Pocketful of dreams - Jean Fullerton

It's 1939, and the Brogan family of London's East End are ready to show Hitler what for. But things don't seem so rosy when rationing, evacuation and air-raids start to put this larger-than-life family to the test.

When a mysterious young man arrives at the Brogans' local parish church, he provides just the dazzling distraction they need - and for eldest daughter Mattie, the promise of more than she'd ever wished for. But as the pair fall deeper in love, they are drawn into secret dangers, rife on the very London streets they call home.

As the young couple race to protect the East End as they know it, can their dreams survive the darkening backdrop of war-time...?

My thoughts:

A war time saga, I have read quite a few taking place in the East End. But this one showed another side than those. Those were more about family while this one dealt with things like British Nazis and what they got up to.

Mattie has dreams, but then the war begins. She does her duty and she meets a good guy too..ok fine, not a good good. She thinks so but from the start we get his POV here and there since he is a Nazi sympathizer and wants to bring them to England. To be honest, he was a bit too evil.

Then there is this hottie priest too *whistles* But I am not going to go all thorn birds on you all.

One thing did have me worried in the beginning and I was sure Mattie was anti-semitic, I seriously thought so and was quite horrified until she lit a few Sabbath fires and I realised she was not. I just wish that first situation was handled better. It showed a Jewish store owner in such a bad light. A caricature. But no need to worry, she was obviously not. It did not help when she fell for the Nazi either, not that she knew but you know.

Conclusion:
There is romance. Drama and even a bit of suspense as things turn dangerous for everyone involved. But I must say, not a lot of war in this one. We hear sirens, but not a lot of war going on. No bombs either. I guess this really is a homefront kind of book.

Paperback, 400 pages
Expected publication: August 3rd by Corvus
Historical fiction
For review

Mischling - Affinity Konar

It's 1944 when the twin sisters arrive at Auschwitz with their mother and grandfather. In their benighted new world, Pearl and Stasha Zagorski take refuge in their identical natures, comforting themselves with the private language and shared games of their childhood. As part of the experimental population of twins known as Mengele's Zoo, the girls experience privileges and horrors unknown to others, and they find themselves changed, stripped of the personalities they once shared, their identities altered by the burdens of guilt and pain. That winter, at a concert orchestrated by Mengele, Pearl disappears. Stasha grieves for her twin, but clings to the possibility that Pearl remains alive. When the camp is liberated by the Red Army, she and her companion Feliks - a boy bent on vengeance for his own lost twin - travel through Poland's devastation. Undeterred by injury, starvation, or the chaos around them, motivated by equal parts danger and hope, they encounter hostile villagers, Jewish resistance fighters, and fellow refugees, their quest enabled by the notion that Mengele may be captured and brought to justice within the ruins of the Warsaw Zoo. As the young survivors discover what has become of the world, they must try to imagine a future within it. 

"All I owned was breath, really, and a single thought: that the numbers on my arm represented how many times I would have to prove yourself useful in the world in order to remain in it. But even I knew this was untrue, it was the logic of my cage and my keeper, and I had to overcome it."

My thoughts:
I would not say it is sad book, and I think the reason for that is that the twins never give up hope. It might come and go, but they never give up. The book shows the brutal reality that was, the worst of humankind and what evil is. But sad, well, obviously it is sad, people die, people are brutalised, families are torn apart, but the twins get you through it. Hope. Family.

Stasha and Pearl are twins, and arrive at Auschwitz, where Mengele likes to play with humans For a tiny better life they get experimented on. Stasha lives in her dreams and imagination and Pearl gets by by hoping. We meet others there at the Zoo, all experimented on. A Jewish doctor forced to help with the care. A Jewish man taking care of the boy's wing and trying to save as many as he can. We never see those other aspects, the crowded barracks, the gas chambers, the house where pretty women are taken. But the girls know they are there. They hear things. And life is brutal as it is where they are.

The other half of the book is when the Russians come and Stasha sets out to get revenge on the man who took her from her sister. While Pearl  just disappeared.

The journey through Poland is hard too. Russians running around. Nazis running around. Cities bombed to nothing. Hunger, madness. But there is still hope.

Conclusion:
It was a good book, it had well-written prose and the story haunts you. Twins that are so close, so different, and just can not function without the other.

And we should never forget.

Cover
It works

Hardcover, 352 pages
Published February 2nd 2017 by Atlantic Books
Fiction
For review

Hearts of Stone - Simon Scarrow

1938. A perfect summer on the Greek island of Lefkas for three young people untroubled by the simmering politics of Europe. Peter, visiting from Germany while his father leads an archaeological dig, has become close friends with locals Andreas and Eleni. As the world slides towards conflict and Peter is forced to leave, they swear to meet again.

