The Historical Fiction Shelf
Anywhere You Run
Wanda M. Morris
wandamorriswrites.com
William Morrow
c/o HarperCollins
https://www.harpercollins.com
9780063082502 $17.99 pbk / $11.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Anywhere-You-Run-Wanda-Morris/dp/0063082500
Synopsis: From the award-winning author of All Her Little Secrets comes yet=
another gripping, suspenseful novel where, after the murder of a white man=
in Jim Crow Mississippi, two Black sisters run away to different parts of = the country... but can they escape the secrets they left behind?
It's the summer of 1964 and three innocent men are brutally murdered for tr= ying to help Black Mississippians secure the right to vote. Against this ba= ckdrop, twenty-one year old Violet Richards finds herself in more trouble t= han she's ever been in her life. Suffering a brutal attack of her own, she = kills the man responsible. But with the color of Violet's skin, there is no=
way she can escape Jim Crow justice in Jackson, Mississippi. Before anyone=
can find the body or finger her as the killer, she decides to run. With th=
e help of her white beau, Violet escapes. But desperation and fear leads he=
r to hide out in the small rural town of Chillicothe, Georgia, unaware that=
danger may be closer than she thinks.
Back in Jackson, Marigold, Violet's older sister, has dreams of attending l=
aw school. Working for the Mississippi Summer Project, she has been trying =
to use her smarts to further the cause of the Black vote. But Marigold is i=
n a different kind of trouble: she's pregnant and unmarried. After news of = the murder brings the police to her door, Marigold sees no choice but to fl=
ee Jackson too. She heads North seeking the promise of a better life and no=
more segregation. But has she made a terrible choice that threatens her li=
fe and that of her unborn child?
Two sisters on the run - one from the law, the other from social shame. Wha=
t they don't realize is that there's a man hot on their trail. This man has=
his own brand of dark secrets and a disturbing motive for finding the sist= ers that is unknown to everyone but him...
Critique: Award-winning author Wanda M. Morris presents Anywhere You Run, a=
suspenseful historical fiction novel set in 1960s Mississippi. Two African= -American sisters are each forced to run - one had kill a man in self-defen= se, and fears retaliation; the other is pregnant and unmarried, and fears t= hat social shame will consign her to lifelong poverty and misery. But both = sisters are being relentlessly pursued! An unforgettable period piece of cr= ime, racial discrimination, and resistance, Anywhere You Run keeps the read= er's attention riveted to the final page. Highly recommended. It should be = noted for personal reading lists that Anywhere You Run is also available in=
a Kindle edition ($11.99).
The Opera Sisters
Marianne Monson
Shadow Mountain Publishing
P.O. Box 30178, Salt Lake City, Utah 84130-0178
www.shadowmountain.com
www.blackstoneaudio.com
9781639930463, $26.99, HC, 352pp
https://www.amazon.com/Opera-Sisters-Marianne-Monson/dp/1639930469
Synopsis: British sisters Ida and Louise Cook enjoy their quiet, unassuming=
lives in south London. Ida writes romance novels, and Louise works as a se= cretary. In the evenings, the sisters indulge in their shared love for oper=
a, saving their money to buy records and attend performances throughout Eng= land and Europe, becoming well-known by both performers and fellow opera lo= vers.
But when Hitler seizes power in 1933, he begins targeting and persecuting G= erman Jews, passing laws that restrict their rights and their lives. The si= sters continue their trips to the German opera houses, but soon, Jewish mem= bers of the opera community covertly approach the sisters, worried that the=
y will be stripped of their wealth and forced to leave their homes and the = country. Danger looms on the horizon, threatening to spill across all of Eu= rope's borders.
Ida and Louise vow to help, but how can two ordinary working-class women wi=
th limited means make a difference?
Together with their beloved opera community, the sisters devise a plan to p= ersonally escort Jewish refugees from Germany to England. The success of th=
e plan hinges on Ida and Louise's ability to smuggle contraband jewelry and=
furs beneath the watchful eyes of the SS soldiers guarding various checkpo= ints. But how many trips can they make before someone blows a whistle? Or b= efore the final curtain falls on Germany's borders?
Critique: Although a work of fiction, "The Opera Sisters" by Marianne Monso=
n is based on the true story of the Cook sisters, two women who smuggled va= luables out of 1930s Nazi Germany to finance a daring and secret operation =
to help German Jews find hope for a new life in England. Inspiring, inheren= tly fascinating, and deftly crafted page turner of a read from cover to cov= er, "The Opera Sisters" will be an enduringly appreciated and valued additi=
on to community and academic Historical Fiction library collections. It sho= uld be noted for personal reading lists that "The Opera Sisters" is also av= ailable in a digital book format (Kindle, $19.99) and as a complete and una= bridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9798212013956, $31.95, CD).
Editorial Note: Marianne Monson (www.mariannemonson.com) received her MFA i=
n Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and primarily writes o=
n topics related to women's history. She has taught English and Creative Wr= iting at the community college and university levels and is the author of t= welve books for children and adults, including the novel Her Quiet Revoluti=
on and her nonfiction works Frontier Grit and Women of the Blue and Gray. S=
he is the founder of The Writer's Guild, a literary nonprofit.
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