B- Reviews / Book ReviewsEngland / family relationships / Germany / pre-WWII / World War I / World War IINo Comments
A son makes a devastating choice. Franz von Heiden, son of a Nazi official and an English mother, comes to England early in 1938 to visit his English cousins – and to study them. He is both accepted and entertained by Wynne Braithwaite’s family and friends. But the peace and ... more >
B- Reviews / Book Reviews1930s / class-difference / estranged family / family relationships / France / Historical / older heroine and hero / pre-WWII4 Comments
TRIGGER WARNING – One derogatory reference likening someone who is cheap to being like Jews. Set in 1930s France, Margery Sharp’s witty, warm-hearted novel tells the story of a free-spirited mother who is reunited with her very proper daughter after sixteen years, when her daughter asks her to inspect her ... more >
B- Reviews20th century / England / Historical / novelist / pre-WWII / SourceBooks20 Comments
Dear Readers, “Miss Buncle Married” takes up nine months after the close of “Miss Buncle’s Book” with Barbara Buncle now happily married to her publisher Arthur Abbott. They live fairly blissfully in Arthur’s house near London with the only blot on their happiness being the tiresome round of social obligations ... more >
B+ Reviews / Recommended Reads20th century / England / Historical / novelist / pre-WWII / SourceBooks25 Comments
“Barbara Buncle is in a bind. Times are harsh, and Barbara’s bank account has seen better days. Stumped for ideas, Barbara draws inspiration from fellow residents of her quaint English village, writing a revealing novel that features the townsfolk as characters. The smashing bestseller is published under the pseudonym John ... more >
B Reviews / B Reviews Category / Book ReviewsHarlequin / Ida Cook / pre-WWII28 Comments
Dear Readers, Frankly, before I read Ida Cook’s memoirs describing her life before, during and after WWII, I had never heard of her or her alias as Mary Burchell, Harlequin author extraordinaire. It was during the discussion of “Safe Passage” that several of her long time fans chimed in about ... more >
B Reviews / B Reviews Category / Book Reviews20th century / mystery / pre-WWII10 Comments
“Beautiful Copper (it’s a nickname) Randal had come to the exotic Andaman Islands off the coast of India to visit her former school friend but before long she falls under the sultry spell of sun and ocean…and of handsome Nick Tarrent. But undercurrents of violence and betrayal run deep beneath ... more >