Eyes Behind Belligerence by K.P. Kellenborn, How to Lose The Life You Love A Memoir of Conditioning Collapse and Sovereignty by Mike Karame, Barside Manner by Brian Baleno

Eyes Behind Belligerence By K.P. Kellenborn 

 Eyes Behind Belligerence is a powerful and highly relevant novel about racism, xenophobia, cultural identity, patriotism, and what it means to truly call oneself an American even when others won't define you as such.

The Japanese-American population of Bainbridge Island, Washington State felt the impact of the attack by the Japanese Imperial Army on Pearl Harbor. Suddenly, barely tolerated racist jokes and stereotypes become the norm. Members of the community are ostracized or treated with outright hostility by white neighbors, schoolmates, church members, and authority figures. They are forbidden from having possessions that might be used as weapons or short wave radios believing that they could be used for spying. Finally, they are sent to internment camps.

This is a heartbreaking novel about a shameful time in American history which unfortunately is still in practice today just with new names, faces, and targets for racist and xenophobic abuse. It's staggering how quickly certain groups are seen as enemies and how easily many can be swept up in paranoia and propaganda. 

The moments before and during the times in the camps feature dehumanizing practices used to isolate, divide, and internally destroy the people who are targeted. Some of the more insidious actions result in detainees not only trusting the white officers holding them but in their fellow inmates. Some act as inside informants. Others resort to random acts of vandalism and for mini gangs for survival.

 Sometimes division between Japanese born immigrants who came from Japan and settled in the US (issei) and those with Japanese ancestry but lived in the US their entire lives (nissei) is revealed. If they can be divided, it becomes easier for the American authority to break them.

The book is largely told from the points of view of teenage boys Goro/Russell Hamaguchi and Jimmu/Jim Yoshimura who are swept up in that generational divide within the camps and their own families and the racial and cultural divide from the government surrounding them. 

Both are Japanese-Americans whose parents fled to the US either before they were born or as children. They consider themselves more American than Japanese. They adopted American names, hardly understand their families’ first language, and have fully assimilated into the society around them. 

Russell in particular is fond of the country in which he lives. He mocks his parents’ traditional ways and scoffs at their ideals like honor and family loyalty ahead of individual liberty. He considers himself just as American as the white kids that he attends school with, maybe even more so.

Unfortunately that patriotism serves little use for him in a country that shows right away that it has no love for anyone who was born different. They don't see an American boy. To them Russell is Japanese and is treated like an enemy. Unfortunately his Japanese elders aren't any warmer either. Some like his siblings basically think that he sold out and question his loyalty. A fistfight with one of his closest friends reveals the buried resentment and lack of belonging simmering within him.

Jim also is torn between embracing his cultural heritage and assimilating into the world around him despite its rejection. Unlike Russell who treated assimilation like a calculated strategy for survival, Jim’s dismissal is fueled by personal trauma.

Jim’s journey is probably the most emotional even before the war begins because of his older brother's suicide. His grief over the death, his family's reaction to it, and the reasons for those actions lead him to question and defy his heritage. While many see community, Jim sees emotional abandonment and it takes a long time within the book for him to recover from the loss.

The two young men’s outlook changes inside the camps. Russell goes through periods of defiance such as defending himself from a racist guard, continuing correspondence with a Filipino-American girlfriend, and joining a gang of troublemakers in the camps. He ultimately tries to adapt, adjust, and find ways to ensure his friends and family's survival. 

Jim does the opposite. He starts out as a mostly pacifistic sensitive kid unwilling to fight alongside Russell and the other tougher kids. He tries not to do anything that would result in punishment and be the complacent dutiful detainee. 

Jim eventually tires of the mask of obedience that he is forced to wear because the officers don't care. He will always be considered an enemy and in moments of self-fulfilling prophecy, he becomes that defiant rebellious enemy. They could only push him so far enough by dehumanizing him before he pushes back. When he finally does, it's a moment of catharsis for himself and the reader.

Reading a book like this makes it easy to see the conflicts that are still relevant today so we can study them, read about them, learn from them, and maybe someday do better.

How to Lose a Life You Love A Memoir of Conditioning Collapse and Sovereignty by Mike Karame 

How to Lose a Life You Love: A Memoir of Conditioning, Collapse, and Sovereignty is a meaningful, moving, and inspirational memoir about having and losing it all, and what happens afterwards. Mostly it's about having the resilience to pick yourself up and seize a second life.

Author Mike Karame had a childhood and young adulthood of strife and conflict. His parents’ tense marriage was rocked by bouts of temper, arguments, accusations, and emotional breakdowns resulting in a divorce.

 Karame describes his childhood in war and battle analogies because the arguments felt like a disruption of the peace that he sought. He and his siblings had to navigate their home like a minefield waiting for the next explosion to occur from their father's angry tirades and their mother's tearful silence. 

Karame’s childhood in Beirut was also surrounded by outside wars as well. He describes life in Lebanon as a “simple brutal algorithm. Your religion determines your power. Your sect determines your identity.”

Karame recalled explosions occurring during innocuous moments of watching television or studying in class. Tanks rolling down the streets, soldiers marching in formation, and people sprinting for shelters were commonplace. With wars occurring both inside and outside Karame's home, it's no wonder that he wanted to escape any way possible.

Karame later entered a law career but eventually felt unfulfilled by it. His interest in caring for and riding horses led him to a different path: opening up a horse club. Even though his friends thought that he traded a life of luxury for training horses, he said that he wasn't trading down, “(He) traded up.” It gave him a chance to do something that he loved and gave him personal satisfaction. He loved teaching people to ride and connect with horses and added to his own pursuits by learning kitesurfing, paragliding, deep sea diving, and other outdoor adventures.

This would normally be the end of the story. Someone leaves the life that tied them down and made them miserable and finds the career and life path that makes them happy. In Karame's case however, this is the middle of his story which means there were a lot more changes for him to go through and far more experiences for him to learn from.

A series of problems including a failed romantic relationship, the deaths of his parents, separation from his twin brother, and financial struggles culminated in Karame having to sell the horse club and leaving Lebanon. He had to find the strength and courage to start over in a new country where he was virtually a stranger, Australia. 

Karame described his life in Australia as a “collapse” when he encountered dishonesty from colleagues, unpaid bills, and potential bankruptcy. Despite this he purchased and worked in a bar/restaurant and maintained a relationship with his companion, Kate. He referred to the end as a demolition because a demolition “when you finally stop fearing it, is the beginning of clean ground.”

Karame and Kate traveled by caravan through the Australian outback. The connection to nature, vastness of travel, and the quiet privacy gave the couple a much needed slower pace. They ended up traveling for almost two years heading nowhere in particular. This trip gave them the freedom that they needed.

The tour also helped Karame look at and listen to himself objectively. In the silence, he examined what went wrong in his life and what needed improvement. Sometimes one needs to remove all of the barriers and noise before they can discover who they really are. That is what this tour meant to Karame: an opportunity to find himself.

This book is a memoir that shows readers that a person might have many opportunities and live many lives. They just have to 

be ready to find them.

Barside Manner by Brian Baleno 

 A trend this year seems to be short anthologized slices of life Contemporary Fiction novels set in specific places, usually dining or music establishments, and around ordinary people. The works are short on major plots but long on setting and characterization. This year I reviewed Where The Wave Broke by Robert Rooks, The Travel Man and The Writing Writes, The Writer: Taking Kev to Sizzlin’ Meats and Salads by Kevin Cann. I might even throw in books from years past like Lunch Ladies by Jodi Thomson Carr, The Lindens by Barney Jeffries, Tales From Whiskey Tango From Misery Towers by James Aylott, and The Cabin Sessions by Isobel Blackthorn for sharing many similar qualities with these works.

We can add Brian Baleno’s Barside Manner to this oddly specific subgenre. Just like its predecessors, it captures the immediacy of a small setting and closed circle cast of characters. Despite the small space that confines this specific written universe, Barside Manner presents an intimate close up look that is rich in detail and purpose.

