The Little Bookshop on the Seine

Title:  The Little Bookshop on the Seine

Author:  Rebecca Raisin

Publication Information:  HQN. 2020. 288 pages.

ISBN:  1335050272 / 978-1335050274

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "With a heavy heart I placed the sign in the display window."

Favorite Quote:  "My life is too lonely without fictional people crowding my mind."

Paris and bookshops - I am sold based on the cover and title alone. I love books about books and bookshops. Setting it in Paris makes it all the more charming. That being said, the book has to deliver on character and story otherwise the initial charm wears off fast.

Initially, I am not too sure about this one. The book begins with a woman's physical longing ... and descriptions thereof ... for her boyfriend named Ridge. Boyfriends named Ridge and straight up romances, particularly those with physical descriptions are not my reading material of choice. Fortunately, this book retains the romance without too much physicality and also manages to turn into a story beyond the romance. The book delivers with a sweet story about a woman finding herself, about friendship, and also about love all centered around Once Upon a Time, a bookshop in Paris.

Sarah Smith runs a bookshop in Ashford, Connecticut. The shop is not doing well. Sarah finds herself often alone, as her boyfriend's job as a journalist calls for him to travel around the world. Although surrounded by a loving family and wonderful friends, Sarah longs for something more. "I'm tired of being the same person, half-living, all this waiting for something to happen ... I have to make it happen."

It just so happens that Sarah's friend Sophie owns and runs a bookshop in Paris. For her own reasons, Sophie needs to get away. She proposes a temporary bookshop exchange. Sophie goes to Connecticut and runs Sarah's shop. Sarah's goes to Paris and runs Sophie. Before she has a chance to over think it, Sarah says yes.

The bookshop in Paris brings, of course, the city itself. It also brings its own cast of characters. Each character comes with their own baggage of the past - family attachments, betrayals, career aspirations, hopes, dreams, and fears. Some become instant friends, and some pose more of a challenge.

The biggest challenge for Sarah is finding her own voice - to run the bookshop and establish her authority, to express her feelings on her boyfriend's choices, and, most importantly, to learn for herself that she has the skill and confidence to tackle anything that comes her way. "Paris swept us up, and made us whole, may we never wander alone no matter where we are."

 Of course, there is a romance or two or three in the mix as well. After all, that is to be expected. What is unexpected is that the book and the romances do not quite end up where I expect. Don't get me wrong, the ending still ties everything up in a nice, neat package as you might expect. However, it does not all tie up in the way I expect. No spoilers but the author Q&A below does give a hint. To me, the unexpected adds a depth and dimension to the book that take it beyond just a sweet, feel good story of a woman finding love in Paris.

The Little Bookshop on the Seine
Blog Tour

Author: Rebecca Raisin 

ISBN: 9781335012500

Publication Date: 1/7/2020

Publisher: HQN Books

Author Bio:

Rebecca Raisin is the author of several novels, including the beloved Little Paris series and the Gingerbread Café trilogy, and her short stories have been published in various anthologies and fiction magazines.

Author Q&A:

Q: Have you ever been to Paris? If so, what are some of your favorite Parisian things?

A: I’ve been lucky enough to go Paris four times and do a bit of exploring for the books. It’s my favourite city in the world and if I could up and move I’d do it! I love the bookshops of Paris, particularly the secondhand shops that are dusty and musty and disorderly. You never know what you’ll find and that makes it magical. If you’re in Paris find the Abbey Bookshop, it’s full to bursting with English books and it’s a treasure trove if you have time to hunt! I also love French food - who doesn’t?! My favourite place to eat is the Christian Constant bistros. He has one for every budget and they’re all glorious. If you splurge once, I highly recommend it’s there. 

The Ritz is also a must-see, from Bar Hemingway to Salon Proust, it’s an experience like no other walking in the footsteps of those literary greats. Buly 1803 is the most beautiful perfume shop in all the world, it’s like stepping back in time. My favourite is the rose oil… ooh la la. And holding a special place in my heart is Point Zero Paris, the exact centre of the city and a place where magic happens - you’ll have to read the book to find out more...

Q: What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?

A: I hope you do something reckless, something that scares you, jump out of that comfort zone and do that thing you’ve always dreamed of! What’s stopping you - fear, money, work, life? You can make it happen if only you take the plunge! Open yourself to new experiences and people and don't take the taxi, walk until your feet are numb and find those lost laneways and hidden alleys and see what you find! 

Q: What drew you into this particular genre?

A: I love love, but Little Bookshop is also about another kind of love, the love of a place, or a feeling...writing this genre leaves it open to interpretation and anything goes as long you tie it all up at the end in a satisfying way! 

Q: If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?

A: I’d sit down with bookworm Sarah and ask her what she really thought of Luiz… I am still conflicted about that thread and what I could have done but didn’t!

Q: What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?

A: I’m currently editing Aria’s Travelling Bookshop, which is about a Van Lifer who sells her wares as she explores France! (Are you detecting a pattern here!?) It’s the follow up to Rosie’s Travelling Tea Shop, which was released last March. Both books are about a different way of living, about having less but gaining more as you go. I’ve loved writing Rosie and Aria!

Buy Links: 

Harlequin 

Indiebound

Amazon

Barnes & Noble 

Books-A-Million

Target 

Walmart

Google

iBooks

Kobo

Social Links:

Author Website

Twitter: @JaxandWillsMum

Facebook: @RebeccaRaisinAuthor

Instagram: @RebeccaRaisinWrites

Goodreads

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

The Little Paris Bookshop

Title:  The Little Paris Bookshop

Author:  Nina George

Publication Information:  Crown. 2015. 400 pages.

ISBN:  0553418777 / 978-0553418774

Book Source:  I received this book as a publisher's galley through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "How on earth could I have let them talk me into it?

Favorite Quote:  "Reading makes people impudent, and tomorrow's world is going to need some people who aren't shy to speak their minds, don't you think?"

Monsieur Jean Perdu is lost, by name and in life. The word "perdu" means "lost" in French. A lost bookseller in a bookshop in Paris - The description is a perfect hook to draw a reader in.

