A well-researched WWII novel that tackles compelling questions of family loyalty and broader ethics.
The life of a young German man is turned upside down by the outbreak of World War II in Graydon’s historical novel.
Growing up in Halbe, Germany, in the 1930s, Oskar Bachmann is surrounded by the echoes of the First World War. His father, a brilliant but brutal tyrant, was once a respected pilot in the German military but came home from the frontlines forever changed. He often beats poor Oskar within an inch of his life, but spares Oskar’s brother, Emil—because Emil is part of the Hitler Youth, an organization Oskar’s mother abhors (she hates all things associated with the Nazis) and forbids Oskar to join. As Germany descends into Hitler-led madness, Oskar’s best and only friend, an ingenious scholar, commits suicide after Nazis burn down his one-of-a-kind library. The violence around Oskar only intensifies while he is a student in Berlin, and his mother arranges for him to finish his studies in the relative safety of New York City. Stateside, Oskar is gifted with a lavish apartment and discovers that his mysterious “landlord,” Aleks, is also German, from the same town where Oskar’s father is now stationed as a pharmaceutical researcher—and he seems to know quite a bit about Oskar. When Herr Bachmann is mysteriously killed, Oskar must choose between loyalty to his family and country and commitment to his ethical center. Graydon explores compelling territory in this historical novel, shedding light on the young Germans who did not identify as Nazis yet found themselves caught up in fascist hysteria nonetheless. Oskar knows enough to see the truth (“The Nazis were adept at psychological tricks…[but] a bouquet of flowers at the centre of our table would not be enough to enhance my outlook”), but the bonds of family and country are a powerful siren song. The nuanced depiction of a seemingly “good” young man torn asunder by conflicting beliefs is where this novel really sings.
A well-researched WWII novel that tackles compelling questions of family loyalty and broader ethics.Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9781803782096
Page Count: 376
Publisher: Cranthorpe Millner Publishers
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.
Stockett heads to Mississippi for another historical novel about feisty women.
This time, perhaps recalling criticisms of cultural appropriation in The Help (2009), she sticks to feisty white women, with one exception. The setting is Oxford in 1933. For two miserable years, 11-year-old Meg has lived in “the Orphan,” a county asylum for parentless girls. Chairlady Garnett—a villain so one-note she’d twirl a mustache if she had one—makes it her mission to ostracize the older girls she deems unadoptable, stigmatizing them as offspring of the “feebleminded” mothers who abandoned them. She particularly has it in for smart, sassy Meg, who refuses to believe her mother’s mysterious disappearance was deliberate. Elsewhere in Oxford, Birdie Calhoun comes to visit her sister Frances, who married a wealthy banker, to ask for money on behalf of their mother and grandmother back in Footely. Frances isn’t thrilled by this reminder of her impoverished small-town origins. But she’s trying to climb up in Oxford society by volunteering at the Orphan, the asylum’s books need to be done before the state inspector shows up in a few weeks, and Birdie is a bookkeeper. Having neatly arranged to keep Birdie in town and draw these two storylines together, Stockett goes on to spin a compulsively readable yarn with enough plot for a half-dozen novels. Birdie and Meg become friends, Meg is adopted despite Garnett’s best efforts, Meg’s mother turns up at the Orphan demanding to know where her child is—and that’s less than a quarter of the way through a long, winding narrative that keeps piling on more dramatic developments until all loose ends are neatly, if hastily, wrapped up in the final pages. Stockett might be making a point about Southern women facing facts and standing up for themselves, but mostly this is just a satisfyingly twisty tale that should make a great miniseries.
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781954118812
Page Count: 656
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
Simply charming.
A lovable gaggle of competitive quilters attempts to defy the odds.
The ladies of the Ogden Quilters Association are gearing up for another Simpton Family Quilting Extravaganza, and this year’s nationwide competition is extra special: It’s taking place just an hour away in Smithfield, Utah. For Betty Lou Dearden, OQA’s leader and most faithful member, who never misses a Wednesday quilting night and delights in reading the bylaws, this is a dream come true—a chance to put Utah quilting on the map. But beneath her bubbly surface, Betty Lou is struggling—longtime member Leera Smeeth has been passive aggressively shooting down Betty Lou’s ideas and attacking her sense of self for years (see: a particularly biting comment about her beloved peach bathroom); her children rarely visit; and her husband’s health is declining. And to top it off, OQA is down a member since Terry Blackfoot left following the oft-referenced but never explained “needle incident.” OQA’s remaining members—flighty but lovable Lucy Jones; dependable Diane Williams and her roommate, Alice Flagstaff; and innovative Candace Braithwaite—need more support. Enter Byron Grant, a gay sewing store manager who deals in rumor and gossip as much as in thread and batting, and his best friend, shy, artistic Rob, both younger than the youngest OQA member by about 30 years. Don’t worry, there’s nothing in the bylaws expressly prohibiting men. And so this quirky group of artisans attempts to dethrone the always-winning, clearly evil Logan Quilters Society (“We don’t hate anyone!...We just don’t prefer to associate with cheaters”), all the while wrestling with interpersonal conflict, trauma, and, let’s face it, a few tacky ideas. The plot is silly and largely predictable, but McCann’s prose is bursting at the seams with humor and genuinely tender, touching moments. You’ll root for these misfits from Page 1.
Simply charming.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9798890920461
Page Count: 260
Publisher: Torrey House Press
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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