The Only Woman in The Room

Loved this book!
Of course I must say I have loved every one of Marie Benedict's novels.

Marie Benedict a fabulous author has written the story of a woman who was overlooked.  She was beautiful and an Austrian Jew and during the 1930s and 40s these were not traits that would give you authority or lend you ideas credence.  It is funny how even today with all the advances there are some women who still feel that are not seen or recognized for their intelligence.

The Only Woman in The Room is the story of Hedy Lamarr, whose real identity was Hedwig Eva Marie Kiesler.  Though most of us have heard of the beautiful, famous actress, she was really so much more than a pretty face.  Her beauty was a fact that she spent her life trying to escape.  She wanted to be seen for her scientific knowledge and her need to right a wrong she felt she had done back in Austria at the beginning of World War II.

This is the story of the woman we have come to know as Hedy Lamarr. But this story takes us back to her childhood through the start of her career in America. She started life as Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, in Austria. As a young woman she came to the US where Louis B Mayer promoted her as the "world's most beautiful woman". But she was so much more,  an inventor and a film producer.   

Though Benedict shares Hedy's story in novel form the reader still gets a good idea of the thoughts and feelings of Lamarr and how she ended up where she did.  She lived in a dangerous challenging time in history.  She lived in the society of Austrian Jews who felt they definitely had assimilated  into the country they were living in.  Though she and her family lived in a Jewish neighborhood, Hedy did not know much about her Jewish heritage and did not practice the religion of her birth.

What a great novel about her life.  In this novel we are treated to the author's interpretation of what Hedy's childhood was like , growing up in a secular Jewish home in Austria.   She and her parents, who adored her, lived in a Jewish neighborhood, but were not practicing religious Jews. 

This book gives us a window into the life of people living through the beginning of World War ll.  The thinking of people as they watched Hitler come into power.  The disbelief that anything as horrific as happened could happen.  The feeling that each person felt that they were impervious to what was happening to others. 

When Hitler comes to power and is starting to look at encompassing other countries in his view, Hedy's father understands the future will bring.  He encourages Hedy to make a marriage that he hopes will save her and in turn her parents from the gathering storm.  That the powerful well connected man would protect Hedy and her family from the dangers that were appearing on the edges of society.  In the end no one is saved.  The Holocaust was tragic and no one came away unscathed.

Though it does for a while the winds are blowing and as they change course the dynamics change.  Hedy makes her escape from a bad marriage and the war by traveling to America. 

Then we learn how Hedy came to the US and became the major motion picture star she was.  We also learn about her brilliant mind and scientific abilities .  What she invented and how she tried to help with the war effort and the reasons behind her determination to help.   She was an incredible woman. 
Using her power of acting she encourages Louis B. Mayer to take her under his wing and feature her in many motion pictures.  She becomes the most sought after actress of her time.  But her most important contribution to society is the invention of frequency-hopping spread spectrum, which she gets patented.  This important discovery has been part of the technological advances that have led to the development of the cell phones we use today.

Hedy Lamarr was not just a pretty face.




                                                                                                                                                                                                 

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Murder, Magic and What We Wore

Kelly Jones is a new author I am just discovering. She writes for a young adult audience but this first mystery novel was very clever and entertaining so I will try some of her other books. 

Murder, Magic and What We Wore explains it all in a nutshell.  There is a murder and young debutant Annis has become an orphan.  At the age of 16 living in London with her aunt, after father's death they are now it seems penniless.  Annis refuses to go into servitude and decides to open a dress shop to support her and her aunt, Cassia.  Taking her new maid servant, Millie with her she sets up a shop under the disguise of Madame Martine. 

Having known her father was a spy for the British government, Annis decides she wants to follow in his footsteps and her first assignment could be to find his killer.  She also discovers that she has a a rare magical sewing talent that will make spying much easier.  But the spymasters of the British War Office do not agree with her ideas.  So off she goes to prove to them and her Aunt Cassia that she is qualified.

This is a fun regency time period murder mystery novel.  The characters are fun and colorful.  The chapter headings are fun and the quotes at the start of each chapter are also very apropos .
I look forward to continuing to follow Annis and Millie's exploits.

Last Train to London

Once again this is a novel that highlights some of the more obscure facts that happened during the worst war in history.  Last Train to London written by Meg Waite Clayton tells the story of the Kinder transport.

In this novel Clayton tells the story of Geertruida Wijsmuller, known as “Tante Truus” who is part of the Dutch resistance. She helps children to escape out of Nazi controlled areas to places that will take them.  She has been taking chances as she works to rescue many children as we meet her at the beginning of the book.   She then is willing to risk everything when the chance to save hundreds of children becomes available. She approaches Adolf Eichmann after hearing that Britain is willing to accept children coming in by train to London.  they will then place them with families across the country.  Eichmann gives her a number and time limit and Truus races against the clock to get her train on the way to London in time. 

Two other stories are starting at different locations heading toward the same train station to hopefully meet up with the Kindertransport.  Can they meet there in time and will there be room for them on the train car?  Stephan Newman, a 17 year old Jewish youth and his young brother are left alone together when their parents are taken in a raid.  He has grown up in an influential and wealthy family in Vienna and as a young budding playwright feels only anger toward the changing situation in Europe.

Žofie-Helene, is the brilliant teen Christian girl whose mother edits a progressive, anti-Nazi newspaper.  She is a math prodigy and friends with Stephan.  She tries to help Stephan using her math skills and ability to negotiate the tunnels under the city as the Nazis close in.

Using factual information about Geertruida Wijsmuller, who was married to a Dutch banker, who supported her work along the way this novel fleshes out her personal story.  She was childless herself experiencing many miscarriages.  But through her own personal loss she continued to rescue children and sending them from the Baltics and Poland across borders to Palestine via Marseilles. 

