The Paris Seamstress. Natasha Lester

Published: Hachette Australia
Date:  27th March 2018
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 448
Genre: Historical/Contemporary Fiction
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Rating:
                          

Parisian seamstress Estella Bissette is forced to flee France as the Germans advance. She is bound for Manhattan with a few francs, one suitcase, her sewing machine and a dream: to have her own atelier.

Australian curator Fabienne Bissette journeys to the annual Met Gala for an exhibition of her beloved grandmother's work - one of the world's leading designers of ready-to-wear. But as Fabienne learns more about her grandmother's past, she uncovers a story of tragedy, heartbreak and secrets - and the sacrifices made for love.

The Paris Seamstress is a dual time line book, that ranges in setting from Paris to New York to Australia. One era is the war years - and the effects on France especially. The other era is one recent and modern. And through the years there is the mystery of family and friendships.  It tracks the endeavours of one woman - Estelle and her love of designing dresses and other clothing. When she finds herself in New York her journey begins.

The story is a huge roller coaster. There are highs and lows, at times it is quite dark and other times filled with hope and courage. It is an emotional read that documents the story of two women linked through family, and the people they are friends with and the people they deeply love.

While Estelle had many set backs, she continued on, at times she made mistakes and yet what a woman. I loved when she realises that a bully can have their 'power' taken from them. She is talented, far-sighted, loyal and loving.

Fabienne is hit with many surprises as she learns the story of her grandmother Estelle  through various revelations. Fabienne too is challenged to live life to the full, to develop her own talents and believe they can take her places. As well she comes to realise the power and passion of love, and can she grab it or let it flow out through her fingers.

If you like a book with women who have  a passion for what they do, you love clothing, enjoy dual time lines and can appreciate a book of highs and lows, secrets slowly revealed - some shocking, then this book is for you.

This is the Australian version of the book. The USA version will be out later in the year (September) and has this cover. Now having read the book I can see how apt it is. Although I love the one above too.

The Song of the Skylark Erica James

Published:Hachette NZ
Date: 8th March
Format: Paperback
Pages: 386
Genre:Blended Historical/Contemporary
Source: Thank you to Hachette NZ
Rating:
              

Lizzie has always had an unfortunate knack of attracting bad luck, but this time she's hit the jackpot. Losing her heart to her boss leads to her losing her job, and with no money in the bank, Lizzie finds herself forced to move back home with her parents. When she reluctantly takes a voluntary job, she meets Mrs Dallimore, a seemingly ordinary elderly woman with an astonishing past . . .

Now in her nineties, Mrs Dallimore is also reluctantly coming to terms with her situation. Old age is finally catching up with her. As she and Lizzie form the bond of unexpected friendship, Mrs Dallimore tells the story of a young girl who left America before the outbreak of World War Two and, in crossing an ocean, found herself embarking on a new life she couldn't have imagined.

As Lizzie listens to Mrs Dallimore, she begins to realise that she's not the only person to attract bad luck, or make mistakes, and maybe things aren't so bad for her after all . . .

I have never read a Erica James book before. Where have I been she has not entered my radar! Well she has hit it now, I loved The Song of the Skylark and I look forward to catching up with some of her other books.

The Song of the Skylark is the story of Lizzie - present day and Clarissa Dallimore - from the 30's and 40's. Lizzie has lost her job due to an unfortunate love affair and she pays for it. At first I didn't really like Lizzie, but as the story went on I came to enjoy her and eventually she found a place in my heart. She has a twin brother Luke and her parents. Luke is married to Ingrid and they have a son Freddie. Family dynamics are in play throughout the book and added to its richness.

Clarissa is the other main character, she is now an old woman that Lizzie meets when she goes to volunteer at a rest home. A friendship springs up and Lizzie eggs Clarissa on to share her story with her. It is a fascinating one and highlights the fact that when you witness an elderly person there is a life's experience behind that elderly face. In Clarissa's case it has been a rich and rewarding one, but one very much filled with heartache as well as happy times.  

