What Makes A Rebel?

I will be the first to admit that I do not know a lot about the history of India.  My experiences with the country, in history and in fiction have been brief.  When I was young, I read a book about Jahanara, the daughter of the Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife, Mumtaz Mahal (They are buried in the Taj Mahal).  When I was reading about Mary Curzon, Vicereine of India in the early 1900's, my research was more focused on what Lady Curzon did for the women and children of India, not as much on the history of the people.  When I read Daughter of Empire, which I wrote about just last week, I was exposed to the passing of power from the British Empire to the India and newly created Pakistani people.  Colonial India has a fascinating, if brutal and bloody, history, and I imagine the history of the country is just as interesting.  I look forward to reading more about it!

I say all of this because of the newest book I've read.  Rebel Queen is a book by an author I've read and written about before--Michelle Moran.  I like Ms. Moran's writing because she manages to create real life heroines that a reader can connect to, despite the differences in culture or time period.  This time, her heroine is Rani Lakshmi of Jhansi, although her narrator is one of the Rani's female bodyguards, Sita.  This is an interesting writing technique that Moran used in Nefertiti, where the heroine and the narrator are not the same character.  It creates an interesting tension in the book, because the narrator does not always agree with the protagonist and vice versa.

Sita is the eldest daughter of a carpenter in a small village.  She lives with her grandmother, who is not a likable character, her father, her younger sister, Anu, and their widowed maid, Avani.  Sita's mother dies in childbirth.  Daughters are not really wanted in Indian culture, it seems, as their dowry can beggar their parents.  Sita's grandmother tries to sell Sita into prostitution at a temple, but Sita's father refuses.  Instead, he and their neighbor train Sita to become a Durgavasi, a companion to the Rani* who are not only trained to keep the queen company but to protect her with their lives if necessary.  There are only ten at one time.  The training makes Sita unmarriageable, so when she faces the trials to become a Durgavasi and succeeds, there's a bit of a collective sigh of relief.  Once in the city, Sita is thrust into a world that she doesn't necessarily understand.  In her village, women are kept in purdah, or isolation.  In Jhansi, purdah is not followed. 

The first months of Sita's time with the Rani are fairly peaceful.  The Rani is pregnant, and the eventual birth of a son is a celebrated event.  However, all is not peaceful in Jhansi.  Some Indians fight with the British East India company.  They are a mix of Hindu and Muslims, but are being given leather hats made from cow leather and the cartridges for their guns are greased with pig and cow fat.  These are offensive to the Hindu's, to whom cows are sacred, and the Muslims, to whom anything pig is sacrilege.  These tensions are building as the Rani's son and then her husband die.  We later learn that they were poisoned with hemlock by another of the Rani's Durgavasi.  The tensions between the Indians and the British eventually cause a rebellion.  The Rani attempts to calm the tensions diplomatically, but is eventually unable to.  Battles ensue, atrocities occur, and many innocent and not so innocent people are killed.

Rani Lakshmi is one of the people who dies (spoiler alert from history) and with her death, all of India comes under British imperial control.  Eighty nine years later, Lord Mountbatten, then Viceroy of India, signs the papers that make India a sovereign country once more. 

I've been eyeing this book for a while because I liked Ms. Moran's Egyptian Royals series so much, but I never really found the motivation to read it.  Then I was in Barnes and Noble the other day, and I found it on sale, so I thought what they hay!  I picked it up, then had some free time before I needed to be at work so I started reading.  I wasn't so sure for the first few chapters that I'd like the book, but once I got into it, I was hooked.  I was fascinated by this period of history that I didn't know about.  I knew that when the British decided to add a country to their Empire, they weren't particularly--polite--about it.  Often times, they were very underhanded and sneaky until you didn't even realize what was going on.  The way that the Rani was aware of what was going on but not really able to do anything about it was great.  It was the epitome of being stuck between a rock and a hard place.  She was also forced into decisions and actions based on the decisions and actions of those around her, Indian and English alike.  It begs the question--what makes a rebel?  Is it a conscious decision, or is it simply a label applied afterwards?  Interestingly, rebel is used when that side loses.  Otherwise, someone is a revolutionary.  There's something to think about!

I definitely recommend this book to anyone.  It's not a girly story, it has far too much action for that, but it isn't all action.  It has the same sort of poetry that I associate with some classics, where the language creates a poetry of it's own.  And you never know--it might spark an interest in history and culture that you didn't have before.  After all, Moran notes that she did not need to embellish the history of Rani Lakshmi and her Durgavasi, but rather separate what actually happened from the legends that have sprung up around them.

