Hitler's Daughter by Jackie French

"I just wanted to know..." began Mark slowly.  "I mean it's silly but I was thinking.  Do kids have to be like their parents?"

Mr. McDonald frowned.  "I'm not sure I get your meaning," he said.

"Well, say someone's father did something really evil...like Hitler or Pol Pot," he added hurriedly.  "Would their kids be evil too?"  (from Hitler's Daughter, page 61)

In Hitler's Daughter by Jackie French, four friends in present day Australia spend their long wait at the bus stop each day telling stories.  Most of the stories are about fairies and that sort of thing, but one day, Anna decides to tell a more serious story -- a story about a young girl named Heidi whose father happens to be Adolf Hitler.  If in real life Hitler had a child, you wouldn't expect her to be like Heidi; while he's trying to breed a "perfect" race, his daughter is born with a large red birthmark on her face and a limp because one leg is shorter than the other.  Heidi wants to live a normal life and be allowed to play with other children and spend time with her father, but Duffi (her nickname for her father, Hitler) is never around and Heidi is concealed from the world like she doesn't exist.

Because the people tasked with caring for Heidi are scared to say too much in her presence for fear their comments will get back to her father, she doesn't hear about the goings on in the outside world.  When she hears someone talk about the Jews and asks who they are, all she is told is that the Jews are different from them.  When she hears about a family being arrested for hiding Jews and learns something bad could happen to them, Heidi does what she can with her limited knowledge and limited access to the outside world -- she clears out a barn and slowly takes food from the pantry to store in the space where she plans to shelter Jews if they ever come to her for help.  However, with a child-like innocence, she doesn't think about whether her father is doing something wrong; she continues to seek attention and love from the only parent she knows -- just like a child whose father isn't one of the biggest mass murderers in history.

Hitler's Daughter is seen from the point of view of Mark, a 10-year-old boy who is greatly affected by Anna's story.  He can't stop asking questions about Hitler and the Jews, whether children have to grow up to be like their parents, whether you can love someone guilty of such crimes, and how does one know that the things they believe are right truly are.  And these are the same questions I posed to The Girl as we read this book together.  These are hard questions, and the adults in Mark's life have a hard time answering them.  But what bothered me about the book was that Mark's parents weren't comfortable with his questions or were too busy and shrugged him off.  Personally, I'd be glad to know that my child is truly thinking about the world around her, and even if I didn't have any concrete answers, we could discuss what we believe to be the right path.

The story is filled with action, especially when Heidi is taken to Hitler's Berlin bunker at a time when the city is being bombed non-stop.  The Girl was so engrossed in the story, she gripped my arms at the tense parts and insisted that I keep reading.  Hitler's Daughter is suitable for grades 4-6, but even adults will learn something from this story.

The Girl and I read Hitler's Daughter for the WWII reading challenge at War Through the Generations.


Disclosure:  The Girl took Hitler's Daughter out of her school library.

Night by Elie Wiesel

In retrospect I must confess that I do not know, or no longer know, what I wanted to achieve with my words.  I only know that without this testimony, my life as a writer -- or my life, period -- would not have become what it is:  that of a witness who believes he has a moral obligation to try to prevent the enemy from enjoying one last victory by allowing his crimes to be erased from human memory.  (from Night, page viii)

I've read several Holocaust memoirs and novels over the past year, and each one has the power to shock me, sicken me, make me angry, and make me cry.  Despite the pain and the horrors within their pages, I continue to read them because I believe it is important to remember.  We should not forget the millions who lost their lives, and like Elie Wiesel says in the above passage, we must not allow the world to forget what evil has been done.

In Night, Wiesel tells how he and his family were sent to Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944.  They had lived in Sighet, Transylvania, and were told of the horrors that awaited them two years prior by a foreign Jew who was among the first deported and had escaped from a trench filled with the bodies of massacred Jews.  But no one paid him any mind.  Soon after arriving at Auschwitz, Wiesel -- age 15 -- and his father are separated from his mother and sisters.

"Men to the left!  Women to the right!"

Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion.  Eight simple, short words.  Yet that was the moment when I left my mother.  There was no time to think, and I already felt my father's hand press against mine.  We were alone.  In a fraction of a second I could see my mother, my sisters, move to the right.  Tzipora was holding Mother's hand.  I saw them walking farther and farther away.  Mother was stroking my sister's blond hair, as if to protect her.  And I walked on with my father, with the men.  I didn't know that this was the moment in time and the place where I was leaving my mother and Tzipora forever.  (page 29)

Wiesel's words are so simple, yet so powerful and heartbreaking.  He goes on to describe the struggles he and his father endured every day for months and months at the hands of the Nazis -- how they marched in the snow with barely any clothes or shoes, how they watched a son kill his father over a crust of bread, how he watched his half-dead father be beaten by an SS officer.

Wiesel's recollections of his experiences during the Holocaust are vivid and haunting.  His words are heavy with darkness, desolation, and the loss of faith in the midst of evil.  Night is a book that stays with you long after you turn the last page with a heavy heart.  If you only read one Holocaust memoir in your lifetime, let it be this one.

I read Night for the WWII reading challenge at War Through the Generations.

Disclosure:  I won a copy of Night in a blog giveaway.

The Sky Rained Heroes by Frederick E. LaCroix

Frederick E. LaCroix is the son of Captain Robert LaCroix, a World War II fighter pilot who served in the Pacific.  The Sky Rained Heroes: A Journey From War to Remembrance is supposed to be the story of a bloodied Japanese flag his father took home as a memento of victory -- a victory that involved the death of the flag's owner, Sergeant Yasuyuki Ishizuka.  Frederick inherits the flag, and he decides to return it to the Japanese officer's family, which involves a 6-year journey through Asia.  This is what the book jacket promises -- a memoir about the journey to return the flag.  However, I was disappointed to learn that the flag is only mentioned in detail at the very beginning and very end of the book.

What fills the remaining pages is a history lesson.  LaCroix goes into great detail about the history of Japan, its military, and the reasons behind the Japanese invasion of China and other nearby nations.  I found a lot of interesting because I know a lot about the European aspect of World War II and next to nothing about the war in the Pacific.  However, some of the writing is dry and reads like a textbook, which made it difficult for me to stay focused.  Other times, LaCroix inserts his own opinions in flowery language that seems out of place in a non-fiction book.  He also includes stories about his business in the Philippines, which come out of nowhere and have nothing to do with the story of the flag.

We Americans perceive ourselves as liberators.  We are troubled by much of the world's refusal to see us as we are convinced we are -- rational, altruistic, and egalitarian.  Yet standing on the ledge from which the young Japanese woman unflinchingly launched herself and her most precious possession, one senses the guiding, commanding power of collective memory, its prism refracting, altering perception.  The child's mother, in death, as in life, submitted with ancestral fidelity to an ethos she neither questioned nor understood.  (page 245)

The inclusion of wartime letters written by his father to his parents and siblings that detail his fighter pilot training and combat experiences were the highlight of the book.  This is where you get a real insider's view of the war.  An excerpt from a letter dated Feb. 3, 1945, from Luzon, Philippines:

Had a freak accident the other day.  A tribute, incidentally, to American planes.  A light bomber caught a frag bomb in the fuselage, almost severing the tail.  The pilot flew it back.  Just as he landed, the shock of the landing broke the tail section completely off.  In spite of it, he kept it rolling straight and no one was killed.  It was a real miracle.  War brings out all sorts of queer accidents.  I'll tell you some others, sometime.  (page 183)

I'm glad I finished The Sky Rained Heroes because I learned many things about Japan and its role in World War II.  However, the book lacked the emotion I was expecting, especially concerning the return of the flag, which isn't surprising given that this part of the book was wrapped up in just a few pages.  I only wish the book jacket had been more accurate in its description of the contents.  My feelings toward the book might have been more favorable if I'd known what to expect -- that it would be heavy on history and light on personal and family experiences.

I read The Sky Rained Heroes for the WWII reading challenge at War Through the Generations.

Disclosure:  I received a free copy of The Sky Rained Heroes from Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists for review purposes.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

"I didn't know!" she sobbed.  "Papa, I didn't know, I thought we were coming back, I thought he'd be safe."  Then she looked up at him, fury and pain in her voice, and pummeled her little fists against his chest.  "You never told me, Papa, you never explained, you never told me about the danger, never!  Why?  You thought I was too small to understand, didn't you?  You wanted to protect me?  Is that what you were trying to do?"