1943: Andreas and Eleni have joined the partisan forces resisting the German invasion. Peter has returned - now a dangerously well-informed enemy intelligence officer. A friendship formed in peace will turn into a desperate battle between enemies sworn to sacrifice everything for the countries that they love... 

My thoughts:

The story is told in the present and in the past.

In 1938 three teens meet and enjoy life. Eleni, Andreas and Peter.

In the present Anna meets an descendant of Peter, and one who wants to meet her grandmother Eleni. Not something Eleni wants, but instead she tells her story to Anna. Though I must say, it was not really Eleni's story we get, it is Andreas' story. Quite the shame, cos yes his story is good, but Eleni's would have been so different. A woman's perspective. 

Ok, back to the past. The war starts. Italians and later Germans invade Greece. Andreas goes off to fight. Eleni stays at home, and Peter who knows Greek and the island will later be sent there. They will all meet again. And we all know that wont be pretty.

It's war. There is hate. There is struggle. They all want to fight for their country, even if their country is not always making the right choices, and they realise that. But it's still their country.

But there is more. Peter was on the island with his father, who was an archaeologist. And later Germans come back to find that which was not found, or was it? And to take it...

Conclusion:

I do not think I have read a book set in Greece during WWII before. I liked the mix of war and the hunt for that which was hidden. It was also sad to see how the anger still lingered on. Still, more of Elenis' story would have been nice, but that would have made the book too big. Not to mention to see how Peter fared before he came there. Now that would have made it even bigger. So I am happy with what I got.

Cover

It fits

Hardcover, 400 pages
Published June 4th 2015 by Headline
Historical fiction
For review

The Major's Daughter - J.P.Francis

April, 1944.  The quiet rural village of Stark, New Hampshire is irrevocably changed by the arrival of 150 German prisoners of war.  And one family, unexpectedly divided, must choose between love and country.

Camp Stark is under the command of Major John Brennan, whose beautiful daughter, Collie, will serve as translator. Educated at Smith and devoted to her widowed father, Collie is immediately drawn to Private August Wahrlich, a peaceful poet jaded by war. As international conflict looms on the home front, their passion blinds them to the inevitable dangers ahead.

Inspired by the little-known existence of a real World War II POW camp, The Major’s Daughter is a fresh take on the timeless theme of forbidden love.

My thoughts:

Forbidden love that never can really bloom, what can be more heartbreaking? This is the story of a POW camp in New Hampshire, where German soldiers are put to work in the woods. I had no idea that there were POW camps in the States. I did know about imprisoning their own citizens though, but dragging the Germans from France, nope, new to me.

Collie is as the title says the major's daughter and she is going to work at Camp Stark as a camp translator. And when the prisoners come one catches her eye. It's a story of stolen glances, a few words here and there, longer talks until they realize that this is is love. But Collie knows she should not do this, and someone else is also courting her. A safe and nice man.

The book is not only about them, her friend Estelle has her own romance that cannot be. I liked how the author made Estelle think longer into the book. I can't really say much, but it says a lot about how women were made to think. Not in a good way.

The war ravages Europe, and there are conflicts at Camp Stark too. Conflicts between the prisoners, as all are  of course not nazis. Some are just men having to fight for their country. But there are also those that do not want them here, and there is one scene that broke me. People can be such idiots.

The book got sad too. Tear worthy sad. I was shocked. But it can't really be a dance on roses as this is about war after all.

Conclusion:

An interesting look at a POW camp. Romance and just trying to do what is best for you, even if that is in the end the wrong choice

Cover

nice

Paperback, 400 pages
Published July 29th 2014 by Plume
Historical fiction
For review

Review: The Undertaking - Audrey Magee

Desperate to escape the Eastern front, Peter Faber, an ordinary German soldier, marries Katharina Spinell, a woman he has never met; it is a marriage of convenience that promises 'honeymoon' leave for him and a pension for her should he die on the front. With ten days' leave secured, Peter visits his new wife in Berlin; both are surprised by the attraction that develops between them.

When Peter returns to the horror of the front, it is only the dream of Katharina that sustains him as he approaches Stalingrad. Back in Berlin, Katharina, goaded on by her desperate and delusional parents, ruthlessly works her way into the Nazi party hierarchy, wedding herself, her young husband and their unborn child to the regime. But when the tide of war turns and Berlin falls, Peter and Katharina, ordinary people stained with their small share of an extraordinary guilt, find their simple dream of family increasingly hard to hold on to.

