Posted Friday, 17 June, 2016 by jorielov Alter Ego Publishing, Judy Alter, The Gilded Cage 0 Comments
Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! I received a complimentary copy of “The Gilded Cage” direct from the author Judy Alter in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why I wanted to read ‘The Gilded Cage’:
For those of my dear hearted readers who follow me on Twitter, they might have seen me add ‘Ancestry Sleuth’ to my Twitter Profile ahead of June’s arrival. It was a wink and a nod towards the fact that I love researching my ancestral roots, and how ancestry has long-held an appreciation in my family’s living history stories! On this note, the key reason I was keen on reading The Gilded Cage was the fact the entire story is based on the history of Chicago – a city that is quite important to my ancestral past!
So much so, it has sort of rubbed off on me as those who are familiar with Mid-Western dialects and specifically how a Chicagoan talks, I’ve been told my family’s roots in the Windy City has affected how I articulate my words! I am a true blue smorgasbord of my gene pool – as I am predominately of Mid-Western & Northeastern roots, with a fleeting layover in the boroughs of New York! Laughs. Somewhere along the route of all of that, as influences of linguistics out of my European & Scandinavian ancestry fused together, I came to speak without a familiar accent per my region of birth.
I always felt this was a positive thing – as it speaks to how the living histories of my family’s past were a big part of my childhood, and how the pursuit of ancestral research was truly inspired by the work my Mum and grand-father had begun before me! It’s a pursuit I’ve taken up again with Mum, as we chase through the pages of time, seeking out new information and finding the databases are blessedly being updated quite regularly these days!
The past is never fully outside our grasp, but sometimes the ‘stories’ of the past are lost to time itself. This is why finding stories built around certain decades of time help to illuminate a particular setting & timescape into your mind’s eye. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised to learn more about Chicago’s Gilded Age and use what I learnt in Ms Alter’s novel as a my own springboard towards talking more about Chicago with my Mum! I only wish my grandparents could have been here to join in on the conversations!
I was inspired by the premise of the story to host a convo with the author in conjunction with my review on this blog tour. Due to a slight delay in the responses reaching me, I’ve amended my tour participation to include this double-showcase rather than two separate entries on it!
The Gilded Cage
Born to a society and a life of privilege, Bertha Honoré married Potter Palmer, a wealthy entrepreneur who called her Cissy. Neither dreamed the direction the other’s life would take. He built the Palmer House Hotel, still famed today, and become one of the major robber barons of the city, giving generously to causes of which he approved. She put philanthropy into deeds, going into shanty neighborhoods, inviting factory girls to her home, working at Jane Addams’ settlement Hull House, supporting women’s causes.
It was a time of tremendous change and conflict in Chicago as the city struggled to put its swamp-water beginnings behind it and become a leading urban center. A time of the Great Fire of 1871, the Haymarket Riots, and the triumph of the Columbian Exposition. Potter and Cissy handled these events in diverse ways. Fascinating characters people these pages along with Potter and Cissy—Carter Harrison, frequent mayor of the city; Harry Collins, determined to be a loser; Henry Honoré, torn between loyalties to the South and North; Daniel Burnham, architect of the new Chicago—and many others.
The Gilded Cage is a fictional exploration of the lives of these people and of the Gilded Age in Chicago history.
Places to find the book:
Add to LibraryThing
ISBN: 9780996013123
on 18th April, 2016
Pages: 318
Published By: Alter Ego Publishing
Formats Available: Paperback and Ebook
Visit this page on the author’s site for Excerpts of the Novel!
About Judy Alter
Judy Alter is the award winning author of fiction for adults and young adults. Other historical fiction includes Libbie, the story of Elizabeth Bacon (Mrs. George Armstrong) Custer; Jessie, the story of Jessie Benton Frémont and her explorer / miner / entrepreneur / soldier / politician husband; Cherokee Rose, a novel loosely based on the life of the first cowgirl roper to ride in Wild West shows; and Sundance, Butch and Me, the adventures of Etta Place and the Hole in the Wall Gang.
