Lilac Girls - Martha Hall Kelly

Title: Lilac Girls
Author: Martha Hall Kelly
Published: 2017 (first published 2016)
Pages: 502
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction
Edition: Paperback
Source Fraser Valley Regional Library

Description: New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline’s world is forever changed when Hitler’s army invades Poland in September 1939—and then sets its sights on France.

An ocean away from Caroline, Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement. In a tense atmosphere of watchful eyes and suspecting neighbors, one false move can have dire consequences.

For the ambitious young German doctor, Herta Oberheuser, an ad for a government medical position seems her ticket out of a desolate life. Once hired, though, she finds herself trapped in a male-dominated realm of Nazi secrets and power.

The lives of these three women are set on a collision course when the unthinkable happens and Kasia is sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi concentration camp for women. Their stories cross continents—from New York to Paris, Germany, and Poland—as Caroline and Kasia strive to bring justice to those whom history has forgotten. (via Goodreads)

Thoughts:  I was on Litsy when I saw Mrs. Kelly's most recent book being promoted by somebody a few months ago and when I look up information about that book, I saw that there was an earlier book.  Knowing that there was an earlier book, I requested this particular book.  I wasn't really sure about what the book was about when I picked it up, but once I started reading it, I was informed as to what the book was about.  I looked at the pages at the end to get an idea as to what it was about, but I was still fairly clueless as to what it was about.  But as I got into the book, I got quickly absorbed into the novel and also what had happened to these young women at Ravensbruck.  The first time I actually had heard of Ravensbruck was when I read The Nightingale, but I may have heard about the concentration camp earlier.

I really liked how the author used the three different perspectives, two of which were actual people and one of which was a fictional person based on an actual person.  I don't know how accurate the book is, but judging from the limited research that I did do while I was reading the book, it seems as though it is fairly accurate.

Bottom line: It was a really excellent book and I am most definitely going to be reading the next book that this author has written, Lost Roses.  Don't let the title deceive you and don't go down the "rabbit hole".  Highly recommended.

Rating: 5/5

    

  

God's Big Picture - Vaughan Roberts

Title: God's Big Picture: Tracing the storyline of the Bible
Author: Vaughan Roberts
Published: 2012 (first published 2002)
Pages: 170
Genre: Christian, Non-fiction
Edition: Paperback
Source: Personal collection

Description: Sixty-six books, forty authors, written over nearly 2,000 years, in two languages and several different genres. A worldwide best-seller published in countless sizes and bindings, translations and languages. It has been sworn by in court, fought over by religious people, and quoted in arguments. The Bible is clearly no ordinary book. How can we begin to read and understand it as a whole?

In this excellent overview, Vaughan Roberts gives the big picture -- showing how the different parts of the Bible fit together under the theme of the kingdom of God. He gives us both the encouragement and the tools to read it with confidence and understanding. He points us to the Bible's supreme subject, Jesus Christ, and the salvation God offers through him. (via Goodreads)
Thoughts: This was a book for a bible study class I was taking at my local church and while the author covers in a short book, with bible study questions at the end of each chapter, how the Bible is interconnected and how different parts of the Bible fit together.  It is a nice introductory book for those wanting to go onto further study that could give them a much bigger look of the Bible with more depth.

Bottom line: This book is only a cursory look at how the Bible fits together and if you wish to have something that gives a bigger picture, this is not the book for you.  Recommended.

Rating: 3/5

The Unquiet Dead - Asuma Zehanat Khan

Title: The Unquiet Dead (Rachel Getty & Esa Khattak #1)
Author: Asuma Zehanat Khan
Published: 2015
Pages: 368
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Edition: Paperback
Source: Surrey Public Libraries

Description: Despite their many differences, Detective Rachel Getty trusts her boss, Esa Khattak, implicitly. But she's still uneasy at Khattak's tight-lipped secrecy when he asks her to look into Christopher Drayton's death. Drayton's apparently accidental fall from a cliff doesn't seem to warrant a police investigation, particularly not from Rachel and Khattak's team, which handles minority-sensitive cases. But when she learns that Drayton may have been living under an assumed name, Rachel begins to understand why Khattak is tip-toeing around this case. It soon comes to light that Drayton may have been a war criminal with ties to the Srebrenica massacre of 1995.

If that's true, any number of people might have had reason to help Drayton to his death, and a murder investigation could have far-reaching ripples throughout the community. But as Rachel and Khattak dig deeper into the life and death of Christopher Drayton, every question seems to lead only to more questions, with no easy answers. Had the specters of Srebrenica returned to haunt Drayton at the end, or had he been keeping secrets of an entirely different nature? Or, after all, did a man just fall to his death from the Bluffs? (via Goodreads)

Thoughts: I read this for my May library book club and I quite enjoyed it.  It was weird reading a book that took place during an event that I very much remember seeing on the news in the mid-1990s.  There is also a callback to Eichmann and how he tried to hide in Argentina after WWII.  Despite the book being choppy in places (this is the author's first novel), I really liked it.  I liked how Rachel Getty was drawn and how she basically put down when she has a gut feeling about something related to the case and her old male partner tries to quiet her down or dismiss her ideas in regards to the case.

Bottom line:  While it isn't a strong first novel, I have heard that the second book in the series is a lot better.  And with that in mind, I think she did an excellent job and acquitted herself quite well in writing a novel based on an event that happened less than 30 years ago.  Recommended.

Rating: 4/5