Books Set in Europe; London, England

The Cactus, by Sarah Haywood (2018)

Read: November 18, 2024

3.5 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

Books Set in Europe: Rome, Italy

Eternal, by Lisa Scottoline (2021)

This novel is about Italy during World War II, Fascism and the treatment of Jews.

Although the novel was historically correct, I didn't care for the characters.  (It even addresses Syndrome K, which was how Catholic doctors saved a number of Jews by convincing the Nazis that the Jews were infected with a highly contagious disease called Syndrome K).

The plot revolved around three teenagers:  Sandro, Marco and Elisabetta.  They have been friends from childhood.  The two boys vie for Elisabetta, who professes to love them both.  Marco and Elizabetta are both Catholic; Sandro is Jewish.  Sandro's father initially supported Mussolini, until Germany invaded Italy and Jews were forced into the Ghetto, then the camps.

The story line with Sandro, Marco, and Elisabetta didn't ring true.

Read:  September 3, 2023

3 Stars

Books Set in Europe: Paris, France

Paris: The Novel, by Edward Rutherfurd (2013)

Although the book is entitled Paris: The Novel, it’s actually a comprehensive history of France through the lives of six families from the reign of Louis IX, King of France in 1260 through 1968.  The novel jumps a bit back and forth in time, and I had to constantly refer to the family chart at the beginning of the book (which comes in a just over 800 pages).

Each of the 26 Chapters covers a specific point of history, with fabulous details of life during that specific period of time, all through the above mentioned six families.  The families come from all walks of life: from aristocrats, to peasants, to the bourgeois, to Catholics, Protestants, and Jews.  From generation to generation, the author spends more time with some families than others, but in total, the reader is treated to a fascinated history of one of the most well-known cities in the world.

We learn what court life was like during the reigns of the many French kings.  We learn of the events leading to the French Revolution.  We learn how the Eiffel Tower was constructed, and its initial reception in Paris.  The tale provided the background of the Huguenots and how they were expelled from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

Some characters are more fully developed than others.  The reader cheers Thomas Gaston on as he works on the Eiffel Tower.  His brother, Luc, leads a life on the edge and he shows us the seedy side of life in the city.

I thoroughly enjoyed this travel to France.

Read:  June 20, 2023

5 Stars

Books Set in Europe: England

Disobedience, by Naomi Alderman (2006)

Read: March 3, 2023

3 Stars

Books Set in Europe; Italy

Murder in Matera, by Helene Stapinski (2017)

 

Journalist Helene Stapinski grew up with the family lore of her great-great-grandmother Vita.  Vita had immigrated to the United States in the 1890s with her two teenage son, leaving her husband behind.  Vita was a murderess.  She had killed someone and left Italy to escape punishment.  She was also said to be a loose woman.  Why did she leave her husband behind?  She certainly paid the ultimate price for her crime when she, herself, was killed by a blow to the head at age 64.

 

Once in America, one of Vita’s sons went into a life of crime, as did the author’s grandfather.  Now the author ponders whether there really is a criminal gene, and would it be passed on to her children?

 

This thought haunts her, so she decides to venture back to the family’s ancestral home in Bernalda, Italy ~ the instep of Italy’s boot to learn her family’s history.  With little knowledge of her family background, with limited ability to speak Italian, and with two small children in tow, the author arrived in Bernalda and began asking questions.  She comes up empty.

 

Ten years later, the author ventured back to Italy, this time armed with two capable researchers who assist her as she pores over public birth, death, marriage records, and court murder transcripts.  What she finds astonishes her.

 

In the course of uncovering her family history, the author describes what life would have been like for the average peasant living hand-to-mouth in this rugged part of Italy.  The wealthy landowners were still expected to sleep with a young bride of his peasant worker.  The author envisions that this is what happened to Vita.  Her telling of Vita’s life is largely fiction, but is a plausible snapshot of how people lived in Bernalda in the latter half of the 1800s.

