Wunderland by Jennifer Cody Epstein

The time period for most of this book is WW II, the viewpoint and setting is Germany. Usually I gravitate toward England and occasionally France for novels set in the WW II era. This was, at times, difficult to read.

The first chapter starts in 1989, the setting New York. Ava Fischer sits on her bed crying after learning about her mother's death and past life. Ava had banished her mother, Ilse von Fischer, from her life ten years prior. You'll learn why as you read on.  She receives a box from Ilse's attorney with her mother's ashes and a cache of letters addressed to Renate Bauer.  Bauer isn't a name Ava has ever heard and doesn't know who the woman.  Why would her mother be writing to Bauer?

Ava discovers unsettling things about her mother's involvement with the Ilse BDM (Bund Deutscher madel) in Nazi Germany.  The chapters go back and forth mainly between Ilse and Renate in the early 1930's. Ava's chapters are interspersed.

Ilse and Renate were very good friends. They shared secrets, books, loved one another without question. There was one scene where they defied the German soldiers and went into a Jewish bakery together. The boycott of Jewish businesses didn't bother these two young ladies as they strode past the soldiers in search of sweets. Such boycotts were ridiculous for these headstrong teenagers.

But as you read on there is a sadness that such a wonderful friendship could be severely strained and eventually fractured over one being Jewish. Perhaps it’s the political climate in America today but this book had my mind drifting to the hate crimes and gang mentality I currently see in the news. While it was well written it was at times hard to read.

Reading how Ilse and Renate's friendship was tested because Renate was Jewish was uncomfortable. Reading how relationships could change in a snap because of one's heritage was sad.

Foodie book - no way. There were delectable bakery items and a traditional German meal mentioned.
Buttery poppyseed cakes, stolen, fruit pies, apple cakes, doughnuts, Schweinebraten in a crackling glaze of paprika, mustard and caraway seeds.

Sharing with Marg at The Intrepid Reader for the 2021 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Marg of The Intrepid Reader blog is the host for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge in 2021. T he sign up page may be located HERE so check it out if you'd like to join in.

Happy  reading!

Outlander revisited

 Anyone who has been a fan of the Outlander book series by Diana Gabaldon knows her next book is about to be published!  Go Tell the Bees That I am Gone is book nine in the series.  I am not certain if that is the last book to wrap up this saga but I am anxious to read it and continue the journey.

That made me want to revisit the first book - Outlander - which started it all. 

Outlander has many of the features I love to read about – time travel, a bit of romance, it’s a historical fiction, genealogy, Scotland and lots of dialogue! I read this the first time after picking up a copy from the used book section at my local library. I was hooked! In the beginning you are getting to know Claire and Frank Randall. Frank is obsessive about his genealogy and they are in Scotland checking out the area where his ancestor, Black Jack Randall, went to battle in 1745 at Culloden.

Claire was a combat nurse, separated from Frank by war and her duties. She is reunited with her husband and they went on a second honeymoon in Scotland, getting reacquainted with each other again after a long separation. During one of their outings they visit a dolman. Something special in one of the rocks at a dolman they visited attracts Claire and, upon touching the stone, she is transported back in time – same place, but 200 years earlier. Naturally she thinks she’s landed herself in a BBC production of some costume drama when she sees the Red-coated British uniforms and Scots in full kilt and sporran get up running from them.

Meeting Frank’s ancestor, Jonathan Wolverton Randall, is shocking (for obvious reasons) but to see him as the spitting image of her husband (Frank) is quite unnerving – especially since he isn’t kind and compassionate like Frank. She is saved from certain rape and interrogation by Capt. Randall by a Scot named Murtagh. He takes Claire to a cottage where she meets Jamie Fraser for the first time. The seven or so Scottish rebels are as puzzled by Claire as she is by them. They think she’s a spy for the English. Randall thinks she’s a spy for the Scots or France. Viewed by all with suspicion makes it difficult for her to escape. Claire ends up marrying Jamie so she may become a Scottish citizen and thus, untouchable by the English and protected. Still – even with her attraction to Jamie, she plans to try and get back to her own time.

There are so many interwoven story lines within this book with all the characters; I hung on to each chapter and was left hooked on these Outlander books. Happily for me, there were 4 more in print when I first started reading it so I quickly moved on to the other stories. I am awaiting the last book of this series to come out for what is promised to be a tear jerker finale.

I've only seen a few episodes of the television series and it didn't rock my world so I can only speak about the books.

Happy Reading!

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday and Marg at The Intrepid Reader for the 2021 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

You Will Remember Me by Hannah Mary McKinnon

Jack Smith wakes up on a beach with a horrendous head injury,  not recollecting anything about his past or who he is.  Amnesia is the theme in the beginning of this book but the suspense that develops about "Jack" and his past makes this a page turner.  

