This was a sweet love story, split between 18-year-old Betty set in 1951 and 84-year-old Boop in modern time. Young Betty lives with her Jewish grandparents at their South Haven resort, where she dreams of being crowned a beauty queen, going to college in NY, and having a successful career as a fashion magazine editor. But life throws her a curveball when she meets and falls in love with the handsome Abe, who could only … Read More “The Last Bathing Beauty by Amy Sue Nathan” »
Category: Historical Fiction
I don’t usually read much Holocaust-related fiction, especially since I’ve read so many real, first-hand accounts in diaries, memoirs, etc. And — mostly since I’ve had my own children — it’s just not something I usually gravitate toward anymore. But I’m glad I didn’t realize that this book had so much of that because I would have missed this one and it was so good. I can’t recommend it enough. So far, it has an … Read More “Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees” »
This one sat on my shelf for a while, and I struggled to pick it up, but I should have started it the day I received it since so far it’s in my top three books published in 2020! This book begins in 1947, when Janey Everett, war photojournalist confronts Irene Lindquist (aka Irene Foster) in Hawaii, a famous pilot who went missing on an around-the-world flight. Janey is writing a book about Sam Mallory … Read More “Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams” »
Set in Chawton — where Jane Austen lived while writing three of her famous books — right after the second World War, a group of eight people come together to create the Jane Austen Society. The characters have very little in common, but for their love of Jane Austen, but it’s enough for them to create their own community. The first half of the book is slow. Perhaps if I was more in love with … Read More “The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner” »
Another great book by Lisa Wingate. Mostly set in Louisiana (with a bit of Texas thrown in,) the chapters alternate between Benny Silva’s story in 1987, and Hannie Gossett in 1885. Hannie is a young woman who is a freed slave but still working for her former master and his wife in basically the same capacity. When her former master’s 16-year-old white daughter and 14-year-old daughter with his New Orleans mistress are kidnapped while trying … Read More “The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate” »