A Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier

I was actually pretty excited to pick up A Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier because back in the 8th grade I did a science fair project about the Spanish flu and I couldn't believe nobody had told me about it and that it wasn’t more well-known. I also was convinced that there would be another flu pandemic and this was back before SARS and stuff so years later I definitely felt validated. Anyway because of not-so-inner science nerd, it was pretty exciting to see a novel set during that period and focusing on those issues. Honestly, if I wasn't too lazy to write historical fiction, it is definitely a period I would love to cover.

Enough background though. A Death-Struck Year itself is about Cleo Berry, ends up alone during the time that the Spanish flu is reaching Portland, Oregon, something that at first seems impossible but is later inevitable. Cleo has never quite known what she wants to do in her life, besides make some kind of difference, and she takes her independence as the perfect opportunity to volunteer for the Red Cross. She also has some past experiences that contribute to her wanting to help strangers that might not get help otherwise.

The story is decent and well-researched, but unfortunately A Death-Struck Year well a bit flat for me, and I probably wouldn’t pick up anything else by Lucier unless the topic really grabbed me again. Maybe it's because of my own knowledge on the topic, but I just wanted more intensity and emotion out of the book. The writing is easy to read and follow, and probably appealing to a younger YA audience, but I felt like it had more potential than it fulfilled. There's also a bit of a "romance" that I was very indifferent too. I definitely thought the story was stronger when it came to friendship and family, but the story as a whole felt more like it was told me rather than it was something I was really living.

A Death-Struck Year is a novel with all the right parts, it covers really interesting issues from many angles and is well researched, but the writing lacks the depth and emotion that it needs to take Lucier's book from something that was decent, to something that was truly memorable. But I am definitely hoping this is not the last novel about the Spanish flu!

Release Date: March 4th 2014 Pages: 288  Format: Egalley
Source: Netgalley  Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers  Buy It: Book Depository

The Wine of Solitude by Irene Nemirovsky

The Wine of Solitude is the second book I've read by Irene Nemirovsky, a Jewish novelist born in the Ukraine who lived and worked in France and died in Auschwitz. The first book I read by her, Fire in the Blood, was in 2010, and this was nearly three years later (yes, I'm still catching up on old reviews). Honestly, I can't tell you why I haven't read more, because the truth is every word I've read by Nemirovsky has blown me away.

At the centre of The Wine of Solitude is a young girl, Helene, intelligent and lost, searching and alone. There are a slew of complicated relationships, with her incredibly vain mother, her father, her mother's lover. Although the novel begins in the Ukraine, then moves to Russia, Finland, and France, as the family flees the Russian Revolution and World War I. Although the historical aspect is really interesting, this is really a story about Helene coming-of-age in a dysfunctional family and world. 

The writing in The Wine of Solitude is beautiful, and out of the whole novel one quote really stuck with me, even now, a year after reading it:

I may be alone, but my solitude is powerful and intoxicating.

That said, I didn't have the strongest emotional connection to the characters in the story, I felt like I was at a distance to them, and so it was a book I often put down and picked up again. The words captured me, but the people did not. Reading The Wine of Solitude definitely reminded me how much I still need to read Nemirovsky's most famous novel, Suite Francaise.

Release Date: 1935, English translation: September 18th, 2012  Pages: 248  Format: Egalley
Source: Edelweiss  Publisher: Vintage   Buy It: Book Depository

Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio

Sarah Jio’s third novel, Blackberry Winter, provides the same delightful mix of mystery, romance, and history, as her first two, along with unique twists and its own emotional storyline.

Like The Violets of March and The Bungalow, Blackberry Winter fluctuates between two time periods where an unsolved mystery from the earlier time period comes to light decades later and a female protagonist works to find the truth, including an unexpected connection to her own life. 

Blackberry Winter is set in Seattle, both in 1933 and 2010, and unlike her earlier books, Jio’s main focus is not on romance but instead on motherhood– though the romance is definitely still important.

In 1933, during a May 1st storm, the three-year-old son of single mother Vera vanishes; the only trace he leaves behind is his teddy bear– face down in the snow. In 2010, another unexpected May 1st snowstorm happens and Claire, a reporter covering it, discovers the story of the unsolved abduction and works to learn what really happened.

Just as The Bungalow found some unexpected characters from Jio’s debut appear, a few more show up for an important appearance in Blackberry Winter. Although each novel is absolutely a standalone, it’s nice to get to revisit favourite characters again, even if they aren’t always doing quite as well as you hoped.

The novel itself is probably Jio’s strongest so far, as her storytelling has an emotion to it that is heartbreaking regardless of if it is Vera or Claire narrating. There are some striking images, such as the teddy bear, and the theme of motherhood is especially powerful.

Jio’s transition from one time period to another is incredibly smooth and I never got confused about which story I was reading. Her writing is easy to read, but has some lovely details immerse the reader in the setting and time period. The snowy scenery makes it a perfect read winter read.

Like Jio’s first two books, Blackberry Winter certainly has some convenient coincidences in it, but that didn’t diminish my enjoyment of it, and even when I could mostly tell how things were going to turn it, there was a surprise or two in store.

After three novels there are certain things that can be expected of Jio, in particular a page-turning mystery that is also engaging on an emotional level, such as Blackberry Winter provides. I will certainly be picking up her fourth book, The Last Camellia, which is released on May 28th.

Release Date: November 27th 2012  Pages: 290  Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher  Publisher: Penguin Buy It: Book Depository

Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann

Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann is the kind of book that's hard to explain and easy to recommend, by which I mean: complex, riveting, and beautiful written.

