Kate's War - Linda Stewart Henley

If you like historical fiction, you're going to want to pick up Linda Stewart Henley's new book - Kate's War.

What's it about? 

"Set in a London suburb during the first year of WWII, KATE’S WAR by Linda Stewart Henley gives us the moving story of Kate Murphy and her family as they grapple with possible bombings and invasion. This novel is inspired by a little-known event from 1940 in which Henley’s father participated.

At twenty, after much preparation and while still mourning the end of her first romance, Kate is ready to leave home to pursue a singing career, long her dream. Her biggest hurdle is overcoming severe breathing problems that plague her when nervous.

But just when she is ready to tell her family of her imminent departure, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain declares that Britain is at war with Germany. 

As Kate re-orients to staying home and once again teaching choir at the local school, she’s approached by the mother of one of her pupils, a Jewish German refugee. The mother asks that Kate take care of her daughter if anything happens. When the little girl’s parents are deported in the dead of night and the child comes to her for help, Kate taps into a core of courage she never knew she had.

In her finest book yet, Linda Stewart Henley explores the challenges of new adulthood in the midst of war, the protection of children during violent conflicts, keeping dreams alive, and young love. Kate’s War is beautifully written, poignant, and a gripping tale of bravery and hope."

You can connect with Linda on her website. As well as on Facebook. 

Spotlight - Treasures of the Sky - Jenny Tinghui Zhang

I'm today's stop for the blog tour of Treasures of the Sky - Jenny Tinghui Zhang's debut novel.

What's it about? From Flatiron Books:

"A propulsive and dazzling debut novel set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act, about a Chinese girl fighting to claim her place in the 1880s American West.

Daiyu never wanted to be like the tragic heroine for whom she was named, revered for her beauty and cursed with heartbreak. But when she is kidnapped and smuggled across an ocean from China to America, Daiyu must relinquish the home and future she imagined for herself. Over the years that follow, she is forced to keep reinventing herself to survive. From a calligraphy school, to a San Francisco brothel, to a shop tucked into the Idaho mountains, we follow Daiyu on a desperate quest to outrun the tragedy that chases her. As anti-Chinese sentiment sweeps across the country in a wave of unimaginable violence, Daiyu must draw on each of the selves she has been - including the ones she most wants to leave behind - in order to finally claim her own name and story.

At once a literary tour de force and a groundbreaking work of historical fiction, Four Treasures of the Sky announces Jenny Tinghui Zhang as an indelible new voice. Steeped in untold history and Chinese folklore, this novel is a spellbinding feat." "Engulfing, bighearted, and heartbreaking." - Ann Patchett

Photo Credit: Mary Inhea Kang

Read an excerpt of Treasures of the Sky.

"Jenny Tinghui Zhang is a Chinese-American writer. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Apogee, Ninth Letter, Passages North, The Rumpus, HuffPost, The Cut, Catapult, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from the University of Wyoming and has received support from Kundiman, Tin House, and VONA/Voices. She was born in Changchun, China and grew up in Austin, Texas, where she currently lives. Four Treasures of the Sky is her debut. You can connect with Jenny on Instagram."

 

The Artist Colony - Joanna FitzPatrick - Spotlight and Giveaway

Joanna FitzPatrick's new novel, The Artist Colony, has just released and I have an eBook copy to give away to one lucky reader!

What's it about? From She Writes Press:

"In Joanna FitzPatrick’s charming and gripping new novel, set in 1924, Sarah Cunningham arrives in Carmel-by-the-Sea from Paris to bury her estranged older sister, Ada Belle. En route, Sarah was stunned to learn that Ada Belle’s death had been categorized as a suicide. The inquest’s verdict makes no sense. Ada Belle’s reputation was growing: her plein air paintings regularly sold out, and she was about to show her portraits for the first time, which would have catapulted her career. 

What begins as a short trip to bid Ada Belle adieu turns into a protracted stay for Sarah. She puts her own artistic career on hold and, trailed by Ada Belle’s devoted dog, Albert, becomes a secret sleuth—a task made harder by the misogyny and racism she discovers in this seemingly idyllic locale. From the posh Hotel del Monte to the windswept sands of Carmel Beach to Robinson Jeffers’s Tor House to Point Lobos’s Whalers Cove, The Sarah immerses herself in the women’s artist colony to discover Ada Belle’s secrets - and to expose a killer. 

Part mystery, part historical fiction, this engrossing novel celebrates the artistic talents of early women painters, the deep bonds of sisterhood, the muse that is beautiful scenery, and the dogged determination of one young woman to discover the truth, to protect an artistic legacy, and to give her sister the farewell she deserves."

"FitzPatrick keeps the pot stirred nicely, with revelations popping up like whack-a-mole. There is also a nice sense of scene, capturing this idyllic place on the Monterey peninsula. . . . The Artist Colony delivers an escape to gorgeous Carmel and an engaging mystery."--- Kirkus Reviews

Cr: Michelle Magdalena

"Joanna FitzPatrick was raised in Hollywood. She started her writing habit by applying her orange fountain pen and a wild imagination to screenplays, which led her early on to produce the film White Lilacs and Pink Champagne. Accepted at Sarah Lawrence College, she wrote her MFA thesis Sha La La: Live for Today about her life as a rock ’n’ roll star’s wife. Her more recent work includes two novels, Katherine Mansfield, Bronze Winner of the 2021 Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) in Historical Fiction, and The Drummer’s Widow. The Artist Colony is her third book. Presently, FitzPatrick divides her time between a cottage by the sea in Pacific Grove, California and a hameau in rural southern France where she begins all her book projects. Find her online at The Artist Colony - Joanna FitzPatrick.

If you'd like to read The Artist Colony, enter for a chance to win an eBook copy using the Rafflecopter form below. Open to US only, ends Saturday, September 25.21. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway