The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson

Publication-May 7, 2024-Random House-Historical Fiction-432pp

Book Summary

It is the summer of 1919 and Constance Haverhill is without prospects. Now that all the men have returned from the front, she has been asked to give up her cottage and her job at the estate she helped run during the war. While she looks for a position as a bookkeeper or—horror—a governess, she’s sent as a lady’s companion to an old family friend who is convalescing at a seaside hotel. Despite having only weeks to find a permanent home, Constance is swept up in the social whirl of Hazelbourne-on-Sea after she rescues the local baronet’s daughter, Poppy Wirrall, from a social faux pas.

Poppy wears trousers, operates a taxi and delivery service to employ local women, and runs a ladies’ motorcycle club (to which she plans to add flying lessons). She and her friends enthusiastically welcome Constance into their circle. And then there is Harris, Poppy’s recalcitrant but handsome brother—a fighter pilot recently wounded in battle—who warms in Constance’s presence. But things are more complicated than they seem in this sunny pocket of English high society. As the country prepares to celebrate its hard-won peace, Constance and the women of the club are forced to confront the fact that the freedoms they gained during the war are being revoked.

Whip-smart and utterly transportive, The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club is historical fiction of the highest order: an unforgettable coming-of-age story, a tender romance, and a portrait of a nation on the brink of change.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“Paradise on the English seashore?” This novel is brimming with British snobbishness, hijinks at the Peace Parade festivities, a business wager with grave consequences, and a love story with a twist. These elements create a race from start to finish!

Simonson exhibits the bold nature of the characters as Constance rescues motorcyclist Poppy Wirrall on the Meredith Hotel veranda. Several star characters appear at dinner that very evening. The humorous sibling rivalry of Poppy and Harris is woven between their incorrigible mother, Lady Wirrall, friend Tom Morris and his twin sisters, Evangeline and Guinevere. The wry banter, honesty, and discernment shown in this scene are perfect examples of the narrative to come. Constance reveals she has but the summer months to map out a plan for her future. Buckle up for a great ride!

Behind the planning of the Peace Parade, the burgeoning motorcycle club, and saving Lady Wirral’s estate, are themes of loss, women’s rights, social class distinction and prejudice. Simonson exquisitely examines dealing with loss through the guarded transformation of Harris inside and out. A new law requiring businesses to hire returning soldiers creates anxiety and anticipation, highlighting this struggle for women of the post war era. Class distinction and prejudices are exposed with snooty, haughty, maddening remarks, but handled immediately by Simonson with insightful discerning dialogue and even some rewarding groveling. Cheers for Constance as she reveals her brilliance and finds the voice to prove it, “Women should always aim to be competent rather than decorative,” says it all.

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying club, filled with analogies, witty banter, and unforgettable characters, evokes emotions from glee to outrage. Constance decides she “can’t be bitter simply because life was not a fairy tale.” Or is it? Trousers, riding goggles, and a jaunty scarf suggested, but not required.

Helen Simonson was born in England and spent her teenage years in a small village in East Sussex. A graduate of the London School of Economics, she has spent the last three decades in the United States and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. Simonson is married, with two grown sons, and is the author of the New York Times bestselling debut novel Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand and The Summer Before the War.

Daughter of Snow and Secrets Defying the Crown Series-Book 3 by Kerry Chaput

Publication March 21, 2024-Black Rose Writing-318pp

Book Summary

1681. Isabelle lives safely in Geneva but travels to the French countryside along secret Huguenot trails to rescue Protestants from the king’s vicious dragonnade program. She protects her family from the dangers of battling the Royal Army, but her wild daughter Elizabeth has other ideas. Eager to prove herself, Elizabeth attempts a solo rescue that goes horribly wrong. Isabelle comes out of hiding and travels to Paris while all of France wants her dead.

On a dangerous mission to Versailles, old enemies threaten to tear her family apart. She must rely on surprising allies and the daughter she’s fought to protect to keep them alive and rescue every Protestant in France.

