Havent done this in a while but thought I would tell you what I have been reading. Not that it is probably of any interest to you, but, hey, I will anyway…
I go through phases, depending on my mental state or general hormonal malaise, of reading good quality books OR just easy reading fiction. At the moment I can barely remember my own name so when I do finish one book, I sit with about a dozen in front of me, trying to choose my next read, then pick the most simplistic of storylines, as my old brain can’t cope with too much information/plot.
Anyway, here’s my first one…
Hermine Braunsteiner was the first person to be extradited from the United States for Nazi war crimes. She was one of a few thousand women to work as a female concentration camp guard. Prisoners nicknamed her ‘the Mare’ because she kicked people to death. When the camps were liberated, Hermine escaped and fled back to Vienna.
Many years later, she met Russell Ryan, an American man holidaying in Austria. They fell in love, married, and moved to New York, where she lived a quiet life as an adoring suburban housewife, beloved friend and neighbour. No one, not even her husband, knew the truth of her past, until one day a New York Times journalist knocked on their door, blowing their lives apart.
The Mare tells Hermine and Russell’s story for the first time in fiction. It explores how an ordinary woman could descend so quickly into evil, examining the role played by government propaganda, ideology, fear and cognitive dissonance, and asks why her husband chose to stay with her despite discovering what she had done.
I read this before my brain shut down and whilst it’s a harrowing read, for anyone whose interest is peaked by the historical horrors that went on during the Second World war, difficult not to be, it’s worth a read.
Just be mindful that it is a work of fiction, based on facts.
Best friends and sisters, the four Padavano girls bring loving chaos to their close-knit Italian American neighbourhood. William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So, when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano, it’s as if the world has lit up around him.
With Julia comes her family: Sylvie, the family’s dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book; Cecelia is a free-spirited artist; and Emeline patiently takes care of them all. But when darkness from William’s past begins to block the light of his future, it is Sylvie, not Julia, who becomes his closest confidante. The result is a catastrophic rift that leaves the family inhabiting two sides of a fault line.
Can they find their way back to each other? Can love make a broken family whole?
If you are looking for fast paced, gripping, you wont get that here. It’s a book that not a lot happens in and is really a story about family and love and delves into each of the characters’ psyche. It kinda reminds me of Anne Tyler’s books (The Accidental Tourist etc), not much happens in Hello Beautiful, however, you do feel by the end of it, that you know all the characters and have played some part in their lives.
THE MESSAGE HAS DISAPPEARED.
SO HAS YOUR BEST FRIEND…
You receive a text from your best friend:
Can’t speak… don’t text or call… pls just come
But as you race to her house,
the message is deleted.
She answers the door, insists everything’s fine.
She says she never sent a message.
Something’s not right, but what can you do?
Six hours later, the police call.
There’s blood all over your friend’s house.
She’s missing.
And you were the last person to see her alive . . .
Only a few chapters into this psychological crime thriller, but so far so good, you get what it says on the tin with K L Slater books, easy to read, short chapters, enough suspense, what’s not to like??
ValApparel 