Monday, April 27, 2026

Review of Another Soul Saved by John Anthony Miller


Another Soul Saved 
By John Anthony Miller



Vienna, 1941

Monika Graf, the wife of a wealthy Austrian military commander, steals two Jewish girls from the Nazis—a crime often punishable by death. With soldiers in rapid pursuit, a homeless Jew named Janik, a mysterious man who lurks in the shadows, helps her escape.

Unable to have children of her own, she finds a new purpose in life—rescuing Jewish children from the horrendous Nazi regime. She asks the Swiss for help, trading military secrets she gleans from her husband for the lives of Jewish children. With Janik’s continued support, she also enlists Father Christoff, a priest at St. Stephen's Cathedral coping with unexpected emotions and doubting his commitment to God. Monika quickly forms bonds that can’t be broken, feelings exposed she never knew existed. 

Relentlessly pursued by Gestapo Captain Gustav Kramer, Monika combats continuing risk to her clandestine operation. When her husband, a rabid Nazi, returns from the battlefield severely wounded, she gets caught in a cage that she can’t crawl out of.

Wrought with danger, riddled with romance, Another Soul Saved shows humanity at both its best and worst in a classic struggle of good versus evil.

A Five Star Read

I was quickly drawn into Another Soul Saved, a powerful and deeply moving story set against the harsh realities of Nazi-occupied Vienna. From the very beginning, the novel creates a striking contrast between the beauty of the city and the cruelty unfolding within it. The atmosphere feels heavy with tension, where everyday life continues on the surface while fear, oppression and quiet resistance shape everything beneath.

The characters carry the emotional heart of the story. Monika Graf begins as a woman living a comfortable and structured life, but gradually discovers a strength and moral clarity she cannot ignore. Her journey feels natural and deeply human, shaped by what she witnesses and the choices she is forced to make. Alongside her, figures like Janik and Father Christoff add depth and perspective, each navigating their own struggles between survival, belief and doing what is right.

What makes this novel particularly compelling is its focus on quiet acts of courage. Rather than relying on dramatic action, the story builds its impact through small, dangerous decisions that grow into something far greater. There is a constant sense of risk, where even the simplest act of kindness can carry serious consequences.

  • A poignant and atmospheric portrayal of life under Nazi rule
  • Strong, character-driven storytelling rooted in moral choices
  • A powerful exploration of courage, sacrifice and humanity

A deeply affecting and memorable work of historical fiction that lingers long after the final page.



This book is available in the following formats:


John Anthony Miller


John Anthony Miller writes all things historical—thrillers, mysteries, and romance. He sets his novels in exotic locations spanning all eras of space and time, with complex characters forced to face inner conflicts—fighting demons both real and imagined. He’s published twenty novels and ghostwritten several others, including Another Soul Saved. He lives in southern New Jersey.


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Publication Date: April 1, 2026
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 415
Genre: Historical Fiction

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Sunday, April 26, 2026

Review of Lucie Dumas by Katherine Mezzacappa



London, 1871: Lucie Dumas of Lyon has accepted a stipend from her former lover and his wife, on condition that she never returns to France; she will never see her young son again. As the money proves inadequate, Lucie turns to prostitution to live, joining the ranks of countless girls from continental Europe who'd come to London in the hope of work in domestic service.


Escaping a Covent Garden brothel for a Magdalen penitentiary, Lucie finds only another form of incarceration and thus descends to the streets, where she is picked up by the author Samuel Butler, who sets her up in her own establishment and visits her once a week for the next two decades. But for many years she does not even know his name.


Based on true events.


A Five Star Read

This book felt like quietly stepping into someone’s life and staying there for a while.

On the surface, everything seems calm and in order, but there’s a sadness underneath it all. Not in a dramatic way—more like something that’s always there, even in the middle of ordinary daily life.

I really liked the London setting. It isn’t glamorous or overdone—just rooms, routines, familiar streets—but that’s what made it feel so personal. You get the sense there’s a whole city outside of Lucie’s world, while her own life feels small and enclosed, which says a lot without needing to spell it out.

Lucie is very aware of her situation. She understands where she is in life, even if she can’t really change it, and that gives the story a steady, matter-of-fact tone. Monsieur brings a kind of order to her days, but also reminds you how narrow her life has become. Brigid and Alfred feel warmer somehow, more alive, but they only offer passing glimpses of something different.