In the final installment of the award-winning Defying the Crown trilogy, Kerry Chaput takes readers on another thrilling adventure through the outlandish world of Paris and Versailles. Daughter of Snow and Secrets immerses you in a breathless tale of danger with a cast of brave, fierce women as they fight for love and freedom. You won’t want to miss the stunning conclusion to this riveting historical fiction series.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab First Published-May 2024 Issue-Historical Novels Review Magazine

Daughter of Snow and Secrets is the final adventure in the award-winning series Defying the Crown by Kerry Chaput. Isabelle’s journey begins in Daughter of the King as she flees from France to Canada, denying her Protestant beliefs to escape persecution of the Catholic King in 1661. In book two, Daughter of the Shadows, Isabelle is leading a double life as a spy travelling from Quebec to Paris to challenge King Louis XIV in 1667. In Daughter of Snow and Secrets, Chaput masterfully weaves the tangled threads of Isabelle’s childhood persecution and early marriage to a Catholic soldier with the Protestant Resistance in 1681, as she tenaciously leads Huguenot’s through the French countryside to safety in Geneva.

Isabelle’s thoughts, dreams, and memories give readers a glimpse into her plans creating anticipation and injecting suspense into the fast-paced plot. After rescuing Huguenot families and killing many of the king’s dragoons, Isabelle, a warrior, fighter, becomes known as the Red Fox. The loss of a long-time friend and the need for revenge forces Isabelle’s return to Paris. Humorous banter with a rescued Duke adds levity to the decision as readers are whisked to the ornately ostentatious Palace of Versailles and its labyrinth of gardens. Vivid details of the nobility, their dress, and activities pale in comparison to the elaborate scheme Isabelle and her family have concocted to defy the king. From poisoning guards to the stench of the mirrored halls, Chaput creates impassioned escapades that fill readers and guests with desperation and fear as word spreads that the infamous Red Fox is indeed inside the palace.

This thrilling series conclusion demonstrates how after years of preparation fierce women must choose between survival instincts and personal convictions to keep their cause alive. Series highly recommended.

All my stories explore the journey of young women, found family, and first love. I blend history, adventure, and magic into my own version of historical fantasy. I believe in inclusion and exploring the broad range of experiences with young women so my readers may see how truly diverse women’s history is. Born a California girl, I now live in Bend, Oregon where I can be found hiking and enjoying the amazing trails of the Pacific Northwest. I live with my husband, two children, and two dogs, sharing the love of Oregon and finding inspiration in the world around me. I hope you enjoy my stories as much as I love writing them. https://www.kerrywrites.com/kerrychaputbio

The Trilogy and Reviews

**Book 1**
**https://gratefulreader.home.blog/2021/12/06/daughter-of-the-king-by-kerry-chaput/**

Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles

Publishes April 30, 2024-Atria Books-Historical Fiction-336pp

Book Summary

A brilliant new novel based on the true story of Jessie Carson—the American librarian who changed the literary landscape of France.

1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. Founded by millionaire Anne Morgan, this group of international women help rebuild devastated French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen—children’s libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears.

1987: When NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives, she becomes consumed with learning her fate. In her obsessive research, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York’s famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

An homage to librarians, this novel based on the true story of Jessie Carson, recruited to serve with the American Committee for Devastated France in 1917, highlights how sharing the love of reading changes the lives of children and families. The abbreviation for the group in French is CARD, so the women called themselves Cards. Jessie’s courage to leave the New York Public Library and serve in France is captivating.

Readers sink into the 1918 war zone through descriptions of the devastation and mindboggling courage of the Cards. Charles captures the haunting aura of the demolished castle in Blérancourt, now CARD headquarters, along with breathtaking accounts of Cards navigating minefields, searching for orphaned children hiding in caves, and rebuilding bombed villages. The bonds of respect forged between the millionaire Anne Morgan, Anne Murray Dike, “Kit” Carson and “Brecki” create the undying support needed for families and businesses to return to Blérancourt at the end of the war. The adoption of separated pets, socials for soldiers, and creative puns; calling Cards or my favorite, report Cards, lighten the novel’s somber mood as villagers are extended a lifeline through mobile libraries and books.

The dual timeline Charles maps into the plot routes readers back to the New York Public Library in 1987. She creates tension down in the Remembrance Department between aspiring writer Wendy Peterson and fellow librarian Roberto as they comb through microfiche; older readers will know this antiquated technology. Charles laces their long hours of research with flirty banter and catchy Jeopardy questions as readers root for Wendy’s writing career. Wendy endures condescending Professor Hill, a well-drawn, extremely maddening, unlikeable character, and determines to find the elusive Jessie Carson.

I highly recommend this impressive novel and my favorite section, the Author’s note, filled with the history of librarians in France during World War I. Janet Skeslien Charles reminds us “books are a lifeline.”

Use your library Card and check it out!

The chateau at Blérancourt, France

**https://museefrancoamericain.fr/en/anne-morgan-and-world-war-i-1917-1924**

Anne Morgan- (July 25, 1873 – January 29, 1952) was an American philanthropist who provided relief efforts in aid to France during and after World War I and II

Anne Murray Dike -(1878-1929) was an American doctor, chair of the American Committee for Devastated France from 1917 and recipient of the Croix de Guerre and member of the Legion of Honour. ^[1]

The Search by Dewayne Rahe

Published Feb.6, 2024-Palmetto Publishing-304pp-American Historical Fiction

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-search-dewayne-rahe/1144669803

Book Summary

Journey into 1910 Iowa: Where Mystery, Adventure & Destiny Collide in Fred Schmidt’s Pursuit of Life’s True Purpose in The Search.

In rural Iowa, 1910, Fred Schmidt faces life’s pivotal question: How should he live his life? This compelling historical fiction transports readers into a world bursting with real and mystical characters. Teamed up with Artie Holberg, the ambitious son of a renowned horse trader, Fred embarks on an enthralling adventure-from a daring scheme in Minnesota to a treacherous escapade in pre-World War I Europe. Encounters with enigmatic figures like Count Von Drathen and the beautifully captivating Baroness Van Essen weave a tapestry of suspense, mystery, and revelation.

Dewayne Rahe, inspired by the rich background of his cultural heritage and history, masterfully blends history, destiny, and adventure in The Search. A tale about finding oneself amid life’s mysteries, this riveting narrative beautifully encapsulates the universal struggle of choosing one’s own path.

A must-read for fans of historical fiction, journey with Fred as he navigates the intricate map of destiny, love, and intrigue. Will the mystical voice guiding him reveal the truth he seeks? Dive in to uncover the thrilling conclusion. Don’t just read a story, experience the search for destiny.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Search is an extension of Last of the Wild, about the Pioneers that settled Northeast Iowa. Rahe continues the saga in 1910 as Fred Schmidt is coming of age, making decisions, and learning life lessons as he navigates the workings of the Holberg Horse Trading Company. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel about finding family, heritage, and purpose.

There are elements for readers of all ages to appreciate. The omniscient counselor that whispers in the wind lends a mystical, magical thread that will enthrall younger readers. Rahe expertly weaves the concept of gathering advice and opinions from parents and grandparents, suggesting searching for wisdom from those with life experiences. Fred learns that people do misrepresent themselves, promises aren’t always kept and it’s necessary to figure out who to trust. Fred is not always successful, which is certainly real life! He experiences amazing travel opportunities along with the complexities of family responsibility and the impact of birth order on personalities. There are emotions to explore such as fear, guilt, and regret surrounding personal and business decisions. Fred also faces conundrums, situations where a difficult decision will have lasting, ripple effects. Rahe handles these situations with grit and finesse. His characters are well developed through dialogue and scenes are filled with detailed descriptions and historical background. The Scotsman farmer, Thomas Ferguson and his Clydesdales, David and Goliath, along with his meal of haggis is a perfect example.

The Search is a novel of suspense and adventure laced with pearls of wisdom; filled with anticipation and surprises right to the last whistle.

Dewayne Rahe, a retired Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and author of Last of the Wild, resides near Dyersville, Iowa. Influenced by his rich cultural heritage and history, Dewayne writes captivating stories, seeking to share wisdom and guidance, especially for his ten beloved grandchildren. His books are highlighted with illustrations by his artist wife, Krystal. Beyond writing, Dewayne enjoys spending time with his family, gardening, biking, and traveling to his grandchildren’s numerous athletic events.

The Flower Sisters by Michelle Collins Anderson

Publication April 23, 2024-Kensington Books-Historical Fiction-Teens/YA-368pp

Book Summary

Daisy Flowers is fifteen in 1978 when her free-spirited mother dumps her in Possum Flats, Missouri. It’s a town that sounds like roadkill and, in Daisy’s eyes, is every bit as dead. Sentenced to spend the summer living with her grandmother, the wry and irreverent town mortician, Daisy draws the line at working for the family business, Flowers Funeral Home. Instead, she maneuvers her way into an internship at the local newspaper where, sorting through the basement archives, she learns of a mysterious tragedy from fifty years earlier…

On a sweltering, terrible night in 1928, an explosion at the local dance hall left dozens of young people dead, shocking and scarring a town that still doesn’t know how or why it happened. Listed among the victims is a name that’s surprisingly familiar to Daisy, revealing an irresistible family connection to this long-ago accident.

