Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE DRESSMAKER’S SECRET by Michelle Vernal on this Bookouture Books-On-Tour blog post.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
1962. Even as she gazes at the silk bridal dresses in the window, the little girl’s eyes fill with tears. She has dreamed about gowns just like that. But now, lost and alone, she only wants to be held. Just a moment ago, she was in the arms of her mother. Now her only hope lies in Brides of Bold Street, where past and present blur… Sabrina Flooks was lost as a little girl, then raised and trained by talented dressmaker Evelyn. The historic bridal shop on Bold Street is all Sabrina has ever known.
Since the kind shop owner took her in, Sabrina has followed in Evelyn’s footsteps, stitching and bejewelling gorgeous wedding dresses. She’s buried herself in the rich fabrics, closing off her heart rather than face the pain of what happened all those years ago…
Until the sparks that fly between her and handsome Adam Taylor take her completely by surprise. His quiet charm and kind smile encourage her to let her guard down. Just a little.
As love truly begins to bloom, the only way she can overcome the fear of being abandoned again and learn to feel safe in Adam’s warm embrace, is if she finally finds the truth about her identity and her past. And the way to unravelling it all may be closer than she ever thought possible…
Because the rails full of petticoats, veils and skirts hide a secret. One that could have her walking a path through the past.
Could the journey through history give her everything she ever dreamt of? And even if she uncovers the truth, will she make it back to Adam in the present day or will it take Sabrina away from everything she holds dear?
THE DRESSMAKER’S SECRET (Brides of Bold Street Book #1) by Michelle Vernal is a moving historical fiction/time travel romance with a wonderful young female protagonist who discovers her ability to time slip but does not know how to control it or why she has the ability. This is the first book in a new series, and I cannot wait to get into the next.
Sabrina Flooks was lost at the age of three while on a walk with her mother in 1962. She was found, raised and then trained by the talented bridal gown maker who she calls her aunt, Evelyn Flooks. She has a home she loves with her aunt above their bridal shop, but she still has a longing for the truth about her mother and her past.
When Sabrina catches the eye of the handsome Adam Taylor, she wants to let her guard down and open her heart, but not until she knows the truth of her past can she overcome her fear of abandonment.
I loved all the characters and timelines in this story and how they all circled around each other. Ms. Vernal clearly wrote different historical periods folding into each other during the overall story and I never felt lost or confused. The mechanism of Sabrina’s time slipping does not appear to be in her control but does appear to only allow her to return to her time in 1981 with her successfully helping of a couple in 1928 find their HEA. While the historical romance plotline is resolved, Sabrina’s plotline search for her past is not and will continue. Just as in her Little Irish Village series, Ms. Vernal masterfully pulled me into the protagonist’s world and set me on an emotional roller coaster throughout this beautifully written story.
I highly recommend this delightful and heart-warming historical fiction/time travel romance!
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About the Author
Michelle Vernal is a New Zealand author who writes stories that will take you onto the page with her characters and make you feel part of their lives. She writes with humour and warmth, and her readers describe her books as unputdownable, feel good and funny. Her writing has been likened to Maeve Binchy but with a modern-day vernacular. In 2015 she was shortlisted for the Love Stories Award. In 2020 she won the Reader’s Favorite Gold Medal Award for Chick lit, and in 2021 was shortlisted for the Page Turner Book Awards.
The Dowager Countess of Stratton, Clarissa Ware, née Greenfield, has just presented her younger daughter to the ton, and the rest of her life belongs only to herself. She returns to Ravenswood, intending to spend the summer alone there. But the summer has other plans for her.
Born a gentleman, Matthew Taylor has chosen to spend his life as the village carpenter. Growing up, he and Clarissa were close—dangerously so, considering his family’s modest fortune. As a young man, he never would have been a suitable match for the daughter of the wealthy Greenfields. Clarissa married Caleb Ware, the Earl of Stratton, so Matthew married another, though he was widowed soon after.