*Rani is the Indian word for Queen.  A King is called a Maharaja

A New Fountain Should Be an Easy Proposal

Some of my fondest memories are helping my aunt in her classrooms during the summer.  She taught fourth grade for many years, but has also taught fifth through eighth, I believe, and worked as the library/media specialist in her school.  She's lucky enough to have worked for over twenty years at the same school.  (Is that lucky?  I don't know!)  Needless to say, I got some fabulous books from her.  She would often send me home with a book to read from her shelf with instructions to tell me what I thought of it when I have it back. 

One book she gave me to read when I was eight or nine years old was Regarding the Fountain:  A Tale, in Letters, of Liars and Leaks by Kate Klise and illustrated by M. Sarah Klise.  It was a quick read, but it's funny because there are plays on words on every page.  Every name, if you say it out loud, sounds like something else.  There are names like Dee Eel (Deal), Sally Mander (Salamander), Minne O. (Minnow), and Sam N. (Salmon).  These, combined with the quick exchanges and the fast characterization.  The book is told through a series of letters, memos, postcards, and pictures.  Each character has their own font and personality, which is quickly established.

The principal of Dry Creek Middle School, Walter Russ, writes a letter to Florence Waters, a famous fountain designer, asking her to replace the leaking drinking fountain by Sam N.'s fifth grade classroom.  She agrees, but writes to the fifth graders asking for their ideas.  As they are going to see it the most, their opinions matter to her.  This starts an exchange of letters where a relationship builds between the class and the designer.  She sends them letters and gifts to help their learning, and they send her fountain ideas and information about their history project.  While they are investigating the history of the town, they uncover a secret conspiracy to limit water. 

It was many years between the first time I read this book (which had to be some time around 2000, two years after it was published) and when I bought my own copy, but I never forgot about the book.  It's a great one for a short laugh, and it would be a great book to read with a child around third grade or so.  The reading level is fifth grade, but it is enjoyable at a younger age.  They might not catch all of the plays on words, but that doesn't make it any less fun.  What I was really excited about, though, was that when I looked up Regarding the Fountain, I found four more books in the series--Regarding the Sink, Regarding the Bathrooms, Regarding the Trees, and Regarding the Bees.  Each is just as funny as the last, and in all of them you learn things.  For instance, in Regarding the Bathrooms, there is a lot of Roman history, and specifically information on Roman baths.  It's fascinating, and tied into the story in an easy to read, believable way. 

I'd grab a copy of these, if only to keep around when you need a quick read and a good laugh!

As Close to a Royal Memoir as We May Ever Get

I find the lives of the upper echelons to be absolutely fascinating.  My undergraduate research focused on Queen Elizabeth and the women around her, but I'm also intrigued by what little we know of her personal life.  My graduate research was all about a number of American women who married into the British aristocracy.  One of the most interesting books to me, when I was doing that research, was the memoir by Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan, The Glitter and the Gold--a book that I talk about in this post. Balsan was candid and told what life was really like as a duchess.  One day, I would really like to see a memoir from someone at the center of the Royal family.  Queen Elizabeth II would have a phenomenal one, I'm sure, but even one from the younger generation, from Will or Kate, Harry or even Meghan would be amazing.  These are the people changing what monarchy means in today's world.  As we don't have any of those memoirs yet, let me tell you about the one that I did read:  Daughter of Empire: My Life As A Mountbatten, by Lady Pamela (Mountbatten) Hicks.


Lady Pamela Hicks is the second born child of Lord Mountbatten--a man known as Dickie.  If you watch Netflix's The Crown, the name should sound familiar.  Dickie Mountbatten was uncle to Prince Phillip and a second cousin to Queen Elizabeth.  Lady Pamela was one of Queen Elizabeth's ladies, and even a bridesmaid at her wedding.  There are only so many characters a TV show can handle, after all!  Her memoir seems short, although my copy is 240 pages long.  Something that is important to remember for this book is that Lady Pamela lived through things such as World War II, the Abdication Crisis, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the Suez Canal crisis, her father was held by Queen Victoria at his baptism--These things that seem so long ago happened within living memory for Lady Pamela.

