Skeletons at the Feast: A Novel | 
On sale today for only $2.99 – the eBook of SKELETONS AT THE FEAST, the World War II love story that the Washington Post, the L.A. Times, and the Boston Globe all called “harrowing.” Learn more or order it today wherever you get your eBooks. @Crownpublishing https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/15556/skeletons-at-the-feast-by-chris-b...
It was 15 years ago I published historical fiction for the first time: a love story set on the Eastern Front in the last six months of World War II — and a tale of one fictional German family‘s complicity in the Holocaust. @Crownpublishing
It was 11 years ago today that SKELETONS AT THE FEAST was published. This World War Two love story, inspired by the diary left behind by a great friend‘s grandmother, was my first foray into historical fiction. My research shelf in my library is long. Deepest thanks to @Crownpublishing @PRHLibrary #books #worldwar2 #lovestory
pickI thought I would restrict this to my treadmill time, but I couldn‘t stop listening. At times it felt like the book was happening in real time, and the main characters would never stop walking. (Maybe not a good treadmill accompaniment for that reason!) And you never knew who would be the next to die. So many deaths! But it humanized all sides in that horror that was WWII, while it destroyed any illusion that war is ever glorious. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My new treadmill book. Now that I have a short commute walking will be my only excuse to listen. I‘m hoping that works. 🤞🏻
pickHistorical fiction set in the waning months of WWII. A small group of refugees—the remnants of a family of Prussian aristocrats, the Scottish POW they had been housing as forced labor, and a Jew who escaped from a train bound for Auschwitz and is now posing as a Wehrmacht soldier – flee the approaching Russian army and make their way west towards safety. It‘s loosely based on a true story (the author based it on an elderly neighbor‘s diaries).
“She didn't care so much whether the world would ever forgive her people; but she did hope that someday, somehow, she would be able to forgive herself.” -- Anna Emmerich in SKELETONS AT THE FEAST. The nightmare of #Kristallnacht was 80 years ago today.
pickA slightly different view of the casualties of World War II. While somewhat more subtle, this still hits home in an unsettling sort of way. The story moves along a bit slowly, but it‘s very well written.
pickA bittersweet story that‘s not just about love, this story is so much more..
“I thought we were all going to die.”
You and all the other prisoners?
“No. The Jews. All of us. I tried to keep my hopes up but these last weeks.. it was gone all gone. I thought they were going to exterminate us all.”
The characters felt real as if I were right there w/them experiencing their pain.. touching on all my senses.. just amazing! 👏🏻 5 ☆
#MakeMeReadIt - #6
"I became interested in genocide because it happened so many times. It happened to the Armenians, and after the Armenians, Hitler took action." - Raphael Lemkin, born on this date in 1900, who coined the word "Genocide." Twice I've written about Genocide in my novels. I will again.
Happy Tuesday! Right now the ebook of my WW2 love story, SKELETONS AT THE FEAST, is on sale for $1.99. Did you like THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT or MIDWIVES or THE SANDCASTLE GIRLS? Dive in for less than a cup of coffee. “Harrowing. . .ingenious. . .compelling. . .A tightly woven, moving story for anyone who thinks there‘s nothing left to learn, or feel, about the Second World War." — Los Angeles Times @Crownpublishing #worldwar2 #lovestory
“She didn't care so much whether the world would ever forgive her people; but she did hope that someday, somehow, she would be able to forgive herself.” — from SKELETONS AT THE FEAST, published ten years ago this week. This was my first foray into historical fiction.
I love this author and have had this on my shelf for a year or more. Time for reading this weekend. #24in48
pickThis book brought to life what had happened on the Eastern European front as World War II was ending. Hitler and his followers had encouraged and fueled a deeply rooted and focused hatred that knew no bounds. The refugees and the prisoners pressed on. They alternated feelings of anger, sadness and numbness with strength, grace and glimmers of hope. Such a great read that will stay with me for a long time.
From "Skeletons at the Feast," because it was 72 years ago today that the war in Europe ended: "Yes, the war was all but over, but he could only dimly imagine what sort of world was going to remain when there was nothing left of the Reich to bomb into rubble."
Spotted on Instagram: one of my favorite covers from my foreign editions.
Here is my #funfridayphoto 😃I'm WAY behind on my BOTM books- I'm hoping to change that in 2017. And the books on top are on my kindle & part of the 3 challenges I'm doing. I'm ready for ya 2017📚💚
One image. Five covers. That's efficiency...