The friendship with Clarissa is wonderful for Lizzie and she grows and develops in this volunteer situation, and Clarissa is not above a little match making for Lizzie with Jed the new gardner. 

While the story is narrated mostly from Lizzie's and Clarissa's point of view, there are well placed chapters that gives us a little insight to some of the other members of Lizzie's family.

I was swept away to another country and time in this novel and by the time it finished I was so sad to see my time with these people had come to an end.

Wolfskin Juliet Marillier

Wolfskin
Juliet Marillier
Published: Macmillan Australia
Date: 2002
Format: Large Paperback
Pages: 560
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Source: Own book
Rating:
           

Eyvind can think of no more glorious future than becoming a Wolfskin, a warrior devoted to the service of the mighty war god Thor. His closest friend, Somerled, a strange and lonely boy, has his own very different ambitions - yet a childhood oath, sworn in blood, binds these two in lifelong loyalty. Meanwhile, far away across the water, on the Light Isles, the king's niece Nessa is beginning to learn the ways of the mysteries - though neither the young priestess nor her people can realize what lies ahead for them." "Eyvind and Somerled seem set to follow very different paths: one becoming a fearless servant of the Warfather, the other a scholarly courtier.

Then a voyage of discovery, led by Somerled's brother Ulf, brings the two friends together again in accompanying a group of settlers to some beautiful islands rumoured to lie across the western sea. However, their good spirits are dampened by a tragedy on board, which Eyvind begins to suspect may not have been an accident." Ulf's new settlement begins in harmony with the native islanders, led by King Engus. But one day, on a trip to a holy place of the Folk, a brutal murder occurs and that peace is shattered. It is now that Eyvind begins to feel the restraining ties of his boyhood oath...and to realize what sort of future Somerled had in mind for himself all those years ago.

Wolfskin by Juliet Marillier, my first book read in 2016 and the first time I have ever read a book by this author. I wish to thank Sheree from The Eclectic Reader for suggesting this author to me when I was searching around for New Zealand authors in early 2015. 

What a saga, eventually I was swept up into the magic of storytelling. It took me a little while to be immersed in it, but once I was, I was reading into the night and picking it up as I ate breakfast! 

Eyvind was a character that I just grew to love more and more. His desire in life has been to be a wolfskin, a warrior who is brave, at the forefront of battle. Not surprisingly not expected to see old age either! Eyvind never expected to change from that path, but circumstances decreed otherwise. As Nessa says to him "Things never stay the same, Evyi. People change. Paths change. You cannot know, when you are young, what life will hold for you as a grown man or woman..... It seems to me there is always a choice, there must be.  No blood oath could make me act cruelly, or falsely, or in defiance of natural laws, no matter how solemnly it was sworn".

As Eyvind makes his way in life, always truth, loyalty, friendship and honour guide his heart. But sometimes that is not enough and tough decisions and choices have to be made. Sometimes courage is being at the forefront of the truth, whatever the cost.

Somerled is thrust on Eyvind when they are boys and he takes him under his wing, teaching him what he knows and making a blood oath to be brothers loyal to each other. While Somerled had some extenuating circumstances, it was difficult to like him. I hated how he undermined Evyind's belief in himself in terms of intelligence. I hated him for a lot more, but I don't want to say what, so as not to destroy the story for any reader.

Nessa the priestess in training and niece of the King of the Light Isles was a joy, full of wisdom and courage and love. Hers was eventually a burden of deep sorrow, but as she says there is always a choice. I loved her relationship with the priestess Rona, I loved how she found her way forward.

I loved how the beliefs and views mingled - there is the Christian viewpoint through the viewpoint of the holy man Tadgh, the god of the Norse and the ways and beliefs of the Folk on the island. In many ways they all held values and truths that were similar.

I am reluctant to leave these people. I held my breath, I wondered, I wept, I smiled. It won't be too long before I will be seeking out Foxmask, the second book in this duology.