 

Spoiler Alert:  The trial transcript does, indeed, describe a murder.  The murderer is not, however, Vita, but instead, her husband Francesco.  The peasants are starving and do anything to get food for their families.  In the dead of night, Francesco and two of his friends were out taking pears from their landowner’s property.  They were confronted by whom they thought was the landowner.  The landowner had a shotgun and shot at the three men, slightly injuring one.  The other two men confronted the gunman, knocked him to the ground and badly beat him.  The injured man died a few days later.  Only later to they learn that the injured man was a young teenager, probably out to protect his family’s fruit orchard.  Francesco is found guilty of manslaughter and sent to prison.

 

A close look at the birth certificates of Vita’s children reveals that Vita is the wife of Francesco, but that he is “far from town” at the time of the births.  This leads the author to surmise that, with her husband in prison, Vita “gave” herself to the landowner in exchange for food.  The author also realized that if there is a murderous gene, it was not in Vita’s side of the family afterall.

 

This was a fast-paced read.  Much of what the author writes about her “murderous” great-great-grandmother is speculation, but does provide a glimpse of the harsh life of a peasant living in southern Italy in the later 1800s.

 

Read:  April 16, 2022

 

4 Stars

 

 

Books Set in Europe: England

Bitter Orange, by Claire Fuller (2018)

This is a very strange book.  The year is 1969.  Frances Jellico is a self-taught expert on English garden architecture and bridges.  Her mother, with whom she has been living, has just died, so 39-year old Frances has accepted a job cataloguing a dilapidated English manor that was recently purchased by a wealthy American.  Frances has lived a very sheltered life.

She has been relegated to live in two attic rooms in the manor.  She will be sharing space in the house with Cara and Peter, who have also been hired by the American to catalogue the contents of the manor.  They have the rooms below Frances’s attic apartment.  Before she formally meets them, Frances discovers that there is a peephole in her bathroom where she can see into Cara and Peter’s bathroom.

Cara is inclined to tell stories.  Although she is from Ireland, she pretends that she is Italian.  After leaving her home behind in Ireland, she recreated herself as an Italian and spins tales of her so-called exotic life.  Frances is gullible and believes Cara’s tales, but Peter warns her that all is not what it seems.  But is Peter being straight up with Frances?

The novel jumps from 1969 to 20 years in the future when Frances is dying in a hospital bed remembering the past.  As we delve into the novel, we realized the events of that 1969 summer were much darker than they first appeared.

I was intrigued by the initial portion of the novel, but the last third seemed to drag.

Read:  July 21, 2021

3 Stars

Books Set in Europe: England

The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig (2020)

 

Nothing is going right for Nora Seed.  She is 35 years old, she just lost her job, her brother is upset with her, her best friend moved to Australia, and her cat is dead.  She is depressed and just wants to end it all.  So she does.  She takes an overdose of antidepressants and goes to sleep.

 

Then, just a midnight, she awakens in the Midnight Library.  It’s that place where some people go that is between life and death, but still have a choice to live or die.  The library is huge and is filled with endless books.  The librarian is Mrs. Elm, the school librarian of Nora’s childhood.  Mrs. Elm explains to her that the books are filled with alternative choices that Nora could have taken.

 

Nora is first given a book entitled The Book of Regrets, which is filled with regrets, large and small, in Nora’s life.  As she ponders over some of the regrets, they fade away as they become meaningless.  As she selects other books in the library, she gets a glimpse of what her life could have been had she not made some of her choices.  For a brief time, she gets to sample the lives she might have experienced had she made different choices.  What would have happened if she hadn’t gotten cold feet two days before her wedding to Dan?  In the first book she selects, she finds herself outside a pub and is married to Dan.  After she quickly sees that she was living in Dan’s dream life, she fades away and is back in the Library.  So, she makes other book selections and tries on different lives.

 

Nora can remember events from her past “choices” so sometimes the people she meets in one “life” come back in another.

 

This was a quiet and gentle story as Nora sees what could have been and has to make the ultimate decision.  Does she want to live or die?  Will she be granted that choice, or will the decision be made for her if the library time passes midnight?

 

I loved this book.

 

Read:  July 18, 2021

 

5 Stars

 

 

 

Books Set in Europe: Austria

The Conversion, by Aharon Appelfeld (1998)

 

In the years before World War II, Karl Hübner was living in a small town in Austria.  He worked in the municipal office, but, because he was a Jew, knew that he wouldn’t be able to rise any higher in his job.  He, thus, converted to Christianity solely to advance his career.  Prior to his decision to convert, he had visions of his mother telling him that it would be okay to convert for job advancement.  Most of his close classmates from school had already converted, thus he was simply taking steps to conform to the norms of his town and for social acceptance.

