The Librarian of Saint-Malo by Mario Escobar

“Libraries are being ransacked. France is torn apart by war. A French librarian is determined to resist. Told through smuggled letters to an author, an ordinary librarian describes the brutal Nazi occupation of her small coastal village and the extraordinary measures she takes to fight back.” Goodreads

Mario Escobar Golderos has a degree in History, with an advanced studies diploma in Modern History. He has written numerous books and articles about the Inquisition, the Protestant Reformation, and religious sects. Of many previous titles: Auschwitz Lullaby and Children of the Stars

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“The Librarian of Saint-Malo tells the story of Jocelyn and Antoine Ferrec, a life full of love and literature.” Author, Mario Escobar, sweeps readers from Jocelyn and Antoine’s glorious wedding at the Cathedral of Saint-Vincent to the German invasion of Poland – both on September1, 1939. The enthralling accounts of survival and passive resistance are told through Jocelyn’s letters to author, Marcel Zola, who she is hoping will someday tell the story of how the citizens of Saint-Malo fought to defend and protect their beloved city and treasured books in the library. The German colonel in charge, Andreas von Aulock, ordered the “purge of the city’s bookstores and libraries to get rid of subversive writings as outlined in the famous Liste Otto.” As the librarian, Jocelyn also encounters Lt. Baumann and Hermann Von Choltiz, specialist in Medieval French literature. Hermann has been sent to protect France’s cultural heritage by classifying the books in the Saint-Malo library. Readers, be wary of the relationships that Jocelyn develops with these Germans. Mario Escobar weaves alarming comments and stunning descriptions of actual, true events with enough subtle hope to create suspense as to the German officers’ intentions. Jocelyn’s quest also leads her to Yvonne Oddon and the Musée de l’Homme in Paris. Fans of Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrow’s The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society will delight in the Bouquinistes, booksellers along the Seine, and the book club Jocelyn creates with the 7 requisite members, including a Count! Anthony Doer’s All the Light We Cannot See is another perfect pairing as this setting is before the bombing of Saint-Malo.

From the invasion of Saint-Malo by Germans in 1939 to the Allied forces’ arrival in 1944, Mario Escobar creates captivating descriptions of not only the beauty but also the magnitude of destruction to the “Little Jewel” on the coast of French Brittany. He deftly takes readers from doom and despair at the burned heaps of rubble and complete ruins to hope at the heart stopping, satisfying climax.

“The city had been collecting books for centuries. We were the soul and memory of Saint-Malo. I had to protect the library’s holdings…” Readers everywhere are ever grateful for librarians such as Jocelyn and for Mario Escobar’s The Librarian of Saint-Malo.

Saint-Malo Cathedral Inside the Walled City-Site of Jocelyn’s Wedding

The Saint-Malo Cathedral or more precisely St Vincent of Saragosse Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Vincent-de-Saragosse de Saint-Malo ) was at one time a Benedictine Abbey. Built in Romanesque style at the turn of the 12th century, the church’s choir then underwent changes in the 13th century making it gothic style. Transformations from Romanesque to Gothic to High Gothic and even Renaissance styles can be found here. In 1944 during a battle for the city, the cathedral was bombed and the choir section collapsed. It took over 20 years to make the repairs.

The Musee de l’Homme in Paris. Jocelyn visited Yvonne Oddon, one of France’s leading librarians, connected to the Resistance.

The Musée de l’Homme librarian and a pioneer of the French Resistance, Yvonne Oddon and her colleagues Boris Vildé and Anatole Lewitsky launched the French Resistance group that would come to be known as the Musée de l’Homme resistance network, and helped choose the name of the underground newspaper Resistance. https://www.museedelhomme.fr/en/yvonne-oddon-1902-1982-3923

The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel

“The New York Times bestselling author of the “heart-stopping tale of survival and heroism” (People) The Book of Lost Names returns with an evocative coming-of-age World War II story about a young woman who uses her knowledge of the wilderness to help Jewish refugees escape the Nazis—until a secret from her past threatens everything.” Publishing July6, 2021

