historical fiction – Page 186 – What Cathy Read Next…

About the Book

‘I will never forget what the Nazi did to me. Never’

Paris, 1940. As Nazis patrol the streets of the French capital, Tiena is alone, desperate and on the run. After defending herself against the force of an officer, she must find a new identity in order to survive.

An accidental meeting with members of the Resistance gives her a lifeline, as she is offered the chance to reinvent herself as perfumer Angéline De Cadieux. However Angéline will never forget what happened to her, and will do everything she can to seek revenge.

But vengeance can be a dangerous game, and Angeline can only hide her true identity for so long before her past catches up with her, with some devastating consequences…

Paris, 2003. When the opportunity arises for aspiring journalist Emma Keane to interview world renowned perfumer Madame De Cadieux about her life during World War Two, she is determined to take it. There are secrets from her own family history that she hopes Angéline may be able to help unlock.

But nothing can prepare Emma for Angéline’s story, and one thing is for certain – it will change her own life forever…

Format: Paperback (390 pages) Publisher: Boldwood Books
Publication date: 30th November 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

The book alternates between two timelines. The first, set in 2003, features ambitious journalist Emma Keane who manages to gain the agreement of famous parfumier Angéline De Cadieux to tell the story of her life and wartime experiences, a story Angéline has carefully guarded up to that point. As well as promising to be a career-enhancing scoop, Emma has reasons of her own for wanting to delve into the secrets of Angéline’s past and the secrets of the parfumier’s art.

In the second timeline, set in wartime France, the reader learns about the traumatic events Angéline experienced as a young woman, experiences that put her in fear of capture by the Nazis – and by one Nazi in particular – and that resulted in her transformation from Tiena Cordova to Angéline de Cadieux. We also learn about her time working as a parfumier and as a member of the nascent French Resistance, risking discovery at any moment. As Angéline’s subsequent experiences show, the consequences of discovery are degradation, inhuman treatment and almost certain death.

I wasn’t completely won over by the dual timeline structure in which Angéline’s reminiscences are sometimes related to Emma and at other times direct to the reader in chapters contemporaneous with the events being described. I preferred the style of writing in the latter and I was always glad to immerse myself again in Angeline’s story. However, I appreciate the book’s structure enabled the author to draw interesting parallels between the two women. One thing the two women share is the presence of two handsome men in their lives. For Angéline this is a much-lamented past love whilst for Emma it is an enticing future prospect (although in true Pride & Prejudice style initially she intensely dislikes the man in question). Eventually the two women’s stories come together by which time the bond between them has grown deeper.

Although many of us will know about the persecution of Jewish people by the Nazis, the plight of the Roma people under the regime is probably less well-known, although what they suffered was equally horrific. Angéline’s first-hand experience of this, although difficult to read at times, was the most compelling part of the book for me, showing the courage of those who endured the worst that human beings can do to one another. As Emma observes at one point, it’s a story that needs to be told.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Boldwood Books via NetGalley.

In three words: Emotional, dramatic, intense

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About the Author

Jina Bacarr is a US-based historical romance author of over 10 previous books. She has been a screenwriter, journalist and news reporter, but now writes full-time and lives in LA. Jina’s novels have been sold in 9 territories. Sign up for Jina’s newsletter letter here.

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About the Book

The Western Front, July 1918. Gregor Reinhardt is a young lieutenant in a stormtrooper battalion on the Western Front when one of his subordinates is accused of murdering a group of officers, and then subsequently trying to take his own life. Not wanting to believe his friend could have done what he is accused of, Reinhardt begins to investigate. He starts to uncover the outline of a conspiracy at the heart of the German army, a conspiracy aimed at ending the war on the terms of those who have a vested interest in a future for Germany that resembles her past.