The book starts off really strong. Monsieur Perdu runs a bookshop, the Literary Apothecary, on a barge in the Seine. He sells books as medicine to his customers In conversation, he is able to hear their deepest needs and desires. He refuses to sell them what they think they want and then finds just the right book for what ails them. I love the idea of books as medicine; I have quite a medicine closet of my own, being drawn to different authors and books depending on what is going on in my life. The book includes an appendix with some of Monsieur Perdu's prescriptions:

• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is "effective in large doses for treating pathological optimism or a sense of humor failure."
• Moby-Dick is "for vegetarians" and may cause a "fear of water."
• 1984 by George Orwell is "past its sell-by date."

The knowledge and love of books and a sense of humor shines through in these prescriptions. Had the book stuck with this theme, who knows where it may have ended. Unfortunately, this book turns in a completely different direction. It follows Monsieur Perdu, who has been able to find a book for what ails everyone except for him. He pines for a love years ago; he lives a solitary life holding on to his sadness, in effect building a life around that sadness.

A found letter jars his life, making him realize that all may not have been as he thought. On an impulse, he starts on a grand adventure to recover what he lost. The remainder of the book is about his romance, and the characters he meets along the way.

Unfortunately, I find his love story neither believable nor particularly engaging. Essentially, this is the story of one woman who openly loves two men and believes that "love doesn't need to be restricted to one person to be true." Both men seem perfectly accepting of both relationships. Of course, complications exist, but that is still the essence of the love story. Monsieur Perdu spends a large part of his life pining over someone who describes herself as "the voracious want-it-all."

When he discovers the letter and the truth, it's as if he has been released from his bond of sadness. That release is understandable. After years, a question has been answered; guilt may remain, but the sadness of being left is gone. What is less understandable is that he seems to immediately begin a new relationship. At one point, he gets the following advice, "Do you know that there's a halfway world between each ending and each new beginning? It's called the hurting time, Jean Perdu. It's a bog; It's where your dreams and worries and forgotten plans gather. Your steps are heavier during that time. Don't underestimate the transition, Jeanno, between farewell and new departure. Give yourself the time you need. Some thresholds are too wide to be taken in one stride." The book depicts Jean Perdu and his new love as two lost and grieving souls coming together and finding comfort in each  other. Given how he has lived his life, the abruptness of this relationship - the quick jump from ending to beginning - seems out of character.

 A story about a love affair with books turns into the story of a romance. How disappointing.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

The Last Bookshop in London

Title:  The Last Bookshop in London

Author:  Madeline Martin

Publication Information:  Hanover Square Press. 2021. 304 pages.

ISBN:  133565304X / 978-1335653048

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley and the Winter 2021 historical fiction blog tour from Harlequin Trade Publishing free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "Grace Bennett had always dreamed of someday living in London."

Favorite Quote:  "Reading is ... going somewhere without ever taking a train or ship, an unveiling of new, incredible worlds. It's living a life you weren't born into and a chance to see everything colored by someone else's perspective. It's learning without having to face consequences of failures, and how best to succeed ... I think within all of us, there is a void, a gap waiting to be filled by something. For me, that something is books and all their proffered experiences."

**** BLOG TOUR *****

Review

1940. London. A time of war. A time of the Blitz. This book is a story of war on the home front in London during the Blitz. This book is a story of ordinary people finding extraordinary courage to survive and to bring aid and succor to others This book is a story of books and the power of books to brighten even the darkest hours:

• "Books are what have brought us together. A love of the stories within, the adventures they take us on, their glorious distraction in a time of strife. And a reminder that we always have hope."
• "Every day you read to a crowd. But they're not just stories, for many of us, they're a sanctuary."
• "There might be loss, and sometimes there may be fear but there was also courage to face such challenges. For in a world such as theirs, with people of spirit and love, and with so many different tales of strength and victory to inspire. there would always be hope."

Following her mother's death, Grace Bennett comes to London with her best friend Viv to start over. She needs a job but has no references to obtain a position. Her mother's friend, who provides Grace and Viv lodging, also recommends Grace for a job at Primrose Hill Books. The position is to be temporary - six months - long enough for Grace to be given a recommendation for another position. Grace is not a reader and knows nothing about books. However, she is smart, enthusiastic, and understands how to run a shop.

In the process of beginning a new life in London, Grace finds a new family. Viv has always been a part of her life. Mrs. Weatherford was a friend to Grace's mother. She and her son Colin now provide Grace and Viv a home. Mr. Evans is the proprietor of Primrose Hill Books and has a sad story of his own. George Anderson is a new friend. He introduces Grace to the love of books and so much more.

Overshadowing this new beginning is war coming ever closer to England and the war effort. Grace remains on the home front and tries to do her part by volunteering as an air raid warden. She continues to work at Primrose Books, which has an impact on her and the community that is more far reaching than she realizes.

This books paints a horrifying picture of the Blitz through Grace's eyes. Night after night. Sleeping in a tube station for safety. Watching bombs hit a neighbor's house and barely miss yours. Losing friends. Watching the destruction rage out of control as you watch helplessly because nothing can be done. The search for survivors and the dead.

At the same time, the book paints an idealistic picture of what happens when people come together and support each other. "You showed me that when all seems lost to the enemy, one can always find a friend." In this way, Grace is painted as an ideal character - lovely inside and out with a lack of recognition of her own abilities and impact. In this way, this story of war ends up a sweet, feel good story of the triumph of good over the worst of circumstances and, for this reader, a love letter to the power of books to heal.

About the Author

Madeline Martin is a USA TODAY bestselling author of historical romance novels filled with twists and turns, adventure, steamy romance, empowered heroines and the men who are strong enough to love them.

About the Book

Inspired by the true World War II history of the only bookshop to survive the Blitz, a sweeping story of wartime loss, romance, and the enduring power of literature, perfect for fans of The Paris Wife and The Lilac Girls

London, autumn 1940: the Blitz has only just begun when Grace Bennett arrives in London to find the city she’s spent a lifetime dreaming about now cast in the clouds of war, and all of her plans unraveling at the seams. After accepting a job at a charming bookshop nestled in the heart of the city, a haven for literary-minded locals, she feels like a fish out of water – she’s never been much of a reader, after all.

As the bombs rain down on the city night after night, a devastating air raid leaves London’s literary center in ruins, and the libraries and shops of Paternoster Row are destroyed in a firestorm. But against all odds, one bookshop miraculously survives. Through blackouts and air raids, Grace continues staffing the shop, discovering a newfound comfort in the power of words and storytelling to unite her community in ways she never imagined, a power that triumphs even the darkest nights of war-torn London.