Freddy is the bartender at the local Pittsburgh bar where he greets his regular customers and the occasional new faces. He listens, advises, comforts, provides a sympathetic ear, and sometimes reveals his own personal struggles while his closest associates drink, laugh, joke, bemoan their fate, and engage in friendship and fellowship that are guaranteed until Last Call.

The book itself doesn't really have much of a plot. Mostly it's about characters debating getting rich quick schemes, figuring out the next steps in their lives, changing jobs, changing relationships, moving up, or moving down in life. Plot isn't as important as character and setting. 

We get to know the characters through their dialogue and conversations. They talk about politics, whether AI will take over the world, whether the Steelers have a shot at the playoffs, complain about their jobs or bad relationships, and just about everything else in between. They don't come to agreements but they sure love talking and arguing about it.

The bar is the type of place that is practically a character in and of itself. Freddy makes sure that it's clean and inviting for guests to enter. He knows the usual drink orders and greets both regulars and newcomers jovially. It's cozy, somewhat dim, kind of smoky, has a stench of alcohol but also has a charm and friendly atmosphere that invites characters and readers inside for a few hours.

We also get some insights into the characters that inhabit this confined space. Since there is alcohol involved, they are at their most vulnerable, open, loquacious, reckless, and honest. It is a place where they can forget their troubles for a few hours and someone, usually Freddy, will be there to lend an ear, offer a word, or at the very least fill up another glass.

There is Enzo whom Freddy describes as a “Pittsburgher’s Pittsburgher.” Tough, mouthy, loyal to his family and friends and particularly sports teams. He will be the first to insult the Steelers or the Pirates if they are losing but don't you make the mistake of criticizing them in earshot if you are from out of town. Not unless you have two hours to kill to sit through a lecture about the history of either team.

 There's also Spike, Enzo’s friend. He is a muscular surly man who might strike up a conversation, brandish a fist, or both sometimes during the same discussion. 

Edward LaRoche, AKA Fox Chapel is from a different background than Freddy and the others. His nickname comes from the more affluent area of town in which he lives, a life of wealth and privilege that only exists in his fellow patrons’ fantasies. 

Bob and Jan are a septuagenarian married couple who treat the patrons and Freddy like surrogate children. 

Then there's Freddy who has struggles of his own. At 29 years old, he knows that he has to make changes in his life but is uncertain how to pursue them. He wouldn't mind attending college to obtain a degree but thinks that he is too old.

 He and his girlfriend Lana, a doctoral student trying to get her PhD, have a loving but at times contentious relationship as they discuss their next steps: marriage, moving in together, or breaking up and moving on. As Freddy remarks by quoting U2: “(He) still hasn't found what (he) is looking for.”

There is a complacency that surrounds the characters. It says that things are okay for now. As long as they have a decent job, a roof over their heads, a place to go and destress, maybe some good friends or a loved one then everything is okay. Why aspire for anything better or different? Just stay in the same places, ordering the same drinks, have the same arguments, and remain comfortable.

Many of the situations in the characters' lives involve making changes. They seek money, love, better opportunities, innovation, something new and different. Their actions serve as a reminder to remove from their benign comfort zones to enter different possibilities that test their potential and deliver fulfillment beyond settling. They occur when the characters make changes so they aren't the same people that we met in the beginning.

This book reminds us that we can find pleasure in the ordinary everyday routine but we should also look for the changes that provide the breaks in that routine and challenge us to be different, better people. 

The Sisters: The Saga of The Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell; Engaging Biography of Provocative, Controversial, Opinionated, and Unique Sisters

 

The Sisters: The Saga of The Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell; Engaging Biography of Provocative, Controversial, Opinionated, and Unique Sisters 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews

There are many controversial wealthy families in the 20th and 21st century who made news because of their scandalous behavior, illegal activity, political involvement, entertainment value, or even just by having a prominent family name. One of those is the Mitford Family, a wealthy titled English family. Mary S. Lovell tells the story of this eccentric family particularly the six Mitford Sisters in her book, The Sisters: The Saga of The Mitford Family.

 The Mitfords were shocking, provocative, controversial, divisive, opinionated, unique, and captivating women that interested, fascinated, and disgusted people with their behavior and involvement in the mid-20th century political, social, artistic, and cultural landscapes. They were the subject of books, movies, and miniseries. They recently appeared in episodes of Peaky Blinders and the miniseries Outrageous.

This book, The Sisters, captures their fascinating dynamic, diverse personalities, stormy private lives, and different views which drove many apart from each other. (On a personal note coming from a large family with mostly sisters, I have always been fond of reading about that bond between siblings particularly sisters. Those women who alternate between best friend and worst enemy for so many of us.)

The Mitfords were the children of David Freeman Mitford, 2nd Baron of Redesdale, Northumbria and his wife Sydney Bowles. They were a wealthy, accomplished and highly intelligent family whose maternal grandfather founded several influential magazines like British Vanity Fair and wrote historical biographies. They were also related to the Churchills.

The Mitford parents had different socio-political views which inspired their children in various ways, not all of them for the better. David was an ardent Conservative and held very traditional views particularly where women were concerned. Sydney later became a Fascist and spoke admirably about Hitler. This view would influence three of her children to catastrophic results.

The Mitford’s privileged upbringing shaped the children early on as their parents experimented with various approaches to childrearing. They raised eldest Nancy with few rules and restrictions but reverted to becoming more rigid with the younger children when they felt that Nancy was becoming too spoiled and argumentative. Because of David's rigid views about men and women, they home schooled the girls but sent their son, Tom, to public school in Eton. They were also raised largely in their family estate in rural Northumbria where their snobbish parents only wanted them to hang out with children of their class.

Because of the home schooling and isolated upbringing in the country, the sisters were largely self-taught. They were voracious readers and devoured the books in the family library. They also created their own activities like writing The Boiler, their own literary magazine and newspaper, developing their own secret society called The Hons (a nickname for hens), raising farm animals for pocket money, and creating a secret language that they called Boudelage. This busy thoughtful upbringing molded their creativity, shaped their independent thoughts, and honed their self reliance.

The Mitfords consisted of seven siblings, six sisters and one brother. They were:

Nancy (1904-1973)- One of my two favorite sisters in the family. The eldest, Nancy had a troubled relationship with her siblings because of her caustic teasing sense of humor and bossy nature. She took the lead in many of their activities like editing and publishing The Boiler, created various games, and gave her younger siblings nicknames.

Nancy and her sister Diana were part of the Bright Young Things of the Roaring Twenties and had a close friendship with author Evelyn Waugh. Nancy had a stormy love life consisting of a broken engagement with Hamish Erskine, a closeted peer, an unhappy marriage to Peter Rodd, an alcoholic politician, and an ongoing tempestuous love affair with Gaston Palewski, a womanizing French colonel.

 Nancy's relationship with Palewski was particularly toxic as she became obsessed with him but he devalued and belittled her and was frequently unfaithful.

Nancy was a moderate Socialist though acknowledged her aristocratic upbringing. She was virulently against Fascism despite her mother and siblings’ support and took part in relief efforts for the war. During WWII, Nancy denounced her sister Diana who was an ardent open Fascist.

Nancy became a novelist. Her works included Highland Fling, a romp about Bright Young Things on vacation in Scotland and Wigs on the Green, a satire of the British Fascist movement particularly her brother in law Oswald Moseley. Her trilogy, Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate, and Don't Tell Alfred featured fictionalized versions of her family including her father, sisters, and other relatives. Her novels presented light hearted, mocking, and satirical accounts of the times and society in which she lived. 

Eventually she moved to France where she wrote historical biographies about Madame de Pompadour, Emilie du Chatelet, and Frederick of Prussia and various satirical articles and essays mocking British aristocracy. She died of Hodgkin's Lymphoma after years of frequent pain and surgeries cared for by her younger sisters, Diana, Jessica, and Deborah.

Pamela (1907-1994), The second child, she was the more maternal figure in the children's lives when they were younger. She was frail in early years having developed polio but later became physically strong and healthy. 