The story takes place in the United States, mainly at Tiger House which is located in Martha's Vineyard, beginning at the end of World War II and spanning several decades. When it starts, Nick and her cousin Helena– who are more like sisters, really– are parting ways as they go off to their husbands. Helena is off to Hollywood with a new husband, a man obsessed with another woman, while Nick is reunited with her husband, Hughes, who has just returned from the war, distant and cold and maybe with a secret of his own.

A decade and a half later, Nick and Helena return to Tiger House, a family home owned by Nick, joined by their children, Daisy and Ed. But the visit goes awry when the two kids discover a body that was brutally murdered and the violent crime will change all of their lives forever. 

Tigers in Red Weather is  actually divided into five perspectives: Nick, Daisy, Helena, Hughes, and Ed. It's the kind of thing I hate–too confusing and you never really get to know anyone– but Klaussmann makes it work because even when it's from another character's viewpoint the reader is constantly learning about the other key characters anyway. Plus, because 4 of the 5 perspectives are from the third person, the writing remains similar between them and provides a kind of continuity. While most events are unique, there are a couple key ones that appear in more than one of the narratives and allow the chance for the reader to see what different characters were thinking at the same moments. I especially loved that the fifth and final perspective was first person, as it just suited the narrative perfectly. Klaussmann definitely knows what she is doing!

Of course the most remarkable thing about Tigers in Red Weather is the writing, which is absolutely gorgeous. Each sentence is perfectly crafted, and the flow of them together is just lyrical. As a result of Klaussmann's skilled writing, each character is rich and well-developed, with just enough strangeness and cruelty to make them both interesting and believable. The relationships between the characters, especially Nick and Helena, was also complex. It was clear that they both loved each other, but there was also a lot of tension involved because of Helena and her jealousy of Nick, especially when it came to money, and that had some unexpected repercussions.

Although Tigers in Red Weather is definitely a literary novel, it also had an eery edge of mystery mixed into the story that I loved. Some literary novels may have beautiful writing, but Klaussmann combines that with an incredibly compelling story and plot, so that I was definitely turning the pages wanting to know what happened next and how things fit together. The ending was one hundred percent not what I expected, but it was also absolutely perfect and creepy. In fact, the entire novel was just as rewarding from page one right till the very ending, everything tied together by Klaussmann's beautiful writing and storytelling skill. Tigers in Red Weather may be Klaussmann's debut but it is absolutely not the last novel by her I will be reading.

Release Date: July 17th 2012  Pages: 368  Format: Hardcover 
Source: Publisher Publisher: Random House Canada  Buy It: Book Depository

That Boy Red by Rachna Gilmore

That Boy Red by Rachna Gilmore

Release Date: April 4th 2011
Pages: 220
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Harper Collins Canada
Buy It: Book Depository | Amazon.ca

It’s the Depression, but Red’s family is managing better than most on their Prince Edward Island farm. Hard working and resourceful, they have enough to eat and to help others, even if at times they are mocked by their neighbours for putting education ahead of farm work. Eleven-year-old Red has plenty of chores around the farm, and the days can be long, but he still gets the odd break to go swimming or fishing... provided his homework is done.

The back of this book compares it to Anne of Green Gables, and it really is that sort of novel with a male main character. It's written in the kind of language that does take the reader back to the thirties, and the writing flows easily. The book is divided into several distinct, but connected stories which makes it good for reading in chunks, though the whole novel is still a really fast read. Some of the sections– like one where Red's father injures himself– are sadder, while others– like when Red's Granny visits– are funnier, but they all have a taste of both humour and emotion within them.

As easy as the book was to read, there was some language that left me a little confused, like when Gilmore writes: "Ellen complained that he raced through his recitations with no expression whatsoever, but Red figured getting through it mattered more than any highfaultin expression." Obviously language was different eighty years ago but it's hard to imagine this ruddy farm boy that prefers building things to reading using the word highfaultin, and it felt out of place (and not just because I had no idea what it meant).

That Boy Red wasn't the kind of book that I would have gone seeking out myself, but when I had a surprise copy in my mailbox I decided to give it a try. For the short time it took to read it, I guess I'm glad I did; I feel like it's a good contribution to Canadian history and a great addition to elementary school libraries for that reason. But it also wasn't a book I felt in love it, in the emotional all-encompassing way that some novels sweep me off my feet. Instead, it was a book that I enjoyed, and it had some nice moments. Ultimately, I'd recommend That Boy Red to the middle grade readers looking for the a male Anne of Green Gables, and would hope it would hit the mark for them in the way that it didn't quite manage for me.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Release Date: February 6th 2012
Pages: 352
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Random House Canada
Buy It: Book Depository

Two young women are thrown together during World War II: one a working-class girl from Manchester, the other a Scottish aristocrat, one a pilot, the other a wireless operator. Yet whenever their paths cross, they complement each other perfectly and before long become devoted friends. But then a vital mission goes wrong, and one of the friends has to bail out of a faulty plane over France. She is captured by the Gestapo and becomes a prisoner of war. The story begins in "Verity's" own words, as she writes her account for her captors.

At first, this came across as another one of those cases, like Alone in the Classroom by Elizabeth Hay, where the person telling the story couldn't possibly know all the details she is sharing about another person's life. But as the story unfolded, and the explanations made it believable, and I was glad not to have that aspect preventing me from fully enjoying this heart-breaking and powerful story of friendship. In fact, I actually ended up enjoying the unreliability of the narrator, something that can be wonderful when it's done well, like in Code Name Verity and The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes.