Excerpt

Excerpted from The Last Bookshop in London @ 2021 by Madeline Martin, used with permission by Hanover Square Press.

August 1939 London, England

GRACE BENNETT HAD ALWAYS DREAMED OF SOMEDAY living in London. Never did she imagine it would become her only option, especially not on the eve of war.

The train pulled to a stop within Farringdon Station, its name clearly marked on the wall inside a strip of blue set within a red circle. People hovered on the platform, as eager to get on as those within were to get off. They wore smartly cut clothing in the chic styles of city life. Far more sophisticated than in Drayton, Norfolk.

Equal parts nerves and eagerness vibrated about inside Grace. “We’ve arrived.” She looked at Viv beside her.

Her friend clicked the top on her lipstick tube closed and gave a freshly applied vermillion smile. Viv glanced out the window, her gaze skimming the checkerboard of advertisements lining the curved wall. “After so many years of wishing we could be in London.” Her hand caught Grace’s in a quick squeeze. “Here we are.”

Back when they were mere girls, Viv had first mentioned the notion of moving away from dull Drayton for a far more exciting life in the city. It had been a wild concept then, to leave their slow-moving, familiar existence in the country for the bustling, fast-paced pulse of London. Never had Grace considered it might someday become a necessity.

But then, there was nothing left in Drayton for Grace anymore. At least nothing she cared to return to.

The ladies rose from their plush seats and took hold of their luggage. Each had only one case with them, faded things, beaten down more by age than use. Both were stuffed to the point of near-bursting and were not only impossibly heavy, but awkward to manage around the gas mask boxes slung over their shoulders. The ghastly things had to be brought with them everywhere, per the government, to ensure they’d be protected in the event of a gas attack.

Lucky for them, Britton Street was only a two-minute walk away, or so Mrs. Weatherford had said.

Her mother’s childhood friend had a room to let, one she’d offered a year ago when Grace’s mother first passed. The terms had been generous—two months for free while Grace acquired a job and even then, the rent would be discounted thereafter. Despite Grace’s longing to go to London, and despite Viv’s enthusiastic encouragement, Grace had remained in Drayton for nearly a year after in an attempt to pick up the pieces of her broken existence.

That was before she learned the house she’d lived in since her birth truly belonged to her uncle. Before he moved in with his overbearing wife and five children. Before life as she knew it shattered even further apart.

There was no room for Grace in her own home, a point her aunt had been eager to note often. What had once been a place of comfort and love became a place Grace felt unwelcome. When her aunt finally had the temerity to tell Grace to leave, she knew she had no other options.

Writing the letter to Mrs. Weatherford the previous month to see if the opportunity still held was one of the hardest things Grace had ever done. It had been a surrender to the challenges she faced, a terrible, soul-crushing failure. A capitulation that had rendered her the greatest failure.

Grace had never possessed much courage. Even now, she wondered if she would have managed her way to London had Viv not insisted they go together.

Trepidation knotted through her as they waited for the train’s gleaming metal doors to part and unveil a whole new world.

“Everything will be brilliant,” Viv whispered under her breath. “It will all be so much better, Grace. I promise.”

The air-powered doors of the electric train hissed open and they stepped onto the platform amid the push and pull of people coming and going all at once. Then the doors shushed closed behind them, and the gust of the train’s departure tugged at their skirts and hair.

An advert for Chesterfields on the far wall displayed a handsome lifeguard smoking a cigarette while another poster beside it called on the men of London to join the service.

It wasn’t only a reminder of a war their country might soon face, but how living in the city presented a greater element of danger. If Hitler meant to take Britain, he would likely set his sights on London.

“Oh, Grace, look!” Viv exclaimed.

Grace turned from the poster toward the metal stairs, which glided upward on an unseen belt, disappearing somewhere above the arched ceiling. Into the city of their dreams.

The advert was quickly forgotten as she and Viv rushed toward the escalator and tried to tamp down their delight as it effortlessly carried them up, up, up.

Viv’s shoulders squeezed upward with barely restrained happiness. “Didn’t I tell you this would be amazing?”

The enormity of it hit Grace all at once. After years of dreaming and planning, here they were in London.

Away from Grace’s bully of an uncle, out from under the thumb of Viv’s strict parents.

Despite all of Grace’s troubles, she and Viv swept out of the station like caged songbirds ready to finally spread their wings.

Buildings rose into the sky all around, making Grace block the sun with the palm of her hand to see their tops. Several nearby shops greeted them with brightly painted signs touting sandwiches, hairdressers and a chemist. On the streets, lorries rattled by and a double-decker bus rumbled in the opposite direction, its painted side as red and glossy as Viv’s nails.

It was all Grace could do to keep from grasping her friend’s arm and squealing for her to look. Viv was taking it in too, with wide, sparkling eyes. She appeared as much an awed country girl as Grace, albeit in a fashionable dress with her perfectly styled auburn curls.

Grace was not as chic. Though she’d worn her best dress for the occasion, its hem fell just past her knees, and the waist nipped in with a slim black belt that matched her low heels. While not as stylish as Viv’s black-and-white polka-dot dress, the pale blue cotton set off Grace’s gray eyes and complemented her fair hair.

Viv had sewn it for her, of course. But then, Viv had always seen to both of them with an eye set toward grander aspirations. Throughout their friendship, they had spent hours sewing dresses and rolling their hair, years of reading Woman and Woman’s Life on fashion and etiquette and then making countless corrections to ensure they “lost the Drayton” from their speech.

Now, Viv looked like she could grace one of those magazine covers with her high cheekbones and long-lashed brown eyes.

They joined the flurry of people rushing to and fro, heaving the bulk of their suitcases from one hand to the other as Grace led the way toward Britton Street. Thankfully, the directions Mrs. Weatherford had sent in their last correspondence had been detailed and easy to follow.

What had been missing from the account, however, were all the signs of war.

More advertisements, some calling for men to do their part, with others prompting people to disregard Hitler and his threats and still book their summer holidays. Just across the street, a wall of sandbags framed a doorway with a black-and-white sign proclaiming it to be a Public Air Raid Shelter.

Social Links

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Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

The Little French Bistro

Title:  The Little French Bistro

Author:  Nina George

Publication Information:  Crown. 2017. 336 pages.

ISBN:  0451495586 / 978-0451495587

Book Source:  I received this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "It was the first decision she had ever made on her own, the very first time she was able to determine the course of her life."

