Ever since she was a child, Rebecca has been enchanted by her grandmother Gemma's stories about Briar Rose. But a promise Rebecca makes to her dying grandmother will lead her on a remarkable journey to uncover the truth of Gemma's astonishing claim: I am Briar Rose. A journey that will lead her to unspeakable brutality and horror. But also to redemption and hope.
From Goodreads
What grandmother doesn't tell fairy tales to her grandchildren? Gemma is a natural storyteller, but she only ever tells the same story, the exact same way every time. Briar Rose, or as most people know her Sleeping Beauty, is a familiar tale about love, loss, and rallying your strength after the loss. For Rebecca's whole life she's heard Gemma tell the tale. She's heard it so much that she even knows it by heart, including the part where Gemma swears she is the girl in the tale. Rebecca makes the promise to discover the truth behind the story to her dying grandmother. The adventure that ensues is one that no one could have foreseen.
Told in alternating chapters of present day situations and Gemma's version of the fairy tale, Briar Rose is sorrowful, but important book about survivors. Being the descendants of Polish Jews, you can't expect that everyone made it out of the Holocaust alive, but the truth is even more shocking than that. Since we don't know the grandmother's version of the fairy tale from the beginning, we learn it as we move through the story so that we can piece the whole puzzle together.
Expertly researching and written, this book is a testament to Holocaust fiction. It was a unique twist on an otherwise dark story. That's not to say there aren't some dark portions to the tale, but it was considerably less than I was expecting with something of this nature. What really drew me in was the hidden truth. There are so many clues and so many directions they point in that even the characters are overwhelmed, but they are fairly easily navigated & accounted for until the complete truth is clear.
As for the fantasy element, this was no where near a normal fantasy. It falls under the fairy tale retelling section, but just barely. The whole premise is based around the Briar Rose story and while true life does mirror the fairy tale, it takes until the end of the story for us to really see that. Normally in retellings you get the sense of deja vu or something that automatically reminds you of the original tale. That being said, it still counts and is a special version of a retelling. You can't go into it thinking you're going to get a regular story, but what you get is so much more.
Be sure to come back next Friday when I review Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore and host a giveaway!
July 20, 1969. Eight years after President John F. Kennedy promised America that the newly formed NASA would land a man on the moon, the crew of Apollo 11 touched down on the Sea of Tranquillity in triumph. Moon Shot is the never-before-told story of the courage, dedication and teamwork that made the journey possible - an intense human drama of the sacrifices and risks asked of a small but remarkable group of astronauts who put their lives on the line as they led the way to the lunar landscape 25 years ago.
Alan Shephard and Deke Slayton were perfectly placed to tell this inside story. Members of the original Mercury Seven team, they were part of America's pioneering space programme from the beginning, participating as astronauts and as key members of the astronaut office. Set against the backdrop of a race between two superpowers competing to establish dominance as the world's technological and scientific leader, Moon Shot takes us back to days of discovery and achievement, revealing the men behind the heroes, and the success, bitter disappointments and even tragedy that shaped the world of those who risked everything to tackle the unknown.
From Goodreads
I know I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but I was surprised at how easy a read this book turned out to be! Some of you know that I have a degree in French, but did you also know that my other major was in International Studies? It's true! While I mostly studied history rather than politics, I did have to take a few poli sci courses & believe it or not we actually discussed the Apollo missions' importance in relation to our nation's place in the world.
This book gives an in-depth, personal account of the Apollo missions' history & process from the inside out. These men risked everything (especially their lives) to make history & I think that is what says so much about us as a people. These men were willing to do what no one had ever successfully done in order to further our knowledge of our own world, while facing the ultimate reality that they might not ever make it back.
What made the book so accessible for the layman (and particularly for those of us who weren't alive when this all went down originally) are the re-created conversations between the astronauts. While I highly doubt they said these exact things, they lend the reader a sense of belonging because you can more fully understand what is being discussed. We get to see inside a rarely discussed world that had such a serious impact on daily life in the 1960's.
I hope some of you will spare this book a few minutes. I don't mean you need to read the whole thing, but just a few pages or chapters should be enough to convince you of the importance of this time & these events in our nation's history.