Her father's face.  She could no longer look at it.  He gazed down at her with such despair, such sadness.  Her tears washed the image of his face away.  She cried into her palms, alone.  Her father did not touch her.  In those awful, lonely minutes, the girl understood.  She was no longer a happy little ten-year-old girl.  She was someone much older.  Nothing would ever be the same again.  For her.  For her family.  For her brother.  (from Sarah's Key, page 57)

Sarah's Key is a heartbreaking novel that centers on a real but little known incident that occurred in France during World War II.  The Vélodrome d'Hiver roundup on July 16, 1942, involved thousands of Jewish families being taken from their homes and housed for days in disgusting, degrading conditions in the Paris stadium before they were taken to the Auschwitz gas chambers.  More than 4,000 Jewish children ages 2 to 12 were killed.  The roundup is a stain on France's history, mainly because the French police -- not the Nazis -- pulled these families from their homes, and many of the children who perished were born in France.

Tatiana de Rosnay brings this tragedy to life in the story of Sarah, a 10-year-old girl who on the very first page is faced with the police pounding on the door.  Her father, hoping to escape arrest, is not at home, but later joins Sarah and her mother.  Sarah, assuming that she and her parents will be home in a matter of hours, tries to protect her younger brother by locking him in their secret hiding place -- a concealed cupboard in their bedroom wall -- with nothing but a flashlight, cushions, toys, books, and a flask of water.  Sarah's parents know what is happening, the fate that likely awaits them, and their desperate and failed attempts to return to their home to rescue the boy broke my heart.  Weeks later, Sarah manages to escape the camp and is determined to make her way back to Paris and to her brother...but will it be too late?

For about half of the book, the chapters alternate between Sarah's story and that of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist living in Paris with her French husband and daughter in 2002.  She is working on a story about the roundup for the 60th commemoration.  Julia throws herself into the investigation, and her heart is broken as she learns about all the dead children and parents, how their homes were quickly reoccupied, and how few people want to remember what happened.  Meanwhile, she is struggling to save her marriage as she learns she is pregnant and her husband decides he is too old to be a father again.  As she decides what to do with her husband's ultimatum -- have an abortion or our marriage is over -- she stumbles upon a link between her family and Sarah's.

Sarah's Key was a great read, but be ready to shed a few tears.  De Rosnay does a great job building tension with regard to Sarah's story.  Will she reach her brother in time?  I can't imagine being in Sarah's or her parent's shoes, and I wouldn't want to.  Once the fate of Sarah's brother is determined, de Rosnay tells the rest of the story from Julia's point of view, and this is where the book began to drag a bit.  I was completely engrossed in Sarah's story, but Julia's story just wasn't as captivating.  I'm not saying I didn't find Julia to be an interesting character, it's just that I found the scenes about her personal life a bit disrupting to the flow of the novel, and one would assume by the title that Sarah's story is the main focus of the book.  De Rosnay resolved both plot lines by the end of the book, with the rest of the Sarah's story told through Julia's investigation.  However, after learning what happened to Sarah after the war, the book continues to resolve Julia's issues, and I thought this part of the book could have been shortened.

Overall, Sarah's Key was an engaging, emotional read, and it brings to light a little known historical event.  Sarah's story is among the saddest I've ever read, and while mostly devoid of hope, it seems authentic, which is important when dealing with subjects like the Holocaust.

I read Sarah's Key for the WWII reading challenge at War Through the Generations.

Disclosure:  I received Sarah's Key as a gift from my husband.  I can't believe it sat on my shelf for nearly a year!

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

As the days grew longer, I read longer, so that I could be in bed with her in the twilight.  When she had fallen asleep lying on me, and the saw in the yard was quiet, and a blackbird was singing as the color of things in the kitchen dimmed until nothing remained of them but lighter and darker shades of gray, I was completely happy.  (from The Reader, page 43)

In The Reader, German writer Bernhard Schlink tells the story of Michael Berg, who at age 15 begins an intimate relationship with Hanna Schmitz, a 36-year-old streetcar conductor.  They meet when Michael falls ill with hepatitis, and Hanna helps him home.  After he recovers, he goes to her apartment to thank her, thus beginning a relationship based on lust and a thirst for words, with Hanna forcing Michael to read to her before they make love.  Michael spends much of his time visiting Hanna, trying to keep up with his school work, and hiding their relationship from family and friends.