Now everything is different—Clarissa has already lived the life expected of her by society. And Matthew is as attractive and intriguing as he was when they were young. As their summer friendship deepens into romance, they stand together on the precipice of change—essentially the same man and woman they remember being back then, but with renewed passion and the potential to take their lives in an entirely new direction.
REMEMBER WHEN: Clarissa’s Story (A Ravenswood Novel Book #4) by Mary Balogh is a historical, mature, second chance at love story in this continuing Regency romance series featuring the Ware family. This novel is easily read as a standalone romance, but I have enjoyed reading the series in order.
Clarissa Ware, the Dowager Countess of Stratton, returns to Ravenswood for the summer for the first time without any of her children or other obligations. She is turning fifty and feels adrift in her personal life. Six years a widow, all her children grown, and her daughter-in-law assuming all the duties of being the Countess of Stratton, she wishes for solitude to decide on her future, but fate intercedes.
Matthew Taylor was born a gentleman and second son of landowners but is spending his life as the village carpenter and master woodworker. As a young man, he was a neighbor of Clarissa’s family and they were the closest of friends from childhood to seventeen years of age, but he knew he would never be suitable for her, and she accepted the proposal of the Earl of Stratton.
When Clarissa seeks out her old friend, they discover the attraction is still there. Clarissa has always upheld all expectations from society and her family. Can their renewed friendship and mature attraction overcome society’s restraints and family concerns and turn into something more?
I always look forward to returning to the Ware family of Ravenswood. This mature romance did not disappoint, and I was very happy that Clarissa finally found herself, not just what was expected of her. This is a slow burn romance due to the time period, society’s rules, and the side plot which has Matthew having to resolve his own old family issues to move on. That said, there is also a bit too much repetition especially in the beginning of the story, but I feel the romance and HEA are satisfying overall. I am looking forward to reading more of the remaining unattached siblings’ stories in the future.
An enjoyable historical, mature, second chance romance addition to this series.
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About the Author
Mary Balogh grew up in Wales and now lives with her husband, Robert, in Saskatchewan, Canada. She has written more than one hundred historical novels and novellas, more than forty of which have been New York Times bestsellers. They include the Bedwyn saga, the Simply quartet, the Huxtable quintet, the seven-part Survivors’ Club series, and the Westcott series.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for ALWAYS REMEMBER (Ravenswood Book #3) by Mary Balogh on this Berkley Blog Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Left unable to walk by a childhood illness, Lady Jennifer, sister of the Duke of Wilby, has grown up to make a happy place for herself in society. Outgoing and cheerful, she has many friends and enjoys the pleasures of high society—even if she cannot dance at balls or stroll in Hyde Park. She is blessed with a large, loving, and protective family. But she secretly dreams of marriage and children, and of walking—and dancing.
When Ben Ellis comes across Lady Jennifer as she struggles to walk with the aid of primitive crutches, he instantly understands her yearning. He is a fixer. It is often said of him that he never saw a practical problem he did not have to solve. He wants to help her discover independence and motion—driving a carriage, swimming, even walking a different way. But he must be careful. He is the bastard son of the late Earl of Stratton. Though he was raised with the earl’s family, he knows he does not really belong in the world of the ton.
Jennifer is shocked—and intrigued—by Ben’s ideas, and both families are alarmed by the growing friendship and perhaps more that they sense developing between the two. A duke’s sister certainly cannot marry the bastard son of an earl. Except sometimes, love can find a way.
ALWAYS REMEMBER (A Ravenswood Novel Book #3) by Mary Balogh is a beautiful heartwarming historical romance featuring Ben’s story. This is the third romance in the series and while I really enjoyed the first two, this one was special. This series consists of complete HEAs in each book, but I feel they are best read in order because there is a continuously evolving family story.
Ben Ellis and his daughter, Joy, have returned to Ravenswood for the summer fete and to decide what he will do about a very personal situation. Ben accidentally observes Lady Jennifer Arden, who he believed only moved about in her wheeled chair attempting to take a few steps on crutches. Ben always needs to fix problems and sets about finding better and easier ways for Lady Jennifer to have more independence of movement.
