About the Book: Sometimes there may be more to things than meets the eye. Germany, 1933. Anna Winter returns home to find a note from her father, warning her of grave danger. She flees overnight, taking her precious doll collection with her, and sets sail for Australia. She lands a job at the Birdum Hotel … Continue reading Book Review: Doll’s Eye by Leah Kaminsky
WWII
Book Review: The Secret Life of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
About the Book: 1939: Fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated from London to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the Aberdeen family in a charming stone cottage, Hazel distracts her young sister with a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape … Continue reading Book Review: The Secret Life of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
Book Review: The Lipstick Bureau by Michelle Gable
About the Book: 1944, Rome. Newlywed Niki Novotná is recruited by a new American spy agency to establish a secret branch in Italy’s capital. One of the OSS’s few female operatives abroad and multilingual, she’s tasked with crafting fake stories and distributing propaganda to lower the morale of enemy soldiers. Despite limited resources, Niki and … Continue reading Book Review: The Lipstick Bureau by Michelle Gable
Book Review: Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith
About the Book: A nearly abandoned Italian village, the family that stayed, and long-buried secrets from World War II. On a hilltop in Umbria sits Valetto. Once a thriving village-and a hub of resistance and refuge during World War II-centuries of earthquakes, landslides and the lure of a better life have left it neglected. Only … Continue reading Book Review: Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith
Book Review: These Days by Lucy Caldwell
About the Book: April, 1941. Belfast has escaped the worst of the war - so far. Over the next two months, it's going to be destroyed from above, so that people will say, in horror, My God, Belfast is finished. Many won't make it through, and no one who does will remain unchanged. Following the … Continue reading Book Review: These Days by Lucy Caldwell
Book Review: The Three Lives of Alix St Pierre by Natasha Lester
About the Book: Lavish and compelling, this is the story of a young woman trying to forget her devastating part in the war. 1943. After spearheading several successful advertising campaigns in New York, PR wizard Alix St Pierre comes to the attention of the US government and finds herself recruited into a fledgling intelligence organisation. Enlisted as … Continue reading Book Review: The Three Lives of Alix St Pierre by Natasha Lester
Book Review: Dancing with the Enemy by Diane Armstrong
About the Book: From the bestselling author of The Collaborator comes a compelling story of betrayal, collusion, revenge, and redemption set in German-occupied Jersey during World War II. June 1940. ‘It was a perfect June evening that began with hope and ended in despair.’ So begins the journal of Hugh Jackson, a Jersey doctor, whose … Continue reading Book Review: Dancing with the Enemy by Diane Armstrong
Book Review: The Family by Naomi Krupitsky
About the Book: A captivating debut novel about the tangled fates of two best friends and daughters of the Italian mafia, and a coming-of-age story of twentieth-century Brooklyn itself. Two daughters. Two families. One inescapable fate. Sofia Colicchio is a free spirit, loud and untamed. Antonia Russo is thoughtful, ever observing the world around her. … Continue reading Book Review: The Family by Naomi Krupitsky
#BlogTour #BookReview: Echoes of War by Tania Blanchard
About the Book: Set in Mussolini’s Italy amid great upheaval, this is the story of one woman’s determination to find her place in a world that men are threatening to tear apart. Another heart-rending novel inspired by a true story from Australia's bestselling author of The Girl from Munich. Calabria, Italy, 1936 In a remote … Continue reading #BlogTour #BookReview: Echoes of War by Tania Blanchard
Book Review: The Magician by Colm Tóibín
About the Book: When the Great War breaks out in 1914 Thomas Mann, like so many of his fellow countrymen, is fired up with patriotism. He imagines the Germany of great literature and music, which had drawn him away from the stifling, conservative town of his childhood, might be a source of pride once again. … Continue reading Book Review: The Magician by Colm Tóibín
Theresa Smith Writes 