Category: womens fiction

The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan

I thoroughly enjoyed this fictionalized history of the underground library at Bethnal Green tube station in London during WWII. The story follows three women during the early stages of WWII (~1940). Near the beginning of the London Blitz, the German bombs destroyed the large and beautiful Bethnal Green Library, necessitating its relocation underground.

Juliet Lansdown has just taken the role of Assistant Librarian, a role usually reserved for men (who were of course in short supply). Jewish Sofie Baumann has managed to obtain a visa to leave Berlin for London as a household servant — also in short supply and one of the few ways Jews could still get out of Germany and go to the relatively safe shores of England. Katie Upwood, a library assistant, finds out she is pregnant shortly after hearing that her beau is missing in action, presumed dead. Together these women, and the growing community taking to the tube station for nightly shelter, form a support system for the predominantly female cast of The Underground Library.

Jennifer Ryan always gives her characters a happily-ever-after which made it easier for me to read of a harrowing time without too much additional stress which I greatly appreciate. I loved the attention to historically accurate details of the age — the big hotels fixing up their cellars for dancing, the women in internment camps on the Isle of Man teaching each other skills, the treatment of unwed mothers, deserters, efforts at Jewish reunification, and the fact that universities, rather than close, started opening up to women while the men were away — Margaret Thatcher got her 1943 Chemistry degree from Oxford! I also always love Ryan’s characters and the way they work to make the best of whatever situation they find themselves in — usually through some wonderful friendships. All learning to take whatever joy is available to them and cherish it.

Ryan does differentiate where her fiction veers off from fact in the afterward, and she covered (almost) all of the points that I had noticed being off while reading. However, one thing that does slightly irritate me is that in addition to making a woman the heroine of making the library happen, she also makes the male head librarian someone who tries very hard to get in the way of it being a success, except when Juliet flatters him and basically offers to give him all the credit. In fact (according to wikipedia) it was a male librarian and his male assistant who worked hard to get the library moved underground and kept it going! I don’t mind her making the characters female, but I think it’s sad to make the male character a “bad guy” when he wasn’t (I don’t see the need to empower women at the expense of men). It could be that Ryan has more information than I do, but I wasn’t able to to find it.

If the story sounds familiar, that may be because this is the second book to fictionalize this WWII underground library this year. The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson covers the later years of the war and was also very enjoyable. For those interested in the real story, here is a somewhat personal accounting: https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Bethnal-Green-Tube-Disaster/. I’ve embedded a couple of photos in this post.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on March 12th, 2023.

The Museum of Lost Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini

I tend to think of Chiaverini’s “Quilt Books” as generic uplifting women’s fiction, but coming to this latest installment after reading her fantastic WWI historical fiction — Switchboard Soldiers and Canary Girls — I now recognize all of the deeply interesting history embedding in the Quilt books. Specifically history focusing on the often hidden contributions made by women. The plot of this book focuses on the fundraising for an historical building restoration to save it from a (somewhat two dimensional) greedy developer by collecting and curating a set of beautiful old quilts with strong ties to local history. It is the story of the individual quilts and the research process for tracking down and understanding their history that made it so interesting to me. Plenty of individual stories and the unearthing of historical context that made those stories possible. While the plot was fairly predictable, it was pleasant and entertaining, and the historical bits really kept my interest.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on April 30th, 2024.

Canary girls by Jennifer Chiaverini (Historical Fiction)

Writing: 4/5 Characters: 4.5/5 Plot: 5/5

A story about Britain’s World War One “munitionettes” — women who answered the call of duty and worked in round-the-clock shifts to produce the much needed munitions for the war arsenal. The label referred to a specific group of munitionettes who worked with the (very poisonous) trinitrotoluene (TNT) which over a short period of time, turned their skin, bleached their hair (green for brunettes and white for blondes), and brought on plenty of health problems, some fatal. The story follows three women from just before war breaks out until it is over: Lucy, married to a professional footballer (that’s soccer to us) and architect; Helen, daughter of an Oxford professor whose husband runs one of the biggest munitions plants; and April, a girl sent into service at 15, who leaves for a better paying, more meaningful job in munitions once the call for women goes out.

Chiaverini’s last book (Switchboard Soldiers) focused on the female Telephone Operators who managed the switchboards in France during WWI (at a time when every single call was connected manually). She brings the same attention to historical detail to this book managing to cover a panoply of issues from the perspective of multiple women who are driving or affected by them . These include women’s suffrage which was put on hold during the war with promises made for after; women’s football, which took off during the war and was brutally shut down by the men’s league until 1971; the massive propaganda techniques used to make men enlist; the pressure on male footballers to enlist when no such pressure was applied to the more elite leagues (golfers, cricketers, and polo players); the impact on British citizens of German heritage, the many fatal accidents at munitions plants; the hunger resulting from German blockades; the posters for “surplus women” to migrate out of country; and the Swiss Medical Mission prisoner exchange (to name just a few!)