Every once in awhile I come across a discussion with somebody looking for a young adult novel without romance, and it always feels near-impossible to come up with one. Then, recently, I read Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard, and now Code Name Verity. Although set decades apart and completely dissimilar, both novels are about friendship, not lust, and provide a refreshing reminder that sometimes teenagers think about different things; especially in a time of war. The friendship between the two girls in Wein's novel has an added element of danger because of the time period; in fact, when the story begins, one of them has already been captured as a prisoner of war, but it's also the kind of friendship that is universal, the kind of profound relationship that happens when two people just connect, the kind of bond that can last a lifetime (and often does).

My only problem with Code Name Verity is that, perhaps because of its epistolary format (the entire thing has been written down, starting with Verity in prison), sometimes it became too much a narrative and too little actual interaction between characters. As a result, I found it dragged, simply because I was waiting for something to happen, especially in the beginning. My other minor complaint is the very ending of the novel, which is written by a character that hadn't been important at all, and so felt a bit jarring and unnecessary in a way.

That said, I absolutely adored the way that Wein wrote this historical novel. By that, I mean, it's filled with interesting details, most of which have stories behind them (and she lets the reader in on a few in the author's note). Code Name Verity not only brings the time period to life, but also the feelings of the characters. These two girls were irrevocably tied to when the book took place, it didn't seem like Wein just took contemporary characters and threw them into the past. But also, the reader really gets insight into their emotions and feelings, things like what it would be like to be a woman with a passion for something that women weren't supposed to do (flying). In combination, these facts make Code Name Verity succeed both as historical fiction, but also as a story.

Overall, Code Name Verity was a fantastic and rich read, a refreshing break from boy-crazy girls and instead having main characters who have things that are a lot more life-threatening than romance to worry about. There were lots of great twists and turns to keep the reader engaged. Though it did have a slow start as well as a few other portions I was tempted to skim, I was glad I didn't because in the end everything tied together in an emotional and absolutely heart-breaking way. In the end, Wein's novel is well-researched and well-written; Code Name Verity is a powerful story of friendship from an insightful and unique perspective.

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy

Release Date: October 4th 2011
Pages: 362
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Penguin
Also by this Author: Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It (Adult)
Buy It: Book Depository

It’s 1952 and the Scott family has just moved from Los Angeles to London. Here, Janie meets a mysterious apothecary and his son, Benjamin. When Benjamin’s father is kidnapped, Janie and Benjamin must uncover the secrets of the apothecary’s sacred book in order to find him, all while keeping it out of the hands of their enemies—Russian spies in possession of nuclear weapons. Discovering and testing potions they never believed could exist, Janie and Benjamin embark on a dangerous race to save the apothecary and prevent impending disaster.

I really enjoyed this first novel for younger readers by Maile Meloy, whose short story collection Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It I'd previously enjoyed. Obviously The Apothecary, intended for a middle grade audience, is quite different but Meloy's adult work, but it maintains her smart description, concise style and lovely details. There are some quirky but amazingly accurate descriptions, including several of hair near the beginning of the book such as "wore her white hair coiled up like a ghost's pastry on the back of her head" and "tight, gray curls reminded me of a sheep."

Meloy also doesn't let the fact that this is a children's book stop her from throwing in some incredible words, several of which I have to look up to know their precise definition (like corpulent!) even though the meanings are obvious in context. I love the way The Apothecary has of unintentionally expanded the reader's vocabulary, and it's yet another reason it would be a great book for younger readers; Meloy doesn't talk down to her audience.

Admittedly, my advance reader copy of the novel was missing many drawings, but the half I did see were really lovely, though the truth is that I preferred the ones in Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver. Though the pictures are great and compliment the text, Meloy tells as riveting story without them, and her words are vivid enough in creating imagery that the drawings are technically unnecessary.

The Apothecary is packed with adventure, much of it with a slightly magical twist, and I absolutely adored the story it contained. It was a perfect mix of action, exploration of important issues, and a nice touch of romance thrown in. It's a story that is entertaining in a way I didn't expect from Meloy with her quiet and adult short stories, but the result is enjoyable and definitely has convinced me of cross-genre skills.

The characters in this novel were realistic and fun to read. Janie struggled with the issue of being a new girl in a foreign country, and I thought that Meloy dealt with her insecurity and subsequent growth in a very authentic way. I especially loved Pip, a charming and mischievous character certainly worthy of his own novel. The only character I wasn't entirely satisfied with was Benjamin, in particular his romantic storyline which involved a change of mind that was never really explained and left me wanting more. The romance wasn't at all necessary in the story, but if it was going to be there, I did want it to be a little less haphazard.

Having enjoyed Meloy's adult fiction, I was both curious and excited about how her writing would transfer for the middle grade audience; and the result was incredible. An exciting and whimsical adventure, The Apothecary is the kind of classic spy meets fantasy meets historical story that is certain to age well. A very enjoyable experience and I certainly hope that Meloy will write for younger readers again in the future; I might be much older than the intended audience, but I'd be excited to read another middle grade novel by her in the future.

The Wild Book by Margarita Engle

The Wild Book by Margarita Engle

Release Date: March 20th 2012
Pages: 144
Format: E-galley
Source: NetGalley/Publisher
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books
Buy It: Book Depository

Fefa struggles with words. She has word blindness, or dyslexia, and the doctor says she will never read or write. Her mother has an idea gives Fefa a blank book. "Think of it as a garden," she says. Soon Fefa starts to sprinkle words across the pages of her wild book. And when her family is threatened, it is what Fefa has learned from her wild book that saves them.

