THE HELLO GIRLS

Title: THE HELLO GIRLS

Author: Elizabeth Cobbs

Genre: nonfiction

Summary: Story of how America's first women soldiers helped win WWI, earned the vote & fought the army for veteran's recognition. In 1918, the U. S. Army Signal Corps sent 223 women to France. They operated telephone switchboards which provided the only communication between troops under fire and commanders.

Rating: Very good

Why I Like It: A little slow at first, but well worth reading. A lot of interesting background info that I wasn't aware of or had forgotten. Also, amazing to think that 100 years ago at this time Grandpa Dunipace was serving in this situation in France.

Reviewer: Kathy

"All But My Life: A Memoir"

Title:  All But My Life: A Memoir

Author: Gerda Weissmann Klein

Genre:  Memoir

Summary: (from Amazon) All But My Life is the unforgettable story of Gerda Weissmann Klein's six-year ordeal as a victim of Nazi cruelty. From her comfortable home in Bielitz (present-day Bielsko) in Poland to her miraculous survival and her liberation by American troops--including the man who was to become her husband--in Volary, Czechoslovakia, in 1945, Gerda takes the reader on a terrifying journey.

Rating: Excellent

Why I Like It:  I wasn’t familiar with this much detail information of the Holocaust.  So, it was very interesting, inspiring, informative, sad, heart wrenching, etc.  It made me realize more that we certainly have very little to complain about & so much to be thankful for!

This autobiographical account of the Holocaust, All but My Life (1957), was adapted for the 1995 short film, One Survivor Remembers, which received an Academy Award and an Emmy Award, and was selected for the National Film Registry. I watched it on YouTube.  Also very good!!

Other:  listened to it on audio

Reviewer:  Patsy

News Of The World

Title: News Of The World

Author: Paulette Jiles

Genre: Fiction

 Summary: "In the aftermath of the American Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this morally complex, multi-layered novel of historical fiction from the author of Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust." From Goodreads

Rating: Good

Why I Like It:   For a "road trip" book in the 1870's in Texas, this book has an elegance of writing to it. The main character, Captain Kidd, is a noble man, while still being realistic and not perfect. I enjoyed the adventures, learned interesting history and I was moved by kindness and care for other people. One of my favorite reads of 2017.

Reviewer: Brigette

Glory Over Everything: Beyond the Kitchen House

Title:  Glory Over Everything: Beyond The Kitchen House

Author:  Kathleen Grissom

Genre: historical fiction

Summary: From Amazon:  A heart racing story about a man’s treacherous journey through the twists and turns of the Underground Railroad on a mission to save the boy he swore to protect. “Kathleen Grissom is a first-rate storyteller…she observes with an unwavering but kind eye, and she bestows upon the reader, amid terrible secrets and sin, a gift of mercy: the belief that hope can triumph over hell” (Richmond Times Dispatch). Glory Over Everything is an emotionally rewarding and epic novel “filled with romance, villains, violence, courage, compassion…and suspense.” (Florida Courier).

Rating: Very good!

Why I Like It:  Sequel to The Kitchen House.  More interesting historical information.

Other: Same as The Kitchen House…….Audio was a very entertaining way to “read” this book.  Absolutely wonderful narration! Gave more depth to the characters.

Reviewer:  Patsy

The Kitchen House

Title:  The Kitchen House

Author:  Kathleen Grissom

Genre: historical fiction

Summary:  From Amazon -  In this gripping novel, a dark secret threatens to expose the best and worst in everyone tied to the estate at a thriving plantation in Virginia in the decades before the Civil War.
    Orphaned during her passage from Ireland, young, white Lavinia arrives on the steps of the kitchen house and is placed, as an indentured servant, under the care of Belle, the master’s illegitimate slave daughter. Lavinia learns to cook, clean, and serve food, while guided by the quiet strength and love of her new family.

    In time, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, caring for the master’s opium-addicted wife and befriending his dangerous yet protective son. She attempts to straddle the worlds of the kitchen and big house, but her skin color will forever set her apart from Belle and the other slaves.
    Through the unique eyes of Lavinia and Belle, this novel unfolds in a heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful story of class, race, dignity, deep-buried secrets, and familial bonds.

Rating: Very good!