Lady Jennifer is shocked and yet intrigued by Ben’s ideas. The two soon have a growing friendship and discuss personal intimacies and fears they share with no one else. Both families are alarmed by the growing friendship even though Jennifer and Ben are adults because they cannot see a happy ending with a duke’s sister marrying the bastard son of an earl. Can friendship grow into a love that can overcome societal barriers?
I love Ben, Jennifer, and Joy! Ben was such a fine man and brother that all the Wares relied on and yet also unknowingly treated differently. He always felt incomplete because of his lack of maternal family knowledge. Jennifer was the coddled invalid who always had a smile on her face but longed for more. Ben helped free her from her self-imposed cage and made her dream again. Joy was always just a bundle of joy. Put the three of them together and it is a wonderful story of hope and romance. There is one sex scene close to the end which is romantic and not explicit. It is great to catch up with the rest of the Ware family and all the new relatives, children, and friends from the previous books, also. This romance pulled all my emotional heartstrings and is my favorite of this series to date.
I highly recommend this uplifting and emotional Regency historical romance!
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Excerpt
“I beg your pardon if you have found my daughter’s behavior offensive,” he said. “I have tried to explain to her that your chair is not a novelty vehicle invented to give rides to a child. But . . . Well, she is three years old and—”
She surprised him by laughing and holding up a staying hand. “Mr. Ellis,” she said. “I have two nephews and a niece in addition to Luc’s babies—my sister’s children. Each of them in turn had to have rides on my chariot when they were infants. Sometimes I had more than one of them at a time on my lap. Once, I can re- member, all three of them climbed aboard until my brother-in-law took pity on me. But I was never offended. Quite the contrary, in fact. It feels good to be a favored aunt when I cannot actually romp with the children. I have been charmed by your daughter’s requests for a ride. She is as light as a feather on my lap, you know, and sits very still. She has the prettiest curls. Please do not forbid her to ask again.”
“It is kind of you to call her demands requests,” he said. “She inherited the curls from her mother, who always hid her own in a ruthlessly tight bun.”
“That must have been a shame,” she said.
“It made practical good sense,” he told her. “She needed to keep it out of her face. The weather was often very hot in the Peninsula, and she was a washerwoman.”
There was a brief, startled silence. Or so it seemed to Ben. She was too well-bred to show it openly.
“She went to war with her first husband,” he told her. “He was a private soldier with the foot regiment in which Devlin was an of- ficer. The wives of the enlisted men had to compete in a lottery to
be permitted to go, but those who won a place were expected to make themselves useful. There was always a great need for washer- women.”
“You were her second husband, then?” she said.
“Third,” he said. “The other two died in battle. It was a common thing during the wars. Most of the women stayed with the army once they were there, and many married multiple times. Mar- jorie died when the regiment was fighting and slogging its way over the Pyrenees into France with the rest of the army. The conditions in the mountains were appalling and the weather was brutal. Win- ter was coming on. She was tough but not tough enough after she took a chill.”
Why the devil was he telling her all this? They were not the sorts of things one told a lady. He had not talked much of his years in the Peninsula even with his own family, and he was sure Devlin had not either. Or Nicholas. Was there a sort of defiance in his telling, as though he were thumbing his nose at any preconceived ideas she might have of him? As though he were telling her he was not ashamed of who he was or whom he had married? It had never occurred to him to be ashamed. It had never occurred to him either that he might be carrying a grudge against the world or some part of it. It was not a pleasant thought that perhaps he was. He ought to be making light conversation about the roses and the sunshine. How had this started anyway? With her comment on Joy’s curly hair?
“I am sorry about that,” she said. “Did she leave a family behind in England?”
“None,” he said—and his thoughts touched by natural association upon the letter in his pocket. “She never knew either of her parents or anything about them. She grew up in an orphanage in London. She married a fellow orphan when she was about sixteen.”
“I believe, Mr. Ellis,” she said, “she must have been very fortunate to meet you after being widowed for the second time. You did not put her child in an orphanage.”
He gazed at her in some shock. “She is my child too,” he said. “She is ours. She was the joy of our lives.”
“Joy,” she said, and smiled. “How lovely. You chose the name quite deliberately.”
