The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorris ~ My Thoughts #TheWaysWeHide @KrisMcmorris @Sourcebooks

The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorris

World War II Historical Fiction, 496 pages

Published September 6, 2022 by Sourcebooks Landmark

From the New York Times bestselling author of Sold on a Monday comes a sweeping World War II tale of an illusionist whose recruitment by British Intelligence sets her on a perilous, heartrending path

Raised amid the hardships of Michigan's Copper Country, Fenna Vos has learned to focus on her own survival-even now, with the Second World War raging in faraway countries. Though she performs onstage as the assistant to an unruly escape artist, behind the curtain she's the mastermind of their act. After all, her honed ability to control her surroundings and elude entrapments, physical or otherwise, reliably suppresses the traumas of her youth.

For all her planning, however, Fenna fails to predict being called upon by British Intelligence. Tasked with creating escape tools to thwart the Germans, MI9 seeks those with specialized skills for a war nearing its breaking point. Fenna reluctantly joins the unconventional team as an inventor. But when a test of her loyalty draws her deep into the fray, she discovers no mission is more treacherous than escaping one's past.

Inspired by stunning true accounts, The Ways We Hide is a riveting story of love and loss, the wars we fight-on the battlefields and within ourselves-and the courage found in unexpected places.

My thoughts about The Ways We hide ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)

First line—"Deep within me, a sense of dread buzzes and crackles, an electrical wire threatening to short."

Kristina McMorris is such a good storyteller and I knew The Ways We Hide was going to be another great adventure. I have really been reading a lot of stories about World War II lately and this is one of the best I've read. 

The characters are woven together expertly with an unusual main character, a female escape artist. Fenna is called upon to help out her country using her special skills. Little did she know how entrenched she would become in the whole espionage world that she found herself dropped into. 

The Ways We Hide is based on a true story and it truly is amazing to read about all of the heroic people who helped others survive during the war. Ms. McMorris has done a wonderful job of taking the story of a courageous woman who went to great lengths to help, making it a tale that I became so wrapped up in that I felt like I was there - feeling the terror, drama, and happiness right along with Feena. 

This is an excellent read for all lovers of historical fiction and I highly recommend it!

I received a copy of The Ways We Hide from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion of the book.

About the author

Kristina McMorris is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of two novellas and six historical novels, including the runaway bestseller Sold On a Monday with over a million copies sold. The recipient of more than twenty national literary awards, she previously hosted weekly TV shows for Warner Bros. and an ABC affiliate, beginning at age nine with an Emmy Award-winning program, and owned a wedding-and-event-planning company until she had far surpassed her limit of "Y.M.C.A." and chicken dances. 

Kristina lives near Portland, Oregon, where she somehow manages to be fully deficient of a green thumb and not own a single umbrella. For more, visit www.KristinaMcMorris.com ~ Goodreads

Connect with Kristina

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Book Blitz! Out of the Ashes by Samantha Grosser ~ Excerpt and #Giveaway! #OutOfTheAshes @XpressoTours

 

Out of the Ashes by Samantha Grosser
Publication date: August 4th 2022
Genres: Adult, Historical

Amid the ruins of the Second World War, an illegal and tentative relationship begins.

England 1944. As Allied forces battle their way through Europe, German prisoners of war are sent to camps all over England. In a sleepy Somerset village, Clare is still grieving for her husband when the first prisoners arrive.

As the men start working on the farm, it isn’t long before she finds herself face to face with the enemy who made her a widow. Hating them all, she avoids them as best as she can. But when one of them saves a young child’s life, she is forced to reconsider. As an unexpected and illicit connection develops between them, her loyalties are stretched to the limit.

Their secret doesn’t last. Shunned by family and friends for illegal fraternisation with the enemy, Clare risks losing all she has. Then long-held secrets are brought to light and she must make an impossible choice.

In a world that has changed beyond recognition, can they find a way to build a future together, or will their happiness be destroyed by the burdens of the past?

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EXCERPT:

She sat at the table, numb. She should have sweet tea, she thought, remembering it was supposed to be good for shock, but she was unable to bring herself to make the effort and the stove remained blank and unlit. She waited, expecting the numbness to pass and the pain of the grief to take over, but there was nothing. Her body felt as though it belonged to someone else, and her thoughts drifted, hazy and unformed. What was wrong with her? She had heard of other women collapsing with such news, weeping and hysterical. Why did she feel so empty?