Favorite Quote:  "Every woman is a priestess if she loves life and can work magic on herself and those who are sacred to her. It's time for women to remind themselves of the powers they have inside."

As with Nina George's first book The Little Paris Bookshop, the premise of this book sounds like it could be a powerful story. A sixty-some year old woman remains in a controlling, abusive marriage for over forty years. The only way out visible to her seems to be suicide. That suicide attempt is how the book begins on the banks of the Seine River in the beautiful city of Paris.

As you might expect, Marianne's attempt is unsuccessful and lands her in the hospital. Her husband returns home, leaving Marianne to recover alone and then follow him home. Instead, Marianne runs. A found object, a painted tile, sets her on a path to Brittany. The name of the Finistére region on the west coast of Brittany comes from the Latin phrase meaning end of the earth. For Marianne, it seems fitting that she will end her life there.

As you might expect, she does not. Instead, she rediscovers life in and around a little French bistro in the small village of Kerdruc on the coast. A host of characters enter her life. Each brings their own back story. Each touches Marianne's life in some way, and Marianne leaves each one changed, providing just the right words and actions at just the right time.

As you might expect in a story about escaping the past, the past often comes to find you. The final step of the escape of course is the reckoning with the past. Oddly, the aspect that is never explored is why Marianne marries this man in the first place and why she stays in the marriage for over forty years. The corollary that then does not follow is how after a lifetime, she manages rather quickly to find her independence and her voice. That lack of development means that as a reader, I don't completely buy into Marianne's story. I don't ever feel that her character is fully revealed.

Unfortunately, as with Nina George's first book, this one ends up in a place that belies the strong premise. What sets up as almost a coming-of-age story for an older woman scatters into many other things. The book introduces a wide cast of characters and follows their stories in addition to Marianne's. While interesting in their own, following a wide array of stories means that no one story gets developed in depth.

What should be the story of a woman finding her strength also turns into a romance. I would love for a book about a woman finding her voice and her independence to remain about that. I would love to see the point made that coming out of a relationship, first learn to be yourself and by yourself before entering a relationship again.

Finally and unexpectedly, the book also introduces a magical element which is completely unnecessary to the book. Magical powers? Healers? Druids? Why not just people? On the other hand, that is the one unexpected element in this book.

Sadly, despite its premise, the plot and the characters fail to develop, making this not the book for me.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

The Bookseller's Secret

Title:  The Bookseller's Secret

Author:  Michelle Gable

Publication Information:  Graydon House. 2021. 384 pages.

ISBN:  152581155X / 978-1525811555

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley and a publisher's blog tour free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "'Alors, Racontez!' the Colonel said, and spun her beneath his arm."

Favorite Quote:  "Why does a person like any book? It strikes the right note, at the right time."

***** BLOG TOUR *****

Review

Disclaimer: Author Nancy Mitford is the historical figure around which this story is built. The author's note clearly states, "This is not a biography, and the point of a novel is to reflect the inherent truth of a situation, and not merely recite a list of facts. While the Nancy in my book does many things the real Nancy Mitford did not, I hope this novel is a reflection of the spectacular personality and wit of one of the most underrated authors of the twentieth century." I have not read and am not familiar with Nancy Mitford's work. I do not feel that this is a hindrance to enjoying the story, but my experience as a reader is likely different from that of a reader who may be a fan of Nancy Mitford's work. 

Now on to the story. Like many stories of the war, this book uses a two timeline approach. One timeline is that of Nancy Mitford. The other is of a woman in current times who has an interest or is led in some way to Nancy's story of the past.

The story of the past is that of war, but it is also one of family and the bohemian artist community that surround Nancy Mitford. Although she wrote many books, her claim to fame comes from two novels presumed to be semi-autobiographical. This story introduces the possibility of a missing manuscript, a memoir of her personal life, her unhappy marriage, and the exploits of her at-times notorious family.

The story of the present is that of a struggling author facing a crisis about her own abilities who runs away to find comfort in her friend's home in London. Her friend Jojo directs her to the bookstore where Nancy Mitford worked during the war years and where a man named Simon has his own reasons for Nancy Mitford's past. Past and present come together at the Heywood Hill Bookshop in Mayfair.

The book alternates chapters between past and present. Parallels can be drawn between the two authors struggling to write, facing financial difficulty, finding a friend to support them, and finding love outside of a long-term relationship - a marriage in Nancy's case and a lifetime together in Katie's. That being said, I find very little actual parallel between the two timelines. I could have separated the two and read the chapters related to each independently. Other than the fact that Katie is somewhat researching Nancy, the two stories do not really connect. Even the reveal of the bookseller's secret at the end has no real impact on either story.

This book does effectively accomplish what I love about historical fiction. It introduces me to a historical figure I am not familiar with. It introduces me to another facet of World War II history. In this case, it introduces me to the fascinating Mitford family; I think that connection may be more Nancy Mitford's claim to fame rather than her written works. It sends me on a search to read some of the actual history.

About the Book

From New York Times bestselling author Michelle Gable comes a dual-narrative set at the famed Heywood Hill Bookshop in London about a struggling American writer on the hunt for a rumored lost manuscript written by the iconic Nancy Mitford—bookseller, spy, author, and aristocrat—during World War II.

In 1942, London, Nancy Mitford is worried about more than air raids and German spies. Still recovering from a devastating loss, the once sparkling Bright Young Thing is estranged from her husband, her allowance has been cut, and she’s given up her writing career. On top of this, her five beautiful but infamous sisters continue making headlines with their controversial politics.

Eager for distraction and desperate for income, Nancy jumps at the chance to manage the Heywood Hill bookshop while the owner is away at war. Between the shop’s brisk business and the literary salons she hosts for her eccentric friends, Nancy’s life seems on the upswing. But when a mysterious French officer insists that she has a story to tell, Nancy must decide if picking up the pen again and revealing all is worth the price she might be forced to pay.

Eighty years later, Heywood Hill is abuzz with the hunt for a lost wartime manuscript written by Nancy Mitford. For one woman desperately in need of a change, the search will reveal not only a new side to Nancy, but an even more surprising link between the past and present…

About the Author

MICHELLE GABLE is the New York Times bestselling author of A Paris Apartment, I'll See You in Paris, The Book of Summer, and The Summer I Met Jack. She attended The College of William & Mary, where she majored in accounting, and spent twenty years working in finance before becoming a full-time writer. She grew up in San Diego and lives in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California, with her husband and two daughters. Find her at michellegable.com or on Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest, @MGableWriter.

