The Forgotten Home Child

 

Title: The Forgotten Home Child

Author: Genevieve Graham

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary: Inspired by true events, The Forgotten Home Child is a moving and heartbreaking novel about place, belonging, and family—the one we make for ourselves and its enduring power to draw us home. It about a young girl caught in a scheme to rid England’s streets of destitute children, and the lengths she will go to find her way home. It is based on a true story of the British Home Children.

Rating: Very good and easy to read.

Why I Like It: A friend of mine found out that her Grandmother was a Home Child while she was researching her family history and recommend this book to me. Her Grandmother had lived her life the same as the character in the book. It is a part of Canadian and English history I never knew.

Reviewer: Nancy Bucher

The Kopp Sisters Series

Title: The Kopp Sisters Series

Author: Amy Stewart

Genre: historical fiction/mystery

Summary: These novels are about the three Kopp sisters and their lives in the early 1900's. The characters are based on real people involved in real events. I heard the author speak and was really impressed with her historical knowledge and the amount of research that she does for the books. She does have to change some time lines and add some fiction to make a good novel. She gets a lot of her information from newspapers from that time and the titles of the books are all newspaper headlines.

Rating: Very good

Why I Like It: Interesting and easy to read. Not a typical mystery novel. Actually, it seems more of a historical fiction then mystery.

Reviewer: Kathy 

The Orphan's Tale

Title: The Orphan's Tale

Author: Pam Jenoff
Genre: historical fiction, Jewish fiction, WWII
Summary: (From Goodreads) A powerful novel of friendship set in a traveling circus during World War II, The Orphan's Tale introduces two extraordinary women and their harrowing stories of sacrifice and survival

Sixteen-year-old Noa has been cast out in disgrace after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier and being forced to give up her baby. She lives above a small rail station, which she cleans in order to earn her keep… When Noa discovers a boxcar containing dozens of Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp, she is reminded of the child that was taken from her. And in a moment that will change the course of her life, she snatches one of the babies and flees into the snowy night.

Noa finds refuge with a German circus, but she must learn the flying trapeze act so she can blend in undetected, spurning the resentment of the lead aerialist, Astrid. At first rivals, Noa and Astrid soon forge a powerful bond. But as the facade that protects them proves increasingly tenuous, Noa and Astrid must decide whether their friendship is enough to save one another—or if the secrets that burn between them will destroy everything.
Rating: Very good.
Why I Like It: Another interesting aspect of WWII, concerning the circus
Other: listened to it on audio
Reviewer: Patsy

The Nightengale

Title: The Nightingale
Author: Kristin Hannah
Genre: historical fiction

Summary: From Amazon: With courage, grace, and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of World War II and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women's war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France―a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.
 
Rating: Great
Why I Like It:  It's hard to say I 'liked' this book about the Nazi occupation of France. I liked the characters...the sisters and their family, and the integrity they had in the face of unimaginable hardship. It will be interesting to see the movie when it comes out.
 
Other: audiobook
Reviewer: Avery

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

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

Bud, Not Buddy

Title: Bud, Not Buddy
Author: Christopher Paul Curtis

Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical drama

Summary: Amazon.com Review

"It's funny how ideas are, in a lot of ways they're just like seeds. Both of them start real, real small and then... woop, zoop, sloop... before you can say Jack Robinson, they've gone and grown a lot bigger than you ever thought they could." So figures scrappy 10-year-old philosopher Bud--"not Buddy"--Caldwell, an orphan on the run from abusive foster homes and Hoovervilles in 1930s Michigan. And the idea that's planted itself in his head is that Herman E. Calloway, standup-bass player for the Dusky Devastators of the Depression, is his father.
Guided only by a flier for one of Calloway's shows--a small, blue poster that had mysteriously upset his mother shortly before she died--Bud sets off to track down his supposed dad, a man he's never laid eyes on. And, being 10, Bud-not-Buddy gets into all sorts of trouble along the way, barely escaping a monster-infested woodshed, stealing a vampire's car, and even getting tricked into "busting slob with a real live girl." Christopher Paul Curtis, author of The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963, once again exhibits his skill for capturing the language and feel of an era and creates an authentic, touching, often hilarious voice in little Bud. (Ages 8 to 12) --Paul Hughes

Rating: Excellent
Why I Like It: Very entertaining, laugh out loud funny!

