The Bookseller's Secret by Michelle Gable

The Bookseller's Secret by Michelle Gable

Published by Graydon House ISBN 9781525806469

Trade paperback, $16.99, 400 pages

I've always seen books by and about Nancy Mitford (and her famous sisters) but haven't yet read one. After reading Michelle Gable's fascinating novel, The Bookseller's Secret, where Nancy Mitford plays a large role, I have already made a list of books about Mitford to add to my To-Be-Read pile.

We begin the novel in the present day with a young woman named Katie struggling in her career as a novelist. She had one successful book, and now her engagement to her boyfriend of many years is over. When her best friend Jojo offers to pay Katie's airfare to come to London stay with her, her husband and four young children, Katie gratefully accepts.

Jojo tells Katie about a very special bookstore, G. Heywood Hill Ltd., where the owner is a book concierge for a mostly wealthy clientele. For a large sum of money Felix will compile a personal library, consisting of books unique to each customer's interests. (My dream job!)

Author Nancy Mitford worked at the G. Heywood Hill Ltd. bookstore during WWII. Nancy is one of six sisters, some of whom are notorious for being friends with Hitler, as well as being Fascists and Communists, and she was friends with famous writers of the day, like Evelyn Waugh, who hung out at the bookshop. (Picture "Friends" as a group of intellectuals on a WWII BBC show.)

Katie becomes intrigued by the rumor that Nancy Mitford had written a memoir, and that Felix was in possession of it, which he vehemently denies. Then she meets Simon, a school principal, who was also looking for Mitford's memoir for reasons of his own.

The characters in this novel are so interesting and well drawn. Nancy Mitford jumps off the page, with her clever quips and saucy attitude. It's impossible not to fall in love with her. Between her infamous family, her  husband at war whom she hasn't heard from in three years, the French colonel who she falls in love with, her mission as a spy for Britain, and her struggles to write her next book, Nancy has a fascinating life. If you are a Nancy Mitford fan, you'll definitely want to read The Bookseller's Secret.

Other intriguing characters include Katie's grandmother, who is about to be kicked out her fantasy football league for her bad behavior, Jojo and her precocious son Clive, who is a real hoot. All three of these made me laugh. I also appreciated that the author wrote an informative real-life epilogue for several of the characters we meet. 

 

The question that lingers is "did Nancy Mitford write a memoir and if she did, where is it?" You'll have to read The Bookseller's Secret to find out. I highly recommend that you do.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on the Summer 2021 Historical Fiction Reads Tour.

Radar Girls by Sara Ackerman

Radar Girls by Sara Ackerman

Published by MIRA ISBN 9780778332046

Trade paperback, $16.99, 368 pages

Books set in WWII have become a popular genre of novels in recent years. Many of them center on how people faired through the war years in England and France. Sara Ackerman's Radar Girls takes us to the island of Hawaii just after the attack on Pearl Harbor to tell a lesser-known story of the women who went to work for the military learning how to read radar to aid the pilots returning from bombing runs.

Daisy is 23 year-old woman who loves working with the horses on the estate of a local wealthy landowner.  Horses are her lifeblood. She cares for her mother, who hasn't gotten over the accidental shooting death of her husband. Daisy is the sole financial and emotional support for her mother.

When the Japanese bombs devastate Pearl Harbor, everything changes on the islands. Similar to what happened in England during the war, the men went off to fight in the war, leaving the women behind to do the jobs the men previously did. In England, many women were recruited to try to break the German coded communications in Bletchley Park.

In Radar Girls, Kate is recruited with other island women to join the Women's Air Raid Defense (WARD) to learn how to read radar signals. Kate surprises herself by scoring high on the test, and she and the other women painstakingly learn all about the new technology of radar. They pinpoint planes in the air, both friendly and enemy planes, and help guide the pilots back home. 

They undergo intensive training, including learning how to shoot and fight fires.  They are doing top-secret work, and must hide their real job from family and friends. It is a stressful occupation, and as in England, the women are housed on the base. Daisy bunks with Betty, whose husband is a pilot, and Fluff, an innocent young woman who catches the eye of one of her superior officers.

Daisy becomes friendly with Walker, the son of the owner of the horse stables where she worked and a hero pilot. All the women have eyes for Walker, including one woman who believes herself to be his fianceé, but Walker begins to spend more and more time with Daisy.

I didn't know anything about WARD, and the women who learned a new technology to read radar. I found that part of the story most fascinating. The story is told from Daisy's perspective, so we really only see the other women from through Daisy's eyes. Hawaii has such a diverse population- Japanese, Chinese, Philippino- it was interesting to see how they were treated differently than the Japanese-Americans in California, for example.

If you read and enjoyed Kate Quinn's The Rose Code about the women in Bletchley Park, pick up Radar Girls. 

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Summer 2021 Historical Fiction tour.