Q&A with Michelle Gable

Q: What's the "story behind the story" for The Bookseller’s Secret? Why did you decide to write this book?
A: I’ve been a longtime fan of Nancy Mitford’s work and became obsessed with the entire Mitford clan after reading The Sisters by Mary S. Lovell, about twenty years ago. In short, Nancy was one of six beautiful sisters with very distinct (and controversial!) personas: Nancy the novelist, Pamela the countrywoman, Diana the Fascist (and “most hated woman in England”), Unity the Hitler confidante, Jessica the Communist, and Deborah the Duchess. Writing something about this crew has been in the back of my mind since long before I was published and when tossing around ideas, my agent brought up Nancy’s time at the Heywood Hill bookshop during the Blitz. I love London, and any novel set in a bookstore, as well as new takes on the World War II genre, so I was game.

As for the modern storyline, though Katie’s life is vastly different from mine, let’s just say we share some of the same writerly angst!

Q: What message do you hope readers take from the story?
A: I never write with a message in mind, I just hope something about the story sticks with readers, whether it’s a character, some piece of history learned, or a new way of looking at a situation. I’m shocked how few Americans know about Nancy Mitford (even fellow writers) so I do hope readers walk away with an appreciation for her brilliance (and humor!).

Q: Do you have any specific writing rituals (favorite shirt, pen, drink, etc)?
A: I don’t! Sometimes I handwrite, sometimes I write on a computer. Sometimes I have coffee, or water, or Diet Coke. Usually I work in my home office but have been known to write during my daughters’ softball games. I started this book in February 2020 so most of it was written when EVERYONE was home on lockdown. One of my daughters took over my office so I spent a lot of time writing in my bedroom, with the dog curled up next to me. This is when I learned my husband uses binders for work (click-click-click).

One “habit” that is consistent is that I always stop in the middle of something that is going well so it’s easier to pick up the next day. Few things are more daunting than staring at a blank page!

Q: Which character do you relate to the most?
A: I relate to Katie’s writerly angst, but I really connected to Nancy Mitford’s writing style. I’d like to think we have similar senses of humor but that is giving myself a lot of credit!

Q: What can you tell us about your next project?
A: Though I vowed no more WWII novels, I couldn’t help myself! This one takes place in Rome, near the end of the war, and centers on women who created propaganda to feed to the Germans, the goal to lower morale. It’s an exploration of how misinformation not only affects those receiving it, but those creating it.

Q: What do you think drives authors to continue to find stories to tell set around WWII?
A: I think because there are endless stories to tell! It involves most every country, even so called “neutral” countries, and people from literally every walk of life. Brave and scared. Rich and poor. Powerful and powerless. Obedient and rebellious. Every combination of the human experience!

Q: How are you hoping readers will relate to this story?
A: I don’t have any specific hopes, just that they do! And, of course, I want everyone to gain a new appreciation for Nancy Mtiford.

Q: What’s something that you connected with personally as you researched and wrote this story?

A: While she was working at Heywood Hill, Nancy was struggling with ideas for her fifth book just as I had been with my fifth book when my agent suggested writing about her! Also, her husband and mine look exactly alike which is a little creepy. You don’t see a lot of tall, blonde, adult men. And Nancy Mitford died exactly one year to the day before I was born, which also felt like it meant something.

Social Links

Author website: https://michellegable.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MGableWriter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mgablewriter/

Buy Links

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/books/the-bookseller-s-secret-a-novel-of-nancy-mitford-and-wwii-9781525811555/9781525811555
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-booksellers-secret-michelle-gable/1138272507
Google Books: https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Bookseller_s_Secret.html?id=eyX3DwAAQBAJ
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Booksellers-Secret-Novel-Nancy-Mitford/dp/1525806467
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-bookseller-s-secret-1
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-booksellers-secret/id1527558782

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

The Paris Agent

Title:  The Paris Agent

Author:  Kelly Rimmer

Publication Information:  Graydon House. 2023. 352 pages.

ISBN:  1525805088 / 978-1525805080

Rating:   ★★★

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley and a publisher's blog tour free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "Perhaps at first glance, we might have looked like ordinary passengers: four women in civilian clothes, sitting in pairs facing one another, the private carriage of the passenger train illuminated by the golden light of a cloudless late summer sunrise."

Favorite Quote:  "And whatever we do with the freedom we have been gifted, whether our achievements and our struggles are big or small, we will do it in honor of those who gave so much so that we could live in a better world."

***** BLOG TOUR *****

Review

From 1940 until 1946, the British operated the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a secret unit to support resistance movements in occupied Europe through espionage and sabotage. To infiltrate the local communities, the SOE was perhaps one of the more diverse units, seeking individuals representing all different facets of society. As such, women played a key role in the SOE.

The Paris Agent brings to life the history of the SOE. This story jumps through time at different points in the 1940s and forward to the 1970s. The anchor for the story is an aging gentleman and his daughter. He suffers the scars of war, and yet his children know nothing of his role in the SOE. Having recently lost his wife and at a crossroads, he decides to reveal his background to his children and search for his past, hoping to regain some memories and resolve the trauma that still accompanies his life. His daughter Charlotte takes on the challenge of helping him.

The story of the past - Eloise, Chloe, Josie, and Fleur - is a little less clear. The characters all have real names and code names. There are only two main female characters in the past but at least four names. The book goes back and forth between names. The chapter headings are one name, and the text a different. It gets confusing! As a reader, I have to pay attention to the chapter date and title to remind myself where I am in the story. At the beginning of the book, this proves a greater challenge because I do not realize what I need to do until I find myself lost in the story and need to figure out the who, what, where, and when. I go back to the beginning and start again.

Perhaps, for this reason, the women of the past seem to merge together and form one story line rather than their own independent paths that converge. This is a multiple timeline story, but the history truly lies in the timelines of the past. Surprisingly, I find myself more engaged in the story of the present - Charlotte and her father. Perhaps, because those characters and that plot line stays constant and consistent, it is more memorable. The romance thrown in at the end is unnecessary but neatly packages the ending.

