Books Set in Europe, Poland

A Meal in Winter, by Hubert, Mingarelli (2012), translated from the French by Sam Taylor

Read: January 26, 2024

4 Stars

Books Set in North America, Baton Rouge and Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

A Flicker in the Dark, by Stacy Willingham (2022)

A Flicker in the Dark is a thriller narrated by Chloe Davis, a psychologist from the small bayou town of Breaux Bridge, but now living and working in Baton Rouge.  When she was a young girl, her life was shattered when her father, Dick Davis, convicted of the murder of several teenaged girls.  Chloe was the one who turned her father into the police, an act that follows her where ever she goes.

Now as the twentieth anniversary of her father’s conviction and incarceration, more teenaged girls go missing.  Chloe is haunted by memories of the past with the news of more missing girls.  She is further troubled when Aaron Jansen, a reporter for the New York Times, approaches her for an interview for an anniversary story about the original murders.

Due to her past, Chloe has had a hard maintaining long-term relationships, so when she meets Daniel Briggs, he seems to be her savior.  She withholds telling him the full story of her childhood and her infamous father, however.  Daniel’s sister also vanished twenty years earlier and Chloe wonders if there may be a link to the earlier murders.

I picked up this book solely because it takes place in Baton Rouge and Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.  The author description of the bayous and marshes of Louisiana in a way that the reader feels the humidity and moss covered trees.  It was a very quick read and was filled with twists and turns.

Read:  January 25, 2024

4.5 Stars

Books Set in North America; Manhattan, New York

The Real Mrs. Tobias, by Sally Koslow (2022)

 

Meet Veronika Tobias, the matriarch.  She is a psychologist.  Meet Mel, her daughter-in-law, a psychotherapist.  Meet Birdie, Mel’s daughter-in-law.  Birdie is a mid-westerner and an aspiring writer who gave up her dreams to follow her husband to live in New York City.  Three women, all known as Mrs. Tobias.

 

Birdie and Micah married young and now have a young daughter, Alice.  Micah has yet to grow up and become a responsible adult.  Instead of joining his grandfather’s and father’s thriving clothing store, he operates a operates a food truck that sells, of all things, mashed potatoes.  Driving home after an evening of drinking, Mel accidently hit something, but didn’t know whether it was a person, animal, or object.  He didn’t see anyone, so continued home and never reported the incident to the police.  At the family’s weekly Shabbat dinner, he reports the incident, who urge him to own up to his actions.  

 

This sets up the scene for exploring family relationships.  Veronika and Mel can assist other people with their problems in their professional life, but struggle with their own family problems.  As the meddling mothers-in-law try to help Micah and Birdie, the younger Tobias’ must come to their own solution to their troubles.

 

This was a delightful novel, told through the eyes of each of the three women.  I would have rated this book a 5, but for Alice.  I found the dialogue with the three-year-old Alice to be totally unbelievable in an otherwise lovely book about family and love.

 

Read: January 8, 2024

4 Stars

Books Set in Europe: Lisbon, Portugal and Lyon, France

The Librarian Spy, by Madeline Martin (2022)

During World War II, Portugal was ostensibly neutral country.  Interestingly, the country’s newsstands sold newspapers and magazines from various European countries, including Germany.  Warring countries sent their intelligence officers to Portugal to scour magazines and newspapers to glean information on the enemy.  The Interdepartmental Committee for the Acquisition of Foreign Publications (IDC) was created in the United States for gathering such documentations.  The United States Library of Congress sent a contingency of its librarians to Lisbon to gather publications to collect and copy foreign publications.  

 

This has all the making of an interesting angle on stories about World War II.  Sadly, The Librarian Spy, by Madeline Martin is not that book.  I know I am in the minority on this, but this book just didn’t live up to its hype.

 

The novel follows two women: Ava Harper, an American librarian working in the Library of Congress, and Elaine, a French woman in Lyon, hoping to join the Resistance.  Elaine is the more interesting of the two.  After her husband joined the Resistance, she began working as a printing apprentice and distributes an underground newspaper that contains information about the War.

 

Ava was recruited by the United States military to go to Portugal to gather information newspapers then microfilm them to send to intelligence officers.  She is supposedly intellectual and an avid reader.  To emphasize this point, the author has Ava make numerous references to pieces of literature, and notes that she carries her copy of Little Women everywhere she goes.  She apparently received little training for this job, and her naivety is annoying.

 

This book did not depict the actual horrors and fears of living in Europe during Nazi-occupation.  I would classify this novel as being for young adults.  It is probably something I would have enjoyed in 7^th grade.

 

Read: January 5, 2024

2.5 Stars

Books Set in Europe: England and France

The Armor of Light, by Ken Follett (2023)

The Armor of Light covers the life of villagers in Kingsbridge from 1792 to 1824 during the Napoleonic Wars.  The novel touches upon political events in England and Europe, as well as the beginning of the industrial revolution.

The novel opens when Sally Clitheroe’s husband is killed while working for the Earl.  The Earl is hard-hearted and refused to compensate Sally for her loss.  Sally, known as Sal, and her young son must come to terms with losing their main breadmaker

The mill in the village is known for its clothmaking and the Spinning Jenny is a new invention that slowly is making its way into Kingsbridge.  The mill workers, however, fear that this new contraption will put them all out of work and fight the new technology.  In 1799, the aristocrat’s pass the Combination Act, which makes it a crime for workers to criticize their employers.  If they revolt, they are subject to criminal penalty, including the prospect of hanging.

Meanwhile, the French Revolution has disposed of the monarchy, and English ruling class fears revolution may come to England.  The Napoleonic Wars are erupting in Europe.  The English working class who violate the Combination Act can avoid penalty by joining the army as it fights against Napoleon’s advancements throughout the Continent.

The book is long – over 700 pages, but it is a fast read.  The characters are well developed, and the reader becomes involved in their lives and loves.  This novel by Ken Follett did not disappoint.

Read: January 1, 2024

4.5 Stars