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The Social Graces by Renée Rosen

“A peek behind the curtain at one of the most remarkable feuds in history: Mrs. Vanderbilt and Mrs. Astor’s notorious battle for control of New York society during the Gilded Age.”

Renee Rosen is the bestselling author of historical fiction. Her novels include Park Avenue Summer, Windy City Blues, White Collar Girl, What the Lady Wants and Dollface as well as the young adult novel, Every Crooked Pot. Her new novel, The Social Graces, a story about Mrs. Astor and Mrs. Vanderbilt vying for control of New York society during the Gilded Age, will be out April 20, 2021 from Penguin Random House/Berkley).

Renee is a native of Akron, Ohio and a graduate of The American University in Washington DC. She now lives in Chicago where she is at work on a new novel.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Nouveau riche vs. Knickerbockers

The Social Graces is a season ticket to an unfolding drama of gilded proportions! Alva Smith from Mobile, Alabama, married railroad millionaire, William K. Vanderbilt, joining the nouveaux riche, new money. Alva Vanderbilt, a new bride in 1875, naively believed her entrance into New York City society was guaranteed.

Caroline Webster Schermerhorn wed William Backhouse Astor, Jr., in 1854. His family wealth from early fur trade and more recently real estate investments, combined with Caroline’s inherited wealth made them Knickerbockers, “old money.” Caroline was now Reigning Queen of Society in 1876.

These two ladies share the lead in this enthralling saga played out in ballrooms, opera houses, and even on the streets of New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. Renee Rosen weaves beautiful gold threads through vividly painted tableaus of dining rooms to seat one hundred, balls attended by society’s “adored” in lavish costumes costing thousands, and homes designed and built with a competitive spirit filled with marble, gilding, and priceless antiques; but mostly pride and boasting.

Between weddings, funerals (followed by two years of mourning) and divorces readers are treated to the ‘social graces’ explained by “Society’s” voice in alternating chapters. This is especially helpful insight into the minds of women and the accepted or expected behaviors of New York’s high society and the Seasons.

As the Gilded Age is coming to a close, Vanderbilt vs. Astor newspaper headlines have moved from the “battle of the ballrooms” to women’s rights; not just those in high society, but for ALL women. The shiny glow cast by the chandeliers, gilded mirrors and Paris gowns dripping with jewels will peak readers’ curiosity and interest in visiting New York’s Fifth Avenue and the “cottages” of Newport. Don those white gloves, set out the fine china and indulge in The Social Graces by Renee Rosen.

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Under the Southern Sky by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Release date: April 20, 2021

Kristy is a proud member of the Tall Poppy Writers, serves on the board of Beaufort Historical Association, and is a member of the University of North Carolina’s Women’s Leadership Council. She is a frequent speaker at fundraisers, book conferences and private events. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and seven-year-old son where she is working on her next novel.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Childhood friendships, family traditions, and small-town Southern ways will capture readers’ hearts as Kristy Woodson Harvey’s lovable characters stroll onto the docks and porches of Cape Carolina. Kristy Woodson Harvey has a way of creating characters for readers to connect with through heartbreaking grief, career ending sadness, dissolving marriage embarrassment and the fear of revealing long kept family secrets. Going back to the start is the only way to ‘begin again.’

Finding joy is a quest for everyone. This is true for Amelia Paxton and Parker Thaysden, who grew up living next door to each other. Their mothers had dreamed and schemed that one day these two would marry, no matter the age difference. Readers will wonder about Greer, Parker’s first wife. She’s a business success, an author, beautiful and perfect in every way, so rather hard to like. Greer’s imperfect self comes to the surface in her daily journals along with her own secret request. Amelia and Parker’s parents are accurately portrayed as gracious Southern ladies and gentlemen, along with their life-long feelings for neighbors and friends, “friends like family.”

The summery charm of Cape Carolina soars like a kite on the beach in the small-town elections, fishing tournaments and fish fries, along with the friendly head-to-head gossip at the elite social parties. Y’all, these festive Southern gatherings are captured “spot on” by KWH, as only a true Southern gal could do.

Secrets of each generation are kept close to the heart as this family saga snuggles readers into a “big ol’” Southern hug. Revelations and rewards come to those who wait, especially if quietly sitting on a dock Under the Southern Sky.

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The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray

An epic saga from New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray based on the true story of an extraordinary castle in the heart of France and the remarkable women bound by its legacy.

STEPHANIE DRAY is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal & USA Today bestselling author of historical women’s fiction. Her award-winning work has been translated into eight languages and tops lists for the most anticipated reads of the year. She lives with her husband, cats, and history books.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

**Château de Chavania**c http://www.chateau-lafayette.com/The-manor-of-both-worlds.html

Three bold women from three epic times in history lived behind the walls of Château de Chavaniac deep in the heart of France.

Stephanie Dray opens the shutters of the Marquis de Lafayette’s birthplace early in 1774, to reveal the devoted Adrienne, Lafayette’s wife and her “side by side” support of Lafayette in the American War for Independence and the resulting French Revolution. From ballrooms to the guillotine and prison cells, readers will be impressed by Adrienne’s political and economic savvy along with her enduring steadfast love for her husband and children. Stephanie Dray’s prior research and depiction of the blue-blooded Sophie de Grouchy in Ribbons of Scarlet shines through with a splendid light on the French Revolution.

The legacy of Chateau de Chavaniac lives on in 1914, as the New York socialite, Beatrice Chanler, searches for attention and love from her husband while struggling to lend her own kind of support to the coming war. William Astor Chanler-millionaire, soldier, adventurer, falls in love with Beatrice, who starting from nothing had made a life for herself on the stage. Now she’s playing her greatest role; that of an Astor. Within her social circles Beatrice wisely appeals to the emotions of love, hate and patriotism to create The Lafayette Fund. Thus begins her fund-raising efforts and path to becoming much more than a New York socialite. Stephanie Dray is an excellent travel guide as Beatrice crosses oceans and political lines in her life-long endeavors; finally making a connection with Lafayette’s birthplace.

Marthe Simone is the third thread in the women of Château de Chavaniac. She has her own mysterious background to unravel as she grows up & matures into a teacher and artist behind the stone walls of the chateau. Marthe struggles with her identity as a single woman, her ambition to see beyond the walls and how to play her part from behind the walls of Chavaniac in 1940 as World War II is enveloping France.

In The Women of Chateau Lafayette Stephanie Dray weaves three major wars with three women and their contributions along with their personal beliefs and aspirations, devotion to families and the generations that came before. The Women of Chateau Lafayette is a truly inspiring saga. Through Adrienne, the American War for Independence and its prominent patriots are woven right into the French Revolution and the aftermath. This is a prime example of historical fiction at its finest, as the lives of Beatrice and Marthe unfold through the ballrooms and battle fields of World War I and World War II. A heart wrenching story of three women whose courage and devotion is displayed in vibrant detail through accomplishments and bravery.

https://www.stephaniedray.com/lafayette-we-are-here/

On July 4, 1917, General Pershing and his staff visited Lafayette’s tomb at Picpus Cemetery in Paris.

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Publication Day! Sunflower Sisters by Martha Hall Kelly

“Martha Hall Kelly’s million-copy bestseller Lilac Girls introduced readers to Caroline Ferriday. Now, in Sunflower Sisters, Kelly tells the story of Ferriday’s ancestor Georgeanna Woolsey, a Union nurse during the Civil War.” Google Books

Martha grew up in Massachusetts and now splits her time between Connecticut and New York City. She worked as an advertising copywriter for many years and raised three splendid children, while researching and writing Lilac Girls, her first novel. She has loved writing the other two books about Caroline’s family, Lost Roses, which features Caroline’s mother during WWI and Sunflower Sisters, a Civil War novel due out March 30, 2021. You’ll find more info about the incredible, true stories behind both books at her website: http://www.marthahallkelly.com and backstory about all three novels on her ever-changing Pinterest page.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Sunflower Sisters is the long-awaited conclusion to the Woolsey family saga featured in Martha Hall Kelly’s Lilac Girls and Lost Roses. The Civil War and the issue of slavery in the North and South becomes the backdrop for this final and epic drama.

Sunflower Sisters unfolds from three points of view. Representing the Woolsey family is Georgy, Caroline Ferriday’s great-aunt; a patriotic Union nurse, determined to “rid the country of the scourge of slavery.” Georgy’s father, part of the Underground Railroad, died leaving 7 children for Mother Woolsey to raise. Georgy’s chapters are woven with details of the lives of each of the six girls and son Charley. Martha Hall Kelly’s impeccable research using family letters gives realistic insight into daily activities and feelings of family members. A Woolsey family tree helps readers keep the siblings in order as the descriptions are read with “eyes peeking through fingers” of battles raging between armies, surgeries and diseases fought in hospitals.

Juxta positioned to the Woolsey family is Jemma, an enslaved girl on the tobacco growing Peeler Plantation, in the border state of Maryland. Jemma’s twin sister, Patience, works at neighboring Ambrosia, an indigo plantation. Readers will be breathless reading of the sisters’ escape plans and routes through the swamps, involving the monster overseer, LeBaron. Jemma’s skills came from her owner, brave Aunt Tandy Rose, who taught her manners, and how to read and write. Housemaid Sally Smith, the “root doctor,” shared her wealth of knowledge regarding herbs, healing plants, vegetables, and especially making jelly! The trials and tribulations of Jemma are difficult to read, but her tenacity and courage, along with her creativity and wit help her survive the brutalities and family traumas. Readers are blessed to know Jemma learns to love and be loved.

The third voice is that of Anne-May Wilson Watson, age 25, the Peeler Plantation mistress. Anne-May is a snuff addicted, self-centered, “mean as a witch” woman that readers will immediately move to the “character to hate” pile! MHK gives a vicious, spiteful, nature to this woman who deserves all she gets. Enough said about this awful woman. One more word: greedy.

From the opening scene of a slave auction in 1859, Charleston, South Carolina through battles at Richmond, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Vicksburg, Chickamauga and Gettysburg-readers will experience the emotional toll of the Civil War. Between 1859-1864 there will be balls and weddings, hangings and battles, fairs and funerals. But in the end, there are reunions to soothe the soul and mend broken hearts. The Sunflower symbolism is a hidden secret for readers of Sunflower Sisters. 5 stars. GR

**Pre-order here!**
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/557019/sunflower-sisters-by-martha-hall-kelly/

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The Kew Gardens Girls by Posy Lovell

A heart-warming novel inspired by real life events, about the brave women during WWI who worked in the historic grounds of London’s Kew Gardens.

Posy Lovell is a pseudonym for British author and journalist Kerry Barrett. Born in Edinburgh, she moved to London as a child with her family. She has a passion for uncovering the role of women in the past. She lives in London with her family and is the author of The Kew Gardens Girls.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul.” Alfred Austin

The Kew Gardens Girls combines the “glory of gardening” with the glory of love, friendship and forgiveness. Posy Lovell’s three main characters who answer the ad for gardeners at London’s Kew Gardens in June,1915, are each hiding from loss and heartache. Louisa, at 35, escaping an abusive husband in Kent, flees to London in order to establish anonymity. Ivy, sixteen, compensating for her shameful conduct as a rebellious teenager, wants to be near Jim, assistant to the supervisor at Kew. First to be hired by supervisor Mac is sweet natured, gentle Bernie who is suffering personal humiliation from a past relationship and his pacifist beliefs. He knows nothing about gardening, but he IS a man. Mac must overcome reservations about women working at Kew Gardens, along with personal disappointment.

Readers will learn about World War I, the Conscription Act, Suffragettes, and the effects these each had on the early workings of London’s Kew Gardens. Posy Lovell’s characters are developed through reflection and slowly learn to share thoughts and feelings with each other, finally revealing personal truths and growing bonds of friendship. Examples of forgiveness, mentoring, trust, handling of grief through generosity and genuine care for others are character traits lovingly cultivated in The Kew Garden Girls. A bonus for poets and gardeners is the language of flowers Ivy weaves through the tasks of weeding and planting the ‘miles” of herbaceous flower beds. A bouquet of daisies, roses, and fern fronds from the Grateful Reader. (Language of flowers code in link below.)

What does each flower symbolize? Which flowers represent love, hope, healing, loss, and good luck? See the Almanac’s complete list of Flower Meanings and Plant Symbolism. Whether you are picking out a flower bouquet for a wedding, choosing a single flower for a loved one, or planting a garden, discover the secret language of flowers! This site has a fabulous chart! https://www.almanac.com/flower-meanings-language-flowers

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Under the Light of the Italian Moon by Jennifer Anton

**Publishing March 8, 2021-**
**International Women’s Day**

Jennifer Anton was born in Joliet, Illinois, USA and now lives between London and Lake Como, Italy. A proud advocate for women’s rights and equality, she hopes to rescue women’s stories from history, starting with her Italian family. Jennifer’s beautiful website: https://boldwomanwriting.com/

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Under the Light of the Italian Moon is inspired by the true story of the strong women in Jennifer Anton’s Italian family. Listening first to the videos of Jennifer telling the background story of how this novel came to be, the amazing women that inspired it, and the valuable research and coincidences in Italy; will add a tremendous level of understanding as the saga unfolds. https://www.instagram.com/boldwomanwriting/channel/?hl=en

Adelasia Argenta is the heartbeat of her family in Fonzaso, Italy, where Mount Avena and Dolomiti “split Italy from Austria.” Adelasia, known as The Captain, feared for her sternness, is the only trained midwife and has delivered all of the children known to her ten-year-old daughter, Nina. It’s 1914 and Nina’s perspective on young men leaving for America is capped not only by her snowy view of the Alps, but by the wonderment of what lies beyond her small village. As older schoolmate, Pietro Pante, descends into the darkness of the mines in Pennsylvania, Nina is traveling the dark backroads at all hours of the day and night to assist her mother in birthing the babies of Fonzaso. Nina and her mother are dutifully and busily welcoming babies into the world, rejoicing or comforting and consoling families and each other, as Fascism is on the rise and world war is looming.

Nina’s mettle is tested from the early years of 1922 when Mussolini becomes the ruler of Italy, through 1939’s “Gold for the Fatherland” in Fonzaso, until World War ll ends in liberation and celebration on the square. Under the Light of the Italian Moon is a story of love, endurance and unknown strength-all needed for survival. Jennifer Anton was inspired to honor the strength within all women by the true story of her great-grandmother and grandmother.

Nina’s loyalty and patience is beyond admirable; it’s almost unbelievable-except it’s true. Five glittering stars for Jennifer Anton’s Under the Light of the Italian Moon. *****Gr

“The strength of the world is in the women. The power of the world is within its women. Yet it is the women we erase. Some women are unwilling to be forgotten or to forget. Particularly if they are Italian.” Jennifer Anton

**Views of Fonzaso and the surrounding Alps**

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Under the Light of the Italian Moon by Jennifer Anton

Jennifer Anton is an American/Italian dual citizen born in Joliet, Illinois and now lives between London and Lake Como, Italy. A proud advocate for women’s rights and equality, she hopes to rescue women’s stories from history, starting with her Italian family.

