Code Name Sapphire by Pam Jenoff

HerKentucky Whiskey Glass Rating: 🥃🥃🥃🥃

Publisher’s synopsis: A woman must rescue her cousin's family from a train bound for Auschwitz in this riveting tale of bravery and resistance, from the bestselling author of The Lost Girls of Paris

1942. Hannah Martel has narrowly escaped Nazi Germany after her fiancé was killed in a pogrom. When her ship bound for America is turned away at port, she has nowhere to go but to her cousin Lily, who lives with her family in Brussels. Fearful for her life, Hannah is desperate to get out of occupied Europe. But with no safe way to leave, she must return to the dangerous underground work she thought she had left behind.

Seeking help, Hannah joins the Sapphire Line, a secret resistance network led by a mysterious woman named Micheline and her enigmatic brother Matteo. But when a grave mistake causes Lily’s family to be arrested and slated for deportation to Auschwitz, Hannah finds herself torn between her loyalties. How much is Hannah willing to sacrifice to save the people she loves? Inspired by incredible true stories of courage and sacrifice, Code Name Sapphire is a powerful novel about love, family and the unshakable resilience of women in even the hardest of times.

HerKentucky review: The body of fiction about female spies in World War II that has popped up over the past few years seems overwhelming and exhaustive.  I often feel like I’ve read them all, and sometimes start to wonder whether there are any new stories to be told in the genre. However, Pam Jenoff — an author, law professor and former diplomat — consistently delivers smart, complex and compelling stories. Ms. Jenoff’s latest novel, Code Name Sapphire is a fast-paced tale of love and espionage in occupied Belgium.

Jenoff interweaves the story of Jewish cousins Lily and Hannah with that of Micheline and Matteo, siblings who front a resistance network. The novel is fast-paced, heartbreaking, and filled with the reminder that many Europeans were faced with unthinkable choices during the Nazi era. Ms. Jenoff loosely based the novel on a real-life mission to liberate a train bearing prisoners bound for Auschwitz.

As two love triangles unfold alongside betrayals and a complex rescue mission, the narrative becomes a little convoluted. I feel like this book needed one more rewrite to tighten the plot and explore the characters. It’s a well-researched historical novel that captures the heartbreak and resignation of prisoners headed toward certain death. Ms. Jenoff paints a compelling portrait of the character Lily in her journey from sheltered housewife to defiant prisoner. I wish the other characters had felt as multidimensional and realistic.

This is a good read for those of us who love the WWII historical novel, particularly the subgenre of female spy networks. I’d skip it if you’re only mildly interested in these works.

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Please note that I received an Advanced Review Copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review of this work. This review contains affiliate links; I will receive a small commission for purchases made through the links in this post. This commission does not impact the purchase price of the item.

The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner

HerKentucky Whiskey Glass Rating: 🥃🥃

Publisher’s synopsis: From the author of the sensational bestseller The Lost Apothecary comes a spellbinding tale about two daring women who hunt for truth and justice in the perilous art of conjuring the dead.

1873. At an abandoned château on the outskirts of Paris, a dark séance is about to take place, led by acclaimed spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire. Known worldwide for her talent in conjuring the spirits of murder victims to ascertain the identities of the people who killed them, she is highly sought after by widows and investigators alike.

Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to find answers about her sister’s death, but to do so, she must embrace the unknown and overcome her own logic-driven bias against the occult. When Vaudeline is beckoned to England to solve a high-profile murder, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy. But as the women team up with the powerful men of London’s exclusive Séance Society to solve the mystery, they begin to suspect that they are not merely out to solve a crime, but perhaps entangled in one themselves…

HerKentucky Review: I really wanted to like this book. I adored Ms. Penner’s debut novel, The Lost Apothecary. The earlier novel was fast-paced and fun, but this one simply falls flat. The plot feels very convoluted, with obvious red herrings and partially-reliable narrators. The setting was potentially fascinating, but the narrative kept getting bogged down in cliches, like the “scientific minded” protagonist who couldn’t possibly believe in ghosts — until, predictably, she does. I’d recommend re-reading The Lost Apothecary and skipping this one altogether.