My thoughts:

This book felt realistic, I did not know what to expect after their first meeting when they fell in love. But after that things fell apart and real life began.

War is hell, people are animals. Rape, murder, senseless violence. It's not pretty, no country's soldiers are angels.

And with that I will begin. Katharina and Peter meet through a catalog. He gets to come back from the front, marry and have a honeymoon and making babies for the glorious empire. They do like each other and survive by thinking of each other. But, then life happens.

Peter is marching through a cold and bitter Russia. Hunger, the cold, lice and then Stalingrad. But he was indoctrinated before he left Berlin and it takes a long long time before he for a moment doubt that they are something else than canon fodder and why the hell they want Russia for.

Katharina is left in Berlin and she does have it better as her father helps someone with contacts. But she will have her own hell at the end. When hunger comes, when doubts emerges and when the Russians descend.

Conclusion:

It was a good book. It makes you feel cold and hungry and you will feel the lice crawling everywhere.

Hardcover, 304 pages
Expected publication: February 6th 2014 by Atlantic Books
Fiction
For Review

Carole Reviews: Gracianna - Trini Amador

Author: Trini Amador

Title: Gracianna

Genre: Historical Fiction, War novel

Pages: ebook

First Published: July 23rd, 2013

Where I Got It: Given to me by the author/publisher to give my honest and unbiased opinion.

"The gripping story of Gracianna--a French-Basque girl forced to make impossible decisions after being recruited into the French Resistance in Nazi-occupied Paris.

Gracianna is inspired by true events in the life of Trini Amador's great-grandmother, Gracianna Lasaga. As an adult, Amador was haunted by the vivid memory of finding a loaded German Luger tucked away in a nightstand while wandering his great-grandmother's home in Southern California. He was only four years old at the time, but the memory remained and he knew he had to explore the story behind the gun.

Decades later, Amador would delve into the remarkable odyssey of his Gracianna's past, a road that led him to an incredible surprise. In Gracianna, Amador weaves fact and fiction to tell his great-grandmother's story.

Gracianna bravely sets off to Paris in the early 1940s--on her way to America, she hopes--but is soon swept into the escalation of the war and the Nazi occupation of Paris. After chilling life-and-death struggles, she discovers that her missing sister has surfaced as a laborer in Auschwitz. When she finds an opportunity to fight back against the Nazis to try to free her sister, she takes it--even if it means using lethal force.

As Amador tells the imagined story of how his great-grandmother risked it all, he delivers richly drawn characters and a heart-wrenching page-turner that readers won't soon forget."

Like earlier stated, I was given this book to review for my honest and unbiased opinion. 

Where to begin....mmmmmmmmmm......

Well, this was such an interesting story. It made it even more interesting when I found out that this story was based off the writer's great-grandmother's story. I'll be honest though...I didn't Gracianna at first, but I grew to love her when she proved she'd do anything for her dreams. Then especially when she risked her life to join the French Resistance against the Nazis. I brave girl and she didn't take people's crap. Which I admired.

The beginning was really slow, but get past it and you can't put down this book. The imagery was fantastic through-out the whole novel. I felt like I was sucked into the story and I felt like I was there. I'm really glad that I read this while we were studying WWII in my World History IV class. I had a better understanding of where Gracianna was from. I never heard of Basque before, but we talked a little bit about it that area in our studies. How funny!

I can't say much else without giving out spoilers. But I will say, I enjoyed the ending...it just was perfect for the story. I think it would be rather interesting to get a book about Gracianna's sister and her experiences in the Concentration Camp.  

In the end, I really enjoyed this book. It was good. Even though the beginning was really, really slow, I grew to really adore it and I couldn't put it down. Gracianna was one heck of a character and I grew really to like her. I recommend this to those that like Historical Fictions and the time period. It's a very good perspective and, at least for me, a different and new perspective. I shall stamp this with...mhmmmm....4 stars. 

Favorite Character(s): Gracianna, Juan, and Grandma 

Not-so Favorite Character(s): No one in particular....maybe Colonel?

Carole owner of caroleraesramblings.com

Review: The Clippie Girls - Margaret Dickinson

Sisters in love. A family at war. A city in peril.
Rose and Myrtle Sylvester look up to their older sister, Peggy. She is the sensible, reliable one in the household of women headed by their grandmother, Grace Booth, and their mother, Mary Sylvester. When war is declared in 1939 they must face the hardships together and huge changes in their lives are inevitable. For Rose, there is the chance to fulfil her dream of becoming a clippie on Sheffield’s trams like Peggy. But for Myrtle, the studious, clever one in the family, war may shatter her ambitions.
When the tram on which Peggy is a conductress is caught in a bomb blast, she bravely helps to rescue her passengers. The shock waves that ripple through the family will affect each and every one of them and life will never be the same again.