Nancy and the younger siblings often came to her for advice. Like her older sister, Pamela was a skilled organizer. Nancy influenced her siblings’ creativity but Pamela was more concerned about their practical needs. She began negotiations between her siblings and their father to increase their earnings from raising farm animals to the commercial average that actual farm workers were making. David was impressed by her research and nerve, so he acquiesced to the request.

Pamela married a physician named Derek Jackson which ended in divorce. She had no children but she and Derek briefly raised her sister Diana's children after she was arrested. She was also the subject of a poem by John Betjeman in which he called her “the most rural of them all.” She was flattered but turned down his marriage proposal.

Despite her marriage, Pamela was a lesbian. She fell in love with Giuditta Tommasi, an Italian horsewoman and lived with her for a time in Switzerland. After Guiditta’s death, Pamela remained in Switzerland until the last of their dogs died.

Unlike her involved siblings, Pamela largely stayed out of politics and spent much of her time in the country. She had a vast array of fur and feathered babies and managed farms in Ireland, Switzerland, and England. She became an expert on breeding chickens, even introducing new breeds into Britain. She appeared on television in agricultural themed documentaries and retrospectives about her family.

A lover of animals to the very end, Pamela's final words, before she succumbed to complications from falling down a flight of stairs, were asking which horse won the race the day before. 

Tom (1909-1945)-He was the third child and only boy. He didn't get as much attention and wasn't as widely known as his more colorful sisters but was still a large presence in their youth and adulthood.

 Because of his schooling, he was not as close to his sisters. He shared similar views to Diana, Unity, and their mother Sydney and despite very different opinions was very close to Jessica. 

Tom was bisexual and had serious affairs with Eton classmate, James Lees-Milne and married dancer Tilly Losch. He also dabbled in Fascism before his death in WWII shortly before the war’s end.

Diana (1910-2003)-The fourth child and third daughter, she was considered a great beauty and social butterfly. She had a wide circle of friends, modeled, and posed for portraits. She was particularly fond of her cousin Winston Churchill who nicknamed her “Diana-mite.”

 The three younger sisters treated her like the cool big sister that they could have fun with whereas bossy Nancy and motherly Pamela did not always suffice. Unity particularly worshipped her which was a factor in her own problems. Like her sister Nancy, Diana was part of the “Bright Young Things” social set of the 1920’s and had many friends and lovers among them.

Diana eventually married and divorced Bryan Guinness, heir to the Guinness Family. She also embraced Fascism and their views of racial superiority. She eventually met and began an affair with Sir Oswald Moseley, head of the British Union of Fascists. They later married after the death of Moseley's wife and became a very notorious couple. Their wedding was attended by Hitler and they considered him and his girlfriend, Eva Braun to be close friends. At one point, Diana was considered “Britain's Most Hated Woman.”

After the Germans invasion of Britain, the Moseleys were arrested and imprisoned leaving Pamela and her then husband Derek to raise their children. Upon their release, they were exiled and lived in South Africa for a time where their racist and nationalistic views were welcomed by the White Apartheid-supporters.

After Moseley's death, Diana wrote book reviews. One of her columns ended when the editor learned of her previous involvement with Fascism and Nazism and terminated her employment. Her columns and articles then mostly appeared in right wing journals. She also wrote nonfiction works about her husband and her close friends and acquaintances like Wallace Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor.

 She later renounced many of her views but retained others such as her continued administration of Hitler. Many considered her words too little too late. She died of emphysema and heat exhaustion during the Paris heat wave of 2003. 

Unity (1914-1948)-The fifth child and fourth daughter. She resorted to shocking and provocative behavior to be noticed among her loud and busy family and may have had mental health disorders. She did unusual things like release pet snakes and rats in public places to get attention. 

Unity was particularly close to her sister, Jessica whom they referred to each other as “boud.” They communicated in their secret language Boudelage so well that they were not always understood by others. However they also had diverse views concerning the conflicts in the 1930s world in which they were raised.

 Unity supported Nazism and admired Hitler while Jessica became a Communist and devotee of Lenin and Stalin. Supposedly, their bedroom was sharply divided with a German flag, swastikas, and pictures of Hitler on Unity's side and Soviet flag, hammers and sickles, and pictures of Lenin and Stalin on Jessica's. 

There is some evidence that Unity was led to Fascism and eventually Nazism specifically because of her mother, brother, and older sister Diana's influence. That may have been true but her devotion became an obsession and paranoia. She openly spoke about and wrote Anti-Semitic views and was volatile when challenged.

Unity was obsessed with Adolf Hitler to the point of stalking him in Germany. They developed an affair during Hitler's temporary break up with long time lover, Eva Braun. It was a dangerous affair in which the leader infantilized and dominated her and she was submissive towards him. 

Their affair ended when Unity attempted suicide via gunshot on the eve of the German invasion of Britain. She survived and returned to England in the care of her mother and younger sister, Deborah. 

Unity suffered brain damage and amnesia. She fell into a childlike dependent state often requiring care. She may have had a brief passionate relationship with John Anderson, an RAF pilot but it ended quickly when he was reassigned and subsequently killed in battle. Unity eventually died of meningitis caused by cerebral swelling from the bullet. 

Jessica or Decca (1917-1996)-My other favorite Mitford sister. The sixth child and fifth daughter, she was the most outspoken and rebellious child and wasn't afraid to challenge her parents and siblings. She argued with her father when she wanted to go to school and questioned her mother's insistence on only playing with children of their class.

As previously mentioned, Jessica and Unity were close but took directly opposite political views. Jessica read about the Great Depression, the union strikes, racism, and hunger marches. They stoked her social conscience. Her sympathies towards lower income people led her to embrace Communism to the detriment of the rest of the family.

She eventually eloped with Esmond Romily, himself an avowed Communist and a distant cousin of hers and Winston Churchill’s. The Romilys emigrated to Spain where they sided with the Loyalists or Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. They wrote articles denouncing the Nationalists, tested weapons, and argued with their family who insisted on Jessica's return. Eventually the Romilys left Spain and moved to London then the United States.

While in the United States, Jessica became involved in various causes. In lieu of their once close bond, Jessica continued to speak well of Unity, but she was antagonistic towards Diana. After Edmond’s death during the War, Jessica denounced her older sister saying that she and Moseley should be shot. (They only reconciled years later while caring for an ailing Nancy.) 

Jessica eventually remarried a Civil Rights attorney named Robert Treuhaft and became heavily involved in American politics. She took part in protests to stop the execution of Willie McGee and refused to speak in front of the House of Un-American Activities.

Jessica, a self-described “professional muckraker” and investigative journalist wrote books and articles that explored her views in great detail and attacked various institutions and industries in Europe and the United States. Her books included, Hons and Rebels about her childhood, The American Way of Death (considered her most important work), attacking the funeral industry, The Trial of Dr. Benjamin Spock, The Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr., Michael Ferber, Mitchell Goodman, and Marcus Ruskin, focusing on their protest against the Vietnam War and conspiracy to violate draft laws, Kind and Usual Punishment: The Prison Business attacking the American prison system, and The American Way of Birth, which criticized hospital care towards pregnant women, and articles about Southern attitudes about the Civil Rights movement for Esquire and decrying fraudulent correspondence course businesses for the Atlantic Monthly. 

True to her negative views about the American funeral industry, when Jessica died, her funeral cost a mere $533.31 and her ashes were scattered at sea.

Deborah or Debo (1920-2014)-The youngest of the family, she was considered quiet and sweet tempered. She was often babied by her older siblings and went along with many of the older ones’ schemes.

Deborah's sympathetic nature towards her siblings continued through the adversities. Even after her family stood on opposite political sides, she retained close correspondences with all of them often serving as a bridge among them. Similar to Pamela, she largely stayed out of politics and her views shifted from Conservative to Social Democratic. 

She was also the most sensitive and was greatly affected by her parents' separation when her father moved out of the Mitford home to an island off the west coast of Scotland and her mother remained on the estate. They reunited briefly when Unity returned. However they remained separated, unreconciled, but legally married until David's death in 1958.

