Secrets of the Italian Island by Barbara Josselsohn

Publishes May 11, 2023-Bookouture-Historical Fiction-Sisters of War-Book #1-393pp.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Barbara Josselsohn’s foray into historical fiction begins with Secrets of the Italian Island. Based on a true story, this dual timeline is book #1 in the Sisters of War series. Main character Mia, grieving her grandmother Lucy’s recent passing in 2018, receives a letter claiming her grandmother is connected to an object of historical significance stolen from a castle on an island off the coast of Italy in the early 1940’s. Known as the Castle of the Poets for centuries, it had become a sanctuary for inventors, scientists, writers, and artists from all over the world. In the 1940’s the castle was stormed and overtaken by Nazis to house high ranking officials. The dual timeline continues with the saga of three sisters on a quest in 1943 to save their dying father. Papa, a Jewish tailor, should be leaving Italy, but due to his health must remain at home in his small village south of Rome. Annalise, oldest sister at 18 years old, has devised a daring plan to travel to the island, secure jobs in the castle kitchen, and find the owner, Patricio Parissi, who she hopes will help save her father.

Barbara Josselsohn’s well developed characters bridge the timelines for readers. In the current timeline, Mia’s boyfriend, Ryan, lacks empathy for her search to understand how the grandmother that raised her is somehow connected to a wedding dress found in a closet. When Mia travels to Italy, Ryan’s questioning phone calls and lack of support creates tension and distrust as the story progresses. Mia’s island tour guide, Leo, links readers to the latter timeline, as he shares the Parissi’s family history of the castle and the gruesome details of the Nazi takeover. Readers will also appreciate the impressive head of the castle kitchen, Signora Russo, and her intricate system of record keeping for guests in the castle.

Josselsohn’s prose is filled with anticipation, hope and fear in the sisters’ plan and her dialogue evokes emotions ranging from infuriating reactions to soul-stirring feelings shared on a dance floor. Along with analysis of the grandmother/granddaughter relationship readers can follow the sisters for an historic discovery and the threads of connection between artists and musicians of years past. Notes in walls and secrets leading to a love story on the Isola di Parissi, will be discovered in Secrets of the Italian Island.

All the Pretty Places by Joy Callaway

Publishes May 9, 2023-Harper Muse-Historical Fiction-400pp.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Joy Callaway’s All the Pretty Places transports readers to the Gilded Age of extravagant Fifth Avenue, New York mansions surrounded by elaborately landscaped gardens and terraces overflowing with palms, roses, peonies, and lilacs. The setting is Charlie Fremd’s Rye Nurseries, famous on the East Coast for rare and exotic plants but as the result of an economic downturn known as the Panic of 1893, his nursery is in peril. Main character Sadie Fremd is Charlie’s 22-year-old daughter, whose love and lifelong study of horticulture has prepared her to take over the nurseries when he retires. At the center of the family business crisis is that neither of Sadie’s brothers is interested in running the nurseries. The oldest son Charlie Jr., an adventurer, has been lured to Florida to design gardens for Hotel Royal Poinciana, and younger Freddie has gone to Chicago to follow political aspirations. Sadie’s father does not see her as a viable successor, believing “men should be about men’s work,” and she should be about getting married.

Meanwhile, Sadie develops her own strategies to save the family business. Stubborn and loyal, she rejects the debutante’s duty to marry and refuses several matches. Her heart belongs to Sam, a nursery worker who shares her love of horticulture, but left the area after a heartbreaking decision. Readers will cheer Sadie on as she boldly confronts and rebuffs suitors her father continues to present. Anger literally seeps through the prose as he issues an ultimatum for her to marry or be sent to family in Germany until she consents.

Callaway creates emotional and familial conflict as true love, Sam, returns to Rye Nurseries. After life-changing experiences and much soul-searching Sadie confronts the fact that a mere five miles from the 5^th Avenue mansions are tenements reeking of garbage and sewage. The vivid descriptions of the sights and smells capture the vast contradictions in the lifestyle and beauty surrounding the privileged as exquisite gardens and greenhouses bring their owners and readers a quiet, calming peace. But Sadie empathizes with those in the tenements dying of hopelessness. Don’t they deserve to appreciate the beauty of gardens in public parks?

The revelation that gardens and parks are beacons of hope for everyone blooms verdantly in the hearts of readers of All the Pretty Places.

