My Head Is Full of Books: Review: THE HUNTRESS

"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Review: THE HUNTRESS

Title: The Huntress by Kate Quinn

Beginning quote:

Prologue
Autumn 1945
Altausse, Austria
She was not used to being hunted.

Friday56:

Tony shook his head. "I don't know what else your wife is lying about, but if she's from Poland, I'm a Red Sox fan. I know a Russian when I hear one."

Summary: The Huntress is a WWII-era story about three very strong women: Nina, a Russian woman who was a pilot with the Russian Air Force known as the Night Witches; Jordan, a strong-willed Bostonian who is more interested in photography than she is about getting married and living the usual life of an American woman in the 1940s; Anneliese, a soft spoken Austrian who is trying to make a new life for herself after the war. In addition two men, Ian and Tony, enter the story as Nazi Hunters. They follow leads on Nazi's who escaped during the final, frantic days of the war and they try to capture them so they will finally meet with justice. When they get a lead on a woman who is identified as The Huntress, they travel to Boston to see if they can find her. The Huntress is a person of special interest since her crimes against humanity were so egregious-- She shot and killed children after she fed them.

Title: The Huntress was this month's book club selection. There was a bit of anxiety among members because the the book is over 540 pages long. But once women started reading it, the page length anxiety evaporated. To a person everyone spoke about how much they liked the plot and the pages just flew by. Mid-month I talked to one club member who was upset because she didn't have any time that day to read. This has NEVER happened before and our club has been around for almost thirty years. (Yes, you read that right. 30 years.) Our discussion reflected the enthusiasm for the book. In fact, one person, my daughter, attended the meeting for the first time because she was so enthusiastic about it.

Fortunately the book is well organized otherwise it would be very confusing. Each chapter is clearly marked whose story is being told. For example: Nina, Russia, 1942, or Jordan, Boston, 1950. The biggest mystery: Who is the Huntress and where is she hiding?

Kate Quinn writes phenomenal historical fiction. She does a ton of research and it shows in her plots. I highly recommend this book and this author.