And that was it for that topic. Unsurprisingly, he was not feeling any more comfortable with her despite the beauty of their surroundings and the normally soothing sound of the water gushing from the fountain and the heady summer scent of the roses. Perhaps the only thing to do was confront his discomfort head-on.
“Do you walk every day?” he asked her.
“I try,” she said. “I made the resolution soon after the passing of my grandparents earlier this year that I would make the effort, that I would boost my energy and spirits by doing something each day to make myself stronger and more healthy. More active. More . . . cheerful.”
She was always cheerful. It was something he had noticed about her when he met her last year—though there had been the exception of the days following the death of her grandparents this year, of course. He had noticed her cheerfulness again after her arrival here with her aunt. She almost always spoke with smiling animation. Her eyes frequently sparkled. She gave the impression of perpetual happiness. But it had occurred to him more than once that surely no one could be that cheerful all the time. She least of all. The dreadful and crippling illness she had suffered early in her life continued to affect her. She was more or less confined to a chair. She was unmarried, probably as a result of that fact. He estimated that she must be in her early to mid-twenties. He believed she spent
most of her life at a country home with only her aunt for company. She might have legions of friends in the neighborhood, of course. Lady Catherine Emmett was certainly a sociable woman and was always cheerful herself. Yet . . .
Well, he had found himself wondering if Lady Jennifer Arden’s habitual brightness of manner was something of a mask behind which the real person hid. It was none of his business, of course. Besides, did not all people wear masks to varying degrees? Were there any people who opened themselves up fully to the scrutiny of the whole wide world without keeping at least bits of themselves hidden safely away inside?
Mary Balogh has written more than one hundred historical novels and novellas, more than forty of which have been New York Times bestsellers. They include the Bedwyn saga, the Simply quartet, the Huxtable quintet, the seven-part Survivors’ Club series, and the Westcott series.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for BLACK FOX ONE (Project 613 Series Book #3) by Elyse Hoffman on this Black Coffee Book Tour.
Below you will find a book summary, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Summary
Jonas Amsel and Avalina Keller, devoted Nazis and best friends, have a bright future in Hitler’s Third Reich. Ava, a talented gymnast, wants to serve Germany in the Olympics, and Jonas, who has loved Ava since they were children, wants nothing more than to marry her and start a family. When he is about to propose, however, Ava and her entire family vanish without a trace.
Jonas blames the Jews for Ava’s disappearance and throws himself into a career in the Nazi Party. He serves the Reich under the ruthless Chief of the Gestapo, Reinhard Heydrich. Jonas becomes particularly good at capturing members of the Black Foxes, an anti-Nazi resistance group, earning Heydrich’s respect and the moniker of “the Fox Hunter.”
Impressed by Jonas’ skills, Heydrich gives him his most difficult task yet: capture the elusive Black Fox One, the Black Foxes’ most deadly and mysterious operative. No Nazi who has pursued Black Fox One has returned alive, but Jonas is determined and confident. Capturing Black Fox One might bring him one step closer to finding Ava.
But while he is hunting Black Fox One, Jonas makes a shocking discovery, forcing him to make an agonizing decision. He must choose between his love for the Reich and his heart, torn between the lies he has been taught all his life and the new truth before him.
Black Fox One is a thrilling World War II story of lost love, bravery, and the hard road to redemption.
BLACK FOX ONE (Project 613 Series Book #3) by Elyse Hoffman is a historical fiction/romance in the Project 613 series which features diverse stories of intrigue, love, and redemption during WWII. This story features a romance between childhood best friends to lovers with several life altering twists of fate. I feel these books are best read in order due to carry over characters and underlying themes.
Jonas Amsel and Avalina “Ava” Keller have grown up from childhood best friends to lovers in a changing Germany. Hitler is in power, and both believe in his vision. As they become young adults, Ava is set to represent her country in the Olympics as a gymnast and Jonas is going to follow his father into the ranks of the SS. When Ava returns, Jonas is ready to propose and start a family with the love of his life, but when he goes to Ava’s house, her entire family has disappeared.