Dutch House

I love Ann Patchett ‘s work. She is one of those great authors where any book you pick up written by her is bound to be excellent. This is one of those great reads. This novel is told from the child’s point of view as he looks back on his childhood trying to work out where things went astray and what happened to his mother.   The story is told in reminiscences as the two adults now sit in a car outside the Dutch House, trying to figure what happened in their lives. Their entire lives have been built around their relationship to the house. Maeve and Danny Conroy are siblings who get together at various points in their adult life and park outside the house they grew up in.  They watch the house and talk about their childhood memories.  We hear the story from Danny who tells how his mother left when he was three and his sister was ten. His father remarried and of course the new wife becomes the evil stepmother.  The house is almost like a character in the story, The Dutch House, which their father Cyril bought for their mother in a suburb of Philadelphia as a surprise gift.  It came fully furnished and ornately decorated.  Elna hates it immediately both aseptically and ethically and leaves the family for India to care for the poor.  Andrea, in love with the house courts Cyril and becomes the evil stepmother, bringing along two young daughters of her own.  She of course never likes Maeve or Danny.  Their father is not really present. This is a story of how when as adults we look back at our childhood we may realize there are so many things we did not understand at the time.  Danny is learning so much about what he missed as he takes care of his sister and gets married himself and starts a family.  So many times we realize later that we were oblivious to what was happening around us. Ann Patchett has a wonderful way with words and bringing the story to life.

All This Could Be Yours

 Jami Attenberg, author of two previous novels, The Middlesteins and All Grown Up now brings readers another novel about dysfunctional families with, All This Could Be Yours.

The plot is complicated by the number of characters we are introduced to and how they come and go throughout the book.  Main characters are Barbra and Victor Tuchman, parents of Alex and Gary.
The book opens with Victor brought to the hospital by ambulance and his wife calling the children to inform them that their father is dying.

Of course this is a dysfunctional family so as we glance back into the past we hear the story of their family interactions from each of these main characters.  Barbra reflects on her stormy marriage, how and why she stayed in the marriage and how she feels now as it is ending.  Her daughter Alex comes back to see her mother hoping for answers to the unsettled childhood she experienced and wants closure for.  Her mother feels this all should be left in the past.

Gary avoids the whole situation by remaining unreachable in California not wanting to confront the past or acknowledge the present.  His marriage is in turmoil and he is trying to figure out where to go from here.

Alex goes into the hospital room with her unconscious father and talks to him about their shared past,
"I do not forgive you for making me believe less in the possibly of good in the world.  I do not forgive you for spitting on the notion of family."  Her mother told her that if she goes and makes peace with him now she will not have as many regrets when he is gone.  Alex thinks, "Who didn't want to get along with their father? Who didn't want their daddy's love? 'Everything is just business', he said.  A claim with which she could not argue, she knew for him that was true.  Still, it was then she knew, truly, he was bad. A bad capitalist."

As each family wrestles with their own relationship to Victor and the results of his harshness toward them, we learn about Victor's history and how each affected person tries to move forward with one another, for themselves and with their children.

The characters in this novel are Jewish and there is a feeling about their Judaism throughout the book.  Attenberg said in an interview that she thinks of the Jewishness of her characters as a characteristic and not that they are particularly religious. Victor and Barbra are first generation children of Russian immigrants who settled on the East Coast.

Then there are the outlying people who the Tuchmans encounter through their daily lives.  These characters are brought in and they interact and float through the plot in various ways to move the story along.

The Satanic Mechanic

It is always fun to find a new mystery series and I have found a wonderful one by Sally Andrews.

I have already reviewed the first in this Tannie Maria Mystery series which was Recipes for Love and Murder.  That was so well written with a warm, loving smooth gliding style that made you feel like you were swallowing pudding, while sitting out in the afternoon sun.   I definitely recommend this series not only for its unique characters, in South Africa's rural Klein Karoo, or for the delicious recipes and food descriptions, but also for the clever storylines,  the character relationships and the subtle way Andrews build ups a mystery that is being solved sometimes without you even being aware that she is giving you clues.

This time as we learn about the political argument between the Diamond industry and the native Bushman over a land grant.  As a murder of a Bushman is being investigated, Tannie M is reading her love advice letters and sending answers and recipes through the newspaper column she writes.  Her fellow journalist, Jessie wants to help the investigation against the advice of their editor, Hattie.
The relationship of Tannie M and the police detective, Henk Kannemeyer is developing and Tannie needs to share her biggest secret with him.  So many different paths to follow across the veld and so many delicious foods to try on the stoep.

Now reading book two I feel we are getting to know the characters on a more personal level and watch their relationships develop.  As we eat with Tannie and Henk, and Jessie, we are apart of their lives and I look forward to visiting them again and sharing a roosterkoek and tea with them as we try to solve the next case.

Lost Hills

Lee Goldberg has begun a new mystery series this time featuring a young woman new to the homicide department of the LAPD.  She was an off duty cop when she made an arrest that went viral on social media, now she is the new detective working alongside a seasoned veteran on his way out the door to retirement.

Well written from the viewpoint of Detective Eve Ronin, we learn about a grotesque murder scene and how Ronin plans to solve the crime, her first as a lead investigator.  We also start to learn about Eve the person and what led her to this desire to be a police detective.  All nicely intertwined in the book, as slowly the facts of the case are unravelled.  We are taken down roads that lead nowhere and paths have unexpected twists and turns as we drive through the neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

In the end there is a surprise ending and Eve Ronin may have earned some respect from the other detectives in her unit.  But we will probably have to wait to the next novel in this new series to find out if she is really getting to be one of the guys, accepted as an equal.