Maybe it's because I followed up reading The Wild Book with May B. by Caroline Rose Starr, another MG novel in verse about a girl struggling with dyslexia that I absolutely loved, but this novel didn't really live up to the potential. There were some lovely turns of phrase and images, but I found the story itself lacking. It was also this strange sort of book where it seemed too mature in language for its potential audience, but then too simplistic in style for older readers. I'm not really certain who the book is intended for, but despite my love of novels in verse, it apparently wasn't me.

At under 150 verse pages, The Wild Book is extremely short, and unfortunately that seemed like a detriment at times. Often, it came across as a good outline more than a complete book. Engle has some gorgeous images, but the story itself lacked vividness, it felt like it was a picture that hadn't been completely filled in. The historical setting in a lawless Cuba intrigued me, but I never quite felt like I really got to know it either. Overall, The Wild Book didn't quite work for me, but it's short enough that if it intrigues you it may be worth picking up a library copy to try.

Review Elsewhere: May B. by Caroline Starr Rose

"Ultimately, May B. is a moving story of survival – a quick book to read, but the memory of it will last much longer."

Click here to read the rest of my review (Scroll to second half of article).

Irrelevant side note: I absolutely love this cover! Perfect for middle grade but with enough ambiguity to it that an older reader could pick it up, I think the art work is lovely.

Waiting For Robert Capa by Susana Fortes

Waiting For Robert Capa by Susana Fortes

Release Date: September 27th 2011 (Published in Spanish June 2009)
Pages: 208
Format: Advance Reader Copy
Publisher: HarperCollins 
Translator: Adriana V. Lopez
Source: TLC Book Tours
Buy It: Book Depository

A novel of love, war, and art, based on the turbulent real-life romance of legendary photojournalists Gerda Taro and Robert Capa who documented the Spanish Civil War.

Love, war and photography, now those are topics that got me excited for this novel based on true events, but unfortunately they didn't quite add up the way I hoped. The first quarter or so of Waiting For Robert Capa moved slowly, but the language itself was so lovely that even if Fortes wasn't quite catching my interest, I was enjoying the lyricalness of her storytelling. However, once the novelty wore off, I found myself often bored and frustrated with the story. There was a lot of name-dropping, and that included mentions of individuals that while real, aren't incredibly well-known these days and that I regularly had to look up. The annoying part of this was that often names were used when it would have sufficed to say 'the man' or 'the woman' because the individual only appears in one sentence of the entire novel.

By around midway through Waiting For Robert Capa had come to a conclusion: novels about real people aren't quite my thing, as I was having many of the same issues I had earlier this year with The Paris Wife by Paula McLain occur again and perhaps they are a symptom of this type of book? What I am referring to is a lovely but detached writing, so that I never connect to the story. Both books also felt alternatively very slow, or very rushed, depending on which events they lingered on or hurried over. I wonder if I was more familiar with the history behind the these stories I would understand better why the authors did this, but ultimately I found that often things I found most interesting were hardly touched on. In Waiting For Robert Capa this included Gerda's history before coming to France, and Robert's experiences after the war as well as his relationship with his Jewish identity.

Ultimately Waiting For Robert Capa was written with lovely language, but those words told a story that I had difficulty connecting to and which often bored me, however a reader who enjoys novels from the perspectives of real people may find more to appreciate in Fortes' storytelling than I did.

Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

Release Date: June 16th, 2011
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Thomas Allen 
Source: Publisher
Buy It: Book Depository

Paris, 1940. A brilliant jazz musician, Hiero, is arrested by the Nazis and never heard from again. He is twenty years old. He is a German citizen. And he is black.

Fifty years later, his friend and fellow musician, Sid, must relive that unforgettable time, revealing the friendships, love affairs and treacheries that sealed Hiero’s fate.

In some ways, completely unrelated to the content of the novel, Half Blood Blues reminds me slightly of Blood Red Road by Moira young- and not just because of the gore in the title. The two books are both written in dialect, a fact which is in some ways responsible for their slow starts, but once the reader becomes fully immersed it is impossible not to fall in love with the story.

Part of what surprised me about Half Blood Blues was the fact that for a historical book, one with a story told mainly in the past, it isn't just about the history: at its core Edugyan's novel is truly human. This humanity comes mainly from the character of Sid, his voice as the narrator felt so genuine I find it difficult to imagine what Edugyan's other novels are like, how can she tell any other stories when this one felt so real? The musicians that make up the group Sid is a part of are each unique and believable and in Half Blood Blues each of them tells their own story: the solider's son who believes in music, the Jew with the aryan appearance, the young prodigy. Mingled into the story are real people and events so that the novel reminded me slightly of The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, a book where it is hard to know where the truth ends and the imagination begins precisely.

Although Half Blood Blues has been nominated for many awards such as the Booker, the Giller and the Governor General's, it is not so overly literary as to be inaccessible. Once the reader becomes accustomed to Sid's voice, the story itself is approachable and easy to read. Still, it is not a novel to be taken lightly and it deals heavily with issues of race, such as the hierarchy of blacks in Nazi Germany, that most are unfamiliar with but which I found fascinating. In the end, Half Blood Blues provides a powerful message about jealously, betrayal and friendship in incredibly difficult times; and it is certainly not the last book by Edugyan that I will be reading.