Jonas throws himself into his SS career and becomes “The Fox Hunter” who is dedicated to capturing all the Black Foxes, who are members of a resistance group. He is especially determined to capture Black Fox One who is the most mysterious and deadly of their group. When he comes face to face with Black Fox One, he must make agonizing decisions.
This is a unique WWII historical romance. Both protagonists, Jonas and Ava, go through life altering events and emotional upheaval throughout their lives that kept me turning the pages. Their choices and decisions are the powerful pivotal points of the story. I also found the author’s depiction of the SS officers’ choices they made regarding their families and their loyalty to the Party throughout this series disturbing. This entire series has been fascinating so far due to the author’s character depictions and their moral choices.
I highly recommend this unique historical fiction/romance and I am anxiously waiting for the next book in this series.
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About the Author
Elyse Hoffman is an award-winning author who strives to tell historical tales with new twists. She loves to meld WWII and Jewish history with fantasy, folklore, and the paranormal. She has written six works of Holocaust historical fiction: the five books of The Barracks of the Holocaust and The Book of Uriel.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for AN UNSUITABLE HEIRESS by Jane Dunn on this Austen Prose Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Following the death of her mother, Corinna Ormesby has lived a quiet life in the countryside with her cantankerous Cousin Agnes. Her father’s identity has been a tantalizing mystery, but now at nineteen Corinna knows that finding him may be her only way to avoid marriage to the odious Mr. Beech.
Deciding to head to London, Corinna dons a male disguise. Travelling alone as a young woman risks scandal and danger, but when, masquerading as a youth, she is befriended by three dashing blades, handsome and capable Alick Wolfe, dandy Ferdinand Shilton and the incorrigible Lord Purfoy, Corinna now has access to the male-only world of Regency England. And when she meets Alick’s turbulent brother Darius, a betrayal of trust leads to deadly combat which only one of the brothers may survive.
From gambling in gentleman’s clubs to meeting the courtesans of Covent Garden, Corinna’s country naivety soon falls away. But when she finds her father at last, learns the truth about her parentage and discovers her fortunes transformed, she must quickly decide how to reveal her true identity, while hoping that one young man in particular can see her for the beauty and Lady she really is.
AN UNSUITABLE HEIRESS by Jane Dunn is an entertaining Regency historical romance/historical fiction with an adventuress young woman who dresses in men’s clothing and travels to London to find the father she never knew and pursue her dream of being a professional painter. This is an easy and fun to read standalone Regency story with enchanting characters.
Corrina “Cory” Ormesby has always known she is an illegitimate child. Since her mother’s death she has spent the last seven years with a cousin in the country. Her cousin is no longer willing to support her and rather than being forced into an unwanted marriage, she dresses in men’s clothes and travels with her pet poodle to London in search of the father she knows nothing about but does have the yearly gifts he sent on her birthdays until her mother’s death.
When she tries to stop the abuse of a horse at a carriage stop, she is knocked down and a trio of young blades come to her aid and befriend her. They assist her in solving the unknown identity of her father, learn her true gender, and then they all must learn to navigate the difference in circumstances for the sexes in Regency London.
I really liked Corrina and her bravery as she sets out on her journey and her determination to live the life she wants without losing her innate kindness to people and animals and her sense of adventure. The author’s research is evident in the description of norms, clothing, and language. All her gentlemen friends are realistic representatives of this period. This story has a mix of romance, a search for personal independence, friendship, adventure, and cute pets. It also demonstrates a balance between light and fun predictability vs. societal norms and strictures.
I recommend curling up in your favorite reading chair with a cuppa and letting this story take you on an enjoyable journey to Regency London.
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Author Bio
Jane Dunn is an historian and biographer and the author of seven acclaimed biographies, including Daphne du Maurier and her Sisters, and the Sunday Times and NYT bestseller, Elizabeth & Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens. She comes to Boldwood with her first fiction outing – a trilogy of novels set in the Regency period, the first of which, The Marriage Season, is to be published in January 2023. She lives in Berkshire with her husband, the linguist Nicholas Ostler.
