Every Tuesday fellow blogger Bibliophile By the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where bloggers share the first paragraph of the book they are currently reading or thinking about reading soon.
I loved Beatriz Williams’ last novel, A Hundred Summers, and have been looking forward to her latest effort. She writes my ideal type of beach reads…hitting that sweet spot between being light and fun and having a bit of depth (but not too much!).
Plot Summary from Amazon
Manhattan, 1964. Vivian Schuyler, newly graduated from Bryn Mawr College, has recently defied the privilege of her storied old Fifth Avenue family to do the unthinkable for a budding Kennedy-era socialite: break into the Madison Avenue world of razor-stylish Metropolitan magazine. But when she receives a bulky overseas parcel in the mail, the unexpected contents draw her inexorably back into her family’s past, and the hushed-overcrime passionnel of an aunt she never knew, whose existence has been wiped from the record of history.
Berlin, 1914. Violet Schuyler Grant endures her marriage to the philandering and decades-older scientist Dr. Walter Grant for one reason: for all his faults, he provides the necessary support to her liminal position as a young American female physicist in prewar Germany. The arrival of Dr. Grant’s magnetic former student at the beginning of Europe’s fateful summer interrupts this delicate détente. Lionel Richardson, a captain in the British Army, challenges Violet to escape her husband’s perverse hold, and as the world edges into war and Lionel’s shocking true motives become evident, Violet is tempted to take the ultimate step to set herself free and seek a life of her own conviction with a man whose cause is as audacious as her own.
As the iridescent and fractured Vivian digs deeper into her aunt’s past and the mystery of her ultimate fate, Violet’s story of determination and desire unfolds, shedding light on the darkness of her years abroad . . . and teaching Vivian to reach forward with grace for the ambitious future––and the love––she wants most.
Here are the first two paragraphs:
In the summer of 1914, a beautiful thirty-eight-year-old American divorcee named Caroline Thompson took her twenty-two-year-old son, Mr. Henry Elliott, on a tour of Europe to celebrate his recent graduation from Princeton University.
The outbreak of the First World War turned the family into refugees, and according to legend, Mrs. Thompson ingeniously negotiated her own fair person in exchange for safe passage across the final border from Germany.
What do you think? Would you keep reading? Stay tuned for my full review…
I saw this one last week and think the cover looks so interesting! I read A Hundred Summers by the same author and thought it was a pretty good summer read, so I’ll probably read this one, too!
I loved A Hundred Summer, too, and would definitely keep reading. Can’t wait for your review!
This is definitely my kind of read. I’m adding it to my Goodreads list.
My Tuesday intro: http://www.bookclublibrarian.com/2014/06/first-chapter-first-paragraph-63.html
Yes, I would keep reading. Seems like I often read about The Forties. While the early years before the first war, I don’t know much about(1914). Enjoy your reading.
I love stories like that, that span over two different periods in history. I would keep reading.
I have been noticing this book…and it does look so tempting. Thanks for sharing.
Here’s mine: “KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE”
I like this kind of story. It gives me that behind-the-scene feeling, as if I know the inside scoop on the famous family. I’d keep reading.
This book is on my must read this summer list!
Mrs. Thompson sounds like an amazing woman! I haven’t been to a beach in a very long time, sadly, but I definitely agree beach reads should be light and fun without being too superficial or deep! I hope you enjoy it 🙂
My Intro
Juli @ Universe in Words
I’d keep reading! Sounds good- enjoy
yes I’d keep reading. It sounds like a very interesting book. kelley—the road goes ever ever on
I am German-born, so anything based in Berlin, even partially, always interests me.
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