Deborah eventually married Andrew Cavendish, the second son of the Duke of Devonshire. His older brother, William was killed in action in 1944 and William’s wife Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy died in a plane crash, Yes she was the sister of John F. Kennedy which linked the Mitfords to another wealthy, famous, controversial, and influential family. After the death of Andrew’s father, he and Deborah became the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.

 Deborah took to running her husband's ancestral home, Chatsworth House which was in poor condition upon her arrival. She spent time and money renovating, restoring, and modernizing it. It is now one of Britain's most successful stately homes and is open for tours.

Deborah wrote several books on Chatsworth's restoration, the rooms, furnishings, and gardens and other books about home care. She was frequently interviewed about her sisters, including for Lovell's book becoming an unofficial family historian. When she died in 2014, she was honored as the last of the Mitfords.

The Mitford Family were outrageous, scandalous, and colorful. They were women who were highly intelligent, knew their own minds, and chose their own paths. Sometimes those paths led them down dark roads of prejudice, violence, hatred, and animosity. They suffered heartbreak, loss, separation, and the effects of a world that rapidly changed around them. Lovell's book shows that most importantly the sisters were unforgettable. 

The Waterway Girls by Milly Adams; The Emotional Cost and Support of ‘Doing Your Bit’ in War Time

 

The Waterway Girls by Milly Adams; The Emotional Cost and Support of ‘Doing Your Bit’ in War Time

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Now we come to one of my favorite patterns: two books reviewed at the same time that take different approaches to the same topic. This time we have Bob Van Laerhoven's The Long Farewell and Milly Adams’ The Waterway Girls. Both are Historical Fiction WWII novels which involve regular people getting involved in ways that aren't on the direct battlefield and forces them into facing personal and political situations that change them. The differences between them lie in tone and theme.

The Long Farewell is a journey into the heart of darkness as Hermann Becht, the young protagonist, leaves his toxic home life to become a spy investigating concentration camps. He recognizes the inhumanity around him and the shadow reaches within his own soul.

The Waterway Girls recognizes darkness including war, deaths of loved ones, poverty, domestic violence, child abuse, and misogyny. But it does all of this with the nostalgia filter that speaks of courage, sacrifice, and doing one's bit to uphold those fighting and especially the community left behind. I don't want to say that it's lighter toned but it does make individual contributions a central focus and moves the historical context from something that people are still faced with these days into something that was direct products of its time. 

Polly Holmes has recently lost her twin brother and her fiance is also off fighting. Polly decides that she wants to help on the home front. She uses her training on boats to become a waterway girl. These were women who transported cargo from one place to another. Polly sails from London to Manchester but she doesn't travel alone. She travels with Bet Burrows, the sturdy lead and Verity Clement, an upper class woman with a severe attitude problem and buried secrets. The three women navigate their way through an unusual, detailed, and sometimes harsh environment, face disagreements with each other, and focus on their own issues.

The Waterway Girls is the type of novel that blends the political and the personal. One way that Adams does this is by focusing on the setting. The time is marked by great change where many men fought in the war and others had to do their bit to support them like taking jobs, organizing air raid defense and shelters, joining home guard defense, gathering supplies, organizing entertainment, building gardens, hosting evacuees and many other ways. 

However the book doesn't just focus on the war. It focuses on waterfront life. The various riverside towns and their people are brilliantly described but thankfully without making them cloying or overly sentimental. The book captures the duties, terminology, and socio-cultural lives of the people whose lives revolve around the river in which they live near.

The book also explores personal conflicts inhabited by the people involved. We see extreme poverty which causes many to resort to crime and violence to pay the bills. There is a subplot about an abusive man who threatens his family, particularly his young son who bonds with the protagonists.

The main characters are affected by the war and exposure to river life. Bet, Polly, and Verity are three of many people whose lives are irrevocably changed by fighting the war on the home front.

Because of this change, many previous lines are erased. Women gain physical strength, persevere despite stress, and gain agency. Bet is very knowledgeable about seamanship and is able to pursue these interests without being sidelined by male employers. She is able to command a boat and guide its crew to become the person that she always wanted to be.

Polly also gains independence and strength through her work. She turns her grief into action as she works to deliver cargo. Her interest in boating and waterfront life comes to practical use. Polly also uses her loss to empathetically bond with many of the people that she encounters. Polly is someone who turned her tragedy into triumph.

By far the strongest character development is found in Verity. She comes from an upper class background which causes her to be initially sheltered and set apart from her colleagues. Her argumentative standoffish nature cost them one crew member before Polly’s arrival. Just as Polly has to learn independence, and Bet has to learn leadership, Verity has to learn how to be part of a team.

The Waterway Girls gives plenty of insights over how WWII was fought on the home front and how it changed the people who lived through it.

Madame Fiocca by Suzy Henderson; Gripping Moving Historical Fiction Novel About Nancy Wake, WWII Spy and Resistance Fighter

 

Madame Fiocca by Suzy Henderson; Gripping Moving Historical Fiction Novel About Nancy Wake, WWII Spy and Resistance Fighter 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Of the various spies and intelligence operatives that participated in WWII, one of the most well known and decorated was probably Nancy Wake (1912-2011). Her story is recounted in the gripping and moving Historical Fiction novel, Madame Fiocca by Suzy Henderson. 

Nancy Wake was born in New Zealand and raised in New South Wales, Australia. She had Maori ancestry through her great grandmother who was believed to be one of the first Maori women to marry a white European man. Wake’s father abandoned the family and she did not get along with her mother. At 16 she ran away from home and eventually traveled to New York City after inheriting money from an aunt. She eventually became a journalist and moved to London then Paris.

While Wake lived in Paris, Hitler rose to power in Germany. Wake's articles criticized the Nazis and described the oppression and attacks on Jews. In 1937, Wake met Henri Fiocca, a French industrialist whom she married two years later. She and Henri lived in Marseille when Germany invaded. Wake became a courier and part of the Pat O’Leary Line of Resistance fighters. When Vichy France was formed, the O’Leary Line was betrayed. The Fioccas separated as Wake left France but Henri stayed behind and was executed. Wake didn't learn of his death until after WWII ended.

On her own, Wake joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and worked directly under Vera Atkins. In 1944, Wake parachuted back into France. Using the code name, “Helene,” she delivered missives, money, and correspondence between Maquis groups. She participated in many daring missions including one where she had to ride a bicycle for 72 hours to transmit a radio message. She eluded the Germans and even though she was briefly arrested with a trainload of people, she was never discovered or detained. She was nicknamed “The White Mouse” because the Germans could never catch her.

After the war ended, Wake received the Companion of the Order of Australia, George Medal, The US Medal of Freedom, Legion of Honor, The Medaille de Resistance, RSA Badge in Gold, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre three times. She entered politics, remarried, and published her memoirs. She died in 2011 at age 98.

Madame Fiocca captures Wake’s courageous and independent spirit through her first person narration. She is written as a strong-willed determined spunky adventure seeker who is not thwarted by rejection. She finds her own way.

When she moves in with her aunt, Wake finds her to be an encouraging kindred spirit. Through her influence, Wake is able to travel and write. 

Wake's personality also resonates through her marriage to Henri. They are a couple that enjoyed sparring with each other as much as they did making love. Wake's spirited temperament contrasts with Henri’s steadier rational personality. Their marriage is a test of wills to the point that when Wake wants to join the Resistance that Henri realizes that he would be a fool to tell her that she can't.

Wake's trajectory from journalist to Resistance fighter to intelligence operative is an exciting one as she is put into situations that test her endurance. Sometimes it's a matter of trusting potential colleagues as she has to when trying to convince another Resistance group leader to join forces. Sometimes she survives by pure chance such as when she is arrested in a mass detainment only to be released after four days.

Most of all, her resilience and perseverance is on display throughout the book. Her bicycle ride is recalled through her physical exhaustion and pain during the ride, nervous suspicions of what she will find and who is waiting to capture her, and her frantic determination to reach the radio operator in time.

Madame Fiocca is about a woman with an adventurous independent spirit who became a hero. 