Website | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon | Pinterest
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2016 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Posted Friday, 17 June, 2016 by jorielov in 19th Century, Bertha "Cissie" Palmer, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Chicago, Civil Rights, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, History, Indie Author, Passionate Researcher, Potter Palmer, Reader Submitted Q&A, Social Change, the Gilded Age, Vulgarity in Literature, Women's Fiction, Writing Style & Voice
Posted Monday, 30 May, 2016 by jorielov Loving Eleanor, Persevero Press, Susan Wittig Albert 0 Comments
Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! I received a complimentary used copy of “Loving Eleanor” direct from the author Susan Wittig Albert in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why I wanted to read ‘Loving Eleanor’:
I admit I’ve been charmed by the previous releases on behalf of Ms Albert, especially a nod towards her China Bayles series as I am a tea drinker who loves reading Cosy Mysteries – however, even her Cottage Tales and the Historicals she’s written with her husband have fetched my eye! I even have the first of the China Bayles series – still awaiting me to peruse it’s chapters, as I originally began reading it during a readathon in August of 2013 when I first launched Jorie Loves A Story live to the world – who knew in a few months, I’d be celebrating my third blog birthday so soon after my third blogoversary this past March?
I was especially pleased to see the author moving into the curious branch of writing Biographical Historical Fiction – as this is a particular preference of mine as a reader! I have oft-times mentioned how I seek out these kinds of stories for the fusion of reality, history and a closely personal touch of insight on behalf of the person who lived whose come back to life against the pages! I love soaking into the shoes of living persons, feeling their emotional connection to their lives and watching how things played out for them.
For me, I find I have hours of enjoyment nestled inside a Biographical Historical Fiction novel – one nod of assurance in this regard is how many lovelies I’ve previously found and devoured, whilst finding Ms Albert is writing about the women I most want to know more about! I have appreciated Eleanor Roosevelt since I was a young girl – she was extraordinary due to how she broke tradition and how she lived a life on her terms. I never could quite put my finger on which biography to read first, until I saw this book come into my life! I thought for once, I finally have found the right author who can pen the truer story behind who Eleanor was in her private life!
Thus, it’s quite fitting, this shall be the first novel I’ve read in full by Susan Wittig Albert! I know I will be picking up her mysteries, if my thoughts on behalf of Tea & Crumples are any indication of how I love reading about ‘tea, life and conversations’ – yet, what strikes my fancy moreso than the mysteries themselves, is to find a copy of A Wilder Rose! I grew up on the Little House series, inasmuch as I adored the Little House novels – I think it would be quite champion to read her cleverly written biographical historicals ahead of her mainstay releases!
Loving Eleanor
Subtitle: The intimate friendship of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok
When AP political reporter Lorena Hickok—Hick—is assigned to cover Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, the wife of the 1932 Democratic presidential candidate, the two women become deeply, intimately involved. Their relationship begins with mutual romantic passion, matures through stormy periods of enforced separation and competing interests, and warms into an enduring, encompassing friendship that ends only with both women’s deaths in the 1960s—all of it documented by 3300 letters exchanged over thirty years.
Now, New York Times bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert recreates the fascinating story of Hick and Eleanor, set during the chaotic years of the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Second World War. Loving Eleanor is Hick’s personal story, revealing Eleanor as a complex, contradictory, and entirely human woman who is pulled in many directions by her obligations to her husband and family and her role as the nation’s First Lady, as well as by a compelling need to care and be cared for. For her part, Hick is revealed as an accomplished journalist, who, at the pinnacle of her career, gives it all up for the woman she loves. Then, as Eleanor is transformed into Eleanor Everywhere, First Lady of the World, Hick must create her own independent, productive life.
Drawing on extensive research in the letters that were sealed for a decade following Hick’s death, Albert creates a compelling narrative: a dramatic love story, vividly portraying two strikingly unconventional women, neither of whom is satisfied to live according to the script society has written for her. Loving Eleanor is a profoundly moving novel that illuminates a relationship we are seldom privileged to see and celebrates the depth and durability of women’s love.
Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
Add to LibraryThing
ISBN: 9780989203531
on 1st February, 2016
Pages: 306
Published By: Persevero Press
(author directed publishing platform)
Formats Available: Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook and Ebook
Converse via: #LovingEleanor
About Susan Wittig Albert
Susan Wittig Albert is the award-winning, NYT bestselling author of the forthcoming historical novel Loving Eleanor (2016), about the intimate friendship of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok; and A Wilder Rose (2014), about Rose Wilder Lane and the writing of the Little House books.