 

Karl, now a Christian, does, indeed get the promotion.  He is surprised to learn, however, that the promotion did not bring him the happiness that he envisioned.  Karl and his school friends learn that conversion to Christianity does not social acceptance in a country that fears Jews.  They are often reminded that the conversion did not truly make them non-Jews.  Although Karl was brought up in a secular Jewish home, he did absorb its values.  He has a strong moral code and stands up for injustice.  When he sees Jews being mocked and abused, he calls out the abusers.

 

Karl lives with his housekeeper, Gloria.  It was not clear to me whether or not Gloria was Jewish, but she maintains the Jewish rituals and traditions that she learned from Karl’s mother.  She observes the High Holidays each year, which at first surprised the newly converted Karl.

 

Spoiler alert:  As antisemitism increases in their Austrian town, Karl decides to return to the home of his parents.  He resigned his job, sold his house and traveled to Rosow.  Sadly, antisemitism is everywhere.  Although Karl and Gloria were initially very happy in their new location, the local peasants ultimately burn down their house with them in it.

 

Read:  June 6, 2021 (First Read: March 16, 2008)

 

3 Stars

Books Set in Europe: Switzerland

The Gustav Sonata, by Rose Tremain (2016)

 

Gustav Perle grew up in poverty in Switzerland in the years at the end of World War II.  His father died when he was too young to have any clear memory of him and is mother, whom he adores, is distant and bitter.  In kindergarten, Gustav befriends Anton Zweibel, a boy his same age, who is a promising musician.

 

The novel is written in three parts.  In Part One, Gustav and Anton are young boys who are constant companions.  Anton’s family, who are wealthy, take Gustav on vacations with them.  Emilie, Gustav’s mother is not keen on Anton and his family because they are Jewish.  She is bitter because she blames her husband’s death on saving Jews during the War.

 

Part Two focuses on Emilie and her early life and how she fell in love with Erich Perle.  Erich was an Assistant Police Officer.  In his position, he helped Jewish refugees into Switzerland after the country had closed its doors.  When his actions were discovered, he lost his job and was reduced to finding a menial job with poor pay.  Although Emilie loved Erich and called referred to him as a hero, she could never forgive him for plunging the family into poverty.

 

Gustav and Anton are middle-aged in Part Three.  After having been separated for years, each with his own life, the two friends come together again.  The bond they formed as children remained strong.

 

This was a beautifully written novel.

 

5 Stars

 

Read:  May 28, 2021

 

 

Books Set in Europe: Hamburg, Germany and Africa: Liberia

Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany, by Hans J. Massaquoi (1999)

After a whirlwind romance with the black Liberian son of a diplomat, the Bertha Baetz found herself pregnant, and in January 1926, gave birth to the author, Hans Massaquoi (Jan. 19, 1926 ~ Jan. 19, 2013).  Although the diplomat’s son promised to marry Bertha, the wedding never took place.  Instead, he went off to England to pursue his studies.  Meanwhile, Bertha and Hans, were welcomed into the diplomat’s home.  For the first 5 years of his life, Hans lived a life of wealth and privilege.

When the diplomat was called home, Bertha decided to remain in Hamburg, Germany with her son.  Their standard of living dropped dramatically, as Bertha was forced to look for jobs.  Around this time, the political climate was changing in Germany.  Like so many German children, he was indoctrinated into Nazi propaganda and dreamed of joining the Hitler Youth, like many of his comrades.

Although his was often called names by neighborhood bullies, he was generally accepted by his peers.  His teachers, however, were another story.  Many of his teachers would single him out for his black skin.  When his was denied entry into the Hitler Youth, he begged his mother to plead his case for him, arguing that he was “German just like everyone else.”  His mother fiercely protected her young son.  Throughout this memoir, the love he has for his mother is evident on nearly every page.