My thoughts:

This was a family saga about 3 sisters, their mother and grandmother, in the time of WWII.

The war starts and sisters Peggy and Rose becomes clippies (conductresses). Peggy is the oldest, pretty levelheaded and careful. I liked her and understood why she was not over the heals in love with the man she was going out with. While Rose is the hellion (well almost) and who is in love with her sister's boyfriend. As you can see tension from the start.

Then we have a grandmother who says what she wants and has very firm opinions about things. A mother who stands in her own mother's shadow and the youngest sister who loves to study.

But it's mostly about Peggy and Rose. Their lives during the war as it changes everything. It's a book about friendship, love, family and heartache.

When the book reached a certain point I did not want to put it down. I needed to know what would happen to certain characters and I feared my heart would break.

Conclusion:

A good family saga.

Cover
meh, but at least it shows what it's about

Genre: Women's fiction

Pages: 438

Published: February 14th 2013 by Pan Publishing

Source: For review

Review: Orders from Berlin - Simon Tolkien

Orders from Berlin is the fourth novel by Tolkien. The story takes place during World War II, in 1940. William Trave, known from some of his previous books, and his boss John Quaid investigates the murder of Albert Morrison, former chief of the mysterious MI6. At the same time, in Germany, Adolf Hitler wants to get Winston Churchill out of the picture, once and for all. The head of the Gestapo and the Sicherheitsdienst, Reinhard Heydrich, thinks he has the solution for that problem. But he needs help from London. 

Trave doesn’t always agree with Quaid how to run the investigation. While Quaid is certain he knows the identity of the killer, Trave is not so sure of it and goes against the will of Quaid as he tries to solve the murder mystery. And how is Hitler’s wish to kill Churchill related to the death of Albert Morrison? What about the mysterious little notes that Trave and Quaid find during their investigation? At the same time, bombs are falling over London. The Germans have started Operation Sea Lion, their code name for the invasion of England.

Everything is not as it first appears in this story. Even readers might be led into believing they know who the killer of Albert Morrison is, only to learn that they have been thinking about the wrong person.

The killer presents himself to the readers halfway through the book, which might disappoint some readers who whished to play alongside Trave and Quaid and for themselves figure out the truth. But despite that, the second part of the book is filled with action. Will they be able to stop the assassination of prime minister Winston Churchill?

I have not read the previous novels by Tolkien, so I can not compare this novel to the other novels. I found the novel a bit slow in the beginning, but it got better as the book progressed. And in the end it was even better. There are some intense moments, especially when a bomb falls over London, almost killing Trave and Alec Thorn, who is one of the suspects. 

The scenes are very well described and you clearly get a picture of what it was like in London during 1940. I do recommend the book for readers interested in that era of the history as well as for fans of murder histories.

(Read by Anna who stops in once or twice a year. I also tried to make her a new button)

Review: Becoming Clementine - Jennifer Niven

After delivering a B-17 Flying Fortress to Britain, an American volunteers to copilot a plane carrying special agents to their drop spot over Normandy. Her personal mission: to find her brother, who is missing in action. Their plane is shot down, and only she and five agents survive. Now they are on the run for their lives.

As they head to Paris, the beautiful aviatrix Velva Jean Hart becomes Clementine Roux, a daring woman on an epic adventure with her team to capture an operative known only as "Swan." Once settled on Rue de la Néva, Clementine works as a spy with the Resistance and finds herself falling in love with her fellow agent, Émile, a handsome and mysterious Frenchman with secrets of his own. When Clementine ends up in the most brutal prison in Paris, trying to help Émile and the team rescue Swan, she discovers the depths of human cruelty, the triumph of her own spirit, and the bravery of her team, who will stop at nothing to carry out their mission.

My thoughts:

I do love fiction books. I might love other genres more, but fiction is the genre that gives me the most. Good writing, good stories and well just a good genre. I do love a good voice.

This is actually book 3, but that does not show. It's a perfectly good standalone novel that shows us the life of Velva Jean as she in 1944 flies over the Atlantic. She is a Wasp, one of the forgotten ones from WWII. The book shows what women did in the war. Velva Jean is brave and wonderful. She goes to France to find her brother. She goes into a war zone cos of family, and to be a tool of war.

