Reblog: DG Kaye recommends :The Violin Maker’s Daughter by Sharon Maas

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Sunday Book Review – The Violin Maker’s Daughter by Sharon Maas

September 20, 2020

My Sunday Book Review is for Sharon Maas’s – The Violin Maker’s Daughter. This book takes us to Colmar, France 1940, when Germany is about to take over France during WWII. A hard to put down book as we follow the life of Sarah Mayer, a 17 year old girl, the eldest of five sisters who will be the first of them to be sent away from her home, arranged by her parents and the French Resistance with the ultimate journey and goal for Sarah to reach Switzerland or Spain.

Blurb:

When the Nazis march onto the cobbled streets of Colmar on November 1st 1940, Josef, a Jewish violin maker, gathers his wife and daughters closely to him and tells them everything will be alright.

But one year later, three sharp knocks on the door at midnight turn his seventeen year old daughter Sarah’s world upside down. As the oldest child, Sarah must be the first to leave her family, to make her escape in a perilous journey across France via Paris to Poitiers. And she must hide who she is and take a new name for her own safety. For now, bilingual Sarah is no longer a French Jew but a German girl.

As she bids farewell to her beloved father and family, Sarah has hope, against all odds, that she will see them again when the war is over. But, travelling through the mountains she finds herself in terrible danger and meets Ralf, a German deserter, who risks his own life to save her.

Ralf and Sarah continue their journey together, keeping their identities secret at all cost. But when Ralf is captured, will Sarah pay the ultimate price for sharing who she really is?

A gripping and heart-breaking account of love, bravery and sacrifice during the terror of war. A story of standing up for what you believe in; even if it’s going to break your heart. Perfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Ragged Edge of Night.

My 5 Star Review:

Josef Mayer is the violin maker in Colmar, France. As Germany’s takeover of France nears, Josef makes arrangements with the French Resistance for his five daughters to be escorted to Switzerland. His eldest daughter Sarah will leave first, despite her own resistance for not wanting to leave her home and family, as the severity of what was to come to France couldn’t be realized. Sarah’s papers are all ready, stating she’s a German from Colmar, France with no yellow star stamped on the paper. Josef is an agnostic Jew and his wife Leah is a converted Jew, although the family are not practicing Jews, to the Nazis, they are still Jews. The children don’t understand why plans are being made for them all to eventually flee Colmar and quick plans are made with a nearby neighbor, Yves, to hook the family up with the resistance to get them all to safety – first Sarah, then her sisters to follow, and eventually her parents. That was the plan, but during war, plans can change in a moment’s notice.

Sarah is picked up in the middle of the night and taken to first stop – the winery where Rebecca who’s in charge of an old farmhouse, prepares the routes and missions with Eric to guide runaway Jews through the mountains from this underground safehouse pitstop along the way of Sarah’s journey. But when Rebecca falls and twists her ankle, early into the journey, the three must turn back as she cannot walk, and Eric and Sarah help to carry her back to the safehouse. New plans are made as Rebecca is housebound and will now await the next two sisters to come to the safehouse while she heals and Eric and Sarah set out again.

Eric and Sarah encounter two young German soldiers in the forest. One of them apparently relishes his job to kill Jews and the other, Raif Sommer, stood in mortification as he watched the struggle between Eric and the other soldier as Eric tried to protect Sarah and foil his attempt to rape Sarah, until Eric was shot in the leg. In this stunning commotion, Raif shoots and kills the other soldier and becomes a deserter and helps carry injured Eric with Sarah’s help, back to the safehouse once again. We soon learn, once Sarah and Eric and a German soldier return, that Raif was drafted in a war he wanted no part of as he was supposed to be studying in university to be a doctor. And now with Rebecca and Eric out of commission, the plans have changed. Raif is given civilian clothes from Rebecca’s son’s wardrobe and he will lead Sarah once again on the journey.