Photograph by Phil Art Studio, Reims, France Kristin Harmel

Kristin Harmel is the New York Times bestselling author of a dozen novels including The Book of Lost Names, The Winemaker’s Wife, The Room on Rue Amélie, and The Sweetness of Forgetting. She is also the cofounder and cohost of the popular web series, Friends and Fiction. She lives in Orlando, Florida.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Forest of Vanishing Stars shines a blinding light on a baby with a birthmark on her wrist in the shape of a dove and an old woman whose mother told her that knowing impossible things was a gift of God passed down through the blood of only the most fortunate Jewish women. Twenty years later 1942, Poland is being bombed and books are being burned in Berlin, so the old woman, Jerusza, leads baby “Yona”, now 22, deep into the forest of Nalibocka. Words of warning are to never venture outside the forest. A compelling struggle for survival takes the reader farther and farther into the forest, to underground zemliankas, through murky swamps and even onto an island with Resistance groups living day to day on survival skills learned in the cruelest situations. Through Yona’s frightening and eye-opening encounters, feelings of confusion, realization, and hope lead to a turning point in her struggle for survival. “After a lifetime of being told what to do, how to feel; of a stolen childhood, of a life of loneliness she hadn’t asked for,” Yona finally has a choice. Readers will empathize with Yona as she learns expressions of human love: the comfort of another’s touch and experiencing the joy of others. As Yona “comes of age” in this dangerous, strange world she must decide if one has to let go of the old life to have a new one? Words of wisdom to Yona and the reader: “In the times of greatest darkness, the light always shines through, because there are people who stand up to do brave, decent things…it doesn’t matter what you were born to be. It matters what you choose to become.” Choose to read The Forest of Vanishing Stars and like Yona, be changed.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-bielski-partisans

The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts

The triumphant true story of a woman who rode her horse across America in the 1950s, fulfilling her dying wish to see the Pacific Ocean, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Horse and The Eighty-Dollar Champion

A few minutes with Elizabeth Letts and how this book came to be! https://youtu.be/dR3emAqYaUY

Elizabeth Letts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Eighty-Dollar Champion and The Perfect Horse, which won the PEN Center USA Literary Award for research nonfiction, as well as the novel Finding Dorothy. She lives in Southern California and Northern Michigan.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

“A woman who liked to wear pants and speak her mind, she wasn’t well regarded by local folks at the time. Some breathed a sigh of relief when she left. But Wilkins – also known as Mesannie or Jackass Annie because she rode a donkey to her Job at a Lewiston shoe shop – would become famous for her journey.” Lindsay Tice, staff writer of the Lewiston Sun Journal, November 10th 2013.

https://minotmainehistoricalsociety.wordpress.com/minot-history/mesannie-wilkins/

Annie Wilkins has lost the family farm and the doctor says she has two years to live. This was Annie’s depressing view of the world in 1954. Elizabeth Letts’ “true story of a woman, her horse and their last chance to journey across America” reads like a heartwarming travelogue sprinkled with history, geography, and the pop culture of life in the mid-twentieth century. As brand-new T.V.’s blared “see the USA in a Chevrolet,” Annie had neither running water or electricity, much less a car or a TV on her farm in Minot, Maine. With nothing else to lose, Annie decided to aim herself toward the Pacific Ocean. This delightful memoir of how Annie and her animals are fed and cared for by so many generous, kind citizens and business owners will rebuild hope in humanity for those readers so discouraged by news in today’s world. The author includes compelling, detailed descriptions of burgeoning American industries such as Goodyear, Milton Bradley, and the Gulf Oil Corporation. The Ride of Her Life is a “feel good” trip down memory lane of the 1950’s & ‘60’s. T.V. personalities Art Linkletter, Groucho Marx, Walt Disney, and Andy Griffith are woven through Annie’s story, so readers get a real feel for how the lure of television got its toehold in small towns across America. The bonds of love and loyalty between Annie, her horses and her beloved dog, Depeche Toi, earn a special place in the hearts of readers. From the “Mile-a-Minute Highway” in Maine on the East Coast, through the Lincoln Heritage Trail in the Mid-West, all the way through Cheyenne’s Frontier Days, readers will be as anxious as Annie and the Pioneers on the Oregon Trail. But Annie follows her father’s advice and so should readers: “Have faith and keep going.”