Through his teachers, he learns that his is “non-Aryan”, thus there is no place for him in Nazi Germany.  As Nazi Germany begins its conquest of Austria, and the war begins, Hans and his mother experience the trauma of the war and their beloved city of Hamburg being bombed.  Although Hans has been informed that after the Nazi are “done” with the Jews, he will be next.  Despite this, the author makes only an off-handed reference to Jewish extermination or the concentration camps.  I found this to be troubling.  Perhaps, at the beginning of the war, he was too young to fully understand what was happening, and by the end of the war, he and his mother were simply trying to survive.

After the War, Hans hangs out among the docks of Hamburg and often passes himself of as an American GI.  He has dreams of one day immigrating to the United States, where some of his mother’s relatives moved before the War broke out.

While still in his early 20’s, he made contact with his father, now an important businessman in Liberia.  He felt that staying in Germany would be a dead-end for him, thought that moving to Liberia would lead him to a better life.  His relationship with his father, however, quickly turned sour.  After a few years in Liberia, his mother’s relatives eventually arranged for him to immigrate to the United States.  In 1950, at age 26, he entered the United States.  After being erroneously drafted into and serving in the Army, he earned a degree in journalism.  

His mother was finally able to immigrate to the United States, where the two were reunited.  Hans ultimately became a managing editor of Ebony magazine.  As a post-script, Hans died in 2013 on his 87th birthday.

Read:  April 3, 2021

4 Stars

Books Set in Asia and Europe: Iran and England

The Saffron Kitchen, by Yasmin Crowther (2006)

 

Maryam Mazer was born and raised in a small village in Iran in a wealthy family.  Her father was a general in the Shah’s army.  She grew up in a somewhat traditional family where women were expected to marry a man selected by the father.  When she is 16, her father found a man for her to marry, but Maryam had other ideas.  She dreamt of being a nurse and helping people.

 

Her closest childhood friend was Ali, her father’s servant.  He grew up in a very tiny village and taught himself to read.  In Maryam’s family, he became her father’s confident and secretary, however, he was treated as a servant.

 

When the Iranian Revolution, Maryam found herself in the middle of a family tragedy and was sent to Tehran, and ultimately to London.  Maryam had ventured from her home during rioting in her village.  Ali saw her and brought her to his apartment until it was safe for her to return the next day.  Her father assumed that she had slept with Ali, and thus shamed the family’s name.  He disowned her; but allowed her to go to Tehran to pursue her nursing dreams.  She left, knowing that Ali had been beaten within an inch of his life by here father’s men.

 

In London, she met Edward, who became her devoted husband, and they had a daughter, Sara.  She had what seemed to be a perfect life.  She would occasionally return to Iran to visit family.  When her last living sister died, however, her 12-year-old nephew, Saeed, was sent to London to live with Maryam and Edward.

 

Saeed had difficulty settling life in London.  His presence in Maryam’s household opened the floodgates to her memories of Iran, which she had suppressed for years.  She believed that the only way to face her demons would be to return to Iran and to the tiny village where she had spent many pleasant summers as a child.  Ali was still living there, waiting for her return.

 

The book goes back and forth between Maryam and her grown daughter, Sara.  Sara’s life was only in England, but she knows of her Iranian roots.  The novel slowly peels back the layers of Maryam’s life so that we understand what brought her to London and back to Iran.

 

Read: January 14, 2021

 

4.5 Stars

 

Books Set in Europe; Italy and England

Mapping the Edge, by Sarah Dunant (1999)

This was a very strange novel.  It follows Anna Franklin, a single mother, who left her 6-year-old daughter, Lily in the care of her housekeeper to take a brief trip to Italy.  Anna was writing an article about dating through the want ads.  (Remember, this book was written over 20 years ago.)  When Anna failed to return home, her two closest friends gather ponder what could have detained Anna.

The novel alternates between two different scenarios.  Was Anna kidnapped by a man who wants her to be his dead wife, or has she found a companion who fulfills her sexual fantasies?

Sarah Dunant has also written several historical fiction novels, including The Birth of Venus.  I liked those novels much better.

Read:  August 25, 2020

3 Stars

Books Set in Europe: The Netherlands, Amsterdam

House on Endless Waters, by Emuna Elon (2016)

The novel begins when the well-known Israeli author, Yoel Blum, is boarding an airplane.  Right from the beginning, we realize that his is not really a likable character.  He is a bit of a snob, and he has trouble interacting well with people.  At some point in the novel, he acknowledges that he is not sure that he married for love, rather than convenience.