Before leaving, Rebecca has a chat with Raif, informing him how Sarah is young and naive and has no experience with relationships, warning him not to start any romance business. They set out for the journey to Metz, only Sarah will take a train and Raif will have to walk for three days because he has no papers. Those three days of traveling Sarah realizes she has feelings stirring for Raif who has been kind and chivalrous to her and has ultimately saved her and Eric’s life. Once they meet up again and have made it to the next farmer’s safehouse, they are to wait with the resistance members until Raif’s new papers are made for them to carry on together – only the safehouse is ambushed one night with mass murder going on upstairs. Once again, Sarah’s life is spared by Raif’s quick thinking, as they were sleeping in their respective rooms in the basement when the kerfuffle began and Raif grabs Sarah and squashes them both into a bathroom hole  with a secret crawlspace as they await the Nazis to finish inspecting the basement and leave. Later Raif walks around outside to make sure the coast is clear and with the help of a neighbor who saw the whole invasion, they are directed to the next safehouse where they will then get on a train to Paris where they will connect to the next town, Poitiers.

The train ride is nerve-racking as gestapo go around checking for papers and Raif – now Karl, and Sarah sit separately as not to attract undue attention. Sarah’s weakness is learning to keep her mouth shut as she loves to talk and still doesn’t grasp the peril of her journey. Great tension as we follow Sarah on the multiple journeys, almost squirming with hope she doesn’t make any mistakes.

They stop at a cafe and watch Jews being berated and ultimately beaten by Nazis. Sarah wants to shout out at them and Raif shuts her up by kissing her, and so the romance begins. Although Sarah is confused after because Raif backs off. He is also attracted to Sarah, but tries to honor his promise to Rebecca, not to tangle up Sarah’s young heart when she is dealing with so much more.

When they finally arrive at the last safehouse in Poitiers, a town south of Paris, the two must be separated. Raif has joined the French Resistance, and Sarah who speaks fluent French and German is sent to apply for a job as a nanny who is to teach the four young children, German, and give them violin lessons at the Limoin residence where this upper class French family have become collaborators with the Nazis. Sarah rests comfortably there as she pines away for Raif/Karl awaiting message from him so they can meet up. In the meantime, Madam Limoin’s boisterous and socialite younger sister, Monique, befriends Sarah and gets a little too close for comfort, especially when Monique  snoops and finds a letter Sarah stupidly, left on her bed. Sarah gets a message from her safehouse keeper, Regine, in Poitiers, and she’s told to get moving before she is discovered by the Limoins.

At that point, Sarah decides not to continue her journey to now Spain, but to also join the resistance. Her mission is to gather intelligence by traveling to Germany to visit various train stations to learn which towns in France the troops were being sent to next. Sarah also takes the opportunity to spread fake news to anyone she makes small talk with, in hopes they will spread her rumors that the allies have landed in some small towns in France and are killing the Germans. This mission offers great tension taking us all the way to the end of the book with a nice twist surprise ending I didn’t see coming.

This book was a fantastic read, well written, lots of suspense to keep the pages turning, a bit of romance, and, love, endurance, sadness and triumph. If you enjoy stories about courage and survival, espionage, mixed in with love, hatred and redemption during the perilous WWII era, you will love this book!

©DGKaye2020

Guest Post: Lucinda E Clarke

Tags

promotion, psychological thriller, thriller

Today I have the pleasure and honour to host the very talented Lucinda E Clarke on my blog. I’m a big fan of her work and look forward to reading this new psychological thriller series of her. Books 1 & 2 are on sale @ $/£0.99 for a week beginning 12th September.
Now over to Lucinda and her experience as freelance writer

When you earn a living as a freelance writer you meet all kinds of people. You also get to visit all kinds of interesting places. I’ve been inside a power station, numerous factories, radio and TV studios, in helicopters, tunnels under the sea, behind the scenes at Ocean World, honestly the list is endless.

Each time you’re commissioned you have a subject specialist who may or may not be the main client. Either way, it’s a new boss.

I worked with some wonderful people and I also encountered what I described as ‘the clients from hell’. These were the frustrated Steven Spielbergs who just knew they could write better and who kept changing both their minds and the facts and figures each time I submitted another draft.

When I retired to Spain and began to write novels, I left all that behind.

Or did I?

The short answer is NO.

My new boss is totally unreasonable and utterly impossible.