A promise keeps them apart until WW2 threatens to destroy their love forever

A beautiful trailer for the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vjee6D7b8Y

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Under the Light of the Italian Moon is inspired by the true story of the strong women in Jennifer Anton’s Italian family. Listening first to the videos of Jennifer telling the background story of how this novel came to be, the amazing women that inspired it, and the valuable research and coincidences in Italy; will add a tremendous level of understanding as the saga unfolds. https://www.instagram.com/boldwomanwriting/channel/?hl=en

Nina’s mettle is tested from the early years of 1922 when Mussolini becomes the ruler of Italy, through 1939’s “Gold for the Fatherland” in Fonzaso, until WWll ends in liberation and celebration on the square. Under the Light of the Italian Moon is a story of love, endurance and unknown strength-all needed for survival. Jennifer Anton was inspired to honor the strength within all women by the true story of her great-grandmother and grandmother. Nina’s loyalty and patience are beyond admirable; it’s almost unbelievable-except it’s true. Five glittering stars for Jennifer Anton’s Under the Light of the Italian Moon. *****Gr

“The strength of the world is in the women. The power of the world is within its women. Yet it is the women we erase. Some women are unwilling to be forgotten or to forget. Particularly if they are Italian.” Jennifer Anton

Views of Fonzaso, Italy

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Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig

“A group of young women from Smith College risk their lives in France at the height of World War I in this sweeping novel based on a true story—a skillful blend of Call the Midwife and The Alice Network—from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig.“

Watch a brief video of author Lauren Willig: Showing the ruined chateau at Grécourt, France, the historic gates of Smith College, pictures of the Smith College Relief Unit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzNAq7cwkn4&feature=youtu.be

Lauren Willig is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. Her works include The Other Daughter, The English Wife, The Forgotten Room (co-written with Karen White and Beatriz Williams), and the RITA Award winning Pink Carnation series. An alumna of Yale University, she has a graduate degree in history from Harvard and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Check out this FABULOUS READER’S GUIDE! It includes discussion questions, maps and diagrams drawn by the young women, recipes, and reading resources.

https://laurenwillig.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Band-of-Sisters-Book-Club-Kit.pdf.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Overcoming personal fears and differences to bring “hope to the hopeless” – This is the goal of eighteen young American women from Smith College; the “Band of Sisters,” who are crossing the Atlantic in August of 1917. The Smith graduates are heading to Grécourt, France; a village that has been left in ruins by German bombings. Lauren Willig opens each chapter with excerpts from the girls’ letters home to husbands, parents or friends. These are based on actual correspondence from her impeccable, extensive research which is evident on every page.

The Smith graduates are making the crossing carrying immature grudges built while in college along with idealistic expectations that their charitable settlement work would prepare them for war. The eighteen characters that begin the crossing are whittled to much fewer so that readers may focus on background and personal struggles; gathering emotions of angst to adoration as personalities and skill sets emerge.

When they finally arrive in Grécourt, September of 1917, the young women and their director find themselves ministering to approximately 2000 villagers -mothers, children and the elderly; scattered for many miles around Grécourt. Three of the young women are closely tied by bonds of friendship and family. Emmie Van Alden- “plain as shoe leather,” always trying to please her mother, has wonderful people skills with children and adults, but has committed “sins of omission” involving best friend Kate. Kate Moran- has always felt inadequate and not “one of the girls,” due to her background, is also an extremely bored teacher at a girl’s school who can drive and speak French! Dr. Julia Pruyn-Emmie’s cousin, a classic beauty, harboring her own secrets, is one of the two medical “wonders” in the unwieldy group. Which one of these three will discover the secret to winning over the villagers?

The girls’ skills include carpentry, sewing, mechanics, cooking, medicine, teaching children to “play again;” along with hosting American engineers and Canadian foresters who joined in at Grécourt dinners, movies and dances. Do not be fooled by these activities! Between the love interests, Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations prepared from rations, these courageous women were performing acts of daring and bravery on a daily basis-no matter how close to the front lines, bombings and fighting or how much rain or snow, heat or mud.

The young women arrived in France as a disjointed gang: some haughty or humble, some beauties or bumbling, some sarcastic or skillful. Readers will not forget these charming young women who Lauren Willig has skillfully molded into a “Band of Sisters.” Five “Croix de guerre!”

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The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan

Jennifer grew up in the British countryside with a penchant for climbing trees and a wonderful grandmother who told her hilarious stories about the Second World War.

As an adult, she became a nonfiction book editor, first editing politics and economics at The Economist Books, and then moving on to the BBC, DK, and other publishers, editing books on health, cooking, wine, and history.

All this time, though, she harbored a longing to share her grandmother’s stories about the war, and so she embarked on an MA in fiction at Johns Hopkins University. The novel that she wrote while there–The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir–became a National Bestseller.

Jennifer’s second novel, The Spies of Shilling Lane, is based on the story of a twinkly-eyed old lady she interviewed about the war. The lady had worked for the British spy agency, MI5, defying her mother who instructed her to find a wealthy husband.

Please visit Jennifer’s website for more information and free giveaways.
www.JenniferRyanAuthor.com

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“The BBC radio program The Kitchen Front was a daily show established in 1940 to share wartime recipes and cooking tips with housewives and cooks.” Jennifer Ryan’s The Kitchen Front serves up a delicious helping of comfort food between the covers of her latest novel. A peek into the kitchens of villagers in Fenley Village, England, as the cooks and housewives manage to feed their families on weekly rations is a welcome relief from the “battle front”.

When the “chaps in charge” at the BBC decide The Kitchen Front radio show needs a woman’s voice or a co-presenter, a local contest is devised to find a voice to connect with the listeners and raise ratings. Jennifer Ryan lovingly brings readers into the lives of the four unlikely contestants: #1-Mrs. Audrey Landon-recent widower, mother to her three sons, and fabulous cook according to her late artist husband; #2 Lady Gwendoline Strickland-married to a “pompous toad,” lives at Fenley Village Hall with her own kitchen staff; deals with her husband and childhood baggage. #3-Mrs. Quince, aging famous cook & baker throughout the county and her shy, stuttering assistant Miss Nell Brown-staff in Fenley Hall kitchen! #4-Zelda Dupont- trained at the Cordon-Bleu, recently relocated to Fenley Village after a stint at London’s prestigious Dartington Hotel, now involuntarily, the head chef at the Fenley Pie Factory canteen. An impressive line-up.

Between the “bully beef,” Spam, and hints on sugar replacements readers become sous chefs in each contestant’s kitchen as the monthly contest rounds begin. Ryan’s division of the novel into Starters, Main Course, & Desserts keeps the “contest audience” apprised of exciting or bewildering behind the scenes events as life in Fenley Village unfolds. The contestants’ presentations with Ambrose Hart’s tasting comments, judging and scoring adds a delectable spice to the novel. Taking advantage of opportunities and making the best of the pitfalls in everyday life with rationing in 1942 are crucial ingredients in “today’s special” wartime treat. Cooking Tip: a “dash” of sibling rivalry, abuse & childhood neglect is laced into The Kitchen Front.

Chef’s Note: From an extensive “reading menu”: This order comes with sides of vegetable gardening, bee keeping & berry picking; topped off with an after-dinner guide to grieving, forgiving and new beginnings!

The Kitchen Front scores a 10/10 in the “Must Read” Category.

WWII Food Rationing Begins

After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States instituted rationing. Sugar was the first food item to be rationed (starting in May 1942), but coffee, processed and canned foods, meat, cheese, and butter, oils, and fats were also rationed at various times between 1942 and 1945.

To buy rationed food items, families needed to present their grocer with the correct stamps from their government-issued rationing books—in addition to paying the cost of the product. But having enough rationing stamps didn’t guarantee they would be able to purchase an item, since local and national shortages limited availability of certain foods. More information here: https://blog.newspapers.com/recipes-and-rationing/

Food rationing was such a part of American life during World War II that it’s easy to find wartime recipes and tips in newspapers from that period.

This roll recipe from 1942, for example, calls attention to their reduced amount of sugar.

Sun, May 31, 1942 – Page 14 · The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio) · Newspapers.com

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The Invisible Woman by Erika Robuck

Forthcoming novel:
THE INVISIBLE WOMAN
February 9, 2021

“An alpha female heroine, along with an engaging plot loaded with realism, makes for a captivating historical thriller. Even better, it’s all drawn from the life of a real American hero.”
~Steve Berry, NY Times and #1 International Bestselling Author

http://www.erikarobuck.com/

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Invisible Woman is based on the unforgettable, true story of famous World War ll spy Virginia Hall; also known as The Limping Lady, Diane, and Artemis. Virginia was an American, educated in Europe and had always dreamed of becoming a diplomat. After several rejections due to her disability, Virginia was noticed by Vera Atkins, a high-ranking intelligence officer with the British Special Operations Executive, or SOE. The SOE formed in 1940, aided Resistance groups, participated in espionage and sabotaged freight lines; anything to slow down the advance of the Nazis. The SOE joined forces with the American Office of Strategic Services, or OSS, established later in 1942. Their mission, reportedly issued by Winston Churchill, was to “set Europe ablaze.”

Erika Robuck’s prologue reveals Virginia’s American debutante upbringing and background, before fast forwarding, plunging readers into her return mission to France late in March 1944. Virginia, in her grey wig and old lady disguise and a price on her head, is only projected to survive for six weeks on this return mission. Each account of a “drop” or wireless transmission is filled with nervousness and anticipation of success or doom, exhilaration or death. The many villagers that participate in the Resistance, offering protection by way of a barn or shed in the woods, become a part of the family; another member to worry and pray and fret over! Readers are guaranteed a ticket and papers to “travel” the secret underground and listen for key messages in radio broadcasts, as Virginia and her teams navigate France in the attempt to defeat the Nazis.

Erika Robuck’s The Invisible Woman shines a well-earned glaring light on Virginia Hall and the brave, resourceful men and women involved in the Resistance. The Author’s Note is equally enthralling and compelling as the timelines and fates of characters are revealed.

Five “Very Visible, Very Important Stars!”

Readers will benefit from viewing the 2019 movie, A Call to Spy, which covers Virginia’s story up to the opening pages of The Invisible Woman. The character portrayals and scenery will bring the novel to life. A link to the trailer is added below. The nonfiction bestseller, A Woman of No Importance, by Sonia Purnell is also highly recommended.

A never-before-told story of Virginia Hall, the American spy who changed the course of World War II, from the author of Clementine.

In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: “She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her.”

The target in their sights was Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who talked her way into Special Operations Executive, the spy organization dubbed Winston Churchill’s “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” She became the first Allied woman deployed behind enemy lines and–despite her prosthetic leg–helped to light the flame of the French Resistance, revolutionizing secret warfare as we know it.

Virginia established vast spy networks throughout France, called weapons and explosives down from the skies, and became a linchpin for the Resistance. Even as her face covered wanted posters and a bounty was placed on her head, Virginia refused order after order to evacuate. She finally escaped through a death-defying hike over the Pyrenees into Spain, her cover blown. But she plunged back in, adamant that she had more lives to save, and led a victorious guerilla campaign, liberating swathes of France from the Nazis after D-Day.

Based on new and extensive research, Sonia Purnell has for the first time uncovered the full secret life of Virginia Hall–an astounding and inspiring story of heroism, spycraft, resistance, and personal triumph over shocking adversity. A Woman of No Importance is the breathtaking story of how one woman’s fierce persistence helped win the war.

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The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Year by *Library Journal* and *Goodreads*

Janet Skeslien Charles is the award-winning author of Moonlight in Odessa and The Paris Library. Her shorter work has appeared in revues such as Slice and Montana Noir. She learned about the history of the American Library in Paris while working there as the programs manager. She divides her time between Montana and Paris.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Paris, books and a library – C’est très magnifique! Readers will fall into the lives of the mysterious, foreigner Odile Gustafson and her inquisitive next-door neighbor, twelve-year old Lily.

Author Janet Skeslien Charles weaves Odile’s experiences at the American Library in Paris during World War ll, with Lily’s uncommon and insatiable desire to know about all things French. Lily has requested her class book report on Ivanhoe be changed to a report on France-so she has an excuse to interview Odile and find out how in the world she landed in Froid, Montana from Paris! When her insistent knock goes unanswered, Lily boldly steps right into Odile’s living room, snooping around the record collection and the extensive library. Odile oddly appears from the bedroom and surprisingly agrees to the interview! Thus, Odile enters Lily’s life, and they are both changed forever.

Odile had been obsessed with books and libraries since her Aunt Caro introduced her to the Dewey Decimal System and the card catalog at the age of nine: “Inside you’ll find the secrets of the universe.” She begins the interview by telling Lily the completely absorbing tale of her time at the American Library in Paris and how the brave, dedicated staff determined, against ALL odds, that the library would remain open during the German occupation of France. Readers will come to respect the directress, Miss Reeder; adore Boris, the Russian head librarian famous for his bibliotherapy; and wonder about trustee and real-life writer, Countess Clara de Chambrun. The author’s strong character development of endearing staff involved with the daily operations, many subscribers, “habituès”, and volunteers such as Margaret, add several more chilling chapters to Odile’s accounting of her years in war torn Paris. The relationship between Odile’s parents, her twin, Remy, and their involvement in war activities adds complexity to her unlikely arrival in the United States. How DID Odile get to Froid, Montana? That is a “story within a story!”

When asked by a reporter, “Why were books being sent to soldiers to improve morale? Why not wine? Odile answered, “because no other thing possesses that mystical faculty to make people see with other people’s eyes. The Library is a bridge of books between cultures.”

When asked by Lily, “The best thing about Paris? Odile answered, “It’s a city of readers.” Join Odile and Lily in this “view of Paris” through the heart and lens of a librarian in The Paris Library.

American Library in Paris https://americanlibraryinparis.org/history/

The following is an excerpt from the history of the library. The highlighted names are characters in the novel:

“With the coming of World War II, the occupation of France by the Nazi regime, and the deepening threats to French Jews, Library director Dorothy Reeder and her staff and volunteers provided heroic service by operating an underground, and potentially dangerous, book-lending service to Jewish members barred from libraries. One staff member, Boris Netchaeff, was shot by the Gestapo when he failed to raise his hands quickly enough during a surprise inspection.

When Reeder was sent home for her safety at the end of 1941, Countess de Chambrun rose to the occasion to lead the Library. In a classic Occupation paradox, the happenstance of her son’s marriage to the daughter of the Vichy prime minister, Pierre Laval, and her family’s other social and business connections ensured the Library a friend in high places. That, along with the pre-war esteem of German “Library Protector” Dr. Hermann Fuchs for Dorothy Reeder and the Library, granted the institution a near-exclusive right to keep its doors open and its collections largely uncensored throughout the war. A French diplomat later said the Library had been to occupied Paris “an open window on the free world.”

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The Last Tiara by M. J. Rose

“Rose is an unusually skillful storyteller. Her polished prose and intricate plot will grip even the most skeptical reader. ” —The Washington Post https://www.mjrose.com/content/

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

From 1915 at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to 1940’s New York City, this is a compelling mystery that unfolds in the alternating voices of two young girls. First is Sofiya Petrovitch who spends most days at the palace with her mom, the tutor to the Romanov children. Sofiya is the best friend of Olga Romanov, and they later serve the wounded soldiers together in the makeshift hospital set up within the Winter Palace. The second young woman is Isobelle Moon, an architect in 1948 NYC, who discovers there are secrets in her mother’s past when she uncovers the “last tiara.” This is a riveting mystery involving the Midas Society as Isobelle delves into the provenance of an historic Romanov tiara. The Last Tiara, by M. J. Rose, is jewel of a novel based on an actual Romanov tiara that is still missing today. The blue sapphires might have disappeared, but that is no reason to miss this stunning novel of love and intrigue. Five Blue Sapphires!