Along the Infinite Sea. Beatriz Williams

Along the Infinite Sea
Beatriz Williams
Published: Penguin Group Putnam
Date: 3rd November 2015
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 464
Genre: General Fiction
Source: Publisher via NetGalley



The Infinite Sea is a sweeping story of two women that ranges from the late 1930's and into the 1960's. It soon pulled me in to their lives and intrigues.

Annabelle is a young nineteen year old living in France with her father when she is pushed into helping out a Jewish German - Stefan Silverman when he is shot. An attraction springs up. However circumstances happen that sees her being paired with Johann von Kleist, a German Baron working with the German army.

Fast forward to 1966 and we meet up with Pepper Shuyler, she has just sold a 1936 Mercedes roadster to Annabelle Domerich, who once drove in this car to escape Germany in 1938. Pepper needs the $300 000 she sells the car for to help her with the child soon to be born. She believes she can't turn to her parents for help, nor does she want the interference of the married senator who is the father of her baby.  Annabelle who was once in a similar situation to Pepper invites her back to her home at Cocoa Beach.

I really liked both Annabelle and Pepper. Both of them are strong women who deal with the challenges that life throws at them. I loved both their stories and groaned when I was dragged from their story into the others, yet was eager to go there too. I read into the night to find out who did Annabelle eventually live with at Cocoa Beach. I thought I knew and then I didn't, so cleverly done is the story, clues dropped were at times a little misleading, although perfectly correct as well.

The less you know about this book, the more your enjoyment. I didn't read the blurb before and really am very happy I didn't, when I glanced over it after actually reading the book. In it is possibly a clue to how it might have ended up for Annabelle and quite frankly the suspense and mystery surrounding this book is its strength for me. (I am a bit of a back of the book reader, but on a Kindle book while I could do it, the temptation is far less! So happy I didn't look!)

I hadn't read the other two Schuyler sister books previously and I don't think it mattered that much. (I will though!) The danger of the late 1930's for the Jews in Germany, the question of who is Annabelle's husband in the 1960s, the characters themselves and the clever transitioning from one time period to another, Pepper's resilience, Annabelle's compassion and love all combined to make this a book to embrace and enjoy.

Amy Snow by Tracy Rees

Amy Snow
Tracy Rees
Published: Quercus
Date: 9th June 2015
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 534
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Thanks to Hachette NZ

Abandoned on a bank of snow as a baby, Amy is taken to nearby Hatville Court.  But the masters and servants of the grand estate prove cold and unwelcoming. Amy's only friend and ally is the sparkling heiress Aurelia Vennaway. So when Aurelia tragically dies young, Amy is devastated.  But Aurelia leaves Amy one last gift.

A bundle of letters with a coded key.  A treasure hunt that only Amy can follow. A life changing discovering awaits... if only she can unlock the secret.

Amy Snow by Tracy Rees is a debut novel that enthralled me from start to finish.  It is set in England in early Victorian times, and while in one sense it merely covers a matter of months, it also goes back in time, so that we the reader are slowly fed all the details.  This allows the mystery of the story to unfurl.

Aurelia Vennaway when she is a young girl of eight, discovers a baby blue with cold in the snow, yet still alive.  And so begins the life of Amy Snow. Where she came from, who she is nobody seems to know - or at any rate are not prepared to reveal.  Apart from the prologue and epiplogue the story is recounted by Amy.  She grew up in the Vennaway home, cared for by the cook and young gardener, despised by Lady Vennaway and forbidden to be seen anywhere by the family.  Amy's life is cold and lonely.  However Aurelia befriends her and as they both grow they bond and grow in friendship and love.  When Aurelia dies Amy is cast out, a young woman of about seventeen years thrust out into a world she is unprepared for.

Yet Amy is not totally abandoned, even in death Aurelia reaches out to Amy through letters that are to guide her along a journey of self discovery and the revelation of secrets that surprise.  The letters are not straight forward, some of them are like a cryptic crossword that Amy must break the code of so that she can take the next step in the quest.  At times this aggravates her, she almost gives up annoyed with Aurelia, yet she perseveres to the end.

