Historical fiction | France Book Tours

Book giveaway: A Star for Mrs. Blake #parisinjuly2023

A Star for Mrs. Blake,
by
April Smith

(historical fiction)

Published September 23, 2014
at Penguin Random House

352 pages

***

On Goodreads

Buy it here
(Hardcover, paperback, ebook, audio)

SYNOPSIS

In this emotionally charged, brilliantly realized novel, April Smith tells the story of five courageous women who made the American Gold Star Mothers pilgrimage to France in 1929 to visit the graves of their sons who fought in WWI.
The U.S. government sponsored first class trips for 6,693 Gold Star Mothers from Paris to the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery to say their final good-byes, officially honoring the sacrifice of women in war.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Yes, I’m the same April Smith
who writes the FBI Special Agent Ana Grey Mystery/Thriller,
but I’ve taken a new direction into suspenseful historical fiction.
A STAR FOR MRS. BLAKE, set in the 1930s,
tells the untold true story of the Gold Star Mothers pilgrimages to Europe
to visit the graves of their loved ones killed during WWI.

My latest novel, HOME SWEET HOME, takes place in 1950s South Dakota,
where a family becomes the victim of a witch hunt during the McCarthy era.

Where do I get such wide-ranging ideas?
I grew up in the Bronx, New York, where the Kingsbridge Road Branch public library
was the center of my universe.
There it was safe and warm — the library was a tiny space above a dry cleaners —
and I was free to explore everything from science fiction to James Bond.
I moved to Los Angeles to write and produce TV shows
— most recently the miniseries, Mrs. America, starring Cate Blanchett as Phyllis Schlafly,
but I am still, firmly and forever, happy in the world of books.

Visit her website,
or connect with her on Facebook and Twitter
You can also contact her here
Check her IMDb page!

Giveaway:
1 participant will receive a signed copy of this book

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY

July 15, 2023

WordsAndPeace

3 Comments

Categories: Historical fiction, Paris in July Tags: #parisinjuly2023, American Gold Star Mothers, April Smith, Historical fiction, WWI

November 2021 Books of the month giveaway winners

November 2021 Books of the month
giveaway winners

Anne, Diana, and Nancy
won an ecopy of

Double Identity

(Thriller)

Release date: 1/7/2021
338 pages
Pulcheria Press

Goodreads

Deeply in love, a chic Parisian lifestyle before her. Now she’s facing prison for murder.

It’s three days since dual national Mel des Pittones threw in her job as an intelligence analyst with the French special forces to marry financial trader Gérard Rohlbert. But her dream turns to nightmare in London when she wakes to find him dead in bed beside her.
Her horror deepens when she’s accused of his murder. Met Police detective Jeff McCracken wants to pin Gérard’s death on her. Mel must track down the real killer, even if that means being forced to work with the obnoxious McCracken.
But as she unpicks her fiancé’s past, she discovers his shocking secret life. To get to the truth, she has to go undercover and finds almost everybody around her is hiding a second self.
Mel can trust nobody. Can she uncover the real killer before they stop her?
A stunning new thriller from the author of the award-winning Roma Nova series, fans of Daniel Silva, Stella Rimington and Chris Pavone will love Double Identity.

You can also request your free review copy
before December 31,
and review it in your own time!

Buy It Here:
Our Bookshop

Also Available In All These Places
(Paperback Or Ebook)

Michael
won a print copy
Anne, Lilianne, and Tuscia
won an ecopy of

Katherine’s Wish

(Historical fiction/fictional biography)

Officially released in 2008,
now re released in 2021
250 pages
Wordcraft of Oregon

Goodreads

In this dramatic, fictional retelling of New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield‘s final years, and of the events which led up to her meeting with P.D. Ouspensky and G. I Gurdjieff, novelist Linda Lappin transports the reader like a time traveler into Mansfield’s intimate world.
Scrupulously researched and richly evocative, the novel has been praised by Mansfield scholars as “creative scholarship.”
With vivid detail and beautiful language and style, Lappin has built on journals, letters, and diaries to fashion a true-to-life mosaic, using themes, motifs, and methods of Mansfield’s own writing.
Katherine’s Wish celebrates Mansfield’s deep love of life and its final message is a life-affirming one of joy and of wholeness achieved.