The Winter Palace was the official residence of the Russian Emperors from 1732 to 1917. Today, the palace and its precincts form the Hermitage Museum. http://hermitagemuseum.org

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The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner

The Nature of Fragile Things
A novel about the bonds of friendship and mother love, and the power of female solidarity…
(COMING FEBRUARY 2, 2021)

“Susan Meissner is a USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction with more than half a million books in print in fifteen languages. She is an author, speaker and writing workshop leader with a background in community journalism. A California native, she attended Point Loma Nazarene University and is also a writing workshop volunteer for Words Alive, a San Diego non-profit dedicated to helping at-risk youth foster a love for reading and writing.” For more on her previous novels visit : https://susanlmeissner.com/books/

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

An Irish immigrant by way of Manhattan, a mail order bride, and an earthquake? What calamity will happen next? In this gripping “look back” on the epic San Francisco earthquake of 1906, Sophie Hocking recounts “for the record,” the story of how she and five-year-old Kat survived when 3,000 others did not-and the shocking discovery about her handsome, new husband, Martin Hocking. Like peeling the layers of an onion, Sophie slowly uncovers the mysterious lives of “Martin,” the man to whom she thought she was married.

Readers will experience the frightening moments of an earthquake, the fury of women scorned, and the love created between strangers; induced by fear and trauma. The blossoming love of a mother and daughter also adds immensely to the ‘unromantic” relationship that Sophie endures in order to restore lives destroyed-not only by earthquakes, but by human shortcomings. For lovers of historical/mystery The Nature of Fragile Things is five stars on the “Reading Richter Scale!”

The Great San Francisco Earthquake topples buildings, killing thousands

On April 18, 1906, at 5:13 a.m., an earthquake estimated at close to 8.0 on the Richter scale strikes San Francisco, California, killing an estimated 3,000 people as it topples numerous buildings. The quake was caused by a slip of the San Andreas Fault over a segment about 275 miles long, and shock waves could be felt from southern Oregon down to Los Angeles.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-great-san-francisco-earthquake

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The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly

“Discover a garden lost to time and the story of five women whose lives are tied together by one very special place…”

Julia Kelly is the award-winning author of books about ordinary women and their extraordinary stories. In addition to writing, she’s been an Emmy-nominated producer, journalist, marketing professional, and (for one summer) a tea waitress. Julia called Los Angeles, Iowa, and New York City home before settling in London. Readers can visit JuliaKellyWrites.com to learn more about all of her books and sign up for her newsletter.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” Marcus Tullius Cicero

The Last Garden in England reconstructs an abandoned historic garden, uncovers a mysterious locked gate, and reveals the lives of determined women, separated by generations and war but who grow connected by one famous garden designer.

Julia Kelly presents The Last Garden in England in triple timeline and the voice of five women, including the diary entries of the Edwardian garden designer, Venetia Smith. Readers are introduced to original garden designs through the intricate details drawn and planted by Venetia in 1907, sketched by “land girl,” Beth in 1944, and recreated by Emma and the company crew of Turning Back Thyme in 2021.

Highbury House and its labyrinth of garden “rooms” in Warwickshire, England, becomes the “living” landscape for the nouveau riche Mr. & Mrs. Melcourt in the early 1900’s, Dr. and Mrs. Murry Symonds in 1944 war torn England, and Sydney and Andrew Wilcox in 2021. Each family is grafted into the history of this once breathtaking garden.

Readers’ love for Venetia and her gift of visionary gardens will thrive as Julia Kelly’s tendrils of love and loss are intertwined amongst the thorn encrusted, vine covered locked gates and the seeds of new beginnings.

Return to an early Victorian era and wander the rose petaled pathways in The Last Garden in England.

Julia Kelly has based Venetia Smith on the British horticulturist, Gertrude Jekyll. The information and links below will hopefully add to the readers’ enjoyment of English gardening.

Gertrude Jekyll -British Horticulturist

Gertrude Jekyll VMH was a British horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, and wrote over 1,000 articles for magazines such as Country Life and William Robinson’s The Garden. November 29, 1843- December 8, 1932

This book explores the life and work of Gertrude Jekyll, probably the most influential garden designer of the early twentieth century. First published in the UK by Sutton Publishing in 1996 (and by Timber Press in the US), this Pimpernel Classic edition has been redesigned and includes new photography. In this book Judith Tankard and Martin Wood explore her life and work at the home she created for herself at Munstead Wood in Surrey, England. Taking as a basis her own photograph albums, scrapbooks and notebooks, and the recollections of contemporaries from Edith Wharton and Vita Sackville-West to William Robinson and Henry Francis du Pont, they describe not only the building and development of the house and garden but also her skills both in the arts and as a businesswoman and her collaborations with architects – pre-eminently Edwin Lutyens, but also Oliver Hill and M.H. Baillie Scott.https://www.amazon.com/Gertrude-Jekyll-Munstead-Pimpernel-Classic/dp/1910258059

**The restored Gertrude Jekyll garden at Manor House in Upton Grey, Hampshire**

Upton House and Gardens in Warwickshire, England. Author, Julia Kelly visited this National Trust property for research on The Last Garden in England. Main character, Venetia Smith is an amalgamation of Kitty Lloyd-Jones and Gertrude Jekyll https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/upton-house-and-gardens/features/kitty-lloyd-jones-at-upton-house-and-garden

After a visit to this garden Julia Kelly decided to focus Venetia’s vision for Highbury House around a series of garden rooms. Take a virtual tour of Hidcote: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hidcote

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Halfway to Harmony by Barbara O’Connor

**Coming January 2021** for Middle Grades

Barbara O’ Connor-Now and as a first grader! https://www.barbaraoconnor.com/

“I now live in Asheville, North Carolina, with my husband and two dogs. I have one grown son. I love being a writer. I get to sit at my desk and pour my memories of my Southern childhood into my stories. Sometimes my characters eat boiled peanuts. Sometimes they go to the Smoky Mountains. Maybe they see kudzu vines covering up barns or listen to church music on the radio inside their trailers. They might catch crawfish in an icy cold stream or eat pickled okra from a jar. My stories have pieces of me in them – all mixed in with the made-up parts. That’s what writers do – mix in the real stuff with the made-up stuff. And they can wear their pajamas all day long if they want to. What could be better than that?”

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

A boy, a dream, and a truck.

Walter and his parents are grieving the loss of Tank, who joined the army and never returned to Harmony, Georgia. Tank’s younger brother, Walter, is drifting along the Chatahoochee River floating on his own despair while nightly tangled in a recurring dream. A new neighbor from Tennessee, Posey, moves in next door and just might be the kindred spirit Walter needs.

Posey is a gutsy girl with a three -legged dog named Porkchop and a near photographic memory. That phenomenal memory is an integral piece to the puzzling relationship that develops between Walter and Posey. Readers are treated to or maybe bombarded with trivia from Posey’s favorite books, Nuggets of Knowledge and Caesar Romanoff’s Rules for Making Friends. Walter and Posey become involved in the rescue and recovery of a man “that fell from the sky,” AKA “Banjo!” As the “not so subtle” Posey shares “rules for making friends” the lines of Walter’s anger and grief are slowly erased.

Readers’ hearts will ache at the quest for “normal” love and acceptance, motherly hugs and real smiles, that Walter is praying will return to his family since Tank “left.” Walter’s hopes and dreams for the future soar amidst a hot air balloon race and back to school nervousness. Meanwhile, Banjo’s eternally positive approach to life and quirky expressions along with Posey’s font of knowledge, helpful friendship hints, and determination will have young readers rushing online for a copy of Nuggets of Knowledge and practicing rules #1-7 for making friends.

“Good grief and grits” grab a copy of Halfway to Harmony for a chance to hear Tank saying, “Blow out them candles, little man, and I’ll show you my world.”

Your new friends will thank you for reading Halfway to Harmony. Five friendly stars-***** GR

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Gone To The Woods by Gary Paulsen

**Publication Day is JANUARY 12! Register here:**
https://americanwritersmuseum.org/program-calendar/gary-paulsen-gone-to-the-woods/

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“PLEEEEASE, DON’T STOP!” This is the plea heard by the Grateful Reader from a class full of students when reading a Gary Paulsen novel aloud. Novels such as Hatchet, DogSong, The Winter Room, are all beloved; burned in the memory of students as all-time favorites. Gary Paulsen’s tales of survival in the wilderness, gloriously vivid descriptions and gut-wrenching situations are so understandable after reading this memoir. Revealing his own struggles during childhood -from being dropped off at a train station as a 5- year-old, all the way to his revelation that the Army would be his destiny, keeps the reader in suspense, hanging on every word; even knowing that the storyteller survives to tell his story!

Time and time again, “the boys” grit, smarts, and determination to survive the unthinkable circumstances keep him alive. With neglectful parents who never cared or worried about him- he was fishing or “gone to the woods”- Gary feels deeply that he is “supposed to be here.” Readers will feel the same as they are transported to the edge of a stream to see a whitetail doe for the very first time. Spellbinding and magical. New readers and those that have fond memories of listening to or reading Gary Paulsen’s books, will be blessed by the calling to share his action- packed life; his victory over “jobs of work,” sharks, Manilla, and living as a street rat. Gary’s “brain-pictures” and the smiling librarian that introduced him to reading the “whole book” as a thirteen- year-old, helped him see that “he didn’t want to live in his past, but to see ahead, see what was over the next hill…”

Some heartfelt passages will be read over and over; others so brazenly hard to read that skipping over is an option. But EVERY word, paragraph, and page, is one step closer to SURVIVING Gary Paulsen’s childhood. Be brave. “The boy” is victorious and readers will feel the same. Five star “Survival Badge” from the Grateful Reader.

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Blood and Silver by Vali Benson

**Visit Vali’s website: http://valibenson.com/**

Vali grew up in the Midwest. She now lives in Tucson with her husband, two sons and grandchildren.

After graduating from the University of Illinois, Vali started and sold two successful businesses before she decided to pursue her real passion of writing. She published several articles in a variety of periodicals, including History Magazine before she decided to try her hand at fiction.

In April of 2020, Vali published her first novel, “Blood and Silver”. That same month, she was also made a member of the Western Writers of America.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Welcome to Tombstone, Arizona, “where silver is lying in the streets for anyone to pick up!”

Vali Benson’s novel will lure readers right into the saloons and brothels cobbled like shoes in a closet, after silver has been discovered in 1877. The “boomtown” of Tombstone was born in 1880, and quickly grew in population from 250 to 15,000 by 1885. Blood and Silver opens as Miss Lucille and her ‘best girls’ have arrived in Tombstone, along with 12 -year-old Carissa and her sickly mother, Lisette Beaumont.

Lisette’s eye- opening journey leading to Tombstone began as a young Creole on a plantation south of New Orleans. Lisette is married at 16, and in a few years begins the perilous journey West, in a wagon train bound for California, with her husband and two children. After a cholera outbreak, Lisette eventually arrives in San Francisco; a widow desperately trying to support her daughter, Carissa. Singing in a stage show on the rough side of town known as Barbary Coast leads Lisette into more than just entertaining men with her beautiful voice. But this is not the life Lisette has dreamed of for herself and her daughter. Who will be the key to their survival?

Readers will be enthralled with the beauty of Arizona through Vali Benson’s historical background and descriptions. The character development of China Mary, who runs Tombstone and the Chinese population, is an authentic depiction based on the charismatic, historical figure who lived in Tombstone from 1879 until she died in 1903. China Mary’s niece, Mai-Lin, a fictional character but a true treasure, is paired with Carissa in a new job at the Grand Hotel. Readers will be delighted with Mai-Lin’s giggly, adventurous personality and new-found friendship with “White-White”, as China Mary lovingly names Carissa. Readers are taken up and down new trails running into questionable townsfolk, as the two friends become involved in some “mining” of their own.

As Lisette and Carissa get involved with the seedy characters of Tombstone, trust is built and faith in the idea that good will prevail is restored.

“Make new friends but keep the old. One is SILVER and the other gold.” Readers will strike it rich and make many new friends in Blood and Silver by Vali Benson.

Five SILVER stars -GR

Images from Early days in Tombstone, Arizona

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The Rembrandt Conspiracy by Deron Hicks

**Find out more about Deron Hicks and his other books!** http://deronhicks.com/

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Rembrandt Conspiracy is Deron Hicks’ newest addition to the Lost Art Mystery series. The inclusion of QR codes enhances the National Portrait Gallery experience by bringing readers face to face with works of art by Rembrandt, Degas, Vermeer and others. This is a great techie hook for readers of all ages!

Art, the son of Dr. Hamilton, protector of the artworks, and new school friend, Camille, are excited to be invited to the Gala celebrating the opening of the Millennium Exhibit, the most important the National Portrait Gallery has ever hosted. On the anniversary of an unsolved theft from thirty years ago, Art has reason to believe a heist worth billions of dollars will occur on the night of the gala. Now to prove his suspicions!

Young readers will be introduced to scientific equipment that protects delicate art, techniques of restoration, and even a lesson on how to curtsy in case one is introduced to the Queen of England! Hone those prediction skills, follow Art’s observations and clues from the back of a scooter, and prepare for an exhilarating, rollicking tour of Washington D.C and the National Portrait Gallery. A Highly recommended “tour”!

Readers use QR codes to scan in works of art from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C.

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Under a Gilded Moon by Joy Jordan-Lake

“A meticulously researched, well-crafted mystery; this is historical fiction at its best.” Publishing December 1, 2020 To Pre-Order: https://www.amazon.com/Under-Gilded-Moon-Joy-Jordan-Lake/dp/1713518384

The setting for Under a Gilded Moon is Biltmore House in North Carolina. Left: Biltmore under construction Right: October 26, 1895 George Vanderbilt moved in!

Joy Jordan-Lake is the bestselling author of eight books, including the #1 Amazon Bestseller A Tangled Mercy and Blue Hole Back Home, which won the Christy Award in 2009 for Best First Novel. Her upcoming novel Under a Gilded Moon to be released on 12.01.20.

She holds a PhD in English Literature, founded a food pantry in New England for women and families experiencing homelessness, and has taught literature and writing at several universities.

https://www.joyjordanlake.com/at-a-glance

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Approach Road leading to Biltmore is a three-mile drive lined with trees purposefully planted to shield the view of the towering spires and laced with twists and turns until the magnificent residence comes into focus. In Under a Gilded Moon Joy Jordan-Lake takes readers on a similarly breathtaking journey through the Blue Ridge Mountains right up to the grand entrance of the estate as it nears completion. Welcome to Biltmore!

Christmas Eve, December 1895, is a few days away and the manor is crawling with stonemasons, bricklayers, carpenters, and painters from around the world. George Washington Vanderbilt II, youngest child of eight, an artist and a scholar, is preparing to entertain and house his guests in America’s largest, fabulously ornate mansion. As guests are arriving a “bad thing at the station” occurs and just like the twists and turns of the Approach Road, the mystery of how and why slowly unwinds.

Just on the border of the estate, in the shadow of “fairy tale turrets and the glint of copper on gables and towers,” is the run-down cabin of Kerry McGregor. Determined to retain this generational land, she has returned from Barnard College, her chance to escape her mountain life and Dearg Tate, in order to defend her cause and care for her dying father and twin siblings. George Vanderbilt, John Cabot, Madison Grant-all are well- aware of Kerry, the raven-haired daughter of John McGregor, and one of the last holdouts of the mountain folk refusing to sell.

New Orleans elite, Lilli Barthelemy and her mother, due to unrest and protests, have been induced to depart the muggy Delta for the sidewalks and streetcars of New York City. Now Lilli travels to Biltmore with more on her mind than trunks brimming with a wardrobe from posh department stores. Will her past follow her to the hollows of North Carolina and Biltmore?

Entanglements with Sicilian immigrant, Sal, and his brother, Nico, who have connections to George all the way from Florence; keep the reader traipsing the estate from the stables to the kitchens, and from the library to the dining room-breathless-as guests, detectives and George Vanderbilt bolt into the night in search of a murderer. There are many twists and turns on the Approach Road to Under a Gilded Moon. Clasp your diamond necklace and step into a stunning designer gown in anticipation of this exquisite Christmas Eve gift. It is definitely worth the wait. ***** GR

Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House, the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and is the largest privately owned house in the United States, at 178,926 square feet (16,622.8 m²) of floor space (135,280 square feet of living area).^[2] Still owned by George Vanderbilt’s descendants, it remains one of the most prominent examples of Gilded Age mansions.

