The Storyteller

Sage Singer befriends an old man who's particularly beloved in her community. Josef Weber is everyone's favorite retired teacher and Little League coach. They strike up a friendship at the bakery where Sage works. One day he asks Sage for a favor: to kill him. Shocked, Sage refuses…and then he confesses his darkest secret - he deserves to die, because he was a Nazi SS guard. Complicating the matter? Sage's grandmother is a Holocaust survivor.

What do you do when evil lives next door? Can someone who's committed a truly heinous act ever atone for it with subsequent good behavior? Should you offer forgiveness to someone if you aren't the party who was wronged? And most of all - if Sage even considers his request - is it murder, or justice?

My opinion: This book is the first I've read by Jodi Picoult, even though I've heard lots about her writing. I picked this one up as it was really cheap on the kindle and thought that the storyline sounded very intriguing!

Sage is a young woman who has ended up leading a nocturnal existence due to her lack of self confidence from scarring on her face and a number of other life events that have knocked her back. She is an incredible baker and works the night shift at a local bakery, preparing all of the goods for the next day. She meets and befriends an old man called Josef, a local pillar of society and all round good guy.

Only appearances can be deceiving. When Josef decides to open up to Sage about his military past in Germany during the Second World War, she uncovers who he really is and has to make a difficult decision about whether or not to grant his wish to die when he was the cause of so many others' deaths.

I was hooked by this book and really liked the way it was written. Throughout the book we learnt the stories of Sage, Josef and Sage's holocaust survivor grandmother. It is also interspersed with a fictional fairy tale with a different view point of the happenings in Jewish communities. World War Two is one of my favourite periods to read about and this book gave me a different window into what happened.

It was well paced and the writer dealt with a difficult subject very well. The characters were well rounded and Sage was particularly a great character. I have already recommended this book to a few people and will continue to do so. I also think this would make a great film and expect to see it hitting our cinemas over the next few years.

My rating: Five stars

The Last Runaway

Honor Bright, a modest English Quaker moves to Ohio in 1850, only to find herself alienated and alone in a strange land. Sick from the moment she leaves England, and fleeing personal disappointment, she is forced by family tragedy to rely on strangers in a harsh, unfamiliar landscape. Nineteenth-century America is practical, precarious, and unsentimental, and scarred by the continuing injustice of slavery. In her new home Honor discovers that principles count for little, even within a religious community meant to be committed to human equality. However, drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom, Honor befriends two surprising women who embody the remarkable power of defiance. Eventually she must decide if she too can act on what she believes in, whatever the personal costs.

My opinion: This is my third Tracy Chevalier book of the year and it's another cracker! Chevalier's latest release is another historical fiction offering featuring quilts, quakers and a British girl called Honor who emigrates with her sister to America to start a new life.

The writing is once again wonderful in this book and the imagery very vivid. We meet lots of different characters in this book, and Honor faces tragedy and meets some new friends on her journey. The central story to this book is about slavery and the things that people did to help black people pass through Ohio and onto a better life whilst most people just looked the other way. To me, the relationships that were formed in the story were just as important, both good and bad, and also the realisation from Honor that life isn't all black and white.

Another great book and I look forward to discovering more of Chevalier's work.

My rating: Four stars

I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Originally reviewed at Reading in Progress.

Guest post: Red and White

And now for something completely different! I'd like to welcome Karen D'Or to Sheli Reads for her guest post about the recent trend for Tudor fiction.

Red and White

In California’s wine country, the grape harvest starts well before fall — the fruit ripens fast during the sweltering midsummer days when our vineyards seem like magnets for the summer sun, trapping the heat between the hills and valleys that define our terroir. Those heat wave days can quickly turn into sudden thundershowers, threatening the crops with mildew and ruination.

It is turncoat weather. If grapes aren’t harvested in time a precious vintage may be lost.

As long summer days come to a close, and the erratic harvest weather sends me home earlier on Saturdays, I open a bottle of local Pinot Noir and settle in to watch BBC’s The White Queen, the poorly-reviewed ten episode production based on Philippa Gregory’s three books: The White Queen, The Red Queen and The Kingmaker's Daughter.