Obsessed with investigating the horrors and heroes of that night, Daisy soon discovers Possum Flats holds a multitude of secrets for a small town. And hardly anyone who remembers the tragedy is happy to have some teenaged hippie asking questions about it – not the fire-and-brimstone preacher who found his calling that tragic night; not the fed-up police chief; not the mayor’s widow or his mistress; not even Daisy’s own grandmother, a woman who’s never been afraid to raise eyebrows in the past, whether it’s for something she’s worn, sworn, or done for a living.
Some secrets are guarded by the living, while others are kept by the dead, but as buried truths gradually come into the light, they’ll force a reckoning at last.

Inspired by the true story of the Bond Dance Hall explosion, a tragedy that took place in the author’s hometown of West Plains, Missouri on April 13, 1928.The cause of the blast has never been determined.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab Read and Reviewed for BookBrowse: First Impressions Program

This debut historical fiction novel based on the tragic Bond Dance Hall explosion of 1928 is a multigenerational masterpiece. Anderson populates Possum Flats with a cast of endearing characters living out their lives with painfully deep emotional and physical scars from that fateful night. The devastating, mysterious details of the tragedy are revealed through flashbacks by the twin Flower sisters, Rose and Violet, and other prominent townspeople. Now 1978, Rose’s granddaughter, Daisy, an intern for the town paper, is obsessed with getting the scoop on the dance hall explosion for the 50^th anniversary. Through interviews Daisy delves into the compelling backstory on the upbringing and choices of the victims and survivors of the 1928 explosion. The Flower Sisters, a twisting, psychological mystery, is a study of twin connections, the search for identity, and survivor guilt. The tragic lesson is that consequences from split second decisions can ripple for a lifetime. Captivating. Surprising. Haunting.

This is an informative site that describes the event: https://www.unlocktheozarks.org/local-communities/west-plains-mo/bond-dance-hall-explosion/

The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry

Publication April 2, 2024-Atria Books-Historical Fiction-Paperback-384pp

**Magical Website:** https://www.patticallahanhenry.com/the-secret-book-of-flora-lea

Book Summary

In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the kind Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry, in a charming stone cottage along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks and games to distract her young sister, including one that she creates for her sister and her sister alone—a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own.

But the unthinkable happens when young Flora suddenly vanishes while playing near the banks of the river. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, and she carries that guilt into adulthood as a private burden she feels she deserves.

Twenty years later, Hazel is in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore to a career at Sotheby’s. With a charming boyfriend and her elegantly timeworn Bloomsbury flat, Hazel’s future seems determined. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing an illustrated book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the imaginary world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years?

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Patti Callahan Henry’s dual time-line novel begins with the 1939 evacuation of children out of London known as Operation Pied Piper. Hazel Linden and her five-year-old sister, Flora Lea, have travelled by train to Oxford to escape the predicted London bombings. The lush description of the cottage at Binsey, the surrounding woodlands near the Thames, and the warm reception by Bridgette Aberdeen and her son Harry, allow readers a deep breath of relief. The sisters are distracted from the fears of war by “Bridie’s” daytime adventures, but at night with love and warmth, Hazel creates a fairy tale with a secret realm to comfort Flora Lea. The late-night imaginings whimsically named Whisperwood and the River of Stars, become the sisters’ personal, secret lifeline to survival. Patti Callahan Henry has created a mystical, magical, mystery within a mystery. In the depths of this novel’s soul is the disappearance of a fairy tale, Whisperwood and the River of Stars, along with Flora, into the river Thames.

Patti Callahan Henry transports readers from the banks of the Thames in 1940 to Hogan’s Rare Book Shoppe in Bloomsbury, London, 1960. Hazel has spent these last twenty years working and searching for Flora Lea, never giving up hope that she was alive. Then on Hazel’s last day at the book shop before her dream job at Sotheby’s Auction House begins, a parcel arrives from America, an illustrated children’s book with the exact title of her secret realm; Whisperwood and the River of Stars.