Keep On Glowing Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow by Robin Emtage; The Belgian Girls by Kathryn Atwood; Mission: Red Scythe by C.W. James

Keep On Glowing Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow by Robin Emtage; The Belgian Girls by Kathryn Atwood; Mission: Red Scythe by C.W. James

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Keep On Glowing: Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow by Robin Emtage 

 Every woman has a fire, power source, inside that is forged by resilience, wisdom, and unstoppable feminine force. Some call this fire a glow. All women have it but not all are aware of it or use it to its fullest potential. Sometimes it fades over time or is buried under years, sometimes decades, of conditioning. It can dim and fade away into nothingness if not nurtured and cared for. Robin Emtage, beauty stylist, holistic glow expert, and founder of Silktage Tropical Inspired Beauty Products, wrote Keep On Glowing: Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow to help inspire women to discover and retain that glow throughout their lives.

Emtage’s Keep on Glowing Method consists of five pillars: Radiant Mindset, Sacred Self Care, Glow Rituals, Protective Boundaries, and Unapologetic Expression. Emtage describes this method as one that is designed to help readers return to themselves with grace, confidence, and an unstoppable glow.

Each chapter focuses on different concepts like creating a bold mindset for lasting radiance, practicing self-compassion for inner glow, gaining confidence and beauty that blossoms with age, reclaiming inner power, protecting glow in relationships, giving permission to shine, glowing forward and inspire, aging with intention and conscious glowing, using age-defying rituals, crafting a glow that lasts, building momentum through small deadly wins,practicing the art of saying no and creating boundaries, reimagining radiance and recognizing beauty beyond the mirror, building the life that you deserve, designing a life that radiates inside and out, and glowing forward. 

The book features advice and wisdom that is clearly explained with encouraging words. For example “Chapter 2: Be Your Own Best Friend: Self-Compassion for Inner Glow,” has words about “The Foundation of Self-Compassion, “The Glow Killing Inner Critic,” and “The Glow Boosting Power of Self-Talk.” “The Power of Self-Talk” section suggests ways of verbally turning negative self-criticism into positive and encouraging affirmations. For example, instead of saying, “I’m bad at this,” Emtage suggests changing the limiting sentence to “I’m learning and every step makes me better.”

Activities inspire readers to list their concerns, ways that can be improved, and identifying positive attributes. For example “Chapter 3: Embrace Your Radiance: Confidence and Beauty That Blossoms With Age”, includes various rituals, writing exercises, and actions that help guide the inner glow to shine. For example “Radiate Gratitude: Unleashing the Glow of Appreciation”, suggests that readers write down one thing that they like about themselves to remind them that they are worthy of admiration and respect especially from themselves. 

The chapters also include Glow Actions and Affirmations as final takeaways to preserve the inner glow. “Chapter 4: Reclaim Your Feminine Power: Unlocking Your True Glow” includes a Glow Action of writing a letter to oneself declaring a commitment to living fully in their power. They are encouraged to reveal what they will no longer tolerate, what they will say yes to, and to read the letter whenever they feel their light dimming. The Glow Affirmation for this chapter is “I reclaim my glow with every choice, every boundary, and every act of self-love.” 

The Belgian Girls by Kathryn J. Atwood

This is a summary of the review. The full reviews can be found on LitPick.

The Belgian Girls tells two stories. It combines the adventures of two women, a real life figure and a fictional character from the two different World Wars, to tell an intergenerational story of courage, sacrifice, freedom, heroism, and rebellion against oppression. 

The first chronological one is the true story of Gabrielle “Gaby” Petit, a barmaid in pre-WWI Belgium. Infuriated by the presence of German soldiers in her country, she organizes a spy network to pass information and defeat her country’s enemies. The second story, the fictionalized account, is that of Julienne Gobert, newly arrived in Brussels with her widowed father. She hears the story of Gaby Petit and is inspired to also become a spy and Resistance fighter against the Nazis as they devour the country around her. 

The stories perfectly merge together with characters, plot threads, and situations that link the two together. For example both protagonists were recently hit with trauma even before their involvement with the war efforts.The traumas leave these young women feeling unprotected in a changing world that is becoming more complicated but also tests their resilience, independence, and willingness to challenge their surroundings. 

The dual narration of the book shows how important it is to look to the past and learn how to live during tough times. Those tough times bring out the best in both women. Gabrielle, who lived a hard existence, learns to empathize with others and fight for her country. Julienne is pulled from her previous mousy timid nature and is moved by Gaby’s story. She becomes bolder and more courageous during times of danger. Both women are willing to fight and die if they have to.

The stories of Gabrielle Petit and Julienne Gobert remind us that one of the best ways to survive tough times of war, violence, tyranny, death, oppression, and poverty is to look to the past and how others lived during them, adapted to their surroundings, fought against them, and became heroes. Perhaps in doing so they can become heroes in the present.

Mission: Red Scythe (A James Vagus Thriller) by C.W. James

This is a summary of the review. The full review is on LitPick.

This book combines the flashy colorful adventures of a Ian Fleming James Bond novel with the duplicitous realistic tension of a John LeCarre novel.

In 1965, orphaned James Vagus is given an interesting offer. John Smith represents MIS-X the mysterious benefactor of James’ education. Smith notes James’ youth, good looks, amiable but reserved personality, and affinity for languages. MIS-X is looking for young recruits to go to places where the youth hang out like concerts, colleges, and class trips and gather information unobtrusively. In other words they are looking for teen spies. James is the perfect potential spy. He accepts the proposal, is given a partner Dakota Walker, and receives his first major assignment. He is to trail Otto Stradt, a corrupt businessman with ties to Eastern Europe. This assignment leads James and Dakota straight to a conspiracy involving scientists studying the potential of killer biology and the governments who will pay top dollar for such research. 

 James and Dakota are spies with all of the gorgeous locations, beautiful people, and cool toys and gadgets but also have an awareness that the governments that one works for can’t always be trusted, that agents can be quickly betrayed, and murder is never far away.

There is a seedy underside to this seemingly glamorous world, a seedy underside that young adults in their late teens and whose brains haven’t been fully developed are being thrown into. 

There is a constant awareness of death and betrayal that surrounds the characters. Even the characters that are on each other’s side may not be completely trustworthy as these young characters are encouraged to do everything they can lie, steal, have affairs, break laws, and murder to please their country and allies. There are moments that if the characters don’t expect betrayal from the presumed good guys, the reader might.

The only real true honest bond is that between James and Dakota. There are moments when one is captured, the other is willing to go through extremes to rescue them even if they risk blowing their cover. In this world of dishonesty, corruption, secrets, and murder the most honest moment is when the two partners acknowledge not only their friendship but also their brotherhood.

German But Not German by J.C. Berger; The Parallels Between Past and Present

 German But Not German by J.C. Berger; The Parallels Between Past and Present 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: For obvious current Presidential Administration-sized reasons, many people are reading and studying various times of dictatorships, how those under them rebelled and fought the system, the ways and means that the ideals and values that propel such action are spread, and most crucially of all how the dictatorships were overthrown and the important steps to be taken afterwards to rebuild the country and not make the same mistakes of the past and fall under the spell of another dictator.

One of the most obvious examples because it has been shouted out so frequently lately is The Holocaust under the genocidal tyranny of Adolf Hitler. One of the books that illustrates what life was like under that tyranny is J.C. Berger’s German But Not German about a German-Jewish family whose world implodes because of the reign of a former paperhanger and failed art student with a destructive and fatal vision for the continent in which he lived.

Inge Schoenberg is raised in Germany in the 1920’s-’30’s by her frivolous mother, distant father, bickering but charming uncles, and her stern but loving grandparents. Their internal conflicts of changed jobs, school worries, and a frequently absent and eventually estranged wife and mother become minimal as Hitler begins his reign of terror. Many Jewish families are stripped of their rights, detained in mass arrests, forced to obey dehumanizing laws, and are deported somewhere never to be seen again. The Schoenbergs are left with a very important decision, should they remain and stick things out or should they emigrate.

Let's get the elephant in the review out of the way first. Yes, there are a lot of eerie comparisons between what is happening in the book to what is happening right now. Berger not only gives us a deeply personal story about the Holocaust, he expands it by showing how Hitler got his reign started and how it quickly engulfed the entire country, continent of Europe, and threatened to destroy the entire planet. 