Why I Like It:  Entertaining, lots of interesting historical information, kept your attention, sad in parts

Other: Audio was a very entertaining way to “read” this book.  Absolutely wonderful narration! Gave more depth to the characters.

Reviewer:  Patsy

My Mrs. Brown

Title: My Mrs. Brown 

Author: William Norwich

Genre: Fiction

 Summary: "From William Norwich, the well-known fashion writer and editor, an unforgettable novel about a woman with a secret who travels to New York City on a determined quest to buy a special dress that represents everything she wants to say about that secret…and herself." From Goodreads

Rating: Great!

Why I Like It:  This book has really stuck with me. Mrs. Brown meets an assortment of friends on her journey to save money and buy a special dress. I love books that have a variety of cast of characters. And I love a main character as Mrs. Brown who is hard working and kind. This book was written by someone who works in the fashion industry. I think he brings a certain depth of thought to the meaning of function of clothes that is really interesting. It is a short book and easy to read.

Reviewer: Brigette

A LONG WAY HOME

Title: A LONG WAY HOME  

Author: Saroo Brierley  

Genre: nonfiction 

 Summary: As a five-year-old in India, the author got lost on a train. Twenty-five years later, from Australia, he found his way back. This is what happened in between. 

Rating: Very good  

Why I Like It: Amazing story. Also get a look at a whole different culture and way of life.  

Reviewer: Kathy

Belgravia

Title: Belgravia
Author: Julian Fellowes
Genre: historical fiction
 

Summary: Julian Fellowes's Belgravia is the story of a secret. A secret that unravels behind the porticoed doors of London's grandest postcode.
Set in the 1840s when the upper echelons of society began to rub shoulders with the emerging industrial nouveau riche, Belgravia is peopled by a rich cast of characters. But the story begins on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
 

Rating: Wonderful

Why I Like It: I really liked this book! It's from the author of Downton Abbey tv show. Now, I haven't read Downton Abbey and only watched one season of it, so I didn't have that much influence into this wonderful story, but I can see how they are similar (families vs their servants of great houses). What I enjoyed about this book is that we the reader knew the entire story and got to watch it unfold with the characters AND it has a pleasant ending, which I didn't necessarily think would happen as I was listening.
 

Other: audio
Reviewer: Avery

Heroines of Mercy Street: The Real Nurses of the Civil War

Title: Heroines of Mercy Street: The Real Nurses of the Civil War
Author: Pamela D. Toler PhD
Genre: Historical Non-fiction
Summary: Summary from Amazon:
HEROINES OF MERCY STREET tells the true stories of the nurses at Mansion House, the Alexandria, Virginia, mansion turned war-time hospital and setting for the new PBS drama Mercy Street. Among the Union soldiers, doctors, wounded men from both sides, freed slaves, politicians, speculators, and spies who passed through the hospital in the crossroads of the Civil War, were nurses who gave their time freely and willingly to save lives and aid the wounded.
These women saw casualties on a scale Americans had never seen before, and medicine was at a turning point. HEROINES OF MERCY STREET follows the lives of women like Dorothea Dix, Mary Phinney, Anne Reading, and more before, during, and after their epic struggle in Alexandria and reveals their personal contributions to this astounding period in the advancement of medicine.
Rating: Excellent
Why I Like It: I first saw the series1 & 2 on PBS. This book added so much more information about what it was really like during the war. The series is very good but it couldn’t include all of the details that this book covered.
Other: audio – easy to listen to
Reviewer: Patsy

A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW

Title: A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW
Author: Amor Towles
Genre: Fiction/Historical fiction
Summary: In 1922, 30-year-old Count Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel's doors.
Rating: Very good
Why I Like It: The book is very different and contains many interesting characters and some surprises. Also, the backdrop of Russian history was interesting. It took awhile to really get into the book, but well worth it.
Other:
Reviewer: Kathy

HIDDEN FIGURES

Title: HIDDEN FIGURES
Author: Margot Shetterly
Genre: Nonfiction
Summary: “True story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space.”
Rating: Very good
Why I Like It: The books actually begins in the 40's with the government's research and development of air planes for WWII. There was a great need for mathematicians and many black women were hired. A lot of background on segregation and the treatment of blacks. This tells the personal stories of some of the women. Very interesting and easy to read.
Other:
Reviewer: Kathy