The characters PCH creates make surprising choices and keep secrets out of love and protection from the truth. Realizing that “grief, confessions, and memories remain long, and dark and cold,” Henry’s readers learn the fear of discovering truth and who to blame creates trauma and its effect called memory reframing. As the mystery unfolds readers hopes are lifted and dashed as Hazel attempts to find the sender of the parcel, hoping, and praying the creator is Flora Lea. This novel is filled with heartbreak and hope; how to overcome fear, loneliness, loss, and find renewal, but most of all to hold tight and “never surrender to anyone else’s idea of who and what you should believe.”

The beloved, elderly owner of Hogan’s Rare Book Shoppe once told Hazel, “Stories and books always find their rightful owners.” Life will become magical as rightful owners discover Patti Callahan Henry’s The Secret Book of Flora Lea.

Highly recommended; 5 magical stars!

A New York Times Bestselling Author
Co-creator and co-host of the weekly web show and podcast Friends & Fiction. Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of sixteen novels and podcast host. A full-time author, mother of three, and grandmother of two, she lives in Mountain Brook, Alabama with her husband, Pat Henry. Her newest novel, The Secret Book of Flora Lea, is set outside Oxford in the hamlet of Binsey, and will be released on May 2nd, 2023 with Simon & Schuster Atria.

What the Mountains Remember by Joy Callaway

Publication April 2, 2024-Harper Collins-Historical Fiction-368p

Book Summary

At this wondrous resort, secrets can easily be hidden in plain sight when the eye is trained on beauty.

April 1913—Belle Newbold hasn’t seen mountains for seven years—since her father died in a mining accident and her mother married gasoline magnate, Shipley Newbold. But when her stepfather’s business acquaintance, Henry Ford, invites the family on one of his famous Vagabonds camping tours, she is forced to face the hills once again—primarily in order to reunite with her future fiancé, owner of the land the Vagabonds are using for their campsite, a man she’s only met once before. It is a veritable arranged marriage, but she prefers it that way. Belle isn’t interested in love. She only wants a simple life—a family of her own and the stability of a wealthy man’s pockets. That’s what Worth Delafield has promised to give her and it’s worth facing the mountains again, the reminder of the past, and her poverty, to secure her future.

But when the Vagabonds group is invited to tour the unfinished Grove Park Inn and Belle is unexpectedly thrust into a role researching and writing about the building of the inn—a construction the locals are calling The Eighth Wonder of the World—she quickly realizes that these mountains are no different from the ones she once called home. As Belle peels back the facade of Grove Park Inn, of Worth, of the society she’s come to claim as her own, and the truth of her heart, she begins to see that perhaps her part in Grove Park’s story isn’t a coincidence after all. Perhaps it is only by watching a wonder rise from ordinary hands and mountain stone that she can finally find the strength to piece together the long-destroyed path toward who she was meant to be.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Grove Park Inn, known in 1913 as the “eighth wonder of the world,” draws readers to Asheville, North Carolina, in the glorious Blue Ridge Mountains. Asheville’s mountain setting and fresh air has become known as the perfect place for sanatoriums for tuberculosis patients. Edwin Grove and his son-in-law, Fred Seely, are investing in an amazing hotel hoping to secure Asheville’s future by recentering the economy on tourism.

At the core of Callaway’s story is the actual building of Grove Park Inn, the plight of hundreds of laborers, and a tuberculosis pandemic. Callaway lays a solid foundation of the area’s rich history filled with well researched details walled in by Belle and Worth’s intriguing social conundrums. Belle realizes her dream of following in her father’s footsteps and accepts the task of writing the story of Grove Park Inn. With this self-discovery she is immediately transfixed by the craftsmanship that this “marvel upon marvel” will require. Joy Callaway intricately dovetails details of stone masons fitting boulders into the walls of the Great Hall and descriptions of rebar and scaffolding involved in tiled roofing, with the comedic contests of the Vagabonds and the outlandish “camping” scenes of the elite socialites and the waitstaff.

A theme of unconditional love is deeply forged into the relationship of Belle and her mother, Grace. They live in fear of their past being discovered by Grace’s new husband and Belle’s betrothed, Worth Delafield. Callaway’s development of the mother/daughter relationship of secrecy and deceit is layered on top of Belle’s skewed perspective of how she views marriage and family, neither involving love. This view creates a lot of angst, frustration, and tense social scenes. Worth Delafield, dealing with the tragic loss of his family, is also operating out of fear. This plot line winds up and down the mountain roads and into the hills. Belle’s faux life also involves the villain, Marie Austen, her self-centered, irritating, deceiving “best friend.” In the midst of the marriage matches and mismatches, the Grove Park Inn is getting closer and closer to completion! Callaway creates anticipation as exhilarating as the mountain air! Finding purpose and truth is at the heart of What the Mountains Remember.

