Category: Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday: Flight Before Dawn by Megan Easley-Walsh

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ThrowbackThursday

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Renee at It’s Book Talk. It’s designed as an opportunity to share old favourites as well as books that we’ve finally got around to reading that were published over a year ago. If you decide to take part, please link back to It’s Book Talk.

This week’s book, Flight Before Dawn, is one I’ve had sitting in my review pile for quite some time and I’d like to thank the author, Megan Easley-Walsh, for showing such patience while it slowly made its way to the top of the pile.

FlightBeforeDawnAbout the Book

Before there was D-Day… For over two years, she’s watched him. Now he’s on her doorstep. This is life in the Resistance. In Normandy in 1943, Victoire leads a band of the Resistance. When Leal, the man she’s had watched for over two years, arrives at her doorstep, she’ll have to face new challenges in war and in love. Robberies, a kidnapping and clandestine night adventures were not what Victoire planned for her life. She most certainly never planned to be betrayed. But war – and love – are unpredictable. Joined by her friend Rainier, the mysterious Voleta and Father Pierre, Victoire and Leal must struggle for survival, the grounds of France, and the material of their souls. When Leal unearths a twenty-five-year-old secret, with Victoire at the centre, her whole life is shaken. As the Allies approach, the past, present and future hang in the balance. Can anyone be trusted when the world spins upside down?

Format: ebook (366 pp.), Paperback (366 pp.)      Publisher: Pronoun/Ingram
Published:  2016                                                          Genre: Historical Fiction

Watch the book trailer here

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Amazon.com ǀ Barnes & Noble
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Flight Before Dawn on Goodreads

My Review

Set in occupied France in World War II, this is an exciting story of life in the French Resistance which has as its chief character the brave and resourceful Victoire.

The author effectively conveys the atmosphere of suspicion experienced by those living through those times and, for those involved in Resistance activities, the constant fear of discovery, the difficulty of knowing who to trust and the consequences of the wrong move or careless word. There are twists and turns aplenty and sudden reveals which are effectively positioned by the author to wrong foot the reader. Plus, not everyone turns out to be exactly who they say they are!

The author has clearly done her research into the structure and activities of the French Resistance during that period because the detail of their operations is convincing. The book also sheds a light on the different motives of those who joined the Resistance: fighting for freedom as a principle, the desire to rid the world of the evil excesses of fascism or revenge of a more personal nature.

It was a really entertaining story set in a period of history I love with all the loose ends satisfyingly brought together. At times, the writing didn’t quite flow for me, however the story of Victoire and the other characters drew me in, the book is well-paced and well-structured so this didn’t significantly affect my enjoyment.

I received a review copy courtesy of the author in return for an honest review.  You can read my interview with Megan about the book here.

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In three words: Suspenseful, atmospheric, well-researched

Try something similar…The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

MeganEasleyWalshAbout the Author

Megan Easley-Walsh is an author of historical fiction, a researcher, and a writing consultant and editor at www.ExtraInkEdits.com. She is an award-winning writer and has taught college writing in the UNESCO literature city of Dublin, Ireland. Her degrees are in history-focused International Relations. She is American and lives in Ireland with her Irish husband.

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Throwback Thursday: Across Great Divides by Monique Roy

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ThrowbackThursday

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Renee at It’s Book Talk. It’s designed as an opportunity to share old favourites as well as books that we’ve finally got around to reading that were published over a year ago. If you decide to take part, please link back to It’s Book Talk.

This week I’m sharing my review of Across Great Divides by Monique Roy, published in 2013.  It’s the powerful story of a Jewish family’s struggle for a place to call home against the backdrop of war and apartheid.

DividesAbout the Book

When Hitler comes to power in 1933, one Jewish family refuses to be destroyed and defies the Nazis only to come up against another struggle – confronting Apartheid in South Africa.   As Jews, life becomes increasingly difficult for identical twin sisters Eva and Inge under the oppressive and anti-Semitic laws of Nazi Germany. After witnessing the horrors of Kristallnacht, they flee their beloved homeland, finally finding a new home for themselves in the beautiful country of South Africa; however, just as things begin to feel safe, their new home becomes caught up in its own battles of bigotry and hate under the National Party’s demand for apartheid. Will Eva and Inge ever be allowed to live in peace? Across Great Divides is a tale of one family’s struggle to survive in a world tainted with hate, and the power of love that held them all together.

Format: ebook (223 pp.), paperback (222 pp.)
Published: June 2013         Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Barnes & Noble
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Across Great Divides on Goodreads

My Review

As the book opens, the author depicts how life gets increasingly difficult for the family with the rise of Hitler. There are detailed descriptions of events in Berlin such as the book-burning and violence of Kristallnacht. I did feel that one or two sections read more like straight history rather than being illustrated through the experiences of Eva or her family. The author has clearly undertaken extensive research because as well as a wealth of information about events in Germany there are fascinating details about the diamond cutting and trading business.

Eva and her brother, Max, get the most page time with other members of the family, including Eva’s twin, Inge, more in the background. The unique connection between the twins is explored early on and returned to briefly later but it would have been interesting to have more focus on this.

The family’s struggle to escape from Nazi Germany illustrates the bravery and resourcefulness of those in real life who aided Jews to escape death in the concentration camps but also the opportunity for corruption for those prepared to take advantage of the situation. The family have a number of lucky escapes and are fortunate to have a seemingly unlimited stock of diamonds to ease their passage. One wonders how those without such resources would have fared.

Although powerfully told, I found some of the story lines a little convenient and there are a couple of coincidences along the lines of “of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine” (Casablanca) or, in this case, tent. However, I really liked the impression the author created of the family’s sense of uprootedness, of feeling no longer welcome somewhere they had considered home and being viewed as a hated “other”.

‘Our home was everything and then we felt like we existed nowhere. The place where I thought I would live all my life was no longer the place where I could exist at all.’

In the latter section of the book, the author juxtaposes the persecution suffered by Jewish families at the hands of the Nazis with the discrimination meted out to black South Africans through the apartheid system. Of the family, only Max and Eva really seem to see the parallels and some of the responses of other family members are surprising given their own experiences. The author’s love of South Africa is clear from the wonderful descriptions of the landscape and scenery of Cape Town. I enjoyed the book and admire the author for attempting to explore some weighty themes.

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MoniqueRoyAbout the Author

Monique was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and her grandparents were European Jews who fled their home as Hitler rose to power. It’s their story that inspired her to write Across Great Divides. She is also the author of a middle-grade book, Once Upon a Time in Venice, and Monique is working on her third novel, which also takes place during the World War II.

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