Judy's Recommendtions for our May 2018 Book

“The Alice Network” by Kate Quinn

This historical fiction was one of NPR’s best books of 2017.  The true story of a WWI British female spy ring serves as the skeleton of this fast paced book filled with intrigue, brokenness and courage.  There are two different time lines, one starting in 1915, the other one in 1947.  They weave together to tell a gut wrenching, heartbreaking story of brave women determined to make a difference in the most difficult of circumstances.  The first story is about a British spy network operating in German occupied France.  Most of the agents were women led by “Lili”.  She was joined by “Marguerite”.  Marguerite worked in a French restaurant, serving German diners and passing along tidbits to Lili, her British handler.  The second story, in 1947, is that of Marguerite, now aged, and a 19 year old American girl who has come to France with her mother to obtain a safe, legal abortion in Switzerland.  She escapes from her mother and is determined to find her cousin Rose who disappeared during the war.  To do that, she must get to London and find Marguerite, the one woman who might help her.  It is a wonderfully told story and a page turner.

“The Last Days of Dogtown: A Novel” by Anita Diamant

Set on the high ground at the heart of Cape Ann, the village of Dogtown is peopled by widows, orphans, spinsters, whores, free Africans and “witches”.  Among the inhabitants of this hamlet are Black Ruth, who dresses as a man and works as a stonemason; Mrs. Stanley, an imperious madam whose grandson, Sammy, comes of age in her brothel; Oliver Younger, who survives a miserable childhood at the hands of his aunt; and Cornelius Finson, a freed slave.  At the center of it all lies Judy Rhines, a fiercely independent soul, deeply lonely, who nonetheless builds a life for herself against all imaginable odds.  It is an extraordinary retelling of a long forgotten chapter of early American life.

“Sarah’s Key” by Tatiana de Rosnay

This historical novel brings to light a disturbing and deliberately hidden aspect of French involvement and responsibility for the killing of 13,000 Jewish families in WWII.  It switches back and forth between the lives of two people.  One part takes place during 1942, involving the life of a young Jewish French girl, Sarah during the time of the Vel d’Hiv roundup arrests in July 1942.  At that time, Sarah attempts to save her little brother Michel by locking him in a hidden cupboard with an innocent promise to return for him.  Her story is told in alternating chapters about Julia, an American journalist, living in France in 2002.  Julia is researching the 60th anniversary of the tragic events of Vel d’Hiv.  As her research continues, she becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Sarah, despite the effect it is having on her own family.  This book is a stirring and emotional read.