The Summer of Lost and Found by Mary Alice Monroe

https://maryalicemonroe.com/the-summer-of-lost-and-found/

MARY ALICE MONROE: “Based in Charleston, South Carolina, is the New York Times best-selling author of twenty-seven books–and counting. Richly layered and rooted to place, her Lowcountry-set novels defy literary labels. More than feel-good escapism or traditional beach reads, her engrossing stories deftly explore the intersections and parallels between Mother Nature and human nature, hooking readers emotionally and introducing them to characters and causes that live in their hearts and minds. Her robust library of work–from the popular Beach House series to her newer middle grade book–engages readers across generational lines, inspiring them to take a harder look at the environment–and our impact on it. To ask the important questions. To seek answers. To create connections–both with nature and in our personal lives.”

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Summer of Lost and Found is the story of family dynamics during a pandemic. Mary Alice Monroe continues her beloved Beach House series and the saga of the Rutledge family as the 2020 pandemic causes the world to shut down. The setting off the coast of South Carolina, Sullivan’s Island, and the Isle of Palms, is where MAM weaves low-country charm and the magic of a beach house with family relationships during quarantine, job lay-offs, travel restrictions, and handling commitments. The beauty of the island beaches, wildlife, and even “Frogmore Stew” combined with old and new relationships makes for an endearing, satisfying saga. What’s important is “family weathering a storm with compassion, camaraderie, ingenuity, commitment, friendship, fun, and most of all love.” Take a walk on the beach, soak up tidbits on king tides, loggerhead turtle habitats, sea oats, dunes and fiddler crabs-all while gleaning wisdom from several generations of Southern women; “If it’s not one thing, it’s another!”

The Paris Apartment by Kelly Bowen

https://kellybowen.net/the-paris-apartment

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Is this an apartment or a museum? This was the question Aurelia asked in the summer of 2017, as she entered the recently inherited property that her grandmother had occupied in Paris over seventy years ago- completely unbeknownst to her. A secret of such magnitude! After wandering through extravagantly furnished rooms filled with paintings by world renowned artists, discovering a closet packed with shoes, gowns and furs plus a wardrobe that protected exquisitely embroidered silks and satin couture dresses, Lia was astounded to stumble upon photos from German officer, Hermann Goring! “Lia” comes to the nauseating conclusion that her grandmother was a Nazi collaborator.

Just as artists layer paintings with texture and color, Kelly Bowen deftly builds an artistic dual timeline. Underneath the canvas of 2017, lie layers of a1940’s war landscape painted over with battle-weary soldiers and newly widowed Sophie Kowalski in the foreground. Bowen’s scene is blended with scared, hungry Jews, Rachel and three-year-old, Aviva, aside gorgeous Parisian socialite, Estelle Allard, huddling on the horizon. To complete the picture Bowen slaps a jarring slash of red and black as the Germans flaunt the Nazi flag over the Ritz Hotel. The mystery of Lia’s newly acquired apartment filled with a magnificent art collection, couture gowns, and secret identities unfolds in hidden images blurred by Bletchley Park codes and the Millbrook Hall ancestral estate, but is finally illuminated by Gabriel, an art appraiser and restoration expert.

Readers and lovers of art will lament with Estelle, “How much history will a family or a country lose when they lose the things that unite them? That tell the stories of their pasts?” Kelly Bowen’s The Paris Apartment is “captivating and moving-” a dazzling chandelier for the eyes while piercing the heart.