Regardless, his latest book is being published in the Netherlands and he is traveling to Amsterdam to promote his book.  He has mixed feelings about this trip because his mother had always told him he should never, ever go to Amsterdam.  Although he was born in Amsterdam during World War II, he and his family never returned.  His mother is now deceased, but he wants to keep his promise to her not to go.

While in Amsterdam, he goes to one of the Jewish museums and observes a movie clip that shows his mother holding a baby, along with his father (who perished in the War) and his older sister, Nettie.  Upon his return to Israel, he discussed what he had seen with his sister.  He tells her that he recognized his family, but the baby doesn’t look like him.  Soon after, he feels compelled to return to Amsterdam to search out his background.

The novel mixes the past and present as Yoel seeks out information of his family.  He decides to use his search for his identity as the basis for his next novel.  At times the past and present blur.  He seeks out the building where his family once had a small apartment.  The building is now a rather seedy hotel, but Yoel decides to rent a room.  He decides to use his search for identity as his next 

Yoel visits the local synagogue and eventually meets a man about his age who confides that he was a child of Jewish parents who were hidden by a Christian family during the War.  This man has only recently confronted his past with the life he lived for most of his life.

As Blum takes notes for his next novel, he imagines his family life in the building of a wealthy Jewish banker, and the banker’s daughter and her family.  All are in denial of what is happening during the War until it is nearly too late.

This novel also reads like a travel map of Amsterdam.  Streets and buildings are vividly described.

The reader can easily guess early on the punchline of the novel, but the payoff comes too late.  SPOILER ALERT:  Yoel is not the biological child of his mother.  Their neighbors switched their son with Yoel’s mother on the pretext that they would soon be following them to Palestine.  Still, it was a fast read, and not many Holocaust novels address the non-Jewish Dutch families who were willing to hide and safe Jewish children.

Read: August 3, 2020

3 Stars

Books Set in Europe: England

Queen of Shadows: A Novel of Isabella, Wife of Edward II, by Edith Felber (2006)

This historical novel is as much the story of Isabella, Queen consort of England and wife of Edward II, King of England as it is her lady-in-waiting, Gwenith de Percy.  Gwenith was a young Welsh woman who landed herself a position on the English Court bent on revenge for the actions of Isabella’s father-in-law, Edward I.  Edward I had conquered the Wales and stripped the nobility of its lands.  He the process, he named his son the first English Prince of Wales.

Isabella, the French princess and daughter of Philip IV, King of France, arrived in England at age 12 to marry then Edward, Prince of Wales.  She soon learned that her husband had a string of male lovers.  Despite this, they have 4 children together.

When Edward became King Edward II, he proved to be a weak king.  This allowed the the young and ambitious Hugh Despenser to dig his claws into Edward.  Hugh became Edward’s lover, but with the idea of becoming ruler of the country.  Isabella recognized that Hugh’s interest in Edward was not on altruistic grounds.  She despised him.

Meanwhile, Gwenith became friendly with the Welsh baron Owain de Rhys.  He first initiated a friendship with her in hopes that she would be able to convince Isabella to spare fellow Welshman Roger Mortimer his life.  Mortimer had been in prison awaiting his execution at the hands of Edward, or more likely Hugh Despenser.  Gwenith convinced the Queen to visit Mortimer in prison.

Mortimer and the Queen became lovers and she was able plan his escape from the Tower of London.  Soon Isabella and Mortimer were plotting to overthrow Edward.

While reading this novel, I did a lot of fact-checking and most of the events depicted in the novel corresponded to actual historical events.

I enjoyed this book.  It is a fast read, and interesting because it tells the story of King Edward from Isabella’s point of view.

Read:  May 14, 2020

4 Stars

Books Set in Europe: Germany: Bavaria

The Play of Death, by Oliver Pölzsch (2016)

In 1633, the Black Plague raged through Europe.  In the village of Oberammergau, 80 villagers died.  The people of the village vowed to put on a Passion play (the story of the crucifixion of Jesus) every 10 years if they would be spared.  The play was first performed in 1634.  This is the backdrop of this 6^th novel in the Hangman’s Daughter series.  We are once again acquainted with Magdalena Fronweiser and her family, which consists of her husband, Simon, her 2 sons, her father, Jakob Kuisl, the hangman, and her sister, Barbara.