Rebecca Lukens –**Pioneering Industrialist**

Shadows We Carry by Meryl Ain

Publication April 25, 2023-SparkPress-Historical Fiction-296 pp

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

In Shadows We Carry, Meryl Ain continues the life stories of Second-Generation Holocaust Survivors introduced in The Takeaway Men. “Second generation” refers to the children of Holocaust survivors who were born after the great cataclysm and grew up in its shadow.” Meryl Ain’s sequel is set in the U. S. during the turbulent ‘60’s and ‘70’s as the fraternal Lubinski twins, Bronka and JoJo, navigate marriage, family expectations and face quotas for women in professional careers. Readers are enveloped in the social and political unrest after the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the implications of the Viet Nam war. These events have a great emotional impact on Bronka, JoJo, their work cohorts, friends, and neighbors. The theme of gender identity is also dealt with through Bronka’s longtime boyfriend Ned as he searches for answers and portrays only the socially acceptable side of being gay in the 1970’s.

Meryl Ain weaves the heavy inherited guilt of these young men and women with the emotional trauma their parents and neighbors have survived. How do the daughters deal with the family responsibilities, the guilt, and the truth of their lineage? Through layers of emotionally charged dialogue between parents, father-daughter, and budding relationships, the prejudices of the times come to the surface. Catholic and Jewish concepts are treated with an empathetic, omniscient view, as Father Stan, a Catholic priest explores his Jewish heritage. The common themes of captivity, freedom, and covenants in the Christian and Jewish religions are highlighted.

Meryl Ain deftly weaves the rich tradition, culture, and beliefs of a Jewish family throughout the narrative but especially poignant are the Seder meal and Passover celebrations. A glossary of Jewish terms along with a cast of characters and background from the first novel is included.

Meryl Ain’s novel finally transports Bronka and JoJo, as second-generation survivors, to the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors in 1983 for a Lubinski reunion. As Aron Lubinski reminds his family, “Each generation must learn to live with the Shadows We Carry.”

Meryl Ain is a writer, author, podcaster, and career educator. The Takeaway Men, her award-winning post-Holocaust debut novel, was published in 2020. Her articles and essays have appeared in numerous publications and she is the author of two nonfiction books. A member of The International Advisory Board for Holocaust Survivor Day, she is the host of the podcast People of the Book, and the founder of the Facebook group “Jews Love To Read!” She holds a BA from Queens College, an MA from Columbia University, and a doctorate in education from Hofstra University. She and her husband, Stewart, a journalist, have three married sons and six grandchildren and live in New York. https://merylain.com/

SPOTLIGHT / EXCERPT: SHADOWS WE CARRY By Meryl Ain

Publishing April 25, 2023-SparkPress-Historical Fiction-296pp

“In this eagerly anticipated sequel to Meryl Ain’s award-winning post-Holocaust novel The Takeaway Men, we follow Bronka and JoJo Lubinski as they find themselves on the cusp of momentous change for women in the late 1960s. With the United States in the grip of political and social upheaval, the twins and a number of their peers, including a Catholic priest and the son of a Nazi, struggle with their family’s ancestry and how much influence it has on their lives. Meanwhile, both young women seek to define their roles as women, and as individuals.

Enlightening and evocative, Shadows We Carry explores the experience of navigating deeply held family secrets and bloodlines, confusing religious identities, and the scars of World War II in the wake of revolutionary societal changes.”

EXCERPT: SHADOWS WE CARRY- p. 102-104

“So, Miss Lubinksi, you want to be a journalist?” he asked after they sat down.

“Yes, very much, Dean Atkins.”

“Well, I have to say you would make a very attractive journalist. Do you have any clips?”

While always pleased with a compliment, Bronka wondered what her physical appearance had to do with her skills as a journalist. She took out the red faux-leather scrapbook where she had lovingly scotch-taped all her articles — beginning with her piece on President Kennedy’s assassination in the high school newspaper and the one on the space program that landed in the Long Island Press. The dean looked through pages of her work, including all of our contributions to the Queen’s College newspaper and literary magazine.

“Well, you certainly are a prolific writer. But do you think you have what it takes to be a journalist? Do you think you’re assertive enough — actually aggressive enough to do what it takes to chase down a story?

“Yes, I do,” Bronka answered, mustering every bit of confidence she had. “I’ve done it numerous times on many assignments for the school newspaper. And I’m also very competitive; I want to be the first one with the breaking news.”

