Code Name: Lise by Larry Loftis

Dec 18, 2022

Code Name: Lise by Larry Loftis
Genre: WW2 Biography
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Released: 15 January 2019
[yasr_overall_rating size=”small”]

The year is 1942, and World War II is in full swing. Odette Sansom decides to follow in her war hero father’s footsteps by becoming an SOE agent to aid Britain and her beloved homeland, France. Five failed attempts and one plane crash later, she finally lands in occupied France to begin her mission. It is here that she meets her commanding officer Captain Peter Churchill.

As they successfully complete mission after mission, Peter and Odette fall in love. All the while, they are being hunted by the cunning German secret police sergeant, Hugo Bleicher, who finally succeeds in capturing them. They are sent to Paris’s Fresnes prison, and from there to concentration camps in Germany where they are starved, beaten, and tortured. But in the face of despair, they never give up hope, their love for each other, or the whereabouts of their colleagues.

MY REVIEW

Code Name: Lise is a riveting historical biography that portrays the remarkable story of Odette Sansom, a British woman who joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE) team in the face of great peril during World War II.

Odette bravely embarks on a mission to help Britain and her beloved France. In occupied France, she meets her commanding officer, Captain Peter Churchill, and the two embark on an extraordinary journey filled with danger, intrigue, and love.

Larry Loftis has penned an outstanding biography that depicts Odette Sansom’s bravery and strength in a way that keeps readers intrigued throughout. His rich descriptions bring the characters to life, causing the reader to get emotionally immersed in their journey. The fast-paced action in the book makes for an exciting read, and the plot is both intriguing and emotionally fascinating. Loftis offers a picture of Odette’s great strength and dedication during her journey in this biography. She demonstrates her strength and bravery despite the fact that the odds were stacked against her.

Overall, Code Name: Lise is a great book for anyone who enjoys learning more about the exploits of courageous women or wants to understand more about WWII.

Purchase from Amazon

One Last Shot by Kip Wilson

Oct 16, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction, Teens & YA
Publishers: HarperCollins Children’s Books, Versify
To Be Released: 17 Jan 2023

SYNOPSIS

Gerda Taro, a vibrant, headstrong photojournalist with a passion for capturing the truth amid political turmoil and the first woman photojournalist killed in combat.

The daughter of Polish Jewish immigrants, Gerta Pohorylle doesn’t quite fit in with her German classmates. When she returns from school, she joins a group of young activists and is arrested for distributing anti-Nazi propaganda. Her family decides she must leave Germany. In Paris, Gerta meets André Friedman, a Hungarian photographer eager for fame and fortune, who fosters Gerda’s interest in photography. Together the pair reinvents their brand of photojournalism under the names Robert Capa and Gerda Taro, in part to gloss over their Jewish ancestry, and soon they’re traveling to areas of military conflict and selling their photos for high prices. Gerda continues to travel solo through Europe, often the only woman in journalism circles. Her assignments eventually lead her to Spain to cover the growing conflict that is becoming the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), part of events leading to World War II. True to her political beliefs, Gerda pushes closer and closer to the front line, eager to capture the lives and vibrant hopes of Spanish republican forces fighting against fascism, only to lose sight of her own safety.

COVER:

Let’s start with the cover. It’s brilliant. I love the illustration. It’s eye catching.

WHAT I LIKED:

This is a fascinating book. For starters it’s written in verse and it’s the first book I have read written in verse (that wasn’t a poetry book). I’m fascinated by women on the frontlines and in particular photographers / reporters. The story moved quickly and I would have liked to get to know Gerda more. Courageous woman that risked it all.

I found that this book was more geared less to teens and more to the mature young adults.

Book: The Correspondents: Six Women Writers on the Front Lines of World War II

Jun 14, 2022

The riveting, untold history of a group of heroic women reporters who revolutionized the narrative of World War II—from Martha Gellhorn, who out-scooped her husband, Ernest Hemingway, to Lee Miller, a Vogue cover model turned war correspondent.

The Correspondents: Six Women Writers on the Front Lines of World War II
Buy from Amazon

On the front lines of the Second World War, a contingent of female journalists were bravely waging their own battle. Barred from combat zones and faced with entrenched prejudice and bureaucratic restrictions, these women were forced to fight for the right to work on equal terms with men.

The Correspondents follows six remarkable women as their lives and careers intertwined: Martha Gellhorn, who got the scoop on Ernest Hemingway on D-Day by traveling to Normandy as a stowaway on a Red Cross ship; Lee Miller, who went from being a Vogue cover model to the magazine’s official war correspondent; Sigrid Schultz, who hid her Jewish identity and risked her life by reporting on the Nazi regime; Virginia Cowles, a “society girl columnist” turned combat reporter; Clare Hollingworth, the first English journalist to break the news of World War II; and Helen Kirkpatrick, the first woman to report from an Allied war zone with equal privileges to men.

From chasing down sources and narrowly dodging gunfire to conducting tumultuous love affairs and socializing with luminaries like Eleanor Roosevelt, Picasso, and Man Ray, these six women are captured in all their complexity.With her gripping, intimate, and nuanced portrait, Judith Mackrell celebrates these courageous reporters who risked their lives for the scoop.

 

The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku

Apr 3, 2022

If I can give more than 5 stars, I would give it a thousand. One man’s journey through the holocaust honestly recounted and it will bring you to tears. Eddie Jaku was an inspiration; he recently passed away aged 101 years of age. Raw and heartfelt. A must read.

There are moments in this book that I had to stop reading. It was an emotional rollercoaster; especially when he urges the reader to stop for a moment and go tell your mother how much you love her because… he can’t tell his mother. how much he loved her. River of tears.

It’s written beautifully and although doesn’t go into some of the most horrific elements of his experiences (I would be an absolute puddle on the floor if he did that), it’s written from the heart. I never got the pleasure of meeting Mr. Eddie Juku but I think I would have loved to listen to him talk.

In this uplifting memoir in the vein of The Last Lecture and Man’s Search for Meaning, a Holocaust survivor pays tribute to those who were lost by telling his story, sharing his wisdom, and living his best possible life.

Born in Leipzig, Germany, into a Jewish family, Eddie Jaku was a teenager when his world was turned upside-down. On November 9, 1938, during the terrifying violence of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, Eddie was beaten by SS thugs, arrested, and sent to a concentration camp with thousands of other Jews across Germany. Every day of the next seven years of his life, Eddie faced unimaginable horrors in Buchenwald, Auschwitz, and finally on a forced death march during the Third Reich’s final days. The Nazis took everything from Eddie—his family, his friends, and his country. But they did not break his spirit.

Against unbelievable odds, Eddie found the will to survive. Overwhelming grateful, he made a promise: he would smile every day in thanks for the precious gift he was given and to honor the six million Jews murdered by Hitler. Today, at 100 years of age, despite all he suffered, Eddie calls himself the “happiest man on earth.” In his remarkable memoir, this born storyteller shares his wisdom and reflects on how he has led his best possible life, talking warmly and openly about the power of gratitude, tolerance, and kindness. Life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful. With The Happiest Man on Earth, Eddie shows us how.

Filled with his insights on friendship, family, health, ethics, love, and hatred, and the simple beliefs that have shaped him, The Happiest Man on Earth offers timeless lessons for readers of all ages, especially for young people today.