The Nightingale

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The Nightingale

Kristin Hannah

St. Martin's Press: 2015, 440 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Vianne and Isabelle's relationship has not been an easy one since their mother died when they were young girls and their father virtually abandoned them.  When the Nazis invade France, Vianne's husband heads to fight the German forces while she tries to protect their daughter.  The younger, rebellious Isabelle, on the other hand, views Vianne's behavior as complacency and leaves her sister's home to join the Resistance.  Throughout the next few years, each sister faces hardships and horrors that would have been inconceivable before the war.  The Nightingale is a heartbreaking story of the women of war-torn France. 

The Nightingale

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The Nightingale

Kristin Hannah

St. Martin's Press: 2015, 440 pages

Reviewed by Sheryl Walters

In The Nightingale, two sisters learn to survive in war-torn France in the 1930's.  Each takes a different path and struggles to stay alive, while at the same time helping others, as the Germans take over every aspect of their lives.  This story is heart wrenching and contains heroism that makes it worth the read.

Beauty and the Rake

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Beauty and the Rake (The Rookery Rogues #3)

Erica Monroe

Quillfire Publishing: 2015, 351 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Abigail Vautille has lived in the Whitechapel rookery her whole life, working long, hard hours at the factories until a tragic event rendered her unable to work.  With no other options at hand, Abigail offers herself in order to deal with her father's gambling debts and save them from debtor's prison.  Inspector Michael Strickland of the Metropolitan Police likes the deal; he gets to spend two weeks with Abigail as his mistress in exchange for forgiving the debt but is unaware that she has never been with a man before.  After all, aren't all Whitechapel women the same?  As they spend more time with each other, both are unprepared for how deep their feelings towards each other becomes.  Will Abigail be able to let go of the past?  Will Michael be able to change his roguish lifestyle? Readers should be aware that there is some sexual content and explicit language but it is not constant throughout the book.  The typical cliches of romance novels are present, as is the lack of historical accuracy.

The Light Between Oceans

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The Light Between Oceans

M.L. Stedman

Scribner: 2012, 343 pages

Reviewed by Sheryl Walters

The Light Between Oceans follows the life of a lighthouse keeper, his relationship with his wife, the solitude of living remotely, and their desire for a child.  It is a feel good story, and I don't want to give it away at all, but I liked the writing style and would recommend it, although the premise was a bit far fetched.  I suppose it could happen, but it's doubtful.  I think it will make a great movie and look forward to its release later this year.

Brooklyn

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Brooklyn

Colm Tóibín

Scribner: 2009, 262 pages

Reviewed by Sheryl Walters

Eilis Lacey changes her life in the 1950s by leaving her family in a small town in Ireland for work in America.  This coming of age story is set in Brooklyn, New York, and allows the reader to follow Eilis's struggle to fit into society with other immigrants and Americans.  She struggles through being homesick, through her first love, and her friendships with other women.  She makes choices, sometimes that she comes to second guess, but she is strong and lives with her decisions.

The Quickening

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The Quickening

Michelle Hoover

Other Press: 2010, 215 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Enidina "Eddie" Current enjoys the simple life of a farmer in the Midwest during the early 1900's.  Her neighbor Mary Morrow, however, is unhappy with her rural life and yearns for more.  Although they have little in common and are often, in fact, at odds with one another, these two women come to rely on one another.  But when the Great Depression forces families everywhere to make difficult choices, Eddie and Mary's tenuous friendship unravels, and along with it their families and everything they hold dear.

The Hangman's Daughter

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The Hangman's Daughter

Oliver Pötzsch

Ullstein Taschenbuchvlg: 2008, 448 pages

English version published by AmazonCrossing in 2010

Reviewed by Jessie Park

The first in the Hangman's Daughter series, the historical fiction novel is set in Germany in 1659.  Jakob Kuisl comes from a long line of executioners; he himself is the current hangman in the town of Schongau.  When a young boy is fished out of the river, dying not from drowning but from a brutal attack, the people notice a crude tattoo on his shoulder.  The townspeople are convinced that it is a witch's mark and that the local midwife murdered him.  Jakob is not convinced and neither is the young physician Simon or Magdalena, Jakob's headstrong daughter.  As more children are found slaughtered with the same mark on their shoulders, the main characters race against the clock in order to save the midwife and save the town from the hysteria that will surly bring a bloodbath if it is not stopped.  Readers should be aware that there is violence, including scenes of torture but it is not excessively gory.

Girl Waits with Gun

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Girl Waits with Gun

Amy Stewart

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: 2015, 416 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

For the three Kopp sisters, Constance, Norma, and Fleurette, a trip to town has serious consequences after their buggy is struck by a vehicle driven by local silk factory owner Henry Kaufman.  When Constance attempts to collect $50 from Kaufman to pay for the damages, the situation quickly escalates.  Before long, the Kopp sister are receiving threats from Kaufman and his shady associates by "brick mail" (a brick thrown through their window) threatening to kidnap Fleurette.  In addition to providing the Kopp sisters with surveillance and pistols, the local sheriff also enlists Constance's help in bringing the men involved to justice, a task few women would have dared in 1914.