She knew — deep in her heart — that she absolutely would be able to get over her shyness when pursuing a lead. Even in school, when she was on an assignment for the paper, it enabled her to do and ask things she couldn’t do in real life. Sitting in the dean’s office at the Journalism School made her forget Ned and all her troubles. When she was running after a story and writing it, nothing else mattered.

“Well, you are a very impressive young woman, Miss Lewinsky. And your credentials are top notch — stellar grades and a track record of performance in the field. And I did mention earlier that you’re easy on the eyes. I do have to tell you, though, we only admit 100 graduate students a year — that’s from the whole country — actually the entire world; you know, we have foreign students too, Out of the 100, we have a quota for women — it’s about 20 percent. So, we will only be admitting 20 women this year. So, here’s my last question. I ask every woman this question — and I must ask it of you too.

“Do you plan on getting married and having a family? You see, because our enrollment is so limited, we want the women we admit to stay in the field. It’s been our experience that women don’t have the same staying power as men in the profession once they have a family. It’s a fact.”

“But things are changing,” Bronka retorted.

“Maybe so dear, but change is always slow. And right now, that’s what the statistics tell us. We make a serious investment in all of our students and we want to see the results. So please answer the question. “Do you plan on getting married and having a family?”

Bronka’s face turn red, and she scowled. This is patently unfair, she thought to herself.

About Meryl Ain-Author-New to the Grateful Reader!

The Golden Doves by Martha Hall Kelly

Publishes April 18, 2023-Ballantine Books-528pp.-Historical Fiction

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Martha Hall Kelly once again explores the astounding, haunting, immeasurable consequences of World War ll, the Holocaust, and experimentation at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Readers of Kelly’s Lilac Girls will recall the horrific experiments to which women and children were subjected at the all-female camp where Dr. Herta Oberheuser was working. The saga continues as two female spies known as the Golden Doves are arrested and sentenced to Ravensbrück to endure unspeakable things. The Golden Doves are Josie Anderson, an American whose mother is a famous Jewish singer and Arlette La Rue, a Parisian. The survival of Josie’s mother and Arlette and her son, Willie from the Kinderzimmer, are central to the plot set at Ravensbrück. A decade later Josie’s mission for the U.S Army is to track down an infamous Nazi doctor and Arlette is led to believe her son, Willie, may have survived. The former Doves risk their lives to seek justice for Josie’s mother and hopefully reunite Arlette with her son.

This novel is based on an inordinate amount of research, so typical of MHK’s previous books. There’s an unbelievable amount of history that’s certainly not taught in schools or revealed in many World War ll novels. She seamlessly weaves an introduction to “Operation Paperclip” here in the U.S. and the Ratline in Germany to give readers a host of nonfiction reading and research to pursue after The Golden Doves. The emotional tension, fear, and guilt are palpable on every page as the plot alternates from 1944 (Before) to 1952, taking readers from Ft. Bliss in El Paso, Texas where Josie is stationed, to Arlette’s Parisian café, and then following them both to South America to Camp Hope. Readers may not be aware of Colonia Dignidad, an entire “world in the aftermath” of World War ll.

From camp experiments at Ravensbrück to working on vaccines to alleviate a ‘germ bomb’ by the World Health Organization in French Guiana, readers will be spellbound by this compelling narrative and mesmerized by the revelations based on an inconceivable time in our history.

OPERATION PAPERCLIP: In a covert affair originally dubbed Operation Overcast but later renamed Operation Paperclip, roughly 1,600 of these German scientists (along with their families) were brought to the United States to work on America’s behalf during the Cold War. The program was run by the newly-formed Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA), whose goal was to harness German intellectual resources to help develop America’s arsenal of rockets and other biological and chemical weapons, and to ensure such coveted information did not fall into the hands of the Soviet Union. More information here:

https://www.history.com/news/what-was-operation-paperclip

RATLINES were systems of escape routes for German Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe from 1945 onwards in the aftermath of World War II. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II)

There are many more references and books to read if searching Ratlines, World War ll.

