#BookReview — Lucia's War by Susan Lanigan

Lucia's War

By Susan Lanigan

London, 1949.

Opera singer Lucia Percival is due to perform her last concert. But she has no intention of going onstage. A terrible secret from the First World War has finally caught up with her.

London, 1917.

Lucia, a young Jamaican exile, hopes to make it as a musician. But her past haunts her, and when she meets Lilian, an old woman damaged by war, she agrees to a pact that could destroy everything she has fought so hard for.

From the Western Front and Glasgow, to black society in London, Lucia’s story tells a tale of music, motherhood, loss and redemption.

"Did you know I once sang Wagner to a roomful of Nazis?"

It wasn't the most conventional way to start an interview with a music critic, but then, no one had ever called Lucia Percival conventional. And it wasn't as if this man's opinion mattered, for this was to be Lucia's last concert.

Of course, the Nazis had not realised that it was not an Aryan goddess singing behind the curtained booth. It was amusing when one thought about it. But that is all water under the bridge, at least, it should be. If only it were so easy to let one's past wash away with the current.

Everyone has secrets, stains upon their soul — that was what life did to you sometimes. However, the past had an awful habit of catching up with you when you least expect it. Better for Lucia to tell someone the whole story from her point of view before someone else did it for her…

From the dark, despairing depths of the Firth of Clyde to the glitter of the stage, Lucia's War by Susan Lanigan is the evocative story of a young Jamaican exile who dared to present herself to a world that was not ready for her.

With the passion of a subterranean fire desperate to explode into the world with a deafening crescendo that would forever shake the foundations of the earth, comes a story that would not seem out of place in one of Strauss' operas, Lucia's War is a novel that is as sensational as it is brilliant. With a lavish sense of flair, Lanigan throws her readers into a world of racial inequalities, where the colour of your skin mattered more than the colour of your soul, even if one did bleed the same colour red on the battlefield. It is a world of war and deprivation, broken promises, and disappointments. But above everything else, it is the story of a mother's love and the desperate desire to storm the music world, shake it to its very core, and show everyone that a young Jamaican exile had what it takes to become a superstar.

Oh, this book, where do I even begin? This is a story that swept me away in all of its brilliance. With soaring arpeggio's that scream of disaster and triumph seemingly in the same breath, Lucia's War is a novel that mesmerises. Lanigan has done the impossible and somehow weaved the language of music into this evocative story in such a way that it was almost as if I was listening to a poignant symphony that was as beautiful as it was violent.

The heroine of this story is the young Lucia Percival whose head is filled with music and dreams, and yet she faces the horrors of war, the abandonment by the man she loves, and the despairing loss of a child — a child she would have given up everything for. Lucia makes some bad decisions, but she is young, the world is at war and tomorrow isn't promised. However, despite her suffering, despite her loss, she can find some escape in her music. But even then, she is faced with almost insurmountable opposition because of the colour of her skin. Lucia fears that all her dreams will go up in ashes and fall like burnt confetti from the sky. I could not help but adore Lucia. She finds herself in some really impossible situations, and she makes the mistake of letting others dictate to her and tell her what to do. Although Lucia comes across as a very strong character, she really isn't. She is desperately unhappy and yearning for something that is always just out of reach. At times, the things Lucia has to go through really broke my heart and I found myself reaching for the tissues. Lucia's story is so poignantly tragic, but then the best operas are.

There are several secondary characters to this story, and they all bring something bittersweet to the narrative, but as well as that they help Lanigan depict the very essence of the era. Eva Downey's story is desperately tragic — how I cried for this character. The guilt she feels at giving the love of her life a white feather during the war means she is dying a death more agonising then he did. I feared for Eva's wellbeing on more than one occasions. She is this wonderful young lady whose dreams died the day Christopher did. Eva is a direct contrast to Lucia who, despite her grief, is still daring to dream — Eva got off that particular train a long time ago. I thought Eva was beautifully portrayed.

The men in Lucia's life do not come away from their relationship with her unscathed. Robin Mackenzie loves where he should not, he is white, Lucia is coloured, and unfortunately, society dictated that the two of them had no business together, even though they were so well suited. I think Lucia would have had a very happy life with him in another time and another place, and that knowledge is heart-breaking. I thought Robin's depiction was fabulous. He is broken by the end of this novel all because he could not love where he wanted.

