The Gown by Jennifer Robson

Title: The Gown
Author: Jennifer Robson
Genre: Fiction

Other books I have read by this author: Moonlight Over Paris

Synopsis: After WWII the British people look forward to celebrating the wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Phillip Mountbatten. Working at Hartnell's embroidering the extravagant wedding gown for the princess changes both Ann and Miriam's lives. In 2016 after the death of her grandmother, Heather finds there was more to her nan's life in London in the 1940s than she knew. 

My Thoughts

My love for the British royal family drew me to this book, but it is really more the story of the common people following WWII and finding hope in the celebration of a royal wedding. I always love a story told from multiple perspectives and this has Ann, a London native, and Miriam, a French transplant, working together to create the princess's gown and trying to survive as single women after the war. 
There is a bit of mystery in this novel as well when the story is seen through the eyes of Heather in 2016 who is trying to find out why her grandmother had left her an old box of embroidery upon her death with no explanation. You can always tell I am intrigued by a story when the time between my reviews is so short. I looked forward every day to finding out what was going to happen for Ann and Miriam as the story progressed.
Beyond the delightful storyline, the author includes portions of her interview with an actual Hartnell's employee who worked in the shop at the time the gown was being made. I love seeing how actual historical references fit into the fiction. It was also fun to find the recipe for a dish much discussed in the story at the end of the novel as well. I plan to make it for dinner this week. I look forward to reading other novels by this author! 


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Golden Hill: The Sensational Novel of Old New York by Francis Spufford

Title: Golden Hill: The Sensational Novel of Old New York
Author: Francis Spufford
Genre: Fiction


Synopsis: Richard Smith arrives in the colony of New York in 1746 with a bill for quite a sum of money and an air of mystery. He will only say that he has come from London but gives no hints into his past. News of this mysterious man spreads through the small town of Manhattan raising all kinds of questions? Who is this man? How did he come into so much money? What is his purpose in New York? Love, friendship, and mistakes only a young man in a new place can make reveals more about Mr. Smith than he realizes.

My Thoughts

Beyond children's books and The Scarlett Letter, there is very little fiction set in Colonial America pre-Revolutionary War. I was looking for something out of the ordinary to read and I was excited when I found this novel at Barnes and Nobel.
I really like the style in which it is written, the language feels authentic to the time period. The fact that the reader is kept in the dark about Mr. Smith's purpose in New York, as well as his past, keeps an air of suspense throughout the novel. The author paints a clear picture of Colonial Manhattan, a strikingly different place than what the modern reader knows of Manhattan today. 
There was only one portion of the story where the scene felt too long. Mr. Smith's letter to his father from prison was seemingly neverending. I admit to skimming through it because it was repetitive and uninteresting. I'm sure the intention was to give the reader a sense of the monotony of days spent in a prison cell, but for me, it was too much.  
The story also has some unexpected elements and as more is revealed about Mr. Smith the more surprising it becomes. I especially loved when the narrator of the story is revealed, providing so much context for the entire story. It may be worth reading it again knowing who is telling to see if there were clues early on that I missed.

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Mrs. Roosevelt's Confidante by Susan Elia MacNeal

Title: His Majesty's Hope
Author: Susan Elia MacNeal
Genre: Historical Fiction

Other books by this author that I've read:
 Mr. Churchill's Secretary, Princess Elizabeth's Spy, His Majesty's Hope

Synopsis: "December 1941. Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Winston Churchill arrives in Washington, D.C., along with special agent Maggie Hope. Posing as his typist, she is accompanying the prime minister as he meets with President Roosevelt to negotiate the United States’ entry into World War II. When one of the First Lady’s aides is mysteriously murdered, Maggie is quickly drawn into Mrs. Roosevelt’s inner circle—as ER herself is implicated in the crime. Maggie knows she must keep the investigation quiet, so she employs her unparalleled skills at code breaking and espionage to figure out who would target Mrs. Roosevelt, and why. What Maggie uncovers is a shocking conspiracy that could jeopardize American support for the war and leave the fate of the world hanging dangerously in the balance." - from the back cover