BURST By Mary Otis

Publishes April 4, 2023-Zibby Books #3 – 280pp.- Literary Fiction

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

A debut novel that spins the relationship between Charlotte and her daughter Viva like a tilt-a-whirl, slowly spinning at a sluggish speed then slamming the reader into the atmosphere. Bizarre behavior, sobering, accurate analogies, painful consequences, rare musical ear syndrome MES; rolled into a mother-daughter relationship over a lifetime of connection, mistakes, fond memories, and a mysterious missing father. Themes of mother-daughter relationships, mistakes, and seeking control intertwined at a maniacal pace. Triggers: addiction, abandonment

DESCRIPTION:

Viva has always found ways to manage her mother’s impulsive, eccentric, and addictive personality. She’s had to—for her entire life, it has always been Viva and Charlotte against the world.

After accidentally discovering an innate ability for dance, Viva chases her new passion with the same fervor with which her mother chases the bottle. Over the years, Viva’s talent becomes a ticket to a life of her own, and as she moves further away from home to pursue her dream, Charlotte struggles to make peace with her own past as a failed artist and the effects of her addiction. When tragedy strikes, Viva begins a downward spiral and must decide whether she will repeat her mother’s mistakes or finally take control of her life.

Mary Otis is the author of the novel, Burst, from Zibby Books, as well as the short story collection, Yes, Yes, Cherries (Tin House Books). Her stories and essays have been published in Best New American Voices, Electric Literature, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, and in many literary journals and anthologies. Originally from the Boston area, Mary lives in Los Angeles.

Coronation Year by Jennifer Robson

Publishing April 4, 2023-William Morrow-400pp

**A royal-adjacent historical novel: Check out Jennifer’s Facebook page for all her posts and research:** https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJenniferRobson/posts/pfbid02HfQxTE6EnjxNZLQN7WfuwQxnASM5SATE3eVhxiPmZZqhn8RP6m48pvT4YCBDhgMAl

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Jennifer Robson’s Coronation Year captures the thrill and majesty of the year leading up to Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation Day, June 2, 1953. Readers view the approaching day from three different perspectives. Main character Edie Howard, proprietor of the 400-year-old Blue Lion Hotel, is desperately trying to keep the hotel in the “black.” News that the floundering hotel is right on the Coronation Day route might be the business boost Edie needs. Two other Blue Lion residents that play an important role in the year leading up to Coronation Day are Stella Donati, Italian photographer and Holocaust survivor, and Jamie Geddes, a Scottish artist of Indian heritage, a war hero. Robson seamlessly threads their personal stories into Blue Lion activities and the planning of royal events.

Robson’s novel, like an English trifle, is one delicious layer after another. The foreboding nightmares, compelling memories, and catastrophic situations Stella and Jamie have endured are sweetened in the narrative by the genuinely compassionate, supportive nature of Edie. Robson convincingly reveals Edie’s anxiety and stress as Coronation Day plans begin to unravel. With the receipt of anonymous threatening letters, what was at first a hectic but jolly lead up to the big day takes a sinister, mysterious turn. Readers endure the weight and tension of the impending deadline stretching right up to Coronation Day.

Robson’s descriptions of the parks, iconic buildings, and statues bring London to life as readers are swept into the hysteria and mass of humanity surrounding preparations and the ceremony itself. As the new “telly” is installed in the Blue Lion lobby for residents and millions from around the world to view, throngs of royal followers are packed right out front, madly waving the Union Jack in wild anticipation of the queen in her golden coach.

Put on a pot of tea and get a glimpse of royal pageantry as a menacing mystery unfolds on June 2, the biggest day in 1953, Coronation Year.

“An academic by background, a former editor by profession, and a lifelong history nerd, I’m the author of seven novels set during and after the two world wars: Somewhere in France, After the War is Over, Moonlight Over Paris, Goodnight from London, The Gown, Our Darkest Night, and Coronation Year. I was also a contributor to the acclaimed anthology Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War.

I was born and raised in Peterborough, Ontario. I studied French literature and Modern History as an undergraduate at King’s University College at Western University, then attended Saint Antony’s College at the University of Oxford, where I obtained my doctorate in British economic and social history. While at Oxford I was a Commonwealth Scholar and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow.

I live in Toronto, Canada, with my husband and children, and share my home office with Bonnie the sheepdog and her feline companions Mika, Rachel and Obi.

My photograph was taken in September, 2022 by Megan Preece.”