The investigation takes him from the devastated front lines of the war, to the rarefied heights of Berlin society, and into the hospitals that treat those men who have been shattered by the stress and strain of the war. Along the way, Reinhardt comes to an awakening of the man he might be. A man freed of dogma, whose eyes have been painfully opened to the corruption and callousness all around him. A man to whom calls to duty, to devotion to the Fatherland and to the Kaiser, ring increasingly hollow…

Format: Hardcover (432 pages) Publisher: Oldcastle Books
Publication date: 9th December 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction, Thriller

Find Where God Does Not Walk ( Gregor Reinhardt #4) on Goodreads

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My Review

I’ve been a fan of this series ever since I read the The Man From Berlin in 2016. I then read, in quick succession, the next two in the series, The Pale House and The Ashes of Berlin. And that’s where, much to my disappointment, it seemed the adventures of Gregor Reinhardt might end. (I’ll admit to having developed a bit of a crush on Reinhardt by that time.) So you can imagine how thrilled I was to learn there was a new book on the way and that it was a prequel as I love a good prequel.

A prequel obviously presents both opportunities and challenges for an author. The main challenge is that the author can’t change what will happen in later, already written, books. So it’s no spoiler to say the reader knows that, however dangerous the situations in which he finds himself – and they are often extremely dangerous – Reinhardt isn’t going to die in Where God Does Not Walk. But, of course, he doesn’t know that and thanks to the skilful writing of the author, Reinhardt’s many dices with death don’t lose any of their impact, tension or excitement.

On the other hand, the main opportunity presented by a prequel is the ability to delve more deeply into the past of the main character, to explain the background to decisions or actions they may take in later books, and to fill in more of their back story. Where God Does Not Walk does that in spades, taking the reader back to the First World War and introducing us to a young Gregor Reinhardt, only nineteen years old but already battle-hardened. From the off, he shows early signs of the intelligence, curiosity and, let’s face it, rather dismissive attitude to authority he displays in later books. However, what he also shows is a fierce loyalty towards the soldiers he commands, a strong sense of justice as well as a remarkable ability to survive the most perilous of situations. I also loved the first appearance of small details, such as a watch, that readers who’ve read the previous books may recognise.

If you’ve ever wondered what it must have been like to serve in the frontline in the First World War then this book will leave you under no illusion that it was hell on earth. The descriptions of the result of artillery and machine gun fire on human bodies leave little to the imagination. In one memorable scene an appalled Reinhardt, looking around at the severely injured soldiers in a casualty clearing station, wonders at ‘such a butchery of men’. However, if anything, the most shocking thing is the seemingly casual attitude of those who put soldiers into situations where they know few will survive intact, if at all. ‘Men die in all kinds of ways, for all kinds of reasons. Some of them are avoidable. Some of them are accidental. Many of them are stupid. Many are unthinkable’. The book also explores the psychological effects of war, exposing some of the crude treatments inflicted on those suffering from what we would today recognise as post-traumatic stress.

It’s clear a massive amount of amount of research has gone into the book and from time to time I did find I needed to refer back to the list of characters at the beginning of the book to remind myself who was who and what position they occupied in the military hierarchy.

Of course, Where God Does Not Walk also incorporates an astonishingly complex mystery that had me perplexed for most of the time – as was Reinhardt too for a large proportion of the book. As he becomes involved in the investigation of a series of gruesome murders, Reinhardt lurches from one violent confrontation to another as he attempts, in any way he can, to tease the truth from those reluctant, or too afraid, to reveal it. As hints of a conspiracy emerge that may involve some in the highest level of the country’s institutions, there are also signs of a nascent anti-Semitism.

If you’re new to the series, Where God Does Not Walk is the perfect place to start, although I warn you you’ll probably be adding the other books to your wishlist by the time you finish it. And it gets better because the author promises us this is just the start of a new cycle of books taking Reinhardt from where we leave him in this book up to the point we meet him in The Man From Berlin.

Where God Does Not Walk is both a complex thriller and a stark and, at times, unflinching exposition of what it was like in the frontline during the First World War. As one character observes, ‘No man survives a war and is the same man he was at its beginning’. Welcome back, Reinhardt.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of No Exit Press via NetGalley.

In three words: Dark, intense, compelling

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About the Author

Luke McCallin was born in Oxford, grew up around the world and has worked with the United Nations as a humanitarian relief worker and peacekeeper in the Caucasus, the Sahel, and the Balkans. His experiences have driven his writing, in which he explores what happens to normal people – those stricken by conflict, by disaster – when they are put under abnormal pressures. (Photo/bio: Goodreads author page)

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