The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock

The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock begins with a confession from fifteen-year-old Cat Rozier, living on the island of Guernsey in 1984, who recently killed her best friend Nic, although she swears it wasn't her fault. Instead, Cat blames history and in order to understand what happened she not only reminisces about the past, but also includes letters written by her father as well as transcriptions of tapes left behind by her uncle regarding the German occupation of Guernsey during WWII. As The Book of Lies is pieced together, Cat lets the reader in on the arrival of the startlingly beautiful and charming Nicolette and how the two soon become best friends. Until, that is, Nic thinks that Cat has betrayed her and decides to take her own cruel revenge.

Cat has an engaging and unique voice and much of The Book of Lies reads almost like a ramble from an eccentric, somebody who doesn't realize quite how ridiculous they sound and is all the more entertaining for it. It also reinforces the natural drama of being a teenager, how each relationship and friendship feels like the most important thing in the world, an aspect Horlock captures flawlessly. That said, I definitely think Cat is a little crazy! At one point she says,  "Do not think for a minute I am a violent person. Just because I like watching mindless violence on television doesn’t mean I want to go round cutting throats (or that I would know how to)."

Although I loved Horlock's writing and the believably teenage voice of the narrator, I did find the ending of The Book of Lies to be a bit of a cop-out. It is the kind of ending that tries to please everyone but ends up pleasing no one (or at least not me.) The book is written in several formats including transcripts, letters, and a confession but it was definitely Mary's voice that I enjoyed the most. That said, the insight into life on Guernsey during WWII was really interesting and was a nice compliment to what I already knew from reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows last year.

Overall, The Book of Lies was an entertaining and quirky novel so despite being disappointed by the ending I got enough enjoyment out of Horlock's book that I'd definitely consider reading future offerings by her.

Release Date: March 3rd, 2011
Pages: 368
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This review was a part of TLC Book Tours. Click here to read what other tour hosts thought. For the purpose of this review I was provided with a copy of the book which did not require a positive review. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own.

Far To Go by Alison Pick

Far To Go by Alison Pick is a historical fiction novel which takes place in Czechoslovakia during World War II. After part of the country, the Sudetenland, is give to Hitler the Nazi influence begins to sweep the country. The lives of Jews are changed forever, including the secular businessman Pavel Bauer, his son Pepik, wife Annelise, and their loyal governess Marta who feels like one of the family. However when Marta learns of an impending betrayal from her lover Ernst, she becomes the one who holds the Bauers fate in her hands and her actions will have consequences none of them could have imagined.

Far To Go was a novel I was very conflicted over. On one hand, I love Pick's writing. But the story, especially the ending, left me dissatisfied and disappointed. Interspersed with the historical story are tidbits of present-day action, and although I actually found them probably even more beautifully written I didn't really feel like they added to the story and it was too little to allow me as a reader to be really connected to that storyline. That said, the historical period that Pick used was extremely interesting as even though I have read many books about Holocaust, this is the first one that has taken place in Czechoslovakia, a very unique country. It is heartbreaking to read Pavel insist again and again that nothing is going to happen to them, even as the reader knows that nobody, especially Jews, was safe during that time period.

Pepik makes an adorable little boy and it is very easy to see how Marta bonded with him, and the possessiveness she feels when it comes to Annelise. The Bauer family and Marta have a very unique relationship as she is part employee, part family member and sometimes it is difficult to know which. For a historical fiction novel, Far To Go certainly manages to pick up the pace and keep the reader turning the pages. The strong element of suspense and foreboding that the reader feels made me even more disappointed in how things turned out in the end and what was ultimately revealed to the be the premise of the book. Ultimately, Far To Go is a rich and compelling story for which Pick certainly did her research, but in the end things wrapped up a little too neatly and quickly meaning that the novel didn't have quite the lasting impact it could have.

Release Date: September 1st, 2010
Pages: 336
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Source:

This review was a part of TLC Book Tours. Click here to read what other tour hosts thought. For the purpose of this review I was provided with a copy of the book which did not require a positive review. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own.

Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay

Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay with former ballerina Nina deciding to auction of her incredible jewelry collection for charity. On the surface, it seems it is her way of letting go of the past but instead she is brought back to the story of why she left home and what the jewels mean. Intertwined with Nina's story is that of her husband Viktor a famous poet, his best friend the composer Gersh, and her best friend Vera. Although Russian Winter begins half a century ago, it also tells the contemporary tale of Drew, a young woman organizing the sale of Nina's jewelery, and Grigori, a Russian professor who possess a necklace which seems to belong to Nina's collection. The past and present come together in Kalotay's mysterious debut novel about the things you can't leave behind.

It would be impossible for me to read the story of a Russian ballerina that defected from the USSR and not, on some level, compare it to Dancer by Colum McCann which I read last year. Still, despite the obvious similarities between the basic premise of Dancer and Russian Winter, it is its own unique and richly told story. Russian Winter is certainly historical fiction, but as the novel progresses it becomes clear that it is so much more than that, it is also a love story and a mystery. In fact, it is the love stories and the mysteries which make Russian Winter such an engrossing read. The novel has a rich depth but you aren't overwhelmed by it as the story, in contrast to other historical fiction I've read for example The Fifth Servant, isn't weighed down by history but instead the reader picks up the subtle details while being enthralled with the characters and storylines.

I really enjoyed Kalotay's cast of characters in Russian Winter, and I also loved how well the reader gets a feel for the lack of privacy and other features which defined life for an artist under Stalin's regime. It was interesting to see how even when a character like Nina disagreed with certain policies, she still held out hope that Stalin didn't know what was going on, and if he realized it he could be persuaded to change things. I also liked the inside look at life behind the curtain, everything from the competition to the gossip felt believable, but with its own unique spin because it was taking place fifty years ago. I was actually less interested in the contemporary story, in particular Grigori's quest for love following the death of his wife didn't really keep my attention, although I loved the necklace mystery. As a character, I also found Drew pretty boring, and although it was interesting at times to learn about what goes into setting up an auction for antique jewelry it mostly just felt like it was stalling the story and didn't get me excited and involved the same way the historical storyline did.

