Hidden Yellow Stars

Hidden Yellow Stars by Rebecca Connolly 304 pages

 

Andrée Geulen. Ida Sterno. The world should know these names, but like many stories from World War II, they have been forgotten. Until now. Hidden Yellow Stars is not just another novel about Jewish people fighting in the Resistance. These two women, along with a cadre of undercover operatives, saved hundreds of Jewish from certain death by hiding them throughout Belgium.

 

The novel begins in 1942. Andrée is a young schoolteacher whose Aaryan features allow her to move about freely. Ida recruits Andrée to join her in her work with the Committee for the Defense of Jews (Never having heard of the CDJ, that was an interesting rabbit hole to go down!). Andrée immediately says yes and begins what is a fulfilling and harrowing journey.

 

The CDJ works with a complex variety of Belgian citizens, convents, schools and monasteries who can safely hide the Jewish children. Each child is given a non-Jewish name and their whereabouts are tracked through an elaborate coding system, that if ever seized by the Gestapo will certainly mean death, or something worse. Andrée vows to reunite as many families as she can once the war is over. She memorizes their true names, original place of residence and their parents’ names.

 

When Andrée is assigned a new child/children to relocate, she does her best not to stick out to the Nazis. A woman on a train with five children, for example, will certainly cause scrutiny. There are many harrowing, barely escaping episodes where Andrée was only one step ahead of the Gestapo.

 

The story is nail-biting. Will they be captured? And if so, what will happen to the children?

 

For some reason, when I was started reading, I wasn’t sure if this was based on a true story or not. But in reading the Author’s Notes, I understood more of the story behind the story. There were many acronyms used that I kept forgetting their meaning and had to turn back several pages to remember them. That is why Hidden Yellow Stars receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world instead of 6 out of 5.

  

A Bell for Adano

A Bell for Adano by John Hersey 288 pages

 

Written in 1944, A Bell for Adano was originally considered a contemporary novel, but now that the years have passed, it is classified as historical fiction. I read somewhere that this novel, winner of the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was taught in schools, much like we think of 1984, Catcher in the Rye, Fahrenheit 451 today. I couldn’t find a reason why this gem was pulled from the curriculum, but, in my opinion, it should be added back.

 

In a nutshell, A Bell for Adano tells the story of an Italian-American officer in Sicily during World War II who wins the respect and admiration of the people of the town of Adano by helping them find a replacement for the town bell that the Fascists had melted down for rifle barrels. Set in 1943, the Allies have occupied the fictional coastal town of Adano, based on the real city of Licata, which was the landing site for the Allied invasion of Sicily.

The main protagonist is Major Victor Joppolo, whom the locals refer to as Mister Major. Upon arrival, he asks the people what they need most. The citizens agree that they only want their 700-year-old bell, which had been seized by the fascists then melted down for bullets, returned.

However, food is running low; the fishermen have not been out in months because they refuse to pay extra taxes and fees to the fascists. As Mister Major and his men try to get food into the village, he struggles to understand the wild array of people he encounters that sometimes feel like caricatures of the Italian personality.

At times hilarious, at times bittersweet and at times heartbreaking, I can understand why it won the Pulitzer. It feels like it is a 21^st century-written novel, meaning it doesn’t feel dated. Well, except it takes place in 1943. Therefore, A Bell for Adano receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

 

The Paris Novel

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichel 288 pages

 

Food! Fashion! Art! It’s all there in this magical realism tale set in 1980s Paris. But before we get there, we must start in New York City.

 

Stella lives an extremely structured life. She is a copy editor at a small publishing house. She believes she loves her job, and she is good at it. It’s a lonely life; Stella is estranged from her mother, the only family she has. She never knew who her father was. Her mother claimed she didn’t know, but reading between the lines, I believe that is why she sent her to Paris. To find him.

 

When her mother dies, Stella is surprised, nay shocked, that her mother left her anything, especially a letter address to “My Daughter.” Inside Stella finds a one-way ticket along with a note that merely says, “Go to Paris!” She is reluctant but her boss talks her into it. With lots of vacation time, Stella packs a small bag and heads to the City of Lights.

 

Stella’s well-oiled lifestyle follows her. But when she stumbles upon a vintage store, her deepest inner self begins to emerge. She tries on a vintage Dior gown that fits like it was made for her. The old woman who is the shopkeeper takes her into paying the $6,000 for it with the caveat that she can return if the dress doesn’t change her. The shopkeeper gives her a list of things she must do.

 

First, she eats oysters at Les Deux Magots. There she meets Jules, an older man with a passion for art who knows anyone and everyone in Paris. He knows great food, exceptional wine, the writers, the painters. Slowly, she sheds herself of all the things that have held her back. She quickly realizes that she enjoys this new life and never wants to go back to the old Stella.

