BOOK REVIEW
Tuesdays
with Jack Pauline Daniel had no intention of being a typical “buba”, the knitting, story-telling, Russian-speaking babushka of her youth. She runs her own business, works out and lives in her jeans. So, when her grandson Jack was born, she brought her unique style to grandparenthood. And now, thanks to her adorable grandson, her Tuesdays would never be the same. What started out as a Facebook post, Tuesdays with Jack quickly grew into a celebration of beginner grandparenting. Filled with sacred moments, loyalty and love– and interspersed with heart-warming and tender photos—her experiences with Jack encourage her to open her heart and help her appreciate the beauty of growing older gracefully. "The fun of being a grandparent is an anti-aging formula in itself," Daniel says. Daniel’s Tuesday visits with Jack also provide a myriad of innocent, insightful and insanely entertaining gems: “I hear you but I’m not listening”, “skipping is the fastest way to get around” and “when your book comes out, I’ll sell it at my lemonade stand.” Pauline Daniels is the owner of Coaching Connections, a life coaching practice, serving women. She calls herself the How to Follow Your Hearts Coach. She resides in a small BC mountain town in the Kootenays with her husband. Jack and his family live nearby. For additonal information about the book, see www.tuesdayswithjack.com & www.granvilleislandpublishing.com |
The Alice Network
Author: Kate Quinn Synopsis: “A ring of daring spies known as the Alice Network left a legacy of blood and betrayal. Two women suffering the losses of two different wars must join forces, one to find her voice and redemption, the other to face her fears and her oldest enemy.” A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner has a burning desire to join the fight against the Germans and she gets her chance when she is recruited as a spy. She is sent into occupied France and is trained and works with Lilli, code name ‘Alice’, who is known as the “Queen of the Spies’ and who manages a network right under the noses of the Germans. Working undercover as a waitress at a prestigious café in Lille, which is frequented by German hierarchy, Eve (alias Margeurite) becomes the mistress of the proprietor, Rene Bordelon and becomes an informant on German movements. Rene is a collaborator and although their ‘late night meetings’ are repulsive to Eve, she hears much of what is needed to pass on to Lilli and the network. Rene Bordelon eventually discovers Eve’s real identity and whilst he does not kill her she was dreadfully maimed by him. Along with Lilli and other members of the network, Eve is imprisoned until Liberation. In 1947, after the chaos of the WW2, Charlotte St. Clair arrives in London from USA pregnant and unmarried but with a determination to locate her cousin Rose who was a big part of Charlotte’s childhood when both families spent summers in France before the war. Rose has disappeared somewhere in France and Charlotte (Charlie) is determined to find out what has happened to her but Charlie’s mother has other ideas. She has accompanied Charlie with the express purpose of heading to a clinic in Switzerland to have Charlie’s ‘little problem’ taken care of. However, Charlie had been given an address of someone who was working in a London bureau for refugees and that someone happens to be Eve Gardiner. Charlie deserts her mother, locates Eve Gardiner and so a French ‘adventure’ begins with two very unlikely companions. Eve’s desire to kill Rene is foremost in her mind. With Eve’s Scottish driver/carer Finn providing transport, the story weaves its way through French towns and villages where information is gathered and scores settled. Quinn’s characters are so believable and no detail is spared in telling an historical and enthralling fictional tale. She does it so well! I loved the way this story reinforces the effect that war has on a person’s spirit and how you may never be the person you were before it all began. ROSALIE HOWARTH |