Throughout the book, we are given updates about what is going on in a historical context throughout the book. Berger offers not only the historical dry facts, but the perspectives that many had at the time. For example, the publication of Mein Kampf concerned some with the Antisemitic rhetoric but many simply saw it as the ravings of a lunatic, a nobody, someone that no one can or should take seriously. They were wilfully ignorant of what Mein Kampf really was: Hitler's biases for his hatred, goals that he wanted the country to do, and most importantly a master plan of how he wanted the country to accomplish this. It was not the rantings of a madman, it was a cold methodical plan of a hateful person who studied the character of others, knew what buttons to press and what to say to influence them, and a willingness to use other people to carry out those desires. Dare I say it, it was the work of an evil genius that was only recognized as such in hindsight. 

I'm sure many might feel the same about Project 2025, and let's be honest with ourselves, Art of the Deal. Readers didn't take them seriously. They dismissed them. They thought the detractors were exaggerating or part of some conspiracy meant to make the preparers and fans look bad. They didn't want to admit that Art of the Deal point blank explains Trump's behaviors and justifications for his later behavior as a President, someone filled with avarice and heartlessness who only looks at gain for themselves, never apologizes or accepts blame, attacks the critics and accuses others of what he himself is doing, thinks that everything is for sale, and never takes no for an answer. 

These are traits that Trump still inhabits and is often surrounded by Elon Musk and others who also exhibit those traits. We saw and read for ourselves what Trump was really like and instead of seeing Trump as a potential dictator and autocrat, we simply just saw him as an example of 80’s excess. Someone who had power for a time but is now outdated. Others actually took him to be a savvy businessman and thought that his views were admirable. But we didn't see the long term implications that those characteristics that he extolled for business were later used in politics to shape, transform, and change the country to his liking.

Project 2025 was the blueprint for what Trump and his cronies, particularly The Heritage Foundation wanted to accomplish. Many of us read it, recognized it for the plan for dictatorship that it was, and warned people. We highlighted the passages that were particularly problematic and sent messages through social media. We endorsed Harris and other politicians, even Republican ones like Liz Cheney who spoke out against it. We helped people register to vote and made them recognize the importance of voting. We talked about it, warned about it, made videos about it, shared it, and voted against it. 

Unfortunately, we became Cassandra in Greek mythology, gifted with the power of prophecy but unable to make opposing forces listen to or believe us. Most people didn't want to believe it. They told themselves that checks and balances would prevent it. They told themselves that we survived Trump's first term (though not everyone did), so how bad could it be? Maybe some wanted it to happen to gain power for themselves by dehumanizing and criminalizing others. Instead of investigating for themselves, understanding our fears, and working towards keeping it from happening, they chose willful ignorance and the whole country is paying the price. If you don't believe me, then I challenge everyone reading this review to read Project 2025’s manifest for themselves and point by point match their goals and what has already been accomplished. You will see that not only is the Trump Administration following it, it is already looking to exceed the Heritage Foundation's initial expectations. Keep in mind, this is only February, the second full month of the current Administration.

There are other obvious parallels as well. The dehumanization and mass arrests of Jews during the Holocaust can be seen in the dehumanization and mass arrests of immigrants. DOGE’s closures of departments is similar to the Nazi Party reshaping the central German government to make their actions possible without accountability. That also can be parallel to the legislative and judicial branches having a Republican majority to make Executive Orders easier to enforce. Trump chose a Cabinet and advisors that are inexperienced sycophants with criminal and unethical reputations like Hitler chose his inner circle. There are comparisons between the Beer Hall Putsch and January 6 and their aftermaths in which the leaders became convicted felons but served little to no time and still became leaders. Even some parallels between the Reichstag Fire and the Gleiwitz Incident resonate alongside the assassination attempt on Trump. Unfortunately, history runs in cycles and we can either learn from it or make the same mistakes. 

Because of this parallel situation between the past and present, it is very easy for Readers to identify with and understand Inge’s plight. Sure, we may have had familial problems as she did, or other issues related to work or relationships. but they were our individual problems. Under the weight of the traumatic stress of living in a dictatorship, those issues are often cast aside for larger political concerns. 

It is easy to see the confusion, terror, and anxiety when everything around you from schools, to stores, to media, to arts and entertainment sources, to friends and family change to fit the new normal. You don't recognize the world anymore and feel like somehow you landed in some other world. There's a lot of denial and a lack of acceptance clinging to the hope that it will be over soon.

It's also perfectly understandable why it takes so long for Inge and her family to decide to emigrate and for Inge to become proactive in the fight against the Nazis. It's easy to stand on the outside thinking “If it's so bad why don't you just leave.” But then other factors have to be considered like cost, obtaining paperwork and passports, finding employment, living in a new country and getting used to its culture and language, keeping from being stranded in this new place, trying to make new friends, and reuniting with friends and family. They also have to weigh the possibility of whether it's better to remain and fight on the inside, trying to find and retain the values that they once held, even if it means facing prison, institutionalization, sent to a concentration camp, or death. 

Emigration and outright rebellion are not easy decisions to make and this book explores those options. Inge and her family are put through tremendous stress and trauma and some members don't make it. Some have a hard time adjusting to the changing world around them, even when they are safe in another country. They still stand out and have high levels of anxiety and PTSD. Also the older characters are often set in their ways and don't want to adapt. They can only hold onto old times and a nostalgic past while younger characters, like Inge, at least try to find a new path in their current home. In adapting, Inge finds the anger to strike out at those who hurt her family and former country and the courage to serve in the RAF and take a real blow towards those who perverted the world in which she lived.

In reading about the past, Readers can find parallels with the present, recognize the warning signs, learn how to live under such a system, and most importantly become inspired to find ways to fight and rebel against it. I found my way through reading and writing. Now it's time for you to find yours. 

1949: Starlings of Peace Book 1 of The Historical Fiction Trilogy by Catharine A Deever; Character Driven Novel About Life Between WWII and The Cold War

 1949: Starlings of Peace Book 1 of The Historical Fiction Trilogy by Catharine A Deever; Character Driven Novel About Life Between WWII and The Cold War

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: It doesn't take a lot of Historical research to realize that the end of World War II was a direct cause to the Cold War. The United States and Soviet Union were once allied against the Axis Powers and then emerged from the aftermath as the two strongest super powers. They divided most of the world through their ideologies, support of political figures, military might, and resources distribution. Even though not a single weapon was fired between the two superpowers, the Cold War was a war of arms distribution, ideologies, and political maneuvering. It was not the war of guns, aircrafts, tanks, bombers, atomic weapons, and soldiers of the Second World War.

Catharine A. Deever’s novel 1949: Starlings of Peace, captures the tumultuous years in which the Second World War ended and The Cold War began when one conflict was removed but another lay in the horizon.

In keeping with the themes of changing warfare and ideologies, even though it is by definition a war novel, it isn't concerned with big battles and sweeping military fears. It isn't long on plot. Instead it focuses on characterization and how it's various leads, specifically four couples navigate a changing world that promises peace but actually brings more conflict.

The four couples in question are:

Capt. John Jacob “Mac” MacDonald and Magdalena Eva “Maggie” Welles-From America. He is an Air Force pilot who was shot down and is now investigating the damaged European countries. She is a political operative and senator’s daughter who is on a fact finding mission for the Marshall Plan. Their separate ambitions are as powerful as their desire for finding and navigating a future together.

Sir Robert Anthony “Tony” and Lady Evelyn Taylor- From Britain. He is a baronet and financial newspaper magnate. She is an investment firm partner from an aristocratic family. They put off plans for a family on hold during the war and now they are ready. Unfortunately, they have to deal with changing feelings and putting on an elegant front in the face of a troubled home life.

Rene Laurent and Violet Charlet Boulanger-From France. He is an interpreter and translator who is mourning the loss of most of his Jewish family. She is a language teacher who specializes in Russian and is able to study the Soviet Union and provide insights on the impending superpower. They reunited after a long separation and tremendous grief which puts a toll on their relationship.