“The Hanni Winter series “by Catherine Hokin has four books, in order they are The Commandant’s Daughter,The Pilot’s Girl,The Girl In The Photo, and Her Last Promise. The first two books have a dual plot line. The interesting premise involves serial killers as well as a reckoning of what happened in Nazi Germany. The time period is in the late 1940s. The third and fourth books center on the characters’ lives, how they were affected by living through the horrors of the Nazis, and can they move forward. The timeline is in the 1950s to 1960s.
Hanni Winter, the heroine, who is the daughter of the Concentration Camp Theresienstadt’s commandant wants to show the world his wickedness. She feels guilty because she enjoyed the benefits of the Nazi lifestyle. Freddy Schlussel is the Jewish German detective who falls for Hanni but does not realize her real background. Renny is Freddy’s sister who was reunited with him after the war and has the attitude ‘Never Again.’ Leo is the son of Hanni and Freddy who makes readers think a lot about the German morals or lack of. Reineris Hanni’s father, someone who is pure evil, trying to bring back The Third Reich.
All these books will leave a lasting impression as readers become totally absorbed with the characters. These stories will pull at people’s heartstrings and have them take a journey with the characters as they gain courage, achieve redemption, and show the fortitude of the human spirit.
Be aware that these books have only an English publisher, but people can get them in an e-book format or paperback through Amazon.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: The idea for the series?
Cathy Hokin: It is a four-book series. We first meet Hanni in the first book, at the age of ten in 1933 and by the end of the last book she is about 39. The overriding arc has Hanni trying to fulfill the promise she made to herself to bring her father to justice using her photography skills. The idea for the series started because I am interested in photography. I consider myself good, but my father was brilliant. My brother is a professional photographer. Sometimes they don’t seem to realize about the dangers. I wanted to start off with a young photographer, Hanni, in Nazi Germany and then see her development. This last book is set during the Cold War.
EC: The role of photography?
CH: Hanni feels she uses it to tell a story. She grows up in a Nazi household. I have always been fascinated by war photographers and how they walk forward into danger. They have a different way of framing the world. While I am all about words, they are all about pictures. I put in this book quote, “With her heart and feelings and eyes she took pictures of the real Germany.” I wanted the idea of Hanni using the camera to show what it is really like underneath the photograph because the Nazis used photos to manipulate things.
EC: How would you describe Hanni?
CH: Curious, comes from a broken family, very loyal, and guilt ridden. She feels huge guilt because she thinks she did not do enough to stop the Nazis. Her father taunts her with this in the first book, telling her she never published her pictures or joined the resistance.
EC: Is Hanni a complex character?
CH: She has a massive guilt for being a part of the silence, for being complicit. Yet, when offered a scholarship to photography college by Joseph Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda, she took it. She is not just black and white. Metaphorically she shut the windows and did not shout. She did do an inner search and decided to rectify. She does have a strong sense of justice. She is incredibly naïve about what was being done at the Theresienstadt Camp by her father. She goes on this big learning curve.
EC: How has Hanni grown from book one to book four?
CH: She acquired forgiveness. Hanni had to come to terms that she must take responsibility for what happened in her life. She went along with the Nazi lifestyle. She eventually realizes she had complicity in what happened. Both she and Freddy, the hero, had to learn to be kind. By book four she gained a lot of strength.
EC: Why the murders in the first two books?
CH: In the first book, The Commandant’s Daughter, Freddy meets Hanni at the site of a crime because she is photographing it. This was a way for them to meet. Hanni was a photographer and Freddy was a German detective. As with all photographers Hanni was detailed, obsessed, and can ‘home in on something’ and take a bunch of photographs from different angles. She saw things with an eye Freddy did not see. The book is set between 1945 – 1947. Book 1 and Book 2 are about serial killers.
EC: How would you describe her father Reiner?
CH: A dreadfully horrible individual, a complete narcissist. Pure evil, ruthless, vengeful, and likes to bait and humiliate Hanni. He does not have a moral compass. In book 1, 2, and 3 she tries to bring him down but fails. He ruins her life in book 3. It becomes Hanni versus Reiner but she does not have the skills or contacts to bring him down. He always ends up hurting everyone around her who tries to help her.