Lady Pamela starts the book as most memoirs start, by talking about her parents.  Dickie Mountbatten was an upstanding Englishman who, after seeing his German father pushed out of the Navy during World War I, was determined to rise to his father's place as First Sea Lord and Admiral of the Fleet.  He was in love with his wife, Edwina, a heiress and orphan who had abandonment issues.  While Dickie Mountbatten was often away, Edwina Mountbatten would surround herself with friends and lovers--and Dickie, so desperate to see his wife happy had no jealousy.  Lady Mountbatten used her husband's job in the Navy to be able to travel the world.  This allowed Pamela and her older sister, Patricia, to see the world as well.  It continues through her childhood and into World War II, during which the Mountbatten girls were sent to New York to live with Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, a friend of their parents.  After World War II, Lord Mountbatten was sent to India as Viceroy to partition the country and prepare to hand over government to the Indians.  This was an interesting section, because Lady Pamela talks about meeting people that are inspirational, influential, and seem to be above being as "normal" as they seem in the memoir--notably Pandit Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi.  The picture below is of Lady Pamela with Nehru.  After the Mountbattens returned to England, Lady Pamela went into her cousin Elizabeth's service.  During this section of the book she talks about missing the bustle of India, her life in Malta, and, finally, the death of the King while Princess Elizabeth was in Kenya.  I think the saddest part of this section is that, before she learned of her father's death, Princess Elizabeth was writing him a letter to tell him how much he would enjoy the area. 

I originally wasn't fond of the title that Lady Pamela used for her memoir.  Daughter of Empire.  She was from a cadet branch of the English royal family, and from the Greek one.  But the more I read, the more the title grew on me.  Lady Pamela grew up in many different parts of the Empire; she was a global child.  She also lived her early life in service to Princess, then Queen Elizabeth II.  She served the empire.  In the end, I rather liked the title.  I also found it interesting that Lady Pamela stopped her narrative in 1955--but by that point, she had already shared stories of her life on four continents.  She'd stepped foot in a good portion of the British Empire at that point.  In the epilogue, Lady Pamela briefly talks of her romance and marriage with her husband, but the final image made me tear up.  During her honeymoon, Lady Pamela's mother, the inestimable Lady Louis Mountbatten, passed away.  As she had asked, she was buried at sea.  Lord Mountbatten was crying, the only time that Lady Pamela could remember that detail of her father.  As per Pandit Nehru's instructions, marigold petals were scattered across the sea, showing the respect of Nehru and India. 

Memoirs are always an interesting read.  In a non-fiction book such as you'd read for school, facts are laid out in a very factual way.  Memoirs, however, have a lot more emotion in them.  When they are written about a period that was several years before, there is always, to me, a hazy feeling.  We don't often remember the bad about our own childhood, but it's also hard to remember the good.  Everything has the kind of magical feeling.  Lady Pamela's memoir was so different because she talks about people that we "know" today, like Elizabeth II or Prince Phillip.  Memoirs are also hard, because facts can be skewed.  Memory doesn't always match up with fact, but it provides context and emotion. 

Hopelessly Devoted to You

Today I'm taking you back to Keeneston.  I did warn you right?  Ms Brooks' newest book, Forever Devoted, released less than twelve hours ago, and it was amazing.  It ties together so many threads, introduces us to some new characters, and finally fills in a few secrets--or at least gives us a hint or two!

Layne Davies is the only child of the eldest Davies brother, Miles, and his wife Morgan.  She is a physical therapist and works closely with veterans.  She's looking forward to a break from her family when she heads off to a conference in Charleston, South Carolina.  What she isn't expecting is for an incredibly hot new patient to fall into her lap.

Walker Green is a member of what civilians know as SEAL Team Six--the badasses of the SEALs.  While on a mission in the Atlantic, he is betrayed by his commanding officer and watches his team die.  In a desperate act to save himself, he jumps into the ocean where he manages to survive for seven days with an infected injury.  He's rescued by a Greek ship, and the doctor on board helps him as much as he can.  When the ship comes in to dock in South Carolina, Walker slips overboard and home to Shadow's Landing and his friend Gavin Faulkner's house.