Each Saturday night I turn on satellite TV to watch the small screen rendition the War of the Roses (WOTR). It is an time that historian Allison Weir calls an “unfolding pageant of treason and conflict.” I’m vigilantly watching the show because this year, surprisingly, the fictional tales of the historic conflict between the (red) Lancastrians and the (white) Yorkist roses/houses are my favorite bedtime reading: escapist, romantic, devious, epic, and always volatile.

Sure, I’ve grabbed Ms. Gregory’s popular WOTR novels, but even before The White Queen TV show landed in the U.S, I’d found other fiction authors who have tackled the pivotal century with careful plot development, thoughtful character interpretations, and insights into the mercurial relationships within, and between, the two houses. Since Sheli Reads loves good historical fiction, I’m delighted the saucy Welsh blogger invited me to guest post this week so I can share my thoughts on a few key re-tellings of this era.

Tudor Rose: the Story of the Queen Who United a Kingdom and Birthed a Dynasty

Margaret Campbell Barnes wrote Tudor Rose: the Story of the Queen Who United a Kingdom and Birthed a Dynasty sixty years ago. Tudor Rose brightly weaves the history of Elizabeth of York, the White Queen’s eldest daughter, and the most recent common ancestor of all English monarchs. Elizabeth shines through as a naturally cheerful girl who develops into a wise and warm queen. The book moves quickly, is carefully researched, and is well worth reading. However, towards the end Barnes tosses in a few strange fictional twists that seem both implausible and rushed.

 



Rose of York Trilogy

Written more recently, and with a stronger Ricardian slant, is Sandra Worth's Rose of York trilogy, three books framed by the decades long love story of Richard III and Anne Neville. The author won several awards for the series including Francis Ford Coppola/Ray Bradbury/Moxie Films-sponsored 2003 New Century Writers Award. The trilogy kept my attention, and Worth writes with compassion and clarity. Although Worth’s presumption of a “love at first sight” tormented romance between Richard and Anne is rather charming, I don’t agree with the journal of the Richard III society’s reviewer that the trilogy is a “masterpiece.” Entertaining, yes, but the author may have gone a bit too far in de-vilifying Richard.

The War of the Roses

In spite of the entertainment value of the novels, for me the most compelling read is the 1995 non-fiction classic from Alison Weir. Weir is the highest-selling female historian in the United Kingdom. This is a long (496 pages) and riveting book. It is a great introduction to the WOTR era; for a historian Weir is imminently readable with a strong narrative compass. Because of her uncanny ability to make historical facts evocative and moving, Weir’s insight is often more worthwhile, and compelling, than some of the fictional accounts which often unfairly collapse years and decades into just a few words.

 



 

As the days grow shorter, I recommend that you grab some juicy WOTR reading. You might even consider breaking out of the historical novel groove to explore a renowned nonfiction guide to this unstable period by turning to Alison Weir’s War of the Roses nonfiction classic. Weir brilliantly tells the “astonishing and often grim story of power struggles that involved some of the most charismatic figures in English History.”

By all means, time travel back to the fifteenth century: get lost in and around vivid landscapes like Pembroke Castle in West Wales, or Ludlow Castle in Shropshire where Edward IV sent his son the Prince of Wales before…. well, if you don’t already know, you’ll find out!

And as you delve into these devious WOTR times, I suggest you cozy up with a glass of ruby-red wine, perhaps a 2008 Dry Creek Valley Meritage. If you aren’t yet loyal to the reds, and if your leanings are more toward a chilly, seductive, wheat-hued dry white, consider the award-winning 2010 Alexander Valley Vineyards Chardonnay.

Unlike in the volatile choices during the War of the Roses, there are no losers in this decision between Red and White.