Michael is hurt when Hanna leaves one day without a trace, and his feelings for her (was is love? lust? obsession?) and the time they spent together make it difficult for him to pursue other relationships.  He sees her again when he is a college student and she is on trial for crimes committed during World War II as a Nazi concentration camp guard.  This is where the story gets interesting.  Michael discovers Hanna's secret, the thing of which she is most ashamed, that prevents her from defending herself against murder charges and ties her and Michael together for the rest of their days.

The Reader is told by an adult Michael in the first person as he attempts to write the story of their relationship many years after the trial and its aftermath.  While I thought the book was well written, I had a hard time connecting with the characters -- maybe because I find the idea of a sexual relationship between a teenage boy and a woman just a few years older than me extremely disturbing.  (She calls him "kid" for crying out loud!) Michael seems to understand at the time that their relationship isn't quite right -- he finds it difficult to talk about it even years after they separate and doesn't tell his wife -- but that could be because the adult Michael is telling the story, not an impulsive teenage boy with raging hormones.  From the way he tells the story, Hanna is sort of detached from things much of the time, so while she initiates their first sexual encounter, it seems as though Michael goes back time and again because he wants to, not because he's coerced or anything like that.  As for Hanna, I can understand that her secret was distressing, frustrating, and even embarrassing, but was it worth life in prison (which she deserved regardless of whether or not she defended herself)?

The Reader raises a multitude of issues -- questions of morality, guilt, and atonement regarding Hanna's actions as a concentration camp guard, Hanna and Michael's relationship, and post-war Germany as a whole.  Here's another passage that caught my eye, when Michael hitchhiked to the Struthof concentration camp and the driver gave his opinion about why the Holocaust occurred.

"But the people who were murdered in the camps hadn't done anything to the individuals who murdered them?  Is that what you want to say?  Do you mean that there was no reason for hatred, and no war?"

I didn't want to nod again.  What he said was true, but not the way he said it.

"You're right, there was no war, and no reason for hatred.  But the executioners don't hate the people they execute, and they execute them all the same.  Because they're ordered to?  You think they do it because they're ordered to?  And you think that I'm talking about orders and obedience, that the guards in the camps were under orders and had to obey?"  He laughed sarcastically.  "No, I'm not talking about orders and obedience.  An executioner is not under orders.  He's doing his work, he doesn't hate the people he executes, he's not taking revenge on them, he's not killing them because they're in his way or threatening him or attacking him.  They're a matter of such indifference to him that he can kill them as easily as not." (page 151)

Personally, it doesn't matter whether the guards were all crazy, whether they were following orders, or whether they were indifferent -- it's all wrong and makes me sick to my stomach.

Overall, I thought The Reader was a page-turner and a great read simply because it has the power to generate strong emotions and discussion on so many topics.

The Reader was another selection for the WWII reading challenge at War Through the Generations.


Disclosure:  I purchased my copy of The Reader.

Mailbox Monday -- December 28

Welcome to the holiday edition of Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme hosted by Marcia from The Printed Page where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained during the past week.

The Girl actually received more books than I did for Christmas, and she wants me to list those first.  She also received a Barnes & Noble gift card, so she'll be going book shopping very soon.

From her Auntie Serena and Uncle Cris:

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, a Longman Fiction Simplified Edition for middle-grade readers, of which I could not find a picture....and....

R.L. Stine's Haunted Lighthouse

From her godmother, who is a third-grade teacher and has given her books every year since she was born:

Shooting the Moon by Frances O'Roark Dowell, which she'll be reading for the Vietnam War challenge at War Through the Generations

Miss Spitfire:  Reaching Helen Keller by Sarah Miller

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

On to my Christmas book...from Serena and her husband, along with a gift card to Wonder Book:

The Circle of Hanh:  A Memoir by Bruce Weigl, which I'll be reading for the Vietnam War challenge at War Through the Generations

A purchase I couldn't pass up at just $2.97 (I know, I know, I was supposed to be buying for other people!):

The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

A contest win from Savvy Verse & Wit:

City Above the Sea and Other Poems by Stephen Alan Saft

For review:

Crazy Aunt Purl's Home Is Where the Wine Is:  Making the Most of What You've Got One Stitch (and Cocktail!) at a Time by Laurie Perry, from HCI Books for an upcoming TLC Book Tour

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick, unrequested from Algonquin Books

The Book of Fathers by Miklos Vamos, from Blue Dot Literacy

What bookish gifts did Santa bring you, and/or what other books have you added to your shelves recently?