Gavin, like everyone else, believes that Walker is dead, but when his best friend shows up and tells his story, he jumps into action.  He calls in the cousins (much like the Davies clan, more on that in a minute), and together they come to the agreement that Walker needs somewhere to hide.  Gavin, a doctor, thinks of Layne Davies.  Layne is his estranged cousin--Marcy Davies is his great-aunt.  Now, the Davies and Faulkner clans have been estranged since the late sixties.  Marcy, in love with Jake Davies, chose to stay in Kentucky when her parents moved to South Carolina to support her brothers and their military careers.  Mother Faulkner (love the play on words) expected Marcy to take care of her and her husband in their old age, and spread her poison, making the Faulkners believe that Marcy spurned the whole side of the family.  It all works out in the end and there is warm fuzzies all around.  The introduction of the Faulkners, who we haven't seen since Bluegrass Dawn, opens up an entire new series, the first book of which comes this year!  Anyway.  Placing Walker with Layne seems like the perfect idea--Layne can hide him and help him recover from his wounds, and no one will suspect because of the Davies/Faulkner estrangement.

It's not that simple.

There is instant attraction between Walker and Layne, but the Frogman (Walker) will also have to survive Miles.  And his brothers.  And the Davies cousins and cousins-in-law.  Who is going to be the biggest badass?  (Hint.  It's not anyone male.)  But Walker's former commander is hunting the only many who has proof of his betrayal.  He is not above doing what ever he deems necessary to kill Walker, and that includes kidnapping and threatening to kill Walker's sister and Layne herself.  Little does he know that Layne herself is deadly--Her father taught her how to kill someone with her pinky when she was twelve.  Not going to lie, this book is also winning for my favorite marriage proposal.

As for the secrets--we learn more about Father Ben.  We get a small hint as to his past, something the young priest keeps hidden under his collar.  We also find out who Reagan is dating!  Many of us had the correct suspicion, but it's always nice to get it right.  I created a new theory about the panty dropper too!  There were a couple of things that bummed me out too.  Like always, I wanted the book to be longer.  I read it in about an hour and a half, and I'm rereading again already, but I always want more.  I'm also sad we didn't see more of the Rose Sisters or the town.  We saw a lot of the Davies family, and a little of Keeneston, but Layne and Walker felt really isolated without the interference of Keeneston.  Aniyah definitely was some great comic relief.  I know that realistically, we aren't going to see everyone in every book, but this one didn't even have a Henry Rooney Pick Up Line™. 

All in all, though, it was another great book.  The next book, Forever Hunted will be out in late April/early May, so it's not too long to wait!

The Red Tent

I try very hard not to use the title of a book for the title of the blog post about that book, but in the case of Anita Diamant's The Red Tent, I couldn't think of anything better.  Not because I didn't like the book or I didn't feel creative, but because the red tent of the book is a symbol for many of the things that I absolutely loved about this book.

The Red Tent has been on my radar for a while, and on my bookshelf for maybe a year and a half or so now.  I know that's a ridiculous time to sit on a bookshelf, but I very often have to be in the right mood for a certain kind of book, and I knew that this was going to be one of those books.  In many ways, I'm glad I waited.  Where I am in my life right now, what I'm feeling--this book made me confront a lot of those emotions.  It reminded me that there are good things in life, and there are bad.  That there are things that happen that you can forgive, and things that you can't, and even when you can't forgive, you can learn to accept.  You can see how one situation can change how many people feel about something.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The story of Jacob and his beloved, Rachel, along with her sister Leah, is one that is very familiar to me.  In one of my favorite movies, One Night with the King, Esther tells the king their story.  The story of Joseph is also quite easy to recall, thanks to such productions as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat or the movie King of Dreams.  In all the tellings of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel, in the tellings of Joseph, I didn't know that Jacob had a daughter.

Dinah is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and her story is used as a kind of "fear the strangers" type warning.  She goes to Sekhmet and either marries and sleeps with or is raped by a prince of the city.  Jacob demands the circumcision of the men of the city as payment, and two days after the ceremony, as the men are recovering, they are slaughtered by the sons of Jacob.  After that, she kind of falls out of the narrative.

With The Red Tent, Anita Diamant has created a story between the lines of that story, and expanded it to give Dinah a past, a future, and a legacy beyond one of blood and betrayal.  But the book is more than just Dinah's story.  It's a story of women, of sisters, wives, daughters, friends, and enemies.  It's a story about how women have a different understanding of birth, life, and death.  The soul of this book lies in the relationships between women.

