by Susan Barnes | 2 Jun 2023 | Book Reviews
The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin is an engaging story with a dual storyline. Two women are connected by the role newspapers play in the dispersing of information during World War II. Ava is seconded from her job at the Library of Congress, in Washington to Lisbon,...
by Susan Barnes | 24 Mar 2023 | Book Reviews
The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris by Daisy Wood is an engaging story with a dual timeline connected by a bookshop in Paris. The first time setting is from 1939 to 1945 and covers the war years. Jacques Duval, a bookseller, is setting up his own bookshop called, La Page...
by Susan Barnes | 27 Jan 2023 | Book Reviews
Eleven-year-old Rosie grew up living in an Indian palace, but for the last three months, she has been living miserably in the English countryside, which is supposedly safer for her than in India. Rosie finds this hard to understand when Hitler is regularly dropping...
by Susan Barnes | 17 Feb 2022 | Book Reviews
The Cave is part of the Quick Reads series. Through the story, Kate Mosse shows us the importance of finding closure when dealing with grief and loss. Frederick Smith lost his brother in the first World War, but his body was never found and there was no funeral or...
by Susan Barnes | 27 Jan 2022 | Book Reviews
A Ceiling Made of Eggshells is a historical fiction novel that begins in 1483 when Loma is a seven-year-old Jewish girl living in Spain. The story covers the next nine years until the king and queen of Spain expel all the Jews in 1492. Since we know of the expulsion...
by Susan Barnes | 30 Jul 2020 | Book Reviews
For All Time is a romantic time travel story, where Analiese and Adam find themselves in 16th century England. Adam’s historical knowledge and his employment as an actor in a tourist re-enactment show, help them navigate the many difficulties of being thrown back in...
by Susan Barnes | 2 May 2019 | Book Reviews
The Case of the Disappearing Duchess, is the sixth and final book, in the Enola Holmes Mystery series by Nancy Springer, and brings the series to a satisfying conclusion. The story begins when a letter arrives at Enola’s family country home. The letter contains a...
by Susan Barnes | 18 Apr 2019 | Book Reviews
The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline, is another enjoyable Enola Holmes Mystery by Nancy Springer. It is book 5, in the series. The story begins with Enola’s landlady, Mrs Tupper, receiving a threatening letter which mentions Scutari in the Crimea. Mrs Tupper explains to...