 

Karen D’Or

28 September 2013

 

Background: 

Karen D’Or (B.A. in English Literature and M.A. in Business Administration) has a 30-year career writing for corporations and non-profits. Karen is a successful grant writer and researcher in Sonoma County, California, where her practice raises millions of dollars for local social service agencies. Her college boyfriend recalls her writing as “remarkably fresh, witty, sharp, expressive and clever.” Www.musingly.me is Karen’s first blog venture launched to fulfill those lofty expectations of three decades ago. Twitter @musinglyme

 

 

Falling Angels

An elegant, daring, original, and compelling novel, set against a gaslit backdrop of social and political turbulence in early twentieth-century London, Falling Angels draws a picture of family life that exposes the prejudices and flaws of a changing time.

My opinion: This was my second foray into reading Chevalier's work and it was just as good as the first!

This book is set just post-Victorian era following the death of Queen Victoria and we follow it right through to the rallies held in London by the Suffragettes. The story is told from a number of characters' points of views and we meet a number of people along the way.

The detail of this book is brilliant, and I liked the fact that it was based around the subject of death, something that the Victorians treated very differently to how we do today. However, it is not morbid or dark in any way. It just shows a different view of life and how people dealt with it back then.

The descriptions were really evocative without being overly wordy and the characters were all really well developed, even if some were a little infuriating!

Chevalier is fast becoming one of my favourite authors and I would definitely recommend her to fans of Sarah Waters.

My rating: Five stars

Originally reviewed at Reading in Progress

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Winner of the 2000 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award! Alex Award winner! Tracy Chevalier transports readers to a bygone time and place in this richly imagined portrait of the young woman who inspired one of Vermeer's most celebrated paintings. History and fiction merge seamlessly in this luminous novel about artistic vision and sensual awakening. Girl with a Pearl Earring tells the story of sixteen-year-old Griet, whose life is transformed by her brief encounter with genius...even as she herself is immortalized in canvas and oil.

My opinion: I downloaded this book to my Kindle after seeing it in one of the winter sales. I was a little bit apprehensive about whether I would get on with this book as I can struggle with historical fiction set in this period. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the book as it was a fantastic read!

It is set in 17th Century Holland, but it does not feel overly old fashioned in the way it is written and really drags you into the life of the main character, Griet. The author has based this story on a real painting by Johannes Vermeer and has built up an amazing fictional account of how the painting came to be created.

The language in the story is fantastic. It is not overly wordy, yet paints a vivid picture in the readers mind, bringing to life the painters art through the art of writing. I would definitely recommend this book and will go back to read it again at some point.

My rating: Five stars

Originally reviewed at Reading in Progress

Blog tour: Her Dear and Loving Husband

Welcome to the blog tour for Her Dear and Loving Husband, a historical romance novel with a paranormal twist . . .

 

 

Her Dear & Loving Husband (The Loving Husband Trilogy Book 1) – Meredith Allard

What they say:

‘James Wentworth has a secret. He lives quietly in Salem, Massachusetts, making few ties with anyone. One night his private world is turned upside down when he meets Sarah Alexander, a dead ringer for his wife, Elizabeth. Though it has been years since Elizabeth's death, James cannot move on.

Sarah also has a secret. She is haunted by nightmares about the Salem Witch Trials, and every night she is awakened by visions of hangings, being arrested, and dying in jail. Despite the obstacles of their secrets, James and Sarah fall in love. As James comes to terms with his feelings for Sarah, he must dodge accusations from a reporter desperate to prove that James is not who, or what, he seems to be. Soon James and Sarah piece their stories together and discover a mystery that may bind them in ways they never imagined. Do vampires and witches live in Salem? Will James make the ultimate sacrifice to protect Sarah and prevent a new hunt from bringing hysteria to Salem again?

Part historical fiction, part romance, part paranormal fantasy, Her Dear and Loving Husband is a story for anyone who believes that true love never dies.’

