Hello Lovelies! Please excuse our dust while we do a bit of construction on the blog. We will still be posting exciting reviews, brilliant guest posts, and exciting giveaways but we are in the process of transforming the blog and adding new content and features for you to enjoy.

Tuesday, April 8, 2025

Review: One Hundred Years of Betty

Title: One Hundred Years of Betty

Author: Debra Oswald

Publisher: 4th March 2025 by Allen & Unwin

Pages: 448 pages

Genre: General Fiction | Historical Fiction | Women’s Fiction



Synopsis:


One ordinary extraordinary woman living through a century of massive change, from the bestselling author of The Family Doctor.


Meet storyteller, feminist, eternally curious and phenomenally old. On the eve of her 100th birthday party, Betty tells us her story.


Born into poverty in pre-war London, and growing up fast during the Blitz, Betty grabs the chance at a bigger life by migrating to Australia. On board the SS Asturias she meets three people who will influence the course of her life – Pearl, a good-hearted party girl, Athena, a Greek woman on her way to marry a man she has never met, and Leo, a German Jew who lost his family in the war.


In Sydney, Betty is making ends meet as a waitress at the famous Trocadero dance hall when she stumbles into a rushed courtship with Donald, a wealthy businessman, and dedicates herself to being the ideal 1950s suburban housewife. But life has other plans for Betty, and soon she must find a way to do more than survive. 


This is the story of a strong, intelligent woman born too early in time to make the most of her talents without having to fight for everything. It's about the defining force of motherhood, the family we make, and how the determination to live life to the hilt, with all the joy and sorrow that entails, can lead to a life beyond one's wildest imaginings.


Set against a century of world events and social upheavals, Betty's story takes us to the frontlines of the anti-war protests and the women's liberation movement of the 1970s, to the AIDS crisis during the 1980s, to living in Mexico and eventually becoming a TVscreenwriter. Even in her nineties. Betty is still passionately engaged with the world, still surprising us.


One Hundred Years of Betty is the sweeping saga of one particular ordinary, fabulous woman living through a century of massive Betty as a child, teenager, lover, worker, friend, mother, activist, writer, recluse, angry woman, loving woman, from the creator of Offspringand bestselling author of The Family Doctor.


My Thoughts


One Hundred Years Of Betty is epic in every sense of the word, an incredible read. Author, Debra Oswald, has taken one seemingly ordinary woman and regaled how her life played out over a century of world events. Each step of Betty’s life from child to teenager, from lover to mother, to recluse and old age, readers hold her hand and embark on an incredible journey. With events of the Blitz, Australian migration, Vietnam war, women’s liberation movement, the AIDS crisis, living in Mexico - Betty does it all! It is an incredible story. 


‘There have been points in my life when I’ve been impulsive, diving in without doing any forward plotting, and there have been junctures like this one, when I mulled over all the likely repercussions of a choice and thought myself to a standstill.’


Told in a conversational way it’s like the reader is sitting at the kitchen table having a cuppa with Betty. It’s so inviting. The blend of historical and personal events is seamless as seen through the eyes of one woman’s humble resilience. As you can well imagine all the emotions are present for this journey of a century. As in each of our lives, there are triumphs and tragedies. The honesty of this story is what will capture your heart and remain there long after you have turned the final page. 


A book that covers history, friendship, family, motherhood, love affair, racism, feminism … I could go on. It is such an amazing story, I adored it. 


‘I could scoop in fistfuls of anger and frustration and shame from my life and gather them into a form I could then reconfigure and understand in a different way. It wasn’t just about my own failings. It wasn’t only me. It was all women. It was the whole damn thing. And it was liberating to envisage that things could be otherwise.’







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.


 









Monday, March 24, 2025

Review: The Mademoiselle Alliance

Title: The Mademoiselle Alliance 

Author: Natasha Lester

Publisher: 26th March 2025 by Hachette Australia

Pages: 450 pages

Genre: Historical Fiction | WW2



Synopsis:


How did a young Parisienne mother, celebrated for her beauty and glamour, come to lead the largest spy network in France? A powerful, heartbreaking historical novel by the New York Times bestselling author

Morocco, 1928. Eighteen-year-old Frenchwoman Marie-Madeleine is not the kind of woman who goes through life sitting down, something her new husband can attest. Her unconventionalities - rally car driving, flying planes and dabbling in intelligence work for the government - earn her a reputation, but she knows who she is as an adventurer.

Paris, 1938. As Europe teeters on the brink of war, a chance encounter with a mysterious man codenamed Navarre turns Marie-Madeleine's life upside down. Recruited to help build a resistance network known only as Alliance, she conceals her identity - and gender - as she navigates a perilous double life away from her children and the man she loves. Capture and death are only a heartbeat away.

Bestselling Australian novelist Natasha Lester passionately brings to life the true story of one of history's unsung Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, the only woman to lead a resistance network in WWII France. Her story is one of epic love, tragic loss and magnificent leadership.


My Thoughts


If you follow my reviews you know Natasha Lester is an auto buy for me, so get ready for this week her new book is about to be released ... and yes ... it is another five star read! I applaud Natasha once more as she flies the flag for these incredible women from history who so deserve their story to be told. This time we follow along with Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, the only woman to lead a resistance network in France during the Second World War. 


'My place is the air, the void, the very edges of existence. And from that place, I manage 3,000 agents, the only network that covers the whole of France'.


Truly an incredibly inspiring woman, Marie-Madeleine helped France and the allies win the war putting her country first above all else. Natasha truly captures not only the time and place but more importantly the voice of the many who battled the Nazis. She brings to life Marie-Madeleine as a resistance fighter, as a leader, as a mother and as a woman in a man’s world. The risks and sacrifices that these heroic people undertook for the love of what was right and just is heart wrenching. Love and loss, bravery and brutality all come together in this fight against tyranny. 


“These women will set the world ablaze. And from their courage, a better one will rise. We have to let them.”


Fans of Natasha will not be disappointed with this latest addition. For all historical fiction buffs this is a story you simply must read for its passion and power, for its inspiring and informative detail. A masterclass in beautifully crafted writing of an incredible tale.  


“What’s happened in Alliance is extraordinary. I don’t know if ever again in history there’ll be another woman like you, Marie-Madeleine.”







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.