What stayed with me most is that there’s no big dramatic turning point. Nothing suddenly changes. Instead, things seem to close in little by little. Her past and present start to blend together, and you begin to understand how she ended up here without there ever being one single moment that decided it.

And then there’s her son. That part really lingered with me. You never get clear answers, and the book doesn’t force them, but his absence is always there, quietly shaping everything around it.

* very quiet, almost intimate atmospher

* relationships feel a bit off-balance, in a realistic way

* more about what’s unsaid than what actually happens

My thoughts summed up in one posh sentence

A subtle, reflective historical novel that builds its impact slowly, and stays with you for the way it observes a life rather than explains it.


This book is available on 

Katherine Mezzacappa


Katherine Mezzacappa is Irish but currently lives in Carrara, between the Apuan Alps and the Tyrrhenian Sea. She wrote The Ballad of Mary Kearney (Histria) and The Maiden of Florence (Fairlight) under her own name, as well as four historical novels (2020-2023) with Zaffre, writing as Katie Hutton. She also has three contemporary novels with Romaunce Books, under the pen name Kate Zarrelli. The Maiden of Florence was shortlisted for the Historical Writers’Association Gold Crown award in 2025 and has also been published in Italian.

Katherine’s short fiction has been published in journals worldwide. She has in addition published academically in the field of 19th century ephemeral illustrated fiction, and in management theory. She has been awarded competitive residencies by the Irish Writers Centre, the Danish Centre for Writers and Translators and (to come) the Latvian Writers House.

Katherine also works as a manuscript assessor and as a reader and judge for an international short story and novel competition. She has in the past been a management consultant, translator, museum curator, library assistant, lecturer in History of Art, sewing machinist and geriatric care assistant. In her spare time she volunteers with a second-hand book charity of which she is a founder member.

She is a member of the Society of Authors, the Historical Novel Society, the Irish Writers Centre, the Irish Writers Union, Irish PEN / PEN na hÉireann and the Romantic Novelists Association, and reviews for the Historical Novel Review. She is lead organiser for the Historical Novel Society 2026 Conference in Maynooth, Co. Kildare.

Katherine has a first degree in History of Art from UEA, an M.Litt. in Eng. Lit. from Durham and a Masters in Creative Writing from Canterbury Christ Church.

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Thursday, April 23, 2026

Review of The Enemy’s Wife by Deborah Swift



'A fast-paced, beautifully written, and moving story. Refreshing to read a book set in a different theatre of war. Wartime Shanghai jumped off the page'
CLARE FLYNN


A poignant story of the impossible choices we make in the shadow of war, for fans of Daisy Wood and Marius Gabriel.


1941. When Zofia’s beloved husband Haru is conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army, she is left to navigate Japanese-occupied Shanghai alone.

Far from home and surrounded by a country at war, Zofia finds unexpected comfort in a bond with Hilly, a spirited young refugee escaping Nazi-occupied Austria.


As violence tightens its grip on the city, they seek shelter with Theo, Zofia’s American employer. But with every passing day, the horrors of war and Haru’s absence begin to reshape Zofia’s world – and her heart.


Can she still love someone who has become the enemy?


A Five Star Read

The Enemy’s Wife feels a bit like sitting in a room where the walls are very politely, very quietly closing in. Nothing explodes, no one’s dramatically fainting—it's just that subtle, creeping sense that what used to feel solid now has a wobble to it, and you can’t quite remember when that started.

The Shanghai setting does a lot of heavy lifting without showing off about it. It’s vivid enough to pull you in, but never so loud that it steals the spotlight—more like a constant hum reminding you that change is happening, even when the plot seems to be catching its breath.

Zofia is stuck trying to make sense of a life that clearly didn’t get the memo about staying the same. She’s holding things together as best she can, which increasingly feels like trying to stack cards in a breeze. Hilly, on the other hand, brings a bit of warmth and spark—those small moments where things feel almost okay… which, of course, makes them a little bit heartbreaking. Theo offers some stability, or at least the idea of it, though even that comes with an asterisk. And then there’s Haru—absent, but very much there in the emotional background, like a song you can’t stop hearing even after it’s ended.