The novel takes place in 1670.  The village of Oberammergau is preparing for their next performance, however, it is 4 years early for the 10-year anniversary mark.  This causes some of the superstitious villagers concern.  When actors in some of the key roles are found murdered, concern among the villagers heightens.

The first death was that of the actor playing the role of Jesus.  He was found murdered on a cross just as Simon Fronwieser, the medicus of Schongau, is in the village to bring his young son to boarding school of Simon’s friend and teacher, Georg Kaiser.  The village doctor has recently died, so Simon is naturally asked investigate the murder.  Meanwhile, Johann Lechner, Schongau’s secretary and town leader brings Jakob Kuisl, to Oberammergau because the village’s executioner has also recently died.  He, too, gets caught up in the investigation of the eerie murders.

While Lechner is out of Schnogau is out of town, other members of the town’s council decide to take advantage of his absence to oust him.  When Barbara Kuisl is accused of witchcraft she is thrown in the town’s dungeon and is awaiting torture.  With Lechner out of town, Barbara has no advocate.  Magdalena sneaks out of town to go to Oberammargau to seek Lechner’s assistance.  Along the way, however, she is abducted.

In the meantime, the people of Oberammergau are protesting the immigrant workers from Italy.  They are scorned and their children keep going missing.  Is there a connection between the murders of the actors in the Passion play and the missing immigrant children?

This book has multiple plot twists as it unravels the murders of the Passion play and the abduction of Magdalena.

As with the other books in this series, this book is based on historical facts, which is what I find must interesting.  I enjoyed this book as a light and easy read.

Read:  April 15, 2020

4 Stars

The Hangman’s Daughter; Book I / Read: June 1, 2013

The Dark Monk; Book II / Read: October 6, 2013

The Beggar King; Book III / Read: March 9, 2014

The Poisoned Pilgrim; Book IV / Read: December 28, 2017

The Werewolf of Bamberg; Book V / Read: July 21, 2019

The Play of Death; Book VI / Read: April 15, 2020

Books Set in Europe and Asia: Turkey

The Towers of Trebizond, by Rose Macaulay (1956)

The Towers of Trebizond, by Rose Macaulay is a very amusing book that is partly autobiographical.  It follows the adventures of Laurie, the narrator; her eccentric Aunt Dot; an Anglican Priest; and a camel.  They trek from Istanbul to Trebizond, partly by vehicle, partly by foot and camel.  Aunt Dot’s primary focus seems to be converting the women she meets along the way to Anglicanism, believing this will liberate the women from the confines of Islam.

Along the way, they meet all sorts of interesting characters, including Seventh Day Adventists, Billy Graham on tour, Turkish policemen and British travel writers.  In their travels, they come perilously close to the Russian border.  The priest is hesitant to cross into Russia on the grounds that it would be perceived as condoning a country that persecutes Christians.  Aunt Dot convinces him otherwise, noting that even in Britain there are elements of the government that one need not agree with.

While Aunt Dot and the priest explore Russia, Laurie remains in Turkey with the camel.  While on her own, Laurie begins her search into her Anglican faith.  She is left alone with her thoughts of faith and the conflict about her love affair with a married man.

Having traveled through Turkey, albeit not a camel, I found the author’s descriptions of places fascinating.  Despite there being 50 years between when this book took place and my visit to the country, I still recognized facets of Turkish life.

Read: December 2019

4 Stars

Books Set in Europe: England and France

I'll See You in Paris, by Michelle Gable (2016)

I’ll See You in Paris is loosely based on the life of Gladys Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (née Gladys Deacon; Feb. 7, 1881 ~ Oct. 13, 1977).  A bit of background: Gladys was born in France into a wealthy, but eccentric American family.  When she was a child, her father killed her mother’s lover.  Her father spent a few years in prison, but when he got out, he was given custody of his children.

