I read a trilogy and 2 other books by authors I never read before and all 5 books rate an 11 out of 10. They were all so so good.
The Invisible Wall
The Dream
The Golden Willow
All 3 books are by Harry Bernstein. They are a memoir and were written by him when he was in his 90-‘s and published when he was 96. He died at the age of 101.
The first book- The Invisible Wall is about his bleak childhood in an English Mill town where Christians lived on one side and Jews lived on the other. The story revolves around how the 2 sides of the street DO NOT MIX and how he keeps his sister’s secret when she falls in love with a boy across the street.
The second book – The Dream is about the family’s arrival in America where they live with relatives in Chicago. Then the Great Depression comes with all of it’s harsh realities. Towards the end of the book is when Harry meets the love of his life Ruby.
The third book- The Golden Willow is all about their love story and his despair when she passes away.
All 3 books are just so good and by the end you feel like you know the author personally. I think it’s also so inspirational because he wrote these books when he was in his 90’s. It’s never to late to do something new.
The House at Tyneford- by Natasha Solomons
This book is set during WWII when 19 year old Elise- a “rich” Jewish girl from Vienna has to leave her family and country and become a parlour maid in England. It becomes a very “upstairs/downstairs” situation when the family’s son comes home. This book, the setting, and the writing were just so good. I really loved this book.
The Story She Left Behind- by Patti Callahan Henry
This story goes back and forth between 1927 and 1952. It’s about a girl who’s mother was a renowned author but mysteriously disappeared when the little girl was 8 years old. Her mother’s notes are found by a stranger in England many years later. So the girl decides to travel to England with her own daughter to try and find out what happened to her mother. The book is part family saga, part mystery, with some romance thrown in and it just really flows well and I really loved it.