• Book Reviews,  Politics,  Resistance

    A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell (2019) | Book Review

    American spy: A Woman Of No Importance Book Cover

    A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell Genres: Biography, Non-Fiction Original Publication Date: 2019 Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Find the Author: Website, Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon American spy: In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: “She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her.” The target in their sights was Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who talked her way into Special Operations Executive, the spy organization dubbed Winston Churchill’s “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” She became the first Allied woman deployed behind enemy lines and–despite her prosthetic leg–helped to light the flame of the French Resistance, revolutionizing secret warfare as we…

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    Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II by Robert Matzen | Book Review

    Dutch Girl book cover

    Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II by Robert Matzen Genres: Biography, History, Non-Fiction Original Publication Date: 2019 Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Find the Author: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads Dutch Girl: Several biographies have chronicled her stardom, but none has covered Audrey Hepburn’s intense experiences through five years of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. Audrey Hepburn’s war included participation in the Dutch Resistance, working as a doctor’s assistant during the “Bridge Too Far” battle of Arnhem, the brutal execution of her uncle, and the ordeal of the Hunger Winter of 1944. Audrey’s own reminiscences, new interviews with people who knew her in the war, wartime diaries, and…

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    Chocolates For Breakfast by Pamela Moore | Book Review

    Chocolates For Breakfast book cover

    Chocolates For Breakfast by Pamela Moore Genres: Fiction Original Publication Date: Originally published in 1956 Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Find the Author: Website A riveting coming-of-age story, Chocolates for Breakfast became an international sensation upon its initial publication in 1956. Courtney Farrell is a disaffected, sexually precocious fifteen-year-old. She splits her time between Manhattan, where her father works in publishing, and Los Angeles, where her mother is a still-beautiful Hollywood actress. After a boarding-school crush on a female teacher ends badly, Courtney sets out to learn everything fast. Chocolates For Breakfast It is the 1950s. Courtney Farrell is fifteen years old and a student at an exclusive boarding…

  • Book Reviews,  Politics,  Resistance

    A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead | Book Review

    A Train in Winter book cover

    A Train in Winter by Caroline Moorehead Series: The Resistance Trilogy Book 1 Genres: History, Non-Fiction Original Publication Date: 2011 Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Find the Author: Website, Goodreads, Amazon A Train in Winter: In January 1943, 230 women of the French Resistance were sent to the death camps by the Nazis who had invaded and occupied their country. This is their story, told in full for the first time—a searing and unforgettable chronicle of terror, courage, defiance, survival, and the power of friendship. Caroline Moorehead, a distinguished biographer, human rights journalist, and the author of Dancing to the Precipice and Human Cargo, brings to life an extraordinary…

  • Book Reviews,  Seasons

    The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family by Laura Schenone | Book Review

    The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken book cover

    The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family by Laura Schenone Genres: Food, Memoir, Non-Fiction Original Publication Date: 2007 Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Find the Author: Goodreads, Amazon Laura Schenone undertakes a quest to retrieve her great-grandmother’s ravioli recipe, reuniting with relatives as she goes. In lyrical prose and delicious recipes, Schenone takes the reader on an unforgettable journey from the grit of New Jersey’s industrial wastelands and the fast-paced disposable culture of its suburbs to the dramatically beautiful coast of Liguria―the family’s homeland―with its pesto, smoked chestnuts, torte, and, most beloved of all, ravioli, the food of celebration and happiness. The Lost Ravioli…