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First things first dear readers: in case you missed our big announcement, Heart.Wants.Books is hosting a virtual book club on Friday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m. CST. Click here to read the full details about why we picked Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (and a bonus pick for re-readers) and here to register. Now, for your regularly scheduled book post.

Readerly confessions is back, with a vengeance this time – I opened The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams and was immediately mad.  IT’S SET IN THE 1940s. I have read some amazing WWII fiction, truly (there has even been one in favorites for the past three years).  And I’m over it. There are a number of titles I may come back to some years from now, and are on my TBR list but for now. DO NOT WANT.

I kept going with this because Ashley and I decided to read it together and my local librarian raved about it (get to know your librarians folks, they’re wonderful people and I miss mine desperately!).  And do you know what? It was everything I didn’t know I wanted to read (except for the ending – we’ll come back to that – and also remember back in February’s Reading Life Review, when I mentioned chatting with my librarian about this book? It was about the ending mostly.)

The Golden Hour starts with three different timelines.  Lulu in 1943, Lulu in 1941 (building to 1943, eventually), and Elfriede 1900.  We know they’re interconnected, but have no idea how as the story begins. It’s a gentle mystery that unfolds so naturally, telling a gorgeous tale of love, marriage, and family drama set (mostly) in early 1900s Switzerland and Germany and 1941 Nassau.  

It’s tough but not in the ways I thought it would be.  We quickly learn that Elfriede has been sent away to a (this is my take, not what the text says) wellness facility for psychiatric help for her severe postpartum depression.  So much about what she’s going through and the circumstances that feed into it (other than the pregnancy piece) are just hard to read, but feel real about life in the early 1900s for women, especially those with status in society. The WWII pieces were so different from what I’ve read before that I really didn’t mind them.  They were brief and directly connected to the story line that wasn’t about the war or even people experiencing it, not explicitly at least. This doesn’t read like a war novel, it reads like a family saga as told through different love stories, that just happens to overlap with a war.  Even the Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s love story was interesting to read, especially as experienced by the “Lady of Nassau.” As a fan of The Crown, it was really special to see another side of the tale of the abdication.  

If you’ve been around here very long, you know I have a thing with endings.  They’re usually not enough. In general, I would love to have a novella length epilogue because I adore a big, delightful bow at the end of a book.  This has an epilogue. It’s good for what’s there because it wraps up one piece of the story, but it wasn’t enough. The ending feels rushed, and the epilogue doesn’t address several of those pieces.  I want a lot more with one of the main characters and two of the supporting cast. I wanted a conclusion to one of the story lines where it just felt like the scene faded to black midscript. I didn’t disagree with how the story ended, but I wanted a lot more information about it.  That wasn’t even the gem of this title though, it was absolutely the writing! Elfriede and Lulu’s sections were written so differently there was no question for me which I was reading. They were both just gorgeous, yet so different too! Let me share a couple of my favorite, non-spoilery examples:

“Except that the sun doesn’t really come out at that moment. Memory, it turns out, is unreliable. All on its own, your memory gathers up helpful details that match your recollection of an event, whether or not those details actually existed at the time. But does it matter? For Elfriede, the sun comes out when the Englishman arrives. That’s how she remembers it. Sunshine, and the smell of roses.”

Elfriede in The Golden Hours by Beatriz Williams

“As for me, I was a pedigree twenty-five-year-old feline, blessed with a sleek, dark pelt and composure in spades, polished to a sheen by decent schooling and a little over a year of college, followed by a swift, brutal tutorial in the outside world to harden the skin beneath.”

Lulu in The Golden Hours by Beatriz Williams

I’ll give this a solid 3.5 stars.  I might read this again, to experience the mystery of the story knowing how it ends, and to spend time with these amazing women, but I might not because of the ending and all the content that isn’t there.  I will definitely be reading more from Beatriz Williams because though the story was fantastic, the writing, the writing was phenomenal!  

~Nikki

Beatriz Williams is the author of twelve novels besides The Golden Hour, including this summer’s upcoming release Her Last Flight, and three collaborative novels with authors Karen White and Lauren Willig. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and four children, and her books have won awards, placed on bestseller lists worldwide, and been translated into multiple languages. I think this quote from Entertainment Weekly summarizes her style the best:

Williams’ particular gift as a writer is peeling back the pages of history to breathe life into the interior lives of women — how they lived, loved, and lost within the expectations and limitations of their time.

Entertainment Weekly – accessed from the author’s website

I went into reading this book thinking “ooh yay, espionage  and mystery in 1941 Bahamas with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor!” And then I realized that there would be other locales and WWII backdrops and I also became disappointed. When Elfriede showed up, things got considerably better, and I really started liking where I could see the story heading – it did not disappoint in that way. It took me a little while to get over the disappoint of WWII being so integral to the story, because that is not what the copy on GoodReads implies happens. It also doesn’t have any mention of Elfriede and her role in the story. I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy the book as I got into it. Lulu was fun and sassy, I wish I could be a socialite journalist just to wear all her fun clothes. Elfriede, however, was my favorite up until the end. (I will not say anymore so as to avoid spoilers.) 

Of note, the surprising feminist attitudes of several male characters before feminism and equality of the sexes was in the zeitgeist hooked me. I kept reading to see what those attitudes would bring to their relationships with their women. I particularly enjoyed this quote from around the 20% mark:

I just think it’s a rum deal all around, don’t you? Particularly for the women. Most wives—not all, by any means, but most—most wives strike me as chattel. They’ve got this dull, mute, complacent expression that says they’ve forgotten how to think for themselves. They simply go about their appointed daily tasks, keeping busy, and—oh, I don’t know, maybe they’re happy. But it’s the dumb happiness of surrender. I’d rather be miserable than happy like that.

Wilfreid in The Golden Hours by Beatriz Williams

I will also give this book 3.5 stars for excellent writing and a compelling story that hooked me even though it’s not remotely what I expected. I expected the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to be more centrally involved in the story, rather than a mentionable catalyst for the actions of our protagonists. Meeting expectations is a big deal around here, and not meeting expectations creates additions to the DNF list. Williams’ writing style is what kept me around reading until the fast-paced slide to the end.

~Ashley