Other: What made it so entertaining was I listened to it on Audio. It was read by James Avery, who did an outstanding job!
Reviewer: Patsy

All The Light We Cannot See

Title: All The Light We Cannot See
Author:  Anthony Doerr
Genre: Historical Fiction      

Summary: Story interweaves the lives of a blind girl from Paris and a young man from Germany before and during WWII.  Although the characters are fictional, there are events in the story that actually happened in France and Germany, especially the bombing of the city of Saint-Malo. 
Rating: Very good

Why I Like It:  The story takes place during a war, but is not your usual war story. 

Reviewer: Kathy 

Brooklyn

Title: Brooklyn

Author: Colm Tóibín

Genre: Historical fiction

Summary: Amazon Best of the Month, May 2009: Committed to a quiet life in little Enniscorthy, Ireland, the industrious young Eilis Lacey reluctantly finds herself swept up in an unplanned adventure to America, engineered by the family priest and her glamorous, "ready for life" sister, Rose. Eilis's determination to embrace the spirit of the journey despite her trepidation--especially on behalf of Rose, who has sacrificed her own chance of leaving--makes a bittersweet center for Brooklyn. Colm Tóibín's spare portrayal of this contemplative girl is achingly lovely, and every sentence rings with truth. Readers will find themselves swept across the Atlantic with Eilis to a boarding house in Brooklyn where she painstakingly adapts to a new life, reinventing herself and her surroundings in the letters she writes home. Just as she begins to settle in with the help of a new love, tragedy calls her home to Enniscorthy, and her separate lives suddenly and painfully merge into one. Tóibín's haunted heroine glows on the page, unforgettably and lovingly rendered, and her story reflects the lives of so many others exiled from home. --Daphne Durham

 
Rating: Pretty Good, Interesting

Why I Like It: First heard about this book when saw a trailer about the movie “Brooklyn”. Wanted to read it before seeing the movie.Will see movie soon.

Other: Listened on audio – really helps get a mind picture of the characters with the different accents etc.

Reviewer: Patsy

Christy - Book Review

Title: Christy
Author: Catherine Marshall
Genre: Historical Fiction
Summary: From Amazon "In the year 1912, nineteen-year-old Christy Huddleston leaves home to teach school in the Smoky Mountains -- and comes to know and love the resilient people of the region, with their fierce pride, their dark superstitions, their terrible poverty, and their yearning for beauty and truth. But her faith will be severely challenged by trial and tragedy, by the needs and unique strengths of two remarkable young men, and by a heart torn between true love and unwavering devotion."
Rating: Good
Why I Like It: I really enjoyed re-reading this book. The last time I read it was 20 years ago! I found it to be really inspiring. I loved it being set in the Smokey Mountains, a place I love to visit and hike. Also, I could relate to working to help people but in the process having to face up to the evil in the world. The book demonstrated to keep seeking God and looking at His love. I felt like the ending was rushed, but I love the book overall. I look forward to reading with my daughters when they are teenagers.
Other: This had been made into a TV series in the 1990's. I plan on getting the DVD's from the library. Also, as a child my husband Luke was in a musical based on this book.
Reviewer: Brigette

The Shoemaker's Wife

Title: The Shoemaker's Wife
Author: Adriana Trigiani
Genre: Historical Fiction
Summary: From Barnes and Noble:
The fateful first meeting of Enza and Ciro takes place amid the haunting majesty of the Italian Alps at the turn of the last century. Still teenagers, they are separated when Ciro is banished from his village and sent to hide in New York's Little Italy, apprenticed to a shoemaker, leaving a bereft Enza behind. But when her own family faces disaster, she, too, is forced to emigrate to America. Though destiny will reunite the star-crossed lovers, it will, just as abruptly, separate them once again—sending Ciro off to serve in World War I, while Enza is drawn into the glamorous world of the opera . . . and into the life of the international singing sensation Enrico Caruso. Still, Enza and Ciro have been touched by fate—and, ultimately, the power of their love will change their lives forever.

A riveting historical epic of love and family, war and loss, risk and destiny, inspired by the author's own family history, The Shoemaker's Wife is the novel Adriana Trigiani was born to write.