Joy Callaway is an international bestselling author of historical fiction and southern contemporary romance. She formerly served as a marketing director for a wealth management company. She holds a B.A. in Journalism and Public Relations from Marshall University and an M.M.C. in Mass Communication from the University of South Carolina. She resides in Charlotte, NC with her husband, John, and her children. Joy’s beautiful website: https://www.joycallaway.com/

GROVE PARK INN-LINK TO HISTORY & VIDEO TOUR

The Grove Park Inn History: https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/asheville-grove-park/property-details/history

These Tangled Threads by Sarah Loudin Thomas

Publication April 2, 2024-Bethany House-Christian-Historical Fiction-Romance-368pp

Book Summary

Set in the shadow of Biltmore Estate, a poignant tale of friendship, restoration, and second chances.

Seven years ago, a hidden betrayal scattered three young friends living in the shadow of the great Vanderbilt mansion. Now, when Biltmore Industries master weaver Lorna Blankenship is commissioned to create an original design for Cornelia Vanderbilt’s 1924 wedding, she panics knowing she doesn’t have the creativity needed. But there’s an elusive artisan in the Blue Ridge Mountains who could save her–if only she knew where to begin.

To track down the mysterious weaver, Lorna sees no other way than to seek out the relationships she abandoned in shame. As she pulls at each tangled thread from her past, Lorna is forced to confront the wounds and regrets of life long ago. She’ll have to risk the job that shapes her identity, as well as the hope of friendship–and love–restored.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

George Washington Vanderbilt III first welcomed family and friends to the sprawling Biltmore Estate on Christmas Eve, 1895. Author Sarah Thomas ushers readers across the threshold of the estate twenty-eight years later; after the premature death of George Vanderbilt in 1914 and the North Carolina flood of 1916. These catastrophic events form the breathtaking, dramatic backdrop of These Tangled Threads.

George’s widow, Edith and 14-year-old daughter, Cornelia, forged ahead, running the estate and its eighty person staff. George had established Biltmore Village in 1889, which included a school, a church, hospital, and cottages to house and support the laborers and artisans working on the estate. By 1901 the Vanderbilts had created Biltmore Industries, the apprenticeship program designed to teach woodworking and weaving. This is where fictional characters Lorna, Arthur and Gentry learned their trades. The devastating flood of 1916 created a financial burden for the Vanderbilt estate, forcing Edith to sell Biltmore Industries in 1917, to Fred Seely of nearby Grove Park Inn, which had opened in 1913.

Sarah Thomas deftly weaves daily life at Biltmore House, the Village, and the Industries, with the life altering effects of the flood of 1916. Thomas uses Lorna’s deceit and guilt, Gentry’s loneliness and search for her mother, and Arthur’s rejection as a child to reveal identifiable and relatable emotions through memories and thoughts. They have endured family challenges, the loss of loved ones, and decisions made either out of love and desperation or selfishness and pride. Thomas creates angst and suspense as the defining threads in the lives of the characters unravel through heartbreak, reflection, and regret. By Lorna’s “reckoning day” the threads of illumination and understanding are rewoven into a glistening tapestry of confession and forgiveness. Through loving, compassionate conversations Sarah Loudin Thomas effectively and passionately shares that God’s grace is not earned, it is a gift. A gift of Amazing Grace. These Tangled Threads: Uplifting and Redeeming

Sarah Loudin Thomas (sarahloudinthomas.com) is the author of numerous acclaimed novels, including The Finder of Forgotten Things, The Right Kind of Fool, winner of the 2021 Selah Book of the Year, and Miracle in a Dry Season, winner of the 2015 INSPY Award. She worked in public relations for Biltmore Estate for six years and is now the director of Jan Karon’s Mitford Museum. A native of West Virginia, she and her husband now live in western North Carolina.

Facts and Photos to extend the visit to Asheville, North Carolina

The settings of Biltmore House, Biltmore Village, and Biltmore Industries each play a key role in the novel. Here are a few facts about Biltmore House.

