The Last Bookshop in Prague by Helen Parusel - #blogtour #bookreview

The bookshop was Jana's refuge. Here she could shut herself away from reality and choose to enter any world she chose. Adventure, travel or romance was just a book away...

***

Was she incredibly brave or incredibly stupid? Neither. Just a bookshop girl doing what she could against her country’s oppressors.

The banned books club was only the beginning; a place for the women of Prague to come together and share the tales the Germans wanted to silence.

For bookshop owner, Jana, doing the right thing was never a question. So when opportunity comes to help the resistance, she offers herself – and her bookshop. Using her window displays as covert signals and hiding secret codes in book marks, she’ll do all in her power to help.

But the arrival of two people in her bookshop will change everything: a young Jewish boy with nowhere else to turn, and a fascist police captain Jana can’t read at all. In a time where secrets are currency and stories can be fatal, will she know who to trust?

***

Today is publication day for this book and I could not have been more excited to have received an early readers copy of this as part of the blog tour.

I loved the author's previous books, The Austrian Bride and A Mother's War. You can read my reviews by clicking on the titles. All three books are set during World War Two and the author has clearly researched this period very well. 

This particular book is set in Prague during the Nazi occupation, and it was impossible to not feel heartbreak for the suffering that the Czech people endured. This book brings those very people realistically to life on the page.

The main character, Jana was excellently portrayed. She was brave, courageous and compassionate. All whilst doing her best to live life as normally as possible in a city that was barely recognisable to its pre-occupation state. She begins by playing a small part in helping the Czech Resistance and aiding the escape of Jewish children before recognising the effects this has on those that she loves.

It was perfectly paced and allowed the reader to become very well acquainted with both the characters and their situation. I enjoyed the romance element of the story, and the juxtaposition within the character of Captain Kovar was well handled.

Although the book covers a devastating time for the people of Prague, it was ultimately an uplifting book which is full of hope for the future.

I was gripped by this book from the first page.  Who amongst us readers can not identify with the opening paragraph italicised above?  This is historical fiction at its best, and I heartily recommend it. 

ISBN:  978 1837515516 

Publisher:  Boldwood Books

Formats:  e-book, audio, hardback and paperback (currently available on Kindle Unlimited)

No. of Pages:  384 (paperback)

About the Author:

Helen Parusel is a historical novelist, having been a teacher and a clothes buyer for M&S. She currently lives in Hamburg.

(ARC and media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)

(all opinions are my own)

Newborn: Running Away, Breaking From the Past, Building a New Family by Kerry Hudson - #bookreview

 

When I go back into the bathroom there it is. No more than a whisper, a shadow of a second line. A life changed in a 1mm by 2mm blush of pink. I call Peter in and we stare, shining a phone torch light on it. I laugh and cry all at once...

***

In Newborn, prizewinning writer Kerry Hudson navigates trying to build a nourishing, safe and loving family - without a blueprint to work from

Kerry Hudson is celebrated for her emotionally and politically powerful writing about growing up in poverty. Her books and journalism have changed the conversation and touched countless lives.

In this new book she asks: what next, after a childhood like hers? What hope is there of creating a different life for herself, let alone future generations? We see how Kerry found love, what it took to decide to start a family of her own and how fragile every step of the journey towards parenthood was. All along the way, she faces obstacles that would test the strongest foundations, from struggles with fertility to being locked down in a Prague maternity hospital to a marriage in crisis. But over and over again, her love, hope, fight -- and determination to break patterns and give her son a different life -- win through and light her path.

Newborn is a beautiful, empowering memoir about creating a family in the midst of chaos, and learning new ways to find happiness. It continues the journey Kerry started in her bestselling memoir Lowborn, illuminating her experiences of becoming a mother, reshaping her future and reclaiming her identity.

***

I have not read the author's previous book, Lowborn, but there was sufficient reference to it during this book for me to pick up the gist. Having now read Newborn I would definitely like to go back and read her earlier work.

Kerry Hudson is a remarkable woman who has overcome great difficulties in her life. This is a brilliantly honest memoir. Not many of us would be brave enough to share our vulnerabilities in the way that she has and she is to be admired for it.

In Newborn, she has written a candid and authentic account of the challenges of pregnancy and new motherhood whilst trying to deal with personal illness in a foreign country. In fact, her descriptions of living in Prague are vibrant and imbue the book with life and colour. The difficulties of living as an expat whilst pregnant and during the pandemic were not insignificant as Ms. Hudson describes her experience extremely well.

She is an excellent writer and has honed her skill as a journalist. She tells her story succinctly and without sentimentality. She writes with intelligence and integrity and I highly recommend this book.

ISBN:  978 1784744991

Publisher:  Chatto & Windus

Formats:  e-book, audio and hardback

No. of Pages:  272 (hardback)

About the Author:

Kerry Hudson was born in Aberdeen. Her first novel, TONY HOGAN BOUGHT ME AN ICE-CREAM FLOAT BEFORE HE STOLE MY MA was published in 2012 by Chatto & Windus (Penguin Random House) and was the winner of the Scottish First Book Award while also being shortlisted for the Southbank Sky Arts Literature Award, Guardian First Book Award, Green Carnation Prize, Author’s Club First Novel Prize and the Polari First Book Award. Kerry’s second novel, THIRST, was published in 2014 by Chatto & Windus and won France’s most prestigious award for foreign fiction the Prix Femina Étranger. It was also shortlisted for the European Premio Strega in Italy. Her books are also available in the US (Penguin), France (Editions Philippe Rey), Italy (Minimum Fax) and Turkey.

Her book and memoir, LOWBORN, takes her back to the towns of her childhood as she investigates her own past and what it means to be poor in Britain today. It was a Radio 4 Book of the Week, a Guardian and Independent Book of the Year. It was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and Portico Prize and shortlisted in the National Book Token, Books Are My Bag Reader’s Awards and the Saltire Scottish Non-Fiction Book of the Year.

(book courtesy of the publisher)

(all opinions are my own)