Category Archives: Book Reviews

Book Review: The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die

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The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die by Randall Platt is a gritty, unforgettable novel of triumph over tyranny during the bleak years of World War II and the German occupation of Poland.

Her street name is Arab and she is wise beyond her sixteen years. Abra Goldstein is the oldest daughter of Jewish parents. Arab is estranged from her father, but longs to see her little sister, Ruth. Blond and fair-skinned, Arab passes for German and can speak four languages, though she fears her German has a Polish accent.

Conditions are desperate in Poland. Jews are being rounded up and forced to leave their homes and stay in walled-up ghettos. Desperately needed items are scarce but Arab is expert at stealing and trading black market goods. She knows all the best routes to avoid the goose-stepping Nazis, even though some of those escape routes include going underground. Yes, the sewer. She’s beyond caring how she looks, or smells. Her goal is to get her little sister to safety, out of Poland.

Masquerading as a boy, Arab teams up with carefully selected Polish friends, and even a turncoat German, to plan an escape that has little chance of success. The fact that it’s in the dead of winter doesn’t help, nor does being on a “wanted” list make it easy to maneuver in bombed out Warsaw. And the escapees now include more than just her little sister, they involve numerous children, some of them sick.

The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die takes place from the summer of 1939 to the fall of 1941. It’s an engaging story to remember, to learn what resistance means, and to appreciate the price of freedom.

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Book Review: Beautiful Ruins

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In 1962, a local fisherman brings Dee Moray, a beautiful American actress, to Italy’s remote, rocky Porto Vergogna, a little village on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Kind, but naive Pasquale is flattered that while the actress waits for her boyfriend, she intends to stay at his Adequate View Hotel, an ancient building carved out of a stone hillside. Her unplanned visit changes the lives of the many characters in Beautiful Ruins, a novel by Jess Walter.

Beautiful Ruins interweaves incidents ranging from 1846, 1943, 1962, 2008, to present day, across continents from Italy to America to London. The novel doesn’t follow linear order, but loops back and forth as the story unfolds. You have to pay attention, not only to the time period, but for the various characters’ stories and how they relate to the whole.

Surprisingly, the 1962 period of the book includes famous actor Richard Burton, who is in Rome filming “Cleopatra.” Although the words mimic the real character, it is, after all, a novel.

As Beautiful Ruins toggles between time periods, the plot moves forward. The innovative story ranges from tragic moments to hilarious scenes. I thought the book smart and savvy. Being of linear nature, I kept trying to straighten out the time-line, but soon gave up and just sat back and enjoyed the story.

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Book Review: Lies That Bind Us

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Andrew Hart’s novel, Lies That Bind Us, is a blend of mystery, diverse personalities and Greek mythology. A group of friends, some of whom met on the Greek island of Crete five years earlier, decide to reunite, but this time stay at an old castle-like mansion.

The group is an interesting blend of people, dissimilar in interests and financial status. The story is told in first person by Jan, a single woman. When she first met the group on Crete, she had been with Marcus, but this time he was with another woman and Jan is the only single person in the group of seven.

The story begins with Jan shackled in a dungeon-like dark room. She’s confused, not knowing how she got there, where she is, or why she is being held prisoner.

The story toggles between Jan in the dungeon and her trip to meet her friends on Crete. Early on, we learn that Jan is a pathological liar. She often lies about small, inconsequential things, issues that often don’t matter, but when exposed make people leery of her.

As the group again explores the region, we learn more about the individuals. One of the mysteries is why they’re even there, together–they apparently have little in common. Greek mythology plays an important part in both Jan and Marcus’ interest in the area, but means little to anyone else. Two of the couples are quite wealthy. In fact, the couple that invited the others have paid for the mansion they’re staying in for the week.

The gripping story takes us around Crete with its wild natural beauty and thousands of years of culture. But as the group explores, we begin to see flaws in their personalities. Tempers flare and questions arise that have no apparent answer.

As the plot moves forward with Jan in the dungeon recalling the group exploring Crete, the mystery thickens until both factors come to a head.

I enjoyed Lies That Bind Us and the unraveling insight to human behavior, and also the vicarious trip to Greece.

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Book Review: Miss Royal’s Mules

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Miss Royal’s Mules by Irene Bennett Brown is a delightful novel that takes place in early 1900’s Kansas.