**Visit this site for a beautiful tour-** https://www.biltmore.com/visit/biltmore-estate/biltmore-house/

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The Children’s Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/blizzard-brings-tragedy-to-northwest-plains

The School Children’s Blizzard narrated by U. S. Senator from Nebraska -Ben Sasse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C0dKNgJ8z0

Coming January 12, 2021 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088F2ZFDL/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Immigrants to the Great Plains of America survived twisters, grasshoppers, fires and hailstorms; but the Children’s Blizzard of January 12, 1888 was different.

The Dakota Territory, Nebraska, and Minnesota were populated by Norwegians, Swedes, and Germans-most were lured to leave their European homes, based on vastly exaggerated promises of fertile farmland that would remain in families for generations to come. Melanie Benjamin’s account of the Children’s Blizzard, as it came to be known, honors the teachers and students whose lives changed forever on this unusually warm, breezy day in January 1888. Parents sent children off to school in light sweaters, capes, and little girls even in dresses, which gave mothers a chance to “air out” woolens, heavy coats, and pants. With temperatures plummeting and the blizzard rapidly approaching, extremely young and inexperienced teachers, Gerda and Raina Olsen, were called upon to make instant decisions: send the students out with instructions to hurry straight home or keep them and pray they survive the blizzard with the food and fuel on hand in the schoolhouse.

Melanie Benjamin tracks the footsteps through the snow as these two young sisters make different choices for their students and chilled readers learn how those decisions impacted students and families forever. Bundled into the wintery aftermath is a servant girl, Anette-abandoned by her family, who becomes the lifeline to redemption for newspaper journalist, Gavin Woodson. (Gavin was so gifted at convincing the European families that the journey across the ocean would be worth risking their lives.) Readers will relish his change in outlook as the warmth and love for another human alters the lives of so many.

Readers will be wrapped in a two-sided blanket; one a coarse scratchy side of dread and fear, guilt and regret; that flips to a soft, cuddly, cozy side of forgiveness and redeeming love. *****

Melanie Benjamin’s historical fiction account of The School Children’s Blizzard of 1888, is supplemented in her Author’s Note with facts regarding meteorology and the National Weather Service, the Homestead Act of 1862 and its impact on the Native Americans, and the post-Civil War Indian Wars and the railroads.

Resources to continue reading:

The Children’s Blizzard, David Laskin, 2004-Nonfiction

In All Its Fury, a History of the Blizzard of January 12, 1888; 1947 -a collection of memories of survivors and witnesses

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The Family Ship by Sonja Yoerg

Sonja Yoerg grew up in Stowe, Vermont, where she financed her college education by waitressing at the Trapp Family Lodge. She earned her Ph.D. in Biological Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, and studied learning in blue jays, kangaroo rats and spotted hyenas, among other species. Her non-fiction book about animal intelligence, Clever as a Fox (Bloomsbury USA) was published in 2001.
While her two daughters were young, Sonja taught fine arts, computer skills and science in their California schools, and became a novelist after they fledged. She is the author of four novels: House Broken (Jan 2015), Middle of Somewhere (Sep 2015), All the Best People (May 2017) and True Places (Jan 2019).
Sonja lives with her husband in a house overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Together they run, garden, climb mountains, travel the world, drink wine, then run some more. https://www.sonjayoerg.com/about

“An enlightening read on SO many levels.” Dorothy Schwab, Grateful Reader

Coming February 23, 2021 For Praise & Pre-Order: https://www.sonjayoerg.com/the-family-ship

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

This is the amazing family saga of Arthur and Maeve, whose love for each other carries them through the storms of life-from the birth of 9 children; Jude all the way to baby Nellie. There really is a “ship” in the backyard- not sea-worthy- but an excellent setting for the family game of Navy; created by Father and Verity, to teach discipline and responsibility. This is a great metaphor for life and reveals many lessons to the “mates” on board and to the readers. The story unfolds chapter by chapter-from both the parents’ and each child’s point of view, which is a wonderful way for readers to gain perspective on family events and personalities. So many human emotions are revealed: overwhelming joy and grief, pangs of sibling jealousy, love frozen in time by guilt, unjust hatred, the unearned love of little ones for older siblings, and on and on! Readers will remember the Vergennes family for many years to come. Follow orders: Be a good “mate” and read The Family Ship. *****

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Come Tomorrow by Tess Thompson

Come Tomorrow (Castaway Christmas Book 1) Expected December 1, 2020 One chance meeting. A single act of kindness. Can young soulmates find each other in adulthood, or will hidden truths tear them apart?

Tess Thompson Romance…hometowns and heartstrings.
USA Today Bestselling author Tess Thompson writes small-town romances and historical romance.

She started her writing career in fourth grade when she wrote a story about an orphan who opened a pizza restaurant. Oddly enough, her first novel, “Riversong” is about an adult orphan who opens a restaurant. Clearly, she’s been obsessed with food and words for a long time now.
With a degree from the University of Southern California in theatre, she’s spent her adult life studying story, word craft, and character. Since 2011, she’s published 20 novels and 3 novellas. Most days she spends at her desk chasing her daily word count or rewriting a terrible first draft.
She currently lives in a suburb of Seattle, Washington with her husband, the hero of her own love story, and their Brady Bunch clan of two sons, two daughters and five cats. Yes, that’s four kids and five cats.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“Sometimes, when I was feeling sorry for myself, I would think that if I only had a book to read, a story to fall into and escape my problems and worries, then I could bear all this.” Luci Quick

Readers everywhere can relate to Luci’s sentiment during these anxious days of the pandemic and political stress. Come Tomorrow is a “rags to riches” story of a young girl, Luci, left with her new born sister and drunken father, living in poverty at the edge of the forest surrounding the grounds of the enormous manor of the Ford family. Fourteen-year-old Wesley Ford, and his faithful yellow lab, Atlas, are the answer to Luci’s prayers when Luci and Wesley’s paths cross one fateful Christmas Eve. When Wesley is confronted with the desperate, stark living conditions Luci and her baby sister must survive; he makes a promise to Come Tomorrow– with a basket of food. Readers will come to love Molly, the housekeeper, and her husband, Dax, the groundskeeper, as the couple becomes an integral link in the survival of Luci and Wesley. Will Luci learn to fend for herself and baby Sadie and what will happen to Wesley and his sister, Lily, as they are whisked away to boarding schools? Secrets and lies are slowly uncovered as this story of new- found love, soul mates, best friends, and the true meaning of giving unfolds over the years.

The “perfect cottage setting” in the snow globe on the cover will draw readers into Wesley’s world; one that looks so perfect from the outside and is his solace and hope for the future. Readers will want their own snow globe to shake, swirl and stare into-dreaming of a peace-filled, quiet life. The genuine love and devotion of Wesley’s lab, Atlas, is an additional warm hearted, loving gift for readers.

Add Tess Thompson’s Come Tomorrow to your reading stocking on December 1st. Five “stocking stuffer stars!”

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Popularity Pact-Book Two SCHOOL SQUAD by Eileen Moskowitz-Palma

“Eileen Moskowitz-Palma divides her time between novel writing and teaching First Draft from Start to Finish and Writing for Children and Young Adults at The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College.

Eileen’s debut Middle Grade novel, Camp Clique, the first book in The Popularity Pact series, was published in April 2020 at the height of the COVID pandemic. As a result, all of her in-person events with schools, libraries and bookstores were cancelled. Rather than being discouraged, she created a solution by forming a free virtual writing camp and book club program to serve the kids affected by school closures. The response was overwhelmingly positive and the camps in high demand. She connected with kids from all across the country and caught the attention of institutions like the Providence Children’s Museum, Sarah Lawrence College, the Rhode Island Department of Education, Thalia Kids Book Club Camp based out of Manhattan’s Symphony Space, and the upcoming Orange County Children’s Book Festival. She will continue to serve kids during the 2020-2021 academic year with a variety of virtual writing and book club program options for schools, libraries, and parents. Email her at eileenmpalma@gmail.com for more information.

Eileen lives in Westchester, NY, with her college sweetheart husband Douglas, their daughter Molly, and their Wire Fox Terrier Oscar, who is one snaggle-tooth away from being a doggy model. ”

**POPULARITY PACT** https://www.eileenmoskowitzpalma.com/about-1 **School Squad- Available October 6, 2020**

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

School Squad picks up right where Camp Clique left off. Maisy and Bea have endured the agonizing summer before seventh grade at Camp Amelia- together in the Sunflower Bunk. The camp has a huge competition at the end of the six-week session; the Sunflowers are the perennial winners. Bea and Maisy devise a plan where Bea will help Maisy not be a “loser” at camp, if Maisy will help Bea become a member of the coveted popular girls’ group, the “M&M’s.”

Maisy comes home from camp as the school year is about to start and finds out her mom, who’s been away in treatment, is coming home soon. Maisy’s family seems ready for the transition; especially Abby, her gymnast-Olympic driven sister. Mom might make it home for her next gymnastics meet! Maisy is having trouble coping with her mom’s return amidst fears of losing her mother-again. How will she ever be able to trust her mom and be sure she’s telling the truth?

Bea, on the other hand, comes home from camp to find that her recently divorced mom is dating her math teacher and her dad has proposed to his girlfriend, Monica, on Instagram! Her two darling daughters helped, of course. How will Bea find the “end” of this maze? How many roadblocks to happiness can one middle school girl handle?

Eileen Moskowitz-Palmer handles all the Snapchat, Instagram, texting, apps, and any other technology involved in being a seventh grader or parent of one, with all the aplomb of a seasoned middle schooler! She also hits all the emotional highs of receiving a snap from the “Glow up of the Year, or the M&M’s oohing and aahing over Bea’s new hair after the keratin treatment to the lows of Maisy finding out her grandmother has moved in! She will now share a room with her gymnastics obsessed sister; sweaty leotards included. It all feels so real and raw; the anxiety of being accepted, the fear of rejection, the grip of grief over losing a parent, or the heartwarming glow of finding a trustworthy friend.

“I had never felt lonelier than when I sat surrounded by all those fake friends.” Doesn’t that sentiment sum up the “middle school mindset” just perfectly? The Popularity Pact series holds treasures and lessons for all of us-child or parent-those life lessons we learn over-and over again.

Make a “Popularity Pact” – find a young or old reader who would appreciate joining the M&M’s, but also “feeling safe and seen.” 5,000 “likes,” 200 “shares” and 50-star emoji’s! GR

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The Light After the War by Anita Abriel

“Based on a true, untold story The Light After the War paints a wonderful portrait of two young women, both Holocaust survivors, trying to find love and meaning in the aftermath of WWII.”

—Mark Sullivan, bestselling author of Beneath a Scarlet Sky

Anita Abriel was born in Sydney, Australia. She received a BA in English Literature with a minor in Creative Writing from Bard College. She lives in California with her family and is the author of The Light After the War which was inspired by her mother’s story of survival during WWII.

Photo credit: David Perry

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“We’ll tell the story to our children, and they’ll tell their children, and no one will ever forget.”

Vera and her best friend, Edith, both from the ghetto in Budapest, survived jumping from a train headed to Auschwitz, and a year hiding/working on a farm in Germany. This is a link to the Author’s Note found on Anita Abriel’s website- Explaining the stories told by her grandmother: http://www.anitaabriel.com/authors-note/

Vera was fluent in five languages, including English, and Edith, a trained seamstress had dreams of becoming a famous fashion designer. The girls managed to travel to Naples, found jobs -Vera at the American Embassy, Edith as a seamstress- and a place to live. Forging ahead into the future – World War II has been over almost a year; readers will travel across oceans and continents with Vera and Edith. As survivors of the Holocaust, a photo of Vera and Edith caught the attention of Samuel Rothschild, New York millionaire & philanthropist. He was quite taken with the young girls’ story and sponsored their trans-Atlantic voyage to America to begin a new life. Very surprising events lead Vera and Edith to Venezuela- to yet another continent, with new friends and different opportunities. Anita Abriel’s descriptions of Naples from a Vespa, the captain’s table on the Queen Elizabeth, and the nerve-wracking wait at Ellis Island, draw the reader into the story; discovering the fear, guilt and heartbreak of being survivors of the Holocaust.

Themes of emerging roles for women, family relationships, and developing empathy play an important part in Anita Abriel’s novel. Samuel Rothschild’s reminder that our “country was built by refugees with big dreams,” opens a wide lens and has great historical relevance for present day readers. The Light After the War is quite a journey; treacherous, true and rewarding. Readers will be inspired and satisfied after the long trip, just like Vera and Edith, who found new lives and a beautiful “light after the war.” GR

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The Bluebell Girls by Barbara Josselsohn

The second novel of the Lake Summers Series, The Bluebell Girls, is officially available for Pre-sale on Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Bluebell-Girls-absolutely-gorgeous-uplifting-ebook/dp/B089SXJYJL/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=the+bluebell+girls&qid=1591726117&sr=8-2

Publication Day is September 25!

Barbara Solomon Josselsohn is the author of The Lilac House and The Last Dreamer. She is also a journalist and magazine writer, whose work appears in the New York Times, Consumers Digest, Parents, American Baby, and Westchester Magazine, and on numerous websites. She lives in Westchester County, New York, and teaches writing at Sarah Lawrence College and privately. She is currently at work on her third novel.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“For her, coming back was all about comfort. And family. For him, coming back was about emptiness. And loss.”

Jenna is moving to Lake Summers, nestled in the Adirondack Mountains; back into the house where she’d spent her summer months when she was growing up, and where her mother now lives year-round. She’s moving forward after being in “freefall” from her divorce and ex-husband’s pending engagement, mounting expenses, and the impact of all this on Sophie, her eleven-year-old daughter. Jenna’s return to Lake Summers is filled with memories of adventures spent exploring the trails with friends and grilling and eating on the deck under the trees with her family. But teenage romance is always part of summer at the lake, right? That was certainly true for Jenna. Enter, Troy-Jenna’s first love and first kiss. Mostly sweet memories, except for that Fourth of July, that changed everything. Troy, now returned to take over the Vet Clinic in Lake Summers, is operating mostly out of guilt. Readers will tangle with mixed emotions regarding Troy as he attempts to “untangle” his past.

Jenna’s older sister, Chloe, is loud, assertive, and always sports her “bossy pants!” Chloe is angry at having so little control over Jenna and fearful of what may be happening to “Sweet,” Jenna & Chloe’s mom. Operating out of fear rarely leads to good relationships or decisions. Will Jenna’s decision to move back to Lake Summers destroy or improve the sisterly bond?

Sophie has arrived in Lake Summers ahead of her mom to spend some “quality time” with Sweet, and is completely enthralled with a fascinating, never before told story of her grandmother’s first love. Sophie’s questions and excitement lead Sweet to begin examining her own long, lost memories. The memory that emerges involves a “chip” -which leads Sweet down to the basement and a tumble that lands her in the hospital. Sweet is frustrated with the gaps in her memory and is struggling to recall two very important words to share with Sophie. Readers will appreciate and learn from these two words.