My Thoughts

After four years, Maggie Hope is back in America! When I think of WWII, I rarely think of what it was like in the United States before they joined the Allies. Most often novels of WWII are set in western Europe because that is where the war was happening. It is interesting to see the British characters and Maggie, an American expat, getting to enjoy simple items like stockings and sugar which are not being rationed in the US. 
I like that Maggie gets to partner with Elenor Roosevelt to help solve the mystery of the death of her secretary. Mrs. Roosevelt is an interesting character in history and MacNeal adds depth to her character and the president's by showing their compassion for the plight of African Americans in the US in the 1940s. The author draws interesting parallels between the treatment of African Americans in the south at the time and the treatment of Jews by the Nazi's before the war.

If you have read other books in the series, this one will not disappoint. If this sounds like something you might like to read, check out the first novel, Mr. Churchill's Secretary, to catch up on how Maggie became an undercover spy!

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The Altarpiece by Lauren Fogle Boyd

Title: The Altarpiece
Author: Lauren Fogle Boyd
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis: Anke Junger and Erik Brossler both inherit a love of art from their respective fathers and grow up to become art historians. When the Nazi's begin to rise in Germany, the Brossler family move to the United States and become citizens. The Junger family's choice to stay in Germany spells disaster for Anke and her father. Erik and Anke are both working for their governments in order to preserve historic and irreplaceable pieces of art from being destroyed by the war. Little did they know what great effect this would have on their lives.

My Thoughts

This book was recommended to me by a colleague with similar literary interests. Having read the work of non-fiction, Monuments Men, I have heard of the great work that was done to preserve art from destruction in WWII. In this fictionalized account, Erik Brossler becomes one of those historic men. This novel fleshes out what it was like to be part of that team and the type of people who were interested in working to save art as part of the war effort in only the way that a work of fiction can. The author provides backstory, motivation, and the inner workings of the Monuments Men.  
The second protagonist, Anke Junger, works from inside Germany to save art. It is intriguing that while forced to help Hitler and the members of the Third Reich loot and catalog artwork, Anke uses her proximity to the art, to help preserve the pieces of art she considers most important. This includes the inspiration for the title of the book, The Ghent Altarpiece. 
While few of the main characters in this novel are real, most are based on figures from history.

If you are interested in art, WWII, the Monuments Men, or stories of survival and love, this book is for you! 

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Hindsight by Justin Timberlake

Title: Hindsight & All the Things I Can’t See in Front of Me
Author: Justin Timberlake
Genre: Nonfiction, Autobiography

Synopsis: A first-person account of Justin Timberlake’s creative process; highlighting how he came to a career as a musician, actor, songwriter, and overall performer.  

My Thoughts
This book is a bit different than what I normally read/review so I am going to break this review down into sections to more clearly cover all of my points.

JT & Me: I love Justin Timberlake and I received this book as a gift for my 30th birthday in December.  My sister and I attended his Man of the Woods Tour concert this past October (2018) and it was there that I realized for just how long I have loved Justin Timberlake. Some songs were such throwbacks, and of course, I was a fan of N*Sync before he began his solo career. I also think his SNL skits are hilarious (CLAAAASSSIC Peg...) and appreciate his acting and dancing skills as well. So there was little chance that I was going to absolutely despise this book.
The text: The book is written in the first person from JT so it comes across as very conversational and sometimes feels a little stream of consciousness. Many times it felt rushed like I had to read it fast, so I had to go back and re-read some parts to make sure I caught it all. As he reminisces about his career he makes sidebar comments, many in parenthesis that are just really funny and made me reminisce about where I was at that part of his career and how I related to it. His songs played in my head as they were mentioned, and I knew them all. 
I loved reading about his childhood, his being discovered at a Star Search audition by the Mickey Mouse Club, his start with N*Sync, and his love for Al Green from an early age. In the last section, he gets super sentimental about his son, Silas, & wife, Jessica Biel. It is sweet but has been mentioned so frequently throughout the rest of the book that a whole section about it starts to get redundant.