Without either family or funds, Jocelyn Royal also has no job prospects. Well, at least not a respectable job. She decides to sleep in the livery stable hayloft and in the morning ask the liveryman about a job mucking out stables. Almost asleep, she overhears a stranger ask the liveryman if he knows of a cowhand who could help drive a large herd of mules to Skiddy, Kansas. Jocelyn rushes down the ladder and steps into the lantern’s light to volunteer for the job. It takes a little fast-talking, but she finally convinces the man that she’s qualified for the job.

Jocelyn drives the two-mule-team wagon and cooks for the owner, Whit Hanley, and his other hired hand, Sam Birdwhistle. Besides being capable with stock, she’s a good cook and not afraid of hard work. Her dream to purchase her repossessed small farm is worth every hardship and discomfort.

One early morning she awakes to find her boss gone. The other hired hand claims the boss hopes to be back in a few days and that they are to continue the drive to Skiddy. Together the two manage the herd, but not without misadventures and misgivings.

Finally, they arrive at the boss’s run-down ranch, a place, the neighbors say, he inherited from his father but has never lived. The two manage to get the mules settled and fix up the place so it is barely habitable and …. wait. Where could the boss be? Did he have an accident or maybe even get killed? A lot is at stake here. The money due Jocelyn is critical not only to her survival, but also to bring her closer to getting her farm back.

Miss Royal’s Mules is a fun, engaging, warm-hearted story. I loved the true-life characters and the early-Kansas setting. The author’s research of mules, their temperament and loyalty, is evident. Highly recommended.

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Book Review: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

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Rachel Joyce’s debut novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, is spell-binding in its simplicity, yet profoundly moving.

Harold Fry receives a message from a former co-worker, Queenie Hennessy, that she is dying. He promptly sends a reply, but rather than posting the letter, at the last minute decides to walk the distance to say farewell in person. And distance it is—627 miles from the little English village of Kingsbridge north to a hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Harold isn’t equipped for such a strenuous walk. He’s wearing around-the-house yachting shoes and a light coat, shirt and tie. He soon regrets not having his cell phone, but after walking several miles, calls his wife, Maureen, collect. She’s irritated, but that’s nothing new. Almost everything Harold does irritates her, and has for many years.

As Harold’s journey progresses, he reminisces about his life, recalling sad and regrettable times. Along the way he meets people, many encouraging him on his journey.

The story occasionally switches to Maureen as she, too, looks back on their marriage of many years, acknowledging the joys, but mostly the sorrows and regrets.

I loved this endearing story of ordinary people. As Harold’s journey unfolds, I took my time to savor the descriptions of English countryside, and the genteel charm of a man who is so careful not to offend the people he encounters. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is a lovely novel of profound insight.

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The President is Missing

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Former President Bill Clinton and James Patterson collaborated on The President is Missing, a suspenseful novel about a threatened attack on the cyberspace infrastructure of the United States.

President Duncan is approached with the threat that America will soon be brought to its knees. A massive plot is in motion to disable the entire country by systematically deleting all electronic files, sending the United States into the “Dark Ages,” the name used for the crippling possibility of the attack.

Sure enough, a virus is discovered that threatens to delete all electronic files in record time. The President is taken to a predesignated safe place, but even there attack is imminent. It becomes obvious that among the President’s inner-circle of seven trusted people, one is a traitor. But who? Who can he confide in at the nations crucial hour? The saying, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” seems apropos.

Almost every facet of our lives now depends on computer technology. Such a massive shut-down would throw the military back to the 19th Century, while Russia, China, and North Korea remained in the 21st Century.

President Duncan enlists the help of some of the best brains in the country to find the code word to stop the virus. Unless they can find it, the country will plunge into the Dark Ages, making the 1930s Depression pale by comparison.

The President is Missing is a large volume (528 pages), but I found myself riveted from beginning to end. The novel is a fascinating read, and scary. The threat is believable, the writing impeccable, and the resolution plausible. Highly recommended.

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Book Review: Finding True Home

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Heidi M. Thomas’ Finding True Home, a novel that continues a fictionalized story of her mother’s life, is an intriguing sequel to Seeking the American Dream.

Anna Moser immigrated to Montana from Germany as a war bride. Although Anna and her husband Neil are very much in love, life has not been easy. Through harsh winters and searing summers, she’s content to work on their ranch alongside her husband, plus take care of their children and keep up the housework. It’s not the work that Anna finds a burden, it’s the lack of acceptance by her neighbors. She perceives she is still thought of as “that foreign woman,” and that her neighbors can’t forget, nor forgive, someone from Germany, a country America fought in World War II.