The ups and downs of family dynamics are familiar to readers. In Barbara Josselsohn’s The Bluebell Girls connections are easily made with Sweet, Jenna and Sophie as they each attempt to move their lives forward while in Lake Summers; each “writing a story.” The emotions and attachments to the residents of Lake Summers become a part of the reader’s daily thoughts as the descriptions and dialogue ring heartfelt and so true. Whether it’s the juicy burgers at The Grill, new creations at the Smoothie Dude’s or fresh muffins at Pearl’s Cafe; readers will be welcomed with open arms to take a slow drive down Main Street, gaze at the Victorian-style homes, then settle back in wonder at the twinkling star filled sky over Lake Summers. Thank you, Barbara Josselsohn, for helping readers to understand family members sometimes operate out of fear, guilt, and lack of control; but in the end, love prevails.

Book #2 in The Lake Summers Series, The Bluebell Girls, is a reminder to always treasure memories and family.

The Bluebell Girls earns “Five Bluebell bouquets filled with twinkling stars and lots of love.” GR.

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In the Lion’s Den by Barbara Taylor Bradford

“Barbara Taylor Bradford OBE was born and raised in England. She left school at 15 for the typing pool at the Yorkshire Evening Post. At 16 she was a reporter, and at 18 she became the paper’s first woman’s page editor. Two years later, aged 20, she moved to London and became a fashion editor and columnist on Fleet Street. Barbara started writing fiction when she was just seven-years-old and sold her first short story to a magazine for seven shillings and sixpence when she was ten. She published her first novel, A Woman of Substance, in 1979. It went from bestseller to super seller within its first year and stayed on the New York Times’ list for 43 weeks. Barbara has had 34 books published, all worldwide bestsellers, and her latest, In the Lion’s Den, is coming October, 2020. Ten of her books have been produced as TV films or drama series by her late movie producer husband Bob Bradford and actors including Liam Neeson, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jenny Seagrove, Deborah Kerr, Sir John Mills and Elizabeth Hurley. Today, Barbara Taylor Bradford is published in over 90 countries in 40 languages, with sales figures in excess of 90 million. ”

Here’s a link to a wonderful interview with BTB on the launch of The House of Falconer: Book One: Master of His Fate-https://youtu.be/H6XV9hY-X-M

The Grateful Reader Review: by Dorothy Schwab

“James Lionel Falconer has risen quickly from a mere shop worker to being the right-hand man of Henry Malvern, head of the most prestigious shipping company in London. With Malvern’s daughter Alexis running away to the country after a terrible tragedy and refusing to return, James’ ascent to head of the company seems inevitable. But even a charmed life like James’ is not without its setbacks.”

Barbara Taylor Bradford fans have been anticipating the newest developments in the life of James Falconer, the brilliant young man that was the focus of Book One-Master of His Fate. Book Two in the House of Falconer series arrives here in the U.S on October 6, 2020. The wait for In The Lion’s Den has been similar to the anticipation for the next season of Downton Abbey a few years ago or now, season 4 of The Crown! Not to worry. All the events and characters from Book One are tied together quite nicely in Book Two. Readers will be relieved to see a quick review of the cast of characters; always appreciated when there are several family histories to track. BTB uses her typical finesse as she weaves the lives of the Lords and Ladies with the housekeepers and butlers, and all the offspring from past generations. Fans of the grand homes of the English countryside will take deep breaths and sigh at the descriptions; from the soaring ceilings in entryways to the sweeping vistas seen from the library windows. Just sink into the velvet cushioned sofas and imagine the delicious aromas drifting from the kitchens, as footman and waiters deliver covered platters of poached salmon and dressed crab topped with sprigs of parsley. With closed eyes, listen as the white wine is poured into the crystal goblets and chilled water into the silver beakers. Yes, please.

James Falconer is “charismatic, with a natural, persuasive charm and perfect manners.” He has brilliant business acumen to share with Henry Malvern, the ailing tycoon of London’s shipyards, docks, and warehouses. Mr. Malvern’s heir, Alexis, is not particularly interested in her father’s business and is dealing with her own bouts of depression; even being treated by the much talked about, Dr. Sigmund Freud. Throw in some really British bits: Uncle George from the Chronicle and his reports on the Prince of Wales and Queen Victoria from Balmoral, quick meet ups at the Pig & Whistle with Detective Crawford, and dining on borscht and chicken Kiev with Irina, a descendant of a Russian ambassador. All this along with the reboot of the wine division and the building of the “arcade” in Hull, and James Falconer figures he has his future planned in detail; written out and locked in the desk drawer, ready to put into action.

James Falconer has his parents’ support, the trust of Henry Malvern, and a “posse” of colleagues to listen or advise him. What could possibly keep him awake at night? His strategy is reflection and analysis. There really is so much to learn from the 21 year-old James Falconer. Oh, and by the way, his hobby is READING!

Relish and enjoy Book Two-In the Lion’s Den. GR

Here’s an added bonus: The Stately Homes I Love; an article written by BTB this past August. https://barbarataylorbradford.com/the-stately-homes-i-love/

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Essie’s Roses by Michelle Muriel

“Michelle Muriel is the award-winning, bestselling author of the #1 Amazon historical fiction bestseller ESSIE’S ROSES and her new novel Amazon bestseller, WATER LILY DANCE. Water Lily Dance follows the lives and secrets of three brave women, centuries apart, connected by French Impressionist artist Claude Monet. Michelle holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, magna cum laude, and worked as a professional actress, a member of Actors’ Equity and The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists for twenty years, doing theater, voice-over, and commercial work. Michelle transferred her skills in complex character development and historical research into writing heartbreaking, heart-mending historical, literary fiction. Her novels poetically explore the secret sides of life, stories told from multiple points of view by strong female characters in history harboring secrets and breaking norms fighting for freedom. She is also a songwriter and musician. Michelle lives in Missouri with her husband, Michael.To learn more about Michelle and her books, visit the author’s website: www.MichelleMuriel.com.”

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“While Evie was growing up behind the windows of the big house, I was too, behind the windows of a slave’s cabin.” This is the story of two girls, Evie and Essie, confessing to each other as they lie side by side on a hillside; their dream is the same: To Be Free.

Amidst the vast cotton fields and flowers in Alabama, 1841, was nestled a small plantation named Westland. The land was inherited by the impossibly beautiful Miss Katie, now married to the corrupted, evil John Winthrop; the two have a daughter, intimidatingly, blonde and equally beautiful, Evie. The Winthrops live in the big house; along with house slave, lovable, pumpkin bellied, full of scripture and wisdom, Delly. Add the daily visits of young Essie from the slave cabins, to fill in the dynamic days at Westland. Michelle Muriel has “birthed” a family for readers to adopt as Evie and Essie grow up among Miss Katie’s roses and their favorite hillside on the plantation.

Evie, with nature’s help, teaches Essie to listen to her heart and DREAM: “The thing you most want to happen in your life. Right now. Someday. Only you know. Listen.” The ties that bind Evie and Essie are tested over and over, as they grow from sharing “giggles and gossip” into mature young women with dreams of their own “to do.” Will the ties of love and friendship shared between these two girls be broken? Will they be delivered from their own personal, living nightmares?

Michelle Muriel’s dialogue and descriptions will sweep readers away as the saga of Essie’s Roses unfolds from 1841-1865. Pearls of wisdom, inside jokes and humor, along with nightmares and secrets, will cast a spell that can only be broken by the fragrance of Essie’s roses drifting over the hillside as the last page turns. Oh, to wish for just one more day with Evie and Essie.

Meanwhile, hold tight to Evie and Essie’s prayer:

“Lord keep us safe. To run the race.

Faster still, though all uphill.

Keep us strong when we’re afraid.

Guide us home today we pray.

Hold our dreams inside Your hands.

Help us do the dreams You planned.

Amen. ”

Wishes do come true! The lovely Michelle Muriel is gifting devoted readers with the sequel, WESTLAND- COMING SOON!

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Jackie and Maria by Gill Paul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aduTHQkmYC8 **A great interview; the author discusses her novels The Lost Daughter and Jackie and Maria**

https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/176890

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

This novel of Jackie Kennedy, the most famous First Lady in American history paired with the world-famous opera singer, Maria Callas, will snap readers right up and create chaos with emotions. Gill Paul parallels the public spectacle and heartbreak of Jackie’s marriage woes and her grieving process in front of the entire nation with the rise and fall of Maria Callas’ opera career and marriage to her manager. Enter- Aristotle Onassis! As Americans watched this whole “affair” play out publicly, in every form of the press, there are certain assumptions that were made. Readers will now question the actions of the First Lady and Maria Callas as they each endured tragedy and found ways to survive the media’s interruption and interpretation of their personal lives. This phenomenon is nothing new with the current media situation in 2020. Readers may feel a deep connection to Jackie, as many lived the days of Jack Kennedy’s presidency, assassination and the aftermath. Gill Paul creates the idyllic world readers have always imagined – the “Camelot” that Jackie herself coined-and then crushes those images with vivid descriptions and accounts. From the White House to La Traviata in Dallas, to Milan and private islands, readers will be whisked away in limousines and yachts to a world most will only read about. So pour a glass of champagne, don your big, black sunglasses, find a chaise on the deck of the Christina then hide behind Jackie and Maria for a private tour of the world of Jackie, Maria, and Aristotle Onassis.

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The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis

“In nationally bestselling author Fiona Davis’s latest historical novel, a series of book thefts roils the iconic New York Public Library, leaving two generations of strong-willed women to pick up the pieces.” AVAILABLE TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020

Fiona Davis is the nationally bestselling author of five novels, including The Dollhouse, The Address, and The Lions of Fifth Avenue. She lives in New York City and is a graduate of the College of William & Mary in Virginia and the Columbia Journalism School.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“It’s 1913, and on the surface, Laura Lyons couldn’t ask for more out of life—her husband is the superintendent of the New York Public Library, allowing their family to live in an apartment within the grand building, and they are blessed with two children.”

Flash forward: ” Eighty years later, in 1993, Sadie Donovan struggles with the legacy of her grandmother, the famous essayist Laura Lyons, especially after she’s wrangled her dream job as a curator at the New York Public Library.”

EXPLORING: PERSONALLY– Laura and Sadie are forced to examine their own beliefs, goals and values. One would think at eighty years apart these would be vastly different, but are they really?

EXPLORING: EMOTIONALLY-Laura must sort out her feelings and devotion to her mother, her husband and her children. Sadie is musing over her past relationships along with her obsession with her curator’s job. Lots of self examination takes place for both women.

EXPLORING: SOCIALLY–For Laura, suffrage, women’s rights and birth control are new topics to learn about in the early years of the century. She discovers a bohemian group involved in speaking out and even protesting current laws & rulings. Should she join? What will her family think? These topics are not so different for Sadie, even in the late part of the twentieth century.

EXPLORING: PHYSICALLY– From the steps of the New York Public Library and the powerful statues of Patience and Fortitude, readers will gape in awe at the intricate descriptions of the building’s architectural designs; tunnels, elevators, private apartments, and of course, the Berg Collection.

As Laura Lyons is aspiring to be a writer at Columbia Journalism School she becomes involved in a mystery that “threatens her home and the library.” In the dual timeline so expertly woven by Fiona Davis, eighty years later Sadie’s job as curator is in jeopardy as rare manuscripts, books and notes begin disappearing!! This is on the cusp of preparations for the opening of the Berg Collection Exhibition. Is the thief on the inside or outside?

Readers, along with a private security expert, will be quickly ( but shhh….quietly!) turning pages deep into the night as clues to the mysteries are methodically revealed. THE LIONS OF FIFTH AVENUE and a trip to the New York Public Library for EXPLORING is “on hold” for readers everywhere. Five ***** to the Lions, the Librarians, and Fiona Davis. GR

The Library Lions

Patience and Fortitude, the world-renowned pair of marble lions that stand proudly before the majestic Beaux-Arts building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan, have captured the imagination and affection of New Yorkers and visitors from all over the world since the Library was dedicated on May 23, 1911. https://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/library-lions

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Across the Winding River by Aimie K. Runyan

“Aimie K. Runyan writes to celebrate history’s unsung heroines. She is the author of historical novels: Promised to the Crown, Duty to the Crown, Daughters of the Night Sky, and Girls on the Line. She is active as an educator and speaker in the writing community and beyond. She lives in Colorado with her wonderful husband and two (usually) adorable children.”

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“A woman unlocks the mystery of her father’s wartime past in a moving novel about secrets, sacrifice, and the power of love…”

Across the Winding River follows the “hearts and minds” of Max, a young American soldier during WWll; Beth, his daughter’s search for clues to a long, lost secret sibling, and Johanna, the brilliant German test pilot in the Luftwaffe for the Nazi’s. All three walk a delicate line between memories and truth.

Readers will identify with Beth, a modern-day woman grieving the loss of her mother and also beginning to recognize and accept herself-recently divorced and adjusting to a new social standing. Beth’s father, Max, is living out his last days in a private care facility while Beth is doing all she can to organize his affairs while sorting out his memorabilia and learning about his war- time experiences. The author chooses to focus on Max and his medic experiences in a lesser known battle that raged for three months in Hurtgen Forest, known as the Death Factory, rather than the D-Day beaches of Normandy. The descriptions and details of the area and the lengthy battle with no clear victor, is a different perspective of the war. The third bend in the “winding river” is Johanna and the role she plays in living out her own mathmatical dreams as she finds it more and more difficult to hide her Jewish ancestry, while actually working for the Nazi’s in order to survive and avoid the concentration camps.

The lives of Beth, Max, and Johanna intersect in some twists and turns in the river; all to reveal powerful lessons in the sacrifices that have been made, and to uncover surprising secrets of love and loss.

Readers who choose Across the Winding River by Aimie K. Runyan will come to “champion amd adore” Max’s story.

The Battle of Hürtgen Forest was a series of fierce battles fought from 19 September to 16 December 1944, between American and German forces on the Western Front during World War II, in the Hürtgen Forest, a 140 km² area about 5 km east of the Belgian–German border.

New Orleans, Louisiana: The National WWII Museum tells the story of the American experience in the war that changed the world—why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today—so that all generations will understand the price of freedom and be inspired by what they learn. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/

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How Lulu Lost Her Mind by Rachel Gibson

From New York Times bestselling author Rachel Gibson comes the story of a mother-daughter journey to rediscover the past before it disappears forever.

Rachel Gibson is a New York times and USAToday bestselling author of 21 books.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Lou Ann, a.k.a The Love Guru, has built her “brand” and thriving business from a highrise in Seattle. She travels IRL and virtually, spouting relationship advice to thousands of followers. In fact, she’s in the middle of her ten-city Find True Love in February tour! Now her mother, Patricia, age 74, diagnosed with Alzheimers four years ago, has been tossed out of the third care facility and is requesting to spend her last days at the family home near New Orleans. Lou Ann begrudgingly takes Patricia to Sutton Hall, an old sugar cane plantation that comes with its own “To Do” list. Packing for speaking engagements and book signings is not exactly the same as packing for south Louisiana; heat, humidity, possible alligators, a century old cemetery and a crazy bird named Raphael, soon take the place of fame, fanfare & fortune!

Lulu experiences the culture shock of moving across country to a locale of unfamiliar culture and landscape- swamps & bayous; not to mention dealing with the mood swings of Patricia as they both begin to deal with how these last days together would unfold for each of them. Lulu relies on meditating and Patricia gets caught up in TV game shows. Finding common ground and a good mattress turn out to be crucial! Lulu is grappling with saving her business or spending the last days making her mother happy- something many readers may know first-hand or have experienced vicariously. Either way, juggling family, business & volunteer commitments, are always a struggle as ill or aging parents take precedence in our lives. Rachel Gibson deals with the emotional struggles of such a life changing situation with honesty and laugh out loud humor.