The writing is excellent, so descriptive you can clearly visualize the beach and waves, you feel the bitter cold seeping into his bones. What a beginning to pull you in. I resented having to put the book down to make dinner.

Jack's girlfriend Lily Reid doesn't accept that her British boyfriend has drowned as he was an excellent swimmer.  The police shatter some of her ideas about Jack when they tell her he was living under a false identity, his driver's license was fake as was all other forms of identification.  Did he disappear on purpose and what was he running from?

This sounds like a template of girl finds boy, he suddenly remembers and they live happily ever after.  Do not assume that is how things will go! The ending was absolutely not what I expected and this psychological mind bender is not predictable.

Hannah Mary McKinnon is British author born in Manchester.  After reading this book (my first by McKinnon) I will seek out more of her work. 

Publication date is May 25, 2021 by  Harlequin.  Genre: General Fiction, Mystery and Thrillers.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book.  I was not compensated for the review, all opinions are mine.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.

When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O'Neal

 

When I read this description on the jacket of the book  I was instantly hooked before I started it:

“Her sister has been dead for fifteen years when she sees her on the TV news…
Josie Bianci was killed years ago on a train during a terrorist attack. Gone forever. It’s what her sister, Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, has always believed. Yet all it takes is a few heart-wrenching seconds to upend Kit’s world. Live coverage of a club fire in Auckland has captured the image of a woman stumbling through the smoke and debris. ”

Our main characters are Kit and Josie Bianci.  Josie supposedly died in a terrorist attack on a train in Europe.  Her younger sister Kit accepted that after much searching. Fifteen  years later Josie’s face is clearly captured by a news crew while covering a club fire in Auckland. She had a distinguishing scar across her forehead from an injury during an  earthquake in San Francisco when she was 15 years old so, it’s definitely her.

Kit’s mother asks her to go to New Zealand and search for Josie. The story goes back and forth between Kit and Josie’s memories of each other, growing up and how awfully negligent their parents were when they were young. Through the back and forth, memories from 1967 and present day 1997, you get an idea of how they were shaped and their devotion to one another. It’s a very detailed book with wonderfully descriptive writing.

As you can guess, without this being a true spoiler, Josie has another life now. You start up with her story in New Zealand and learn about this amazing place called Sapphire House.

The Sapphire House is described in vivid detail. The former home of  movie star Veronica Parker, tragically murdered in her twenties. Veronica’s sister Helen lived in the house after the murder, keeping much of it as if it were a museum with the original furnishings, paintings and books. It wasn’t a dusty old place though, it had been kept immaculately clean.

Journey to the southern hemisphere and immerse yourself in the food, climate and unfolding story of the Bianci siblings. I found myself reading this any chance I had to pick it up.   Laced with betrayal and secrets, I was hooked and would like to find more by this author.

Note:  There were a few things I did not care for and think it could have been just as good a story with the absence of such.  On Goodreads I can employ the Spoiler mode but I haven’t figured out how to do that here so…those observations will be on Goodreads.

If you like seeing food pop into a story this one may be for you. The Bianca parents owned a restaurant so this book is filled with delectable dishes, inspiring me to head to the kitchen and get busy.

Green pepper and onion omelette
Blueberry muffins
feijoas
Swordfish rolls, stuffed artichokes, arancini
Wine, antipasti of mozzarella, curls of salami, a tumble of olives and fresh tomatoes with flatbread. Gnocchi With peas and mushrooms.

Stuffed squid, pasta with bread and herby olive oil.
Roasted Padrón pepper and stuffed olives with bread
Vermicelli alla Siracusana ( eggplant, red peppers, olives, Parmesan with preserved lemon
Cauliflower salad and chocolate cake
Roast chicken with vegetables, carrots studded with feta, tomato salad, rice with lentils

Brik– egg, tuna and preserved lemon with harissa in pastry

I intended to start with the eggplant dish but I didn’t get an eggplant in time.  The gnocchi was defininitly gettibg made as it would be an easy one to take camping in the future, so I gave that a dry run. Oh my.  If you like gnocchi you might want this one. Recipe may be viewed at Babaganosh. Next time I make this I want to add loads more mushrooms and peas.

Much thanks to my friend Stacy who kindly sent me this book. 

Repetition

 Quite a while back Wordpress switched to a new editing format.  I know many of my fellow WP bloggers were unhappy about that change just as I was. Some preservered and figured it all out. Kudos to you there :-)

I lost patience and started anew with Blogger, moving some of my favorite posts/authors over to this site.  I posted about that on my page HERE. 

Well.... I'd planned to only post new reviews but I just received an email from Wordpress stating my old site and posts will be no longer....unless I'd like to pay for it. Perhaps I'm misinterpreting this but I have decided to harvest more old posts and place in this blog.

Hence the post title- repetition.  I don't know if email subscriptions even work. I am not computer savvy. 

