An often captivating tale of one politician’s experience during the rise of fascism in 1930s Europe.
A historical tale that reimagines European politics between the world wars from the perspective of a new, young Member of Parliament.
Englishwoman Jennie Lee is only 24 years old when she’s elected to Parliament in 1929as a member of the Labour Party, but her age belies her impressive political intellect. She’s fierce in her convictions and unafraid to speak her mind, particularly regarding her socialist political leanings. Yet, with fascism on the rise, Jennie is discomfited by how socialist ideals are being warped to aid tyrannical political parties. When her friend Elizabeth Bowes-Lyons, the Duchess of York, clandestinely reveals documents that tie the British government to Benito Mussolini and men who financially back Adolf Hitler, Jennie realizes that this knowledge gives her the power to change the course of history. Rosenberg, the author of Autumn in Oxford (2016), expertly weaves Jennie’s tenacity in the political sphere with her romantic life over the course of the novel. Her outspokenness and attractiveness lead to many dalliances with colleagues, and the romantic subplots are a welcome addition to the story, alleviating any potential stuffiness from the government-heavy plotline. Jennie’s relationship with Member of Parliament Frank Wise, especially, contributes to the development of her character and highlights more than just her political fervor. Additionally, Rosenberg’s prose is expressively descriptive and direct, making the story accessible to readers who may not be very familiar with the inner workings of Parliament. Many of Rosenberg’s characters are based on real people, which will be a bonus for fans of political history. The story does run a bit long and has moments in which the action seems slower. On the whole, however, Rosenberg provides a history of the interwar years that’s gripping enough that readers will forgive these trespasses.
An often captivating tale of one politician’s experience during the rise of fascism in 1930s Europe.Pub Date: May 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-78904-458-4
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Top Hat Books
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.
Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II.
In 1995, an elderly unnamed widow is moving into an Oregon nursing home on the urging of her controlling son, Julien, a surgeon. This trajectory is interrupted when she receives an invitation to return to France to attend a ceremony honoring passeurs: people who aided the escape of others during the war. Cut to spring, 1940: Viann has said goodbye to husband Antoine, who's off to hold the Maginot line against invading Germans. She returns to tending her small farm, Le Jardin, in the Loire Valley, teaching at the local school and coping with daughter Sophie’s adolescent rebellion. Soon, that world is upended: The Germans march into Paris and refugees flee south, overrunning Viann’s land. Her long-estranged younger sister, Isabelle, who has been kicked out of multiple convent schools, is sent to Le Jardin by Julien, their father in Paris, a drunken, decidedly unpaternal Great War veteran. As the depredations increase in the occupied zone—food rationing, systematic looting, and the billeting of a German officer, Capt. Beck, at Le Jardin—Isabelle’s outspokenness is a liability. She joins the Resistance, volunteering for dangerous duty: shepherding downed Allied airmen across the Pyrenees to Spain. Code-named the Nightingale, Isabelle will rescue many before she's captured. Meanwhile, Viann’s journey from passive to active resistance is less dramatic but no less wrenching. Hannah vividly demonstrates how the Nazis, through starvation, intimidation and barbarity both casual and calculated, demoralized the French, engineering a community collapse that enabled the deportations and deaths of more than 70,000 Jews. Hannah’s proven storytelling skills are ideally suited to depicting such cataclysmic events, but her tendency to sentimentalize undermines the gravitas of this tale.
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-312-57722-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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