Post-Christmas Recovery (With Pictures!)

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  We spent the day with Serena and her husband and enjoyed a day filled with good friends, good food, and games.

Thanks to Serena and her trusty camera, we have photos!  Here are those Christmas sugar cookies that I helped The Girl bake and she kicked me out of the kitchen so she could decorate all by herself:

And here she is posing with her Twilight goodies:

She had a wonderful day, until evening rolled around.  She didn't want to eat dinner and complained that she had a tummy ache.  She ended up with a 102 fever, and I laid with her on the couch and rubbed her back until she fell asleep...which was not until the wee hours of the morning.  Thankfully, she woke up feeling much better...but today I was the sick one.  I'm coming down with some kind of cold, and if I could only breathe, then things would be great.

Anyway...We welcomed a ton of new DVDs into our home, and I spent nearly all day curled on the couch sniffling and watching movies.  The Girl and I gave Jerry all 6 of the Harry Potter movies, and we watched The Sorcerer's Stone.  Then we watched Inkheart, which Serena and Cris gave to The Girl along with Coraline.  This evening, Jerry and I watched Inglourious Basterds, which was one of his gifts to me.  Serena and Cris gave me three other WWII movies, which I can't wait to watch:  Defiance, Miracle at St. Anna, and Valkyrie, which we saw together in the theater.  (Thanks, guys!)

Oops...just realized it's after midnight and I probably should get some sleep.  So tell me, did Santa get you everything you asked for?  Spending the day with people I love was all I wanted, and everything else was icing on the cake.

Merry Christmas!!

First of all, I'm excited to say that this post is brought to you by my brand spanking new laptop!  My husband had planned to get me one for Christmas, but hadn't found a good enough deal, so we thought we'd go shopping for one after the holidays.  But yesterday at the mall, we stumbled upon a deal that was too good to pass up, and I now have my very own laptop!  Thank you, Jerry!

Meanwhile, Christmas preparations have taken over my life, so those book reviews I'd hope to post yesterday and today were brushed aside.  We're having a quiet Christmas Eve at home.  The Girl is decorating the sugar cookies we made this afternoon...I'm not allowed in the kitchen because she wants to do the decorating all by herself, and I really wish I had a camera so you could see how great they look.  In an hour or so, we'll snuggle on the couch and read The Night Before Christmas, and after she drifts off to sleep, I'll finish the wrapping I wanted to do over the weekend but couldn't because I had to shovel 80 bazillion feet of snow instead.  Tomorrow afternoon, Serena and her husband are coming over for dinner, and The Girl will finally be able to give Serena the special gift she bought a couple of weeks ago.  The Girl has such a big heart, and while she's like any other kid and loves receiving gifts, she loves giving even more.

But the real reason for this post is to wish all of you who celebrate a very Merry Christmas.  May your day be filled with warmth and love, and I hope you get to spend the holiday with the people you love the most.

The Girl's thoughts on Ivy + Bean: Doomed to Dance (and giveaway winner announced!)

With nothing else to do over the weekend but watch the snow fall and shovel it (and in The Girl's case jump head-first in snow piles and emerge looking like a snowman), The Girl and I had some time to snuggle on the couch and read.  The Girl jumped at the chance to be included in her Auntie Serena's tour post for Ivy + Bean:  Doomed to Dance written by Annie Barrows and illustrated by Sophie Blackall, and she asked me to read the book to her.  Of course, I said yes, especially because now that she's 9 and reading most things by herself, I don't know how many more opportunities I'll have to read to her.

Anyway, I couldn't let her visit Serena's blog without having her answer a couple of questions for mine, right?  So here's what I got out of her:

Me:  Did you like the book?

The Girl:  Of course.

Me:  Okay...so what did you like about it?

The Girl:  It was funny.

Me:  Okay...and what was the funniest part?

The Girl:  The squid with the huge eye.

Me:  That was pretty funny.  So, why do you like the Ivy + Bean series so much.

The Girl:  It's funny.

Me:  You were on the phone with Auntie Serena talking about the book for 10 or 15 minutes, and that's all you have to say about it?

The Girl:  You'll have to read her blog to see my answers.

