The Shoemaker's Wife / Adriana Trigiani / 470 pages

This story is based on the author's grandmother.  The story begins in Italy in the early 1900s.  Enza is the oldest daughter of a large family.  Ciro is being raised with his older brother at a convent after their mother leaves them there when their father is killed in a mining accident in America.  Their mother is mentally unable to care for them.  Enza and Ciro meet when Ciro is hired to dig the grave of Enza's youngest sister who has died.  Shortly after this Ciro immigrates to the United States and becomes an apprentice to a shoemaker.  Later Enza and her father also immigrate to America to earn money to send home to the family to build their own home.  Ciro and Enza both end up in New York City and their paths cross several times, until at last after Ciro returns from fighting in World War I they get married.  From there they move to Minnesota to set up their own shoe business.  This was a beautiful story that does a good job telling the immigrant experience in the United State.

The Pink Suit / Nicole Mary Kelby / 280 pages

On November 22, 1963 President Kennedy and the First Lady travel to Dallas, Texas.  Mrs. Kennedy is dressed in the now iconic pink Chanel-style suit that was the President's favorite.  This novel tells a story of how that suit was created in the New York boutique Chez Ninon.  Kate is an Irish immigrant that works at the boutique and is charged with making this suit.  Although the two women never meet, Kate knows exactly how to make the suit to fit the First Lady.  The story shows how this famous suit also was a big part of Kate's life.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek/Kim M. Richardson/308 pgs

Book discussion started off the year with a terrific read. This book combines two factual things--the Pack Horse Librarian program of FDR's WPA and the Blue People of Kentucky. In 1936, Cussy Mary and her father are the last of the "Blue People" of the eastern hills of Kentucky. They and their ancestors suffer from a rare genetic disease that turns their skin blue. They are not treated well by the white hill-folk or the townspeople of Troublesome Creek. Despite that, Cussy took the initiative and became accepted in the Pack Horse Librarian program. She rides a mule (Junia--a truly delightful personality) and delivers books and magazines deep into the hollers and hills of Kentucky. Going along with Cussy on her delivery route is both fascinating and heartbreaking. I had to keep reminding myself that the story takes place in 1936 because this area of Kentucky was very underdeveloped and the poverty was staggering. The attention to historical details and each and every unique character make this book a standout.

Arcane Society Series, Book 1 Second Sight / Amanda Quick / 390 pages

Also by the author Jayne Castle / Janye Ann Krentz. Venetia Milton is a photographer and her family is having financial problems ever since her father died and one of his retainers ran away with all his money.  Venetia’s of an age to be considered on her way to spinsterhood when she gets once and a lifetime job for the Arcane House, a secret society, in which she was hired to photograph some artifacts from an old alchemist’s collection.  Gabriel Jones, her employer has this strange mystery about him that draws Venetia to him, and although she might be destined for spinsterhood it doesn’t mean she can’t enjoy some time with Gabriel while in the remote Arcane House away from society, and so she sets up to seduce Gabriel for a night not to forget.  Only as the job is coming to a close the house is attacked and when Gabriel gets Venetia out safe she doesn’t know what’s happened to him. The paper announces his death and in honor of him she takes is last name when the money his job provided allows her family to move to London and open her own gallery. It’s safer and more respectable to be a widow photographer than a spinster.  Only Venetia’s fake husband has come back from the dead and is now affecting her life in London. Gabriel Jones had faked his death to draw out the attackers from that night at Arcane house and now the attackers might come after Venetia thinking she really is his wife.

Skeletons at the Feast / Chris Bohjalian / 360 pages

This story takes place in January 1945 in the last few months of World War II.  It tells the story of a Prussian family trying to evacuate from their home near the Russian front to Germany to reach the British and American lines.  With them is Callum, a Scottish prisoner of war who has been assigned to work on their farm.  Anna is the family's eighteen year old daughter.  Callum and Anna have fallen in love.  Soon after the family leaves home the father and son leave to join the German fight against the Russians.  That leaves Anna, her mother, and little brother to make their way on their own.  Soon they are joined by Manfred, a twenty-six year old Wehrmacht corporal.  Unknown by the family Manfred is really Uri Singer, a Jew who escaped from a train bound for Auschwitz.  The story is intense and gives the reader the feeling of how the experience must have felt.

Wunderland / Jennifer Cody Epstein / 367 pages

This is a story of three women, Renate Baur, Ilse von Fisher, and Ilse's daughter Ava.  The story is told from Germany in the 1930s and 1940s to the United States in the 1970s to 1989.  Ilse and Renate are close childhood friends growing up in Germany in the 1930s when thew Nazis were coming into power.  Their friendship is split when it is revealed that Renate's father is Jewish.  The girls grow apart as their lives take different paths.  The reader follows Ilse as she becomes part of the Nazi youth movement and Renate as she and her family are forced to change how they live with the continuous rules for the Jews from the Nazi party.  Ilse and Renate continue to cross paths and there are consequences to each of their lives.  Renate is the only member of her family able to get out of Germany when her uncle in the United States sponsors her to immigrate.  Fast forward to the end of the war and Ilse is picking up her daughter, Ava, from a German orphanage.  The story is told from the perspective of each of the women jumping around in the different time periods.  The lives of these three women are intertwined to the very end of the story.  For me it was a fascinating book that told a World War II story from different perspectives.