She laid the telegram on the table and straightened it out against the tablecloth, letting her eyes wander over the brief impersonal notice again, Walter’s death contained within it. How could so few words hold such momentous news? A letter would follow, it said. But really, what more was there to say? She would never hear her husband’s voice again, nor hold him in her arms. Their son no longer had a father.

She let out a breath, unaware she had been holding it, and feeling began at last to creep through her veins, a hollow in her guts. She placed her hand on top of the telegram, covering the words. She had always known, she thought. Right from the beginning when he told her he was going she had known, and she had spent all her tears and anger then in bitter fights and cruel words she had regretted ever since. Now she would never have a chance to make up for saying them.

The memory of the last time she saw him flickered through her thoughts – the sadness in his eyes as he turned to walk away from her along the platform with the kitbag on his shoulder, a stranger in his uniform. She had watched him mount the carriage steps, squeezed his hand a final time, until with a hiss of steam and a whistle he was gone. She had known even then they would not meet again.

A dog’s bark outside in the yard roused her from her thoughts and she lifted her head towards the noise. The clock on the mantelpiece struck the half-hour. Soon Eric would be home and she would have to tell him that his father was dead. She shuddered at the thought of it and sighed, tracing the words on the telegram with her fingertips as though she might feel Walter’s presence within them – his warmth, his kindness, his laughter. The hollow inside her began to fill with pain, and her vision blurred with sudden tears. She pressed her hand against the sheet of paper under her palm. She would have to tell Walter’s mother too, she remembered then, and his sister and her husband, everyone else in the village. She would have to say it aloud.

Walter is dead.

She wrapped her thoughts around the words and tried to roll them on her tongue, but her mouth refused to form the sounds. Her breath began to catch in her chest and as she wiped at her face where the tears had started to fall, she cast a glance towards the door. She wasn’t sure if she could face it. It was the thought that she must say the words to others that finally broke her defences. Lowering her face into her hands, she began to weep at last.

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About the author

Samantha Grosser is a very British author who doesn’t function without tea. Having spent many years teaching English in Asia and Australia, she has now made her home on the sunny beaches of Sydney, Australia, where she lives with her husband, teenaged son, and a very small dog called Livvy.

She is the author of Another Time and Place, The Officer’s Affair, The King James Men, and the historical fantasy series Web of Witches. When she isn’t writing or reading, (which isn’t often) you can find her either doing yoga, going for long walks, or watching old movies.

You can find out more at samgrosserbooks.com

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Release Day! The Opera Sisters by Marianne Monson ~ My Thoughts and an Excerpt #TheOperaSisters @ShadowMountn

Happy Release Day!

Congrats Marianne

on the release today of

The Opera Sisters!

The Opera Sisters by Marianne Monson

Historical Fiction, 352 pages

Published September 6, 2022 by Shadow Mountain

Cover art: ©Ildiko Neer / Trevillion Images; fStop Images / Getty Images

Book design: © Shadow Mountain

Art Direction: Richard Erickson

Design: Heather G. Ward

Based on the true story of the Cook sisters, who smuggled valuables out of 1930s Nazi Germany to finance a daring, secret operation to help Jews find hope for a new life in England

 

British sisters Ida and Louise Cook enjoy their quiet, unassuming lives in south London. Ida writes romance novels, and Louise works as a secretary. In the evenings, the sisters indulge in their shared love for opera, saving their money to buy records and attend performances throughout England and Europe, becoming well-known by both performers and fellow opera lovers.

But when Hitler seizes power in 1933, he begins targeting and persecuting German Jews, passing laws that restrict their rights and their lives. The sisters continue their trips to the German opera houses, but soon, Jewish members of the opera community covertly approach the sisters, worried that they will be stripped of their wealth and forced to leave their homes and the country. Danger looms on the horizon, threatening to spill across all of Europe’s borders.

Ida and Louise vow to help, but how can two ordinary working-class women with limited means make a difference?

Together with their beloved opera community, the sisters devise a plan to personally escort Jewish refugees from Germany to England. The success of the plan hinges on Ida and Louise’s ability to smuggle contraband jewelry and furs beneath the watchful eyes of the SS soldiers guarding various checkpoints. But how many trips can they make before someone blows a whistle? Or before the final curtain falls on Germany’s borders?

The Opera Sisters is a riveting and inspiring novel of two unlikely heroines whose courage and compassion gave hope to many Jews desperate to escape Nazi persecution.