The other man in Lucia's life is the dashingly handsome composer, Arthur Rosewell. Unlike with Robin, there are no racial barriers to him and Lucia being together, but there are emotional ones. There is also a sense of a shadow of a love triangle between Lucia, Arthur and Robin, which none of them can seemingly escape from. Arthur is a very honourable man, and he wants Lucia to succeed. However, he wants it on his terms, and that was never going to happen. I think by contrasting the two very different men, Lanigan shows the readers the despair that comes from loving a woman who marches to a beat only she can hear. 

We do meet some historical characters in this book, most notably the Irish poet, W. B. Yeats, but it is the attention to the historical detail where Lanigan excels. Like all gifted historical fiction authors, Lanigan has portrayed the era this book is set in seemingly without any effort. This is incredibly hard to pull off, but Lanigan has done it most admirably. The hours of research that have so obviously gone into this book is staggering, but it was so worth it. Bravo, Ms Lanigan. 

Lucia's War by Susan Lanigan is an exceptional work of scholarship. It is in all ways a historical fiction masterpiece. This is a book that is deserving of your time.

I Highly Recommend.

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Lucia's War

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*Released on June 1st 2020

Susan Lanigan

Susan Lanigan graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a degree in English and History in the late 90s, then pursued a Graduate Diploma in I.T. in Dublin City University and a Masters in Writing in NUI Galway.

Susan’s first novel White Feathers, a tale of passion, betrayal and war, was selected as one of the final ten in the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair, 2013, and published in 2014 by Brandon Books. In spite of considerable adversity in her native country, the book won critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the UK Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2015.

Connect with Susan: Website • Facebook • Twitter.

#BookReview — Seraphina's Song by Kathryn Gauci

Seraphina's Song

By Kathryn Gauci

“If I knew then, dear reader, what I know now, I should have turned on my heels and left. But I stood transfixed on the beautiful image of Seraphina. In that moment my fate was sealed.”

A refugee who escapes Smyrna in 1922 disguised as an old woman. Alienated and plagued by remorse, he spirals into poverty and seeks solace in the hashish dens of Piraeus.

When he can go no lower, opportunity knocks, and Dionysos’ meets Aleko, an expert bouzouki player, recognising a rare musical talent, Aleko offers to teach him to play.

But Dionysos’ hope for a better life unravels when he meets Seraphina — the singer with the voice of a nightingale. From that moment his life is in danger and there is no going back.

"It is strange how we human beings are attracted to the things which are no good for us…"

It wasn't meant to be like this. My life was planned. I would take over my father's business and marry Rosa. But then the army of the Hellenes were defeated, and the governor of Smyrna fled, leaving us at the mercy of the Turks, and all of my dreams, all of my plans, quickly evaporated into nothing.

I thought I had died that day, along with my parents. I thought I was already dead when I reached Piraeus, but little did I know what the future had in store for me. Before I died, I had to fall in love...

From the depths of despairing poverty to the ultimate sacrifice, Seraphina's Song by Kathryn Gauci is the powerfully emotional account of a refugee who dared to love where he should not.

With a tragic sense of foreshadowing, this novel opens on a rubbish heap — a place where the desperately poor rummage in the hope of finding coins, or something useful to salvage. It is also where the dead, who had met with an unfortunate end, are left to the mercy of the dogs and the flies and the filth. It is where things are thrown away, including a life that had promised so very much. This destitute abode is a fitting place to start a novel about a man who saw the sun but wanted more — Dionysos Mavroulis wanted the stars as well. 

With an enthralling sense of time and place, Gauci has presented her readers with an utterly irresistible novel. This is the kind of book that grabs the reader from the opening sentence and does not let go until that final full stop. It is a story that is hauntingly beautiful. This compelling, page-turning narrative is, at times, profoundly unsettling as the blade draws ever nearer to the brave protagonist's throat. Although Gauci prepares her readers for the death of the protagonist from the opening page, when it happens — how it happens — still comes as a tremendous shock, so be prepared and have a box of tissues close at hand.

