Book Curious ®

Kristin Hannah      Pages: 564      Published:  2015

The book: France, August 1939. Vianne, a teacher, her husband, Antoine, and their daughter, Sophie, live in the Loire Valley. Life seems good, but then Antoine is drafted into the French Army. Isabelle, Vianne’s estranged, rebellious sister, is expelled from boarding school and makes her way to Paris, where she plans to live with her father.  World War II begins and life gets harder in both Paris and the Loire Valley. As the Germans overrun France, what will happen to Vianne and her family? Where will Isabell’s rebellious streak take her? Into danger? Will the family survive the war? Read more

Fabienne Josaphat               Pages: 231           Published: 2016

The book: It’s 1965 and Haiti is ruled by a brutal leader, Francois Duvalier, better known outside the country as Papa Doc.
Two brothers, Raymond, a taxi driver, and Nicolas, a university professor, struggle to survive, albeit in very different economic situations.  Nicolas is secretly compiling a dossier of crimes committed by the regime. He gets caught and sent to the infamous Fort Dimanche, a prison from which few people ever escape. Can Raymond save his brother? Read more

Min Jin Lee              Pages: 489                Published: 2017

The book: This is an epic saga spanning four generations of a Korean family. The story begins in early 1900s Korea and ends in Japan in the late 1980s. We move from rural Korea, before and during the country’s occupation by the Japanese, to Japan, where the family tries to build a new life while facing discrimination from the locals. Lee weaves history and the personal stories of characters together beautifully. Read more

Amor Towles     Pages: 462                 Published: 2016

The book: In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced, by a Bolshevik court, to house arrest in the Metrapol Hotel in Moscow.
The Count must now live in a small attic room, and confine his activities to the hotel. He forms unexpected friendships with both staff and guests. One particular friendship will impact his life emotionally more than the revolution itself.
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Kate Quinn         Pages: 503        Published: 2017

The book: London 1915, Eve Gardner is recruited as a spy and sent into occupied France.
1947, Charlie St. Claire and her mother have just arrived in Britain en route to a clinic in Switzerland to take care of a “little problem.”  However, Charlie, desperate to find her cousin Rose who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, abandons her mother and heads for London to find someone who might help her locate her cousin.
She finds Eve, now a drunken recluse tortured by the past.  Read more

Master & Commander  by Patrick O’Brien    Pages: 459   First published: 1970

The book: This is the first novel in a fictional series about Captain Jack Aubrey of the British Royal Navy. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, this is the story of Aubrey’s first command as Captain and the adventures and battles that ensue.

You might like it because: It’s a marvelous tale of life in Nelson’s navy, with all it’s political intrigue, sailing adventures, and dangerous naval battles. O’Brien does a wonderful job of bringing the time period to life and immersing the reader in navy life. Read more