Review: Coronation Year

I don’t know if any of us could have predicted that the year Jennifer Robson published Coronation Year would be an actual coronation year. While her novel’s focus was on June 2, 1953, a day that was all about Queen Elizabeth II, this story is about far, far more than Her Majesty and the royal family. And the novel is amazing because of that. I was completely riveted and loved every moment I spent reading this book.

Here’s the book’s description:

It is Coronation Year, 1953, and a new queen is about to be crowned. The people of London are in a mood to celebrate, none more so than the residents of the Blue Lion hotel.
Edie Howard, owner and operator of the floundering Blue Lion, has found the miracle she needs: on Coronation Day, Queen Elizabeth in her gold coach will pass by the hotel’s front door, allowing Edie to charge a fortune for rooms and, barring disaster, save her beloved home from financial ruin. Edie’s luck might just be turning, all thanks to a young queen about her own age.
Stella Donati, a young Italian photographer and Holocaust survivor, has come to live at the Blue Lion while she takes up a coveted position at Picture Weekly magazine. London in celebration mode feels like a different world to her. As she learns the ins and outs of her new profession, Stella discovers a purpose and direction that honor her past and bring hope for her future.
James Geddes, a war hero and gifted artist, has struggled to make his mark in a world that disdains his Indian ancestry. At the Blue Lion, though, he is made to feel welcome and worthy. Yet even as his friendship with Edie deepens, he begins to suspect that something is badly amiss at his new home.
When anonymous threats focused on Coronation Day, the Blue Lion, and even the queen herself disrupt their mood of happy optimism, Edie and her friends must race to uncover the truth, save their home, and expose those who seek to erase the joy and promise of Coronation Year.

I’ve been reading (and loving) Robson’s books for a number of years now and have known about her for even longer (you know how it is…so many books, so little time). My favourite is her 2017 release, Goodnight from London, but every book I’ve read (and I’ve read all but one), is so, so very good. Coronation Year, though? This, I felt, is Robson at her best. She took a moment in time many of us know about - Queen Elizabeth’s coronation - and used it as a starting point to talk about the people who would have been impacted by it. The real people, the ones we can really identify with. (Since I don’t think I have any readers who are members of the British royal family?) Robson gave those characters a story that I adored and was so well put together.

I mention characters, plural. I was a wee bit worried when I realized the story was going to jump around between three different characters who were all connected by the Blue Lion hotel. That seemed like a lot of people to keep track of but I don’t know why I was concerned - Robson handled the multiple perspectives so very well and I never felt like I was missing out on someone’s story or was rushing through pages to get back to another character. Stella’s point of view might be the one that I would have liked to see more of but she was by no means neglected. I liked that her story pulled in characters that readers would remember from Goodnight from London, The Gown, and Our Darkest Night. (I don’t think I missed any other character Easter eggs…please do let me know if I did!) Each character had a unique point of view and they worked together seamlessly.

As the book’s description mentions, there was a bit of a mystery Edie needed to figure out - why was her hotel floundering and who would want to hurt her business - or her? I knew who the culprit was (and yes, found myself wanting to shake all the characters at numerous points saying, Why can’t you see that they’re the ones who are evil and ruining everything?!?) but the motive behind it and the climax was more than I could have imagined and was done really well. I was on the edge of my seat!

I love a Happily Ever After and really appreciate that Robson gives hints of romantic storylines in her books. But her stories are more about romantic entanglements and her knowledge of history, particularly British history, is where she excels. I never feel like she’s lecturing me and she provides just enough details that I can picture the scene perfectly and yet don’t feel like there’s been the dreaded info dump. It takes real skill to do that and I know that, when it comes to historical fiction, I am always in good hands with Robson.

I could go on and on about Coronation Year but all you really need to know about Jennifer Robson’s latest novel is that I loved it. Completely and whole-heartedly. If you’re a historical fiction fan, you must read this one.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by HarperCollins Canada via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Our Darkest Night

Our Darkest Night was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021. Jennifer Robson is a favourite author so that shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone! I saved my ARC for my first read of the year - not just because I wanted to read it close to the publication date, January 5, but also because for the last few years Robson's novels have been one of my first reads of the new year. Who am I to mess with the tradition I inadvertently started? I was glad to hunker down with this historical fiction on January 1 and I read it in almost one sitting. It was a well told and eyeopening story that will break your heart but will also, somehow, leave you feeling hopeful.