If you haven't already, check out Serena's review of Ivy + Bean: Doomed to Dance and her interview with The Girl.  My review of the book is here.

Disclosure:  We received a free copy of Ivy + Bean: Doomed to Dance from Chronicle Books for review purposes.

******

And the lucky winner of my Ivy + Bean: Doomed to Dance giveaway is Julie from Booking Mama.  Congratulations!  I hope you and Booking Daughter enjoy the book as much as The Girl and I did!

and

Mailbox Monday -- December 21

Hope you all had a relaxing weekend.  We spent the entire weekend shoveling 2 feet of snow, but the highlight was watching The Girl climb to the top of a 5-foot snow pile...then fall through and scramble to get out.  Having grown up in New England, this kind of storm isn't new to me, but it hardly ever snows like this in Maryland and it cripples the entire area.  The Girl was excited because she doesn't remember ever seeing this much snow (she was 3 when the last blizzard came through), but I was pretty much done with it after the first flakes began to fall.

Anyway, it's time for another Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme hosted by Marcia from The Printed Page where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased or otherwise obtained during the last week.  Here are the books that entered my house:

For review:

Roses by Leila Meacham (from Hachette)

Hitler's Rockets:  The Story of the V-2s by Norman Longate (from Skyhorse Publishing)

From the office Christmas swap:

The Boys Are Back by Simon Carr

(I don't usually like movie tie-in covers, but I can make an exception if they feature Clive Owen.)

The Girl made out like a bandit at her school Christmas party.  They had a book swap, and then the teacher gave them some bookish gifts.  Here's what she brought home:

Old Yeller by Fred Gipson

(I thought I'd have to prepare her for the ending, but it seems she's already seen the movie in school.)

No Talking by Andrew Clements

 The Dog Who Thought He Was Santa by Bill Wallace

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

What books did you add to your shelves recently?

Interview with Mary Lydon Simonsen, author of Searching for Pemberley (with giveaway!)

Today I'm thrilled to welcome Mary Lydon Simonsen to Diary of an Eccentric.  Mary is the author of Searching for Pemberley (click to read my review), a "re-imagining" of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice set just after World War II, with heroine Maggie Joyce seeking out the couple who inspired the beloved classic novel.  Mary has taken time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions. 

Welcome to my blog!  Why did you choose to set Searching for Pemberley in post WWII England?

I was born a few years after the end of World War II, and it seemed that everyone from my parents’ generation had been involved in the war or its aftermath in some capacity. My mom worked for Bendix Radio in Baltimore, which made radios for bombers, and my father was one of Roosevelt’s Whiz Kids. Every one of my uncles served in some branch of the Armed Services, and my father’s sister worked for the State Department in a bombed-out Berlin immediately after the German surrender.

My curiosity about the war led to my interest in the Europe that emerged from the ashes, and so I decided to set my story during that time period. When I started doing my research, I had no idea how long Britain’s post-war austerity program had lasted. My main character, Maggie Joyce, is an American who works for the U.S. government and who has access to the commissary. I thought Maggie’s ability to buy scarce commodities would make for a good contrast with the British, who were still carrying their ration books and queuing up for food in short supply when Maggie arrived in England in 1947.

What inspired you to write about Pride and Prejudice?

I am a romantic, and one of the great romances in literature is that of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. I was captivated by a story where a handsome, rich, highly connected man was so in love with a daughter of a gentleman farmer that he was willing to risk censure and ridicule to be with her. What a great story to build on.

What do you think about the scores of Jane Austen sequels and re-imaginings being published, and what do you think makes Searching for Pemberley stand out?

I do not approve of sequels or re-imaginings written by others. I only approve of my own efforts. Seriously, Jane Austen is still a bestselling author nearly 200 years after her death, the reason being, she wrote wonderful stories that people can relate to even in 2009, and it is a lot of fun working with Austen’s characters.

Searching for Pemberley is different because it poses the question: Were Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pride and Prejudice based on the lives of real people? When Maggie arrives in England and learns of that possibility, she travels to Montclair, an estate in Derbyshire, to see if it can be Austen’s Pemberley. By reading through letters and diary entries shared with her by a couple associated with the estate, she comes to know Elizabeth Garrison and William Lacey, the real Mr. and Mrs. Darcy. Searching for Pemberley is actually three love stories in one novel. In addition to Austen’s love story, Maggie has a romance with two men, an American bomber pilot, who saw too much combat, and Michael, a descendant of the Lacey/Darcy line, and she learns of another love story set against the background of World War I. Three stories for the price of one -- now that’s a bargain.