That being said, I enjoy this book for the history it introduces me to. It is my understanding that the female characters are based on real women like Cecily Lefort, Lilian Rolfe, Diana Rowden, and Violette Szabo. Some of the events like the destruction of the factory are based on historical events. Sadly, so is the eventual outcome for these spies. I appreciate learning about the strength and courage of women who fought in the war.

About the Book

For fans of fast-paced historical thrillers like Our Woman in Moscow and The Rose Code, Kelly Rimmer’s dramatic new novel follows two female SOE operatives whose lives will be determined by a double agent in their midst.

Twenty-five years after the end of the war, Noah Ainsworth is still preoccupied with those perilous, exhilarating years as a British SOE operative in France. A head injury sustained on his final operation has caused frustrating gaps in his memory—in particular about the agent who saved his life during that mission gone wrong, whose real name he never knew, nor whether she even survived the war.

Moved by her father’s frustration, Noah’s daughter Charlotte begins a search for answers that resurrects the stories of Chloe and Fleur, the code names for two otherwise ordinary women whose lives intersect in 1943 when they’re called up by the SOE for deployment in France. Taking enormous risks to support the allied troops with very little information or resources, the women have no idea they’re at the mercy of a double agent among them who's causing chaos within the French circuits, whose efforts will affect the outcome of their lives…and the war.

But as Charlotte’s search for answers bears fruit, overlooked clues come to light about the identity of the double agent—with unsettling hints pointing close to home—and more shocking events are unearthed from the dangerous, dramatic last days of the war that lead to Chloe and Fleur’s eventual fates.

About the Author

Kelly Rimmer is the worldwide, New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of The German Wife, The Warsaw Orphan, and The Things We Cannot Say. She lives in rural Australia with her husband, two children and fantastically naughty dogs, Sully and Basil. Her novels have been translated into more than twenty languages. Please visit her at www.Kelly.Rimmer.com 

Excerpt

Excerpted from The Paris Agent by Kelly Rimmer, Copyright © 2023 by Lantana Management PTY Ltd. Published by Graydon House Books.
Prologue
ELOISE
Germany
October, 1944

Perhaps at first glance, we might have looked like ordinary passengers: four women in civilian clothes, sitting in pairs facing one another, the private carriage of the passenger train illuminated by the golden light of a cloudless late-summer sunrise. Only upon closer inspection would a passerby have seen the handcuffs that secured us, our wrists resting at our sides, between us not because we meant to hide them but because we were exhausted, and they were too heavy to rest on our bony thighs. Only at a second glance would they have noticed the emaciated frames or the clothes that didn’t quite fit, or the scars and healing wounds each of us bore after months of torture and imprisonment.

I was handcuffed to a petite woman I knew first as Chloe, although in recent weeks, we had finally shared our real names with one another. It was entirely possible that she was the best friend I’d ever known—not that there was much competition for that title, given friendship had never come easy to me. Two British women, Mary and Wendy, sat opposite us. They had trained together, as Chloe and I had trained together, and like us, they had been “lucky enough” to recently find themselves imprisoned together too. Mary and Wendy appeared just as shell-shocked as Chloe and I were by the events of that morning.

As our captors had reminded us often since our arrests, we were plainclothes assassins and as such, not even entitled to the basic protections of the Geneva Convention. So why on earth had we been allowed the luxury of a shower that morning, and why had we been given clean civilian clothes to wear after months in the filthy outfits we’d been wearing since our capture? Why were they transporting us by passenger train, and in a luxurious private carriage, no less? This wasn’t my first time transferring between prisons since my capture. I knew from bitter personal experience that the usual travel arrangement was, at best, the crowded, stuffy back end of a covered truck or at worst, a putrid, overcrowded boxcar.

But this carriage was modern and spacious, comfortable and relaxed. The leather seats were soft beneath me and the air was clean and light in a way I’d forgotten air should be after months confined to filthy cells.

“This could be a good sign,” I whispered suddenly. Chloe eyed me warily, but my optimism was picking up steam now, and I turned to face her as I thought aloud. “I bet Baker Street has negotiated better conditions for us! Maybe this transfer is a step toward our release. Maybe that’s why…” I nodded toward our only companions in the carriage, seated on the other side of the aisle. “Maybe that’s why she’s here. Could it be that she’s been told to keep us safe and comfortable?”

Chloe and I had had little to do with the secretary at Karlsruhe Prison, but I had seen her in the hallway outside of our cell many times, always scurrying after the terrifyingly hostile warden. It made little sense for a secretary to accompany us on a transfer, but there she was, dressed in her typical tweed suit, her blond hair constrained in a thick bun at the back of her skull. The secretary sat facing against the direction of travel, opposite the two armed guards who earlier had marched me and Chloe onto the covered truck at the prison, then from the covered truck onto the platform to join the train. The men had not introduced themselves, but like all agents with the British Special Operations Executive, I’d spent weeks memorizing German uniforms and insignias. I knew at a glance that these were low-ranking Sicherheitsdienst officers—members of the SD. The Nazi intelligence agency.

The secretary spoke to the guards, her voice low but her tone playful. She held a suitcase on her lap, and she winked as she tapped it. The men both brightened, surprised smiles transforming their stern expressions, then she theatrically popped the suitcase lid to reveal a shockingly generous bounty of thick slices of sausages and chunks of cheese, a large loaf of sliced rye bread and…was that butter? The scent of the food flooded the carriage as the secretary and the guards used the suitcase as a table for their breakfast.

It was far too much food for three people but I knew they’d never share it with us. My stomach rumbled violently, but after months surviving on scant prison rations, I was desperate enough that I felt lucky to be in the mere presence of such a feast.

“I heard the announcement as we came onto the carriage— this train goes to Strasbourg, doesn’t it? Do you have any idea what’s waiting for us there? This is all a bit…” Wendy paused, gnawing her lip anxiously. “None of it makes sense. Why are they treating us so well?”

“This is the Strasbourg train,” Chloe confirmed cautiously. There was a subtle undertone to those words—something hesitant, concerned. I frowned, watching her closely, but just then the secretary leaned toward the aisle. She spoke to us in rapid German and pointed to the suitcase in her lap.

Had we done something wrong? More German words but it may as well have been Latin to me, because I spoke only French and English. Just then, the secretary huffed impatiently and pushed the suitcase onto the empty seat beside her as she stood. She held a plate toward me, and when I stared at it blankly, she waved impatiently toward Chloe and spoke again in German.