Murder in Postscript by Mary Winters

Publishes March 28-Berkley-Historical Mystery-320pp.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Mary Winters sets her newest novel, Murder in Postscript, in Victorian England. Amelia Amesbury, the lovely widow, mother, and countess, is the main character in the first of the Lady Agony Mystery Series. Amelia, pen name Lady Agony, writes secretly for a London penny paper dishing out advice on topics from fashion to social faux pas. She waits anxiously for the post each day so she can retreat to the two-story library in the home she shared with her late husband Edgar and his young niece, Winifred, now like a daughter. The day Lady Agony receives a letter from a lady’s maid pleading, “I think my mistress was murdered,” is the day Lady Agony turns to solving a murder instead of giving advice.

Mary Winters’ characters are either likeable or unlikeable. Readers meet Amelia’s Aunt Tabitha, who is mostly unlikeable due to her overbearing attitudes regarding widowhood and constant comments to behave; reminding Amelia she has married into gentry and must meet certain expectations. Nagging and disapproving looks are her specialty. In contrast to Tabitha is the extremely likeable Lord Simon Bainbridge. He’s easy going, well mannered, and has a surprising, even unnerving sense of humor. As Winters “who done it” plot unfolds, she cleverly weaves an intricate trail for Amelia and Simon to follow as they attend costume balls, traipse to the London docks, and visit a crazy aunt in her English garden. While tracking down clues the Simon/Amelia relationship continues to ebb and flow while visiting chocolate shops and in carriage rides, keeping readers hopeful as they share empathy for each other’s pasts.

Each charming chapter opens with a letter to Lady Agony and the pearls of wisdom she so forthrightly imparts. With Winnifred’s recital to host and a killer still on the loose, Lady Agony’s last bit of advice is “do less and enjoy more!” So, mind your manners and read Murder in Postscript, the first in The Lady Agony Mystery Series.

“Trust me.” Yours in Secret, Lady Agony

Murder in Postscript by Mary Winters

Publishes March 28-Berkley-Historical Mystery-320pp.

Excerpt

Winifred gave Amelia an impulsive hug, and Amelia breathed in the beautiful strawberry scent of the child. Edgar hadn’t given her love—he wouldn’t risk passing on his degenerative condition— but he had given her his dear niece, and for that, Amelia would always be grateful.

When the girl was gone, Amelia took the letters into the library, her favorite room in the house. It was something else Edgar had given her that she’d enjoyed very much—a home with books. While the Feathered Nest had plenty of room for dining and entertaining, it did not afford much room for books, just the special theatricals the family loved and performed. One of her favorite performances was Romeo and Juliet, probably because she and Grady were central characters. Most times her eldest sister, Penelope, took the lead roles. Indeed, Penelope was better at memorizing lines, but Amelia was better at improvising.

She stopped and inhaled a breath. The room smelled of cloves and paper and past cigars. Hundreds of leather-bound tomes filled the wooden bookshelves that lined the two-story room. She bypassed the books and made for the large rosewood desk, situated in a bright alcove of windows. It faced a dark green couch, striped chairs, and an ornate oval table. In a nearby corner was a smaller table, with heavy crystal glasses and fine liquor. And on the far wall was a grand stone fireplace, surrounded by two soft damask chairs, comfortable enough for reading and dozing. She’d spent many nights there doing just that.

Slice went the letter opener, revealing the contents for her eyes only. She scanned the penmanship: hurried, sloppy, and slightly smudged from tears. Definitely a relationship problem. Settling into her chair, she began to read the letter.

Dear Lady Agony,

You are a lady of repute. Please tell me what to do. I love the boy next door, but he’s unaware of my feelings. I am certain we possess a special bond, for he smiles at me so. But he’s going to ask another girl to marry him. He told me his plan on the way to the well. I stumbled away, confused, but how I longed to tell him the truth of my feelings. Am I too late?

Devotedly,

Too Late for Love

Amelia dunked her quill in the ink. This one was easy, a drop in the bucket of love letters. She began her response, which would be printed in the magazine. Readers’ letters weren’t included, and a good thing, too. Amelia had a feeling many writers would be embarrassed later by the emotion they’d poured into their requests.

Dear Too Late for Love,

It’s never too late for love. In fact, I prefer the old, and perhaps wiser, adage, Better Late than Never. In your case, it cannot be truer. You love the boy and are late to admit it. Yes. However, there is still time. He hasn’t asked anyone to marry—yet. Best he knows your true feelings before he proceeds. Even if he does not reciprocate them, you will feel secure in the knowledge that you told him. And that is a feeling you can live with. The other is not.

Yours in Secret,

Lady Agony

The next letter was just as clear-cut. It was from a reader who was jealous of her friend’s hair, though she didn’t say so outright. The letter accused the friend of spending too much time dressing her long, blonde, thick locks, but it was obvious to Amelia that the letter writer wished for the hair herself.

