The Ravine

 The Ravine is the true story of a photograph showing the murder of a Jewish family by Nazis collaborators during World War II. The author, Wendy Lower, discovers as much as she can about the photo and the people in it. The image is shown in the book and described in detail. There is a massive trigger warning for murder, anti-Semitism, war time atrocities, and everything else associated with the Nazis. It's not for the faint of heart and I would recommend you take your time with it if you want to read it.

This book is hard to review, if I'm being honest. It's not something I can recommend for everyone, not even if you enjoy history or learning about what happened during WWII. It's a tough read, as it should be, but it is fascinating to see how this one image can mean so much. Wendy Lower goes into detail about how studying the Holocaust isn't just about a historian learning something new, but almost like forensic detective work.

There is plenty of history of the Holocaust; from how it started to how it got really going. There is also an interesting history of the city where the murders in the photo took place, Miropol in the Ukraine. It covers the Jewish history as well as the non-Jewish history of the city. There is also a biography of the man who took the photo, how it managed to save it, and what happened to him afterwards. 

Wendy Lower also has a timeline of what happened the day before and the day of the mass murder. She interviewed people who are still alive from that time and even has a video of a survivor of the day. Because the government in the Ukraine doesn't want to acknowledge anything that regular people did during the war, the names of those interviewed were protected. 

The only sad thing is that Wendy Lower was unable to definitively say who the people in the photograph were, but she has a good idea of who they might have been.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

 

Mad & Bad: Real Heroines of the Regency

Mad & Bad: Real Heroines of the Regency is a set mini biographies during the Regency Era (1810-20) of women. There is also a short explanation of what each chapter is about, before diving into the biographies. Some of the women I knew of or heard of, others I didn't. It was quite interesting to read about them and the effect that each of them had had on those ten years.

The book is broken up into eight chapters that include the women who ran the social circle of the era, the royals, the famous mistress (who were more than that), artistic women, scientific women, queer women, black women, and Jewish women. At the end of each chapter there is a recommended reading/viewing after each section, which is nice. There are also pictures, which my copy of the arc is missing some.

Most of the women that I heard of were of course the famous mistress and the royal women. I had also heard of Mary Seacole, Anne Lister, and Mary Anning. I loved learning about women like Anne Mee, Jane Marcet, Anne Damer, and Judith Montefiore, who all had something to contribute even as the patriarchy tried to shut them. I also learned that there was another Mary Berry who was a writer of the time. 

I enjoyed the book, since most of what I know about the Regency is from movies or books. These biographies brought the era to life in a new way and showed that women have always had an impact on society.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Rebel Spy

Rebel Spy by Veronica Rossi is a fictional tale of a real female spy, 355, during the Revolutionary War. 355 was never named, so everything about her is unknown. No one even knows what exactly she spied upon or what information she gave.

Since this is a war novel, in a way, there are hints of the ongoing war, especially when the Loyalists talk about their exploits. Nothing is ever shown full force however. The one thing that is shown, is the press ganging of sailors by the English Navy. It's pretty violent and brutal, but toned down from how I'm sure the actual press ganging was. There is murder and death as one would assume in a war. One other thing that is pretty awful is the prison of war ship, it's as nasty as it sounds. There are also some stories of past rapes done by the Red Coats on American women. There is also a near assault by the main characters step-father in the opening chapters.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I liked the historical parts, but also the fictional parts. They were weaved together very well. There are some YA tropes; falling in love fast, two men loving the same woman and hating each other, but they don't stand out as obnoxious or overbearing. The cast of characters is well written and add a lot of heart to the story. A few of the characters are based on real life people, mainly the male characters. The main characters friends are funny and charming. They also care for each other deeply, which is always nice to see.

I think that anyone who enjoys the mystery of who spies are behind the scenes, especially in a war as old and important to America as this one, will enjoy the novel. It has action, romance, and enough factual evidence to make it almost real.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Not a Gentleman's Work

 Not a Gentleman's Work by Gerard Koeppel is a non-fiction, true crime book about the mysterious murders of Captain Charles Nash, his wife, Laura, and the second mate, Blomberg. Only three of the other men on the boat could have done it, but no one was sure who. Thomas Bram, the first mate, was convicted twice, but eventually released on parole and pardoned. Because of this, the case is now unsolved.

I don't know who did it, but it seems that many things were inaccurate and overlooked just because a rich, white man was there. Koeppel doesn't outright say who did it, but he gives good evidence about how and why Lester Monks, the passenger on the ship, and one of the men who could have committed the murder, was overlooked. He was from a wealthy, white, Bostonian family. Bram, who white passing and said he was white, had an African background, which everyone knew, so seems to be easily blamed for murders. Monks was able to speak for everyone else because he was white and spoke English. The other crewmen didn't speak English very well and the steward was black, so his testimony wasn't as highly valued.

I really enjoyed this book. I love true crime and I had never heard of these murders before. I am very interested in this case now, but besides this book there is hardly any information out there. Google brings up very few results and many of the bibliography references are in Boston. As it is a true crime book, there are graphic details of the three murders and even mentions of vomit. I would recommend this book if you like true crime and also like lesser known unsolved mysteries.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Forgotten Women: The Leaders

 Forgotten Women: The Leaders is part of a four book series called "Forgotten Women". The other three are about writers, artists, and scientists. All four books are written by Zing Tsjeng. The book is broken up into five categories; The Rebels, The Warriors, The Rulers, The Activists, and The Reformers. Under each section, are mini-biographies of many different women from many different time periods and cultures.

I thought this was a great book. It gave a lot of information on women I knew of like, Grace O'Malley, Ida B. Wells, or Hatshepsut, and even women I had never heard of like, Doria Shafik, Anacaona, or Lillian Ngoyi. I really enjoyed learning about all the women and everything they did. It makes me want to learn even more, since these biographies aren't able to go into great detail. That might be hard since some women are from ancient times with not many (if any) historical records. However, the women with more information should be easy to look up.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about some of the people that history has overlooked and undervalued. I am looking forward to being able to pick up the other books someday and see what other women I can learn about.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.