Her award-winning fiction also includes mysteries in the China Bayles series, the Darling Dahlias, the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, and a series of Victorian-Edwardian mysteries she has written with her husband, Bill Albert, under the pseudonym of Robin Paige.
She has written two memoirs: An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days and Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place, published by the University of Texas Press.
Her nonfiction titles include What Wildness is This: Women Write About the Southwest (winner of the 2009 Willa Award for Creative Nonfiction); Writing from Life: Telling the Soul’s Story; and Work of Her Own: A Woman’s Guide to Success Off the Career Track.
She is founder and current president (2015-2017) of the Story Circle Network and a member of the Texas Institute of Letters.
Site for A Wilder Rose
Site for China Bayles series | Site for Darling Dahlias series | Site for the Cottage Tales series
Mystery Novels with her husband
Story Circle
Website | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Book Website
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2016 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Posted Monday, 30 May, 2016 by jorielov in 20th Century, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Blog Tour Host, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Eleanor Roosevelt, Equality In Literature, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Indie Author, LGBTTQPlus Fiction | Non-Fiction, Lorena Hickok, Passionate Researcher, Self-Published Author, Time Slip, Writing Style & Voice
Posted Wednesday, 18 May, 2016 by jorielov 1906, Chronicle Books, James Dalessandro 0 Comments
Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! I received a complimentary used copy of “1906” direct from the author James Dalessandro in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why I wanted to read ‘1906’:
I have garnished an appreciation for ‘natural disaster’ stories – mostly via motion pictures or tv adaptations since I was a young child. I credit this to being surrounded by natural disasters in a region of the United States frequently plagued by everything you can think of save earthquakes, such as the one at the center of what went wrong in San Francisco in ‘1906’! I’ve survived my fair share of tornadoes, hurricanes, severe lightning storms and have been downwind of impressive forest fires which blocked out sunlight and daylight in equal measure. Nature has a way of imparting it’s fury on us at times where I tend to think we’ve missed a lesson somewhere about minding our actions and being more respectful towards the environment we’re meant to be stewards.
The heart of the story within in ‘1906’ is not entirely centred on the quake itself, but the back-story of what was happening in the city – at the corruption and the actions of others who set into motion a spiraling vortex of destructive damages that would lead to the greatest cost of the event itself.
-as revealled on the Guest Post by the author I previously showcased on this blog tour
1906: A Novel
by James Dalessandro
Source: Author via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
Every disaster has a backstory, none more thrilling than this one. Set during the great San Francisco earthquake and fire, this page-turning tale of political corruption, vendettas, romance, rescue—and murder—is based on recently uncovered facts that forever change our understanding of what really happened.
Told by a feisty young reporter, Annalisa Passarelli, the novel paints a vivid picture of the Victorian-era city, from the mansions of Nob Hill to the underbelly of the Barbary Coast to the arrival of tenor Enrico Caruso and the Metropolitan Opera. Central to the story is the ongoing battle—fought even as the city burns—that pits incompetent and unscrupulous politicians against a coalition of honest police officers, newspaper editors, citizens, and a lone federal prosecutor.
With the appeal and texture of The Alienist, Carter Beats the Devil, and the novels of E. L. Doctrow, James Dalessandro weaves unforgettable characters and actual events into a compelling epic.
Genres: Biographical Fiction, Biography / Autobiography, Historical Fiction Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
ISBN: 0811849414
Also by this author: Guest Post on writing '1906'
Published by Chronicle Books
Format: Paperback Edition
Pages: 361
Published By: Chronicle Books (@ChronicleBooks)
Loved reading the Mission Statement on behalf of Chronicle Books!
Small discrepancies: my used copy of ‘1906’ is dated ‘2004’ however I cannot determine an exact publication date for this edition as mine is paperback not hardback. Also, my cover-art matches the hardback edition from 2004 not the paperback edition of 2005; ergo the cover art on the blog tour is for the ebook edition which was released in 2013.
Note about a used copy for review: I only mentioned it as relevance for having a different book cover and the issues determining the publication date, etc. I am thankful I had a print copy to read for this blog tour and as I’m a regular book buyer of used books, the fact my copy has slight wear and tear on it from previous readers did not bother me as most used books come with a bit of ‘history’. As a whole, I don’t believe my copy was overly read as the pages felt crisp and clean as the only wear on it at all were the edges of the book itself except for the curious ‘note’ I found on the very last page which applies to a certain medical supply company and product I have never heard of – thus hinting another reader has this copy before I did myself. The rest of the pages are untouched – I found it most curious!
Formats Available: Hardcover, Paperback and Ebook
About James Dalessandro
James Dalessandro was born in Cleveland Ohio, and educated at Ohio University and UCLA film school. In 1973 he founded the Santa Cruz Poetry Festival with Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Ken Kesey, the nation’s largest literary event.
He has written for Playboy, the Examiner newspapers, San Francisco magazine. He was writer of the House of Blues Radio Hour and created the nationally syndicated program “Rock On” with Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek.
He has published four books: Canary in a Coal Mine (poetry); Bohemian Heart (noir detective fiction); Citizen Jane(True Crime); and 1906: A Novel (Historical Fiction).
He is award winning writer/director/producer of the documentary film THE DAMNEDEST, FINEST RUINS (PBS/KQED), and writer/producer of the Hallmark Movie “Citizen Jane,” based on his book. He is screenwriter of “1906” the upcoming Pixar/Warner Brothers live action film based on his novel of the same name. He lives in San Francisco with his wife Katie and best pal Giacomo Poochini.
Website | Facebook | Goodreads | YouTube
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2016 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Posted Wednesday, 18 May, 2016 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, History, Indie Author, Passionate Researcher, Re-Told Tales, Writing Style & Voice
Posted Monday, 16 May, 2016 by jorielov Camelot's Queen, Guinevere's Tale, Lawson Gartner Publishing, Nicole Evelina 0 Comments
Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! I received a complimentary copy of “Camelot’s Queen” direct from the author Nicole Evelina in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why I appreciate reading Nicole Evelina’s Guinevere Tale series:
Evelina has taken us into the heart of Guinevere and her girlhood peers, as we walk inside those hours she spent on Avalon honing her talent and learning about the world from a point of view not concurrent to her parents or ancestral home. Evelina re-develops the image of Guinevere and the back-story therein, allowing us the grace to re-examine what we think we know of the characters being brought back to life inside this trilogy. It’s a curious undertaking, because although it’s rooted in a canonical history of literature, mythos and lore; there is a new attempt at re-developing a story whose depths are grounded by the character’s will of heart and spirit of passage through their growing years.
The complexity and the authentic voice inter-combine to bring a scope of realism to Guinevere and to the back-story of her life. It’s a wholly original complex origin story where even if you are as under-read as I am about Camelot and Arthurian Legend, you can curl inside this novel due to how well-told Evelina evoked it’s heart out of the pages she lent us to read!
Mythology, fable and lore can feel disconnected at times to an actuary world if the conception of their perimeters are not fully fleshed out and brought to such a high level of vision by their writers. This is where Nicole Evelina excels as her vision of the story is portrayed in such a convicting manner as to etch your heart directly into the lifeblood of her characters; you feel everything they are sensing and appreciate the direct connection in order to best understand their world. Definitely a harbinger of emotionally writ historical fiction centred on known persons who have inspired many but of whom feel more three dimensional inside this story as they are presented with equal fragility as their contemporary peerage.
The research Evelina put into this work of a trilogy is evidenced by how she chose to tell the story, first through direct sight of Guinevere approaching hard choices and managing her emotions in the thick of it and secondly, through enlivening the background with such scope of depth as to embrace the mystical and mythology of how Camelot exists. She even kept the continuity alive by bringing together the origins of those who call Avalon home with their familial heritages and beliefs; such as I celebrated in seeing Guinevere’s Rhiannon and Lugh arriving in time for her ascension to Priestess of Avalon. The fundamentals of religion and ancestry are inter-woven to the core of who Guinevere is and what she stood for thereby granting the reader a more grounded vision of the woman Guinevere became latter in life.
