I’ve only got time to list the books I’ve read over the past two weeks and some quick summaries, as I’ve got a hefty book to start for our book club meeting next Saturday, which I’m hoping I’ll have time to finish.
The first book I want to tell you about is the latest historical novel by Ariel Lawhon, Code Name Hélène, which was amazing. This novel is based on the wartime experiences of Nancy Wake, a young Australian woman who became a member of the British Special Operations Executives, and in February 1944, was parachuted into the heart of the Nazi-occupied France and the Resistance, whose task it was to train these Maquis and provide them with arms and supplies to fight against a German invasion. Nancy began this journey when, nearly a decade earlier, she bluffed her way into a reporting job with Hearst newspapers while living in Paris. She discovered the atrocities of the Nazi presence in Vienna and couldn’t let go of the feeling that she must do something to set things right and make these horrors end, even after she met wealthy businessman and renowned playboy Henri Fiocca and fell in love. This novel, told in two strands (as is usually this author’s chosen storytelling method), gives us the present and the past, two storylines that don’t run parallel, but come closer and closer together until they meet as we reach the conclusion of the book. But Lawhon doesn’t stop at the conclusion - she also provides copious historical notes and explains how this story came to be inspired and finally written. While the timeline was sometimes a bit confusing to follow, and while it was so incredibly detailed that it was a bit overlong, it was still a fantastic read and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in stories about strong women in history. My Friends Book Club discussed this last week and we all thought it was amazing that this was actually based on a real person’s experiences during the war.
The book I just finished reading this morning is the latest mystery by British author Fiona Barton, Talking to Strangers. I’ve always enjoyed Barton’s books, and this is a second in what may be a new series featuring DI Elise King (the first is Local Gone Missing, which I have upstairs on my shelf but haven’t yet read). As in her previous series, this story is told from mainly two points of view, that of DI Elise King and also of Kiki Nunn, a reporter with the local newspaper. When the body of Karen Simmons, a local hairdresser, is found dead in the woods, DI King is called to investigate. But with no leads and not much to go on, she struggles to find a way forward with the case. Fortunately local reporter Kiki Nunn is also “on the case”, and is following leads that take her into the depths, and dangers, of online dating. Karen’s murder also stirs up memories for Annie Curtis, a woman who never got over the murder of her son Archie in the same woods sixteen years earlier. Could these two cases be connected, and if so, how? And are there other dangers that go along with talking to strangers besides murder? Are we all vulnerable? And if so, how do we stay safe? Although this was a murder mystery and Barton successfully weaves together the two cases, past and present, what struck me about this book was that it was really about our vulnerabilities, and how (some) men prey on unsuspecting women with no remorse. It was pretty good, but not as good as er earlier books, like The Widow and The Suspect. still, it was a quick read, a page-turner that kept me (sort of) guessing until the final twist.
That's all for today. Stay warm and keep reading! Bye for now... Julie
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