For example, if I decide to spend an hour reading, she nags me. ‘Have you replied to that email?’ ‘Are you up to date with your FB posts?’ ‘You said you were going to write at least 1,000 words a day, yet you sloped off to do the ironing. What was that all about?’ ‘Have you booked that promo?’ ‘It’s over 10 minutes since you checked your sales!’

As if that wasn’t enough, she directs all my work. ‘We won’t have any more Amie books for the moment, change genres to psychological thrillers. They are popular right now. And, you must publish at least 2 of those a year, so get writing. The first A Year in the Life of.. series was published last August, so the second should be out during lockdown to catch all those Netflixed out, bored, stuck at home people desperate to ready anything. Then to capitalise on that, book 3 must be out in September and tell everyone book 4 will launch in January.’

“You are joking, aren’t you?”

‘Nonsense. Stop being so lazy.’

“But I have all the marketing and promos and a husband to amuse and friends to talk to and…”

‘I’m not listening. You’re always finding excuses.’

“It’s not easy now with WordPress and FB changing all their settings and layout. I can’t find my way around anymore, and, I’m supposed to be retired.”

‘Yes, I’ve heard all that before. And, what happens when you don’t write?’

“I get twitchy, and a bit shaky and I can’t settle.”

‘Exactly, so sit down and write that guest post for Christoph and stop arguing.’

“Yes Lucinda, stop nagging. You are such a bully.”

A Year in the Life… series follows the Brand family through terrifying trials and tribulations. Leah lost her leg, her husband and two babies in a car accident. She remarries, but then strange and frightening things happen in her home. Someone is out to convince her she’s mad, but who would do that and what would they hope to gain?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WHJKGXF

In A Year in the Life of Andrea Coe Leah’s best friend helps her back on her feet and is there for her every step of the way. But does Andrea have another agenda? Who is she working with? Who committed the murder and why? From England to Australia and back Leah needs to discover who is telling the truth and who is lying.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WHJKGXF

A Year in the Life of Deidre Flynn sees the Brands in France, but the threats and incidents have continued. Once again Leah has no idea who the enemy is or what they might want. As each attack gets more vicious than the last, neither Leah nor Deidre know which way to turn. Then Leah’s stepdaughter Belinda goes missing.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GZNCVWL

Books 1 & 2 are on sale @ $/£0.99 for a week beginning 12th September.

Well hopefully that will shut the boss up for a while and it only remains to thank Christoph for having me as a guest on his blog.

Of course, I dare not relax as I’ve not written the 1K words today and I have a review to write. Never enough hours in the day and unless ‘she’ allows me some time off I’ll not be able to reach my laptop through the accumulated dust and dirt.

Don’t be fooled by retirement, it’s a myth. The sad part is that I didn’t want to retire. I was having way too much fun writing and traveling on location and making movies. I was a boss in those days and the team work was such fun. I’m not sure what turned Lucinda into this virago who is now working me to death, I had more time off in my old life.

What is it about Beethoven?

This sounds like a great read. Any book that Victoria recommends so highly is worth checking out. I got my copy 🙂

Cold

My friend Gerald Elias is a wonderful fiction writer (and professional violinist) who (mostly) specializes in mysteries. His Daniel Jacobus mystery series, which combines Jerry’s two passions – classical music and murder – is a gem of a collection that I can’t recommend highly enough.

But this week, we’re talking about Jerry’s newest endeavor. A stand-alone mystery novel – “The Beethoven Sequence” – which fuses classical music with murder and…politics.

Here’s what reviewers are saying: “The Beethoven Sequence, the latest thriller by award-winning Gerald Elias,might be his best one yet. Written with the author’s unique sense of humor and his insightful musical references as a professional violinist, it tells the story of a mentally unstable conductor who becomes obsessed with Beethoven’s ideals of liberty and freedom, interspersed with an analysis of his past traumas and parental influences (thank you Sigmund Freud!) Including two murders and a…

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Books Read in the Month of August 2020!

A lovely shout out and great reviews for books in medical thriller box set DO NO HARM including yours truly thriller THE HEALER

Jemsbooks

Here it is already the end of another month. Where does the time go? I have been busy as usual reading some wonderful books for the month of August of 2020. Here are the 6 books I read and reviewed for August. I might have read even more if I didn’t have another WIP. I hope you enjoy reading these reviews.