Here's the synopsis:

To survive the Holocaust, a young Jewish woman must pose as a Christian farmer’s wife in this unforgettable novel from USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Robson—a story of terror, hope, love, and sacrifice, inspired by true events, that vividly evokes the most perilous days of World War II.

It is the autumn of 1943, and life is becoming increasingly perilous for Italian Jews like the Mazin family. With Nazi Germany now occupying most of her beloved homeland, and the threat of imprisonment and deportation growing ever more certain, Antonina Mazin has but one hope to survive—to leave Venice and her beloved parents and hide in the countryside with a man she has only just met.

Nico Gerardi was studying for the priesthood until circumstances forced him to leave the seminary to run his family’s farm. A moral and just man, he could not stand by when the fascists and Nazis began taking innocent lives. Rather than risk a perilous escape across the mountains, Nina will pose as his new bride. And to keep her safe and protect secrets of his own, Nico and Nina must convince prying eyes they are happily married and in love.

But farm life is not easy for a cultured city girl who dreams of becoming a doctor like her father, and Nico’s provincial neighbors are wary of this soft and educated woman they do not know. Even worse, their distrust is shared by a local Nazi official with a vendetta against Nico. The more he learns of Nina, the more his suspicions grow—and with them his determination to exact revenge.

As Nina and Nico come to know each other, their feelings deepen, transforming their relationship into much more than a charade. Yet both fear that every passing day brings them closer to being torn apart...

I'm not Jewish. I say this because I acknowledge that I can't know what kind of trauma Jewish people still endure because of the Holocaust. Robson writes so well and with such care that I would hope it honours those who were killed because of their faith. I've been thinking about this more this week because of what recently happened at the Capitol Building and that disgusting show of racism and anti-Semitism. I'm trying to be more intentional with my reading these days which means not just reading books about Black trauma (though there are many that are outstanding) and I've read a few social media posts that have made me realize that I'm not doing the same regarding Jewish trauma. I read a lot of WWII historical fiction and hadn't really connected the dots enough from then to now. And I want to change that. It's a work in progress and I want to learn more.

Because Robson is an auto-read author, I didn't know much about the story of Our Darkest Night before reading it. What I did know was that it was inspired by a story from her husband's family - that his ancestors had provided safety for Jewish Italians during WWII. It was family lore but she started researching and realized there were many families who provided a safe haven and the novel started taking shape. Robson is a historian first and a novelist second and that is part of what makes her novels so attractive to me. I know the research she's put into these stories and can trust what she's written to be as close to the truth as you could get. 

I have a feeling some people may find this story to be slow because's there's not a lot of real "action" - but I didn't see it like that. This novel opened my eyes to what it would have been like for those not fighting in all the battles we've heard of (and the ones we haven't heard of). The war touched everyone's life - that's why it was called a "world" war. People needed to hide, farms needed to be run, families were torn apart. These were all things that happened in real life and Robson makes that come to life in her novel.

And come to life they did. The characters felt so real and their emotions were so strong that I was constantly on edge and worried for them. What happens to all of them is not something I'd wish on my worst enemy and I can't imagine how on earth anyone could have come up with the means of torture the Nazis employed. And, honestly, I worry about something like that happening again. Mild spoiler but important for content warnings - there are scenes in a concentration camp. Those running the camp are trying to break the occupants, emotionally and physically, and it was, for me, really hard to read.

Our Darkest Night is Nina and Nico's story (though mostly Nina's) but you know this is the story of countless others as well. I adored both of them and watching their relationship grow and evolve. It was like a beacon of light in, well, a really dark night. This is where the hope comes in. That no matter how hard things got, the family leaned on each other and worked hard. That there were good people who risked everything to help those who were being hunted and persecuted. I don't know if I could have been as strong in the same circumstances. I hope I could be.

A lot of people have described Jennifer Robson's latest novel as dark and heartbreaking, myself included, but don't let that scare you off. If you're a fan of good stories, historical or not, you should really pick up a copy of Our Darkest Night. You'll feel, you'll learn, and you'll come out the other side with a better perspective on life. You'll love it.