The Mosers have two children, Monica and Kevin. Family is everything and it’s tough for Anna to allow her children to find their own way. When their third child, Lizzie, is born, Anna finds her more challenging than the first two. As a baby Lizzie constantly cries, as a little girl she is unpredictable, and as a teen she’s constantly in trouble. Anna struggles to understand her children, especially Lizzie.

When tragedy strikes, Anna and Neil are devastated, but Anna blames herself, the old self-doubt haunts her. Later, when serious illness strikes, Anna is forced to look honestly at her life and the blessings she has been given.

Finding True Home is a heart-warming story, a story parents will recognize in their own lives and in their own struggles raising a family. As this novel so aptly describes, love endures, love is triumphant.

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Book Review: Lily and the Octopus

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Ted, the narrator, has a special friend, Lily, who is both very short and very long. Lily is a dachshund.

Ted is distraught when he discovers a growth on Lily’s head, a growth he likens to an octopus. As the story develops, we learn a lot about forty-two year-old Ted and why his relationship with Lily is so important to him. As a dog-lover, I enjoyed many of the interactions between Ted and Lily. I talk to my dog all the time. In Lily and the Octopus, Lily answers, which for me strained the believability. Even the evil octopus talks.

Although possibility or probability for me was dampened, I thought the book delightful in many respects. I put aside my dislike of fantasy and simply enjoyed the touching and whimsical story. Anyone who loves dogs would find kinship with Ted and his dog.

Lily and the Octopus is an emotional tribute to the love between a pet and its human. People usually outlive their dogs and author Steven Rowley does a good job of describing the wrenching experience of losing a beloved pet.

I found this quote from the book memorable: “A heart is judged not by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.” Despite the fantasy, there is much to be admired about this novel. It’s more than charming; it is a profound message about love and acceptance.

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Book Review: The Kitchen House

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In her debut novel, The Kitchen House, author Kathleen Grissom has given us a glimpse of life on a Virginia tobacco plantation in the late 1700s.

When a little red-haired white girl is brought to Tall Oaks, she doesn’t know her own name, nor can she remember anything of her past. Captain Pyke “gives” the child to Belle, a slave, as help in the kitchen house, a building quite removed from the main house. The girl is sickly and constantly in the state of tears. Before Captain Pyke, the master of Tall Oaks and also a ship’s captain, goes back to sea, he casually mentions that the girl’s parents and brother died at sea while on their way to America from Ireland. The traumatized girl learns her name is Lavinia McCarten and that she is seven years old. The Captain explains that he didn’t know what else to do with the girl; he couldn’t just leave her on the dock. By default, she is his property and he keeps her as an indentured servant.

As years pass, Lavinia becomes a part of the household, learns to cook, clean and to serve food. She’s loved by her black family, plays with other slave children and, although she recognizes that she looks different, is content.

The Captain’s wife, Miss Martha, mostly stays in her room in the large, grand mansion, especially when the Captain is at sea. Although she has two living children, she has had several miscarriages, leaving her depressed and dependent upon strong doses of laudanum. When Miss Martha sees Lavinia, she mistakes her for her long deceased little sister, and insists that the girl spend time with her in the “big house.”

As this remarkable story develops, I found myself in a different world, a world of exacting class distinctions and values. The majority of people had no rights, no say in where or how they lived, down to the tiniest detail. Yet, those in bondage showed love and fierce loyalty toward family.

The Kitchen House is a heartbreaking yet hopeful story of class, race, and dignity. I highly recommend it.

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Book Review: West

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West, a novel by Carys Davies, is a stark reminder of how difficult American life was in the early 1800s, even in relatively settled places like Pennsylvania. To venture beyond, following the footsteps of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was an invitation to potential disaster.

When mule breeder Cy Bellman, a widower with a young daughter, reads in the newspaper about huge ancient bones being found in Kentucky, his curiosity is stirred. He must see these beasts for himself. He convinces his taciturn sister to live on his farm and oversee his mule operation and take care of his daughter, Bess. He assures her that their neighbor, Elmer Jackson, will help when needed. Cy leaves his Pennsylvania home, promising to return in two years, and rides toward unknown western wilderness.

Bess, approaching womanhood, misses her father terribly and anxiously awaits his promised letters. She’s a lonely girl with few possessions or joys in her life.

Along the way, Cy hires a young Shawnee boy to accompany him. Their only communication is hand signals as neither speaks the other’s language. The two travel into harsh unknown land.

Davies’ West offers stark yet vivid descriptions, bringing life to the more settled east and to the wildness of the west.

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