 

Stella visits Shakespeare & Company Bookstore. The bookstore has much more to offer than books. Could Stella have found a new home, a new sense of belonging when she becomes one of the “tumbleweeds,” one who drifts in and out of the bookstore.

 

Then there is the small mystery surrounding her father and the Manet painting that her mother had hanging in her home.

 

For me, every page was a masterpiece of experience! Therefore, The Paris Novel receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

The Princess of Las Vegas

The Princess of Las Vegas by Chris Bohjalian 400 pages

 

There is nothing more exciting than getting my hands on the latest Chris Bohjalian novel.  I love to sink down into my favorite chair and enter another compelling and entertaining world that this master storyteller creates. In this outing, “The Princess is fake, but the murders are real.”

 

The main character, Crissy Dowling, is a sensation on the Las Vegas stage. In a town full of impersonators, Crissy stands out as a Princess Diana look-alike, which draws British royals fans from, all over the world. However, it’s not “The Strip,” but the seedy portion of the strip where the casinos are down on their luck, looking rundown and out of date. But the tickets to shows are cheaper, so that’s some consolation.

 

By day, Crissy lounges in her private cabana, enjoys an Adderall and Valium cocktail, eats until her heart’s content, then purges so as not to gain weight.

 

Crissy’s life is the same, day after day. That is until Betsy, her estranged sister who could be her twin, blows into town with a newly adopted daughter and a rich boyfriend. Betsy has barely made her presence known when then bodies start to pile up.

 

First, it’s the two co-owners of the Buckingham Palace Casino where Crissy pretends to be a long-dead princess. Then things start to twist and turn. The mob (What’s a Las Vegas tale without the mob?) is trying to bring cryptocurrency to Vegas, but it is not without its price tags. Sometimes I felt as if I was in a James Bond novel.

 

A lot of the action takes place around cryptocurrency that I admit I don’t understand. Therefore, The Princess of Las Vegas receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Now comes the hard part, waiting until March 2025 when Bohjalian’s next novel is due to be released. It sounds more my cup of tea: historical fiction set during the American Civil War.

 

 

 

Now is Not the Time to Panic

Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson 256 pages

 

It’s been a few weeks since I finished this novel, yet the story has stuck with him. It’s one of the books that I really wasn’t into, yet I couldn’t stop reading. I had to know how it ended.

 

The book opens in 2016. Frances Eleanor Budge---author, wife, mother, daughter---is contacted by a journalist named Mazzy. Mazzy knows that Frances is from Coalfield, Tennessee, and is doing a story on the 20^th anniversary of the Coalfield Panic of 1996. Does Frances, then known, as Frankie, recall the incident?

 

In the Summer of 1996, sixteen-year-old Frankie is dreading the long, sizzling summer in Coalfield. She is a loner, has no friends, there is nothing to do and is a budding writer. Plus her older, triplet brothers have their hearts set on irritating her.

 

Frankie bumps into Zeke, another sixteen-year-old, who is staying with his grandmother for the summer. He knows no one, and there is nothing to do. Zeke is an artist, but from the author’s descriptions, his art is rather Avant Garde. Together, they decided to create art. Zeke on image, Frankie on words. They like what they make.

 

In the garage at Frankie’s house there is an antique copier that, amazingly, still works. They print off several copies and hang them around town. As the townspeople begin to see them, popping up everywhere, they begin to wonder who is behind the poster since it is unsigned. Soon the town is obsessed with the poster. Especially since they keep popping up everywhere. Rumors circulate, people are killed, parents keep their kids indoors.

 

As the summer winds down, Frankie and Zeke go their separate ways, the furor over the poster subsides, but its impact on the town and beyond lingers on.

 

This was an okay story. It’s an interesting plot on the power of art. I wasn’t all that impressed with either Frankie or Zeke. For me it was a slow read, but I was interested to see how the author would plot the story and end it. Since Now is Not the Time to Panic was “okay,” it receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Year of What If

 

The Year of What If  by Phaedra Patrick 

327 pp

Carla Carter is just weeks away from marrying Tom Taylor.  Her matchmaking agency says they are statistically perfect for each other, at least more perfect than her first husband Aaron.  If it weren’t for the pesky jinx on her family that no one could be happy in a marriage.  During Carla’s bachelorette party, one of the activities involves having your fortune told by “Mystic Myrtle”.  It seems that Myrtle knows that during Carla’s gap year traveling through Europe she broke her arm falling from a horse and says “you met a man of great importance during this time”.  After Tom gets the opportunity to go to the US for a board game convention and present his idea for a new one there, Carla is left at loose ends.  When a woman answers Tom’s phone, that is the last straw. She decides to go on a trip to some of the places she went during that gap year and see if there is anyone or anything there that could be the “man of great importance”.  

Readers who enjoy romance will like this title.  I have read several of Phaedra Patrick’s books through the years and always find them to be entertaining and satisfying.  I give this book four out of five stars and thank NetGalley for allowing me to read this in advance.