"The House I Loved" by Tatiana de Rosnay~Romance of Paris 1800's

SUMMARY :

From the New York Times bestselling author of Sarah’s Key and A Secret Kept comes an absorbing new novel about one woman’s resistance during an époque that shook Paris to its very core.

Paris, France: 1860’s. Hundreds of houses are being razed, whole neighborhoods reduced to ashes. By order of Emperor Napoleon III, Baron Haussman has set into motion a series of large-scale renovations that will permanently alter the face of old Paris, moulding it into a “modern city.” The reforms will erase generations of history—but in the midst of the tumult, one woman will take a stand.

Rose Bazelet is determined to fight against the destruction of her family home until the very end; as others flee, she stakes her claim in the basement of the old house on rue Childebert, ignoring the sounds of change that come closer and closer each day. Attempting to overcome the loneliness of her daily life, she begins to write letters to Armand, her beloved late husband. And as she delves into the ritual of remembering, Rose is forced to come to terms with a secret that has been buried deep in her heart for thirty years. Tatiana de Rosnay's The House I Loved is both a poignant story of one woman’s indelible strength, and an ode to Paris, where houses harbor the joys and sorrows of their inhabitants, and secrets endure in the very walls...

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Published by:  St. Martin's Press
Pages:  256
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Author  Tatiana de Rosnay
Website:  http://www.tatianaderosnay.com
Purchase book here:  Amazon


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

 

In French:

 

Tatiana de Rosnay est née le 28 septembre 1961, à Neuilly-sur-Seine. Balance ascendant Scorpion. Elle se décrit comme étant "franglaise". Elle a été élevée à Boston et à Paris. Son père est français d'origine russe, sa mère, anglaise. Tatiana a écrit son premier roman dans sa langue maternelle, l’anglais, à l'âge de 11 ans, sur un cahier Clairefontaine. Après des études littéraires en Angleterre, à l’université de East Anglia, Tatiana a travaillé à Paris comme journaliste, pour Vanity Fair, Psychologies, ELLE et le JDD. Elle a publié son premier roman, L'Appartement témoin, en 1992. Depuis, elle a publié onze romans en France, dont Elle s'appelait Sarah, vendu à neuf millions d'exemplaires dans le monde. Tatiana aime le bleu turquoise, les voyages, le rire, les figuiers, Mozart, Emile Zola, Virginia Woolf et la musique disco. Sa romancière préférée est Daphné du Maurier. Elle vit à Paris avec sa famille.

In translation I take most of this to mean~  She grew up in Boston and in Paris.  Her father is french, but orginally from Russia and her mother is English. After she studied literature at a university she was stationed in Paris where she became a journalist for Vanity Fair, Psychologies, Elle...  Tatiana loves turquoise blue, travel, Mozart, the authors Emile Zola and Virginia Woolf, and disco music.  For romance fiction she prefers Daphne du Maurier.  She currently lives in Paris with her family.   (This is as far as my very weak French takes us...)


BOOK TRAILER :

THE DAME'S REVIEW :

There's hardly anything more romantic than a story about an old house and the woman who clings to her past loves within it.  This book was written for the likes of me.  The setting of Paris is one that immediately puts me in a frame of mind to nestle down and read, and the time frame of the 1800's just seals the deal.  I'm not a hard sell when it comes to all these elements in a book.

Tatiana de Rosnay is an author who knows how to develop atmosphere and characters.  The house itself comes alive from the pages and envelops not only the main characters, but also the reader.  I could sense the walls breathing with memories just as I could hear the voice of Rose reliving them through her letters and notes to her dead husband. I wanted to walk the halls and hide in the basement with Rose.  Wanted to protect the old house along with her.  My heart ached to save its precious walls and parts that had encased the family over the many years.  It seemed like a bed that held a jewel.

Ms de Rosnay so developed the character of Rose that at times I felt she was real.  She is a very sympathetic character.  I fell in love with her gentleness as well as her determination despite all odds to save not only her house/home, but her way of life and her memories.  It was engrossing to walk her life story with her, and to meet the other people in her life who not only played major parts in supporting her, but who loved her in different ways...or resented her. 

This is a beautifully descriptive novel with a wonderful story to tell about family, friends and lost dreams.  I highly recommend it to those who love Paris and everything about it along with its history; but also to those who love a story about women of substance.  Rose is a woman of strength and committed love.  Hers is a beautiful story told by a generous and worthy author.