Sebastian Lukas Gauss and Heidimarie Regina “Heidi” Bauer-From Germany. He is a former soldier and POW who currently runs a small hotel. She is a former resistance fighter who now works for Sebastian. The two work to make their hotel into a success while suffering from the traumas of their past and growing attraction for each other.

The characters have many stand out moments where they deal with the scars of the previous war and live in the uncertainty of the future with another different sort of war looming on the horizon. They are at crossroads and have to navigate a return to a life that they may not be able to fully return to.

The couples have some interesting moments which display the depths of their characterization. Mac for example is still living with his injury and is trying to reform Europe for the future. Maggie is a very dedicated woman who uses her position to find out exactly what post-war lives are like without propaganda getting in the way. Their romance starts out well because they have similar goals and are very intelligent professionals. It goes a bit too fast for two rational adults in a post-war time setting when they get married not even halfway through the book. Considering the setting is one year, they were only involved for weeks or months before they were wed.

 I suppose a quickie romance and subsequent marriage would have made more sense during the war but it seems a bit too sudden to be believable here. Maybe, their romance should have been more of a slow burn leading to an engagement in the final chapter. But that's a small quibble because Mac and Maggie are two characters that bounce off each other like lovers in the movies of that era.

Tony and Evelyn’s relationship comes from a different place than Mac and Maggie’s. They are a more sophisticated couple that had to keep their private lives behind closed doors. There is one telling argument that they have which suggests that their marriage was out of convenience and for appearances rather than any emotional or romantic feelings towards each other. This conversation plays a lot into how they interact with each other in public and in private. 

They are a couple that put up appearances before the War and put emotional personnel decisions on hold. Now that the War is over, they have to talk about them. Tony and Evelyn care about each other but now have to decide whether appearances matter in a changing world or is it finally time to achieve personal happiness. 

We also get PTSD from characters who were first hand witnesses to the brutal dehumanization of the Nazi Party. Rene and Heidi’s stories are by far the most traumatic in the book so it is good to see them embracing chances for new and better lives.

Being Jewish, Rene lost most of his family in the death camps. Even more heart wrenching is that he and Violet’s young son also died. They suffer such tremendous loss and grief and naturally are uncertain whether they can ever recover when they lost everything and everyone they ever knew and loved.

With the absence of family, Rene and Violet from families with the people around them. Ever amiable, Rene works alongside and translates for the others. He is a bridge that brings the various characters together. Violet is also in an interesting position. As a Russian translator, she is able to get some insights into the country that will soon become a formidable adversary on the world stage.

Heidi also has a gripping backstory. She has flashbacks of the things that she had to do to survive such as dressing as a boy to avoid rapists and becoming quite adept at using weapons. She lived in total flight or fight survival mode and it is difficult for her to adjust to a world where she doesn't have to live like that.

Sebastian and Heidi have a very interesting dynamic as she is someone who suffered at the hands of the Nazis and he is someone who while wasn't a member did a lot of damage by ignoring the signs until it was too late. In the post-war period, they have to navigate an unlikely friendship as well as their goals to open and run a successful business. 

The characters in 1949 brilliantly capture people who have finally reached the end of one stage in their lives and now have to deal with what comes next in their lives, relationships, and countries.

New Book Alert: A Shadow Upon His Soul (The WW2 Hidden Lives Series-Book One) by Ophelie Caton; Bleak and Passionate Look at Male Homosexuality During World War II

 

New Book Alert: A Shadow Upon His Soul (The WW2 Hidden Lives Series-Book One) by Ophelie Caton; Bleak and Passionate Look at Male Homosexuality During World War II

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

I apologize for being so errant with this blog lately. I had a host of personal issues and limited Internet time so I have a lot of catching up to do.

Spoilers: Ophelie Caton's World War II novel A Shadow Upon Its Soul knows how to capture the shadows in wartime: the shadows of family separation, PTSD, hatred, violence, and of hiding one's real identity and sexuality behind societal standards and unjust prejudicial laws.

Karl, a 17 year old Dane has gone into exile to escape the Nazis who will force him to enlist or be sent to a concentration camp.

Kar then finds himself in England where he is taken in by the Hopkins, a kindly couple whose home hosts other borders and exiles. He becomes fast friends with the Hopkins and their son, Paul but his eye is caught by George, a bad-tempered boarder who has problems of his own.

Emotions run rampant in this book and in a stressful time that is to be expected. Karl is an outsider in many ways, even in Denmark. While it appeared to be a happy home that he left, there were hints that suggested otherwise. Later in the book, we learn that his home life was not a pleasant one. It may be a home that should the war end, he may not be able to return to anyway.

This isolation increases when Karl goes to England and spends most of the book trapped by the language barrier. Since he speaks very little English and they know very little Danish, it's hard for Karl to make his basic wants known. Little by little, he begins to understand his host language and communicates in broken English.

Karl finds a surrogate family with the Hopkins Family, new parents and a surrogate brother in Paul. He also finds a temporary rival in George. At first, George is not happy sharing a room and bed with this foreigner. He acts very nasty and rude towards Karl to keep him at arm's length. He is someone who is angry at life because he is estranged from his family and the only person that he ever loved is miles away and in potential danger.

Karl and George's relationship begins when both are at their most vulnerable. George receives devastating news and Karl is confused about his own feelings to this boarder who alternately hates and loves him. They both suffer from pangs of their pasts and those pains are finally laid open for the other to see. Here they are at their most naked and honest towards each other with all defenses down.

Once they open themselves to a real relationship, Karl and George's problems don't magically go away. In fact, they get worse. Karl has to weigh his options about what he wants to do and realizes that the home that he once knew is no longer a home. George's depression continues while Karl temporarily relieved him of that grief. 

Theirs is not a relationship that is built to last but it is one that is meant to change them and bring each other to another level. Karl in particular begins to redefine what the words "home" and "love" really mean.

New Book Alert: Fool, Anticipation by Robert Polakoski; Brilliant Historical Fiction About a Woman's Exploration of Her Talent and Sexuality

 New Book Alert: Fool, Anticipation by Robert Polakoski; Brilliant Historical Fiction About a Woman's Exploration of Her Talent and Sexuality 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: It doesn't need to be said how appropriate it is to review a historical fiction about a lesbian poet struggling against restrictive gender roles and the lack of understanding towards her sexuality. It doesn't need to be said how SCOTUS' boneheaded, archaic, self-serving, underhanded, homophobic and misogynistic decisions to overturn Roe Vs. Wade, protections towards same sex marriages and gender affirming care, and recently permission for people to use religious freedom as an excuse to deny services, goods, and care to LGBTQ+ people make a book like Robert Polakoski's Fool, Anticipation even more relevant. (And that ending Affirmative Action and not legacy acceptances and hiring practices shows their true racist colors, mostly white, as well). It doesn't need to be said that such rulings and laws created and encouraged by Conservatives, especially Fundamentalists, are set to roll back women and LGBT+ people's statuses and protection back several centuries (or worse forward to Handmaid's Tale's Gilead). None of that needs to be said but it's being said anyway. Fool, Anticipation by Robert Polakoski is a book with a character who says all of that and more. It is a brilliant historical fiction about a woman who explores her talent and sexuality to find her own voice and independence.

Like with many Historical Fiction novels, we start with the protagonist, now older, looking back on their lives, perhaps writing or dictating their memoirs. In this case, poet Edna Rose Doyle is being interviewed by a reporter for a French publication. She gives some interesting hints that her life was a troubled one before we get to the narrative proper.

Rose Doyle was born in Jersey City to an Irish-American family given to abuse and alcoholism. To escape her unhappy home life, Rose turns to poetry, particularly that of Edna St. Vincent Millay. In fact, Millay becomes such an ideal that Rose calls herself Edna in the poet's honor. She wants to live her life the way Millay did, openly flaunting female lovers, writing frank and honest poems about sex, war, and social injustice, and living in Greenwich Village surrounded by other artists, writers, and intellectuals. 