Another dunk into the inkwell, and Amelia was poised to respond.

Dear Hair, There, and Everywhere,

Some women are born with great hair. Others are born with great wit, vivacity, or kindness. Cultivate one of the latter. Or purchase a wig. The choice is just that simple.

Yours in Secret,

Lady Agony

She waited a moment before opening the last letter, savoring the unknown contents. It would be tomorrow afternoon before she received more letters, the mysteries that made up her day. Because of the popularity of the column, Grady made certain the letters arrived daily so that she wouldn’t fall behind.

She turned the envelope over in her hands, positioning it in front of the light. A few drops of spring sunshine shone through the windows, making burgundy flecks on the wall as it bounced off the nearby decanter of brandy. Soon a housemaid would be in to start a fire, to warm the chill brought on by the late afternoon. Then Amelia would enjoy a glass of sherry before dressing for dinner, a complicated affair that she had never quite mastered.

She noted the seal of the envelope had been hastily done. Dashed out at the last minute, perhaps, the letter might contain time-sensitive information. Amelia unfolded the paper. The handwriting, no better than chicken scratch, was hard to decipher. Written at a slant, possibly in this morning’s rain burst, it was wrinkled and marked. Yet the writer’s desperation was clear from the first sentence. Amelia scanned the letter twice before dropping her quill, splattering ink on the desk. She grabbed her spectacles and read it a third time. Her eyes must be deceiving her. It was indeed dated this morning.

Dear Lady Agony,

You are my last hope, for I have nowhere else to turn. Could you meet me at St. James’s Park at nine o’clock this evening? Make sure no one follows you. I believe someone is following me. I’ll be at the bench by the pond. You will know me by my red hat. Please make every effort. I’ve witnessed something dreadful, and I fear the worst.

Devotedly,

Charlotte

Postscript: I think my mistress was murdered.

Two Wars and a Wedding by Lauren Willig

Publishes March 21, 2023-William Morrow-448pp.

https://laurenwillig.com/books/two-wars-and-a-wedding/

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Lauren Willig’s dual timeline novel is set during the 1896 Greco-Turkish War and the 1898 Spanish-American War. Betsy Hayes, a Smith College graduate, and aspiring archaeologist is denied a place on the excavation team at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. The director suggests she become a librarian instead. This ignites Betsy’s quest to prove that women can indeed, dig and involves “two wars and a wedding.”

These two wars are the backdrop for Lauren Willig’s coming of age story. Through reams of research Willig sinks readers into the prejudices true to the late 1800’s. Main character, Betsy Hayes is an amalgam based on real life women Harriet Boyd Hawes and Janet Jennings. At the emotional core of the novel are Betsy, her best friend Ava, and aspiring journalist, Kit. Willig focuses on how these American women are striving to take their place in the world and how each responded socially and politically to war. Keeping readers aware of the timelines and actions are the especially appealing openings of each chapter; Kit’s dispatches to the St. Louis Star or Betsy’s letters to “Darling Ava.”

Adept at conflict that reveals winners and losers Willig exposes political conflict between the U.S. Army and Clara Barton. Compelling details of dire situations on ships and battlefields, supported by newspaper accounts and reports by doctors who traveled with Clara Barton and the American Red Cross, are seamlessly woven into the narrative. Amazing, true accounts of Clara Barton being snubbed, turned away while soldiers were dying, or told women didn’t belong in the field were taken from the historical record. Willig’s meticulous research also documents the Rough Riders and Roosevelt in various battles depicting the experiences and confusion of the men in the field during the Spanish-American War.

Lauren Willig masterfully tells the story of women fighting for what is right by sharing a saga of friendship and love woven through Two Wars and a Wedding.

Lauren Willig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than twenty works of historical fiction, including Band of Sisters, The Summer Country, The English Wife, the RITA Award-winning Pink Carnation series, and four novels co-written with Beatriz Williams and Karen White. Her books have been translated into over twenty languages, picked for Book of the Month Club, awarded the RITA, Booksellers Best, and Golden Leaf awards, and chosen for the American Library Association’s annual list of the best genre fiction. An alumna of Yale University, she has a graduate degree in history from Harvard and a JD from Harvard Law School. She lives in New York City with her husband, two young children, and vast quantities of coffee.

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