5 stars               Deborah/TheBookishDame



 

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"Daniel Deronda" by George Eliot~BBC Presentation

SUMMARY :

Produced for British television, Daniel Deronda was adapted from George Eliot's final novel, written in 1874 and first filmed in 1921. As was her habit, Eliot laid bare the hypocrisy and venality of Victorian-era "class culture," at the same time admitting that a certain amount of conformity was necessary if one hoped to survive in a world where nonconformity was not only looked down upon but actively suppressed. Essentially, both the novel and the TV presentation are comprised of two separate stories, linked together by the titular Daniel Deronda Hugh Dancy, a young man of Jewish heritage. In the main narrative, Daniel is attracted to the spoiled, headstrong Gwendolen Harleth Romola Garai, who is reluctantly poised to enter into a marriage of convenience with the wealthy, snobbish, and intensely anti-Semitic Henleigh Grancourt Hugh Bonneville. This romantic intrigue is played against the curious relationship between Daniel and the Zionist visionary Mordecai Daniel Evans, who tirelessly proselytizes in favor of a permanent homeland for the Jewish people. Things come to a head when Daniel finds himself falling in love with Mordecai's sister Mirah Jodhi May. Originally telecast in three parts on the BBC beginning December 7, 2002, Daniel Deronda was re-edited as a two-parter for the PBS anthology Masterpiece Theatre, where it first aired on March 30, 2003.

PARTICULARS :

BBC Adaptation
Author:  George Eliot  (Woman Author)
Genre:  Historical Fiction
DVD
Time:  3 hours 30 minutes
Purchase: Barnes & Noble


SHORT TRAILER :

THE DAME'S REVIEW :

In a small recognition of Passover, I wanted to bring this review of the wonderful BBC presentation of George Eliot's "Daniel Deronda."  What a great book it is and the BBC did a fine job of recreating it to the screen.

Actors in this show are just hand-picked to be beautiful, it seems! They are studied and good in their parts...very believable and earnest, as well.  I loved Daniel from the first glance.  Isn't he gorgeous!?  No wonder the leading ladies fell in love with him.  I did.  I thought he gave a flawless performance.

The story is brought to life not only by Daniel's search for himself and a purpose in life that leads him to his beloved, but also by a series of eye-openers having to do with the women characters.  George Eliot tells the tale of how women in struggles to have  autonomy in a time when they were expected to be under the strong arm of men, find differing results for their efforts.  Their freedoms come at costs that seem horrendous for the times in which Eliot wrote...and even for our times.  On the other hand, Daniel comes out on top as a man in search for himself and his goals in life.  The double standard alive and well...

I loved watching this show and was just captivated by the story and the actors.

Highly recommended for any time of the year!

Have you seen any good ones lately you can recommend?


5 stars                                  Deborah/TheBookishDame

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"Dream When You're Feeling Blue" by Elizabeth Berg~Young Women in Chicago WWII

SUMMARY:

New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Berg takes us to Chicago at the time of World War II in this wonderful story about three sisters, their lively Irish family, and the men they love.

As the novel opens, Kitty and Louise Heaney say good-bye to their boyfriends Julian and Michael, who are going to fight overseas. On the domestic front, meat is rationed, children participate in metal drives, and Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller play songs that offer hope and lift spirits. And now the Heaney sisters sit at their kitchen table every evening to write letters–Louise to her fiancé, Kitty to the man she wishes fervently would propose, and Tish to an ever-changing group of men she meets at USO dances. In the letters the sisters send and receive are intimate glimpses of life both on the battlefront and at home. For Kitty, a confident, headstrong young woman, the departure of her boyfriend and the lessons she learns about love, resilience, and war will bring a surprise and a secret, and will lead her to a radical action for those she loves. The lifelong consequences of the choices the Heaney sisters make are at the heart of this superb novel about the power of love and the enduring strength of family.


AUDIO BOOK/PARTICULARS:

Produced by:  Random House
Discs:  8
Hours:  10
Cost:  $44
Author:  Elizabeth Berg
Also comes in novel format
Can be purchased:  Amazon


ABOUT MS BERG:

 

Elizabeth Berg won the NEBA Award for fiction for her body of work, and was a finalist for the ABBY for Talk Before Steep. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, and the New York Times Magazine. She has also taught a writing workshop at Radcliffe College. She lives near Boston, Massachusetts.

 

 

BOOK TRAILER:

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THE DAME'S REVIEW:

Captivating story read by author Elizabeth Berg!  As most of you know, I love stories set in WWII.  This one was no exception.  The "voice" given by the writer of the book made it all the more real, and lifted the spirit of her book into my heart.  This is an audio book well worthwhile.

Characters here are so alive.  Kitty and Louise, the older sisters just break your heart in their strength of spirit and love for their sweethearts. And little sister Tish is a scream with her "just over" teen-aged shenanigans so typical of girls her age in any era.   Their interactions with young soldiers typify the times, and they also bring into mind our times with young men separated from their families and loved ones.  This is a book that really touched me at the core.

Other characters such as the girls' little brothers and parents also became personal to me.  Especially the little brother who felt the war so desperately in his own spirit.  They struggled in other ways than the girls, but the whole family was affected by the war.  The storyline is moving and it's the characters who clutch you as you read.

Elizabeth Berg has been writing best selling books for years.  I have to say that I haven't been reading them.  Sometimes I drag my feet when too many people are reading a book, especially best sellers.  I'm one who likes to pick out a book that isn't getting a lot of hype...find a hidden gem, I guess.  I'm glad I found this one.  And, I intend to go back and find Berg's other books. I'm sorry I missed her on the first go-round.

If you like women's history set in fiction and from the perspective of WWII, you can't miss this one.
I listened to it on a round trip to pick my mother up 5 hours away.  She also enjoyed the last bit.  It's a book for women about women left home when their men are far away and in danger.  Women who love and support them, though their hearts are slightly broken...women who "dream when they're feeling blue."

You'll love this one on audio!

5 stars                 Deborah/TheBookishDame

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Book Hauls! A Month of Books for Review!

 

HUGE!!!  MONTH LONG book hauls!!

 

Whether it seemed like it or not, I was away for nearly a month helping my mom get organized and doing some errands for her over February and part of this month.  Meanwhile, the books kept coming in from my dear publishers and authors!  I am so grateful, but am now backlogged with books to read and review, once again.  Here are some of the ones I love, and I think there may be a couple of books I've shown you before, but bear with me....

 

 

Front and center, of course...  I bought this one before it was published, naturally.  My favorite author.  I've yet to start it because I've been catching up on my reviewing commitments, but I'm hoping to get to it later this week.  It's going to be a marathon read.  One of Ms Oates gothic novels!  She can be the new Edgar Allen Poe, you know...

 

A Small Summary:

 

"A major historical novel from "one of the great artistic forces of our time" (The Nation)—an eerie, unforgettable story of possession, power, and loss in early-twentieth-century Princeton, a cultural crossroads of the powerful and the damned.

Princeton, New Jersey, at the turn of the twentieth century: a tranquil place to raise a family, a genteel town for genteel souls. But something dark and dangerous lurks at the edges of the town, corrupting and infecting its residents. Vampires and ghosts haunt the dreams of the innocent. A powerful curse besets the elite families of Princeton; their daughters begin disappearing. A young bride on the verge of the altar is seduced and abducted by a dangerously compelling man–a shape-shifting, vaguely European prince who might just be the devil, and who spreads his curse upon a richly deserving community of white Anglo-Saxon privilege. And in the Pine Barrens that border the town, a lush and terrifying underworld opens up..."

 

 

 

A book that's already targeted to be one of the best of 2013.  I'm so excited to have received this one from Little, Brown!  Here's something about it:

 

"On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born, the third child of a wealthy English banker and his wife. Sadly, she dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in any number of ways. Clearly history (and Kate Atkinson) have plans for her: In Ursula rests nothing less than the fate of civilization.

Wildly inventive, darkly comic, startlingly poignant — this is Kate Atkinson at her absolute best, playing with time and history, telling a story that is breathtaking for both its audacity and its endless satisfactions."

This is a Simon & Schuster book which I can't wait to get into to...exotic and interesting subject, it seems.  The author is one I've been meaning to read.  Here's something about this book:

"THOUGH SHE WAS ORPHANED AT BIRTH, the wild and headstrong Korobi Roy has enjoyed a privileged childhood with her adoring grandparents, spending her first seventeen years sheltered in a beautiful, crumbling old mansion in Kolkata. But despite all that her grandparents have done for her, she is troubled by the silence that surrounds the circumstances of her parents’ death and clings fiercely to her only inheritance from them: the love note she found, years ago, hidden in a book of poetry that had belonged to her mother. As she grows, Korobi dreams of one day finding a love as powerful as her parents’, and it seems her wish has finally come true when she meets the charming Rajat, the only son of a high-profile business family."

I will be reviewing this one in the next month.  It's being touted all over the publishing world and is one to be on the lookout for if you're interested in a new woman protagonist who's a hard line FBI agent.  Thank you to Minotaur Books who sent me this to review!   See this partial summary:

 

You have never met an (ex) FBI agent like Brigid Quinn.

“Keeping secrets, telling lies, they require the same skill. Both become a habit, almost an addiction, that’s hard to break even with the people closest to you, out of the business. For example, they say never trust a woman who tells you her age; if she can’t keep that secret, she can’t keep yours. I’m fifty-nine.”

 

Brigid Quinn's experiences in hunting sexual predators for the FBI have left her with memories she wishes she didn’t have and lethal skills she hopes never to need again. Having been pushed into early retirement by events she thinks she's put firmly behind her, Brigid keeps telling herself she is settling down nicely in Tucson with a wonderful new husband, Carlo, and their dogs.

 

 

 

I thought this was an interesting one sent by Weinstein Books.  For any of us who watched "Little House on the Prairie" we'll remember this little girl...   Here's the summary of the book which you can find on Barnes & Noble or Amazon.

 

"The Glass Castle meets The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother in this dazzlingly honest and provocative family memoir by former child actress and current Fox Business Network anchor Melissa Francis.

When Melissa Francis was eight years old, she won the role of lifetime: playing Cassandra Cooper Ingalls, the little girl who was adopted with her brother (played by young Jason Bateman) by the Ingalls family on the world’s most famous primetime soap opera, Little House on the Prairie. Despite her age, she was already a veteran actress, living a charmed life, moving from one Hollywood set to the next. But behind the scenes, her success was fueled by the pride, pressure, and sometimes grinding cruelty of her stage mother, as fame and a mother’s ambition pushed her older sister deeper into the shadows."

Other books in that haul:

A White Wind Blew by James Markert:  This one is about a tuberculosis sanatorium in 1920's Louisville, KY, and the "compelling questions about faith and confession, music and medicine, and the resilience of love."   I'll be reviewing this one next week.

Pictures At An Exhibition by Camilla Macpherson:  A WWII novel set in London and the National Gallery of Art..."Can a collection of war-time letters hold the key to happiness?"  Happy to receive this one from the author and Random House/UK

The Monastery Murders~An Unholy Communion by Donna Fletcher Crow:  Fans of Ms Crow will be delighted to have another of her books in this series!  I was.  Thanks to Donna and Lion Fiction. 
 "..From the top of the tower at the College of Transfiguration, voices rise in song.  Felicity's delight turns to horror when a black-robed body hurtles over the precipice and lands at her feet.  Her fiance' Father Antony recognizes the corpse as Hwyl Pendry, a former student who has been serving as Deliverance Minister in a Welsh diocese..."

The Mystery Box edited by Brad Meltzer:  New stories collected by such greats as:  Laura Lippman, Tom Rob Smith, R.L. Stine, Katherine Neville, Karin Slaughter, and many others!  Can't wait to slip into this one!!!  Thanks to Grand Central Publishing!

The Last Telegram by Liz Trenow:  Published by Sourcebooks, this one is about a disaster of a decision a young girl made in WWI that haunted her with grief for many years and how she finally overcame its consequences through love and forgiveness.  (Paraphrased from the book jacket summary.)

Angel Baby by Richard Lange:  "To escape the awful life she has descended into, Luz plans carefully.  She takes only the clothes on her back, a Colt .45, and all the money in her husband's safe.  The corpses in the hallway weren't part of her plan.  Luz needs to find the daughter she left behind years earlier, but she knows she may die trying..."   Sent by Mulholland Books/Little, Brown and Company...I'm excited to read this one.

Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus:  International best seller!  This one was sent to me by Minotaur/St. Martin's Press.  Thanks to Minotaur!  I'm very interested to start this one this week.  It's supposed to be a very scary and super suspenseful thriller about disappearing girls in a small village and a pair of (man and woman) police detectives who solve the case.

Murder As A Fine Art by David Morrell:  Dean Koontz called this author, "An absolute master of the thriller."  It's a historical thriller about the author of "Confessions of an Opium Eater" who is a suspect in a series of London murders.  I'll be reviewing this one next month.  Also a Mulholland/Little, Brown published book.

___________________________________

2nd HAUL!!!!

What could make me happier than a book by my favorite suspense/thriller author?  I don't know...  I just gasped and stomped with pleasure the minute I opened this one from Grand Central Publishing!!  Many hugs and thanks to them.  This is #10 in the Lincoln Rhyme series for those of you who follow.
Here's the summary:

It was a "million-dollar bullet," a sniper shot delivered from over a mile away. Its victim was no ordinary mark: he was a United States citizen, targeted by the United States government, and assassinated in the Bahamas.
The nation's most renowned investigator and forensics expert, Lincoln Rhyme, is drafted to investigate. While his partner, Amelia Sachs, traces the victim's steps in Manhattan, Rhyme leaves the city to pursue the sniper himself. As details of the case start to emerge, the pair discovers that not all is what it seems.
When a deadly, knife-wielding assassin begins systematically eliminating all evidence-including the witnesses-Lincoln's investigation turns into a chilling battle of wits against a cold-blooded killer.

This beautiful little book was sent by the author and Viking Press.  I love it...  Here's a summary:

"A magical debut about an enchanted house that offers refuge to women in their time of need

Distraught that her academic career has stalled, Alba is walking through her hometown of Cambridge, England, when she finds herself in front of a house she’s never seen before, 11 Hope Street. A beautiful older woman named Peggy greets her and invites her to stay, on the house’s usual conditions: she has ninety-nine nights to turn her life around."

A new historical fiction by one of the best authors in the genre, Barbara Kyle.  Kensington Books brings this copy and I'm so thrilled to have it.  My 2nd favorite queen is Mary Queen of Scots...a close tie with Elizabeth I.  :]   I'll be reviewing this one very soon!  

Summary bit follows:

"Following her perilous fall from a throne she'd scarcely owned to begin with, Mary, Queen of Scots, has fled to England, hoping her cousin, Queen Elizabeth, will grant her asylum. But now Mary has her sights on the English crown, and Elizabeth enlists her most trusted subjects to protect it.

Justine Thornleigh is delighting in the thrill of Queen Elizabeth's visit to her family's estate when the festivities are cut short by Mary's arrival. To Justine's surprise, the Thornleighs appoint her to serve as a spy in Mary's court. But bearing the guise of a lady-in-waiting is not Justine's only secret."

OTHERS IN THIS HAUL:

The Baker Street Translation (A Mystery) by Michael Robertson:
Sent by Minotaur/St. Martin's this one has lots of Holmes inclusions and is one of the series written by Mr. Robertson.  The Heath brothers, lawyers, lease the famous residence of Sherlock Holmes and are caught up in a modern mystery including an heiress, an actress and everyone in between.   Library Journal says: "The characters here are charming and the tone is  humorous...Recommended for Robertson devotees and cozy mystery enthusiasts."

 

Finally, I thought this one an intriguing one sent by request from the author who is an award-winning one for her previous book, "Miriam the Medium."  One of the best of new contemporary women's authors, Jillian Medoff (I Couldn't Love You More reviewed here last year) says about this book, "Whip-smart, funny, and all-too-relatable, Kaylee's Ghost will stay with you long after you've turned the last page."  Isn't the cover pretty?  I'm looking forward to trying it for review in the Summer.

 

 

So Ends My Humongous Haul for February and So Far in March.

 

I'm grateful to the Publishers and Authors Who Have Entrusted Me with Their Books for Review...

 

 

What do you think?  Which ones interest you?  What are you reading?

 

 

Deborah/The Bookish Dame

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"Saturday Night Widows" by Becky Aikman~A New Perspective on Life!

 

SUMMARY :

 

Six marriages, six heartbreaks, one shared beginning.

In her forties – a widow, too young, too modern to accept the role – Becky Aikman struggled to make sense of her place in an altered world. In this transcendent and infectiously wise memoir, she explores surprising new discoveries about how people experience grief and transcend loss and, following her own remarriage, forms a group with five other young widows to test these unconventional ideas. Together, these friends summon the humor, resilience, and striving spirit essential for anyone overcoming adversity.

Meet the Saturday Night Widows: ringleader Becky, an unsentimental journalist who lost her husband to cancer; Tara, a polished mother of two, whose husband died in the throes of alcoholism after she filed for divorce; Denise, a widow of just five months, now struggling to get by; Marcia, a hard-driving corporate lawyer; Dawn, an alluring self-made entrepreneur whose husband was killed in a sporting accident, leaving two small children behind; and Lesley, a housewife who returned home one day to find that her husband had committed suicide.

The women meet once a month, and over the course of a year, they strike out on ever more far-flung adventures, learning to live past the worst thing they thought could happen. They share emotional peaks and valleys – dating, parenting, moving, finding meaningful work, and reinventing themselves – while turning traditional thinking about loss and recovery upside down. Through it all runs the story of Aikman's own journey through grief and her love affair with a man who tempts her to marry again. In a transporting story of what friends can achieve when they hold each other up, Saturday Night Widows is a rare book that will make you laugh, think, and remind yourself that despite the utter unpredictability and occasional tragedy of life, it is also precious, fragile, and often more joyous than we recognize.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
Published by:  Crown Publishing Group
Pages:  352
Genre:  Non-Fiction, Women's
Author:  Becky Aikman
Author's Website:  Becky Aikman


ABOUT THE GROUP :

Meet the Saturday Night Widows: ringleader Becky, an unsentimental
journalist who lost her husband to cancer; Tara, a polished mother of
two, whose husband died in the throes of alcoholism after she filed
for divorce; Denise, a widow of just five months, now struggling to
get by; Marcia, a hard-driving corporate lawyer; Dawn, an alluring
self-made entrepreneur whose; husband was killed in a sporting
accident, leaving two small children behind; and Lesley, a housewife
who returned home one day to find that her husband had committed
suicide.
*NOTE:  I was delighted to find this picture of the group on Becky's website! 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

A graduate of the School of Journalism
at Columbia University, former reporter
for Newsday and writer and editor at
Buisness Week. She formed the Saturday
Night Widows with five other women who
lost their husbands at a young age. They
set out to reinvent themselves through
friendship, laughter and shared adventure.
Becky currently lives in New York City.

BOOK TRAILER :

THE DAME REVIEWS :

In 1983 I was widowed.  A mother with three small children under the age of 9, I was completely devastated.  I had been married at 19, and my husband was the center of my life.  In those days, there were no other 32 year old widows that could be found.  The only other widows our local hospice knew of or could help me connect with were 55 and older. I couldn't relate to them. I felt alone and desolate.  There were literally no other young women around my age I came across or could find who could relate to my situation in years.  And, believe me, no one around my age wanted to discuss being widowed with me!  Friends and family soon wanted me to move on and "adjust."

When I heard of Becky's book , I was stunned.  How could someone have found so many young widows in such a short distance?!  I couldn't wait to get my hands on the book.  After all these years, I still was longing to hear from other widows about their experiences. 

"Saturday Night Widows" was such a comfort to me in many ways.  While it read like an adventure story, it also brought up profound questions and answers.  For me, it touched on feelings I had experienced and still have shadowings of  30 years after my young husband died of cancer.  In many cases, I felt the sadness rise up again as I was reminded of things through the widows in the group, but this time there was affirmation and emotional release.  I had moments of insight as well as laughter reading along with them.

I can testify to the validity of this small group and their work.  What a beautiful friendship of women.  What a spectacular support they gave to each other!  Being widowed in isolation makes the process so much more painful, it seems.  I commend Ms Aikman for the courage and the conviction it took to seek others out and to work on putting together and keeping her group moving in a positive direction.

This is a book so profound it will touch every woman's heart.  Not just for the widowed; it reflects the central themes of courage and rejuvenation in all women's lives.  It also tells of the kindness and nurturing qualities of those who reach out to others even in the midst of their own pain. 

Being widowed is by far the most excruciating thing that's ever happened to me, both physically and emotionally.  If Ms Aikman's book can shed light and encourage others to form such groups as hers, I believe it will soothe new widows in revolutionary ways.  I wish I'd had such a support system of friends and widows in my day.

This is an exceptional book which I highly recommend to all women.  You'll love the joy, the tears, and the strength you'll gain from the reading.  I did.

5 stars         Deborah/TheBookishDame

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GIVEAWAY!! "The Chalice" by Nancy Bilyeau~Tudor/Reformation Historical Fiction

THE SUMMARY :  
 

In the midst of England’s Reformation, a young novice will risk everything to defy the most powerful men of her era.

 

In 1538, England’s bloody power struggle between crown and cross threatens to tear the country apart. Novice Joanna Stafford has tasted the wrath of the royal court, discovered what lies within the king’s torture rooms, and escaped death at the hands of those desperate to possess the power of an ancient relic.

Even with all she has experienced, the quiet life is not for Joanna. Despite the possibilities of arrest and imprisonment, she becomes caught up in a shadowy international plot targeting Henry VIII himself. As the power plays turn vicious, Joanna realizes her role is more critical than she’d ever imagined. She must choose between those she loves most and assuming her part in a prophecy foretold by three seers. Repelled by violence, Joanna seizes a future with a man who loves her. But no matter how hard she tries, she cannot escape the spreading darkness of her destiny.

To learn the final, sinister piece of the prophecy, she flees across Europe with a corrupt spy sent by Spain. As she completes the puzzle in the dungeon of a twelfth-century Belgian fortress, Joanna realizes the life of Henry VIII as well as the future of Christendom are in her hands—hands that must someday hold the chalice that lies at the center of these deadly prophecies. . . .

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Published by:  Touchstone/Simon & Schuster
Pages:  482
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Author:  Nancy Bilyeau
Visit Author's website:  http://www.NancyBilyeau.com
Purchase this book:  Barnes & Noble  or Amazon


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nancy Bilyeau has worked on the staffs of InStyle, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and Ladies Home Journal. She is currently the executive editor of DuJour magazine. Her screenplays have placed in several prominent industry competitions. Two scripts reached the semi-finalist round of the Nicholl Fellowships of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Her screenplay "Zenobia" placed with the American Zoetrope competition, and "Loving Marys" reached the finalist stage of Scriptapalooza. A native of the Midwest, she earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan. The Crown is her first novel.
Some earlier milestones: In 1661, Nancy's ancestor, Pierre Billiou, emigrated from France to what was then New Amsterdam when he and his family sailed on the St. Jean de Baptiste to escape persecution for their Protestant beliefs. Pierre built the first stone house on Staten Island and is considered the borough's founder. His little white house is on the national register of historic homes and is still standing to this day.
Nancy lives in New York City with her husband and two children.

 AN INTERVIEW WITH NANCY :

Nancy, I'm so excited to have you here at A Bookish Libraria today..you have no idea.  I'm such a fan of your writing.  First, I want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in your series, "The Crown" and encourage all my readers to get a copy of that book and read it, as well.   I'll leave everything else to my review below.  So, let us begin the interview...  Welcome!

1) First of all, please tell us a special something about what makes you “tick.”  When you aren’t writing, what are you doing?

I’m a mom of a son, Alex, and a daughter, Nora, so they keep me extremely busy when I’m not at the office, where I’m a magazine editor, or writing my books. The Sunday before The Chalice came out I should have spent every second promoting and blogging the imminent release, but Alex had a science project due that involved comparing temperatures, so I ended up running around with him all afternoon in the col getting the readings. Ha.

Of course this means I don’t get a chance to watch my favorite shows until weeks later. I taped the season finale of Downton Abbey and then couldn’t watch it until a month afterward. Talk about dodging the spoilers.

 

2) We’re always curious about where a writer chooses to write.  Could you tell us about your favorite place to write?  Describe it in detail…what’s on your desk, what do you see from the window if any…do you have a favorite lucky charm?

I don’t have a study, writer’s room or even a desk, I’m afraid. I wrote my first book, The Crown, at the kitchen table or at Starbuck’s. For The Chalice I was approved to work in a writer’s study in the New York Public Library: long wooden tables in a small room. Occasionally I would take my laptop to the Cloisters Museum and write in the corners of the rooms, soaking in inspiration.

 

 

3) Bronte or Austen?  Hemingway or Hawthorne?  Why?

I love both, but the Bronte sisters’ books are darker, which is more to my taste--and I can never say no to the moor.

 I am a big Hemingway fan for his amazing power of description. The beginning of A Farewell to Arms is breathtaking.

 

4) Which author(s) most influenced your love of books?

I fell in love with Daphne du Maurier early on and I think she still influences me In high school in Livonia, Michigan, my creative-writing teacher read aloud passages from “Ragtime” and it had a huge effect on me.

 

 

5) Read any good books in the past 6 months?

