Barbara Judy
June 2022 Book Club: The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
The Book Club met at the home of Barbara Judy. The novel is based on the real-life World War I female spy ring called the Alice Network, which operated in German occupied France and Belgium. Three historical figures are used as characters in the novel. The story uses a dual narrative approach, alternating between events […]
Book Club January 2021
We held our third Zoom get together and discussed "The Only Woman in the Room" by Marie Benedict. The historical fiction novel tells the saga of the glamourous Viennese born actress Hedy Lamarr. The book covers many fascinating periods: her teenage marriage to a wealthy munitions manufacturer to the Nazis, her daring escape from him, […]
Book Club January 2020–Sisi Empress on Her Own, by Allison Pataki
Married at 15 to Emperor Franz Joseph, leader of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, Elisabeth, affectionately known as Sisi, was the longest serving Empress of Austria at 44 years until her assassination in 1898. Famous as a great beauty with ankle length hair arranged in elaborate styles and a 19 inch waist. The many tragedies which had […]
COMMONWEALTH, January 2019 selection
Commonwealth is the 7th novel by award winning writer Ann Patchett. One Sunday afternoon in the early 60's in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up uninvited at Franny Keating's christening party. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny's mother Beverly, thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families. […]
January 2018 Book Club: The Wright Brothers
David McCullough is an American author, narrator, historian and lecturer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize twice and is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Wright Brothers is a fascinating and detailed narrative about the two brother's perseverance in achieving and demonstrating manned flight. They had no more than a public high […]
January 2017 Book Group Selection: The Night Book
Eleven members met at the home of Barbara Judy. This is the third novel by well known British broadcaster, Richard Madeley, who began his career in the Lake District during the hottest summer on record in England. This fact lends some authenticity to his writing. An excerpt from the publicity: "The summer of 1976 was […]
January Book Club Meeting
We discussed ‘The Nightingale’ by Kristin Hannah. The novel is the story of two sisters living in German occupied France. Isabelle, the younger one is rebellious and joins the resistance in Paris and eventually leads downed Allied pilots on an escape route over the Pyrennes to Spain. Viann whose soldier husband is sent to a […]
January 2015 Book Group, Ladder of Years
On January 14th, 10 members met at the home of Barbara Judy to discuss Anne Tyler’s Ladder of Years. Several in the group had read some of the author’s other novels. One of her more well known books is The Accidental Tourist. Ms Tyler’s novel Breathless won the pulitzer prize for fiction. Ladder of Years […]