Beach Reads
It’s been a long and interesting winter, and I’m happy to say I spent a lot of time in front of the fireplace catching up on some great books. The spring column of Beach Reads is my chance to tell you all about the books I read over the winter, especially my favorite ones that I don’t want you to miss. From a mistreated enslaved woman trying to find a new life in Gettysburg to hotel guests trapped in the Swiss Alps, there is something here for everyone.
“Sunflower Sisters” by Martha Hall Kelly
In “Lilac Girls,” we were introduced to Caroline Ferriday, the type of character who stays with you long after the story is over. In “Sunflower Girls,” we are introduced to Caroline’s ancestor, Georgeanna “Georgey” Woolsey, a Union nurse during the Civil War. Georgey follows her passion for nursing, even though the men feel that having a woman on the battlefront is a bother. She travels with her sister, Eliza, to Gettysburg, where she witnesses the horrors of war and slavery. In the South, Jemma is enslaved on a plantation. She lives with her parents, while her sister is enslaved on the plantation next door. Everyone lives in fear of LeBaron, their abusive overseer. When Jemma is sold off by Anne-May, the cruel plantation mistress, at the same time the Union army is coming through, she has her chance to escape. Anne-May is left alone to run the plantation when her husband enlists with the Union and her brother enlists with the Confederates. Inspired by true accounts, “Sunflower Sisters” is an engrossing story of women trying to find their way in a country that is about to collapse.
“The Sanatorium” by Sarah Pearse
Lately, I have enjoyed reading thrillers. Especially the ones that keep you on the edge of your seat and you stay up long past bedtime because you just have to find out who did it! “The Sanatorium” is exactly that. Le Sommet is an abandoned sanatorium that has been renovated into a five-star hotel. Although still the subject of troubling rumors, it is making a name for itself as an isolated getaway spot located high in the Swiss Alps. Le Sommet is the last place that detective Elin Warner wants to go, but she is invited there to celebrate her brother’s engagement and can’t find a good reason to decline the invitation. She arrives in the middle of a storm and instantly feels that something is amiss. The following morning, her brother’s fiancée is missing. All access to the hotel is closed off due to the storm, and the longer it takes to find her, the more the guests panic. No one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing, and she had the key to everything.
“The Four Winds” by Kristin Hannah
The story begins in Texas in 1921, when World War I is over and life is looking up for everyone in the country. Well, for everyone except Elsa Wolcott. Elsa is considered too old to marry and in 1921, marriage is the only option for women to secure an acceptable future. The night she meets Rafe Martinelli, she decides to change her life’s direction. She chooses to marry a man she hardly knows. Fast-forward 13 years later and everything has changed. A drought has devastated the Great Plains and there is no work available. Crops are failing, there’s no water, and everything on the Martinelli farm is dying. Elsa’s marriage is also failing, and she is desperate to do whatever it takes to keep her children alive. Many are heading to California in search of a better life. Should Elsa stay and fight for the land and life she loves? The Great Depression divided the nation. “The Four Winds” is a story of one woman whose courage and resilience defined a generation.
“The Women of Chateau Lafayette” by Stephanie Dray
Typically, the stories we hear about castles involve battles, knights, and men who are destined to protect everything. This story is different. “The Women of Chateau Lafayette” is a true story of a castle in France that was protected by women. In 1774, Adrienne Lafayette has become her husband’s partner, fighting for American independence. Her fight turns into a revolution in France, threatening everything, including her marriage and her life. In 1914, New York socialite Beatrice Chanler has witnessed the devastation in France from the onset of World War I and sets out to persuade America to fight for what is right. In 1940, Marthe Simone, a French schoolteacher, has avoided war at all costs. But when Nazi occupation threatens the castle where she grew up, she begins to question everything. “The Women of Chateau Lafayette” is a story of love, courage, strength, and everything we take from the ones who come before.
“Between Two Kingdoms” by Suleika Jaouad
Suleika Jaouad had everything going for her. She had just graduated college, was in love, and had moved to Paris to pursue her dream of becoming a war correspondent. Then things started to change. It started with an itchy feeling on her feet, then moving up her legs. Then came an intense exhaustion that no nap could fix. Finally, a trip to the doctor that resulted in a diagnosis of leukemia and just a 35% chance she would survive. She flew home to New York, only to spend most of the next four years in a hospital bed, chronicling her battle in a column for The New York Times. After having endured chemotherapy, a clinical trial and a bone marrow transplant, the doctors considered her cured. After fighting to survive for so long, now is when Suleika could finally learn how to live again, but how? She started with a 15,000-mile road trip across the country to meet some of the people who had written to her when she was sick. These people had their own challenges to overcome. Through them and her own perseverance, Suleika found a life worth living.
“Eternal” by Lisa Scottoline
Elisabetta is a beautiful girl with a feisty spirit who dreams of becoming a writer. Marco is extremely athletic and comes from a family of professional cyclists. Sandro is a Jewish math prodigy who is kind, thoughtful, and the son of a doctor and a lawyer. The three grew up as best friends, even though their lives were incredibly different. In 1937, Mussolini begins to show his power, aligning with Italy’s Fascists and Germany’s Nazis and changing the laws that govern Rome. The three best friends, their families, their lives, and their relationships with each other are tested beyond imagination. As World War II erupts, the Nazis invade Rome. The fates of Elisabetta, Marco, Sandro, and their families will be decided, in a heartbreaking story of both the best and the worst that the world has to offer.