Courage, My Love by Kristin Beck

Kristin Beck first learned about World War II from her grandmother, who served as a Canadian army nurse, fell in love with an American soldier in Belgium, and married him shortly after VE Day. Kristin thus grew up hearing stories about the war, and has been captivated by the often unsung roles of women in history ever since. A former teacher, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Washington and a Master’s in Teaching from Western Washington University. Kristin lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and children.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Lucia and Francesca join the unsung women of history as their story of deep personal conviction and courage born out of fear and love, comes to the forefront in Kristin Beck’s stunning debut novel, Courage, My Love.

Readers will be swept along the banks of the Tiber River, across the piazzas and darting into the alleyways of Rome, as the spine-tingling story of Nazi invasion, Partisan missions, and espionage unfolds beginning in July,1943. Lucia Colombo, the single mother of Matteo, is the only daughter in a family of strong Fascists supporters, who has already lost one son in the war. Her family ties to the government are a constant worry and eventually Lucia must face and overcome the political dangers involved with protecting her son. Francesca Gallo, a polio survivor, and very unlikely “messenger,” is the eventual counterpart in Partisan activities with her fiancé, Giacomo, and Lucia.

Just as Lucia and Francesca sense the Germans around every corner, readers will feel equally anxious for the survival of the Partisans and Jewish families being hidden in convents and hospitals with “Syndrome K”. Each page is turned in suspense to find out if the Allies are indeed, arriving to force the Germans out of Rome. Kristin Beck’s characters are developed with equal amounts of childhood background, family strife, and political alignments. The secondary characters, Partisans, Nazi sympathizers and German officers are written with such depth and personal detail, that readers will find much to admire or even appropriately despise.

Lucia and Francesca find themselves many times “in bocca al lupo”, a wolf at the heels. But despite their fears and uncertainty, they keep on going. Readers will also feel “in bocca al lupo” but keep reading! Courage is rewarded!

The Newcomer by Mary Kay Andrews

Mary Kay and her family divide their time between Atlanta and Tybee Island, GA, where they cook up new recipes in two restored beach homes, The Breeze Inn and Ebbtide—both named after fictional places in Mary Kay’s novels, and both available to rent through Tybee Vacation Rentals. In between cooking, spoiling her grandkids, and plotting her next novel, Mary Kay is an intrepid treasure hunter whose favorite pastime is junking and fixing up old houses. https://marykayandrews.com/

The New York Times bestselling author and Queen of the Beach Reads delivers her next page-turner for the summer.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Add The Newcomer to a book bag, head to your favorite reading spot and be whisked from a fashionable townhouse in New York City to the Murmuring Surf Motel in Treasure Island, Florida. Secrets within secrets- that was the story of Letty’s sister, Tanya, who has been found dead in her apartment with her 4- year-old daughter wailing upstairs. Letty and Tanya have had an “on again, off again” relationship over the years, and now Letty is on the run, having promised her sister that if anything happened, Letty would take Maya far away from NYC and Tanya’s evil Ex- Evan Wingfield.

Letty and Maya find the Murmuring Surf, a “mom & pop” motel, and are easily accepted by owner Ava and her family. The retirees and snowbirds that land like clockwork are not so ready to accept “the newcomer’ to their summer paradise. These “characters” add their own Southern wit & charm to the Surf. The fact that Ava’s handsome son Joe, is a detective for the local police force adds plenty of romantic tension, along with suspense as the mystery and detective work unfolds in the bars, bungalows, and beaches of Treasure Island. Mary Kay Andrews builds just enough trust between Letty and Ava, and enough doubt and suspicion between The Surf residents regarding “the newcomer,’ that readers will refresh drinks, ignoring a possible sunburn, to find out if Tanya’s secrets are uncovered and how Letty and Maya will spend their future with no sister and mom in the picture. What will the family photo look like?

The Murmuring Surf will conjure images of roadside motels & beach trips in the 1950’s and ‘60’s- back before online reviews & reservations kept motels in business-where cars pulled off the highway when a VACANCY sign came into view. Hang your own flashing “no vacancy” sign on the door and treat yourself to the first beach read of the summer.

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.

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/

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

Saint-Malo Cathedral Inside the Walled City-Site of Jocelyn’s Wedding

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: