It seems like I’ve been out of touch for awhile. Checking my site my last post was Oct 13, 2015 – almost 4 months ago! Thank you for checking back in. 2015 went by in a blur. So many personal things happened last year. My health struggles last year. having Mom move into a nursing home then finding she had colon cancer, her passing on Nov 22 and interment of ashes on Dec 19 ended a very stress filled year. My husband’s business was impacted by government mandated changes in his industry causing us to seek new markets and develop new products. He did more trade shows last year.  Not fun for either of us having him gone. Reading was such a big part of keeping me alive.

January of 2016 began with a huge business opportunity that has seen me working every day from home as my health has taken a sudden upswing in energy levels. I must be careful not to over do things. I am finding less time to read but more interesting books keep coming my way.

I must share a book I couldn’t put down. I will also share another I read a few years back written about the same time in history but from a very different place.

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah was published in Feb 2015 and has been on the top 10 lists ever since. I can understand why. In fact, I read an e copy from Hamilton Public Library then promptly went online and purchased a hard cover copy to share with my family. I give it a 6 out of 5. I couldn’t put it down.

Two sisters find themselves abandoned by their broken father when their mother dies shortly after his return from the Great War.
Vianne and Isabelle are worlds apart in age and temperament. With the outbreak of Germany invading France in WW 2, Isabelle is sent fleeing Paris to join her sister in their family home in Carriveau. With Vianne’s husband off to war, their home becomes a billet for a Nazi captain. Isabelle’s outrage threatens their lives.
Isabelle’s freedom fighting actions have her returning to Paris and working in the underground movement.
What the women of France did to protect their families, stay alive and aid in the fight for freedom in the midst of escalating horror, starvation, danger and atrocities makes this an amazing story that takes us from France to Spain and to Germany.
The Nightingale is Isabelle’s plan to smuggle allied airmen out of France into Spain walking over the Pyrenees Mountains as Juliette Gervais.
This is based on a true story.

The other book is The All Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fanny Flagg.
Published in Nov 2013, it tells the story of a town of women in the mid-western US who find themselves doing the work of the men who have left town to go to war. The book is full of humorous stories and shows the capability and strength of women who had previously been denied access to jobs they enjoyed and were good at. I learned about women pilots who had been crop-dusters and were now testing planes and delivering them to military bases across the US. Women who became auto mechanics and gas station jockeys.  Some carried the load making munitions and being butchers. A very light hearted story but equally enlightening in respect to women’s roles and actions during the 1940 on this side of the continent.

I do hope you can get copies of both books, and read them. I’d love to hear your reaction to either or both of these books.

Next post I will share some other books I’ve read recently.

Until then: Happy reading.