Click Here To Buy This Book - UK

Click Here To Buy This Book - US

 

My Life as an Author

Meredith Allard

I was born to be a writer. I know that the way I know I have to breathe air. The day in the life of a writer (for this writer anyway) varies from day to day. I still have a day job, so my morning and early afternoon hours are taken up at work like everyone else. I usually arrive home around 3 p.m. On good days I exercise. On bad days (which occur more frequently) I don’t. I make dinner, and then I take care of whatever I have to do around the house. I’m usually able to get to the computer around 5 p.m., and I usually work until around 9 p.m.

Once I sit down to the computer, I go through my e-mails and answer any correspondence about my books, and I do try to answer every piece of fan mail I receive. I was so surprised when I started getting fan mail, but I love every single message I’ve received. I’ve never e-mailed an author in my life, so the thought that people would take time out of their busy schedules to contact me is a great feeling. When that’s done, I go onto Twitter and Facebook, but just for a little while (though it can be hard to pull myself away sometimes).

Once I settle down to write, I’m pretty focused. For me, as a writer, I’m interested in love, the true love kind of love that lasts lifetimes, and, in the case of James and Sarah from the Loving Husband Trilogy, beyond their human lifetimes. How can I convey that in my stories? In the James and Sarah stories, everything is about their eternal love for each other, and my main task is to figure out how to convey that in a believable way to the readers. It’s a lot of hit and misses, but after working stubbornly on my manuscript for a few months eventually I feel like I have a handle on it. And, fortunately for me, what readers respond to most between James and Sarah in the Loving Husband Trilogy is their eternal love for each other. I love reading reviews from readers about how they have connected to James and Sarah and feel as though they’re personal friends. I feel as though James and Sarah are my friends too, and I’m thrilled that readers feel that as well.

I’ll write for several hours each evening, a little longer on Saturdays since I can sleep late the next morning. One thing I can say about being a writer is that my stories are always on my mind. Even if I’m not sitting at my computer working, my characters are always running through my thoughts in one way or another. Sometimes I’m thinking about a scene in the story and how it’s going to work out. Sometimes I’m just imagining my characters in different situations. I could be doing anything else and functioning reasonably well in the real world, but my head is still in the clouds with my stories. For me, that’s just part of being a writer.

 

 

***GIVEAWAYS***

 

 

Win a copy of The Salem Witch Trials: A Day by Day Chronicles of a Community Under Siege by Marilynne K. Roach. This is a factual book Meredith used to research the Salem Witch Trials:

What they say:

‘Based on over twenty years of original archival research, this history unfolds a nearly day-by-day narrative of the Salem Witch Trials as the citizens of Salem experienced the outbreak of hysteria.’

Entry via Rafflecopter. Giveaway open to US residents only and closes on August 27th.

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Win a dinner for 2 at Salem’s very own Adriatic Restaurant & Bar!

Enter our giveaway and you could be the lucky winner of a sumptuous meal for 2 at Mediterranean eatery Adriactic Restaurant & Bar. Set within a warm interior, you’ll not only be treated to excellent, fresh cuisine but you’ll also find yourself in the heart of Her Dear & Loving Husband’s setting.

Entry via Rafflecopter. Giveaway is for food only. Airfare is not included. Closes on August 27th.

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Win 1 of 5 e-copies of Her Dear & Loving Husband by Meredith Allard

Entry via Rafflecopter. Closes on August 27th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Author Bio – Meredith Allard:

Since 2000, Meredith Allard has been the Executive Editor of The Copperfield Review, an award-winning literary journal for readers and writers of historical fiction. She received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from California State University, Northridge, and she has taught creative writing and writing historical fiction seminars at Learning Tree University, UNLV, and the Las Vegas Writers Conference.

Her short fiction and articles have appeared in journals such as The Paumanok Review, Moondance, Wild Mind, Muse Apprentice Guild, Writers Weekly, CarbLite, and ViewsHound. She is the author of the Amazon Best-Selling Loving Husband Trilogy, as well as the historical novels Victory Garden, Woman of Stones, and My Brother’s Battle.

Victory Garden and Woman of Stones have also been Amazon Best-Sellers in the Historical Fiction and Religious Fiction categories.

Find out more about The Loving Husband Trilogy:

Find Meredith Allard:

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