The Golden Hour

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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. That's where you really find the heart and soul of the story as there are some good emotional moments. She lives with her husband and four children near the Connecticut shore, where she divides her time between writing and laundry. The duke—as governor of this island paradise with a dark side—and the duchess are portrayed as sometimes helping, but often contributing to, its problems of social inequality, racial tension, and corruption; they could also be complicit in the murder of gold mine owner Harry Oakes, and there are whispers of their Nazi sympathies.

Young Manuel has PTSD, as his teacher was injured in a school shooting to which Manuel happened to see and pulled a fire alarm for help. Using her journalistic skills and social etiquette, Lulu succeeds in befriending the duchess, Wallis Simpson. Part of their lives involve politics, war, betrayal and even a murder, none of which either woman sought or was intimately entangled with. Unfortunately, the part of the story I expected to enjoy the most, anything involving the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, was actually the weakest part.A second narrative set 40 years earlier focuses on Elfriede von Kleist, a new mother from rural Westphalia with postpartum depression so severe she has attempted suicide, causing her husband, the Baron, to dispatch her to a clinic in Switzerland. in " The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly " Publishing This Week" newsletter. It includes historical moments from the Bahamas, Germany, Switzerland, United States and London/Scotland. And her sexual proclivity or not- just the kind of topic the present woman likes to read about this 100 plus years past who had little respite for her difficulties. I love Beatriz Williams and many of her books have become some of my favorite historical fiction novels.

This book is gorgeously illustrated in Niki Smith's characteristic thin clean lines, with soft painterly backgrounds filling in the gold, brown, green and grey of Kansas. Plus, a historical fiction about The Duke and Duchess of Windsor sounded just the ticket for escapism. Two Englishmen, both named Thorpe, both with ginger hair, are the strong backs that carry the story.But to us, Lulu tells all, going back to how she dispensed with her first husband, the problematic Mr. But as she infiltrates the Duke and Duchess’s social circle, and the powerful cabal that controls the islands’ political and financial affairs, she uncovers evidence that beneath the glister of Wallis and Edward’s marriage lies an ugly—and even treasonous—reality. Paralleling this is the story of Lulu, which takes place primarily in the Bahamas at the start of World War II. The Golden Hour is a wonderful work of historical fiction; it blends many historical events with fiction to create a lovely read. Although I enjoyed Williams's diligence in bringing Nassau's history to the page, I felt a bit shortchanged at times.

Williams mixes those ingredients with spies, swindles, love affairs—plus a dash of racial animosity—and the result is a zesty romantic cocktail. The stories of two unforgettable women thread together in this extraordinary epic of espionage, sacrifice, human love, and human courage, set against a shocking true crime. What Elfriede and Lulu have in common are two different men named Thorpe, but it is how they are connected that intertwines the story together, and Williams seamlessly goes back and forth in time to tell the stories of these two very different women. I thought the author did a masterful job and I had my “aha” moment when I figured it out, but I enjoyed the way it all played out.Another aspect I found to be done well was the school being aware of Manuel’s needs but the respect for his privacy also leading to certain staff members being unaware and responding to Manuel in ways that are harmful (such as confiscating his phone, which he uses as an anchor, because his use of it was breaking classroom policies but removing it was also triggering a panic attack). Be aware that while the Bahamian years of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor during WWII are a clever and glitzy premise, they actually play secondary roles within the novel. 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.

As others have mentioned, the Duke and Duchess only appear peripherally, but I was so enthralled with what would happen to Elfriede and Lulu that I didn't even care. The other woman we follow is Lulu in 1941 just as she is arriving in the Bahamas to cover gossip about the scandalous Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Edward and Wallis Simpson. There was a lot of mystery in this book and a lot of the story was centred around Edward and Mrs Simpson which I found fascinating. This book is a fascinating look at that time in history and I enjoyed this insider’s peek into this world.The Thorpes are no less dedicated to the women they love, although war and duty are of critical importance too.