Glass Ocean / Beatrix Williams, Lauren Willig, Karen White / 403 pages

The back story of this book is the sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania during World War I.  It takes place in two time periods, in the present 2013 and in the past 1915.  Each author develops a different main female character.  Sarah Blake is an author researching a book on the sinking of the Lusitania.  Her great-grandfather was part of the crew on the ship.  Her research takes her to England.  Caroline Hochstetter is a southern belle married to a wealthy industrialist.  She and her husband on sailing to England on the Lusitania.  Tess Fairweather is traveling second class on the Lusitania to return to her family in England.  However, her real name is Tennessee Schaff and she is partnering up with her sister for one last heist.  I enjoyed following each character and seeing their lives piece together to tell the story.  I loved the historical backdrop of the Lusitania.

Last Christmas in Paris / Hazel Gaynor & Heather Webb / 366 pages

This story takes place in England and France during World War I.  It is written in letter correspondence form between the two main characters and also their letters to minor characters.  Evie Elliott is a young woman in England who falls in love with her brother's life long best friend Thomas Harding.  Thomas goes off to war and he and Evie correspond during the entire war.  The book is broken up into sections by the years 1914 - 1918.  Their letters change over the years and the reader sees their relationship develop from just friends to a more personal and intimate relationship.

Lake House: a novel/ Kate Morton/ 495 pages

The Lake House: a novel written by Kate Morton is a double mystery that leads the reader through several twists.  The book is written in present time and flashbacks to when the crime occurred.  Detective Sadie Sparrow is on leave in Cornwall visiting her grandfather, Bertie.  While there she comes across a house, a ruin almost, deep in the woods.  Bertie explains that the house once belonged to the Edevane family and is now owned by mystery writer, Alice Edevane.  Through the dual story lines the reader learns of others who lived in the house and the disappearance of Theo, Alice's baby brother.  This book will hold your attention as Alice's story parallels Sadie's and then diverges.  The author does a good job leading the reader astray and then bringing them back to the truth.

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania/ Erik Larson/ 430 pages

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania is the latest nonfiction work by author Erik Larson.  In Dead Wake, Larson introduces the reader to several surviving passengers and crew members of the doomed Lusitania, as well as the German U-Boat captain who ordered the firing of the torpedo.  Along the way the reader learns of the anguish of President Wilson with the death of his wife, Ellen, and the turmoil of his courtship with Edith Galt.  Both prove to be a distraction to Wilson with regards to the war in Europe.  The book is well written and makes for an interesting read.  The reader cannot help but feel emotions, if only the ship had sailed faster, if only it had left port sooner.  I found the book particularly interesting given that my husband's Great-grandmother was aboard the Lusitania when the torpedo was fired.  She died shortly after being brought ashore.   For further information and books about the Lusitania see the SCCCLD website.  Also, see more books written by Erik Larson.

Bombs over London / Marissa Moss 219 p. 20th Century Historical Fiction + Time travel

Bombs over London / Marissa Moss 219 p. 

Mira's mother sends her on a mission that will speed the end of WWI.  She is to steal a German spy briefcase and turn it over to Room 40 of British Intelligence.  It's contents will convince President Wilson to have America enter the war.  Moss creates a realistic situations wherein Mira learns about the suffragettes, the Pankhursts (mother and daughter), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Beatrix Potter, Black Tom explosion (United States munitions bombed).  What fun to learn history this way.  A detailed bibliography is included.

The Light Between Oceans/M.L. Stedman/343 pages

A lighthouse keeper and his wife discover an abandoned dingy with a dead man and crying baby just days after the wife has suffered her third devastating miscarriage. Isabel convinces her husband Tom to keep the baby instead of reporting it to the authorities. As the only inhabitants of the remote island off the coast of Australia, it seems like no one would suspect the baby isn't really theirs. Then, during one of their infrequent visits to the mainland, they discover the baby's family and the tragic story behind her predicament. Will Isabel and Tom be able to keep their lie between them or will they return the baby to her real family?


Spoiler alert: this is a sad book! I felt so much sympathy for each of the characters. Stedman does a great job making even morally questionable decisions understandable. She also conveys the loneliness and sense of duty of a lighthouse keeper perfectly. This is a remarkable first novel. I highly recommend it.

The Girl You Left Behind / Jojo Moyes / 384 pages / Historical Fiction

This book is all about a painting during wartime World War I, but don’t let that put you off.   The setting of two different time periods is well presented and it is very clear in which era you are. In fact when it turned to the 21st century and then went back to 1917, it was almost as if you were in a time machine, revisiting the familiar story you had left behind. The author created a dilemma for me over what the main 21st century character did regarding the painting, did I agree?, didn’t I?, it changed with each page.  A fabulous story that I will remember for a long time to come.  