Overall, Russian Winter was an uneven but enjoyable novel. There were many components like the backstage look at ballerinas that I loved, but others, such as running an auction, didn't keep my interest. Ultimately Russian Winter is a novel I'd recommend because of the strength and richness of the historical storyline, and I am definitely intrigued to see what Kalotay comes up with next.

Release Date: August 27th, 2010
Pages: 480
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This review was a part of TLC Book Tours. Click here to read what other tour hosts thought. For the purpose of this review I was provided with a copy of the book which did not require a positive review. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own.

Bird in a Box by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Bird in a Box by Andrea Davis Pinkney takes place in a small upstate New York town during the Great Depression and tells the story of three children- Hibernia, Willie and Otis- and how their lives comes together. Hibernia is the daughter of a Reverend and her mother left to have a singing career in New York City and now Hibernia dreams of someday doing the same. Willie and Otis both live in a home for orphans, but only one of them has lost their parents. Willie left home because of his abusive father and is recovering from his injuries, ones that shattered his chances of being a boxing champ. Meanwhile Otis' only family is the radio he listens to every night, his reminder of the mother and father he lost. The three children find hope in the boxing matches of Joe Louis and his potential to become the country's next heavyweight champion, what they don't realize is how Joe will bring the three of them together.

Bird in a Box book is intended for children aged 9-12 and that is definitely the appropriate audience for it. The story deals with an interesting part of history and lets the reader know what that times was like for three different, yet connected, kids. Although it is certainly a novel, each chapter is divided using an illustration like the one on the cover and I thought the pictures were great. Within each chapter the perspective alternates between the three main characters and although the voices were realistic, I did find the story disjointed at times. Each character's narrative was fairly brief, and as a reader, I'd just be getting interested in their story only to have Pinkney switch to another character. Also, while Hibernia's voice was certainly unique I definitely did find the boys blended together at times, probably because of the short chapters following each other. I also didn't understand why Pinkney began the book with a chapter in the future and then went back in time, it made the first chapter very confusing and it felt unnecessary.

With Bird in a Box Pinkney certainly manages to let the reader in on an important part of history, and she even includes a note about what is real and what is fictional in her story which is something I really appreciate with historical fiction. It was also neat that she used real radio dialogue in telling the story, weaving in bits of history that the reader is able to pick up without thinking. The most memorable character was definitely Hibernia, I loved her. She had spunk and sass and she definitely made the novel worthwhile. Unfortunately, I did find some of the character development weak, but it is probably not something I would have picked up on if I'd be within the intended audience age category. Ultimately, Bird in a Box is not only a good way for a middle-grade audience to learn more about the Great Depression, but also a positive book about triumphing against the odds.

Release Date: April 12th, 2011
Pages: 288
Source: Publisher 
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A Fierce Radiance by Lauren Belfer

A Fierce Radiance by Lauren Belfer is a historical novel set in New York City following Pearl Harbour. It centres around Claire Shipley, a divorced mother whose daughter died of blood poisoning when she was four. Raising her young son alone in the city, Claire works as a photographer for Life magazine and what begins as a simple story about a new drug being developed turns into so much more. Claire can't help feeling a connection to the penicillin story, it is a drug that could have saved her daughter, but she also finds herself drawn to the doctor in charge of the research, James Stanton, in what will become a complicated love story. Things are complicated even further when penicillin gets the attention of the government and it, and its 'cousins', present the possibility of huge financial gain for the company developing them and when a mysterious death occurs, it turns out that gain may have been motivation for murder. If only somebody can discover the truth...

Although A Fierce Radiance presents a bit like a murder mystery, the murder itself is at the back of the reader's mind for much of the story and doesn't even occur until about a third of the way through the book. In that sense it reminded me of another bulky historical novel I had read recently, The Fifth Servant by Kenneth Wishnia, where the murder is used as a reason for telling an important story but where the true interest lies is with the details surrounding the time. Likewise, the focus of A Fierce Radiance is on what life was like before the development of antibiotics, when a man could die of a blister from wearing new shoes, and the excitement that came with their discovery. The story was also really interesting when it came to what it was like in the United States during World War II, everyone surrounding Claire fully believes that the Nazis will attack and bomb them, possibly taking control of the city. Of course, readers now will know that this did not in fact happen, but Belfer makes the possibility feel completely real and scary. 

Although I enjoyed the historical aspect of A Fierce Radiance, romance played a much bigger role than I expected and I wasn't not particularly enthralled by the love story (I rarely am). The romantic focus is the main reason I find myself unlikely to reread the novel as I felt it weighted down the story. I also felt that the book occasionally got off-topic, like Belfer had discovered something interesting she wanted to share even if it wasn't completely relevant to the story. Although the entire story is told in the third person, and the main character is definitely Claire, the focus shifts to different characters throughout the novel in a way I sometimes found distracting. There were also a few situations I found improbable, although they may have happened, I just didn't quite believe them within the context of the novel. The strongest part of A Fierce Radiance was definitely Belfer's eye for historical details which made the time period come to life and overall it was a rich and informative experience.

Release Date: June 1st, 2010
Pages: 560
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This review was a part of TLC Book Tours. Click here to read what other tour hosts thought. For the purpose of this review I was provided with a copy of the book which did not require a positive review. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own. 