Are you working on another book?

Thanks for asking. I have another book coming out in December 2010 with a working title of From Longbourn to Pemberley. This novel parallels the story of Pride and Prejudice, but I wanted to bring some of the minor characters to the forefront. It is Georgiana Darcy and Anne De Bourgh who move the two lovers to their romantic destiny at Pemberley. I’m currently writing a story for a fan fiction site, meryton.com, in which Darcy is a werewolf. This is a major departure for me because I’ve never written anything like it, but it’s been well received because Darcy remains a gentleman faithful to Lizzy. It may become my next novel.

Who is your favorite Austen heroine and why?

Definitely Elizabeth Darcy. I was very shy as a child/teenager. I really didn’t come into my own until my late 20s. Reading about someone like Lizzy, who had such spunk, was wonderful. And she ends up marrying the perfect man. That’s my kind of story.

What five books do you find yourself recommending over and over?

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry – Storytelling at its best. It involves all of your senses and emotions and epic events in American history.

Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton -- This is the book I give to all my friends when they’re feeling blue or not feeling well. It always cheers them up.

The Edge of the Crazies by Jamie Harrison -- A murder mystery set in a Montana town where all the characters are deliciously quirky.

Gorky Park and all the Arkady Renko mysteries by Martin Cruz Smith -- Life has not been kind to Arkady, and you just want to give him a hug. The mysteries are well plotted and riveting.

May I mention my own modern novel, The Second Date, Love Italian-American Style? It is a heart-warming, humorous romance set in the Italian-American community of North Jersey. I recommend it to everyone who will stand still long enough for me to get my sales pitch out.

Thank you for having me!

Thank you, Mary!  I wish you much success and look forward to reading more of your work in the future.

SEARCHING FOR PEMBERLEY—IN STORES DECEMBER 2009

Set against Regency England, World Wars I and II, and postwar England, three love stories intertwine in surprising and fateful ways

American Maggie Joyce, touring Derbyshire in 1947, visits Montclair, an 18th century Georgian country house, that she is told was the model for Jane Austen's Pemberley. More amazingly, the former residents of the mansion, William Lacey and Elizabeth Garrison, were the inspiration for the characters of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice.

Through letters, diary entries, and oral history, Beth and Jack Crowell, a couple who lives in the nearby village of Crofton, share stories of the people they say inspired Jane Austen. They also tell their own love story, made difficult by their vastly different backgrounds -- she was one of the social elite while he was the son of a servant. When their son, Michael, travels home from his RAF station in Malta, Maggie may have just found her very own Mr. Darcy.

About the Author

Mary Simonsen grew up in North Jersey with the exciting venues of New York City easily accessible. She is especially interested in American and European history and 19th Century novels. In Searching for Pemberley, she was able to combine her love of history (World War II and postwar England) with Austen's characters, Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, and being a romantic, the novel includes three love stories from three different time periods, all thanks to Jane Austen. She lives in Peoria, Arizona. For more information, please visit http://searchingforpemberley.weebly.com/

Giveaway

Courtesy of Sourcebooks, I have 2 copies of Searching for Pemberley up for grabs.  Just leave a comment with your e-mail address.

For an extra entry:  Tell me your favorite Jane Austen sequel or "re-imagining," or tell me what you think about all the Jane Austen sequels being published these days.

Because the publisher is handling the shipping costs, this giveaway is open to readers in the U.S. and Canada only.  The giveaway will be open until Sunday, Dec. 27 at 11:59 EST.

Searching for Pemberley by Mary Lydon Simonsen

Jane Austen sequels and "re-imaginings" are a guilty pleasure of mine, and I love it when I find one that stands out from the crowd.  Also, I am always seeking out books on World War II.  Put these together, and you have Mary Lydon Simonsen's Searching for Pemberley.

Simonsen's heroine is Maggie Joyce, an American stationed in London in 1947 with the Army Exchange Service.  World War II ended just two years prior, and the British are still feeling the pinch of rations, grieving the death of loved ones killed in the battlefield or by the bombs, and doing their best to get by while standing in the midst of destruction.