I love sharing my reads in thisJemsbooks Segment, Books Read in the Month. I hope you will get a chance to look these books over soon. Thank you for your kind support of my work and my fellow authors.

This book is part of a collection of 17 medical thrillers in the book, Do No Harm.

A gripping and suspenseful story with graphic scenes that will keep you glued to the pages. The horrific descriptions of the serial killer may be difficult for the feint…

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Guest Post: M.C.V. Egan “Wars Predicted, Not Prevented”

Today I’m delighted to welcome a dear friend of mine on my blog as part of a blog tour by Silver Dagger. M.C.V. Egan has written some fantastic books and has always excellent perspectives. Enjoy this guest post and check out her work and scroll down for a giveaway via the attached raffle copter.

Wars Predicted, Not Prevented.

© M.C.V. Egan
The Powder Keg of Europe is a newspaper clipping from a Foreign Office file I found at The National Archives, UK, located at Kew Gardens, Richmond. It is one of several clippings in file number N7735 110 dated December 30, 1932. The file has a bit of back and forth, some entries typed others handwritten, and clippings from various newspapers. It postulates that “Mr. Crossley was unduly influenced by German Propaganda and is inclined to exaggerate the difficulties and dangers of the present situation.”

Crossley’s argument was that as a backlash of Versailles’ treaty, Germany would indeed feel the need to go back to war. We all know what happened; Anthony Crossley was right. Seven years later, September 1, 1939, The German Army marched into Poland through that same corridor, and that was the spark that ignited the fire we have come to know as WWII.

An English MP wrote that article, Anthony Crossley, who died two weeks before Hitler invaded Poland on a British Airways LTD plane crash in Denmark. My grandfather died in the same plane crash, which is why I researched this MP. Neither lived to see the start of WWII.
In 1938 Anthony Crossly was one of the MPs known as the “Glamour Boys” who disagreed with Neville Chamberlain regarding The Munich Agreement. Ironically in 1938, that would make him one of the aggressive few who opposed the settlement reached by Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy that permitted German annexation of the Sudetenland, in western Czechoslovakia. The famous tag line on September 30, 1938 Peace in Our Time.
In the 1930s, his voice was not heard. Can we compare the 1930s to today’s world? Are we as vulnerable or more vulnerable?
When wars Are Predicted, why can’t they be prevented? I have pondered on this, especially in this time of shelter in place during COVID 19, that we have time to watch a lot of movies and shows.
One film that impacted me is Official Secrets https://youtu.be/pP4zhzIyTUA . It is a 2019 British-American docudrama about a whistleblower; Katharine Gun, who leaked a memo that should have thwarted the United States’ efforts to influence diplomats from countries with the power to pass a second United Nations resolution on the invasion of Iraq.
It should have. It did not, and many have died and suffered. It makes me sad. Especially on days like today, when we realize that 81 years ago, World War II began. It was the deadliest military conflict in history. With an estimated total of 70–85 million people perished, about 3% of the 1940 world population (est. 2.3 billion).

The Bridge of Deaths (Revised Edition)

A Love Story and Mystery

by M.C.V. Egan

Genre: Historical Mystery

On August 15th, 1939, an English passenger plane from British Airways Ltd. crashed in Danish waters between the towns of Nykøbing Falster and Vordingborg. There were five casualties reported and one survivor. Just two weeks before, Hitler invaded Poland. With the world at the brink of war, the manner in which this incident was investigated left much open to doubt. The jurisdiction battle between the two towns and the newly formed Danish secret police created an atmosphere of intrigue and distrust. The Bridge of Deaths is a love story and a mystery. Fictional characters travel through the world of past life regressions and information acquired from psychics as well as archives and historical sources to solve “one of those mysteries that never get solved.” Based on true events and real people, The Bridge of Deaths is the culmination of 18 years of sifting through conventional and unconventional sources in Denmark, England, Mexico and the United States. The story finds a way to help the reader feel that s/he is also sifting through data and forming their own conclusions. Cross The Bridge of Deaths into 1939, and dive into cold Danish waters to uncover the secrets of the G-AESY.