*Quietly tense atmosphere shaped by uncertainty

*Relationships that develop through circumstance rather than certainty

*A story built on displacement, shifting identity, and emotional complexity

My thoughts summed up in one posh sentence

A thoughtful, character-driven historical novel that lingers in its quieter moments and stays with you long after the final page.



This book is available on 


Deborah Swift


Deborah used to be a costume designer for the BBC, before becoming a writer. Now she lives in an old English school house in a village full of 17th Century houses, near the glorious Lake District. Deborah has an award-winning historical fiction blog at her website www.deborahswift.com. 

Deborah loves to write about how extraordinary events in history have transformed the lives of ordinary people, and how the events of the past can live on in her books and still resonate today.

Her WW2 novel Past Encounters was a BookViral Award winner, and The Poison Keeper was a winner of the Wishing Shelf Book of the Decade.

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Thursday, April 16, 2026

Review of A Plethora of Phantoms (Spirited Encounters Book 2) y Penny Hampson





Whose footsteps in the dark?

He is heir to the earldom of Batheaston and lives in an elegant, stately home, but handsome twenty-something Freddie Lanyon is not a happy man. Not only is he gay and dreading coming out to his family, but he’s also troubled by ghosts that nobody else can see.

When Freddie’s impulsive purchase of an antique dressing case triggers even more ghostly happenings with potentially catastrophic consequences, he has to take action.

Freddie contacts charismatic psychic Marcus Spender for help and feels an immediate attraction to this handsome antique dealer –– a feeling that is mutual. But the pair’s investigations unearth shocking, long-buried secrets, which prove a major challenge to their task of laying unhappy spirits to rest and to their blossoming relationship.

Being brave isn’t one of Freddie’s standout qualities, but he’ll need all the courage he can muster to rid himself of wayward phantoms and get his life on track.

A Plethora of Phantoms is an uplifting ghostly tale about love, friendship, and acceptance.

A Five Star Read

I don’t even know how to explain this properly, but this book really got to me.

At first it doesn’t seem like much is happening. Freddie goes back to Lanyon Park and everything feels… normal, I guess? But also not. Like you’d be fine staying there, but you wouldn’t sleep well either. It’s that kind of vibe.

Then little things start happening. Stuff being moved, tidied up. Which sounds harmless but honestly made me more uncomfortable than anything dramatic would have. It just feels so intentional.

Freddie kind of tries to brush it off for as long as he can, which felt very real. Like you would do the same instead of jumping straight to “this place is haunted.”

Then Marcus turns up (yes, the very attractive antique dealer) and things shift a bit. He feels way more tuned into whatever’s going on, like he picks up on things Freddie either misses or doesn’t want to see. And from there, everything—both the mystery and their relationship—starts to move.

Their relationship was one of my favourite parts, actually. It doesn’t feel forced or over the top, it just kind of… happens. Quietly, but in a way that still feels important.

Also I cannot stop thinking about the dressing case. It seems like such a small thing at first and then suddenly it’s not.

And honestly, when it all comes together… yeah. That hurt. I won’t spoil anything, but I was crying by the end. I finished it and just kind of sat there for a bit like… okay, wow.

*Romance when least expected
*A ghost who wants to rest in peace

My thoughts summed up in one posh sentence

A restrained, atmospheric ghost story that builds gently and resolves with a sense of quiet finality.


This book is available on 

Penny Hampson


Penny Hampson writes mysteries, and because she has a passion for history, you’ll find her stories also reflect that. A Gentleman’s Promise, a traditional Regency romance, was Penny’s debut novel and the first of her Gentlemen Series. There are now four novels in the series, with the latest, An Adventurer’s Contract, released in November 2024. Penny also enjoys writing contemporary mysteries with a hint of the paranormal, because where do ghosts come from but the past? The Unquiet Spirit, a spooky mystery/romance set in Cornwall, is the first in the Spirited Encounters Series. Look out for A Plethora of Phantoms coming soon.

Penny lives with her family in Oxfordshire, and when she is not writing, she enjoys reading, walking, swimming, and the odd gin and tonic (not all at the same time).

If you’ve enjoyed any of Penny’s books please leave a review on Amazon, Bookbub, or Goodreads, and let other readers know!







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Some Starry Night by Irene Latham

SOMe Starry Night by Irene Latham Publication Date: April 14th, 2026 Publisher: Historium Press Pages: 264 Genre: Historical Fiction Under t...