Top Ten Tuesday - Historical Fiction Set in France - the WWII Edition.

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Books I HAD to Have Immediately but Still Haven’t Read (this is a throwback topic from 2022). However, given that this is the last Tuesday for me to do a Paris in July related Top Ten Tuesday I am going down that route instead. 

During last year's Paris in July, I shared a TTT post which was Historical Fiction set in France. When I put that list together I specifically excluded WWII fiction, so this week my theme is Historical Fiction Set in France - the WWII Edition. I have started with two books that come to mind instantly and then the rest are more recent books I have read set in France during WWII.

A Farewell to France by Noel Barber - in the 1990s I read a lot of Noel Barber books and I have such fond memories of them. I am not sure they would stand up all that well to read now though. 

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah - I am looking forward to seeing the movie of this one whenever it ends up actually getting made

The Resistance Knitting Club by Jenny O'Brien - I am just about to read the follow up to this book and can't wait! (review)

The Girl From Normandy by Rachel Sweasey - I really enjoyed this read (my review)

The Madamoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester - What a fascinating this read was. It is based on a true story which makes it even more amazing! (my review)

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin - This one is set in both France and Portugal (my review)

The Paris Dancer by Nicola Rayner - I was nearly going to say WWII Paris, but then I remembered that the whole theme for this post is WWII which makes that kind of redundant! (my review)

The Resistance Bakery by Siobhan Curham - I love a book set in a French bakery so this was always going to be a winner for me! (my review)

The Last Train from Paris by Juliet Greenwood - I thought this was a really great read with an interesting story! (my review)

The Lost Sister of Fifth Avenue by Ella Carey - The title might make you think this one is not set in Paris, but the majority of the story is! (my review)

Six Degrees of Separation: Wuthering Heights to The Secrets of the Huon Wren

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point is Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. 

When Kate announced this as the starting point, she mentioned that it was in celebration of the current movie adaptation starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. Another recent movie adaptation that I have seen is Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell, which tells a story about William Shakespeare and his family

I did have several different ideas about other movie adaptations, but instead I am choosing a non fiction read called Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Dame Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea. In this book, Dame Judi talks about her life working in the theatre in many different roles. It's a fascinating book.

I don't read a lot of non fiction, but I did recently attend a book talk about a book called Survival in Singapore: The triumph and tragedy of Australia's greatest commando operation by Tom Trumble. It tells the story  of a daring raid on Singapore Harbour following the Japanese invasion in 1941 and the aftermath for the citizens of Singapore

I am casting my mind back many, many years now, to a book that has stuck with me. Tanamera by Noel Barber is a book that I remember with great fondness.  Tanamera tells the story of a white family and a Eurasian woman both during the Japanese occupation and in the years afterward during the Malayan conflict. I used to love Noel Barber's books when I read them back in the late 1990s but I am not sure how they would stand up now if I was to reread them. I do still own quite a few of them. Tanamera was made into a mini-series in the late 1980s. 

A more recent WWII and aftermath TV adaptation is The Narrow Road to the Deep North which also stars Jacob Elordi, and was adapted from Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan's book of the same name. 

Now, if this was a 5 Degrees of Separation post then I would have gone full circle back to the starting book given that Jacob Elordi starred in both adaptations but alas, I need to add one more link. I am choosing a book by another Tasmania author. I read both of Claire van Ryn's books last year and thought they were great, so for my final choice I am going to select her book The Secrets of the Huon Wren (my review)

Next month, the starting point is The Correspondent by Virginia Evans which I currently have out of the library!

Will you be joining us?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set In a Place I’d Love to Visit (real places or fictional)

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Books Set In a Place I’d Love to Visit (real places or fictional). This is a topic that I feel like I done recently but it is actually a couple of years ago now! So this week I am going to share some books set in places that we plan to visit soon.

We are planning a weekend away in Adelaide for my brother's 40th birthday soon.

Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson (review) - This book is set in both Adelaide and Sheffield in the UK, which is a place I lived in for four years back in the late 1990s.

At some point this year I need to go to Perth to see the family over there


Taking a Chance by Deborah Burrows (review) - Deborah Burrows wrote a couple of books set in war time Perth!

We have a big trip planned for the end of the years where we will start in The Netherlands to see my brother in law and his family.

Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach - we won't be there for Tulip season but still

The Winter Dress by Lauren Chater - recently bought this.

From there we will go to Northern France -We don't know exactly where we are going to be staying so I am choosing the following two locations. What we do know is that there will definitely be some Normandy beaches experiences. After that we will head to Paris. Given that I only just did a French themed TTT post a couple of weeks ago,  I am going to only share one book for all of France.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - set in St Malo

From there the plan is to head to Southern Italy.


The Postcard from Italy by Angela Petch (Review)- I was inspired to want to visit Puglia after reading this book!


The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella - Set in Naples!

We will stop in Singapore on the way home

Tanamera by Noel Barber - I read this in my late teens or early twenties. I also read numerous other books by this author. Not sure they would stand the test of time!

The next year we are planning to spend some time in New Zealand

Chocolate Cake for Breakfast by Danielle Hawkins - Such a fun read!

And then looking even further forward we are thinking about heading to Hawaii which will include a visit to Pearl Harbour for sure.

The Lost Pearl by Emily Madden - This book is set both in Hawaii and Sydney.

I love travelling but I am always grateful to travel via the pages of a book too!