If you are a fan of historical fiction, add The Stockwell Letters by Jacqueline Friedland to your To-Be Read list right now. There is nothing like a super compelling historical fiction novel to lose myself in. It’s the best genre for a rainy day or a weekend of reading. I don’t find all that many truly great historical fiction books, so many are dry and boring! But then one like this comes along and it is a real treat.
Here’s the scoop:
A passionate advocate of abolition from her earliest years, Ann’s activism was derailed just before her twenty-fourth birthday, when she fell sick with a mysterious illness. Wendell Phillips, the famous abolitionist, prevented his wife from participating in more anti-slavery outings due to her fragile health. Even so, when fugitive slave Anthony Burns is apprehended in Boston, Ann is determined to help him, no matter what it costs her.
With a particular focus on the predicament of nineteenth-century women who wanted to effect change despite the restrictions society imposed on them, The Stockwell Letters takes a deep dive into the harrowing conditions of the antebellum South and the obstacles faced by abolitionists who fought tirelessly to eradicate slavery.
This is based on a true story, which makes it even more of a must-read! This is out on August 29.
I’ve read books by Samantha Hayes before and have liked them a lot! I especially liked Date Night which kept me glued to the pages and was the first book I read by this author. I was excited to read The Inheritance and I am happy to report it is just as good as her other books.
I was not sure which direction this story was going in, but with a mystery or suspense, I don’t mind. I was just along for the ride.
Here’s the plot:
I thought I had safely buried the past – protecting my family from the secrets I’ve been keeping. But now my lies are exposed in my husband’s will, and one of us will pay for them with their life…
My darling husband, Ray, is gone. My three beautiful daughters and I have come to Scotland to walk the trails we once enjoyed together, hold each other, and cry over our loss.
But the awful thing is, I feel relieved. Because now Ray is gone, I’m finally safe…
Except for the terrible secret I tried so hard to bury–the real reason we’re here.
I pull one of my daughters aside and tell her the truth. Ray has left her nothing in his will. I see the shock, the pain, the confusion on her face.
I am terrified. My darkest secret is about to be exposed.
I could never have imagined that one lie would lead to this. Trapped in this house together, emotions spiraling, truths coming out at last. Everything I’ve worked so hard to protect unravels before my eyes…
I do not know what’s going to happen next, but I’m not sure my family can survive the fallout from all our lies.
Domestic suspense at its best! I loved the setting of Scotland; it adds to the drama of the story. This is out now!
I really enjoyed this book. I haven’t read a memoir in a while and I was interested in Oli London’s story. I knew very little about him before beginning the book, so I learned quite a lot during the first half of Gender Madness. His early life, being teased so much at school and feelings of being inferior to his classmates, really struck a chord.
Like Oli, I was teased terribly and grew up thinking I was just a disgusting-looking troll of a person. With Oli, he doubted everything about himself and began trying to find peace through surgery and trying out distinct looks and even questioning his gender. Starting the book, he delves into his childhood and young adult years, laying bare his struggles. The second half of this book features facts and information about gender-affirming care and what is happening with young people today.
This was a great book. I learned a lot and appreciate Oli’s journey.
Here’s what you need to know:
While documenting his own personal identity struggles with gender and self-identity, British K-Pop singer Oli London explores the root cause of the issue of trans ideology and gender identity, tackling the pressures of social media, the education system, media, and other factors that are pushing a growing number of young people into transitioning. He takes a close look at real world examples and examines laws, research, and data to help lift the lid on the multibillion-dollar gender affirming care industry.
Gender Madness gives an intimate look into what led Oli London to want to become a “Korean woman” and how he overcame his battle to become an advocate for the millions of young people who question their own identity. He recently publicly announced he had detransitioned and is living as a male again and has since become an outspoken activist for children and women’s rights, appearing regularly on numerous news networks including Fox News, Newsmax, OAN, EWTN, Piers Morgan Uncensored, Tucker Carlson Tonight, and Talk TV to campaign against gender affirming surgery in teenagers. This book shares his deeply personal life journey and his important message to others, all while encouraging readers to question the current societal trends and challenge their own way of thinking.
Get this book on the 15th!
Unless she writes dystopian, science fiction, or fairy tales, I will always read Kaira Rouda‘s books. I have read almost all of them and she’s an automatic, must-read author. When I saw the cover, I didn’t even need to know what this book was about. I just wanted to read it. And I was not disappointed! Beneath the Surface is about a billionaire who invites his sons and their wives to Catalina Island. They are all dying to know who he will make the next CEO of his business and it’s just as cut-throat and nasty as you’d expect.
Synopsis:
An invitation to Catalina Island from billionaire CEO Richard Kingsley. For his sons, Ted and John, and their wives, it’s an opportunity to curry favor, gain control of a real estate empire, and secure their family’s futures. For the controlling patriarch, succession is a contest. He and his newest wife won’t make it an easy win.
Then Richard’s estranged live-wire daughter, Sibley, crashes the party. She’s the least of the night’s surprises. As the stakes for the inheritance of the Kingsley legacy are raised, the beautiful waters of the Pacific look more like a menacing illusion.
Let the games begin for a family who has everything money can buy, and has used lies, deception, and more to keep it. This weekend one of them will be crowned heir. One is in line to lose everything. That’s the plan. But in the coming storm, so much can go dangerously wrong.
SO GOOD.
This book will be out on September 5, don’t miss it!
Here is another historical fiction book that needs your attention. The Enemy Beside Me by Naomi Ragen, is based on actual events. This author’s books are so rich with detail and all-consuming, the best thing you can do is clear your schedule and settle in for several hours of reading.
The short synopsis is this:
Milia Gottstein heads the Survivor’s Campaign, an organization aiming to bring Nazi war criminals to justice, to ensure the voices of Holocaust victims are never silenced. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother with a demanding mission that consumes her time and energy.. She’s ready to pass on her work and make time for herself, but an unexpected call changes everything.
And here is the full synopsis:
Taking over from her father and grandfather as the head of the Survivor’s Campaign, an organization whose purpose is to bring Nazi war criminals to justice, Milia Gottstein has dedicated her life to making sure the voices of Holocaust victims will never be silenced. It is an overwhelming and heartbreaking mission that has often usurped her time and energy being a wife to busy surgeon Julius, and a mother and grandmother. But now, just as she is finally ready to pass on her work to others, making time for her personal life, an unexpected phone call suddenly explodes all she thought she knew about her present and her future.
In the midst of this personal turmoil, Milia receives an invitation to be the keynote speaker at a Holocaust conference in Lithuania from Dr. Darius Vidas, the free spirited, rebellious conference head. Despite suspecting his motives―she is, after all, viewed as a ‘public enemy’ in that country for her efforts to have them try war criminals and admit their historic responsibility for annihilating almost their entire Jewish community, including her own family―she nevertheless accepts, having developed a secret agenda of her own. But as Milia and Darius begin their mission, shared experiences profoundly alter their relationship, replacing antagonism and suspicion with a growing intimacy. However, this only ramps up the hostile forces facing them, threatening their families, livelihoods, and reputations, and forcing them into shocking choices that will betray all they have achieved and all that has grown between them.
If you only read a handful of historical World War II books, let this be one of them. It’s not an easy read and it’s not a light one either, so buckle up for an incredible story!
Coming out on September 12.