Edna ends up working at Great Eastern Electric as a telephone tester during WWII. After the war ends, she and a few female friends go out for a few drinks when she encounters Tommy Prosky. Edna and Tommy have differing opinions about the war (Tommy was for, Edna against) but go on a second date. It is on this second date where Tommy rapes Edna, leaving her pregnant.

The pregnancy leaves Edna devastated and is left even more devastated when a doctor refuses to give her an abortion. She has a brief affair with another woman, Elle Rochfort before Edna returns to the reality of her situation and is forced to marry Tommy and endure an unhappy marriage rocked by abuse, addiction, and a mental breakdown.

Edna's intelligence and sardonic nature really shine through in her first person narration. I cannot stress this enough how well written this female perspective is, especially considering that Fool, Anticipation was written by a man. Polakoski captures the complexities of this character and makes her identifiable and understandable as she questions her life, sexuality, and place in the world as a woman of deep intellect and desires that society tells her that she should not have.

Edna has a definite idea of how she imagines her life. During adolescence, she stood outside the home of Millay, imagining herself as a poet surrounded by arty intellectuals, writing verses about how she really feels, and taking female lovers openly. However, the dreams are dashed by reality. She sends poems to publications that are rejected (though she admits that she is happy to even receive a rejection letter). At 19, she gets accepted to Vassar on a scholarship and saves money for the opportunity, but her rape, pregnancy, and quickie marriage end that plan.

On her jaunts to New York, Edna looked outside the Women's Literary Society,  longed to be a part of it, and also saw Elle looking at her through a window. She would have loved to enter the society and have a relationship with Elle but knew that society would never allow such a pairing. Ironically, during one of the lowest points of her life after her rape, Edna works up the courage to introduce herself to Elle. The two women have a very passionate and emotional night that could have meant that they were lovers and soulmates. Unfortunately, it only lasts for one night but sustains Edna through the loneliness of her marriage that she still thinks of and dreams about Elle.

Edna's sarcasm is never in doubt. When she compares herself to her female coworkers, she realizes how different her aspirations are from her friends. "It did bother me some that I wasn't like them," she said. "What they wanted was a man so simple and so obtainable. What I wanted-a woman-seemed so out of reach. I even confess to being a bit jealous on Monday morning, listening to (her other co-workers) discuss all the guys that they met while I spent my weekends staring furtively at women in storefront windows in Greenwich Village." Like Dorothy Parker, Edna uses her sarcasm, self -deprecating humor, and wisecracks to cover up her insecurities and vulnerabilities.

Sometimes Edna's narration shows an older woman discovering other things with the virtue of hindsight. For example, when she seeks the abortion she reflects that even though technically illegal, it was widely known and practiced in the 1930's. ("Everybody knew someone who could give one or knew someone who knew someone who could give one.") However, when Edna tries to get hers in 1945, she is a victim of the Baby Boom push.The goal of producing more babies to create good little Americans. Being someone who is fervently anti-war, Edna seethes at the hypocrisy of a government that didn't care if Japanese children were napalmed or atom bombed to death (and certainly didn't care enough about Jewish children to accept them into the country or African American children that they kept them separated from white children) and are now on their soapboxes about protecting the "Sanctity of Life." (It really makes you look at the Baby Boom differently). With a lifetime of reading and studying history, Edna understands the circumstances and far reaching regulations about why she was put in such situations that affected her individually.

That elderly voice also shows why the people around her acted the way that they did. She doesn't like them any better but she recognized people like her mother and Tommy had circumstances and standards that they had to live up to and led to the choices that they made for themselves and Edna. 

Her mother for example was in an abusive marriage and after her death was unable to survive on her own, so retreated into drink. She also had a sister Flossie who, like Edna, was raped and left pregnant so she was sent to the Magdalene Laundries (a deplorable institution in which so-called "fallen women" prostitutes, women who were raped or victims of incest, or the mentally ill worked in laundry facilities for mere pennies and were subjected to torture and abuse). Edna's mother is told what women are supposed to do to maintain respectability and she forces that thinking on her daughter. However, her mother does show some maternal kindness with her grandson, Tommy Jr.bonding with him in a way that Edna is unable to.

Tommy is also seen as victimized by societal expectations of men. A childhood bout with polio left him disabled and unable to serve in the military. Because of this, he is desperate to prove his masculinity and virility. He deals with desperation by doing violent and unconscionable things. Shortly before he rapes Edna, soldiers make fun of his disability. He also tries to prove his status as a wage earner by not only being a police officer, but a corrupt police officer who is on the take so he can earn more money. He has been told what a man should be and has completely given into the toxic masculinity image (even before it was an actual thing). He later confesses to Edna that he likes seeing shopkeepers and citizens fear him when he takes their money.

Edna's emotions are expressed most thoroughly through her poetry. Throughout the plot, Edna offers a poem that expresses her inner thoughts and conflicts reflecting her real feelings for a situation contradicting how she outwardly behaved during that time. For example, during her wedding to Tommy, she daydreams stopping the show with a zinger and walking off leaving everyone stunned. Instead, she meekly acquiesces to this no-win situation.

However, her poem "The Prisoner" shows what she really thinks about this not so joyous occasion:

"So Tommy married me and,

Obliterated from history

Washed from the shores of time 

Like a tide, passing

No mention is made again 

Of his rape

Except by me…"

Edna's poetry is confessional, similar to the works of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. Edna's mental and emotional states become worse after her son, Tommy Jr. Is born. She doesn't feel bonded to him because he is the child of her rapist and keeps her attached to him. She is clearly suffering from postpartum depression and has no one to confide in except her poetry.

Shortly after Tommy Jr. is born, she writes "What Truth Gives" reflecting about how the truth is skewered about why children are born and how his birth makes her even more disconnected from life:

"What is lost

What is gained

When truth obscured

From view

Becomes a tool to use,

Or a drug to take

That makes

What a wish to see

Or hear,

Or know,

Go away…"

As her marriage and motherhood drags on and weighs her down, Edna's mental and emotional state continues to deteriorate. When she first discovers Tommy's kickback money she compulsively shops for things like wrapping paper, rubber bands, and other useless items. She has vivid frightening dreams like the Hiroshima bombing, being surrounded by American soldiers that congratulate her on adding to America's plan, and her father hovering over her like a specter. She gets pregnant a second time after having a terrifying flashback when Tommy startles her, reminding her of her rape. She miscarries and feels like she is being punished. 

All of these feelings are cast aside for the "new normal" of post-war prosperity. Edna is so disconnected from her life that she can't feel anything when her friend gets married to a nice guy. Not surprisingly, Edna falls right into the Feminine Mystique "Problem That Has No Name" that Betty Friedan spoke of. She is prescribed and becomes dependent on Oxycodone and later speed.The addiction only fuels her depression, loneliness, and paranoia. She hallucinates arguing with the housewives on TV and has continuous mood swings that last for days. She overdoses, eventually collapses, and is institutionalized.

Edna's institutionalization is terrifying as she is forced to recount many troubling aspects of her past like her rape and childhood trauma that finally resurfaces. However, it ends up helping her and becomes the first step of living a fulfilled life. She realizes that she is as much to blame as her mother and Tommy are for her mental state because she let her fears and insecurities get in the way of living a life for herself.

She is encouraged to write. In that time she realizes that she found her poetic voice. She writes the poem that becomes her greatest success, "Fool, Anticipation."

"Fears 

On a glacier or a tide

Ride away your dreams

They say goodbye

To the life you thought you'd lead

Fool, anticipation

Now there's only dreams

Of what there could have been 

Of what there might have been

And the fear and anger

All directed at him

You didn't get a chance…"

Even though she reunites with Elle before her hospitalization, Edna reconnects with her afterwards and allows herself to have a real relationship with her, one without her fears, emotional baggage, and societal standards getting in the way. She eventually finds the courage to make a clean break from her old life and make way for a new one.

Edna finally has the keys to change her life and become the person that she was meant to be: a talented and published poet, an intellectual surrounded by artists and freethinkers, a lesbian in a loving relationship, and an independent strong free spirited woman unafraid of life.