Lost Souls by Jenny O'Brien

I will start by saying I absolutely love this series. Jenny O'Brien does it again by pulling me into the hectic lives of Gabriella "Gaby" Darin, Rusty Mullholland and the team of likeable detectives in Northern Wales.  The Welsh setting is beautiful and I sent my Welsh friend Jo a list of the unpronounceable names (for me) so she could translate. 

Some place names are Rhos-on-Sea, Llandudno, Ystad golygfa'r mor and Aberystwyth.

We begin with Gaby Darin is the position of acting Detective Inspector, her leading the team of detectives in the search for a missing ten year old girl, Elodie "Ellie" Fry. The little girl has a happy home life with her single mother but something she discovers terrifies her and she runs away.  You will discover later on in the book what the horrific finding was and why she ran.

To complicate matters there is a case about a missing elderly woman who failed to show up at her bridge club meeting. Her fridge is stocked with food, a tea cup is left on the counter and it appears she simply vanished into thin air.  After the crime scene folks arrived to investigate they find traces of blood which were hastily cleaned up.  This opens up much older cases of missing elderly residents in the area.  

But wait - there's more! A man who cleans the crematorium arrives at the police station to report three hip replacement prothesthics were found after the last cremation.  Apparently  someone is disposing of "body parts" in a way no one would ever discover, until an employee is spot on about his job and reports this discovery. 

The hunt for the missing girl takes priority yet Gaby's team of detectives, torn in three diferent directions, work tirelessly to solve all three cases.   I will say I was surprised by the way everything came together. Another excellent mystery tying up all the loose ends.  I can't wait for the next book to see where Gaby's career is headed. Her temporary appointment to D.I. could become a permanent position but we won't know until the next book. There is some drama about that appointment and the competition.

 Publication date May 21, 2021 by  HQ Digital.  Genre: General Fiction, Mystery and Thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book.  I was not compensated for the review, all opinions are mine.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.

The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones

 

The Guilt Trip is a slow to start novel with all the pieces coming together in the last few chapters.  There is  a destination wedding where friends and family fly to Portugal.  Rachel and Mark are a married couple as are Paige and Noah. They are flying to Portugal with Ali, Mark's future sister-in-law. Ali seems like a gorgeous ditz and Mark has concerns about her marrying his brother. 

The secrets between friends are refered to and there is much back and forth over what they want to share with one another.  Lots of miscommunication and it reminded me of a television show where everyone misunderstood one another.  Jealousy, betrayal and murder are the themes.

While I didn't love ths book it wouldn't stop me from trying another by this author.  I just felt it could have been shorter and some "issues" were rehashed more than they ought to have been. In my opinion.

Publication date August 3, 2021 by  St Martin's Press.  Genre: Women's Fiction, Mystery and Thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book.  I was not compensated for the review, all opinions are mine.

Normal People by Sally Rooney

 

The beginning of the story unfolds in Carricklea, Sligo in western Ireland. Our main characters are Connell and Marianne and they are young adults, attending the same school and about to decide on university options. Connell is very popular and from a middle class background.  Marianne is from a well to do family, living in a mansion.  She is considered strange and avoided at school.  Connell's mother Lorraine is employed as a cleaner at Marianne's home and it's there Connell and Marianne first start talking and becoming friends.

Whatever went on in Marianne's early life shaped her to feel as if she could never be loved.  She does not have friends and when things start up with Connell she is pleasantly surprised.  They decide to keep their relationship a secret and this I found troubling.

When Marianne is physically abused Connell comes to her aid and she feels loved. He tells her she makes him happy.

  "Even in memory she will find this moment unbearably intense.....She has never believed herself fit to be loved by any person.  But now she has a new life...the beginning of my life."

They have a weird friendship and sexual relationship which eventually, as you can imagine, takes a huge turn.  The setting then moves to Trinity in Dublin for university.  Now the social situation is reversed and Marianne is the one with friends while Connell is at times merely tolerated.

Their lives and loves intertwine constantly over the years. They change each other, they support one another, they love and leave one another and always come back.

"All these years they've been like two little plants sharing the same plot of soil. growing around one another, contorting to make room, taking certain unlikely positions."

I enjoyed this author's writing style and will look for more.  Sally Rooney was born in western Ireland in 1991 and I feel her firsthand knowledge of the area is accurately portrayed in this novel.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.

Before She Was Helen by Caroline Cooney

The story unfolds at a retirement commmunity in North Carolina and Helen is our main character.  Helen is not her real name so you will read about "Clemmie" and realize Helen is an assumed identity, one she has had for decades. Hence the title Before She Was Helen.

Something traumatic happened to Clemmie years ago and she went into hiding, hoping her past would remain hidden. There are some sad stories in this narrative and while I love a mystery, this one was a bit too much on the cozy mystery genre for me.  It's a good storyline and if you have patience with the over 55 community and the geriatric issues of physical health and conversations, you may like this mystery.