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Book Trailer

https://youtu.be/tUdQ_AV0StA

M.C.V. Egan is the pen name chosen by Maria Catalina Vergara Egan. Catalina is originally from Mexico City, Mexico. Catalina has lived in various countries and is fluent in four languages; Spanish, English, French and Swedish.

Her first book The Bridge of Deaths revolves around her maternal grandfather’s death in 1939. A true-life pre-WWII event. It has over 200 footnotes with the resources of her extensive search through Archival materials as well as the use of psychometry and past life regressions. It is more fact than fiction.

The revised edition of The Bridge of Deaths; A love Story and a Mystery focuses on the story-line as opposed to fact, but all footnotes and facts are available through the website for any curious minds. http://www.thebridgeofdeaths.com

Defined by Others taps into the dark quirky side found even in the best of people. With the 2012 American elections as a backdrop and the fearless reassurance that the world might end on December 12, 2012, as predicted by the Mayan Calendar.

Death of a Sculptor; in Hue, Shape, and Color is a novella written in sixteen different voices. It is a murder mystery. She is currently working on a sequel; Bruce (title subject to change).

M.C.V. Egan lives and works in South Florida. She loves cooking and crafting. She is married and has a son. Aside from writing Astrology is one of her passions and careers she pursues.

You can find M.C.V. Egan everywhere online

Website * Blog1 * Blog2 * Blog3 * Blog4 * Facebook * Twitter * Tumblr * Amazon * Goodreads

$15 Amazon

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Death of a Sculptor in Hue, Shape and Color 

by M.C.V. Egan

Genre: Suburban Women’s Fiction

Color coded love stories and revealing female anatomies lead to the murder of world renowned sculptor, Bruce Jones.

In life, the artist loved women, almost as much as women loved him. Adored for his art and colorful personality, Bruce is mourned by the world at large. The tale is launched with the multifaceted perspectives of four ex-wives, the current wife, and his new love interest and their children.

Mary , Bruce’s wealthy first love, is always in perfect pink; the color of love. Mother of Clair the famous actress and Aaron the corporate lawyer.

Leslie The Second’s color is yellow for her sunny nature as much as for her fears and insecurities. Her only son Bobby is vulnerable and lost. Mourning his father’s death, he finds himself.

Petra The Third, is outstanding in orange, representing not only her native Holland but also her love of the fruit. Cherished her freedom and had no children of her own.

Toni The Fourth is a vibrant passionate Italian red and part of the eventual glue that creates and solidifies this dysfunctional Jones family. Her teenage daughters Tina and Isa are as different as night and day.

Brooke The Fifth a gold-digger. Green, her color, reflects the color of money and envy. Her young son’s Kyle and Caleb are too young to understand why their world has been turned upside-down.

Mara, as blue as the ocean was the last woman to steal Bruce’s heart. Mother to newborn Baby Peter is the unexpected gift and surprise.

Bruce Jones’ eight children speak out, too. They are as distinctive as the women he loved, their mothers.

Loose ends are tied up by the insights of Sylvia, Aaron’s wife and a trusted keeper of secrets; Scott, the private investigator and family friend; Nona, the quintessential grandmother everyone loves but to whom few are truly related; and Detective Jim Miller who will not rest until he discovers Bruce Jones’ murderer.

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Defined By Others

Defining Ways Series Book 1

by M.C.V. Egan

Genre: Suburban Women’s Fiction

A word, a single word defines a moment for Anne. She needs to find a new one when her spouse, Frank, leaves her at the age of forty-seven, coming out of the closet literally in a closet.

She finds herself back in her hometown of Skvallerby, Connecticut among her high school friends which she had left in her past.

An inheritance from a frenemy leaves her with the means to meddle and spy on the lives of mutual acquaintances.

In an attempt to run from her reality Anne becomes engrossed in a game of fun and flirtation with her friend and fellow sufferer Connie.

Their fun games turn into a deadly reality. It is no longer a game. Life, death and not even a defining word can stop the reality of manipulation.

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Book Trailer

https://youtu.be/0YCothOvgP4