The Spies of Shilling Lane / Jennifer Ryan / 351 pages

This is a World War II story that takes place in England.  It is written with a lighter tone and humorous characters.  Mrs. Braithwaite is a recently divorced woman in a small English village.  Her husband has divorced her and moved away to marry a younger woman.  This has caused the village to shun her and she is forced out as the leader of their local Women's Voluntary Service.  Mrs. Braithwaite is also afraid that a family secret will be revealed.  She travels to London to track down her only child, Betty, to tell her the secret before it is revealed.  Upon her arrival in London she learns that her daughter is missing.  With the reluctant help of Betty's landlord, Mr. Norris, Mrs. Braithwaite sets out to find her daughter.  Their escapades in the process of tracking down Betty changes both Mrs. Braithwaite and Mr. Norris.

The Lost Wife / Alyson Richman / 358 pages

Josef, a young man studying medicine, and Lenka, a young art student, meet and fall in love and marry in Prague shortly before World War II.  Both are Jewish.  Josef comes from a wealthy family that is able to secure passage to the United States shortly after the Nazis invade.  Lenka makes the decision to stay behind with her family and hopefully reunite safely with her husband.  The chapters alternate from Josef's and Lenka's perspectives.  Lenka's story takes us through her family's experience of being in the concentration camps.

A Piece of the World/ Christina Baker Kline/ 388 pgs

This was a book discussion read. One of Andrew Wyeth's most famous paintings in "Christina's World." Andrew spent some twenty years worth of summers painting at the Olsen house, where Christina and her brother lived. This story follows Christina's life. She was never diagnosed, but suffered from a muscular/nerve disease that crippled her hands, feet, and legs. Though her mobility was limited, she never let her disability get in the way of running the household or venturing outside, even if she had to crawl. This was a well written book about a subject that I didn't know much about and I found it very interesting, though some of the characters could be very frustrating. As real people are:-)

The Mistress of the Ritz / Melanie Benjamin / 369 pages

This is an historical fiction book based on real people and events during World War II in France.  Claude Auzello is the director of the Ritz Hotel in Paris.  He and his wife, Blanche, live at the hotel.  The Ritz is host to many famous guests such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Coco Channel, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor until 1940 when Germany marches into Paris and sets up their headquarters at the Ritz. Now the Auzellos, the mistress and master of the Ritz, have a new and dangerous reality in their lives.  I was attracted to this book because it is based on true events and people.  It was suspenseful told the story of a turbulent time very well.

Annelies / David R. Gillham / 402 pages

What an intriguing book!!  We all know the story of Anne Frank.  David Gillham takes this part of history and writes a "What if ?" novel.  His premise is what if Anne Frank survived the death camp?  The author did a wonderful job of telling this story.  It took him several years to do the research to write this novel.  The first part of the book follows the story we know of Anne Frank.  But then the author has Anne surviving the death camp.  Anne is reunited with her father, Otto, in postwar Amsterdam.  The author includes the actual people that we know from Anne's story, but also creates a few characters to tell this story.  The reader follows Anne as she struggles with survival guilt and trying to pick up her life. Reading this book made me feel like I was actually in postwar Amsterdam.  Excellent writing and research!

Stars Are Fire / Anita Shreve / 256 pages

The Stars Are Fire is a strange little book that reeled me in despite myself. I started out the book not really care much for it. I found it hard to drum up sympathy for the main character, Grace, and I realized that the huge fires of 1947 in Maine, which really did happen, was sort of just a plot device that had really little to do with what the story was about. That said, I did find myself wanting to know what would happen next - always the hallmark of a good book. I decided I was not keen on the author's habitual need of spending countless pages just describing all of the things in a room.

Grace is a young mother of two living with a husband that she really no longer loves. She is pregnant and her husband goes to join the volunteer firefighters when Maine starts burning up after a long drought. After Grace and her children are rescued, she finds herself living with a kind, hospitable family and no way of knowing what has become of her husband, or how her small family will survive with no money or possessions left.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek / Kim Michele Richardson / 299 pages

This historical fiction novel takes place in 1936 in Kentucky.  The author uses a program created by President Franklin Roosevelt, Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, to create her story.  Cussy Mary Carter is a traveling librarian for Troublesome Creek.  She travels by mule over treacherous territory to deliver books to her patrons every day.  The town is a coal mining town and lives are greatly affected by the Depression.  Cussy also faces prejudice because of a hereditary blood condition passed on in her family that causes her skin to be blue.  The author gives the reader a true feeling of what it was like to live in this time of history.  Great character development and historical research made this a wonderful book to read.  I always like it when I can learn something new from reading a book!

The Winter Guest / Pam Jenoff / 341 pages

The Winter Guest is a fiction World War II story told in the present and the past.  Twin eighteen year old sisters are raising their three young siblings in Nazi occupied Poland.  The children's father is dead and their mother is in a hospital after a mental breakdown.  An American plane crashes outside the village.  Helena, one of the twins, discovers an injured American paratrooper, Sam, from the plane in the woods while returning from visiting her mother in the hospital.  Helena manages to get the soldier into an abandoned chapel.  She continues to nurse him without telling her sister, Ruth.  Soon Sam and Helena fall in love and Helena helps Sam make contact with the Resistance to escape the Nazis.  The family's mother dies and family secrets are discovered that puts them in danger.  Sam and Helena make plans for the family to flee Poland.  Not everyone survives.

See What I Have Done/ Sarah Schmidt/ 328 pgs

This is a fictionalized story of the Lizzie Borden murders. It is told from the points of view of Lizzie, her sister Emma, the Bordens' maid Bridget, and a stranger named Benjamin. While I knew about the crime in general, I had never really delved into the details. I found the writing style of this book difficult to get into. The writing is very choppy and while graphic descriptions don't usually bother me, this book is heavy on sensory details that are odd and disturbing by their sheer number. It was definitely interesting to read about the days surrounding this infamous murder but it was also disappointing that the author really didn't draw any new conclusions to what might have happened.

The Light Over London / Julia Kelly / 290 pages

This is a story of two women in two time periods in England.  Cara Hargraves is an apprentice antiques dealer who is recently divorced.  She finds a diary in an antique chest written during World War II by a woman only listed as "Louise".  With the help of her new neighbor, Liam, Cara tires to track down the author of the diary so she can return it to her.  Louise Keene is a young woman living with her parents in a small village in England during World War II.  She works in a small grocery shop.  Her outgoing cousin, Kate, talks Louise into attending a dance two villages over.  Louise meets a dashing RAF pilot, Paul Bolton, at the dance.  Paul is soon courting Louise before he is deployed without warning.  Soon after Louise joins the women's auxiliary branch of the British army.  After training she is assigned to an anti-aircraft gun unit as a gunner girl in London.  Louise's diary records her love story with Paul until it abruptly stops before the war ends with no answers to what happens to Louise and Paul.

The Orphan’s Tale/Pam Jenoff/342 pgs

Kicked out of her parent’s home after getting pregnant by a German officer during WWII, sixteen-year-old Noa is forced to give up her baby after it is born.  Once the baby is taken from her she must find a place to live.  Noa finds shelter and a meager job at a train station.  One night Noa discovers a boxcar full of babies bound for a concentration camp and she rescues one.  She runs into the snowy night with the child.  Noa and the infant nearly succumb to the elements, but they receive help from the owner of a German circus.  To earn her keep, Noa must learn the trapeze.

As the circus begins it’s tour, Noa keeps the secret of her recent pregnancy and the true identity of the baby she claims as her brother.  Great read!

Things To Huge To Fix By Saying Sorry/Susan Vaught/334 pgs

This story has two themes, the civil rights struggle in Jackson, Mississippi and a family’s struggle with an aging grandmother battling dementia and failing health.

Grandma Beans knows her struggle with dementia is making it more important that she pass on to her granddaughter, Dani, her notebooks from her past.  Dani realizes that Grandma Beans has given her the key to the answers to events from the night of the riots at ‘Ole Miss and her grandmother’s personal involvement as a victim.  

This was a gripping story told to keep the reader wanting the answers, too.

The Glass Ocean / Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, Karen White / 408 pages

Having 3 different authors put their voices together to create this novel was an interesting premise. I enjoyed the historical part of the story the best. Several of the main characters are on the Luisitania in 1915 on a voyage that was doomed when a German sub torpedoed the oceanliner as it crossed the Atlantic. As a reader, you know historically what is about to happen so it is a bit of a mystery and thriller following the events leading up to the ship's demise. The current day story concerned two descendants of the Luisitania passenger list and how they might be able to rewrite history if they found out the truth of who was a traitor on the ship that may have leaked information to the Germans.

City of Women / David R. Gillham / 392 pages

This novel takes place in 1943 at the height of World War II in Berlin, Germany.  It tells a story of survival in a city of mostly women in Nazi Germany.  Sigrid Schroder is a German soldier's wife living with her mother-in-law.  She works as a stenographer in an office.  Sigrid becomes involved with two lovers, one Jewish and one a wounded German officer.  She is drawn into the reality of what is happening in Germany with the Jewish people.  Suddenly her wounded husband returns home.  She is torn between protecting her family and continuing to help the Jewish people in hiding.  This book is intense and kept me on the edge.  It gave me a feel for what life was like in Nazi Germany as a civilian.