 Publication date was May 4, 2021 by Random House - Ballentine.  Genre: General Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book.  I was not compensated for the review, all opinions are mine.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

 

Andy Weir pulls off another successful sci-fi novel with Project Hail Mary.  I absolutely loved The Martian and felt opposite about Artemis so I was hoping he'd come out with another blockbuster.

Rylan Grace is a junior high school science teacher who loves his job.  He is the narrator of this novel and you will learn more about him as the story goes on.  In the first chapters Rylan doesn't know his name or anything about his past as he was in an induced coma for years.  

He is on a spaceship and needs to remember his name and certain facts for the onboard computer to unlock areas of the ship.  As he slowly remembers details of his former life we learn he was an esteemed scientist with excellent credentials before he burned some career bridges. 

Without giving spoilers here it's established Earth will undergo a life extinuishing event.  Dr Grace is one of the scientists who may be able to help change the outcome. In my opinion the science, hypothesis and formulas were interesting at first but I could have used less of it. Fun to read and then I felt like I may need to scroll along.

The memories of "life before" and the interaction Dr Grace has with another space entity was interesting. I particuarlly liked the last chapters and the outcome so it was overall a 4 star book for me.

Not on par with The Martian but 100% better than Artemis. We love Andy Weir in our home and have recently purchased his first book (again) after someone failed to return our loan :-(  We also just watched the Martian recently - I think this book would have potential to become a cool space movie as well.  Ridley Scott, are you listening? :-)

Publication date May 4, 2021 by Random House - Ballentine.  Genre: Mystery, Thrillers, Sci Fi and Fantasy.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book.  I was not compensated for the review, all opinions are mine.

The Search for God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield

 This is the first book I have read by author Stephen Mansfield and I can report that I found it very interesting. It was Guinness that attracted me to the book cover and upon picking it up, found I had read several pages whilst leaning against the bookshelves at my local library. Why not bring it home?

This is story about the humble beginnings for Arthur Guinness’ career in brewing beer. While many people are under the impression that Arthur started up the family business after acquiring long lease on St James Gate, you will be quite engaged to read about the real beginnings of his brewing experience. Arthur had roughly 25 years of experience before he started up at St James Gate. As a matter of fact, he brought hops from his family home in Celbridge and began brewing in Dublin after years of experience with his father and on his own talent.

The company treated the employees very well. You’ve read or heard about the benefits provided by Google to their employees? The Guinness family were the precursors for that business model.

Guinness IS good for you!

Each of the facts I listed below is written about in detail in this book, telling of the circumstances.

From the book
Some Guinness facts:

* More than ten million glasses of Guinness are consumed each day worldwide. That is nearly two billion pints a year.

* In 1759, Arthur Guinness founded the Guinness brewery in Dublin by signing a lease for famous property St James Gate – a lease that has given him rights to that property for nine thousand years!

* It is a myth that the water for brewing Guinness comes from the River Liffey. Most of the water comes from the streams of the Wicklow Mountains which lies just south of Dublin .

* A Guinness worker during the 1920s enjoyed full medical and dental care, massage services, reading rooms, subsidized meals, a company funded pension, subsidies for funeral expenses, educational benefits, free concerts and lectures and a guaranteed two pints of Guinness beer a day.

* During World War I, Guinness guaranteed all of its employees who served in uniform that their jobs would be waiting for them when they returned home. Guinness also paid half salaries to the family of each man who served.

* A Guinness chief medical officer, Dr John Lumsden, personally visited thousands of Dublin homes in 1900 and used what he learned to help the company fight disease, squalor and ignorance. These efforts also led to the establishment of the Irish version of the Red Cross, for which Dr. Lumsden was knighted by King George V.

Guinness was known for its care of its employees, One Guinness family member who headed the brewery said, “You cannot make money from people unless you are willing for people to make money from you.”

There were so many, “Oh I didn’t know that, how interesting” moments that I would stop and call out to Doug, “Listen to this” and proceed to share parts of this book.

We had been fortunate to have a family vacation in Ireland that took us to Arthur Guinness’ hometown of Celbridge and we enjoyed a pint there, talking to the bar maid about the town history, sipping our pints in the old pub on a chilly afternoon. We also took a tour of the brewery in Dublin and have our photo at the famous St James Gate. The tour was great but I wish I had read this book prior to going to Ireland .

A good read – I recommend it!

Sharing with Joy for British Isles Friday and Shelleyrae at BookdOut for the Nonfiction Reader challenge.

Catergory/Genre: Food as it's listed under food and cookbooks on Amazon

 The Nonfiction Reader Challenge hosted by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out.  Check out the sign up post and info HERE. The challenge runs from January 1 through December 31, 2021. You can join in anytime!