The writing in this book is exquisite. I don’t use this word lightly, I dislike wordy, over descriptive writing, where the writing distracts from the story. Not so with this book, this writing is at its best with excellent use of the English language such as “cacophonous daylight”. The characters are very well drawn and realistic, you find yourself caring about what happens to them. I found myself being absorbed by the book, turning pages eager to discover what was going to happen next. Thinking about the characters even when I wasn’t reading the book. It is a book with twists and turns, a few surprises, one so shocking I actually cried out (luckily I was at home at the time!). 

The Girl You Left Behind/Jojo Moyes/369 pages/3 French Hens

During World War I, the small town of St. Peronne has fallen to the Germans. Sophie's husband and her sister's husband have both gone to fight on the front. It's up to Sophie and Helene to keep their small but once elegant inn going. The new Kommandant in charge of their town admires Sophie's determination and spunk as well as the portrait her husband painted of her. As his obsession with her grows, Sophie has to decide what she will sacrifice to see her husband again. Decades later, Liv Halston owns the painting, and when distant relatives of Sophie's husband try to claim that it was stolen from their family by the Germans, Liv digs into the painting's dark past.


This was our book club selection for the month. I was warned that it was slow at the beginning, and it was, but it quickly picked up. I can't wait for our discussion. I enjoyed it and look forward to reading this author's earlier works.

The Last Summer: A Novel by Judith Kinghorn. 433 pages

Clarissa Granville is a young woman who has been born into money and knows where her life is headed. She is to marry and hopefully marry well. The summer of 1914 is where it all changes. She meets the only son of the housekeeper, Tom Cuthbert. Her pre-planned life isn't a sure thing anymore. Against the wishes of her mother, Clarissa begins a friendship and the two of them fall in love over the course of the summer. But the whispers of war changes the lives of the Granvilles and also the relationship between Clarissa and Tom. The two of them swear eternal love but that love will be tested again and again in the following years.
This is what I call an epic saga book. One of those that follows many characters for a large portion of their lives. The novel starts a few months before the beginning of World War I and will eventually end in 1930. There is some romance in the book but there are other social issues intertwining with the characters: Women's rights such as voting, independence from conventions, the fraying of the class structures are some of the issues that are touched on. I highly recommend this because the main heroine isn't always likeable. She is willful and some of her actions are downright questionable. But this is good. A cookie cutter female character isn't a good fit for this novel. Clarissa is a challenge to root for sometimes and the ending has a twist I didn't see coming. Excellent read for those hot summer evenings.
  6 Degrees of Reading: Summerset Abbey by T.J. Brown, The Lavender Garden by Lucinda Riley, Ashenden by Elizabeth Wilhide.

Moon over Manifest / Clare Vanderpool 351 p.

Abilene Tucker arrives at Manifest, Kansas for the summer of 1936.  Her father has put her on the train, sending her to an old friend, Pastor Shady Howard, while he works a railroad job.   She wants to learn more about her father.  She discovers a cigar box filled with old letters and mementos from 1918. She and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, read about a spy known as The Rattler.  This sparks their spy investigation.  Vanderpool artfully interweaves stories about 1936 and 1918.   Miss Sadie, a "diviner" slowly leads her through the story of Ned and Jinx.  Wonderfully enriched with historically details about World War I, the 1918 flu epidemic, and life in Manifest.

2012 Notable Children's Books

THE HOUSE AT RIVERTON by Kate Morton - 473 Pages

Book Discussion title at McClay Branch

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton is a Gothic novel...told by 90 year "Grace" who began her life in said house as a serving girl. When the story opens Grace is meeting with Ursula who is making a movie about the "suicide" which occurred there years before. Since Grace was in residence the night of the tragedy Ursula wants to interview her as well as get Grace's "take" on the sets. From there we journey back in Grace memories....her Mother's presence in her life...stern, unaffectionate but as best as she could took care of Grace., Grace's own daughter Ruth with whom she has no better relationship than she had with her own Mother.

We get a bird's eye view into the residents of the House at Riverton...the serving staff, caring, warm, a well oiled machine who had "serving" down pat yet who truly cared about not only the lords and ladies of the manner but especially about the rest of the staff who served. We see Grace become mesmerized by Hannah and her sister Emmeline who had "soo much life" about them. Grace feels a special connection to Hannah especially all her life....until the day of Hannah's death. We learn the true story of the "suicide" of Robbie Hunter and like a game of chess...all the pieces fall together to make a tragic but well written ending if a touch unbelievable (my take only!)

Many rabbit trails there are to go down from mother/daughter relationships, WWI with its rationing, the privilege and responsibility of wealth, to the unfairness of life, lost love, being but a few.

As is true of all Gothic novels there is dark side Morton creates which permeates the entire book. Some of her quotes are priceless:

"There's nothing spoils a young lady's loveliness so much as impertinence of intellect."

"...for home is a magnet that lures back even its most abstracted children."

"Photographs force us to see people before their future weighed them down, before they knew their endings."

and one of my own personal favorites: "reading is one of life's great pleasures;talking about books keeps their worlds alive for longer."

The gals gave the book a 2 out of five...with 1 being the best...majority rule.

Ruth - MY Book Club