“What…”

“She wants you to take it,” Chloe translated for me, and I took the plate with my one free hand, bewildered. Chloe passed it to Wendy, and so on, until we all held plates in our hands. The secretary then passed us fat slices of sausage and cheese and several slices of bread each. Soon, our plates were filled with the food, each of us holding a meal likely more plentiful than we’d experienced since our arrival in France.

“She’s toying with us,” Mary whispered urgently. “She’ll take it back. She won’t let us eat it so don’t get your hopes up.”

I nodded subtly—I’d assumed the same. And so, I tried to ignore the treasure sitting right beneath my nose. I tried not to notice how garlicky and rich that sausage smelled, how creamy the cheese looked, or how the butter was so thick on the bread that it might also have been cheese. I told myself the increasing pangs in my stomach were just part of the torture and the smartest thing I could do was to ignore them altogether, but the longer I held the plate, the harder it was to refocus my mind on anything but the pain in my stomach and the feast in my hands that would bring instant and lasting relief.

When all the remaining food had been divided between us prisoners, the secretary waved impatiently toward the plates on our laps, then motioned toward her mouth.

“Eat!” she said, in impatient but heavily accented English.

Chloe and I exchanged shocked glances. Conditions in Karlsruhe Prison were not the worst we’d seen since our respective captures, but even so, we’d been hungry for so long. The starvation was worse for Chloe than me. She had a particularly sensitive constitution and ate a narrow range of foods in order to avoid gastric distress. Since our reunion at the prison, we’d developed a system of sharing our rations so she could avoid the foods which made her ill but even so, she remained so thin I had sometimes worried I’d wake up one morning to find she’d died in her sleep.

“What can you eat?” I asked her urgently.

She looked at our plates then blurted, “Sausage. I’ll eat the sausage.”

For the next ten minutes we prisoners fell into silence except for the occasional, muffled moan of pleasure and relief as we devoured the food. I was trying to find the perfect compromise between shoving it all into my mouth as fast as I could in case the secretary changed her mind and savoring every bite with the respect a meal like that commanded. By the time my plate was empty and my surroundings came back to me, the guards and the secretary were having a lovely time, laughing amongst themselves and chatting as if they didn’t have a care in the world.

For a long while, we prisoners traveled in silence, holding our plates on our laps at first, then after Wendy set the precedent, lifting them to our mouths to lick them clean. Still, the guards chatted and laughed and if I judged their tones correctly, even flirted with the secretary? It gradually dawned on me that they were paying us very little attention.

“How far is Strasbourg? Does anyone know?” I asked. Wendy and Mary shook their heads as they shrugged, but Chloe informed me it was hundreds of miles. Her shoulders had slumped again despite the gift of the food, and I nudged her gently and offered a soft smile. “We have a long journey ahead. Good. That means we have time for a pleasant chat while our bellies are full.”

By unspoken agreement, we didn’t discuss our work with the Special Operations Executive (SOE). It was obvious to me that each of the other women had been badly beaten at some point—Wendy was missing a front tooth, Mary held her left hand at an odd angle as if a fractured wrist had healed badly, and Chloe… God, even if she hadn’t explained to me already, I’d have known just looking at her that Chloe had been to hell and back. It seemed safe to assume we had all been interrogated literally almost to death at some point, but there was still too much at stake to risk giving away anything the Germans had not gleaned from us already. So instead of talking about our work or our peculiar circumstances on that train, we talked as though we weren’t wearing handcuffs. As though we weren’t on our way to, at the very best, some slightly less horrific form of imprisonment.

We acted as though we were two sets of friends on a casual jaunt through the countryside. We talked about interesting features outside our window—the lush green trees in the tall forests, the cultivated patches of farmland, the charming facades of cottages and apartments on the streets outside. Mary cooed over a group of adorable children walking to school, and Wendy talked about little shops we passed in the picturesque villages. Chloe shared longing descriptions of the foods she missed the most—fresh fruit and crisp vegetables, eggs cooked all manner of ways, herbs and spices and salt. I lamented my various aches and pains and soon everyone joined in and we talked as if we were elderly people reflecting on the cruelty of aging, not four twenty-somethings who had been viciously, repeatedly beaten by hateful men.

I felt the warmth of the sunshine on my face through the window of the carriage and closed my eyes, reveling in the simple pleasures of fresh air and warm skin and the company of the best friend I’d ever known. I even let myself think about the secretary and that picnic, and feel the relief that I was, for the first time in months, in the company of a stranger who had shown kindness toward me. I’d almost forgotten that was something people did for one another.

I’d never been an especially cheerful sort of woman and I’d never been an optimist, but those past months had forced me to stare long and hard at the worst aspects of the human condition and I’d come to accept a certain hopelessness even when it came to my own future. But on that train, bathed in early morning sunlight and basking in a full stomach and pleasant company, my spirits lifted until they soared toward something like hope.

For the first time in months, I even let myself dream that I’d survive to embrace my son Hughie again. Maybe, even after all I’d seen and done, the world could still be good. Maybe, even after everything, I could find reason to have faith.

Buy Links

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-paris-agent-kelly-rimmer/18794141?ean=9781525826689
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-paris-agent-kelly-rimmer/1143459526?ean=9781525826689
Books A Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Paris-Agent/Kelly-Rimmer/9781525826689Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Agent-Kelly-Rimmer/dp/1525826689

Social Links

Author website: www.Kelly.Rimmer.com 
Facebook: @Kellymrimmer
Twitter: @KelRimmerWrites
Instagram: @kelrimmerwrites

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

The Chanel Sisters

Title:  The Chanel Sisters

Author:  Judithe Little

Publication Information:  Graydon House. 2020. 352 pages.

ISBN:  1525806386 / 978-1525806384

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review for the Fall 2020 historical fiction blog tour from Harlequin Trade Publishing.

Opening Sentence:  "In later years, I would think back to that cold March day in 1897 at the convent orphanage in Aubazine."

Favorite Quote:  "We didn't have to accept the lot we were given. Not ill-fitting uniforms. Not anything else. Not when we had initiative and our own tow hands. This was about more than the fit of a skirt or blouse. This was about the future, about the power I'd never felt before, all because of the cut of cloth and the placement of stitches."

***** BLOG TOUR *****

Review

Two statements from the author's note:

• "While much is known about Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel, little is know about her sister Antionette." 
• "Throughout her life, Coco Chanel lied about her background and her family ... She was, in more ways than just fashion, an illusionist. Tales she'd told about her past and about her sisters may or may not have be truthful. I've based Antoinette's story on information from Coco's biographers, census and other records, as well as times in which she lived."