How Lulu Lost Her Mind is a magnified view into the dynamic day to day battle of thoughts and emotions that emerge in times of crisis, but also the self analysis & reflection involved. Gibson juggles Lulu’s emotional episodes with Patricia by wrapping the “daily dilemas” in Cajun dialect and taking readers to local shops like Rouse’s market, Monique’s Chic Boutique, and Boots ‘N Roots! Readers will savor the poignant moments of mother-daughter time; and “laugh to keep from crying,” when those heart felt tensions ring so true.

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The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester

Natasha Lester is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction.

Her new novel THE PARIS SECRET is out now in Australia and will be published in the US and the UK later in 2020. Her other books, THE FRENCH PHOTOGRAPHER / THE PARIS ORPHAN, THE PARIS SEAMSTRESS, A KISS FROM MR FITZGERALD and HER MOTHER’S SECRET are also available from all good bookshops.

The Paris Secret

“A wardrobe of Dior gowns, a secret kept for sixty-five years, and the three women bound forever by war … from the New York Times bestselling author of The French Photographer
England, 1939: Talented pilot Skye Penrose joins the war effort where she encounters her estranged sister, Liberty, and childhood soulmate Nicholas Crawford, now engaged to enigmatic Frenchwoman Margaux Jourdan. Paris, 1947: Designer Christian Dior unveils his extravagant first collection to a world weary of war and grief. He names his debut fragrance, Miss Dior, in tribute to his sister, Catherine, who worked for the French Resistance. Present day: Australian fashion conservator Kat Jourdan discovers a secret wardrobe filled with priceless Dior gowns in her grandmother’s vacant cottage. As she delves into the mystery, Kat begins to doubt everything she thought she knew about her beloved grandmother.An unspeakable betrayal will entwine all of their fates. The Paris Secret is an unforgettable story about the lengths people go to protect one another, and a love that, despite everything, lasts a lifetime. “

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Captivating characters. Breathtaking, emotional relationships developed in the innocence of childhood and others wrapped in the arms of a devastating war. The novel opens in Cornwall, England in 1928, with young, adventurous Skye and sister “in the house” Liberty, more often than not, at odds with each other, kicking and fighting! Their mother, Vanessa Penrose, with a devil-may-care attitude, is loved by both girls. Vanessa is a pioneer in her own right and loves to fly-even trying to set records. Readers are buoyed along the beaches of Porthleven with Skye and her friend, Nicholas; collecting cowrie shells, floating in caves or exploring lost gardens finding adventures on rope bridges! All simply exhilarating until the idyllic childhood ends and Skye & Liberty – following Vanessa’s footsteps, are sunk into the quagmire of women becoming pilots and clawing through the red tape of the WAAF-Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and the SOE-Special Operations Executive. This triple timeline moves from England, 1939 to Paris, 1947 and the unveiling of Christian Dior’s first collection. The world has known and admired Dior’s designs and creativity for decades; but his sister, Catherine, is the real heroine of the French Resistance. Catherine is superbly intertwined with Skye and Liberty as the war’s scarring memories have a life long impact on the sisters- and eventually, Kat Jourdan, a granddaughter. Natasha Lester brings the family saga full circle as present day, Kat, a fashion conservator, discovers a priceless collection of 65 Christian Dior dresses in a cottage in Cornwall. Readers will appreciate the depth of research into the WAAF, the Resistance, and struggles of the female pilots to actually fly and make a difference in the war. Natasha Lester’s background in fashion really shines through in her descriptions of the Dior gowns as Kat begins to wear them for meetings and rendezvous!

Plot “pattern pieces:” Dior gowns, sisters at odds, concentration camps, stolen identities, most of all a love story spanning decades. These pattern pieces are designed and stitched together to create a dream novel worthy of a Dior tag and definitely one for your collection!

The New Look: https://www.dw.com/en/the-new-look-how-christian-dior-revolutionized-fashion-70-years-ago/a-37491236

Porthleven Beach in Cornwall, England & The Lost Gardens of Heligan https://www.heligan.com/

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Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon

“In this epic and haunting love story set on the Oregon Trail, a family and their unlikely protector find their way through peril, uncertainty, and loss.“

“Amy Harmon is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and New York Times Bestselling author. Amy knew at an early age that writing was something she wanted to do, and she divided her time between writing songs and stories as she grew. Having grown up in the middle of wheat fields without a television, with only her books and her siblings to entertain her, she developed a strong sense of what made a good story. Her books are now being published in seventeen different languages, truly a dream come true for a little country girl from Levan, Utah.”

“The Overland Trail, 1853: Naomi May never expected to be widowed at twenty. Eager to leave her grief behind, she sets off with her family for a life out West. On the trail, she forms an instant connection with John Lowry, a half-Pawnee man straddling two worlds and a stranger in both.

But life in a wagon train is fraught with hardship, fear, and death. Even as John and Naomi are drawn to each other, the trials of the journey and their disparate pasts work to keep them apart. John’s heritage gains them safe passage through hostile territory only to come between them as they seek to build a life together.”

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“Wagons Ho!” That was the cry of the wagon master at the “jumping off place” for the brave families heading West to Oregon or California. Two thousand miles-with all their cherished and necessary items loaded into wagons, followed by herds of cattle and horses. The unimaginable quest of finding gold, land for the taking, or the adventure is what prompted the Pioneers to leave home and loved ones; to embark on such a wondrous, but treacherous journey.

Map provided by Amy Harmon https://www.authoramyharmon.com/wherethelostwander.html

For 20 years a map very similar to this was provided by the Grateful Reader for third graders as a similar novel for children was read; Bound for Oregon by Jean Van Leeuwen. All the chats by firelight between husbands & wives, and other parents, after the children were in bed, led to the pros and cons of “if and when” to leave on this journey into the unknown. A few had traveled to Oregon and California and returned, and were now available as guides or had written guide books for purchase. Diaries written by adults are accessible but accounts by children are rare. In the case of Amy Harmon’s Where the Lost Wander, her research and genealogy studies give her great family insights into the personalities and possible lives of Naomi May and John Lowry. Check out her website for a great Q&A on the blog. Where the Lost Wander is an adventure, mystery, and love story-but for older teens and adults.

Readers will be in anguish at times, and experience pure delight at others. With every crossing of the Platte and landmarks passed, “travelers on the trail” with Naomi May, her brothers, Wyatt, Will and Web and John Lowry and his mules, will celebrate each mile closer to the destination. Naomi’s mother, Mrs. May, is a brave, proud woman; a font of wisdom and understanding. In a poignant conversation she shares with John, ” The hardest thing about life is knowing what matters and what doesn’t. If nothing matters , then there’s no point. If everything matters, there’s no purpose. The trick is to find firm ground between the two ways of being.”

Traumas along the trail: Cholera, orphaned children, Indian attacks; all add to the stress and emotional turmoil for the families and the reader! But the celebrations of new life, new love, and weddings makes up for it. John’s mother, Jennie, said it best:

In order to travel West decisions had to be made as to what was necessary for survival-physical and emotional. The only decision at this point is to “load your wagon, put on your hat or bonnet”, and read Where the Lost Wander. Destinations and Celebrations are in sight!

Where the Lost Wander earns all the stars in the big prairie sky!

Once Upon a Book Club Box-Open gifts as you read! Use Gratefulreader10 as a promo code when you subscribe! https://www.onceuponabookclub.com/

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Raphael Painter in Rome by Stephanie Storey

Another Fabulous Art History Thriller by the Bestselling Author of Oil and Marble, Featuring the Master of Renaissance Perfection: Raphael!

“Stephanie Storey’s debut novel Oil and Marble was hailed as “tremendously entertaining” by The New York Times, has been translated into six languages, and is currently in development as a feature film by Pioneer Pictures. Storey is also the author of Raphael, Painter in Rome, which came out in April 2020 in conjunction with the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death.

Storey has a degree in Fine Arts from Vanderbilt University and attended a PhD program in Art History, before leaving to get an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College, and has studied art in Italy and been on a pilgrimage to see every Michelangelo on display in Europe.

Storey has also been a national television producer for nearly twenty years in Los Angeles for shows including Alec Baldwin on ABC, Arsenio Hall for CBS, and Emmy-nominated The Writers’ Room on the Sundance Channel. When not writing novels or producing television, Storey can usually be found with husband Mike Gandolfi — an actor and Emmy-winning comedy writer — traveling the world in search of their next stories. ” https://stephaniestorey.com/

Raphael : Summary from Simon & Schuster

Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling is one of the most iconic masterpieces of the Renaissance. Here, in Raphael, Painter in Rome, Storey tells of its creation as never before: through the eyes of Michelangelo’s fiercest rival—the young, beautiful, brilliant painter of perfection, Raphael. Orphaned at age eleven, Raphael is determined to keep the deathbed promise he made to his father: become the greatest artist in history. But to be the best, he must beat the best, the legendary sculptor of the David, Michelangelo Buonarroti. When Pope Julius II calls both artists down to Rome, they are pitted against each other: Michelangelo painting the Sistine Ceiling, while Raphael decorates the pope’s private apartments. As Raphael strives toward perfection in paint, he battles internal demons: his desperate ambition, crippling fear of imperfection, and unshakable loneliness. Along the way, he conspires with cardinals, scrambles through the ruins of ancient Rome, and falls in love with a baker’s-daughter-turned-prostitute who becomes his muse.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“Why this is shaping up to be a wonderful competition, isn’t it?” The pope said with a musical lilt. “A Florentine in the Sistine, and an Urbinite in my apartments. May the best painter win.”

Stephanie Storey paints a fresco for readers: blending a fiery piazza in Florence with the eyebrow-raising shenanigans of the Vatican halls in Rome; highlighting Raphael’s insecurities and obsessions while illuminating Michelangelo’s gifts in sculpture and his unpredictable inadequacies in oil! Told in first person, which makes this novel an absolute delight, readers will gush at being taken into Raphael’s confidence, as he recounts the competition for becoming the best painter on the peninsula or even the world!

The reader is immersed in rich descriptions of Italian villages, the people’s deep emotion and devotion to family and the volatile political landscape of the late 1400’s. Strategies to succeed and be noticed by the pope and struggles with technique and recipes for a fresco mix, are the “tarps” over Raphael’s obsessive tendencies like twirling his father’s paintbrush or parting his hair behind his ears, and- oh the counting: una, due, tre, quattro– so he enters a room on the right number and foot! Readers will learn a bit of Italian and fill tablets with Renaissance history and places to visit. All this along with dukes, cardinals, palaces, and parades, are mixed into a stunning palette of plot and paintings.

Author, Stephanie Storey, suggests keeping a device handy for researching paintings so the visual descriptions and historical references may be appreciated and discovered as the novel progresses. This is good advice! The account of Raphael’s pondering, in retrospect, about the visit of Martin Luther to Rome and his possible reaction to the “sin, excess, and corruption” regarding the behavior of the cardinals, the pope, and the aristocrats, was certainly eye-opening and pointed to a naivete of the general population. Was this trip, in fact, what prompted Martin Luther to return home to Germany to write his bishop, including his 95 Theses; thus leading to the beginning of the Protestant Reformation?

Raphael hoped his paintings would “bend the world away from the earthly realm of violence, anger and war, and toward the heavenly ideal of harmony, love, and peace.” When a painting is revealed to the world the artist has no control of how it is received-people see what they want to see. The same is true when an author releases a book into the hands of readers- themes and characters are perceived in individual ways. After years of study and research, Stephanie Storey’s Raphael: Painter in Rome is a portrait of adoration and respect for the painters of the Renaissance. Her hope is that Raphael and his readers will “bend the world toward beauty.”

**Pinturicchio’s Frescos in the Secret Apartments**

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We Came Here to Shine by Susie Orman Schnall

This gorgeous map is provided for readers at the front of the book: Illustrated by Silvia Gherra, Italy https://susieschnall.com/books/we-came-here-to-shine/map/

**World’s Fair History Provided by the author’s website:** https://susieschnall.com/books/we-came-here-to-shine/worlds-fair-history/

Summary by Susie Orman Schnall

Set during the iconic 1939 New York World’s Fair, two intrepid young women—an aspiring journalist and a down-on-her-luck actress—form an unlikely friendship as they navigate a world of endless possibility, stand down adversity, and find out what they are truly made of during the glorious summer of spectacle and opportunity…

Vivi Holden is closer than she’s ever been to living her dream as a lead actress in sun-dappled L.A., but an unfair turn of events sends her back to New York, a place she worked so hard to escape from. She has one last chance to get back to Hollywood—by performing well as the star of the heralded Aquacade synchronized swimming spectacular at the World’s Fair. Everything seems to be working against her, but her summer in New York will lead to her biggest opportunity to find her own way, on her own terms…

Maxine Roth wants nothing more than to be a serious journalist at the iconic New York Times, but her professor has other plans. Instead, she’s landed a post at the pop-up publication dedicated to covering the World’s Fair—and even then, her big ideas are continually overlooked by her male counterparts. Max didn’t work this hard to be the only—and an unheard one at that—woman in the room.

When Max and Vivi’s worlds collide, they forge an enduring friendship. One that shows them to be the daring, bold women they are, and one that teaches them to never stop holding on to what matters most, in the most meaningful summer of their lives.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“Building the World of Tomorrow”- The theme of the 1939 World’s Fair in NYC. The fair spanned 1,216 acres with seven zones. Max was assigned to work as an intern in the Communications zone at “Today at the Fair,” a daily publication for each days’ events and Vivi was in the Amusement zone performing as the star of the synchronized swimming show. Check the map for those locations- isn’t that map the best? The girls are on opposite sides of the fairgrounds. So how do the paths of Max and Vivi cross? That’s what makes this “story go round!”

Susie Schnall employs an interesting mirroring technique in her opening lines of chapters 1 & 2 and even several more times in the novel. “Vivi Holden would eventually realize that not getting what she wanted that day was the best thing that could have happened to her.” Similarly, opening chapter 2 with, ” Maxine Roth would eventually realize that not getting what she wanted that day was the best thing that could have happened to her.” Each girl is coping with personal life dilemmas, power struggles in career paths and discerning conflicting dominant male opinions and uninvited advances. Schnall also uses foreshadowing early on when Vivi admits her sister has told her “she never wanted to see her again. And she couldn’t bring herself to even think of the other person. The potential of what could have been…”

Schnall takes the reader on a grand tour of the fair as the girls’ stories unfold. Readers will “yearn” for the girls to mature and grow in their own belief systems and find their own voice amidst the male dominated world in which they exist. Along with fabulous facts and descriptions of the World’s Fair, including a royal visit by King George VI and Elizabeth; readers will meet Elizabeth Dorchester and the National Woman’s Party. Max and Vivi hearing her speak at a rally, are inspired by rhetoric regarding women being treated equally in workplaces and how they should stand up for their ambitions. Remember, this is 1939. But sound familiar?

“Two friends who had shared an extraordinary experience, and extraordinary summer.” As Max’s professor had said, “The World’s Fair could be life-changing.” Susie Orman Schnall says it best: “All lit up by sunshine and optimism and a belief that the future and the better days it promised were just around the corner. The fair had a way of touching everyone who passed through its gates.”

We Came Here to Shine will change readers just as the 1939 World’s Fair changed Max and Vivi. Give it a “whirl!” ****

”

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The Bright Side of Going Dark by Kelly Harms

“Even casual users know how absurd and unrealistic social media can be—yet keep logging on day after day. Kelly Harms takes this dichotomy to new heights in a clever and unputdownable story of two women whose so-called online lives collide IRL. I laughed, I cried, I came away from the experience with a newfound appreciation for life—which is to say THE BRIGHT SIDE OF GOING DARK is everything I’d hope for in a Kelly Harms novel, and more. I loved every page.”

