Book Review - The Lost Children by Shirley Dickson

 

 

The Lost Children by Shirley Dickson follows eight-year-old twins Molly and Jacob as they struggle to survive after being sent away from home. In 1943, the siblings endured night after night of bombs and screeching planes overhead. They live in constant fear, never knowing if they will survive long enough to see the next day. Their mother, Martha, is desperate to keep them safe and decides she has no choice but to evacuate them to the countryside, where many families are sending their children to escape the bombings.

At the train station, Martha is heartbroken at the thought of saying goodbye, but she knows this is the only way to protect them. Fearing she may never see her children again, she gives Jacob a letter and tells him to keep it safe. Under strict instructions, he is to read it only if they are in danger and have no other options.

Molly and Jacob try to adjust to their new lives with strangers in the countryside. They dream of returning home to their beloved mother. However, they soon receive devastating news: Martha has been killed in an explosion, leaving them orphans.

The war has taken everything from Molly and Jacob except each other. They fear that no one will want them and that they will spend the rest of their childhood in an orphanage. When Jacob finally opens the letter, they must face whether its message will change their lives for the better or worse.

I thought this was a heartbreaking read, though it had a few moments of joy. I felt deeply for the twins and liked seeing how they navigated life at such a young age. The book was well written and compelling. The only part that confused me was the storyline about the twins’ parentage. It felt like the narrative led readers to believe one thing, but then a character suddenly made an offhand comment about their father that contradicted it. I’m still unsure who the father actually is or why the author chose to present it that way. I also found the pacing uneven—the middle moved slowly, while the ending felt rushed. Overall, though, I would be open to reading more books by this author.

Book Review - The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

 

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley follows a woman named Jess who goes to visit her half-brother, Ben, but immediately senses something is wrong when he isn’t there to meet her. Jess needs a fresh start after leaving her job under murky circumstances and running out of money. She asks Ben if she can stay with him until she gets back on her feet. He doesn’t seem thrilled about the idea, but he also doesn’t refuse.

When Jess arrives, she’s surprised by how upscale Ben’s apartment is—and even more unsettled when she realizes he’s nowhere to be found. At first, she assumes he simply forgot she was coming, but as the hours stretch into days, her concern deepens. She begins investigating his disappearance and quickly crosses paths with Ben’s eclectic neighbors, all of whom Jess suspects are hiding something.

I was very excited to read this novel because I had heard so many good things about it. In the end, I thought it was an okay mystery/thriller, but it felt somewhat predictable. I was able to guess several of the twists early on. I also didn’t like any of the characters; they all felt selfish and irritating, which kept me from fully enjoying the book. Still, the pacing was quick and the story had enough entertainment value that I finished it. I’d be open to reading more books by the author.

Book Review - The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice by Simon Parkin

 

The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice by Simon Parkin is about a group of botanists who tried to protect the world’s first seed bank while their city was under siege during World War II. In the summer of 1941, German troops surrounded the city of Leningrad with a plan to besiege it, but first, they aimed to starve its citizens to make the takeover easier. This began the longest blockade in recorded history. 

According to records and historians, the siege claimed around three-quarters of a million lives, and this was just a conservative estimate. In Leningrad at the time, it housed the largest collection of seeds and plants, stored in a converted building in the city center. The seeds were hand-collected under the leadership of the world-famous explorer Nikolai Vavilov. His and his staff’s efforts created the greatest living library of plants ever assembled, with materials collected from all over the world, including rare seeds. Their attempts to evacuate the collection before the siege failed, leaving the seeds and plant material trapped in a city where supplies were limited, and the population was starving. The botanists faced a terrible dilemma: do they use the seeds to feed the starving city or preserve them so scientists can breed crops to prevent future famine and address world hunger? 

The book is emotionally challenging to read.I did feel the book was longer than it needed to be, and some parts were repetitive.  The author did a great job researching and writing it. However, it was hard to read about the harsh and horrible conditions inflicted by the occupiers and even by their own government, which failed to protect them and their country. I liked that the book sheds light on a subject I was unfamiliar with. I learned a lot about plants and the people of Leningrad. 

I do not envy the difficult decisions those botanists and scientists had to make. I am saddened that their sacrifices are mostly forgotten or discredited to make them look bad. I questioned myself multiple times while reading if I could make the same selfless choices they did, and I know I probably could not. Sometimes, given how they were treated by their government, I was surprised they managed to hold onto their ideals and continued to think about the future of mankind. It is an interesting read, but full of death and sadness. However, if you are a history buff with an interest in World War II, I think this would be a good read for you.

Book Review - The Real Michael Swann by Bryan Reardon

 

The Real Michael Swann by Bryan Reardon follows Julia Swann, a woman who discovers that her husband, Michael, may be involved in a terrorist plot. One summer day, Julia is on the phone with Michael when the call suddenly drops. She isn’t worried at first, assuming it’s just a bad connection. However, news soon breaks that a bomb has gone off in Penn Station—where Michael was waiting for a train home—and the entire city has erupted into chaos.

Panicked and desperate, Julia decides to go into the city to look for him. She creates flyers with Michael’s photo and posts them everywhere, hoping someone has seen him. When she finally receives a call from someone claiming to have spotted her husband, she’s relieved—but also uneasy, especially since Michael still isn’t answering his phone. Julia becomes increasingly frantic, worrying about what might have happened to him and why he hasn’t reached out.

At first, I really liked how the novel began, but by the midpoint, I hated it. The extremely short chapters felt like an attempt to create urgency and suspense, but instead the story dragged. There were pages and pages where nothing meaningful happened.

The book alternates between the present and Julia’s memories of meeting and falling in love with Michael. I think the author intended these scenes to humanize the characters, but as the story went on, I found myself disliking both of them. Julia was incredibly frustrating; she rarely seemed to think through the consequences of her actions and often leapt before looking. Some plot elements also felt far-fetched and unbelievable. While the ending was somewhat redeeming, it wasn’t enough to make the rest of the book feel worth it. Overall, I found it disappointing and tiresome.

Book Review - Dry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

 

Dry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman follows a teenage girl, Alyssa, and her family as they struggle through an extreme drought in California. Recently, the state has been hit with unseasonably warm weather, and it hasn’t rained in a long time. The drought has lasted so long that people have started calling it the “Tap-Out.” Everyone is trying to adjust to their new normal of not using water excessively while hoping water levels eventually return to normal.

Then one day, the taps run dry. Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street becomes a war zone as neighbors and families turn against one another in the hunt for water. Alyssa’s parents leave to refill their water jugs, but they never return. Worried for herself and her younger brother, Garrett, Alyssa decides to take matters into her own hands. She’s forced to go up against people she once considered friends and must make hard decisions if she hopes to survive.

I found the novel to be an interesting read. I thought it was well-written, though at times I got frustrated with how irritating Alyssa could be. She often made selfish and reckless decisions that affected everyone around her. The novel tackles important themes—water conservation, climate change, political corruption, and the dangers of privatizing natural resources. It was gripping reading about Alyssa’s harrowing search for water. However, one thing that stayed in the back of my mind was why characters never considered ordering water from other regions. The drought didn’t seem to affect the entire world, and some places were even experiencing excessive flooding. Overall, the story carries important messages, and I would be open to reading more books by this author.