Pre-order The London Séance Society on Amazon or Bookshop.org.

Please note that I received an Advanced Review Copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review of this work. This review contains affiliate links; I will receive a small commission for purchases made through the links in this post. This commission does not impact the purchase price of the item.

The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict

HerKentucky Whiskey Glass Rating: 🥃🥃🥃🥃

Editor’s note: This book review and its source material may contain triggering content for some readers. The real-life events that are described in this book center around the European political climate of the 1930s — many of the people in this book were swept up in fascist and communist political actions. Please note that, in reading and reviewing this book, I am in no way advocating the vicious and atrocious political viewpoints held by members of the Mitford family. This book contains content warnings for Nazism, anti-Semitism, Fascism and suicide.

Publisher’s Synopsis: From New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict comes an explosive novel of history's most notorious sisters, one of whom will have to choose: her country or her family?

Between the World Wars, the six Mitford sisters — each more beautiful, brilliant, and eccentric than the next — dominate the English political, literary, and social scenes. Though they've weathered scandals before, the family falls into disarray when Diana divorces her wealthy husband to marry a fascist leader and Unity follows her sister's lead all the way to Munich, inciting rumors that she's become Hitler's mistress.

As the Nazis rise in power, novelist Nancy Mitford grows suspicious of her sisters' constant visits to Germany and the high-ranking fascist company they keep. When she overhears alarming conversations and uncovers disquieting documents, Nancy must make excruciating choices as Great Britain goes to war with Germany.

Probing the torrid political climate in the lead-up to World War II and the ways that seemingly sensible people can be sucked into radical action, The Mitford Affair follows Nancy's valiant efforts to stop the Nazis from taking over Great Britain, and the complicated choices she must make between the personal and the political.

HerKentucky Review: Oh, wow. There is so much to unpack with The Mitford Affair. These women (and their ill-fated brother, Tom) were celebrity socialites of 1930s England. They were beautiful, and brilliant, and witty, and they garnered plenty of media attention. Their novels and memoirs were full of nicknames and bon mots and secret languages and in-jokes. Their father held a peerage title and they were cousins-by-marriage to Winston Churchill. It’s quite easy to get caught up in their mystique and mythology; one feels a little more clever simply by reading of their adventures. And yet…

And yet you can’t deny the fact that three of the six sisters were political fanatics. Diana and Unity were caught up in Europe’s burgeoning fascist movement. Diana actively fought to bring fascist rule to England, and Unity literally stalked Hitler. Jessica chose communism over her family. As the narrative of The Mitford Affair unfolds, we learn that Nancy chooses to turn Diana’s political documents over to the British authorities. As I read Ms. Benedict’s account of the Mitford sisters’ political conflicts, I couldn’t help thinking of the political climate of modern America, and the ways that so many people are getting caught up in often-dangerous political rhetoric. If I learned anything in four years of undergraduate political science studies, it’s that there will always be dangerous ideologies to adopt, and there will always be people who find these ideologies thrilling and fascinating.

The Mitford Affair is a fantastic introduction to the famed Mitford sisters, presenting the reader with a concise understanding of the socioeconomic and political dynamics of the day. Ms. Benedict does tend to present Diana somewhat as a victim of infatuation more than a political entity in her own right; I honestly don’t know if this is a true depiction. The same could be said of the author’s treatment of Unity — was she an impressionable young woman who fell blindly into Hitler-worship or was she truly a believer in the Nazi cause? Ms. Benedict does a nice job of writing about these women in a way that both captures their charms and looks unflinchingly at their reprehensible actions. I definitely recommend this book — with strong consideration to content warnings — to anyone who’s interested in learning more about the storied Mitford family.

Purchase The Mitford Affair on Amazon or Bookshop.org.

Please note that I received an Advanced Review Copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review of this work. This review contains affiliate links; I will receive a small commission for purchases made through the links in this post. This commission does not impact the purchase price of the item.