As an adult, Gladys travelled in an artistic social circle and encountered many major authors and artist of the time.  She became close friends with Consuelo Vanderbilt, who was married to the 9^th Duke of Marlborough.  Theirs was an unhappy marriage.   Gladys became the Duke’s mistress.  It was a happy arrangement for decades.  When Consuelo and the Duke divorced, Gladys and the Duke married, making Gladys the Duchess of Marlborough.

In her later life, the Duchess became a recluse.  She lived in a small village in England with a host of cats and dogs. She was known to threaten visitors with firearms.

This is where the novel begins.  The novel goes back and forth in time and we slowly learn about Gladys’s life.  The novel begins in 2001 with Annie Haley, a young woman newly engage to a marine who has been shipped to Afghanistan.  Annie was raised by her single mother, Laurel.  Annie never knew her father ~ her birth certificate lists her father as being “unknown.”

Laurel has business in England and invites Annie to accompany her.  While her mother is tending to business, Annie wanders through the little village and encounters Gus, an aging aristocrat.  They strike up a friendship over a book entitled The Missing Duchess.  Gus knew the woman who was the subject of the book, although she adamantly denied she was the Duchess.  His recounting of the Duchess brings us to the 1970s, where a young American woman named Pru was hired to be a companion to the aging Gladys.

This was a fun and quick read.  The style of moving back in forth in time, while not entirely seamless, was smooth enough to keep me turning the pages.  It is not necessary to know the background of Gladys Deacon to enjoy this book.  While reading this book, I did a little research to see how closely the novel tracked the life of the Duchess.

Read:  Oct. 28, 2019

4 Stars

Books Set in Europe: Germany, Bavaria

The Werewolf of Bamberg, by Oliver Pötzsch (2014)

This is the 5th novel in the Hangman's Daughter series.  The year is 1668, and the Kuisl family has traveled from Schongau to Bamberg to celebrate the marriage of Barthalomäus, the estranged brother of the Kuisl patriarch, Jakob.  Until recently, his children were unaware that their father even had a brother.  A misunderstanding years earlier had caused a split between the brothers.

When the family arrives in Bamberg, they learn that the city has been terrorized by a series of murders.  Several elders of the city have gone missing, only to have their mangled bodies appear scattered around the city.  Rumors spread that the deaths are caused by a werewolf.

What I like about this mystery series is the careful research the author does in his novels.  In the afterward, he explains the history behind this mystery.  While the events seem supernatural to the citizens of this German town in the late 1660s, they actually have a basis in science.

I have enjoyed the other books in the series, and this one was no exception.

Read: July 21, 2019

5 Stars

Books Set in Europe and South America

The Rhythm of Memory, by Alyson Richman (2004)

The Rhythm of Memory is about how the human is capable of overcoming tragedy even though it takes years to conquer the past. The novel follows two couples ~ Octavio and Salomé, and Samuel and Kaija, each with their own secrets of their respective pasts.

Octavio was an impoverished young student when he first met Salomé, a young girl from a wealth family.  They met in Santiago, Chile in the 1960s.  He sent her love poems by the famous Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda.  They married and soon Octavio became a successful and well-known movie star.  Because he became famous, one day in 1973, Neruda approached Octavio and asked for his help in coaching Salvador Allende with his political campaign.  Octavio became involved in politics and felt he had come to real meaning in his life.

After Augusto Pinochet staged a coup and Allende was killed, Octavio continued to speak out against Pinochet, never realizing that it would be his wife who would ultimately pay for his political decision.  Salomé was abducted and tortured for several months before being released.  Octavio, to protect his family, sought political asylum and his family relocated to Sweden.

Meanwhile, Samuel, whose Jewish family fled Europe and bounced around in South America before settling in Sweden, experienced his own feelings of tragedy. He met the beautiful Kaija and fell in love with her.  Kaija was a Finnish war “orphan”.  Her family was extremely poor, and during the Finnish-Russian War, sent her to Sweden to be with a temporary family in order to give her a better life.

Some of the family members intersect in Sweden, but secrets are still kept, which threaten to tear families apart.

I enjoyed this novel, although I found the author sometimes repeated herself in several places once the action moved to Sweden.  Still, the characters were vivid and really came off the page.

Read: July 6, 2019

5 Stars