The Golden Hour

Product Information

But the Bahamas "feel" and the Lulu (she was a 1960 plus "eyes" put into an earlier "reality") character with her completely double standard morality- made me laugh. Beatriz Williams is the New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of The Golden Hour, The Summer Wives, The Secret Life of Violet Grant, A Hundred Summers, and several other works of historical fiction, including three novels in collaboration with fellow bestselling authors Karen White and Lauren Willig. Those were particularly framed as dissing and derision worthy or just "lesser" core for causing that crying or loneliness, or whatever illness or trouble for our two heroines. His days are a lonely, latchkey monotony until he’s teamed with his classmates, Sebastian and Caysha, for a group project. There she meets a young Londoner named Wilfred Thorpe, interrupting his grand tour of the continent to recover from pneumonia—but never to recover from meeting Elfriede.

The three new friends use agricultural club and the coming fair as an excuse to hang out, which really captures the way youthful hobbies become a vessel for understanding yourself through your interaction with it as well as a rallying point to process group dynamics and find like-minded companions to support one another and grow together. While mixing in with the wealthy set that surrounds the Windsors, Lulu meets a man whose work is war-related but mysterious and, not surprisingly, love blossoms. The remarkable story of the lives of these two women, their families, and the countless people they helped or reported on during WWII is something you must read. I’m looking forward to reading my next book by Williams and definitely recommend this one to historical fiction lovers. But if a gin and tonic isn't on the menu, perhaps a trip to the beach with The Golden Hour in tow would do just fine.

I found myself continually looking back to try to figure out whether the chapter I was about to read came before or after a previous chapter about these same characters. A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA in Finance from Columbia University, Beatriz worked as a communications and corporate strategy consultant in New York and London before she turned her attention to writing novels that combine her passion for history with an obsessive devotion to voice and characterization. Beatriz Williams describes her role in the book this way, "Elfriede forms the moral backbone of 'The Golden Hour,' and her journey is that of women everywhere.

Finally, into the last quarter of the book, the plot turns into something resembling espionage, though “resembling” is probably too strong a word. Final Thought: The Golden Hour was giving me pretty major The Clockmaker's Daughter vibes, just with fewer characters, and that is something I loved. Elfriede is sent to a Swiss clinic because she is struggling with a darkness in her sole after the birth of her child, a/k/a postpartum depression. There she meets an Englishman recouping from pneumonia and they have a soulmates connection but with Elfriede still married, they can't really act on anything.In fact, Windsor-era Nassau seethes with spies, financial swindles, and racial tension, and in the middle of it all stands Benedict Thorpe: a scientist of tremendous charm and murky national loyalties. We, the innocent bystander, aka reader, are paralyzed into flipping pages until we discover the truth, or what’s left of it, or what’s masquerading as the truth. Instead, they find themselves caught between the intrigues of a villainous Duke, the amusements of a doomed king and queen, and the savagery of the revolution’s leaders. B. The pov changes also include first person and third person different narratives; it works to keep the two women drivers of their own stories but I can see how this could affect the flow of the story for some.

Randolph, and continuing through her current mission—to spring her second husband, British undercover agent Benedict Thorpe, from a German prison camp. Now, I have to admit that I love plenty of her books, but that one just rocked my world as I listened to the audio version. She expanded my vocabulary with mountebank, devoirs, burgher, soporific (been a while since I had heard this one), and obbroprium. I must say that I had no idea what happened to the former King Edward when he abdicated from the throne to marry divorcee Wallis Simpson. This would work for both middle grade and YA readers, but is just as rewarding and meaningful to adult readers, which is something I truly appreciate in any work.

I found myself closing the book just to remind myself silently in my head who was who and what character was related to what character and how and why and so on.