Along the way she meets all kinds of characters, mostly kind and compassionate and a few not so much.  All are colourful and add vitality and interesting detail to the story.  As Amy meets each one, her heart is warmed with what has been so lacking in her life so far, she is also challenged by some of those she meets and learns to stand on her own two feet and speak her mind.  All the while she struggles with who she is, who controls her and what are her own choices along the way.  

I really enjoyed this book, I liked Amy and felt for her in so many ways.  I was delighted with her spirit of loyalty and willingness to go on an adventure that she did not know where it would finally end and how.  I loved how the book underlined certain values that the main characters were insistent about and that they based their choices on.

Tracy Rees has written a well crafted and intriguing mystery, with characters that will long endure in my memory.  A big thumbs up for her first published book - I certainly hope she has another as equally readable in the wings.

Read a little about Tracey Rees and the competition she won with Richard and Judy, which led to this book being chosen and published.

Passing Through Perfect. Bette Lee Crosby

Passing Through Perfect
Bette Lee Crosby
Published: Bent Pine Publishing
Date: January 2015
Format: ebook
Pages: 256
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: from the author

It's 1946. The war is over. Millions of American soldiers are coming home and Benjamin Church is one of them. After four years of being away he thought things in Alabama would have changed, but they haven't. Grinder's Corner is as it's always been--a hardscrabble burp in the road. It's not much, but it's home.

When Benjamin attends a harvest festival in Twin Pines, he catches sight of Delia. Before their first dance ends, he knows for certain she's the one. They fall madly in love: happily, impatiently, imprudently, in love. It doesn't matter that her daddy is staunchly opposed to the thought of his daughter marrying a cotton farmer, never mind a poor one.

It's true Benjamin has little to offer; he's a sharecropper who will spend his whole life sweating and slaving to do little more than put food on the table. But that's how things are in Alabama. Benjamin is better off than most; he has a wife, a boy he adores, and a house that doesn't leak rain. Yes, Benjamin considers himself a lucky man until the fateful night that changes everything.

Passing Through Perfect by Bette Lee Crosby is #3 in the Wyattsville series.  This is the story of Benjamin, his dad Otis, his wife Delia and his son Isaac. It has the warm depth of family weaving through its pages and sadly also discrimination is alive and active.

When the story opens in Alabama Benjamin has just returned from the war, he then works alongside his father to farm the land, a hard and sometimes rewarding work.  When he marries Delia they have a son Isaac.  

Benjamin is a hard worker, he loves his family and they mean everything to him.  Life is full of struggles and challenges but when there is love you can get through.  However Benjamin also experiences loss and it is that experience that catapults him into moving north.  

I loved meeting up with the Klaussners again and Paul and Ruby.  It was wonderful to see them so settled and happy and open to being good friends with Benjamin and Isaac.  I loved their loyalty, thoughtfulness and deep heartedness.  Really they embodied one path people can take in life, in my view the better path as opposed to those who were so bigoted. 

This novel explores the best of family and the thoughtfulness and kindness toward strangers.  It also explores the discrimination that African Americans suffered at that time, and sadly has not yet resolved yet in today's world.  A book like this highlights the need for a change of heart. So where is Perfect? Well read the book and find out. It's a perfect title I do believe.

Featuring Diversity

The Settling Earth. Rebecca Burns

The Settling Earth
Rebecca Burns
Shelly Davies
Published: Odyssey Books
Date: December 2014
Format: ebook
Pages: 128
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: From the author

Marriage transplants Sarah thousands of miles from home; a failed love affair forces Phoebe to make drastic choices in a new environment; a sudden, shocking discovery brings Mrs Ellis to reconsider her life as an emigrant — The Settling Earth is a collection of ten, interlinked stories, focusing on the British settler experience in colonial New Zealand, and the settlers’ attempts to make sense of life in a strange new land.