**Written by Rachel D. Carley, Rosemary G. Rennick, ISBN 1-885378-01-7**-Published by The Biltmore Company-116p-Softcover

“On Christmas Eve, the country retreat George Vanderbilt has spent so long planning is marvelously decorated and full of festivity. The finished home contains more than four acres of floor space, including 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. ” A wonderful site for history & timeline: https://www.biltmore.com/our-story/biltmore-history/estate-timeline/

Building Biltmore=Over a thousand artisans and six years

Naming Biltmore- “Bildt”-Dutch town of George’s ancestors, “More”-old English for open, rolling land.

Designing Biltmore-Richard Morris Hunt-architect for The Breakers and Marble House, Newport, RI, the main façade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, pedestal for Statue of Liberty and Biltmore Estate

Landscaping Biltmore-Frederick Law Olmstead-Landscape Architect- New York Central Park, U. S. Capitol grounds, Stanford University campus, Biltmore Estate

Gardening at Biltmore-Chauncey Beadle-Canadian Horticulturist remained on the estate for 60 years.

Celebrating Biltmore-Opened Christmas Eve 1895

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave When first we practice to deceive.” Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field, Sir Walter Scott The famous quote aptly represents the theme of this novel.

Novels Set at Biltmore House Reviewed by Grateful Reader

Under a Gilded Moon by Joy Jordan Lake : https://gratefulreader.home.blog/2021/12/01/under-a-gilded-moon-by-joy-jordan-lake/

The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey https://gratefulreader.home.blog/2022/03/29/the-wedding-veil-by-kristy-woodson-harvey/

Finding Margaret Fuller by Allison Pataki

Publication March 19, 2024-Random House, Ballantine-Historical Fiction-416pp

Book Summary

Massachusetts, 1836. Young, brazen, beautiful, and unapologetically brilliant, Margaret Fuller accepts an invitation from Ralph Waldo Emerson, the celebrated “Sage of Concord,” to meet his coterie of enlightened friends shaping a nation in the throes of its own self-discovery. By the end of her stay, she will become “the radiant genius and fiery heart” of the Transcendentalists, a role model to young Louisa May Alcott, an inspiration to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s character of Hester Prynne and the scandalous Scarlet Letter, a friend to Henry David Thoreau as he ventures into the woods of Walden Pond . . . and a muse to Emerson himself. But Margaret craves more than poetry and interpersonal drama, and she finds her restless soul in need of new challenges and adventure.

And so she charts a singular course against a backdrop of dizzying historical drama: From Boston, where she hosts a women-only literary salon for students like Elizabeth Cady Stanton; to the editorial meetings of The Dial magazine, where she hones her pen as its co-founder; to Harvard’s library, where she is the first woman to study within its walls; to the gritty New York streets where she spars with Edgar Allan Poe and reports on the writings of Frederick Douglass. Margaret defies conventions time and again as an activist for women and an advocate for humanity, earning admirers and scathing critics alike.

When the legendary Horace Greeley offers an assignment in Europe, Margaret again makes history as the first female foreign news correspondent, mingling with luminaries like Frederic Chopin, Walt Whitman, George Sand, and more. But it is in Rome where she finds a world of passion, romance, and revolution, taking a Roman count as a lover—and sparking an international scandal. Evolving yet again into the roles of mother and countess, Margaret enters a new fight for Italy’s unification.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

I requested this novel because of the former writings of Allison Pataki, not because I knew immediately who Margaret Fuller was or what the title “finding” Margaret Fuller meant! I was surprised, impressed, and somewhat incensed that I’m just learning about her. I know of Pataki’s impeccable research from previous historical fiction novels, the latest, The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post. Finding Margaret Fuller is likewise educational, entertaining, and even befuddling. Readers will remember Ralph Waldo Emmerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Louisa May Alcott from high school English, but why not the name of Margaret Fuller? She was central to the Transcendentalist movement, an author, the first woman to study in the halls of Harvard, the first female foreign news correspondent, and part of an international scandal! So, why haven’t we read about her life accomplishments or studied her writings?

Allison Pataki begins with the end in mind, revealing Margaret Fuller’s tragic fate in the opening prologue. Margaret’s search for identity unfolds in five parts, told in first person. This provides an emotional connection so readers feel personally involved as Pataki recounts the bold, daring life of an educated, brilliant, single female in the mid-nineteenth century. The descriptive settings, like characters themselves, transport readers from the wooded lanes, wildflowers, and rivers of Massachusetts to the streets of NYC; from radical conversation salons for women in Boston, through Europe as a war correspondent and governess and finally, to the revolution in Italy. Margaret Fuller lived an amazing life; just not long enough. One writer explained her well, “How do you describe a Force?”

