Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia of To Be Continued, where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday currently is on tour, and this month’s host is BermudaOnion.
Here’s what I received:
Mr. Darcy’s Noble Connections by Abigail Reynolds — an ebook win from Austen Authors
There’s only one fact that notorious rake Lord Charles Carlisle and his cousin, Fitzwilliam Darcy, can agree upon: a house party given by the Marquess of Bentham is bound to be intolerably dull. To relieve his boredom, Lord Charles accepts a bet that he can seduce his sister’s pretty friend during their stay at Bentham Park. After all, it’s easy money for an experienced seducer. Why should he care if his staid cousin Darcy disapproves?
But when Darcy discovers that Lord Charles’ new target is none other than Elizabeth Bennet, the woman who refused Darcy’s offer of marriage, he cannot stand by and watch as the woman he still loves is callously ruined. What he doesn’t know is that Lord Charles has a dark secret, and that his attentions to Elizabeth may not be what they seem. After a midnight rescue, clandestine meetings, a long-lost son, conspiracies, blackmail, and an attempted elopement, everyone can agree that this house party is anything but dull. (publisher’s summary)
Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff — from the free stacks at Novel Books
Frozen in Time is a gripping true story of survival, bravery, and honor in the vast Arctic wilderness during World War II, from the author of New York Times bestseller Lost in Shangri-La.
On November 5, 1942, a US cargo plane slammed into the Greenland Ice Cap. Four days later, the B-17 assigned to the search-and-rescue mission became lost in a blinding storm and also crashed. Miraculously, all nine men on board survived, and the US military launched a daring rescue operation. But after picking up one man, the Grumman Duck amphibious plane flew into a severe storm and vanished.
Frozen in Time tells the story of these crashes and the fate of the survivors, bringing vividly to life their battle to endure 148 days of the brutal Arctic winter, until an expedition headed by famed Arctic explorer Bernt Balchen brought them to safety. Mitchell Zuckoff takes the reader deep into the most hostile environment on earth, through hurricane-force winds, vicious blizzards, and subzero temperatures.
Moving forward to today, he recounts the efforts of the Coast Guard and North South Polar Inc. – led by indefatigable dreamer Lou Sapienza – who worked for years to solve the mystery of the Duck’s last flight and recover the remains of its crew.
A breathtaking blend of mystery and adventure Mitchell Zuckoff’s Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II is also a poignant reminder of the sacrifices of our military personnel and a tribute to the everyday heroism of the US Coast Guard. (publisher’s summary)
The Time Between by Karen White — from the free stacks at Novel Books
Eleanor Murray will always remember her childhood on Edisto Island, where her late father, a local shrimper, shared her passion for music. Now her memories of him are all that tempers the guilt she feels over the accident that put her sister in a wheelchair—and the feelings she harbors for her sister’s husband.
To help support her sister, Eleanor works at a Charleston investment firm during the day, but she escapes into her music, playing piano at a neighborhood bar. Until the night her enigmatic boss walks in and offers her a part-time job caring for his elderly aunt, Helena, back on Edisto. For Eleanor, it’s a chance to revisit the place where she was her happiest—and to share her love of music with grieving Helena, whose sister recently died under mysterious circumstances.
An island lush with sweetgrass and salt marshes, Edisto has been a peaceful refuge for Helena, who escaped with her sister from war-torn Hungary in 1944. The sisters were well-known on the island, where they volunteered in their church and community. But now Eleanor will finally learn the truth about their past: secrets that will help heal her relationship with her own sister—and set Eleanor free… (publisher’s summary)
Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir by Beth Kephart — a gift from Serena (thanks so much!!)
Writing memoir is a deeply personal and consequential undertaking. As the acclaimed author of five memoirs, National Book Award finalist and writing instructor Beth Kephart has been both blessed and bruised by the genre. In Handling the Truth, she thinks out loud about the form — on how it gets made, on what it means to make it, on the searing language of truth, on the thin line between remembering and imagining, and on the rights of memoirists. Drawing on proven writing lessons and classic examples, on the work of her students, and on her own memories of weather, landscape, color, and love, Kephart probes the wrenching and essential questions that lie at the heart of memoir.
A beautifully written work in its own right, Handling the Truth is Kephart’s memoir-writing guide for those who read or seek to write the truth. (publisher’s summary)
The Reflecting Man: Volume One by D.K.R. Boyd — from the author/Smith Publicity for review
Set in multiple locales in Canada, America, France, Germany, and England, before and during World War Two, Volume One of The Reflecting Man is the antic, ribald journey of a loquacious and unreliable narrator, Kurtis De’ath, whose unusual talents lead him into the innermost circles of Hitler’s Third Reich and Churchill’s British government. Kurtis’ various occupations—teaching German to a young Pierre Trudeau at College de Brébeuf during the rise of Adrien Arcand and Abbé Lionel Groulx; reporting on a KKK cross-burning in Oakville, Ontario for the Toronto Star; becoming the mysterious Herr Death, advisor to the Führer in pre-war Germany; the Shokoladenmann, dispenser of the delightful Bird Bonz confections; secretary to Winifred Wagner and her children; friend and colleague of Erland Echlin, the Newsweek bureau chief in London who first broke the news of the King of England’s relationship with Wallis Simpson to America; unwilling MI5 agent under spycatcher Maxwell Knight’s direction; friend and companion to William Joyce, aka. Lord Haw-Haw—provide a fascinating journey through the roots and branches of the actual historical figures involved and, at its heart, in meticulous detail is an examination of how Europe went to war in 1939. The Reflecting Man is himself a reflection of his times. The novel is widely and deeply researched, employing hundreds of non-fiction accounts, journals, and diaries of actual participants and observers of the darkening clouds over Europe and the descent into war. (publisher’s summary)
Sophia’s War: The End of Innocence (Volume One) by Stephanie Baumgartner — from the author for review
Sophia can hardly wait to return to Germany to help her great aunt run the town library, despite her father’s distrust of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. But Sophia’s not worried; she knows she will be safe with her extended family.
Unfortunately, the beautiful country that she remembers from her childhood visits is almost unrecognizable. Almost every man is in uniform, and everyone she meets seems watchful and secretive. It quickly becomes apparent that Germany is not what it used to be, and neither is her cousin, Diedrich.
Will Sophia return home when Diedrich gives her an ultimatum that defies her conscience? Or will her desire to fulfill her aunt’s wishes keep her in a dangerous foreign land on the brink of war? (publisher’s summary)
Faithful Friends: Holocaust Survivors’ Stories of the Pets Who Gave Them Comfort, Suffered Alongside Them and Waited for Their Return by Susan Bulanda — from Cladach Publishing for review
Never-before-told stories of the pets that were left behind in WWII Hungary, Poland, Belgium, Holland, Romania, France, and Yugoslavia when Jewish families were torn from their homes and taken to ghettos and concentration camps. Most of these accounts are told by men and women who were children during the Holocaust, whose beloved pets provided comfort and courage, gave them a connection to happier times and encouraged them to never give up hope. (publisher’s summary)
What books did you add to your shelves recently?
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