In 1939, Paris, Odile Souchet has her life on track. She’s working in her dream job at the American Library in Paris, a great boyfriend working as a cop, and a loving family.
Virginia Hall is an American from Baltimore, for her France is a second home. Virginia volunteers to work with the SOE and the OSS to coordinate the response of the French Resistance with the Allies, prior to D-Day.
Dellaria Wells, Delly, is a hard-drinking thief, about to be evicted from her apartment in Leiscourt. Delly is also a talented fire-witch, but has no idea how to hone her skills. Delly fast-talks herself into a good paying job, protecting a young rich lady from assassination.
Pretending to be an English professor at the University of Panama, Nick is trying to infiltrate student groups who are determined to regain ownership of the Panama Canal. Nick, however, is still a young man (23) and falls in love with one of his students, which plays with his heart, mind, and ideologies – something a spy cannot afford.
The Serpent and the Eagle by Edward Rickford is the first book in the Tenochtitlan Trilogy, taking place during Hernán Cortés’ 1519 military campaign in the New World. Mr. Rickford is an award winning writer, this book won the 2018 Chaucer Book Awards.
The Empress by Laura Martinez-Belli (translated by Simon Bruni) is a novel about the life of Empress Carlota, wife of Maximilian von Habsburg of Austria who was, for a sort time, installed by the French as Mexico’s Emperor.
Germania by Harald Gilbers is a murder-mystery taking place during the last weeks of World War II, following a Jewish investigator reactivated by the Gestapo. This book won the Glauser Prize for the best German crime novel.
Follows a pregnant woman researching her uncle’s past after World War II.
What impressed me the most about The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams is the excellent and loving research that has gone into the writing of this novel.
This was a surprising book, unlike many of the espionage novels I’ve read before. The story takes place over 70+ years in which the protagonist finds himself on the edge of history, like many of us do.