The Women of the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

I've read many books set in WWII. But, this one is different.
It isn't about the war as much as what happens before and after. What lengths would you go to for survival? What would you do to uphold the 'truth'?  What is our moral responsibility and what if that understanding is different for those around you?

Marianne made a promise to her husband and her best friend to look out for the wives and children of the resistance in Germany.  With that off the cuff statement her life took on a purpose - and a set of blinders dictated by her 'rightness.'

Marianne's first task after the war is to find the wife of her dear friend Connie Felderman - Benita, a farm girl more focused on pretty things than politics.  But as the wife of a dead soldier who was hung for his attempt to murder of Hitler - she is expected to also be politically driven. Martin, Benita's son joins Marianne's son and two daughters at the castle.

The second family that Marianne saves is Ania Grabarek and her two sons. They were discovered in a displacement camp and were not known directly by Marianne - she knew of Ania's husband that is all.

These three fatherless families figure out how to live in a castle with no running water or electricity.  And do so successfully, until they don't.  Until Marianne's clear understanding of black and white clangs against both Benita and Ania's history and reality.

But, the book doesn't end there. Rather it jumps ahead to the 1990s when the castle becomes a museum honoring the resistance.  Marianne is invited to return for a speech and friendships are reconnected in a different light.

This is a thought-provoking book of what happens after.  What are we left with as we look backwards at the war - and how does that impact our world today.

I would highly recommend this one too!!!

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The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

Kate
Thea
Isa
Fatima

Four girls connected at the hip for one memorable year of boarding school.

"I need you."

And with those three words gather these women from the lives they have created apart and away in the big world and return them back to the paths of the school and the swamp and the stories and the lying game.

It seemed like a simple game - tell the lie and gain points when others believe. But, those lies had a way of digging deeply into the small village around the school with the remnants remaining years later as a scrap of graffiti on a bathroom wall or a whisper around the edges at the bar.

But there is more than just a story and a lie at the bottom of this book. An unexplained disappearance with rumors of abuse and then a body. As the police try to figure out who that body is - the women tumble to the truth as well.

I thought I had this figured out again and again. As Isa remembers and reveals the truth  - I thought I knew.  But I was left guessing until the end!!

This is great and fast read!!!

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Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler

image from LibraryThing

Kate is trying to do the right thing - but her life just isn't what she expected.  Instead she is stuck in a job she doesn't really like, in a house that she has become the caretaker of watching over her father and her younger sister who seems to be on the verge of a bigger life. 

And then her father comes up with an idea...his research assistant will soon be deported unless Kate is willing to marry him.

What?!  Kate is taken aback at her father's request and both repelled and swept up in Pytor's kindness.

This modern telling of the Taming of the Shrew has Tyler's familiar touches - a slight bewilderment at the situation and an unexpected kindness in the end.

Greatly enjoyed this!!

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Road Trip

This is the first time I have used audio books-and I loved it! I was on a road trip and these books made the hours and miles fly!

Sorry to Disrupt the Peace by Patty Yumi Cottrell

Chronicle of a Last Summer by Yasmine El Rashidi

Heroes of the Frontier by Dave Eggers

I would recommend any of these books. They each had great and fully developed characters. I especially enjoyed Heroes of the Frontier.