Review: Sisters of Fortune

Title: Sisters of Fortune 

Author: Anna Lee Huber

Publisher: 20th February 2024 by Kensington Books 

Pages: 320 pages

Genre: Historical Fiction | Women's Fiction

Synopsis:

April,1912: It’s the perfect finale to a Grand Tour of Europe—sailing home on the largest, most luxurious ocean liner ever built. For the Fortune sisters, the voyage offers a chance to reflect on the treasures of the past they’ve seen—magnificent castles and museums in Italy and France, the ruins of Greece and the Middle East—and contemplate the futures that await them.

For Alice, there’s foreboding mixed with her excitement. A fortune teller in Egypt gave her a dire warning about traveling at sea. And the freedom she has enjoyed on her travels contrasts with her fiancé’s plans for her return—a cossetted existence she’s no longer sure she wants.

Flora is also returning to a fiancé, a well-to-do banker of whom her parents heartily approve, as befits their most dutiful daughter. Yet the closer the wedding looms, the less sure Flora feels. Another man—charming, exasperating, completely unsuitable—occupies her thoughts, daring her to follow her own desires rather than settling for the wishes of others.

Youngest sister Mabel knows her parents arranged this Grand Tour to separate her from a jazz musician. But the secret truth is that Helen has little interest in marrying at all, preferring to explore ideas of suffrage and reform—even if it forces a rift with her family.

Each sister grapples with the choices before her as the grand vessel glides through the Atlantic waters. Until, on an infamous night, fate intervenes, forever altering their lives . . .

My Thoughts

I am always up for anything Titanic related, some good and some ... not so good. I am happy to say that this is one of the good ones, in fact, one of the really good ones regarding the tale of this infamous ship from history. 

“You’ve heard, then? About the iceberg? I saw it from the promenade. It was a great monstrous thing. Are they still telling people to return to their staterooms?”

This is the tale of three sisters who, with their family, embarked on the maiden voyage of the Titanic (this is after the whole family had completed their ‘European Tour’ and were just back from Egypt). The story is told from their alternating viewpoints and we gradually learn a bit about each sister and their dreams and aspirations. This is a very well written tale with the pacing just right. All characters, not just the three main women, are strong and engaging, highlighting very different approaches to life in the early years of the twentieth century, especially for women. Reading the author’s final notes explains how much is fact and how much is fiction and I believe Anna has done an outstanding job of combining the two. 

‘The room’s décor was Jacobean in style, with Tudor roses depicted in scrollwork across the Saloon’s roof and decorative columns.’

Two points that make this book a standout for me: one, although a work of fiction, the necessary research has been done and it came across as a most realistic portrayal of this well documented tragedy. Everything from the luxurious furnishings, the food and events onboard, the famous passengers, to how they were evacuated and the chaos that ensued. Secondly, the background stories really made this tale. It was definitely not just about the ship, it was more about these three women and how this event changed their lives in profound and unexpected ways. 

‘... the ship could break into three separate pieces and each part could still stay afloat. I would say that makes the claims of practical un-sinkability pretty valid.’

Reading this book you get a first hand account of how lives were before, during and after being part of such a tragedy.It is a wonderful work of fiction based on historical research (there really were three sisters on the Titanic!) with likeable leads, fabulous descriptions, romance and resilience, hope and heartache all rolled into one well written tale. 

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

 

Review: The Hidden Storyteller

Title: The Hidden Storyteller

Author: Mandy Robotham

Publisher: 29th February 2024 by Avon Books UK

Pages: 384 pages

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Rating: 4.5 crowns

Synopsis:

The war is over. But there are still secrets to be found amidst the ashes…

Hamburg, 1946.

The war is over, and Germany is in ruins. Posted to an Allied-run Hamburg, reporter Georgie Young returns to the country she fled seven years prior – as Chamberlain spoke those fateful words – to find it unrecognisable.

Amidst the stark horrors of a bombed-out city crumbling under the weight of millions of displaced Europeans, she discovers pockets of warmth: a violinist playing amidst the wreckage, couples dancing in the streets, and a nation trying to make amends.

But when she joins forces with local policeman Harri Schroder to solve a murder case he is working on – a woman with the word traitor engraved into her skin – she soon discovers that the darkest secrets of war haven’t been left in the past. And once again she is pulled into a world she hardly expected to see again…

My Thoughts

Mandy Robotham is an auto buy for me as you are always guaranteed a great historical read. The interesting aspect of this novel is that it is post World War II, taking place a year after the declaration of peace. It was fascinating to be on the streets of Hamburg as the struggles and tensions simmered post war under British administration. 

‘People have fought for years to survive Hitler’s madness, and they’re dying because we can’t feed the peace.’

For those of you familiar with Mandy’s 2020 book, ‘The Berlin Girl’, it is Georgie Young, a young British journalist sent to Berlin as a foreign correspondent in 1938, now finding herself in Hamburg post war 1946. The story is also told from not just Georgie but Meta (displaced German) and Harri (German police). The story is over the few weeks that Georgie is in Germany to write her newspaper article. Mandy’s research is once again en pointe with both characters and settings authentically capturing the various experiences of war and the fallout from it. 

‘Is he destined to always have the stink of fascism steeped into the fibres of his being, never to be scrubbed away? Heinrich Himmler must be bloody laughing in his grave.’

Interestingly, this is a story of not only historic details but also incorporates a thriller detective drama. Mandy does well in combining the gripping tale of a murderer on the loose. Towards the end the pace is fast with danger and several tense moments for all involved and readers are sure to engage with characters that you want a better life and outcome for.  

‘Another life lost is nothing new, even after the bombs have stopped - starvation, disease and the freezing weather are the new agents of death.’

Congratulations Mandy on yet another winning book. I have read and adored all your books and cannot recommend them highly enough. For a realistic, well written tale of what life in Germany was like directly after the conclusion of WWII, look no further than ‘The Hidden Storyteller’’. 

‘I’ve been altered by a lot over the last few years, but I didn’t imagine that two weeks in a post-war German city would be quite so life-changing. For a whole host of reasons.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.