The design: The book is filled with beautiful photographs both personal photos from his childhood and professional photos throughout his career. The book is extra large, so it allows for each page to be visually interesting without losing space for text. I have the Barnes and Noble exclusive edition with extra photos from the Man of the Woods tour. 
The use of graphics is really well done, choosing key phrases to highlight and hit messages home. For example, when he talks about how the spaces between the notes are more important than the notes themselves, the next 3 pages in the book are blank, then down at the bottom very small it says "you're listening now."  
My one criticism of the graphics choices would be that at the beginning of each section it begins with an intro in bold, light grey text with no paragraph indentations. The color makes it hard to read and the lack of separation makes it hard to follow. I was more focused on how weird it was than what I was actually reading.

Summary: This is a cool book to read for anyone who is a fan of Justin Timberlake. It reads very quickly, even for those who are not big readers this would go by very fast. This would also be a great gift for the JT superfan in your life. 

Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!


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Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory

Title: Three Sisters, Three Queens
Author: Philippa Gregory
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis: Margaret Tudor, the second child and first daughter of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, has always known she was meant to be a queen. After her brother, Arthur, and Katherine of Aragon marry, Margaret is betrothed to the King of Scotland. In time, Katherine and Margaret's younger sister, Mary, both also become queens by marriage. Their sisterhood becomes a struggle between rivalry and friendship, as the wheel of fortune turns for each of them. 

Other books I have read by this author: The Other Queen, The Boleyn Inheritance, The Constant Princess, The Last Tudor, The Taming of the Queen, The Queen's Fool, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Lady of the Rivers, The White Queen, The Red Queen, The Kingmaker's Daughter, The White Princess, The Red Princess, The King's Curse, The Virgin's Lover.

My Thoughts

I first expected that this novel would be written from three different points of view; Katherine of Aragon, Margaret Tudor, and Mary Tudor. In several of her other novels, Gregory uses this approach to tell the story from several vantage points. I was surprised and excited to find that it was, in fact, all first person present tense from Margaret. Gregory has told Katherine's story in the Constant Princess and The Last Tudor, and while I knew a bit about Mary, (like that she was Henry VII's favorite sister) I had never read anything about Margaret Tudor at all. Apparently, that is for good reason, because little has been written about her.
Margaret's relationship with her sister-in-law and sister is shown mostly through the writing of letters and the exchange of gifts, since she spends most of her life in Scotland, away from both of them. The author gives the reader a strong sense of the isolation that Margaret feels as she tries to keep peace between England and Scotland, and fights for the regency after a hasty second marriage.
As you can see, I am a faithful reader of Gregory's Cousin's War and Tudor series and with this novel, I have now read them all. Not only do I highly recommend this novel, but all of the novels in these series, as Gregory works to give voices to female figures in history who influenced events more strongly than they are given credit for. 

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Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott

Title: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy
Author: Karen Abbott
Genre: Nonfiction


Synopsis: The unique stories of Belle Boyd, Emma Edmundson, Rose Greenhow, and Elizbeth Van Lew and how each played important roles to support their causes during the American Civil War.

My Thoughts

When I received this book as a gift I thought it was historical fiction. In the note at the beginning of the book, however, Abbott makes it clear that this is a work of nonfiction, stating, "Anything that appears between quotation marks comes from a book, diary, letter, or transcript[...]" and when I read that I started to worry that this might be more technical than I had bargained for. What I found was a well researched and wonderfully written work of nonfiction highlighting the risks that these four women took to support their cause during the war. 
The book is written in 5 parts, one for each year of the war and an epilogue. Each chapter follows one of the women through the events that she participated in throughout that year, often leaving little cliffhangers at the end of the chapter. Both the Union and Confederate causes are represented, two of the women supporting one side, two on the other. Photographs of each woman and other prominent figures of the Civil War are scattered throughout as well. In addition, the 13-page bibliography gave some inspiration for other works I might like to read in the future! 
I have read a work of historical fiction about Elizabeth Van Lew, The Spymistress by Jennifer Chiaverini (a seriously awesome book), but I had never heard of the other three women. Abbott uses her research to turn facts about little-known participants in the Civil War into an engrossing story of women who wanted to do more than knit and darn for their cause.


 Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!


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