The House on Salt Hay Road by Carin Clevidence

"It was only after something broke into its individual parts that you saw how miraculous the whole had been, how fragile. He should have known this from all the sketches he’d made of dead things that had once been living."

The House on Salt Hay Road by Carin Clevidence begins with an explosion, a fireworks factory goes up in flames in a seaside town during 1937 creating a bang that is heard all around. Clayton Poole hears it while in school and rushes to make sure his older sister Nancy is okay. When the explosion happens Nancy's horse spooked but she is soon more interested in the stranger she meets when she goes to see her aunt Mavis than returning home. But the explosion itself is just the beginning, as everything begins to change for Clayton and Nancy, two orphans who have been taken in by their aunt, uncle and grandfather. When Nancy leaves their house on Salt Hay Road for Boston and her marriage, Clayton decides not to follow. But if they thought the fireworks explosion or Nancy's marriage turned their world upside down it is nothing compared to what nature has in store for them the following year.

For a book that begins with an explosion, The House on Salt Hay Road is best categorized by its quiet strength. Clevidence manages to poetically capture the essence of the small town in the years leading up to World War II, as well as the youthfulness of her main characters. As real and strong as Nancy and Clayton are, their aunt Mavis, uncle Roy and grandfather Scudder are equally powerfully drawn. As they reflect on their youth and the passing years, the readers gets to know them one anecdote at a time. The story itself is told fairly slowly, building like a wave until it eventually boils over with a powerful and heartbreaking climax.

The House on Salt Hay Road is not a book you can rush reading, and it took me quite a bit longer than I thought it would considering it is under 300 pages. Clevidence pulls you into the story and you want to linger on each sentence, slowly digesting it. It is honestly one of those novels where I could not find a single word out of place, it is clear that each one was thoughtfully chosen and edited with the result being smooth, crisp, and beautiful prose. The only criticism I can make is that I occasionally found there were too many names used in the novel, particularly when the character didn't reappear later it seemed unnecessary.

Talented writing aside, there are also some interesting discussions which go on in The House on Salt Hay Road, particularly when it comes to God, and especially with regards to the character of Mavis whose faith is unshattered despite the struggles she has gone through. At one point she says:

"It seemed to her that God intended to peel the earth back like a scab. As if, beneath its hardness, something tender and new had been forming all this time."

Scudder also goes into detail with a tragic story of how he lost his faith. Scudder's fear at losing his granddaughter Nancy to a marriage that feels sudden, as well as his grief at the death of Nancy and Clayton's mother who was also his daughter, was absolutely heart-breaking to read about. I am in awe of how well Clevidence managed to capture characters on both ends of the age spectrum, and my only wish was that there had been more of Scudder and his best friend the Captain, who mostly vanish about two thirds through the novel. Although the reasons for their disappearance are both understandable and crucial to the story development, I definitely missed them. There were so many moments that touched my heart in this book, Clayton's adventures capturing bugs and feeding the birds at the local museum in particular come to mind. Overall, I completely recommend The House on Salt Hay Road, a powerful yet quiet debut from Clevidence, who's next novel I will certainly be picking up.

Release Date: May 25th, 2010 
Pages: 285
Source: Publisher 
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The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

"Every story—love or war—is a story about looking left when we should have been looking right."

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake tells the story of several women during World War II, including Iris, the postmistress of Franklin, a small town in Cape Code, as well as American radio reporter Frankie who is stationed in England, and Emma, a young woman who arrives in Franklin to be with her new husband, the local doctor.  It is a story about secrets and letters, about accidents and fate. 

There were many things I enjoyed about the novel but one of my disappointments with The Postmistress is the fact that Blake uses technology at a time that doesn't exist, specifically the recording device that Frankie takes with her to interview people. Although Blake explains her reasoning for this at the back of the book, specifically that it is only off by a couple years and she felt it was important for the story, for something that plays such a huge role in the book I was let down when I learned it was inaccurate.

I also didn't care for the the postmistress herself, and I was pretty happy when she turned out to not to be the main focus of the novel. Particularly, at the beginning of the book she goes to get a certificate to prove her virginity to the man she is interested in dating, an event which seemed completely odd and out of place within the context of the rest of the novel. Iris's inexperience was already clear and having her go and be examined just felt strange and could probably have been edited out without being missed. Also, the novel begins with Frankie beginning to tell the story about a postmistress who didn't deliver a letter yet the reason for this flashforward was never quite clear and didn't really add anything to the story as a whole.

The most significant thing I loved about The Postmistress was Blake's writing, which results in a novel that is not just enjoyable as historical fiction, but adds depth and dimension to the story. I loved the way that she talked about the concept of telling a story, something that Frankie, as a reporter, thinks about a lot. She brings the idea of storytelling alive with such statements as: 

"Some stories don’t get told. Some stories you hold on to. To stand and watch and hold it in your arms was not cowardice. To look straight at the beast and feel its breath on your flanks and not to turn—one could carry the world that way."

Blake sweeps the reader into her world, and I particularly loved the portions of the novel that focused on Frankie, a character with plenty of passion and confusion in her heart. The storyline which dealt with reporting during a war reminded me slightly of The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli, which also featured a strong independent woman at the core of a war-torn country. Like Soli, Blake manages to vividly capture the feeling of war and my favourite parts of the book were those which took place in underground bomb-shelters or after a bombing. It was in those moments that Blake truly captivates the reader.