Sacrifices, conflict, a growing love for the landscape, a recognition of the succour offered by New Zealand to Maori and settler communities — these are themes explored in the book. The final story in the collection, written by Shelly Davies of the Ngātiwai tribe, adds a Maori perspective to the experience of British settlement in their land.

The Settling Earth is a collection of short stories, all linked, vignettes of colonial New Zealand. There are nine stories by Rebecca Burns, the tenth one is by Shelly Davies.

Each story is complete, more or less, in itself.  Yet each story carries a kernel of and a link to the previous story.  It was so interesting to see what would be the link.  It was like a window was opened on a particular event, and then closed.  The following story would do the same.  The first story opens on the Canterbury Plains, other stories move to Christchurch, then on to Onehunga in the North Island and then Auckland.  The final stories bring us back to the homestead on the Canterbury Plains.

A station owner's wife, a station owner, a Maori man, a 'boarding house' girl, a woman who 'cares' for children that are born out of wedlock, a 'boarding house' owner, a mission Bible carrying lady, mothers of children, a ghost, a farm hand and his wife and two step daughters are some of the characters we receive an insight into of what life is like for them in this - to the majority of them - strange new land.

As we see into their lives we are made aware of society and how it operates, its hypocrisy and values. Many have come to New Zealand for a new life and with hope, only to find the reality tough. Women in particular are fragile and vulnerable, often ignorant and too trusting. There is often loneliness and too often pregnancy.  Some women are unscrupulous, in a chilling kind of way.  It seems there are not that many choices open to women.  The 'haves' are contrasted with the 'have nots'.  

The men we mostly see are the ones with the power.  Colonial New Zealand is mostly a man's world. A couple of the men we are introduced too, are weak bullies, abusive, insensitive and overbearing, prejudiced and unlikeable.  Contrasted with them is Haimoana, a maori trader who is an observer of this way of life and his behaviour and beliefs stand out as vastly more preferable.  

The writing is excellent, the stories evocative - opening up a time and place in New Zealand colonial history.  As a New Zealander I could identify with the settings and 'feel' of the stories, it rings with authenticity.  

I would recommend this to any reader who likes historical fiction, or is interested in history.  It would also make excellent reading for book clubs. I have placed a recommendation to my local library that they buy it for the library! You never know!

Rebecca Burns is an award-winning writer of short stories, over thirty of which have been published online or in print. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2011, winner of the Fowey Festival of Words and Music Short Story Competition in 2013 (and runner-up in 2014), and has been profiled as part of the University of Leicester's "Grassroutes Project"-a project that showcases the 50 best transcultural writers in the county.

The Settling Earth is her second collection of short stories. Her debut collection, Catching the Barramundi, was published in 2012 - also by Odyssey Books - and was longlisted for the Edge Hill Award in 2013.
Amazon Link

The Luckiest Lady in London. Sherry Thomas

The Luckiest Lady in London
Sherry Thomas
Published: Headline Eternal
Date: November 2013
Format: Kindle
Pages: 304
Genre: Historical Romance
Source: Own book

Felix Rivendale, the Marquess of Wrenworth, is The Ideal Gentleman, a man all men want to be and all women want to possess. Felix knows very well his golden image is a hoax. But no one else suspects the truth, until Miss Louisa Cantwell comes along.

From their first meeting, Louisa has mistrusted his outward perfection.

Yet even she could not have imagined that The Ideal Gentleman would propose - to make her his mistress. She cannot ignore the pleasure his touch ignites. Nor can she deny the pull Lord Wrenworth exerts upon her. Dare she get any closer to a man full of dark secrets, any one of which could devastate her?

The Luckiest Lady in London is the first in a London Trilogy by Sherry Thomas.  This book was my first read of this author but it will not be my last.  It is set in Victorian England and mainly features Louisa and Felix, any other character is on the periphery of this - their story.

