pickWritten in snippets before and after WW1 we learn of a young mother's need to give her baby to her parents to raise as her brother due to societal expectations. The author's note at the back shed much light on a time frame I rarely read in historical fiction- WW2 is much more common, in my opinion.
pickJust a few years after the end of WWII, pregnant Charlie is sent to Europe to rectify her “situation” but she takes the opportunity to track down her cousin who went missing in Nazi-occupied France. She recruits Londoner Eve to help.
Eve has spent the last few decades trying to recover from her time as a spy during WWI and agrees to help Charlie in the hopes it will lead to her revenge against the man who betrayed her.
“When he thought about Winnie in the voyage across the ocean, his head said, ‘I shouldn‘t.‘ His head said ‘I can‘t.‘ But his heart made up his mind.”
The story could be used in a lesson to help introduce a harder concept, such as war. It could also be interesting to relate the book back to Pooh bear.
pickThis was a mixed bag for me. The literary parts were so interesting, seeing the growth of Tolkien‘s early work and ideas, and the development of his mythology. I was fascinated by the connections the author traced between Tolkien‘s early writing, his life leading up to the war years, and his experiences in the war. But unfortunately, so much of the war part was a slog for me. Maybe I‘d have gotten more out of this ⤵️
pick#readingoceania2024 #solomonislands A bit of a cheat as this is a book that largely takes place in the UK and the WWI trenches in France. However, the reminiscences of an anthropological journey to the Solomon Islands gives the book a broader view of humanity‘s relationship to death. Excellent book.
pickI enjoy historical fiction, particularly when it is more historical and less fiction. I think The Alice Network does an excellent job of portraying these real WWI spy heroes. Enough said.
I finally had time to watch The Gillers. If Anne Michaels writes as beautifully as she speaks, I‘m really going to have to read Held. I also really want to read Prairie Edge and Curiosities. The TBR just keeps getting bigger.