Rating: Amazing
Why I Like It:  I enjoyed this book so much! The story was so raw and real with lots of rich details in the story-telling.  Listening to the audio book really put me in the culture. I would definitely recommend this book!
Other: Audiobook
Reviewer: Avery

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

*Title: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
*Author: Jamie Ford
*Genre: historical fiction (WWII)
Summary: (from Amazon)

Set (in the United States) during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.
*Rating: Very good.
Why I Like It: Showed a different area of WWII that I don't know if I ever knew much about.
Other: I read or listened to this book a couple years ago. I just remembered I really liked it & thought it is a good suggestion for reading.
*Reviewer: Patsy

Shades of Milk and Honey (Glamourist Histories, #1)

Title: Shades of Milk and Honey (Glamourist Histories, #1)
Author: Mary Robinette Kowal
Genre: mystery, romance, historical fiction
Summary: from Goodreads: Shades of Milk and Honey is an intimate portrait of Jane Ellsworth, a woman ahead of her time in a version of Regency England where the manipulation of glamor is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality.  But despite the prevalence of magic in everyday life, other aspects of Dorchester's society are not that different: Jane and her sister Melody's lives still revolve around vying for the attentions of eligible men.  Jane resists this fate, and rightly so: while her skill with glamor is remarkable, it is her sister who is fair of face, and therefore wins the lion's share of attention.  At the ripe old age of twenty-eight, Jane has resigned herself to being invisible forever.  But when her family's honor is threatened, she finds that she must push her skills to the limit in order to set things right - and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own.
Rating: pretty good (the following books in the series are excellent!)
Why I Like It: Davey actually recommended this series to me!  This first book is pretty much Pride and Prejudice story with a little magic.  And when I say magic, it's not what you think.  It's an imaginary skill of weaving pieces of "matter" to make beautiful things - something the author made up.  There is lots of adventure and mystery in these stories - not just a romantic tale!  I really like Jane and Vincent's relationship because they are witty, truthful, and constantly aware of each others needs.
Other: I listened to all of the books on audiobook and the narrator does a phenomenal job!
Reviewer: Avery

The Grand Sophy

Title: The Grand Sophy
Author: Georgette Heyer
Genre: Romantic, Comedy, Historical Fiction
Summary: From:  amazon.com - "Sophy sets everything right for her desperate family in one of Georgette Heyer's most popular Regency romances. When Lady Ombersley agrees to take in her young niece, no one expects Sophy, who sweeps in and immediately takes the ton by storm. Sophy discovers that her aunt's family is in desperate need of her talent for setting everything right: Ceclia is in love with a poet, Charles has tyrannical tendencies that are being aggravated by his grim fiancee, her uncle is of no use at all, and the younger children are in desperate need of some fun and freedom. By the time she's done, Sophy has commandeered Charles's horses, his household, and finally, his heart."
Rating: So Good!
Why I Like It: This book is really fun and lively. The main character has lots of personality.
Reviewer: Brigette

The Quilter's Apprentice

Title: The Quilter's Apprentice
Author: Jennifer Chiaverini
Genre: Historical Fiction, Quilts
Summary: From http://jenniferchiaverini.com: Master quilter Sylvia Compson shares the secrets of her creative gifts with her young assistant, Sarah McClure. During their lessons, the intricate, varied threads of Sylvia's life begin to emerge. It is the story of a young wife living through the hardships and agonies of the World War II home front; of a family torn apart by jealously and betrayal; of misunderstanding, loss, and a tragedy that can never be undone.
Rating: Very good!
Why I Like It: First book in series, the whole series is very good! Characters are interesting, carries on from one book to the next, I liked some of the books better than others, but would rate them all very good.
Other: Did listen to some on audio – enjoyed both reading & audio.
Reviewer: Patsy

The Help

Title: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Genre: Historical Fiction, comedy
Summary:  The Help is the story of a young white woman in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s and a group of black maids who work for the families of her friends. It's about the struggles the women face as they chafe against the written and unwritten rules that limit their lives. 
Rating: Excellent!
Why I Like It: Funny, historical, great characters! Read before seeing the movie, will help the movie make more sense.
Other: Listened to it on audio – so well done in the different dialect of the characters – made it every entertaining & easy to keep the characters straight. (I have it on audio if you want to borrow it)
Reviewer: Patsy