BEA'S BOOK NOOK "I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once." C. S. Lewis “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” ― Oscar Wilde

Friday, February 15, 2013

Spotlight on The Ambassador's Daughter by Pam Jenoff



International Best Selling author and Quill Award nominee Pam Jenoff is back with the long-awaited follow-up to "The Kommandant's Girl" and "The Diplomats Wife"

Pam is the author of several novels, including "The Kommandant's Girl", which received widespread acclaim, earned her a nomination for a Quill Award and became an international bestseller. She previously served as a Foreign Service officer for the U.S. State Department in Europe, as the Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon and as a practicing attorney. She received her Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania, her master’s degree in history from Cambridge University and her bachelor’s degree in international affairs from The George Washington University. Pam lives with her husband and three children near Philadelphia where, in addition to writing, she teaches law school.
 
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Book Blurb ~
Paris, 1919. The world's leaders have gathered to rebuild from the ashes of the Great War. But for one woman, the City of Light harbors dark secrets and dangerous liaisons, for which many could pay dearly.

Brought to the peace conference by her father, a German diplomat, Margot Rosenthal initially resents being trapped in the congested French capital, where she is still looked upon as the enemy. But as she contemplates returning to Berlin and a life with Stefan, the wounded fiancé she hardly knows anymore, she decides that being in Paris is not so bad after all.

Bored and torn between duty and the desire to be free, Margot strikes up unlikely alliances: with Krysia, an accomplished musician with radical acquaintances and a secret to protect; and with Georg, the handsome, damaged naval officer who gives Margot a job—and also a reason to question everything she thought she knew about where her true loyalties should lie.

Against the backdrop of one of the most significant events of the century, a delicate web of lies obscures the line between the casualties of war and of the heart, making trust a luxury that no one can afford.
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Genre: General Fiction
Formats: paperback, ebook
Release Date: January 29, 2013
Buying Links: Amazon   Barnes & Noble   Book Depository
  
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How do you create a love story during times in history when love and lust were not discussed outside of marriage? Author Pam Jenoff has this to say ~ 

One thing that fascinates me as a writer of historical fiction is the commonalities in people, the way that women in differing time periods had the same feelings and doubts and desires as we do today.  So the love story feels much the same to me.  However, it is certainly true that the conversations were different.  I’m not sure they were often discussed inside marriage, much less outside.  But operating within those societal constraints creates a level of tension that can actually, if managed properly, be very useful in storytelling.

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Mini Excerpt

“A moment later, I turn onto a side street and pull the bike up against the wall, which is covered in faded posters exhorting passersby to buy war bonds. A bell tinkles as I enter the bookshop. “Bonjour.” The owner, Monsieur Bartteau, accustomed to my frequent visits, nods but does not look up from the till. I squeeze down one of the narrow aisles and scan the packed shelves hungrily. When we first arrived in Paris weeks earlier, it was books that I missed the most: the dusty stacks of the college library at Magdalen, the bounty of the stalls at the Portobello Road market. Then one day I happened upon this shop.”

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 "The Ambassador's Daughter" is out now. If you like romances and fiction set during war times, and enjoy reading about other times and places, this is the book for you.

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