Staff Review: Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James

It’s 1919 and there are plenty of men that have survived The Great War, but are now struggling in living their day-to-day lives in England.  Enter Kitty Weekes, a young woman on the run and hiding from her own past, who will now try to help these mentally unstable patients at Portis House.

Kitty is trying to get away from her abusive family and therefore creates false identities to go anywhere she can.  She is now a nurse, an unqualified one, but still a nurse to be hired at Portis House.  It was once a grand estate in the middle of nowhere, but the previous occupants left very abruptly.

It now houses former soldiers that are trying to recover from their atrocities of war.  There are nightmares, headaches, nosebleeds, and the occasional sedation for every patient.  They all truly do suffer because of their past, but why do all of them experience the same nightmare?

Each patient brings their own unique set of challenges for Nurse Weekes and her coworkers, but it’s Patient Sixteen that intrigues Kitty.  Why doesn’t he leave his room and why does she not have clearance to help him?  Kitty has always been a rule breaker, so a few simple rules don’t stop her.  Then the house starts to change and things are seen by everyone, including the mentally insane and the workers.  The west wing is crumbling and locked tightly, but why is everyone drawn to a certain spot there?  Patient Sixteen becomes a friend to Kitty to help her uncover the truth and what’s really going on in this supposedly rundown house.

Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James took me back to when soldiers were “healed” by drugs and isolation and a very small support staff that tried not to upset the men with loud noises or disruptions to their routines.  The setting and the great attention to detail hooked me immediately.  The unique situations, the budding romance, and the mysterious forces were all present and I would highly recommend this book to anyone willing to discover more about the unknown.

~Andrea, Circulation

Staff Review: 50 Children by Steven Pressman

We are all aware of what happened during World War II and how Hitler wanted to eradicate the entire Jewish population from the world, or at least from Europe.  However, did you know that before things got really serious that the Nazi party were allowing the Jewish people to leave Germany?  To find out more, pick up and read 50 Children written by Steven Pressman.  His wife is the grandchild of Gil and Eleanor Kraus, the focus of this book and the 2013 HBO documentary 50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus.

Gil Kraus has discovered that Jewish parents in Germany and Austria can legally send their children to America if there are relatives or sponsors that will care for the children until their parents arrive.  Mr. Kraus enlists his Jewish friends and political connections that will make this happen.  He wants to bring 50 unaccompanied children to America.  If he is successful, it will be the largest set of Jewish children to be brought over together at the same time. It is a long, legal process that Mrs. Kraus works through to ensure all of the proper procedures are occurring, although nothing is official.

Deemed too dangerous for Mrs. Kraus to travel to Germany, Mr. Kraus and his associate cross the ocean by boat to meet with all of the individuals to approve the travel of these children.  Mr. Kraus works very diligently to make sure that everything is completed legally, and so the visas that will be used by the children fit the requirements of America’s very rigid immigration laws.  There are hoops to jump through, interviews to be conducted, and dealing with government officials in every phase, so Mrs. Kraus joins her husband in Europe and leaves their own children behind.

It is extremely difficult to pick just 50 Jewish children out of the 1.5 million that are trying to save their lives.  Once the 50 are decided, still nothing is official that they can leave.  The children are strong in that they will be able to survive and be successful in America away from their parents, but it is the parents that are the strongest.  They are willingly sending their children to a new country while their own future remains unknown.

If you enjoy history, especially from this time period, 50 Children is the perfect choice.  It provides a personal tale of a Jewish couple from Philadelphia and their willingness to help others when so many would not.  This was a difficult time for all, and there are difficult parts to read, but the happy times make it all worthwhile.  Drawn from Mrs. Kraus’ unpublished memoir, rare documents, family photos, and interviews tell the story of “One ordinary American couple’s extraordinary journey into the heart of Nazi Germany.”  It will be published on April 28th to coincide with the Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

~Andrea, Circulation

Staff Review: The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

I hesitated before writing this review. The Raven Prince, Elizabeth Hoyt's first novel, was originally published in 2006, so I feel like I'm a little late to the party. Plus, it's a romance novel. A very steamy romance novel. No really, I'm blushing a little bit as I type this. The chemistry between the main characters is intense, and things do eventually get rather graphic, after quite a lot of longing glances.

There's also some delightful banter, and some creative profanity, as the two misfits stumble their way towards Happily Ever After. Mrs. Anna Wren is an incredibly proper and respectable widow, whose finances are becoming increasingly desperate. Edward de Raaf, the Earl of Swartingham, is the explosive, pockmarked, long absent lord of Ravenhill Abbey. His unexpected return has the Little Battleford gossips whispering, and they only get louder when Anna takes a position as Swartingham's secretary, an unheard of career for a woman in 1760.

Add in a vividly drawn cast of supporting characters, a fast-paced plot that manages to be clever instead of contrived, and fun nods to other favorites, and it's easy to see how I found myself up until 3 a.m. so that I could finish this book in one sitting. A book that opens with a variation on the meeting of the scene where Jane meets Rochester in Jane Eyre was bound to be one I either loved or hated. I'm happy to say that The Raven Prince charmed me completely, and it's taking all my will power not to go on an immediate Elizabeth Hoyt reading binge.


~Sarah, Adult Services