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2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


30 / 30 books. 100% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas (1)
- California (11)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (2)
- Delaware (1)
- Florida (3)
- Georgia (3)
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois (4)
- Indiana (4)
- Iowa (1)
- Kansas (1)
- Kentucky (1)
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts (3)
- Michigan (1)
- Minnesota (2)
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri (1)
- Montana (1)
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada (2)
- New Hampshire (1)
- New Jersey (1)
- New Mexico (1)
- New York (9)
- North Carolina (4)
- North Dakota (1)
- Ohio (3)
- Oklahoma (2)
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania (2)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota (1)
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (4)
- Utah (4)
- Vermont (2)
- Virginia (2)
- Washington (3)
- West Virginia (1)
- Wisconsin (1)
- Wyoming (2)
- Washington, D.C.* (2)

International:
- Argentina (1)
- Australia (3)
- Bolivia (1)
- Canada (3)
- China (2)
- England (25)
- France (1)
- Ghana (1)
- India (1)
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- Ireland (4)
- Italy (1)
- Poland (2)
- Russia (2)
- Scotland (3)
- The Netherlands (1)

My Progress:


51 / 51 states. 100% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 50 books. 104% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


36 / 50 books. 72% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


50 / 52 books. 96% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


37 / 40 books. 93% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


18 / 40 books. 45% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


25 / 25 cozies. 100% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


2 / 26.2 miles (4th lap). 8% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


43 / 100 books. 43% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


98 / 109 books. 90% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


137 / 165 books. 83% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

My Progress:


85 / 100 names. 85% done!

The Life Skills Reading Challenge

My Progress:


30 / 80 skills. 38% done!
Saturday, October 07, 2017

WWII Circus Novel An Atmospheric, Not-to-Be-Missed Masterpiece

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Kicked out of her home in Holland after becoming pregnant with the child of a Nazi soldier, 16-year-old Noa Weil is forced to seek shelter elsewhere.  Aching from the loss of her baby, who was taken by the Nazis, she's bereft and adrift.  She sleeps in the German train station where she cleans to make enough money to live.  Noa's only goal is to to keep well under the radar, drawing no attention to herself whatsoever.  So, when she comes upon an unsupervised boxcar full of Jewish infants headed for a concentration camp, she hesitates.  But only for a moment.  Determined to save at least one baby, she snatches a child and runs.  

On the brink of death after trudging through the brutal winter countryside, Noa finds shelter with a German circus.  To fool the Nazis, she will have to blend in with the family of performers.  Although she has little experience, she's to undergo rigorous training as an aerialist.  

Astrid Sorrell, a master aerialist who's hiding her own secrets, wants nothing to do with the ludicrous scheme to turn Noa into a circus performer.  The only thing Astrid needs less than a bumbling student is a rival who's younger, prettier, and surprisingly successful at her new job.

When the circus attracts the most unwelcome attention of local Nazi soldiers, however, the women will have to band together to save themselves and those they love.  

I'm a longtime fan of Pam Jenoff's WWII novels.  The author—a lawyer who has worked for both the Pentagon and the State Department—is a Holocaust expert who infuses her stories with vivid historical detail; tense, engaging plot lines; and heroines who are sympathetic yet strong.  Her newest, The Orphan's Tale, is a haunting, character-driven novel that drew me in from the first word, keeping me utterly spellbound until the last.  It's sad, but memorable and undeniably compelling.  If you're a fan of well-written WWII fiction, as I definitely am, you will not want to miss this absorbing story.  Just be sure to clear your calendar because once you start, you won't be able to put this one down.

(Readalikes:  It's billed as The Nightingale [by Kristin Hannah] meets Water For Elephants [by Sara Gruen] and I think that's pretty apt.)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for violence, mild sexual content, and scenes of peril

To the FTC, with love:  I bought a copy of The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff at Costco with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.)
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Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie

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The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth



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2024 Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge
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2024 - Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction

2024 - Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction

2023 - Middle Grade Fiction

2023 - Middle Grade Fiction

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2022 - Middle Grade Fiction

2021 - Middle Grade Fiction

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2020 - Middle Grade Fiction

2020 - Middle Grade Fiction