The hero of this desperate tragedy is Dionysos Mavroulis. Gauci depicts an unlikely hero in Dionysos, for he is nothing. He is no one. A coward, some might say, who disguised himself as an old woman so he could board the boat with the other refugees. Racked with grief and guilt, Dionysos is a character seemingly without hope, but his story is one of redemption, discovery, friendship, happiness, and love. I absolutely adored Dionysos. When his life spirals out of control, it is music that saves his soul. And when he wants to say things that cannot be said, he lets his music talk for him. Everything he has experienced, everything he has ever felt, he expresses when he picks up a dead man's bouzouki. The joy his music brings to other people is a stark contrast to the torment of his soul. Dionysos was a character that I grew to adore. His honesty, his passion, his hunger for something more than he had, made him incredibly endearing and it reminds the reader that buried deep inside of us all is something that cannot be denied, no matter what the consequences.

The heroine of this tale is Seraphina. Seraphina is like an avalanche — beautiful to look at, but once she has you in her sights, she is impossible to outrun. With a voice that can out carol the nightingale and a body that tempts a man to sin, Seraphina draws men towards her like bees to a honeypot. However, interestingly, it is not her body, nor her voice, that first captures Dionysos' attention, but her eyes — eyes that remind him of his past love. Dionysos approached this forbidden relationship with Seraphina with the strength of a dying man's last confession. The unsurmountable odds stacked against the lovers is no deterrent, they must be together, or Dionysos will surely die. Seraphina's plight is as desperate as Dionysos', and when she is with him, Seraphina dares to dream of a different future. Seraphina's backstory is one of choice. She had a choice between abject poverty and free will. She chose to sacrifice her free will. But in doing so, she loses something of herself, something which she only finds again in Dionysos' arms. I thought Seraphina's portrayal was sublime. I enjoyed reading about her and, although she knows how this could end for Dionysos, she dares to believe in his promises. 

For a story about suffering, Gauci's careful use of symbols to depict death should come as no surprise. The fact that Dionysos has to wear a dead man's clothes, and a dead man's shoes, is unsurprising, considering his situation, but he also takes up a dead man's journey and follows in his footsteps to the same catastrophic fate. I thought Gauci's very carefully crafted word building and her use of both symbols and motifs as well, for that matter, gave this book a strong foundation in which to build this hauntingly beautiful story upon. 

The historical detail in this book is poetically alluring, which seems a strange thing to say when most of the story happens in the poverty-stricken slums of Piraeus, but it is true. Gauci has depicted not only the suffering but also the richness of life in the face of death and despair. Gauci has to be commended for her depiction of this era in all its suffering and deprivation. I thought the historical backdrop to this story was superbly executed. Bravo Ms Gauci. Bravo, indeed.

Seraphina's Song by Kathryn Gauci is the kind of book that wraps around your soul and leaves an impression. It is a story that is as impressive as it is brilliant. If you love quality Historical Fiction, then this book should definitely be on your 'to-read' list!

I Highly Recommend.

Review by Mary Anne Yarde.

The Coffee Pot Book Club.

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Seraphina's Song

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Kathryn Gauci

Kathryn Gauci was born in Leicestershire, England, and studied textile design at Loughborough College of Art and later at Kidderminster College of Art and Design where she specialised in carpet design and technology. After graduating, Kathryn spent a year in Vienna, Austria before moving to Greece where she worked as a carpet designer in Athens for six years. There followed another brief period in New Zealand before eventually settling in Melbourne, Australia.

Before turning to writing full-time, Kathryn ran her own textile design studio in Melbourne for over fifteen years, work which she enjoyed tremendously as it allowed her the luxury of travelling worldwide, often taking her off the beaten track and exploring other cultures. The Embroiderer is her first novel; a culmination of those wonderful years of design and travel, and especially of those glorious years in her youth living and working in Greece – a place that she is proud to call her spiritual home.

Her second novel, Conspiracy of Lies, is set in France during WWII. It is based on the stories of real life agents in the service of the Special Operations Executive and The Resistance under Nazi occupied Europe. To put one’s life on the line for your country in the pursuit of freedom took immense courage and many never survived. Kathryn’s interest in WWII started when she lived in Vienna and has continued ever since. She is a regular visitor to France and has spent time in several of the areas in which this novel is set.

Connect with Kathryn: Website • Twitter • Goodreads.

#BookReview — Forty Years In A Day by Mona Rodriguez and Dianne Vigorito.

Forty Years In A Day

By Mona Rodriguez and Dianne Vigorito

Confession is good for the soul even after the soul has been claimed...