So, thank you to Allison Pataki for “finding” Margaret Fuller, a trailblazer a century ahead of her time.

Allison Pataki is a writer of adult fiction, adult nonfiction, and children’s books. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages and is popular in more than twenty countries.

A former news writer and producer, Allison has written for The New York Times, ABC News, The Huffington Post, USA Today, Fox News and other outlets. She has appeared on The TODAY Show, Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, Good Day New York, Good Day Chicago and MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

WOMEN IN HISTORY: Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray

Publication March 12, 2024-Berkley Publishing-528p

"One of the most consequential women of modern history the you might not know about!" — **“One of the most consequential women of modern history that you might not know about!”**

Book Summary

American heroine Frances Perkins

Raised on tales of her revolutionary ancestors, Frances Perkins arrives in New York City at the turn of the century, armed with her trusty parasol and an unyielding determination to make a difference.

When she’s not working with children in the crowded tenements in Hell’s Kitchen, Frances throws herself into the social scene in Greenwich Village, befriending an eclectic group of politicians, artists, and activists, including the millionaire socialite Mary Harriman Rumsey, the flirtatious budding author Sinclair Lewis, and the brilliant but troubled reformer Paul Wilson, with whom she falls deeply in love.

But when Frances meets a young lawyer named Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a tea dance, sparks fly in all the wrong directions. She thinks he’s a rich, arrogant dilettante who gets by on a handsome face and a famous name. He thinks she’s a priggish bluestocking and insufferable do-gooder. Neither knows it yet, but over the next twenty years, they will form a historic partnership that will carry them both to the White House.

Frances is destined to rise in a political world dominated by men, facing down the Great Depression as FDR’s most trusted lieutenant—even as she struggles to balance the demands of a public career with marriage and motherhood. And when vicious political attacks mount and personal tragedies threaten to derail her ambitions, she must decide what she’s willing to do—and what she’s willing to sacrifice—to save a nation.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

This is a compelling behind the scenes look at the life of Frances Perkins on her way to becoming the first female presidential cabinet member serving as Secretary of Labor through all four of FDR’s history making terms as president of the United States. A chance meeting of FDR at an afternoon society tea-dance is the turning point in Perkins’ career. Stephanie Dray’s impeccably researched novel keeps the reader’s focus on work-life balance as Frances juggles her burgeoning social and political activities with her family life.

I was enthralled with Frances Perkins’ determination and resolve to bring the horrid, unsafe working conditions in factories to the government’s attention and her tireless work to pass legislation calling for vast improvement in safety conditions and limiting work weeks to fifty-four hours. Dray’s unforgettable details and descriptions of a monumental time in U.S. history include tenements in Hell’s Kitchen, the Shirtwaist Factory Fire, the Great Depression, FDR’s rise in the Democratic Party, Women’s Suffrage, and World War 11. I was most impressed with the courage and fortitude shown by Frances Perkins as she forged her place in history as a woman with a brilliant mind who became advisor, and confidant to our 32^nd president. Her service to the U. S. is most evident in the New Deal and the Social Security Act which she was instrumental in convincing Congress to implement.

Stephanie Dray’s Becoming Madam Secretary is a terrific force, very much like Frances Perkins and her infamous tricorn hat.

The Author’s Note is filled with pages and pages of delicious details and facts that are not included in the novel. Stephanie poured over the 5000 page transcript of Frances Perkins’ oral history, newspaper headlines, appointment books and even interviewed her grandson! The novel left me so impressed and thirsting for even more background and news that I watched FDR, a documentary in three episodes. Yes, Frances Perkins is right there in the photographs!

https://francesperkinscenter.org/learn/her-life/rances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and the first woman to serve as a cabinet secretary, was the driving force behind the New Deal, credited with formulating policies to shore up the national economy following the nation’s most serious economic crisis and helping to create the modern middle class. She was in every respect a self-made woman who rose from humble New England origins to become America’s leading advocate for industrial safety and workers’ rights. More about Frances Perkins here: https://francesperkinscenter.org/learn/her-

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 many languages and tops lists for the most anticipated reads of the year. Now she lives in Maryland with her husband, cats, and history books.

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