Tag Archive | Bookouture

When The World Went Silent by Ellie Midwood

Dec6

Pandora’s Box

When The World Went Silent by Ellie Midwood is a powerful, harrowing historical novel that consumed me from the start.

The novel is set in Germany during World War II but opens and closes in Hiroshima in 1946. The whole novel surrounds the topic of the nuclear bomb, as we join and follow a young girl with a passion for physics. Deaf since measles aged five, Mina has immersed herself in science. “The world outside is hostile, filled with prejudice and intolerance. But precise sciences are her sanctuary.”

Following the Nazis rise to power, Mina was excluded from school and seen as ‘undesirable’, and has been home-schooled. Her superior talent within nuclear physics has brought her to the attention of the Nazis at the highest level. Mina is sent to Berlin to work on the development of the nuclear bomb but she is determined to never make a bomb. She wants to heal not harm. “We’ll all have to face the choices we made today.”

Mina has a conscience, a heart and much courage. “The courage of those who dare to stand against the darkness.” As a young girl, she stood up for the marginalized except for one time when she ran, and this haunts her dreams. “Still has nightmares… she was just a young girl whose only fault was walking away when she should have stayed.” The guilt remains even though she knows there is nothing she could have done. Later she is told “Sometimes running away is the only logical thing to do.”

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The Last Agent In Paris by Sharon Maas

Nov8

So Brave

The Last Agent In Paris by Sharon Maas is a powerful, historical novel that I read in just two sittings, pausing only to sleep.

This is the story of Noor Inayat Khan. As a historian I knew the bare bones of her story but this book puts flesh on those bones.

Noor Inayat Khan was the first female wireless operator in France in World War II. The average life expectancy for wireless operators in France was just six weeks. She was small in stature but hugely brave and courageous. Her lips were forever sealed as her fate was marked.

We hear of Noor Inayat Khan’s life story from her birth in Russia in 1914 right up to her ending.

Her character was largely shaped by her father, with whom she had a close relationship. “Some people are just mean, you can’t change them… You’re the only person you can really change.” Wise words from her father. Noor Inayat Khan lived by these words as she worked on her own character. She was by nature a pacifist so war did not come easily. As the Nazis spread their lies, she believed “the pen is mightier than the sword… Peace starts in the home with children. We must nourish the minds of children.”

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The Twins On The Train by Suzanne Goldring

Oct31

The Mark Of True Love

The Twins On The Train by Suzanne Goldring is a powerful historical novel that totally consumed me. I could not put it down.

The novel begins in 2023 before moving backwards to Berlin in 1933 and into World War II. The action alternates between a mother in Berlin and a British lady whose mission was to rescue as many Jewish children from Berlin, on the Kindertransport, as she could.

The reader witnesses the gradual erosion of the freedom of the Jewish people and the sheer terror of Kristallnacht in November 1938. We see the bravery of the parents who loved their children enough to let them go. “They have the courage to send away the things most precious of all to them, more than gems and gold can ever be.” As a mother, I do not think I would have had their courage.

Life is shown through the eyes of the children through their speech. “You’re the first Aryan who’s been nice to me in a long time. Will there be more people like you in England?” Heartbreaking. How awful that Jewish children, a precious gift, have been treated so abominably.

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The Telegram by Debbie Rix

Oct17

Beautiful & Heart-wrenching

The Telegram by Debbie Rix is a beautiful historical story set over three main time periods – World War I, World War II and 1959. It is a novel that will haunt the reader long after the last page is read.

The novel is about the life of Charles Carmichael, his family, friends and those that he interacts with. All the action is seen through the alternating voices of the lead character, his wife and daughter. We see how one man interacts with those he meets and how these interactions influence events.

Sometimes in life there is a defining moment on which everything else that happens, hangs on. Subsequent actions ride on a moment in time. Charles Carmichael has experienced such an event. The reader is aware that something momentous has happened but we do not know what – although I had my suspicions which proved to be correct. When we do find out what has happened, suddenly the life of Charles Carmichael makes sense. We understand why he acted the way that he did, and why he chose to lead his life as he did.

Charles Carmichael is a complex character but one that I instinctively liked. He is a gentle soul who wants to do no harm. He is a man who loves deeply but cannot always show it. I think his true nature really shines through in the scene on Christmas Eve 1943 with his daughter. He is tender hearted, fiercely protective and moved to act.

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