Hazel Gaynor has written another wonderful historical fiction novel that will leave you both content and in tears. Set in China during WWII, a British-run missionary school, filled with British and American students and teachers, is taken over by the Japanese army. Different chapters are told from the perspective of different characters, but the main character is Nancy Plummer (aka “Plum”) who is 10-years-old and has been left at the school by her missionary parents … Read More “When We Were Young & Brave by Hazel Gaynor” »
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
This timely thriller won’t just have you scared for the characters, but for our society, as well. Sydney Green returns to live with her mother in their historically Black neighborhood in Brooklyn. However, the neighborhood is undergoing rapid gentrification, and several of their life-long friends and neighbors have suddenly disappeared and wealthy white people are taking their places. Sydney is asking a lot of questions and draws dangerous attention to herself as she struggles to … Read More “When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole” »
What a fun piece of British chick lit! Nina is a soon-to-be-out-of-work librarian who takes the plunge, leaves city life behind for Scotland, and opens her own traveling bookstore in a big van that she can barely handle driving. And, of course, there are love interests and a best friend and other people who she helps along the way. After reading a very serious, sad book, I think I was in the right frame of … Read More “The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan” »
The Girl Who Came Home is a book about the Titanic’s voyage, inspired by the true story of the Addergoole 14. Maggie is a 17-year-old Irish orphan who is leaving her sweetheart behind to sail to the United States with her Aunt Kathleen and a dozen other friends from her small town to start a new life. Obviously, the boat sinks, and Maggie survives. Now that she’s 87-years-old, she’s finally ready to share her story … Read More “The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor” »
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” »