Orphan Train

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Orphan Train

Christina Baker Kline

William Morrow Paperbacks: 2013, 278 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

This book skips back and forth between the first-person narrative of Niamh and the third-person narrative of Molly.  Niamh is a young Irish immigrant who boards an orphan train to find a new family in the Midwest after she is orphaned in New York City around 1930.  Molly is a foster kid in modern day Maine.  In order to fulfill a community service requirement, she begins helping 91-year-old Vivian clean out her attic.  As Vivian and Molly spend more time together, they discover that they have more in common than either suspected.  

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The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

Leslye Walton

Candlewick Press: 2014, 301 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Ava Lavender was born with actual wings like a bird.  Unsure of why, she decides to research into her family and see, perhaps, where she got this unusual 'trait' from.  Half of the book goes into Ava's family on her mother's side and how they are all unlucky in love and the other half is spent on how teenage Ava ventures out into the real world, with some wonderful but also terrible results.  The book is considered magical realism and Walton does a great job making the hints of magic real enough to make sense, even if it could never occur in real life.  I would recommend this book to older teens as it does have some strong language, not consistently but sprinkled throughout, and there are scenes of descriptive violence.  There is also a part in the book that can be a trigger warning for those who have experienced sexual assault.

Go Set a Watchman

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Go Set a Watchman

Harper Lee

HarperCollins: 2015, 278 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Go Set a Watchman follows Jean Louise "Scout" Finch as she returns to Macomb, Alabama, for her annual two week vacation from her life in New York.  A lot has changed since her childhood.  Most significantly, her father's steadfast morality seems, in Jean Louise's opinion, to have begun to waver.  Atticus was her touchstone, the one thing in her life that she could always count on, and viewing him as a flawed man, like any other, shakes her to her very core. 

The Pericles Commission

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The Pericles Commission (The Athenian Mysteries #1)

Gary Corby

Minotaur Books: 2010, 352 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Nicolaos is the son of a sculptor in Ancient Greece, during the time when democracy is still young and in danger.  The statesman Ephialtes, the father of democracy in Athens, has been murdered and the city is in chaos.  Nico has been given a commission by the young politician Pericles to find out who killed Ephialtes.  Nico works with Diotima, a virgin priestess of Artemis (much to Nico's chagrin) and occasionally with his often annoying younger brother Socrates.  Nico wants to be a politician and sees this commission as his way in but will he even be able to survive the investigation?  This is the first of six mysteries in the series by Gary Corby.

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The Miniaturist

Jessie Burton

Ecco: 2014, 400 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Nella knows that she is in for a culture shock when she leaves her family's farm and arrives on the doorstep of her new husband's home in Amsterdam.  Living in the seventeenth century, 18 year old Nella's future was bleak when her father died, leaving her family penniless.  When a wealthy Amsterdam trader asks for her hand in marriage, she fantasizes about her glamorous new life in the city.  However, the reality proves quite different when she arrives at her new home and finds a husband who has virtually no interest in her, a sister-in-law who runs the household with an iron fist, and household servants who take too many liberties for Nella's taste.  While the prosperous trader seems like the model Amsterdamer, Nella soon discovers that each of the house's inhabitants has dangerous secrets that threaten them all.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

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The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce #1)

Alan Bradley

Delacorte Press: 2009, 374 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Set in the summer of 1950 in a small British town, our protagonist is the very precocious Flavia de Luce, an eleven year old chemistry fanatic.  Living with a reclusive father and two horrid older sisters (although to be honest, Flavia isn't exactly the example of a perfect little sister), life is quiet for Flavia.  Well, it was quiet until a dead bird with a postage stamp fixed to its beak is found on the doorstep, followed by Flavia literally tripping over a dying man in the garden.  It seems that Flavia has stumbled onto a mystery and it takes all her wit and skill to solve the crime that is somehow connected to her father's past.

The Blue Castle

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The Blue Castle

L.M. Montgomery

McClelland and Stewart: 1926, 218 pages

Reviewed by Sheryl Walters

A 29 year old girl, afraid of never being loved or married, has a total transformation due to a health diagnosis.  Valancy has lived with her overbearing mother her whole life, she decides to break out of her shell and do whatever she wants to make the most of her life.  Her story is nice and has a good twist at the end.  I enjoyed this book and would recommend it for light and happy reading.

A Star for Mrs. Blake

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A Star for Mrs. Blake

April Smith

Knopf: 2014, 352 pages

Read by Michelle Croy

A Star for Mrs. Blake is a novel set in the 1930's about five American women - Gold Star Mothers - who travel to France to visit the graves of their sons who fought in World War I: a pilgrimage that will change their lives in unforeseeable and indelible ways.  The women meet for the first time just before their journey begins: Katie, an Irish maid from Dorchester, Massachusetts; Minnie, wife of an immigrant Russian Jewish chicken farmer; Bobbie, a wealthy Boston socialite; Wilhelmina, a former tennis star in precarious mental health; and Cora Blake, a single mother and librarian from coastal Maine.  In Paris, Cora meets a journalist whose drug habit helps him hide from his own war-time fate: facial wounds so grievous he's forced to wear a metal mask.  This man will change Cora's life in wholly unexpected ways.

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