– as disclosed on my review of Daughter of Destiny, Guinevere’s Tale No.1
Camelot's Queen
Subtitle: Guinevere's Tale Book Two
by Nicole Evelina
Illustrator/Cover Designer: Jenny Quinlan (JennyQ)
Source: Author via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
History remembers Guinevere’s sin, but it was Arthur who transgressed first.
Forced into a marriage she neither anticipated nor desired, Guinevere finds herself High Queen, ruling and fighting alongside Arthur as they try to subdue the Saxons, Irish and Picts who threaten Britain from every direction. Though her heart still longs for her lost love, Guinevere slowly grows to care for her husband as they join together to defeat their enemies.
Meanwhile, within the walls of Camelot their closest allies plot against them. One schemes to make Guinevere his own, another seeks revenge for past transgressions, while a third fixes her eyes on the throne. When the unthinkable happens and Guinevere is feared dead, Arthur installs a new woman in her place, one who will poison his affections toward her, threatening Guinevere’s fragile sanity and eventually driving her into the arms of her champion.
Amid this tension a new challenge arises for the king and queen of Camelot: finding the Holy Grail, a sacred relic that promises lasting unity. But peace, as they will soon learn, can be just as dangerous as war. As the court begins to turn on itself, it becomes clear that the quest that was to be Arthur’s lasting legacy may end in the burning fires of condemnation.
This highly anticipated sequel to Daughter of Destiny proves there is much more to Guinevere’s story than her marriage and an affair. See the legend you think you know through her eyes and live the adventure of Camelot’s golden days yourself – but prepared to suffer its downfall as well.
Genres: After Canons, Arthurian Legend, Feminist Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Historical-Fantasy, Women's Fiction Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
Add to LibraryThing
ISBN: 978-0996763134
Also by this author: Daughter of Destiny, Nicole Evelina (Guest Post: Camelot's Queen), Been Searching For You, Madame Presidentess, Mistress of Legend
Also in this series: Daughter of Destiny, Mistress of Legend
Published by Lawson Gartner Publishing
on 9th April, 2016
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 481
Book No. 1 Daughter of Destiny (review)
Book No. 2 Camelot’s Queen
Book No. 3 Mistress of the Legend releases late 2016/early 2017
Read an Excerpt of the Novel: Read More
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2016 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Posted Monday, 16 May, 2016 by jorielov in 6th Century, After the Canon, Apothecary, Arthurian Legend, Avalon, Blog Tour Host, Book | Novel Extract, Britian, British Literature, Disillusionment in Marriage, Domestic Violence, Early Middle Ages [the Dark Ages] (1001-1300), Earthen Magic, Earthen Spirituality, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Folklore and Mythology, Herbalist, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Historical Romance, History, Indie Author, Inspired By Author OR Book, Kidnapping or Unexplained Disappearances, Loss of an unbourne child, Marriage of Convenience, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Midwife | Midwifery, Midwives & Childbirth, Mythological Societies, Parapsychological Gifts, Passionate Researcher, Psychological Abuse, PTSD, Re-Told Tales, Realistic Fiction, Spirituality & Metaphysics, Supernatural Fiction, Superstitions & Old World Beliefs, Trauma | Abuse & Recovery, Warfare & Power Realignment, Women's Fiction, Women's Health, Women's Rights, Writing Style & Voice
Posted Saturday, 26 March, 2016 by jorielov HarperCollins Publishers, Jennifer Robson, Moonlight Over Paris, William Morrow 0 Comments
Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! I received a complimentary copy of “Moonlight Over Paris” direct from the publisher William Morrow (an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
The 1920s and war dramas:
You will denote I love reading war dramas (if you follow this thread) as they are this wicked niche of Historical Fiction I truly champion reading! As I’ve blogged my passion about the genre several times, the three to note were my notes of praise on my review of The Silver Locket, the Guest Post on behalf of ‘By the Stars’ and the bits I shared in-between my booklove and admiration for Scent of Triumph. The main reason I can never tire of reading war dramas is because they are each set in a different portion of living history – some of which we readily know about and others we are just starting to discover come alive in literature.
I still considered this one a war drama even though the story picks up Post-War rather than during war-time, as there is still a left-over effect of the war as life renewed itself and began once more in peacetime. It isn’t oft I get to tuck inside a Post-War story and felt blessed I could see Paris emerging out of the first World War as it re-stablised and re-identified itself to the world.
