters the Second World War. It’s a novel I…
I love mystery stories, unique locations and the WWII time setting , so upon learning that Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers had all three, I was anxious to read it. The story is interesting but very much reads as the freshmen effort it is. Hawaii in 1944 is an island under a great deal…