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Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Review: The Berlin Letters

Title: The Berlin Letters

Author: Katherine Reay

Publisher: 5th March 2024 by Harper Muse

Pages: 385 pages

Genre: historical fiction, cold war

My Rating: 5 crowns


Synopsis:


Near the end of the Cold War, a CIA code breaker discovers a symbol she recognizes from her childhood, which launches her across the world to the heart of Berlin just before the wall comes tumbling down. November 1989 —After finding a secret cache of letters with intelligence buried in the text, CIA cryptographer Luisa Voekler learns that not only is her father alive but he is languishing in an East German Stasi jail. After piecing together the letters with a series of articles her grandfather saved, Luisa seeks out journalists Bran Bishop and Daniel Rudd. They send her to the CIA, to Andrew Cademan—her boss. Luisa confronts Cademan and learns that nothing is a coincidence, but he will not help her free her father. So she takes matters into her own hands, empties her bank account, and flies to West Berlin. As the adrenaline wears off and she recognizes she has no idea how to proceed, Luisa is both relieved and surprised when a friend shows up with contacts and a rudimentary plan to sneak her across the wall. Alternating storylines between Luisa and her father, The Berlin Letters shows the tumultuous early days of the wall, bringing Berlin, the epicenter of the Cold War, to life while also sharing one family’s journey through secrets, lies, and division to love, freedom, and reconciliation.


My Thoughts


I have read many of Katherine’s books and enjoyed them all. It was almost ten years ago when I read her Jane Austen retellings and just a couple of years ago The London House, which I still remember well. Her book,  A Shadow in Moscow was an incredible Cold War novel that was so sophisticated and compelling that I highly recommended it. Therefore I simply could not wait to dive into her latest, The Berlin Letters and it did not fail to impress me all over again. 


‘I don’t want to leave the DDR. Like my father before me, I want my hometown to change so it is a place where I can live, and thrive, and make choices, and share with my family and friends. Father’s opinions cost him his life. I wonder if mine will cost me my life too.’


On this occasion there are alternating storyline’s between Luisa and her father. This starts with Berliners waking up to find a wall has been erected dividing not only their city but also their loved ones. My heart was aching when I read this passage of families awakening and finding themselves separated. The way Katherine weaves the history of Berlin and the Cold War throughout (her research is amazing!) is truly incredible. This is pulse racing, edge of your seat writing as courage commands the heart on more than one occasion. 


‘It’s letting go of what you’re supposed to be doing for whatever comes your way. It’s about creating a future of our own making, not accepting the one they shove at us.’


Alternating between Luisa in the 1980s and her father Haris in the 1960s, this book is a superb example of not just key moments from history but a true emotional rollercoaster from parental sacrifice, to grandparents care to a child determined to uncover the truth at any cost. Berlin Letters is about family and choices, secrets and lies, courage and bravery. Katherine Reay has moved into my must read author list with this compelling tale. Do yourself a favour as you make the journey with Luisa and Haris as they take on a totalitarian regime in an effort to find the truth. The Berlin Letters is a book all lovers of historical fiction should read. 


“Don’t die in the waiting room of the future.”








This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.




Monday, March 25, 2024

Review: The Sea Captain's Wife

Title: The Sea Captain's Wife

Author: Jackie French

Publisher: 6th March 2024 by Harlequin Australian, HQ & Mira

Pages: 480 pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

Rating: 4.5 crowns


Synopsis:


From bestselling author Jackie French comes a compelling story of murder, mystery, and mutiny on the high seas - and a love so intense it can overcome two different cultures.


You never know what the sea will give you ... or what it will take back.


When Mair McCrae follows her island tradition and hunts for a husband cast up on the beach, she has no notion that the naked, half-drowned man she rescues is not just Captain Michael Dawson, heir to a major shipping firm, but that he's obsessed by a 'ghost ship' carrying golden cargo.


On Big Henry Island women make the decisions and knit the patterns that mark a man as their own. But Big Henry is also a volcano, and threatening to erupt. Yet when Mair agrees to accompany Michael home, she finds that the Australian comfort he promised has a danger just as a social system that tries to keep women confined to small roles at the edges of men's lives.


And as Michael hunts for the 'Ghost' in his revolutionary new steamship, a string of mysterious deaths upends Mair's new life in Sydney.


Who is the murderer, and why is Mair the only one who realises what is happening?


My Thoughts


With a Jackie French book readers are always guaranteed an engaging story. This story is so unique detailing a community of women living on a remote island that is also home to a volcano. This self sufficient group of women work well together being very resourceful. Few men live on the island - excepting those who perhaps have washed ashore from a shipwreck. The main character, Mair, discovers one such man and this is their story. Of course they fall in love, however, where the story really takes off is when Mair agrees to accompany him back to Sydney. 


‘Mair was the perfect wife for a sea captain, he told himself, carefully forgetting in his peace and pleasure that she knew little beyond this island, that she would find his world as strange as he found this’


Here readers will discover how Mair struggles to adjust to Sydney society with the running of the family shipping company (both of which the reader must give some leeway at her quick adaptation given her sheltered existence). Add to the story a ghost ship filled with gold, a volcano that erupts, murder and mystery and this book quickly escalates to become a great tale. Jackie draws excellent contrasts in the two ways of living Mair has been exposed to and the role of women. The ghost ship and mysterious deaths just provide an added bonus being the proverbial icing on top. 


‘The most important criterion for a sea captain's wife was a woman who was used to waiting in a household of women for her husband's ship to sail to harbour.’


The Sea Captain’s Wife is another excellent book for lovers of historical fiction as it is really quite unique with its societal contrasting observations. Jackie really is a master of cleverly combining a great tale from the past with strong female characters who invariably are seeking to uncover a mystery. 



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This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.