These statements set the context for this story, which is told from the perspective of Coco's younger sister Antoinette. The story spans from 1897 through 1921. Antoinette goes from being a child to a woman. The story goes from an orphanage in Aubazine to Paris and beyond. It goes through World War I.

I am, of course, familiar with the panache of the Chanel name. Who isn't? However, I have not read anything about Coco Chanel or the family. Although this is fiction, it is interesting to read about the transformation that takes place for - or rather, that is created by - these young women who dream of fineries in magazines to the household name symbolic of that style.

The Graces - Gabrielle, Antoinette, and Adrienne - as they are called at one point in their lives take different path to this goal, but the goal remains. Given the time and place, it is not surprising that many of the paths involve men and relationships. At the time, that was often the only acceptable path for a woman. They also change paths as doors open and close. Yet, the three sustain each other, making this also a book about sisterhood.

The theme that emerges throughout is one of ambition and survival. It is the climb from rags to riches and the drive to belong to elite or the élégante. It is about the search for something better. It is about defying the odds and defying the limits society sets on  you. "Maybe great change didn't come with one bold move ... This was how you get form here to there, from charity case to élégante. You don't accept what you're told you are. You decide for yourself."

Of course, the theme of fashion runs throughout the book as well. The girls are hired out as seamstresses. They take it upon themselves to take apart and redo the uniforms they are assigned at the orphanage. The redesigned clothes are still the worn uniforms, but they fit. Gabrielle's original dream is to be singer, but her skill will a needle and thread is never too far. They study the magazines to see how the rich dress. And the hats! Oh my, the hats.

The fact that the book covers the period of World War I brings in another aspect of history. Much has been written about the rumored role of Coco Chanel during World War II. It was interesting to go earlier in history, even with a fictionalized account.

A lot of time and a lot of characters are covered in this book. However, the anchor of the Chanel sisters pulls the story together beginning to end.

About the Author

JUDITHE LITTLE is the award-winning author of Wickwythe Hall. She earned a BA in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia and a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. She grew up in Virginia and now lives with her husband, three teenagers, and three dogs in Houston, Texas. Find her on Instagram, @judithelittle, and on Facebook, facebook.com/judithelittle.

About the Book

For fans of The Paris Wife, The Only Woman in the Room, and The Woman Before Wallis, a riveting historical novel narrated by Coco Chanel's younger sister about their struggle to rise up from poverty and orphanhood and establish what will become the world's most iconic fashion brand in Paris.

A novel of survival, love, loss, triumph—and the sisters who changed fashion forever

Antoinette and Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel know they’re destined for something better. Abandoned by their family at a young age, they’ve grown up under the guidance of nuns preparing them for simple lives as the wives of tradesmen or shopkeepers. At night, their secret stash of romantic novels and magazine cutouts beneath the floorboards are all they have to keep their dreams of the future alive.

The walls of the convent can’t shield them forever, and when they’re finally of age, the Chanel sisters set out together with a fierce determination to prove themselves worthy to a society that has never accepted them. Their journey propels them out of poverty and to the stylish cafés of Moulins, the dazzling performance halls of Vichy—and to a small hat shop on the rue Cambon in Paris, where a boutique business takes hold and expands to the glamorous French resort towns.

But the sisters’ lives are again thrown into turmoil when World War I breaks out, forcing them to make irrevocable choices, and they’ll have to gather the courage to fashion their own places in the world, even if apart from each other.

Q&A with the Author

Q: I didn't know Coco had a sister. How did you come up with the idea for your novel?
A: When I read in a biography of Coco that she had a sister, I knew right away I wanted to write about her. A lot of books have been written about Coco, but none have been written from the point of view of Antoinette. I thought that the sister of Coco Chanel might have an interesting story to tell, and it turns out that she did.

Q: Explain the staying power and interest in (anything) Chanel?
A: I think that Chanel is the symbol for reinvention and the idea that you can be whoever you want to be and that has a universal appeal.

Q: Do you plan your books in advance or let them develop as you write?
A: They are planned in the sense that they’re based on historical events so there’s already a timeline in place and I know generally what happens. The characters themselves develop as I write.

Q: Have you ever had a character take over a story, and if so, who was it and why?
A: I’ve had minor characters take over small parts of a story such as the baron at Royallieu (I attribute the kite dance idea to him). Arturo also seemed to take over the scenes he was in and tell me what he was going to do instead of vice-versa.

Q: Which one of The Chanel Sisters’s characters was the hardest to write and why?
A: Julia-Berthe was the hardest to write because of the three sisters, she’s the one about whom the least is known.

Q: What does a day in the life of Judithe Little look like?
A: Busy! I’m a lawyer so during the day I take care of my law firm work and in the evenings I typically write or do other book-related activities. Mixed in is typical stuff like grocery shopping, errands, and driving my youngest who is a high school sophomore here and there.

Q: What do you use to inspire you when you get Writer’s Block?
A: This may sound strange but I rearrange furniture or shelves or redecorate in some way. Maybe it’s the new perspective but changing my surroundings seems to get the juices flowing again.

Q: Do you have stories on the back burner that are just waiting to be written?
A: I usually have one or two waiting in the wings.

Q: What advice would you give budding authors about publishing?
A: I think it’s important to have critique partners or a critique group. Mine has been invaluable to me. Persistence and thick skin help too.

Q: What was the last thing you read?
A: Bryn Turnball’s The Woman Before Wallis which I loved.

Q: Book you've bought just for the cover?
A: Susan Meissner’s Secrets of a Charmed Life because I loved the color of the green dress and the way the figure of the woman was interposed with the river and London. More recently, Jane Smiley’s Perestroika because it has a horse and the Eiffel Tower on the cover--two of my favorite things.

Q: Tell us about what you’re working on now.
A: I’m working on a new novel that takes place in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s and is told from the perspective once again of someone close to Coco Chanel but who was famous in her own right.

Social Links

Author website: http://www.judithelittle.com/
Instagram: @judithelittle
FB: @judithe.little

Buy Links

Murder By The Book
Barrington Books
IndieBound
Bookshop.org
Indigo
Amazon
Apple
Kobo
Barnes & Noble
Libro.FM
Audible
Google Play

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.