I loved Louisa, a young woman with a conscience, she must find a suitable husband for herself who will be able to care for her and financially help out with her mother and sisters, one of whom has epilepsy. While Louisa feels she must make a good marriage, and sets about with a list of the things she must do, she is not prepared to sacrifice herself and her happiness.  She has a very good sense of herself and throughly enjoyed her own sexuality. She is also very intelligent and loves books.

Felix has had a tough childhood, his mother did not want to marry his father but was forced into it. From that point on she set out to make her husband's and son's lives miserable.  She succeeded, Felix has put a whole personna around himself as The Ideal Gentleman, he is determined never to feel in need or powerless or vulnerable for anyone.

There is a natural attraction between Felix and Louise and before long Felix is present wherever Louisa is during the London season.  He finds a very able, sparring partner in Louisa, she is no retiring, blushing young lady.  She speaks her mind.  When he propositions her with the offer of her becoming his mistress and being financially safe, she has much to say on the very idea of it.  Before long Felix is thinking marriage and surprises Louisa with a proposal.

It is obvious they are going to live happily ever after, but the push/pull tension of their relationship makes the reading of this novel highly entertaining.  Felix finds himself all at sixes and sevens and in a place he never envisioned.  For Louisa when she discovers something that deeply disappoints her and makes her question the integrity of Felix, she knows she is not prepared to be treated as a 'thing' or to see other people treated in that way either.  

Sherry Thomas' writing is impeccable, so much of the dialogue rings with risqué double entrendre. Very hot without being graphic. The characters are delightful and the setting of the large country house beautiful.  I certainly look forward to more writing from this talented author.

The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie. Jennifer Ashley

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie
Jennifer Ashley
Published: Tantor Audio
Date: March 2012
Format:  Audiobook
Length: 9hr 53 min
Narrator: Angela Dawe
Genre: Historical Romance
Source: Own book

It was whispered all through London society that he was a murderer, that he'd spent his youth in an asylum and was not to be trusted - especially with a lady. Any woman caught in his presence was immediately ruined. Yet Beth found herself inexorably drawn to the Scottish lord whose hint of a brogue wrapped around her like silk and whose touch could draw her into a world of ecstasy.

Despite his decadence and intimidating intelligence, she could see he needed help. Her help. Because suddenly the only thing that made sense to her was the madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie.

                                         
I read The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie a few years back and really couldn't see what everyone was so excited about - I think  after reading it I put the book out in the local book fair.  However one day I looked on Goodreads and saw all the readers I follow who rated it very highly, twenty one readers had given it mostly fours and fives.  Sometimes I think if I am tired or have read too many of the same genre, I tend to not give a book its due worth so I decided I would give this book another shot - this time on audio.

Angela Dawe does a very good narration and brings the book to life.  This time around I did appreciate it!  I listen to my audiobooks at normal speed so it gives me time to really attend to the story.

Beth was a very switched on woman, tenacious and courageous.  She has been married before, however her husband died.  Then she was a companion to a wealthy woman who just happened to leave her all her fortune.  So therefore Beth ends up as an independent, competent and outspoken woman. Very few can pull the wool over her eyes.

Ian has had a rather tough upbringing, having been sent to an institution in his youth because he is 'mad'.  There he is treated very badly and he only is able to leave there when his father dies and his brother turns up to set him free.  Ian is gifted with numbers and remembers great chunks of what he reads so he is a valuable asset to his brother.  However Ian is tangled up in a murder or two and a pesky Fellowes inspector is after the Mackenzie family to haul any or all the culprits in. He hates the Mackenzies.  Beth goes in to prove that none of them committed any murder and in doing so gets caught up in the whole sordid story and solves another mystery as well.  Along the way she ends up married to Ian to help them escape Fellowes.

It all untangles and of course has a happy ever after because it is after all a historical romance.  All very satisfying.  There are a number of books that follow and I hope to read at least one more to see how it all pans out further along in this family Mackenzie.