The story begins in Italy, 1900. After years of torment and neglect, Victoria and her four small children immigrate to Hell's Kitchen, New York, to escape her alcoholic, abusive husband. On the day they leave, he tragically dies, but she does not learn of his death for several years—a secret that puts many lives on hold.

Quickly, they realize America's streets are not paved with gold, and the limits of human faith and stamina are tested time and time again. Poverty, illness, death, kidnapping, and the reign of organized crime are just some of the crosses they bear.

Victoria's eldest son, Vincenzo, is the sole surviving member of the family and shares a gut-wrenching account of their lives with his daughter during a visit to Ellis Island on his ninetieth birthday. He explains how the lives of he and his siblings have been secretly intertwined with an infamous Irish mob boss and ends his unsettling disclosure with a monumental request that leaves Clare speechless.

Forty Years in a Day is layered with the struggles and successes of each family member and defines the character of an era. Follow the Montanaro family through several decades, and stand in the shoes of a past generation.

“Clare, every day you’re alive is a beautiful day…”

Clare had grown up hearing that, but she had never really understood the meaning behind the words until she found herself sat on a bench with her ninety-year-old father. It was then that she dared to ask him a question — one that she feared he would not be able to answer because memories fade, as memories do. Clare asked him to tell her the story of his life.

Vincenzo Montanaro may well be old, but he remembers everything. Every detail. But his story did not start with his birth. His destiny was tied with that of his mother’s and his brothers and sisters. It was a story of those who he had loved and those he had lost. It was a story of a dream that at times had turned into a nightmare. It was the story of a new beginning, a desperate hope. Vincenzo Montanaro's life had been both a blessing and a curse.

From a terrible confession to the desperation of a man torn between his lover and the woman he still loved, Forty Years In A Day by Mona Rodriguez and Dianne Vigorito is the story of one family as they reached for that all illusive American Dream.

With a sprawling stirring narrative and almost lyrical prose, not to mention a plot twist that I most definitely did not see coming, Forty Years In A Day is one of those books that grabs your attention from the very beginning and takes you on a beautiful voyage of discovery. This novel is simply unputdownable. It is enthralling, beguiling and utterly engrossing. When Historical Fiction is written in such a way, then there is no such thing as too much.

There is a vast cast of characters in this book. Rodriguez and Vigorito give their readers insight into not only Vincenzo's perspective but also many of the secondary characters as well. This is an approach that carries a great deal of risk, for a reader can easily become confused, but in the case of this book, it added a richness to the story that would have been terribly difficult to obtain from a single viewpoint. It also gives the reader an intimacy towards the characters and the situations they find themselves in. The natural rhythm to this tale meant that not once did I feel bewildered as to who was talking and what part they played in this dramatic family drama.

There are so many characters in this story, but one of my favourite characters has to be Vincenzo “Vinny”. Vinny forms a friendship on the boat as they crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and it was a friendship that would endure for the rest of his life. Vinny and Tony grew up together and then later became business partners. They are kindred spirits who both embraced the idea of the American Dream, but instead of waiting for it to fall onto their laps as many did, they set out to find it and make the dream their own. Even from a young age, these two endearing boys are determined to make some money for their poverty-stricken families. Their determination to start at the very bottom and work their way to the top sets them apart. Vinny and Tony’s dogged determination never to give up made them incredibly appealing characters. Of course, this story is not just about Vinny’s successful business ventures, but it is also about the man himself, one who knows what he wants but occasionally stumbles along the way. Vinny’s character was very authentic in the telling, and of all the characters in this novel, Vinny is the one I adored the most.

Santo Carnavale, Vinny’s half-brother, was another character that fascinated me. Santo is a child who was born in an era where neurodevelopment disorders were not understood. Santo is quite a destructive child who finds ingenious ways to get out of school. There is an incident with a toilet that is incredibly amusing. However, this incident shows this young boy’s intelligence — he would have made a good engineer! Santo is a character whom I thought was wonderfully portrayed. His depiction was candid in the telling, but it was also sobering for what chance did he have in a world that was not equipped to deal with the health issues that he had? Santo’s escalating spiral of decline when he reaches adulthood was incredibly hard to witness, but it did bring a lot to this story, and it demonstrated how different children, who had exactly the same upbringing, could be.

Like Santo, Louise is a character who struggles with her mental health with devastating and unforeseen consequences. Louise came across as very confident and boisterous. She is one of those people who light up a room just by entering it. But underneath this bubbly personality is a young woman who is, in fact, terribly insecure. I thought Louise’s depiction was fabulous.