I was in awe of her ability to weave in so much about life for these women in that time period in such a meaningful, genuine, and never heavy handed way. Could not put it down. If you haven’t read Switchboard Soldiers, go back and read that one, too.

Great bibliography!

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on August 8th, 2023.

The House on Prytania by Karen White (Fiction)

This book is completely engaging — a fun, fun read. It’s well-written and full of southern charm, not-always-benevolent departed spirits, quirky but solid characters, with a solid (spirit driven) mystery and threads of romance. Plus it’s set in one of my favorite cities — New Orleans — with plenty of old houses, restoration tales (mostly nightmares), and architectural history. The plot never lets up with kidnappings, hauntings, angry spirits, and whole bunches of stubborn, stubborn, people. So stubborn! Plenty of humor and sass — I particularly like the banter and polar opposite best friends Nola and Jolene who are at the center of the story. Always fun to see the interplay between a woman who dresses in whatever was closer to her on the floor and a woman who won’t leave her bedroom unless she is fully accessorized. Guess which one I identify with!

This is book 2 of White’s new series, a spinoff of her (deservedly popular) Tradd Street series. Nice to have read the others, but not necessary.

The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman (Audio Book)

Writing: 4.5/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot: 4/5

Four years later, Lily is just barely getting her life together and keeping the grief to a simmer after her husband is killed in a car accident mere feet from the family home. But this is honestly not a sad book (although the author does a good job of exploring how Lily does claw her way back up out of the grief trough). Instead it’s uplifting, humorous, and meaningful all at once.

An illustrator for children’s textbooks, Lily is sent off to a gardening class at the L.A. Botanical Garden to become one with the vegetables she will need to illustrate for a brand new client. She takes her two children (5 and 7) and her sister Rachael with her, and to say the class is populated with some wonderful characters is an huge understatement. The book is clever, literary, and linguistic — I love that Waxman is both a fantastic writer and chooses to write a world where bad things happen, but the individuals involved can make good things happen too. Her characters have agency. I also like the way she works with stereotypes and diversity issues — tackling the assumptions people make about each other and the surprise and follow up understanding when their assumptions are challenged. Very skillfully done.

I listened to this on audio book and the reader was fantastic. I probably would have preferred to read it in book form, though, because I like to savor Waxman’s writing and that is hard to do when you’re listening (and driving, hiking, or otherwise too busy to stop and do some kind of audio underlining). I did manage to capture a couple of lines though: “Just turn the handbag of your soul inside out, and shake it“ and “She has people skills like lions have gazelle skills.” As a bonus, there was a lot of actively good gardening instructions, given in small, digestible, pockets. Take note!

Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan (Women’s Fiction)

Another light and uplifting story from Jenny Colgan. Women’s Fiction with humor and wit taking up more space than the actual romance (the romance honestly felt kind of secondary here which was fine with me ). A sequel to The Christmas Bookshop: bookstore manager Carmen Hogan deals with an obnoxious millionaire anxious to turn the lovely street into a tacky Souvenir Row, getting booted out of her sister’s lovely home to make room for a charming, one-armed manny, and her own pining for the love of her life whom she somehow scared off to the wilds of the Brazilian jungle.
Great banter, ridiculous and yet utterly believable plot twists, and characters that are interesting and yet normal at the same time because people actually are interesting if you go just the tiniest bit below the stereotype. Lots of fun to read.

Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on October 10th, 2023

The Bookbinder by Pip Williams (Historical Fiction)

Writing: 4/5 Plot: 4/5 Characters: 5/5

Another book by Pip Williams — author of The Dictionary of Lost Words — about an element of The Oxford University Press (aka Clarendon Press) during the early 1900s. While Dictionary focused on those working to compile the OED, Bookbinder focuses on those working in the physical production of the books.

The eponymous bookbinder is Peggy Jones — a young woman who is working in the “Bindery” — the all-female component of the Press, which focussed on folding and preparing the pages of books. There is an absolutely fascinating 1925 silent video titled “Oxford University Press and the Making of a Book” which really helped me visualize Peggy’s work.

Peggy has been working at the Press with her neurodivergent (my term, not the way it is described in the book) twin sister since the age of 12 (they are now ~22). She has always wanted more — she longs for an education, longs to read and have opinions on the books she is folding — but feels that is impossible for someone of her background. She reads bits as she folds (watch the video — you’ll see how difficult that is), and the canal boat they live in is literally papered with scraps of books that did not meet quality requirements, but certainly meet hers.

The time period covered spans WWI — from 1914 to 1918 — with Peggy’s quest for “more” tied in with opportunities at the Press, the fight for women’s suffrage, and her volunteering with recuperating soldiers and Belgian refugees — all arisising from the upheaval of everyday life. Williams did an excellent job of bringing this time period to life, I was able to feel all the complex emotions of that insane time in a manner that felt very time appropriate.

I found the beginning a little muddy and confusing, but once I got into it, I very much enjoyed the story — particularly the vibrant and believable characters: the twin sister, some of the refugees, the canal community, and various suffragists, librarians, and female students. Every one was drawn deeply and was a person I would want to know. I also loved the details of how the Press was run, women’s colleges (which at the time were not allowed to confer degrees), access to libraries, and classical study. And of course, the ultimately successful effort of a woman from the “wrong side of the tracks” to attain an education and make more of herself.

Two interesting quotes:
“When we bound these books, I thought, they were identical. But I realised they couldn’t stay that way. As soon as someone cracks the spine, a book develops a character all its own. What impresses or concerns one reader is never the same as what impresses or concerns all others. So, each book, once read, will fall open at a different place.”

“The words used to describe us define our value to society and determine our capacity to contribute. They also … tell others how to feel about us, how to judge us.”

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on August 1st, 2023

The Dane of My Existence by Jessica Martin (Chick Lit)

Book two in the Shakespeare drenched Rom Com series from Jessica Martin. While the first book (For the Love of the Bard) focused on one Barnes daughter ( the Barnes family being a kind of First Family of the Bard’s Rest Shakespeare Festival), this book centered on the eldest daughter — Portia — the uber driven, germaphobic, corporate lawyer who does not get the hype about Shakespeare (grumble grumble). Forced into a summer sabbatical prior to a big promotion, Portia gets a real chance for something different when she meets Ben Dane — a genuine good (and smart and gorgeous etc.) guy in the guise of an evil developer who wants to turn the local island / festival outdoor stage into — gasp — condos!

Honesty, ethics, and truth in relationships trump all — great banter and wonderful (completely unrealistic but absolutely fun to read about) characters make this very entertaining and great alternative to reading the daily news. Medium-high on the Steamy Scale. Plenty of fun around the Shakespeare themed town with merchants such as: the Merry Wines of Windsor, The Taming of the Shoe, and Parting is Such Sweet Gelato including the flavor “Et Tu, Brûlée.” I admit it — I would totally book a place for the weekend.

A few fun quotes to give you an idea of her comic and irreverent writing style:

“Selfishly, I rooted against the baby thing. Babies were gross, and I was really bad at faking any enthusiasm for them.”

“Dan’ face twisted into somewhere between ‘accidentally licked a persimmon’ and ‘received undesirable correspondence from the IRS.’”

“Candace is the total package: smart, creative, caring. And in a zombie apocalypse scenario, she’d be the last one standing atop a pile of rotting undead carcasses.”

“I was committing a felony with people who weren’t smart enough to wear non-identifiable gear. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.”

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on July 4th, 2023

A Little Ray of Sunshine by Kristan Higgins (Women’s Fiction)

I don’t read the Women’s Fiction genre as a rule, but I make an exception for Kristen Higgins. I love the way she writes families and best friends. She writes the world I wish I lived in and while not shying away from deep and sometimes painful feelings, always manages to infuse a sense of humor into most scenes.

This particular book is all about adoption — exploring it from every perspective: the adopted child, adopting family, and the birth mother and father. While the main storyline concerns a woman who gave up her baby at 17 and gets a (sudden) chance to meet him 18 years later, several other characters have different adoption experiences which are shared.

Our main character (Harlow, the birth mother) is part owner of a book store on Cape Cod; her gummy imbibing grandfather is losing his marbles in a somehow adorable way (he may be the best character in the book); and both the birth and adoptive families are replete with interesting siblings, cousins, etc. A strong message of (sexual) diversity and acceptance is transmitted via the requisite lesbian couple, transsexual employee, and a pretty hysterical speed dating event with no gender boundaries.

A few parts felt a little repetitive to me (but then we do tend to let our brains perseverate over issues important and / or painful to ourselves) but overall enjoyed as much as usual with Higgins’ books.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on June 6th, 2023

Summer’s Gift by Jennifer Ryan (Romance)

Funny story. I selected this book to read and review because I thought it was written by a different Jennifer Ryan — the one who specializes in WWII Home Front stories that I love. Who knew there were two? I figured out my mistake about 20% in. This book is a Romance novel — full of physically beautiful, successful and wealthy people — not a bomb or make-do attitude in sight.

Still — although Romance is definitely not my genre — I kept reading. While there was literally nothing realistic about the characters, I found them likable (despite all their money and good luck, they were pretty grounded and decent) and felt quite happy when things worked out (that’s not a spoiler — all Romance novels work out — that’s the point! )

The writing was fine, I liked the characters, and while parts of it got a bit repetitive, I appreciated the strong messages about responsibility, good communication, and being kind without allowing yourself to become a piece of marshmallow fluff that people can trod on with impunity.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on June 20th, 2023