Yes! I read the entire Ariana Franklin series back to back, the Mistress of the Art of Death books, and they were wonderful. I also read an advance galley of Elizabeth Fremantle’s “Queen’s Gambit,” about Catherine Parr, and I highly recommend it. Right now I’m reading Thomas Penn’s “The Winter King,” a non fiction book about Henry VII—rich, writerly prose.

 

6) Choose 4 guests from any era for dinner.  Who would they be and what would you choose for a topic of conversation?

Queen Zenobia

Boudicca

Elizabeth I

Mary Wollstonecraft

Topic: women’s independence.

 

7) There’s a song that goes along with your book, what is it?

Anything by composer Trevor Morris, who has written music for “The Last of the Mohicans,” “Pillars of the Earth,” “The Tudors,” and “The Borgias.” I am especially moved by The Death of Jane Seymour, in Season 3 of The Tudors.

 

8) If you could cast your book for a movie, who would you choose for your 2 main characters?

Eva Green and David Oakes for the leads, and Ralph Fiennes for Bishop Stephen Gardiner.

 

9) Worst habit you have while writing?

Checking twitter. I honestly don’t know what we did before Twitter—I’ve met so many people this way and learned a great deal. And laughed. But it is a time destroyer.

 

10) How much research did you do before and during writing this book?

I have a home bookshelf filled with books on the 16^thcentury, based on being interested in the Tudors since I was 11 years old. For my first book, The Crown, I researched life in a priory and the history of relics in England and other specific areas for five years while I wrote it. For this book, The Chalice, I did a month or so of research and then I started outlining the book. I like to research as I go. Also I traveled to England and visited Dartford and London and interviewed various experts.

 

11) Psychologists tell us the thing we think we’d most like to grow up to be when we’re ten years old is our avocation.  What did you want to be?

A writer. Sorry to be so predictable

 

 

You're anything but predictable, Nancy!  Thanks for this interview.  I learned a good deal about you, and look forward to your next book.

 

 

 

 

THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

 

As you can already see Nancy Bilyeau is one of my favorite historical fiction authors.

This dark and dreamy book of hers is just a scrumptious read.  It carries us through the Tudor Reformation on the legs of Joanna Stafford a beautiful, aristocratic, displaced nun who is chased by prophesies.  Like enticing pieces of dark chocolate, this book kept me hungry to read chapter after chapter into the night.  It's one of those books that takes hold in an insidious way...before you know it, you're completely hooked.

 

Nancy Bilyeau's writing is full of historical detail, but it isn't dry reading.  Her work is like a tapestry that's interwoven with dark and light threads that balance the whole causing your eye to move easily throughout the story.  It draws you along and keeps you intrigued.  While Henry VIII is mentioned, he isn't a major figure in this book, but a shadow figure whose dictates play upon the central ones.  A refreshing look on the Tudor period!

 

Characters in "The Chalice" are alive and exciting!  I loved each one in their roles.  Joanna Stafford is a wonderful, strong young woman with a mind of her own and a little temper that walks her on the edge of real trouble, adding to the anxious elements of the story.  Other characters are beautifully created, too.  I enjoyed the love interests here, and their commitments to church and Joanna.  Those involved in necromancy and prophecy are eye-opening!

 

This is a book that stands alone in historical fiction today.  It's a great read, and one you shouldn't miss.  Although you can read it as a "stand alone," I would still recommend getting the first book in the series, "The Crown."  Both of the books are rich in detail and storyline.  Couldn't put this one down.

 

A dark and rich mystery, and a story of the Reformation through the eyes of a very early feminist, "The Chalice" is one book to have this Spring!

 

5 stars!!              Deborah/TheBookishDame

 

 

 

 

This review and interview are sponsored today by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours.  Please go to the site to see more about Nancy Bilyeau, her books and to find more reviews, interviews, guest post and giveaways!  http://www.hfvirtualbooktours.com

 

 

                                                 GIVEAWAY!!!!

 

  A giveaway of "The Chalice" will be held on

 

                    March 31st  for the US only

 

*To enter:  Please 1) follow me on Twitter

 

@thebookish dame, 2) be a follower of our blog,

 

and 3) please leave your email so I can contact you!!!

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today!   Deborah  :]

 

 

 

*READ MY EARLIER REVIEW OF "THE CROWN" AND ANOTHER INTERVIEW OF NANCY BILYEAU ON THE BLOG HERE:  http://abookishlibraria.blogspot.com/2012/03/crown-by-nancy-bilyeauauthor-with.html

 

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