Category: Reviews
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A Splendid Ruin by Megan Chance
(first published on PaperLanternWriters.com) I confess to a love of novels about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. I’ve read several, and A Splendid Ruin doesn’t disappoint. May Kimble is penniless after her mother’s death in 1904. She is left with memories of her mother’s insistence that she would not always be poor, that the…
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The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict
Let me start by saying that I am a fan of Marie Benedict’s historical fiction. I enjoyed both Carnegie’s Maid and Lady Clementine, and I have The Only Woman in the Room and The Other Einstein on my TBR list. Benedict has a way of making historical women come alive, whether you knew who they…
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The Engineer’s Wife by Tracy Enerson Wood
In 1869, Washington A. Roebling is commissioned as the chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge, one of America’s most iconic structures. His wife, Emily Roebling, is a keen advocate for women’s suffrage, at a time when American society expects her to stay home and support her husband silently. But when Washington falls ill on the…
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Irena’s War by James D. Shipman
Another World War II novel about the Warsaw ghetto. That’s what I thought when I received a copy of this book for review. And while it’s true that much of the background is familiar, every person who lived through this historical horror has their own story. Irena Sendler was a Polish resistance fighter who helped…
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The Woman Before Wallis by Bryn Turnbull
(This review first appeared on PaperLanternWriters.com.) Thelma Morgan was the twin sister of Gloria Morgan, who married Reggie Vanderbilt and after his death became caught up in a spectacular custody battle for their daughter. Thelma is there by her sister’s side during most of it. Thelma had married Viscount Duke Furness and lived in England.…