November reads

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An honest heart – Kaye Dacus 3,5/5
Caddy Bainbridge has a succesfull bussiness as a seamstress, with which she supports her mother and her employees, all former workhouse inmates. After a painfull engagement, Caddy has resigned herself to a single life. Then a new doctor comes to live in her neighbourhood...

A pleasant read with lovely characters and some sweet moments. I really liked Caddy, her caring and thoughtful character. Unfortunately, the hurdle she had to overcome in her romance was very unlikely. I also didn't really understand the role of the 'baddies' in the story. Unless they come back in a next book by this author, their role was very unfulfilling and unfinished.

Promise me this – Cathy Gohlke 5/5
When Annie waves her brother Owen goodbye who leaves on the Titanic for America, she didn't know she would never see him again. On his journey Owen befriends the young stowaway Michael and saves his life during the disaster. Michael is determined to fulfill Owen's promises to his beloved sister Annie, even when she wants nothing to do with him.

Wow, what an amazing novel! I heard many good things about Cathy Gohlke and based on this, the first book I read by her, that praise is deserved. This book can hold it's own among the 'great' of Christian historical fiction: Francine Rivers and Lynn Austin. The characters are lifelike, the story moving and the historical background super-interesting. From a country village in America to an dreary mansion in London to the battlefields of WWI, this book takes you on an amazing journey.

Het betoverde land achter het filmdoek – Bart Cusveller (red.) 3/5
This is a Dutch non-fiction book about watching fantasy films as a Christian, a subject which, as a film lover, really interests me. The Narnia, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter franchises were the main subjects of this book. As I already read separate books about Narnia and Lord of the Rings and never watched (or read) Harry Potter, there was not a lot of new or applicable content in this book for me. It would have been better if it had included a broader selection of movies.

Widow of Getysburg – Jocelyn Green 3,5/5
Liberty Holloway is a young Union widow trying to make a living for herself in the town of Gettysburg. When the armies of the Union and the Confederacy meet in Gettysburg and a great battle rages, Liberty's farm is taken over as a Confederate hospital. While tending to the many wounded, Liberty realizes her enemies are just people as well and makes a special connection to one of the patients.

I don't know a lot about the Civil War, but this book certainly opened my eyes to the great suffering it caused to soldiers and civilians alike. The field hospitals had to tend to patients with minimal resources, something which gets very clear in this book. Liberty was a strong character and I also really liked Silas. You don't know what to think of him first, but then his history slowly unfolds. For some reason though, this book felt a bit messy, like the author tried to tackle too many story lines at once.

Heroic measures – Jo-Ann Power 4/5
The third book I read this month which included female nurses during wartime! In Heroic measures, we meet Gwen Spencer, one of the brave young American women who went to the battlefields of WWI to nurse the many wounded.

I'm very much interested in this subject, I read a non-fiction work about female nurses during WWI last year. As far as I can remember, Heroic measures is definitely true to history. It contains many small, but interesting historical facts and might not be for the faint of heart. Though the background is very interesting, the story itself and the main character is a little bit dull. I never felt connected to Gwen and I didn't really believe in her romance, kept thinking it would fall through until the book ended.

Books read in November: 5
Books read in 2013: 63