There are scenes in this novel that are terribly distressing — from incidents of domestic violence, deaths, and the brutalities of the mob. At times there is an essence of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather about this novel, but I think that is what makes it such an exceptional read. It is an incredible journey that Rodriguez and Vigorito take their readers on.

Rodriguez and Vigorito’s attention to the historical detail has to be commended. The hours of research that must have gone into this book is staggering. They have captured the very essence of the 1900s in both Italy and America. Rodriguez and Vigorito’s depiction of the desperate disappointment of the immigrants as they stepped off the boat and realised that the American Dream was just as it said, a dream. The streets were not paved with gold. Instead, they were paved with disease, despair and poverty. This is a story that spans two generations and, through the eyes of this remarkable family, we watch as history is made. The roaring 20s was particularly well depicted, especially the speakeasies. The despair of The Wall Street Crash was also exceptionally well-drawn. This is a tale of a family who endured hardship and suffering, but it is also one of boundless hope and love. Rodriguez and Vigorito have penned a book that is a work of exceptional scholarship and one that could so easily be adapted for the small screen. This is a story that is as mesmerising as it is detailed. In all ways, Forty Years In A Day is a Historical Fiction triumph!

Forty Years In A Day by Mona Rodriguez and Dianne Vigorito is a poignant voyage of discovery and one that mesmerised me from the opening sentence to the final full stop. This is a book that really had it all — it is an honest and painfully truthful depiction of one family as they navigate a forever changing world. This book is definitely worthy of a place on your bookshelf, but more importantly, your heart. I could read this book over and over again and never tire of it. It is, in all ways, a real gem.

I Highly Recommend.

Review by Mary Anne Yarde. 

The Coffee Pot Book Club.

Pick up your copy of

Forty Years In A Day

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Mona Rodriguez and Dianne Vigorito (1959 - 2015)

Mona Rodriguez.

Mona Rodriguez and Dianne Vigorito are cousins. Throughout their lives, they had heard many stories from family members that were fascinating, sometimes even unbelievable, and decided to piece together the puzzle of tales. Through research and interviews, their goal was to create a fictional story that follows a family through several decades, providing the reader an opportunity to stand in the shoes of a past generation and walk in search of their hopes and dreams. What they realize in the process is that human emotions have been the same throughout generations - the difference is how people are molded and maneuvered by the times and their situations.

Mona and Dianne strongly believe there is tremendous knowledge to be gained from those who are older and wiser, a resource precariously looming at everyone's fingertips.

Connect with Mona: Website • Amazon Author Page • Goodreads.

BookReview — People Like Us by Louise Fein

People Like Us

By Louise Fein

Leipzig, 1930s Germany.

Hetty Heinrich is a perfect German child. Her father is an SS officer, her brother in the Luftwaffe, herself a member of the BDM. She believes resolutely in her country, and the man who runs it.

Until Walter changes everything. Blond-haired, blue-eyed, perfect in every way Walter. The boy who saved her life. A Jew.

Anti-semitism is growing by the day, and neighbours, friends and family members are turning on one another. As Hetty falls deeper in love with a man who is against all she has been taught, she begins to fight against her country, her family and herself. Hetty will have to risk everything to save Walter, even if it means sacrificing herself...

“These are difficult times. That’s why Vati does all this work for the SS as well as running the newspaper. They must protect Hitler and ban all the parties that seek to oppose him. Pick your friends carefully, Hetty. Stick only with good Germans, like us. Do you understand?”

Hetty Heinrich does understand. After all, Hitler lives inside her skull, telling her what she should and should not do. She would never disappoint him by mixing with bad Germans.

However, when her childhood hero, Walter, is made an example of in front of the whole school because he is a Jew, Hetty feels a moment of rebellion. He is her friend. He will always be her friend.

With Walter now firmly banished from their lives, Hetty becomes indoctrinated with Nazi ideology, but she still cannot forget that blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy from her childhood.

A chance meeting with Walter, several years later, leaves Hetty questioning everything she thought she knew. Now she faces the greatest battle of her life. To save a life, she must silence Hitler’s voice in her head once and for all...

From a near fateful drowning to a reunion that was decades in the making, People Like Us by Louise Fein is the heartbreakingly enthralling story of one young woman who dared to stand up to the Nazi regime to save the life of the man she loved.