— Camille Pagán, bestselling author of I’m Fine and Neither Are You

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Throw your phone over a cliff? Could you do it-go dark, for even a day? Read The Bright Side of Going Dark for insights into that odd, almost indescribable feeling of no social media feedback; no text, no GPS, Google; actually being without a phone for several days. (It’s rather mind boggling that we all used to live this way-well, those of a certain age, anyway.) This is a story of self-discovery without a device for support; rather, actually speaking face to face, having conversations via voice rather than text-and living in real life (IRL) Kelly Harms shares such insights into “going dark”, that one wonders, did she manage it, even for a few days? Readers will appreciate the candid conversations between sisters, mothers, complete strangers and of course, all the so called, “friends.”

Why are those ‘likes” and “loves” from followers so important? Kelly Harms finds the humor but also the serious consequences of not being truthful and sharing real feelings and fears, with those we love. And then there’s the whole “virtual life” some find so intriguing. Main characters: Mia- a social media “influencer” on Pictey with thousands of followers and sponsors, posts thirty/day; Paige-employed by Pictey as part of the Standards Enforcement /Quality Assurance Team whose job it is to flag “obscene, dangerous, inflammatory, cyber-bullying or any way humans are awful to each other;” and Jessica, Paige’s half sister, who has attempted suicide. Each young woman has much to learn-about living IRL and about each other. Every page is a gem.

The self-reflection and shared wisdom in this book will impact – daily- what readers think about when the phone is picked up to check FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter.

Here’s the IN REAL LIFE take-a-way: A Wish from Mia:

“Long quiet walks where the wind is your podcast. Lost wanderings where your instincts are your GPS. Peaceful early mornings where you have your nose in a cup of coffee instead of an email inbox. Yoga with a friend, not an app. Family time with no “shares” and lots of sharing. Mental selfies in the flat, calm reflection of a mountain lake. Sponsorships of children and animals. Quiet summer evenings where the stars are your backlight. A phone that’s used for calling someone you love. Friends, I wish you joy. I wish you airplane mode.”

Mia would make a great friend-now that she’s learned so much. There truly is a “Bright Side of Going Dark.” Read it, and then try it.

All GREAT books by Kelly Harms http://kellyharms.com/

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The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes

“The Giver of Stars is a 2019 historical fiction book by Jojo Moyes about pack horse librarians in a remote area of Kentucky. It is inspired by a real group of librarians who between 1935 and 1943 delivered books to some of the most remote regions in the Appalachian Mountains.”

“Jojo Moyes is a novelist and journalist. Her books include the bestsellers Me Before You, After You and Still Me, The Girl You Left Behind, The One Plus One and her short story collection Paris for One and Other Stories. Her novels have been translated into forty-six languages, have hit the number one spot in twelve countries and have sold over thirty-eight million copies worldwide.

Me Before You has now sold over fourteen million copies worldwide and was adapted into a major film starring Sam Claflin and Emilia Clarke. Jojo lives in Essex.”

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“It’s women doing the riding. Delivering the books.” “Women?” “By themselves?” came a man’s voice. “Last time I looked, God gave ’em two arms and two legs, just like the men.” Margery O’Hare, in her “dark blue cotton coat and her unpolished boots,” had been working for weeks setting up the new library and Mrs. Brady had called a town meeting to explain the system and ask for more volunteers. Women, that is, to ride the routes up into the mountains to deliver books to the folks up in the hills. Mr. Guisler had offered his old milk barn to house the library, so all that was needed was “the support of right minded people!”

Alice Van Cleve, newly married and all the way from England, saw this as an opportunity to escape the day in-day out boredom of the house she was trapped in with her husband, Bennett, and his widowed father. The only escape from the overbearing opinions of her father-in -law and her mealy mouth husband was to attend hours of church and town meetings. So before she could think twice, Alice stood to volunteer her time as a pack horse librarian. Meeting Marge O’Hare was the best thing to happen to Alice-ever.

Lovers of books, history, friendship, and romance will be hooked from the very beginning of this tale that will have readers gripping the manes of mules, up from the hollers and into the hills of Kentucky and jostlin’ back down to the stuffy, courtroom of Baileyville. Among the hospitable folks of the Appalachians there are men to love and men to hate; all with good reason. The hardships of the Depression and the changing roles of women take center stage as fearful men reveal their true selves as they lose control of finances, the support of fellow workers in the mines, or the stability of meager crops and family homesteads ruined by floods.

The unbreakable bonds of friendship that grow between the women librarians; cross lines of class and color. Readers will rejoice in small steps of independence taken by five fellow librarians: Marge, Alice, Izzy, Beth, and Sophia. Their devotion to each other and the mission of the pack horse library is not to be taken lightly; lessons in relationships between women, men, neighbors, and civic duty are here for the taking. Readers may identify with “foreigner” Alice, be dependent on some sort of ‘brace’ like Izzy, or be subjected to gender or cultural discrimination like Beth and Sophia. The independent thinker, Margery, leads the librarians and readers to make bold self- examination of where allegiances are forged, how the pledge of support is maintained, and how to move forward when difficulties arise. Margery’s words, “There is always a way out of a situation. Might be ugly. Might leave you feeling like the earth has gone and shifted under your feet. But there is always a way around.”

JoJo Moyes’ charismatic characters and descriptions of the Appalachian Mountains will be all readers need to devour this book cover to cover as quickly as possible; before the librarian rides up the trail to collect The Giver of Stars so someone else up the holler has a chance to read it.

The Giver of Stars by Amy Lowell

Hold your soul open for my welcoming.
Let the quiet of your spirit bathe me
With its clear and rippled coolness,
That, loose-limbed and weary, I find rest,
Outstretched upon your peace, as on a bed of ivory.
Let the flickering flame of your soul play all about me,
That into my limbs may come the keenness of fire,
The life and joy of tongues of flame,
And, going out from you, tightly strung and in tune,
I may rouse the blear-eyed world,
And pour into it the beauty which you have begotten.

The First Emma by Camille Di Maio

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The First Emma is a moving story of love, hope, and murder that captures one woman’s journey to make her mark on history and another’s desire to preserve it.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“There is much in life that is out of our control. The answer is not to give up and crumble. The answer is to find a way around it, no matter the difficulty. No matter how impossible the obstacles.” This was Emma Koehler’s outlook and reason for her miraculous success in steering the San Antonio Brewing company through the storms of Prohibition and the Great Depression, after the scandalous murder of her husband, Otto Koehler, in 1914.

Chug along with Camille Di Maio as she takes young, naive Mabel Hartley on the arduous train trip from Baltimore to San Antonio, Texas. Mabel has been hand picked by Emma Koehler from hundreds of applicants, to listen and record, first hand, Emma’s account of her ideas, successes and the details of Otto’s murder, as she lives out the last days of her life. The morning ‘memory” sessions are laced with 85 year old Emma’s stern demands, which over the days and weeks grow into motherly concerns and sage advice for Mable. As winter turns to spring, Mabel’s interest in the brewing company is sparked and the wall around her heart begins to crack. Camille Di Maio peeks the readers’ historical interests by interspersing the memories of Emma with actual newspaper accounts from around the country and the world: Otto Koehler’s funeral, the “other Emmas” testimony, jury selection, the pending murder trial, and outcomes. The accounting of Emma Koehler’s life story is told graciously and with great respect, for this remarkable woman and her heroic accomplishments are even more inspirational when readers discover the view is actually that of a widow in a wheelchair.

The First Emma is brimming with details of household names such as Anheuser Busch, Lone Star, and Pearl. The details of the San Antonio brewery’s process for making of beer, along with the purchase of recipes and mother yeast from Germany, will have readers reaching for a “cold one” while cheering for Pearl to survive Prohibition and the Great Depression. Readers, especially from Texas, will “cotton to the likes of” references to the Majestic Theater, the Menger Hotel, and the Alamo.

Emma Koehler and her Pearl Brewing Company emerged from Prohibition as one of the only brewing companies not to go out of business. Emma listened to advice of friends in the beer industry and diversified; changing production to ice, ice cream, and even dry cleaning- thus keeping all her employees.

Camille Di Maio has accomplished a Texas sized feat by combining an inspirational and empowering account of Emma Koehler’s Pearl Brewing company success with the murder trial of the century.

Five Stars: Big and Bright, Deep in the Heart of Texas! GR

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Little Tea by Claire Fullerton

Release Day- May 1, 2020
Little Tea was a finalist in the Faulkner Society’s international William Wisdom Competition in the novel category

It is currently on the long list of the Chanticleer Review’s Somerset Awards.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“There are some parts of your history your friends won’t let you outrun.”

Celia, Renny and Ava have been friends since they were thirteen years old growing up in Como, Mississippi. Now that they are “older” the realization is “we’re in it for life. Our dogged loyalty to each other is partially based on longevity. We’ve invested too much time in each other to turn back now.”

Celia has been asked to travel the long distance from California to a lake house in Arkansas, to spend a spontaneous three days with Renny and Ava, to help Ava figure ‘some things out.’ Celia has spent her adult life cultivating a safety zone far from her youth and the memories, but this is a rare request.

Celia’s lake house reunion with Renny and Ava confronting their adult issues and emotions, is as tangled as the Spanish moss in the oak trees lining the back roads of Como, Mississippi. Celia recounts their youthful escapades, laced with memories of her closest friend, Little Tea, and coming of age in the deep South during the 80’s. This era included the civil rights movement, feminism, and effects of the Vietnam War. The past is revealed through the eyes and heart of Celia, a devoted sister and daughter, whose own Wakefield family dynamics are inseparable from Little Tea Winfrey’s family, the “overseer and house help.” To add fuel to the fire, toss in two generations of Southern mothers, who were “born and loyal to Southern ways, which is to say the less you talked about something, the less real it became.” These Southern ways kept the family shutters closed on alcoholism, depression, the racial divide and even sexuality.

“Intuition is a double-edged sword when it threatens to reveal what it is you don’t want to admit.” Readers may cry or cringe at the racially charged situations Celia and Little Tea encounter and overcome. Readers who grew up in the South will come face to face with a way of life that one hopes is in the past, but may have to admit still exists at some level in some places. When not reflecting on personal beliefs and confronting uncomfortable social morays, readers will relish author Claire Fullerton’s intricate descriptions of the woods, the lanes, the lakes or front porches. Enthralled readers anxious to get a peek into Little Tea’s future will also personally experience the Southern seasons amidst the beauty, the heat and humidity!

Soak up some Southern history and charm as you read Little Tea by Claire Fullerton. Remember your manners and as Little Tea says, ” Go on with yourself.” GR

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Feels Like Falling by Kristy Woodson Harvey

A Spring 2020 Okra Pick
Parade’s 20 Most Anticipated Books of Early 2020
SheKnows’ 10 of the Most Anticipated Books Coming in 2020
Mary Kay Andrews’ Reading Challenge Women’s Fiction Pick
Working Mother’s 20 Most Anticipated Books of 2020 for Working Moms

From “the next major voice in Southern fiction” (Elin Hilderbrand) and the bestselling author of the Peachtree Bluff series comes an odd-couple tale of friendship that asks just how much our past choices define our happiness.

Here “comes an odd-couple tale of friendship that asks just how much our past choices define our happiness. ”

The Grateful Reader Review: by Dorothy Schwab

Such a memorable time in our world and so many readers are having trouble concentrating – lamenting our “old” lives and the schedules that were so familiar to our hearts and digital “calendarized” brains. Here’s a chance to escape to the back porch of a stunning beach house with breathtaking views of waves, dunes, and sunsets; empty guest house included. This beautiful beachfront property belongs to Gray Howard, business owner and country club member. Her “lazy, soar on his wife’s coattails” husband has just left her for the company assistant the day after her mother’s funeral! Gray’s over-planned life is turned upside down. In the same town, Diana, aka “trailer trash orphan, has finally left her boy-friend of way too many years, been fired from her job in the photo lab at the local pharmacy, and is presently homeless; unless the Impala counts. These two gals from opposite worlds, but with so much in common, collide at the photo counter in the local drug store and thus begins the making of a very “odd couple.” Told in the alternating voice of Gray and Di, the two enter into a “symbiotic* ” friendship. Readers will surely find an emotional attachment to the servant heart of Di and come to appreciate the corporate, scheduled mind of Gray. A love story on several levels: mother/daughter, husband/wife, friend/friend. Readers will want to “sip ‘n savor” Feels Like Falling on every level.

The beaches are closed and in spite of SIP, readers can pack a tote for the backyard with lunch and a drink- tuck in a copy of Feels Like Falling -and experience a gratifying trip to the North Carolina shore.

* Symbiotic relationships are a special type of interaction between species. Sometimes beneficial, sometimes harmful, these relationships are essential to many organisms and ecosystems, and they provide a balance that can only be achieved by working together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRcVMV-gXP4&t=12s&authuser=0

Listen to Kristy tell how she was inspired to write this story of unusual friendship.

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Hannah’s War by Jan Eliasberg

Award-winning filmmaker Jan Eliasberg’s Hannah’s War, for readers of The Nightingale and The Alice Network, is a thrilling historical debut about a female scientist working to develop the first atomic bomb during World War II, and the young military investigator determined to uncover her secret past. https://janeliasberg.com/hannahs-war-by-jan-eliasberg/

Author Jan Eliasberg sat down with Little, Brown editor Judy Clain to discuss Hannah’s War. Jan will be posting excerpts from their wide-ranging conversation about the book, Jan’s inspirations, her experiences in film and television, and her writing process. New clips will be posted regularly. https://janeliasberg.com/video-qa-series-with-jan-eliasberg/

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“What was the occasional indiscretion compared to the impending possibility of world peace on one hand or mass extinction on the other?” Jan Eliasberg’s intensely engrossing novel transports readers between Berlin, 1938, to Los Alamos, New Mexico, 1945. The suspense and secrecy surrounding the development of the atomic bomb, The Manhattan Project, keeps readers alert and ready to run for shelter. Brilliant “non-Aryan” female physicist, Hannah Weiss, has been exiled to New Mexico to lend her expertise to the mission of the research team of J. Robert Oppenheimer: Be the first to build a bomb. Major Jack Delaney, wounded in liberating Paris, arrives on a three day interrogation mission to catch the spy leaking encoded equations to Hitler’s scientists. Due to Hannah’s involvement with the infamous Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin ten years earlier, Jack, now a member of military intelligence, has decided that Hannah is the spy. Now to prove it.

Jan Eliasberg’s expert director’s eye creates a vision of intrigue and deception laced with lies; while covering the “blackboard of suspense” with the perfect equations for love to unfold and trust to develop. Is the love and trust merited, or is it all a masquerade? Readers will be trapped in Jan Eliasberg’s net until the last telegram is delivered. Five Atomic Stars! GR

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Camp Clique by Eileen Moskowitz-Palma

Book #1 – the Popularity Pact Series-Publishing April 14, 2020

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Maisy and Bea, best friends since their preschool years, have grown up together. Maisy has spent her sixth grade year doing everything in her power to “hold her spot” in the M&M’s-the most popular girls’ group at school. During this same year Bea has become invisible and spent her days at school in complete silence; eating alone while reading a book, speaking to no one and no one speaking to her. It was if she “ceased to exist.” What happened to cause the split between these two best friends?

It’s the summer before seventh grade and Bea, an only child, is sad to leave her single mom, but excited as she heads off to Camp Amelia. She’ll join her BFF’s in the Sunflower Bunk, all in great anticipation of training to win the coveted trophy at the end of camp tournament; as the Sunflowers do every camp season. Maisy is unknowingly signed up by her dad for Camp Amelia -a high adventure camp for girls. Maisy’s mom is mysteriously not “in the picture.” Anxiety ridden and not athletic at all, Maisy cannot tolerate the thought of spending six whole weeks with a bunch of “losers.” The summer saga begins to unfold as Maisy and Bea end up on the same “ancient yellow bus” heading from Mapleton to Camp Amelia. Maisy is mortified. Mapleton School World and Camp Amelia World are colliding. When these two worlds collide, the Popularity Pact erupts.

Belonging- gaining status as an essential part of a group. This is a feeling understood by every age group, but it seems SO crucial to the “happiness” of Middle School girls. Striving to belong to a group begins at a young age- early elementary for most. Guiding young girls through this tangle of feelings is never so traumatic as in the Middle School years. Teachers at this level deserve so much respect and gratitude for helping girls cope and survive the “daily dilemmas” of seventh and eighth grade. Maisy and Bea are dealing with difficult family situations but aren’t comfortable sharing their inmost fears. But then, who is?

Eileen Moskowitz-Palma’s series, The Popularity Pact, brings a myriad of doubts and emotions to the surface for readers-young and old, alike. Adults may conjure fond memories or even disturbing emotions. “Camp Clique provides valuable lessons about friendship, identity, belonging, and the power of kindness.” Young girls will identify with Maisy, Bea, or one of the Sunflowers. In any case, Book #1, Camp Clique, will leave all campers ready to barge boldly into the halls of Mapleton Middle School to find out just exactly how Maisy and Bea uphold their end of the Popularity Pact. Campers will be clamoring to register for Book #2-School Squad-coming fall of 2020.

“When Eileen Moskowitz-Palma double majored in Elementary Education and English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, she thought she would have to choose between a career as a writer or a teacher. It wasn’t until she was almost 40 that she realized she could do both.

Now, Eileen divides her time between writing middle grade novels and teaching Beginner Novel Writing and Writing for Children and Young Adults at The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College.

Eileen is a fitness enthusiast and lives a vegan-ish lifestyle unless you count the occasional bacon cheeseburger. She lives in Westchester, NY, with her college sweetheart husband Douglas, their daughter Molly, and their Wire Fox Terrier Oscar, who is one snaggle-tooth away from being a doggy model.”

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The Lilac House by Barbara Josselsohn

An utterly uplifting feel-good summer romance (Lake Summers Book 1)

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Discover artistic beauty and creativity in a refreshing springtime novel that mends hearts and broken families during one short summer at a lake resort in the Adirondacks. Barbara Josselsohn’s The Lilac House will wrap the reader in the arms of grief, regret, and finally forgiveness and the realization that life does go on. Newly widowed, Anna is hiding in the shadows of grief and living her future by reliving the memories of her lost husband. Taking her children, Zac and Evie, to Lilac House, the enchanting two-story Colonial Greg had surprised her with for their first anniversary, seems to be the right thing to do the summer after Greg’s untimely death. Maybe they’d all return for one last time to say good-bye and then sell the house? Anna returns to the charming Main Street of Lake Summers, to find the business owners of the quaint downtown preparing for a busy summer of campers, seasonal visitors, and Fourth of July festivities.

Lilac Pointe, the dance shop on Main Street, is owned by Anna’s Aunt Hope. The beautiful dance studio also has the best shoe and leotard selection in the region, along with an accomplished choreographer and dance instructor; but is still struggling. Enter Aidan, a new consultant in town, and his teenage son, Liam. Aidan is full of ideas on how to improve business in the resort town of Lake Summers. Hope doesn’t trust “consultants” and is not interested; Anna is.

Trust is an issue for Hope and Anna. Trusting one’s own feelings and the decisions of others can be a challenge for so many. Readers can trust Barbara Josselsohn to guide Anna and Hope to discover all the options for this last visit to Lake Summers and Lilac House. The pirouettes, plies and recalling of the Lilac Variation from The Sleeping Beauty, along with the discoveries of Hope and Anna’s trust in each other, will keep readers “on pointe!”

For readers searching for hope and renewed faith in discovering new love, second chances, and that comfortable feeling of “finding home”- take a jaunt over to The Lilac House on Main Street. Stay awhile and bask in the glow of sunset on the lake. Savor a meal at Sogni di Lago while the tiny lights glitter in the trees. Then stroll down to the Smoothie Dudes for the new Lilac Pointe Smoothie! The Lilac House is a ***** “QuaranRead!” GR

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The Grace Kelly Dress by Brenda Janowitz

**Dorothy & Carl, May 20, 1972: Veil & Dress designed, sewn, & seed pearls hand beaded by Dorothy**

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

One dress. Three generations of women. A lifetime of love.

In any wedding, “the dress” takes center stage. The most elegant and best-remembered wedding dress was worn by Grace Kelly. The famous actress became Princess of Monaco, starring in her own fairy tale wedding on April 19, 1956. That bridal gown is known as one of the most famous since the mid-20th century.

In The Grace Kelly Dress Brenda Janowitz escorts the reader down the aisle, right up to the altar; three times over three generations. As each “bride to be” tells her story, the reader is drenched with delicious details of how each “groom to be” came into the picture. But, the main focus is the Grace Kelly Dress and how it all started in the atelier of Madame Michel, with a bride’s choice of pattern and design. Madame says, “This dress is the most important dress a bride will ever wear. Choose carefully.”

The Grateful Reader relished the conversations and images inspired by the intricate details of the mother-daughter relationships as wedding dates drew closer. The developing changes in feelings for each other, fathers and siblings in regard to the memories “the dress” carries for each potential bride, is also captivating and will resonate with readers.

As the designer and seamstress of the dress pictured above, the painstaking attention to details as the Grace Kelly dress is constructed, remade, and even agonized over; is not missed. Readers are cordially invited to conjure beautiful memories of a groom at the altar, floral bouquets & giggling flower girls; bridesmaids, nervous caterers, tilting cakes and hankies at the ready for daddy-daughter dances. Brenda Janowitz greets each guest with a lovely wedding story. Please add your name to the wedding registry as a reader of The Grace Kelly Dress. Five Stars *****- Reception to follow at the home of the bride.

“Two years after Grace Kellys royal wedding, her iconic dress is still all the rage in Paris and one replica, and the secrets it carries, will inspire three generations of women to forge their own paths in life and in love in this beguiling new novel from Brenda Janowitz.” Goodreads

“Brenda Janowitz is the author of five novels, including The Dinner Party and Recipe for a Happy Life. She is the Books Correspondent for PopSugar. Brenda’s work has also appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Salon, Redbook, and the New York Post. She lives in New York. “

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The Last Bathing Beauty by Amy Sue Nathan

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“You should own all the pieces of your life, good or bad. They make up who you are.” Hannah to her grandmother.

The Last Bathing Beauty will whisk readers away to Stern’s Summer Resort in South Haven, Michigan, during the carefree summer of 1951. Betty Clare Stern, is the cherished granddaughter of the owners of the resort-one which happens to be a premier destination of the Jewish elite for miles around. Raised by her grandparents from the age of 4, when her parents decided she’d be better off without them; Betty has spent her summers participating and then helping, with the children’s activities. Now at 18 years old, she plans to attend college and forge a career in the New York fashion industry. (The “standard” expectation of Marriage and motherhood might come later.) For now Betty wants to enjoy one last glorious, sun drenched summer in South Haven, palling around with childhood friends, Doris and Georgia; then she’ll be off to follow her dream. The pieces of her puzzle are falling into place.

Fast forward to the summer of 2017, “Boop,” as she is known, is expecting her friends, Doris and Georgia, for a long planned reunion. The arrival of Hannah, her granddaughter, preempts the arrival of Boop’s friends; but no matter, Doris and Georgia are known as Hannah’s “bonus bubbes.” The “bubbes” cajole stories out of Hannah, while “smothered memories are gasping for air through unguarded cracks in Boop’s consciousness.” Author, Amy Nathan, sorts through all the pieces in Boop’s memory as she slowly unpacks the “tackle box that holds her happiest and her saddest memory… love and loss, comedy and tragedy, past and future.”

What will be the final piece to Boop’s life puzzle- that “puzzle of family, love and being true to oneself while honoring those around you?” Readers will be so satisfied with the final and complete, whole picture of The Last Bathing Beauty.

Writer of novels, lover of cats, morning coffee, dark chocolate, and bold lipstick. Former vegetarian, occasional crafter, adequate cook, loyal friend, proud mom to two awesome adults.

A former beauty queen faces the secrets of her past for herself and the sake of her family’s future in a heartfelt novel about fate, choices, and second chances. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-last-bathing-beauty-amy-sue-nathan/1132798106;jsessionid=3D98C942B0B2413C098E482CA2A72725.prodny_store02-atgap13?ean=9781542007092&st=AFF&2sid=Goodreads,

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The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

Lisa Wingate is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Before We Were Yours, which remained on the bestseller list for fifty-four weeks in hardcover and has sold over 2 million copies. She has penned over thirty novels and coauthored a nonfiction book, Before and After with Judy Christie. Her award-winning works have been selected for state and community One Book reads throughout the country, have been published in over forty languages, and have appeared on bestseller lists worldwide. The group Americans for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa and six others as recipients of the National Civies Award, which celebrates public figures who work to promote greater kindness and civility in American life. Booklist summed up her work by saying, “Lisa Wingate is, quite simply, a master storyteller.” She lives with her husband in North Texas. More information about her novels can be found at www.lisawingate.com where you can also sign up for her e-newsletter and follow her on social media.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours comes a new historical novel: the dramatic story of three young women searching for family amid the destruction of the post–Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who learns of their story and its vital connection to her students’ lives.

The Book of Lost Friends, releasing April 7 is now available for preorders through all local booksellers and online.https://lisawingate.com/books/the-book-of-lost-friends/

A link to a research trip Lisa made to plantations and other Civil War Historical sites: https://www.facebook.com/LisaWingateAuthorPage/posts/happy-to-be-wrapping-up-an-incredible-week-of-traversing-the-state-of-louisiana-/2855941477779356/

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Lisa Wingate is an author whose new book should fly into your “cart” without even reading the description. But when the description is revealed, “the hand has been dealt;” it’s a winner. Here’s a brief description from Lisa’s page:

“Louisiana, 1875: In the tumultuous era of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Hannie, a freed slave; Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now destitute plantation; and Juneau Jane, Lavinia’s Creole half sister. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas, following roads rife with vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of stolen inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and siblings before slavery’s end, the pilgrimage west reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the limitless frontiers of Texas and, improbably, hope.

Louisiana, 1987: For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt—until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Augustine, Louisiana, is suspicious of new ideas and new people, and Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled live oaks and run-down plantation homes lie the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything.

“Sad thing when stories die for the lack of listenin’ ears.” Granny T

The story of Hannie, Lavinia, and Juneau Jane bundles the reader off into directions and paths that are difficult for a conscientious reader to tolerate; much less acknowledge an awareness of family and community involvement in similar situations, either by stories handed down from the 1870’s or from a primary source in the 1980’s. In either case, this dual timeline between the three young girls on their travels through Texas in 1875 and the “tales of a teacher” in rural south Louisiana, 1987. will keep readers wide eyed and awake; pondering for days how Lisa Wingate has woven such a “saga of sadness” into a ‘jump for joy” celebration for her readers.

The idea for book of lost friends actually sprang from a book lover. This avid reader, a volunteer with the Historic New Orleans Collection, was entering database information in order to preserve the history of the “Lost Friends” column. These were ads, published in the Southwestern Christian Advocate, a Methodist newspaper. The paper went to preachers, post offices, and subscription holders. Preachers read the ads from the pulpit, hoping families separated before “the Freedom” could be rejoined. After reading LW’s Before We Were Yours, this New Orleans’ book lover thought this was another, similar, piece of history.

As a “girl from south Louisiana” and a teacher, this novel had me rooting for Hannie, Lavinia, and Juneau Jane, and cheering for Benny. First year teacher, Benny was determined to make inroads into the community, the school board and most importantly to finding the keys to students’ learning that had been locked for years behind bars of prejudice: “no expectations, no encouragement, neglect, & abuse.” Benny wants her students to “see that there is no faster way to change your circumstance than to open a great book.”

So to all Grateful Reader followers: Open The Book of Lost Friends, and be changed.

Featured

And They Called It Camelot : A Novel of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis by Stephanie Marie Thornton

Praise for And They Called it Camelot

“And They Called It Camelot is the book club pick of the year. Stephanie Marie Thornton brings an American icon to life: Jackie the debutante, the First Lady, the survivor who at last becomes the heroine of her own story.” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Huntress

And the “praises” just keep on coming! “

Stephanie Marie Thornton is a USA Today bestselling author and a high school history teacher. She lives in Alaska with her husband and daughter.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“You don’t just turn everything beautiful, you turn it to gold!” Jack to Jaqueline

Jackie Kennedy was “our” First Lady; really as close to a queen as Americans would ever get. Her beauty, style and grace were admired and copied by women around the world. Jackie’s intellect, wit and command of languages was impressive and absolutely necessary to Jack and the Kennedy family in his run for the Senate and the Presidency. The devotion and commitment as mother to her children was unmatched and probably sometimes, unknown. The grief she bore during her lifetime is unthinkable. What you think you know of Jackie-the magazine profiles, the evening news clips, the newspaper headlines, countless biographies; even the “tell all” by Maud Shaw, the Nanny to Caroline & John- are just the tip of the iceberg.

Stephanie Marie Thornton takes the reader up that shining hill to a place dubbed Camelot: “November 22, 1963- The pink pillbox hat and Chanel-inspired boucle suit awaited her on the bed.” Readers know what’s coming; still, it’s gut wrenching to keep reading. When news of President Kennedy’s assassination was broadcast, readers of a certain age know the exact location, person who was speaking, and what happened next. What Americans didn’t know was the “middle” leading up to the gruesome ending of the story that was presented as a fairy tale.

Every fairy tale has good and evil elements; along with the element of three or sometimes seven. Stephanie Marie Thornton completes the fairy tale chart with an eye-appealing, rich tableau of family scenes, glittering balls and Oleg Cassini gowns, state dinners and the well documented historic renovations in the White House. The “evil” column includes the dastardly demons that surround Jackie, in the form of family, press, movie stars and even Jack; and of course, her memories. Before a breath can be taken the gut-punch of emotion draining dialogue and shocking behavior of those who are supposed to love her, leave the reader in complete awe as Jackie recovers over and over and over again. Not without a tumultuous toll, for sure.

Stephanie Marie Thornton’s tale of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis is filled with characters the reader will applaud and those that deserve resounding “boos!” Unfortunately, the details of the Kennedy assassination and the basic facts are splayed for all to learn or recall. Fortunately, Jackie Kennedy lives on in our minds and memories as a devoted wife, mother, and beloved First Lady. She is known for saving Grand Central Terminal in New York, restoring and protecting the White House, Lafayette Square and Egypt’s temple of Abu Simbel. Miraculously, through all the projects, pain and grief, Jackie found herself and became a survivor.

But, “For one brief shining moment there was Camelot.” Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy November 29, 1963

Renee is a native of Akron, Ohio and a graduate of The American University in Washington DC. She now lives in Chicago where she is at work on a new novel.

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WWII Food Rationing Begins

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The Great San Francisco Earthquake topples buildings, killing thousands

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Gertrude Jekyll -British Horticulturist

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Joy Jordan-Lake is the bestselling author of eight books, including the #1 Amazon Bestseller A Tangled Mercy and Blue Hole Back Home, which won the Christy Award in 2009 for Best First Novel. Her upcoming novel Under a Gilded Moon to be released on 12.01.20.

​She holds a PhD in English Literature, founded a food pantry in New England for women and families experiencing homelessness, and has taught literature and writing at several universities.

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The Library Lions

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Natasha Lester is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction.

The Paris Secret

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She holds a PhD in English Literature, founded a food pantry in New England for women and families experiencing homelessness, and has taught literature and writing at several universities.