Neither Rob nor I had ever heard of the Baedeker raids, so I asked Mrs. Ives if they were a part of the Blitz.

"No, the Blitz was in 1940-41," Mrs. Ives replied.  "According to Lord Haw Haw, the British traitor used by the Nazis for their radio broadcasts, the Baedeker raids were in retaliation for the RAF bombing of German cities.  Using Baedeker's Guide to Great Britain, cities that received three stars in the tourist guide because of their historical importance were bombed by the Luftwaffe.  Before Canterbury was bombed in June 1942, Exeter, Bath, and York were also bombed."  (page 89 in the ARC)

Maggie travels with a friend to Derbyshire to visit Montclair, a historic house that once belonged to William Lacey and Elizabeth Garrison Lacey, a couple believed to have inspired Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  Maggie, a huge fan of the classic novel, wants to know as much as she can about the home and the Laceys to determine whether they truly are Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet.  Her search to learn more about the Laceys brings her to the doorstep of Jack and Beth Crowell, and an instant bond is formed.  Jack and Beth grow to love Maggie and think of her as a daughter, and through frequent visits and correspondence, Maggie reads letters and diary entries and slowly uncovers the history of the Lacey and Garrison families.  Readers take the journey alongside Maggie, and those who have read Pride and Prejudice will see similarities between Austen's beloved characters and Beth's ancestors.

But would Jane Austen have written a novel that often ridiculed people who could possibly be identified by their neighbors, for example, Mrs. Bennet, with her fragile nerves and poor judgment?

"Do you know when Jane first wrote the novel?" he asked.

"When she was twenty, so that would be about 1795."

"But it wasn't published until 1813," Jack said, jumping in quickly.  "By that time, the Laceys had been married for twenty years!  If anyone was trying to figure out if these characters were real, they would have been looking at people in their twenties in 1813.  Some of the characters in that book were already dead and buried by the time Pride and Prejudice was published."  (page 16 in the ARC)

Meanwhile, Maggie must contend with a longing to return to her hometown in Pennsylvania and her desire at the same time to stay away.  She comes from a coal-mining town with few opportunities, and she's grown to love the life she's leading in England.  Besides Jack and Beth, Maggie has feelings for both Rob, an American who served as a navigator on a B-17 bomber during the war and wears the scars to prove it, and Michael, Beth and Jack's son and a pilot in the RAF.  Things get a little complicated for Maggie, especially when she learns how deeply the horrors of war have affected Rob.

Searching for Pemberley grabbed me from the first page, and I was so lost in the story that I was reading 50-page chunks on the train and bus and almost missing my stop.  Simonsen writes from the first person viewpoint of Maggie, but her use of storytelling is what makes the narrative shine.  Whether the story being told is about the Laceys, the Crowell's love affair, or the hardships experienced during the Great War and World War II, it feels as though you are sitting by the fire listening to an old friend chat.  Simonsen did a great job crafting the story of the Laceys -- making them different enough from the Darcys to keep the story fresh -- and seamlessly weaving in Jack and Beth's story.  I actually was surprised how much the book dealt with the topic of war and its impact, which makes Searching for Pemberley so much more than a re-telling of Pride and Prejudice.  Honestly, the Jane Austen aspect of the story is just one part of the puzzle.

While the nearly 500-page book has numerous scenes and characters that are unnecessary to the plot and could have been cut without being missed, even these scenes were enjoyable, and I never once found that the story dragged.  In fact, for a book of its length, I read it fairly quick.  I wasn't as captivated with Maggie and her romantic troubles (it was all rather predictable, but not in a bad way) as I was with the story of the Laceys and the Crowells.  Still, I found the entire book interesting, and Simonsen did an admirable job moving between the Regency, Great War, and World War II settings.  I never expected to discover a book that successfully merges two of my primary reading interests into one story, so you can bet this gem of a novel will hold a special place on my shelf.

Mary Lydon Simonsen will be visiting Diary of an Eccentric tomorrow to answer a few questions about Searching for Pemberley and her upcoming projects, among other things.  I hope you'll come back to see what she has to say.

Searching for Pemberley counts toward the WWII reading challenge at War Through the Generations, as well as the Everything Austen Challenge at Stephanie's Written Word.

Disclosure:  I received a free copy of Searching for Pemberley from Sourcebooks for review purposes.