People Like Us is an emotionally charged story that gripped me from the opening sentence and held my attention to the last full stop. With a rich and realistic historical backdrop, Fein has presented her readers with a tale that is not only unputdownable but one that is unforgettable. 

We first meet Hetty when she is an adorable seven-year-old child who has a severe case of hero-worship towards her brother’s best friend. We watch as she grows up into a young teen who idolises Hitler, and like many others during this time, Hetty subconsciously seeks out potential enemies of the Reich. This, however, changes when she is reunited with Walter. Despite what she has been told about the filthy Jews, Hetty cannot bring herself to think that way about Walter. With Walter’s gentle yet honest explanations, Hetty’s eyes are opened and what she sees shakes the very foundations of her life and belief. Hetty is a very conflicted protagonist who, when she realises that she has been fed a dish of lies, does her utmost to help those whom the Nazis blame for everything. Her relationship with Walter is heartrendingly tender. Hetty is a character that really touched my heart. She is this brave and wonderful young woman who will do absolutely anything for the man she loves, including risking her own life and happiness. Her great sacrifice is lessened by the fact that if she had to do it all over again, she would, and by losing everything she finds a truer version of herself.

Walter is a wonderfully brave hero who faces so much adversity in this book, but he does not let that change his gentle and loving nature. I adored everything about Walter. He is kind, considerate, and he absolutely adores Hetty. His desperate desire to live a normal life, to spend time with his girl, is taken from him by a cruel, narcissistic regime which has to blame someone for all of Germany's failures, so why not the Jews? Walter suffers terribly in this novel — the things he witnesses, the things that he experiences, are truly dreadful, and it would have been very easy for him to see in Hetty all that was wrong with Germany, but he does not. He is a genuinely caring person who I could not help but admire.

People Like Us is a story that has been meticulously researched. The hours that Fein has spent researching this era shines clearly through the enthralling narrative and the lyrical prose. The depiction of Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) in 1938 was particularly well-drawn. Fein also demonstrates how quickly the ideology of Hitler and his Nazi Party spread through Germany like a sadistic sort of Blitzkrieg. The idea that Hitler explored in Mein Kampf about the ‘Big Lie’ that the Jews so-called told is ironic when one considers the lies he used to turn a nation against its Jewish inhabitants. The relationship between Walter and Karl, Hetty’s brother, shows how easily dismissed life-long friends were, and despite Walter having once saved Hetty’s life, he is now seen by Hetty’s parents as an inferior being who is suddenly the enemy of the state for no other reason than his ancestry. Informing on parents, neighbours, friends became a new normal, and one that Hetty strongly believes in until she discovers the truth of what is happening in these so-called political prison camps, but even then, Hitler’s voice still makes her doubt the truth. There is one very emotional scene when Hetty can no longer bear to look upon the portrait of Hitler she has hanging in her bedroom and so she takes it down and hides it. This small act of defiance is the beginning of a dangerous and uncertain future for Hetty and one that she can never turn back from.

This book is an emotional journey, so have some tissues at hand while you read it. Fein certainly has a novelist intuition into the human condition — its fragility and its strength. But on top of this, Fein also has a keen eye on what makes a book entertaining — what makes a reader want to turn those pages and keep reading. This is the kind of book a reader can lose themselves in and it is near on impossible to put down. 

If you are a lover of quality World War II Historical Fiction then People Like Us by Louise Fein is a book that not only deserves a place on your bookshelf, but it is also one that demands to be read over and over again.

I Highly Recommend.

.

Pick up your copy of

People Like Us

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 "Daughter of the Reich"
Will be released on May 12th in the USA
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Louise Fein

Louise Fein was born and brought up in London. She harboured a secret love of writing from a young age, preferring to live in her imagination than the real world. After a law degree, Louise worked in Hong Kong and Australia, travelling for a while through Asia and North America before settling back to a working life in London. She finally gave in to the urge to write, taking an MA in creative writing, and embarking on her first novel, Daughter of the Reich (named People Like Us in the UK and Commonwealth edition). The novel was inspired by the experience of her father's family, who escaped from the Nazis and arrived in England as refugees in the 1930's. Louise lives in the beautiful English countryside with her husband, three children, small dog and the local wildlife who like to make an occasional appearance in the house

Connect with Louise: Website • Blog • Twitter • Goodreads.