EC: Do you want your readers to question how much could an individual have done to stop what was going on?
CH: She should have done more. I did admire the people who did try to do something. In Germany post 1945 no one wants to speak about the war. In the 1940s and 1950s there was no dialogue about what happened. The reason I set the last book in the 1960s is because the Eichmann trial changed everything. This spurred Hanni to do something against her father.
EC: The moral dilemma of the characters?
CH: In book 1, Freddy was a detective yet had to stop a serial killer from murdering Nazi officers. I deliberately wanted the first case of Freddy to be challenged. He had to figure out if he wanted the killer to be caught or to allow the murderer to rid the world of more Nazis. He faced the dilemma of what his job demanded of him and what his conscience demanded. Hanni had to come to grips on what she did during the war and tell Freddy. She did feel guilty all the time but had to realize there is a difference between guilt and responsibility, owning up to what she did. Even the serial killer in the first book had a moral dimension, thinking he did the correct thing by getting rid of people he thought let the army down. Tony, the serial killer in the second book, grieved in a twisted way. All these characters think they are doing the right thing in their strange universe.
EC: But Hanni did try to do the right thing?
CH: In the Concentration Camp Theresienstadt she did take photographs to document what was really happening and show the world. She very much wanted to stand witness, but it took her a long time to get the courage to do it. Her father, a Nazi commandant, is pure evil, and taunted her by saying she did nothing with the photographs for a long time and never joined the resistance. There was a gap between what she wanted to do and the action to do it. She had to get that strength of character.
EC: Leo, Hanni’s child, asked all the correct questions in the book 4?
CH: The book quote by Leo, “Because you say all those things, but I do not know if they are true. Everyone repeats the same number all the time. Six Million Jews were murdered in the war. But then they say nobody in Germany knew what was happening. How can that be right. It does not make sense. Why didn’t somebody stop them? Why didn’t he (Reiner) go to jail at the end of the war? Why aren’t the jails bursting with killers?”
EC: How would you describe Freddy’s sister, Renny, in the books?
CH: She is angry, lonely, and fearful. She becomes a Zionist. The third book is all about her. She was a confused and horrified little girl, yet she recovered. She never trusted those in Germany after the war. Israel became Navana for many. She is the opposite of Freddy who puts his head down and ignores a lot, even after the war. He wants to build a future and not be stuck on the past. She feels it means nothing has changed. She knows how bad it is and wants to fight. She ends up being able to overcome her anger and project it for good. She was a counterpoint to Freddy. He was culturally Jewish but not religiously Jewish. Renny says “I don’t want to live in a pact suitcase anymore.” It was a common feeling for those Jews still in Germany among her age group, that Germany can never be safe. She wanted to move to Israel and did not consider herself German like Freddy did. Even today the right wing is getting stronger in Germany.
EC: What about the relationship between Hanni and Freddy?
CH: She has lied to him and until book four does not come clean with Freddy. This is what ruptures them. He had a lack of trust. There are layers that prevent them from getting together, which they need to overcome. They need to work out their problems. When they first got together, they were not ready for each other. Both had to mature and realize the relationship was worth holding on to. Originally the series was to finish in 1953 ten years earlier than it originally does. But that timeline did not work because they were not mature enough to forgive each other for all the mistakes. In their early twenties they had a very black and white view of the world whereas in the fourth book, in their forties they made the transition.
EC: Next book?
CH: It will be out in January 2024, a stand-alone. It is set in WWII Germany in the early 1970s and 1980s in America. I had three events taking place, partly in America during the 1970s and partly in Nazi Germany. I explore the Office of Special Investigations that was established in 1979 to investigate Nazis living in America. I also bring in Operation Paperclip that had Nazis working on the American missile program, and during Nazi Germany the Lebensborn breeding program. The story is set between 1939 and 1980. There will be a lot of story lines. Although it will be published only in England, all my books are available as paperbacks in the States via Amazon, that includes this series and the book coming out in January.
THANK YOU!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