My thoughts about The Opera Sisters ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)

First line—"A long horn blared though the factory courtyard sounding the morning break. Expectant workers streamed out into the courtyard, wiping sweat from their faces."

I seem to be reading a lot of books lately that are set in the time of World War II. Almost all of them have been centered on the people who were being persecuted—the horrible things that they had to endure and the suffering they went through to survive—with some of them not living though it all.  

The Opera Sisters tells the same story of the war but from a different perspective. This is the story of two sisters who came to the aid of those very same people who were being persecuted and were suffering. Based on true events, sisters Ida and Louise Cook were able to get a lot of people out of dangerous situations and to safety. Under the guise of the opera, they built up a network of friends and connections who helped them with their mission of saving people. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I learned so much about the world of opera but I was also able to see another side to a terrible time in our world. There really were a lot of good people helping so many in need. Like I said, this is a different spin to the usual WWII story so if you like historical fiction of that time period, you will definitely want to read this one. I highly recommend The Opera Sisters.

I received a copy of The Opera Sisters from the publisher and this is my honest opinion of the book.

Excerpt

As they neared the Dutch border, Ida and Louise tried to push down their nervousness, to wear the jewels casually, as if they’d always been their own. As the train rocked their private compartment, a memory she’d not thought of in ages came into Ida’s mind.

“Louise, do you remember that game I used to play when we were little? When I would hunt round the garden digging in the dirt and peering under things, looking for lost diamonds?”

Louise laughed. “We had a row about it a few times, remember?”

“Because you said if I found one, I must give it back to its rightful owner and it would be wrong to expect a reward simply for doing what’s right.” Ida smiled at the memory and looked down at the exquisite ruby brooch circled with diamonds. “This is just as gorgeous and sparkly as the jewels I hunted for as a child.”

“Am I to suppose you’ve matured since then, and you’re planning to give them back?”

“You had an unusually sensitive conscience for a child, Louie,” Ida said, using her childhood endearment for her sister. “And yes, I shall give this treasure back when our friends come to claim it.” The train slowed as they reached the border, and the smiles slipped from their faces as they left the train and joined others in queue.

Ahead, stood a stern official, SS guards and a chained dog by his side.

Ida squeezed her sister’s hand.

“And what was the purpose of your trip?” a German official inquired.

“Opera,” said Louise, adjusting the white gloves that covered Frau Basch’s emerald ring, as Ida flourished a Rienzi playbill.

His eyes momentarily rested on Ida’s brooch, but as he took in the rest of her outfit, he appeared to dismiss it. Nothing about them looked like gentry.

“Next,” said the official, and he waved them through. They turned away.

“Halt!” called the guard behind them. Shaking, they turned around. He took Louise’s passport and began arguing with another soldier in rapid-fire German.

Another man, just behind them, was pulled from line and dragged away. The soldier returned with Louise’s passport and reluctantly handed it back to them. The guard dog growled as they fled back to the train.

A few hours later, they boarded the ferry that plied the route between Rotterdam and Harwich, and, as the hammered water receded, the sisters relaxed at last, melting into the ship’s railing as each minute increased their distance from Germany.

“What a relief,” Ida said, looking over the ever increasing water. Louise stiffened, looked about, and turned Ida to face the sea. “We don’t know who may still be watching.”

Ida nodded.

By that evening, they were back in the parlor at 24 Morella Road, which looked just like they had left it; they embraced their parents just as they’d done so many times before. But how different everything felt. No longer could they wave off news about Germany. Suddenly the political climate had become arresting in a way no newspaper could manage. Ida thought of how she’d planned to use her new earnings to buy clothes and opera tickets. The memory made her a little sick. Back in their shared bedroom, Ida gingerly placed the emerald ring beside the brooch, wondering what to do with the lot. “I suppose we need a safe deposit box for them,” said Ida.

They settled into their beds and turned off the lights, a silence stretching between them.

“We must get those dear people out,” Louise said at last. “All of them.”

Ida nodded into the darkness, surrounded and lifted by the safety and protection of home. “Tomorrow, we begin.”

About the author

Marianne Monson received her MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and primarily writes on topics related to women’s history. She has taught English and Creative Writing at the community college and university levels and is the author of twelve books for children and adults, including the novel Her Quiet Revolution and her nonfiction works Frontier Grit and Women of the Blue and Gray.

She is the founder of The Writer’s Guild, a literary nonprofit, and writes from a 100-year-old house in Astoria, Oregon.

Connect with Marianne

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