*An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher, HarperCollins Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Gown

I knew about Jennifer Robson's books well before I ever picked one up to read. I had purchased them for other people but, for some bizarre reason, never got around to reading them myself. That changed last year when I heard her speak at a local library event and I bought, and had signed, Goodnight from London. I read it immediately and fell in love. I paid close attention from then on because she had mentioned that night about her next book, which was going to be about women who worked on Queen Elizabeth's wedding dress. Perfect timing since I, and everyone else, was binge-watching The Crown and waiting for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding. This novel though? The Gown is about so much more than a wedding dress worn by a future monarch. And it's incredible - one of my top reads from 2018.

Here's the (really long) synopsis:

From the internationally bestselling author of Somewhere in France comes an enthralling historical novel about one of the most famous wedding dresses of the twentieth century—Queen Elizabeth’s wedding gown—and the fascinating women who made it.
“Millions will welcome this joyous event as a flash of color on the long road we have to travel.”—Sir Winston Churchill on the news of Princess Elizabeth’s forthcoming wedding
London, 1947: Besieged by the harshest winter in living memory, burdened by onerous shortages and rationing, the people of postwar Britain are enduring lives of quiet desperation despite their nation’s recent victory. Among them are Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, embroiderers at the famed Mayfair fashion house of Norman Hartnell. Together they forge an unlikely friendship, but their nascent hopes for a brighter future are tested when they are chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime honor: taking part in the creation of Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gown.
Toronto, 2016: More than half a century later, Heather Mackenzie seeks to unravel the mystery of a set of embroidered flowers, a legacy from her late grandmother. How did her beloved Nan, a woman who never spoke of her old life in Britain, come to possess the priceless embroideries that so closely resemble the motifs on the stunning gown worn by Queen Elizabeth II at her wedding almost seventy years before? And what was her Nan’s connection to the celebrated textile artist and holocaust survivor Miriam Dassin?
With The Gown, Jennifer Robson takes us inside the workrooms where one of the most famous wedding gowns in history was created. Balancing behind-the-scenes details with a sweeping portrait of a society left reeling by the calamitous costs of victory, she introduces readers to three unforgettable heroines, their points of view alternating and intersecting throughout its pages, whose lives are woven together by the pain of survival, the bonds of friendship, and the redemptive power of love.

Historical fiction can be tricky...I find authors might try to teach me too much and the novel will read like a textbook or they'll toss facts around willy nilly in a way that makes it seem like they haven't done their research or they had a story idea and just decided to plunk it down in the past. Robson though? She is one of my favourite historical fiction writers. She knows what she's talking about (having a doctorate in British economic and social history from the University of Oxford and a father who's a historian) and is a damn good storyteller. She's able to weave together (ha! No pun intended) a story and I really feel like I'm right there with Ann and Miriam. She knows all the little details that would place the story in 1947 but it doesn't feel like she's lecturing at me. The story and setting sucks me in and I love it.

I hadn't realized, when I first started hearing about the novel, that there would be a contemporary component to this story. I liked reading about all three women and looked forward to their stories intertwining, because I knew they had to, one way or another. I don't think the contemporary story was quite as strong as I expected but I still looked forward to each of Heather's chapters.

The three characters Robson created - Ann, Miriam, and Heather - are amazing women and I adored them. They all face hardships (though Heather's are very much "first world problems"but problems nonetheless - and ones I could completely identify with) and are strong enough to work through them. They can see a solution and will do whatever it takes to get through the tough times. The revelation about Ann just about broke my heart but I was also in awe of how she managed to make the most of the situation. I just wish connections had been kept, though I could understand why she wouldn't want to (vague enough for you?). The friendship between Ann and Miriam is something to be envied and I loved reading it.

The actual plot - Miriam and Ann are embroidering the dress Elizabeth will wear when she marries Philip and, in present-ish day, Heather searching for answers about her grandmother and herself - is also so interesting. You may think that things would get complicated, given the many threads (again...no pun intended) Robson has to bring together but she's a talented writer and everything flows smoothly.

The Gown is a historical novel that perfectly brings together a specific moment in time with characters who stand out as much as - if not more than - the dress they're embroidering for a future Queen. Jennifer Robson has written one of my favourite books of 2018 and one I've been recommending to everyone and their sisters (I'm also not the only one as it's been on the bestseller lists for multiple publications over the last few weeks!). Even if you think one part of this novel isn't for you, read it anyway because you're going to fall in love.

*I received an ARC of this novel at an event I paid to attend last fall, which was hosted by HarperCollins Canada. There was no expectation for a review but I loved the book so much I needed to tell you all about it.*