The 1920s is a particular era of interest of mine – from the Flapper generation to the classic motion pictures, this particular era has an incredible draw to follow and yield more insight out of. I happily dissolved inside the BBC drama “House of Elliott” as it takes you through the entire decade of the 20s whilst giving you a strong impression about entrepreneurship and women in the workforce. Oft-times I find myself impressed by the stories set in France – encompassing not only the 20s but the 1930s and 1940s as well. This started with an intense appreciation for “Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald” and has grown to encompass other authors who are illuminating this genesis of intellectual freedoms of artistry inasmuch as a freedom of spirit and personality. Life in the 1920s was as liberating as the 1960s in many ways, as each generation was trying to ‘live outside the box’ of their lifestyles.
Finding a new release under the P.S. Edition bracket of William Morrow is a true delight as I love how they put these editions together! Always quite lovely to read and the extra bits in the back are happily devoured after I read the stories! It’s one of the best editions for booklovers who want to know a bit more ‘beyond the story’ and get to know the author who pens the narratives we love to read! This particular edition has a lovely iridescent jacket with tuck-folded panels, a Glossary of Words from the novel and an Essay by the author about ‘The Lost Generation’ for which the story is based. I also loved the fact the papers are unevenly cut as next to the old world cut of papers, this is one of my favourite ways to present a novel!
Moonlight Over Paris
by Jennifer Robson
Source: Author via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
An aristocratic young woman leaves the sheltered world of London to find adventure, passion, and independence in 1920s Paris in this mesmerizing story from the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of Somewhere in France andAfter the War is Over.
Spring, 1924
Recovering from a broken wartime engagement and a serious illness that left her near death, Lady Helena Montagu-Douglas-Parr vows that for once she will live life on her own terms. Breaking free from the stifling social constraints of the aristocratic society in which she was raised, she travels to France to stay with her free spirited aunt. For one year, she will simply be Miss Parr. She will explore the picturesque streets of Paris, meet people who know nothing of her past—and pursue her dream of becoming an artist.
A few years after the Great War’s end, the City of Light is a bohemian paradise teeming with actors, painters, writers, and a lively coterie of American expatriates who welcome Helena into their romantic and exciting circle. Among them is Sam Howard, an irascible and infuriatingly honest correspondent for the Chicago Tribune.
Dangerously attractive and deeply scarred by the horror and carnage of the war, Sam is unlike any man she has ever encountered. He calls her Ellie, sees her as no one has before, and offers her a glimpse of a future that is both irresistible and impossible.
As Paris rises phoenix-like from the ashes of the Great War, so too does Helena. Though she’s shed her old self, she’s still uncertain of what she will become and where she belongs. But is she strong enough to completely let go of the past and follow her heart, no matter where it leads her?
Artfully capturing the Lost Generation and their enchanting city, Moonlight Over Paris is the spellbinding story of one young woman’s journey to find herself, and claim the life—and love—she truly wants.
Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, War Drama Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
Add to LibraryThing
ISBN: 9780062389824
Also by this author: Cover Reveal: Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War
Published by William Morrow
on 19th January, 2016
Format: P.S. Edition Paperback
Pages: 352
Published By: William Morrow (@WmMorrowBks),
an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers (@HarperCollins)
Available Formats: P.S. Edition Paperback, Audiobook and Ebook
Converse via: #MoonlightOverParis, #HistFic and #HistRom
About Jennifer Robson
Jennifer Robson first learned about the Great War from her father, acclaimed historian Stuart Robson, and later served as an official guide at the Canadian National War Memorial at Vimy Ridge, France.
A former copy editor, she holds a doctorate in British economic and social history from the University of Oxford. She lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband and young children.
Website | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Pinterest
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2016 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Posted Saturday, 26 March, 2016 by jorielov in 20th Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Britian, Canadian Literature, Coming-Of Age, Equality In Literature, Family Life, France, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Historical Romance, History, Inheritance & Identity, LGBTTQPlus Fiction | Non-Fiction, Library Love, Life Shift, Local Libraries | Research Libraries, Passionate Researcher, Postal Mail | Letters & Correspondence, the Roaring Twenties, War Drama, Writing Style & Voice