I have heard about the Wasps, the women pilots of the war. But I never knew much and how they struggled. The men were not happy, no one was really happy. Not that there is much flying here, no, instead there is spying, and danger.

The book is well written and there is this tone over the book that I liked. Velva thinks, feels, and well it just have to be read.

Conclusion:

A great book about forgotten heroines.

Series: Velva Jean #3
Genre. Historical Fiction
Pages: 368
Published: September 2012 by Plume
Source: For review

Review: The Penny Bangle - Margaret James

When should you trust your heart? It's 1942 when Cassie Taylor reluctantly leaves Birmingham to become a land girl on a farm in Dorset. There she meets Robert and Stephen Denham, twins recovering from injuries sustained at Dunkirk. Cassie is instantly drawn to Stephen, but is wary of the more complex Robert - who doesn't seem to like Cassie one little bit. At first, Robert wants to sack the inexperienced city girl. But Cassie soon learns, and Robert comes to admire her courage, finding himself deeply attracted to Cassie. Just as their romance blossoms, he's called back into active service. Anxious to have adventures herself, Cassie joins the ATS. 

My thoughts:

This is actually part 3 in a series but it can well be read on its own. Book 1 took place during WWI, book 2 was about that couple's daughter and this book has a new heroine named Cassie who arrives at a farm to work. The farm owned by the couple from book 1. It's her story.

I have read the other two books but this was actually my favorite. I can't say what made it so, was the writing better? The story? The heroine? Who can tell what tiny detail makes me fall more? I did like the two previous books too but I guess Cassie won me over more. She was brave, did not give up and most of all, she was sweet.

The story is about the war, family and love. Cassie falls for the son in the family, luckily the Denhams are good people and not snobs as they come from a better family and she is gutter trash. All is good on that front. But the war is always there and Robert goes back. Their romance takes some time to blossom and I liked this. No rush, even if we know it will happen (as he does not like her from the start.) And as he is away fighting and she does her best to serve her country there is always that amount of danger in the air. It's not showed though.

It was nice to meet the Denhams again and Daisy from previous books. And the twins Stephen and Robert were so alike, but nice young men. There is also another landgirl named Frances who befriends Cassie.

One thing I did not like, but as this was about the story, it's a very personal opinion. Because of something that happened I would rather have the book end unhappily then how it ended now, all happily. Somethings I do not forgive.

Conclusion:

Easy to read; romance, conflicts and war always present. Heartache and happiness is promised. 

Cover.
I do like how all covers fit their era.

Genre: Women's fiction /romance, Pages: 304, Published: May 7th, 2012 by Choc Lit, Source: For review

Review: The House at Tyneford - Natasha Solomons

It's the spring of 1938 and no longer safe to be a Jew in Vienna. Nineteen-year-old Elise Landau is forced to leave her glittering life of parties and champagne to become a parlor maid in England. She arrives at Tyneford, the great house on the bay, where servants polish silver and serve drinks on the lawn. But war is coming, and the world is changing. When the master of Tyneford's young son, Kit, returns home, he and Elise strike up an unlikely friendship that will transform Tyneford-and Elise-forever.

Genre: Historical fiction, Pages: 368, Published: December 2011 by Plume, Source: For review

My thoughts:

The book was both heartbreaking, breathtaking and lovely at the same time. You know it will be sad when the heroine is a Jew during WWII but I still cling to hope, it could happen. The ending itself is bittersweet and fitting and could have made me cry.

The story is about Elise who becomes a maid in England just before the start of the war. Her mother is a famous opera singer, her father an obscure novelist. She is not fit for service really, but does her best. her luck is the household she ends up in, good Mr Rivers who took a chance on her. Friends she meets and then there is Kit. It is a new era, but there are still things you just do not do, and a servant and the young master of the house is one of those things that can't be. Here comes the romance and friendship. But over all this is the shadow of war and him being young we all know what that means.

The war is looked at from the sidelines. A shortage of things, German planes in the sky, the army taking over more and more land for their own purpose. The house becoming more and more empty as men leave for war and women for factories. In that the book is rather silent in a way, it does not scream and shout that the war is here. Instead it breaks your heart a piece at a time. And my heart did feel like it was breaking a few times. There is this balance between happiness and hope. A balance that makes it impossible for me to put the book down. I just wanted to read, I just needed to know. Would everyone be happy in the end?

It was a truly lovely book that I just fell for more and more for while reading. And I still think about it while writing this.

Conclusion:

Downton Abbey is popular at the moment so fans of that should definitely give it a go. Along with the rest of you. Because it is a book for everyone. I do recommend it. 

Cover:

Fitting