The Postmistress is a beautifully written book. The problem with it is either that it takes on too much or at the very least, too much of what it covers failed to entrance me in the same way that the scenes which had to do with the war did. Even those portions loosely connected to the war- Emma coping while her husband is away, Frankie dealing with her experiences after she returns to the United States- had a power to them that I found lacking when the focus was more ordinary. Ultimately, I loved the language of The Postmistress even if I didn't always love what it was saying.

Release Date: February 9th 2010
Pages: 371
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This review was a part of TLC Book Tours. Click here to read what other tour hosts thought. For the purpose of this review I was provided with a copy of the book which did not require a positive review. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

"He threw his burning cigarette onto our clean living room floor and ground it into the wood with his boot.
We were about to become cigarettes."

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys takes a piece of forgotten history and brings it to life with the story of fifteen-year-old Lina, living in Lithuania in 1941. Lina has always taken her happy, normal, life foregranted. She has a younger brother, a dad who is a university professor, and she enjoys reading and drawing in her spare time. Everything changes when Lina and her family are arrested in the middle of the night and put on a train for Siberia. Separated from her father, she and her family are forced to do harsh labour under cruel conditions and with hardly any food. The only solace Lina has is her art, which she does in secret, creating pictures she hopes will find her father letting him know his family is still alive. As Lina documents what's going on, she can't help but wonder if she will make it through this and if her family's love will be enough to keep them alive.

There have been many incredible young adult books dealing with the Holocaust and what the Jews experienced, but what happened to so many other innocent people under Stalin's regime at the same time is something that has not really been addressed. In Between Shades of Gray Sepetys delves into the murky waters of what humans are capable of, but at the same time offering hope that even in the darkest night something beautiful can bloom. In this case, that something beautiful is Lina herself, but her artwork and the relationship she develops with a young man at the camps.

I don't usually comment on covers unless there is something particularly noteworthy about them, but in this case I think that the simplicity and imagery of the cover of Between Shades of Gray as well as the increasing darkness of the writing are absolutely perfect for the novel. The only flaw I found with the novel is that the ending of the book felt rushed. Granted, there is an epilogue which helps tie up some of the bits and pieces, but it definitely felt like Lina's story was cut off rather abruptly and I wish Sepetys had taken a little more time to wrap things up. 

As a main character, Lina was incredibly written. She is a young girl thrust into unimaginable circumstances, and although she is not without her moments of weakness- in one example she judges a person without knowing their full situation and later realizes she was terribly wrong- she manages to find a power and strength that is far beyond her years. Sepetys takes a situation of unimaginable horror, drawing inspiration from her own family's history, and completely succeeds in her goal "to give a voice to the hundreds of thousands of people who lost their lives during Stalin's cleansing of the Baltic region." Although it is a young adult novel, the book so richly written and the characters so real that it could certainly be enjoyed by adult readers. In Between Shades of Gray Septeys not only tells a forgotten story, but does so with such power that it is unforgettable. 

Release Date: March 22nd, 2011
Pages: 352
Overall: 4.5/5
Source: ARC From Publisher
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The Fifth Servant by Kenneth Wishnia

"The Talmud asks, “Why are scholars compared to a nut?” The answer given is that even though the outside may be dirty and scuffed, the inside is still valuable. But I could think of other reasons for the comparison."

The Fifth Servant by Kenneth Wishnia is a complex historical fiction murder mystery, taking place in 1592 in Prague where Jews take refuge within the gated walls of a ghetto in one of the few places they are actually allowed to live. All that may be forced to change when the body of a young Christian girl with her throat slashed is found in a Jewish shop on the eve of Passover. The shopkeeper and his family are arrested, but more is at stake than just their freedom as the Christians may use this as an excuse to destroy the Jews. With less than three days to find the real killer, Talmudic scholar Benyamin is left to try to solve the crime. 

In The Fifth Servant, Wishnia does a great job of combining the historical with his murder mystery plot line, although I do think the historical aspects work much better than the mystery part, as it is waded down by all the details and more characters than I could easily keep straight. It's also not Wishnia's fault but when everyone goes by Rabbi or Reb I get easily confused trying to recall who has done what and sometimes the novel became too complicated for me. This wasn't helped by constantly throwing in interesting, but often irrelevant, historical facts and philosophical debates. In particular, I think the first 150 pages could have been trimmed down slightly as it took quite awhile to actually get into the story. Once I had settled into the book, I was able to enjoy the story even if it went occasionally off-topic. 

The novel contains a lot of words in other languages, particularly Yiddish and Hebrew, and although there is a small glossary at the back I really think footnotes would have been beneficial in this case. It really interrupts the flow of the book to constantly be flipping around, especially since the glossary isn't even completely at the back at the book but actually precedes a bonus chapter about what happened to one of the characters. One aspect I appreciated about The Fifth Servant was the surprising sense of humour, particularly when it came to jokes about faith and religion between the various Rabbis and other individuals. However when it came to actual character development there were simply too many people in the story for all of them to feel dimensional and many came across as caricatures, for example the prostitute with the heart of gold or the friendly giant with mental disabilities.

The Fifth Servant offers so much to the reader, insight on everything from history to religion, that at times it becomes overwhelming and difficult to follow. I wanted to understand what was going on, but at times the story simply became too complex and with too much random information for it to really be clear in my head. There is a lot about the book that is interesting and well-written, but ultimately Wishnia simply overreaches and the result is that The Fifth Servant is an intelligent but overly confusing novel that is heavy on the historical and light on the actual mystery component.

Release Date: February 1st, 2010
Pages: 400
Overall: 3/5
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This review was a part of TLC Book Tours. Click here to read what other tour hosts thought. For the purpose of this review I was provided with a copy of the book which did not require a positive review. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own.