Dinah, as narrator, starts by telling her mother and aunts' stories.  She tells how Jacob came to Laban's home and fell instantly in love with Rachel.  But she also tells how he fell more slowly for Leah.  When Rachel is afraid of her marriage night, Leah takes her place.  This will create resentment between the sisters, but they are able to come together.  She tells of how Leah was incredibly fertile (she had eight living children, seven boys and Dinah) but Rachel could not concieve and carry a baby.  So it also becomes the story of Bilhah, who pledges to carry a child for Rachel and of Zilpah, who bears twins when Leah needs to rest.  Dinah tells of each of her mother-aunts skills and beauty, but of their faults as well.  When Dinah is finally born, the women are estatic to have a daughter to carry their stories.  The stories of the four wives of Jacob are just as important as Dinah's, because the relationships in this world of women shape who Dinah is.  For instance, if Rachel had not been a midwife, it is unlikely that Dinah would have been.

When Dinah tells her own story, it feels short in comparison to her mother-aunts'.  Dinah is in love with Shalem, the Sekhmet prince she marries.  Simon and Levi, her second and third oldest brothers, murder the men of the city without their father's knowledge.  At the death of her beloved, Dinah curses the house of Jacob and leaves them. She travels with her mother in law, Re-Nefer to Thebes, where she bears a son.  Re-Nefer claims Dinah's child as her own, and Dinah is lost for many years.  Eventually, thanks to Meryt, Dinah begins to live again, and to serve as a midwife, something she hadn't done for many years.  She even remarries, although she bears no other children.

But Dinah must face her past, and that happens when her son, in the employ of the powerful Zafenat-Paneh-ah, comes to beg her help on behalf of his master's wife.  Dinah goes to help the woman, and discovers that the powerful vizier is her brother, Joseph.  As milk-siblings, and being only a few months apart in age, they had been very close as children.  Dinah had not known her brother's fate.  At the same time, she cannot forgive a son of Jacob who, to her, stood by as her future had been killed.  Dinah finally gets closure when she travels to her father's home as he is dying.  She does not go to see Jacob, but to see the lives of her brothers, and their children and grandchildren--the fruits of her mothers, long since dead.  When one of her nieces sits down and tells her the story of the many children, she also brings up the story of Dinah.  While her niece does not know Dinah's fate (or that she is, in fact, talking to the subject of her story), she shares that Dinah's name is remembered, as is the travesty that befell her.  This brings Dinah peace.

And that's the end of the story.  Normally, I wouldn't tell you how it ends, to encourage you to read the book for  yourself, but in this case, I felt I had to.  It's the lesson in the end, for me, that makes all the tears I shed reading this book worth it (I'm having an emotional week.  I don't think I'd have cried so much otherwise, don't worry!).  Forgiveness comes in many guises.  Sometimes, it only comes in acceptance of what happened.  In that case, you don't necessarily forgive the person who harmed you, but you forgive yourself for things that only make sense to you.  For holding that grudge.  For not being able to forgive.  I don't know.

I also think this is a great book for any feminist to read because it emphasizes the power of women.  It may seem--thanks to the fact that they so rarely appear with full, fleshed out stories--that women of Biblical times had no power, but they did.  The power they held was just intrinsically different than what the men of the Bible held.  Even today, I think it's important to remember that yes, women and men should be treated equally in all things, but there are some things that men are more capable of, and have an easier understanding of, and some things that women have the easier understanding of.  Equal doesn't always have to mean the same.  Yes, two quarters are equal.  But, a two dimes and a nickle are also equal to a quarter.  They're worth the same, but they are different.

I really hope, man or woman, you read this book.  It's a truly wonderful, humanizing look at some of the popular Biblical characters.  While it is a work of fiction, it makes many people, such as Rachel, Leah, and Jacob, as Issac and Rebecca, as Joseph, to appear more real.  They weren't perfect, but they were real.

The book has also been made into a mini series starring Iain Glen as Jacob and Rebecca Ferguson as
Dinah.

A Tale of More Woe

When any book starts with the line "They say that I died," you know it's going to be a good book.  That's the first line from Juliet by Anne Fortier.  And no, before you start rolling  your eyes, this is not a retelling of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet from Juliet's point of view.  It has similarities and it mentions the play, but this is a very different book.

The story of Romeo and Juliet is much older than William Shakespeare.  There are tales of forbidden love going back centuries, but this particular story traces back to the fourteenth century, and Siena rather than Verona.  Part of Fortier's novel is her depiction of the old tale; the "original."  There are two dueling families, the Tolomeis and the Salimbenis, but Romeo belongs to neither family.  He is a Marescotti and he saves Gulietta Tolomei from Salimbeni cutthroats.  She is, at the time, playing dead and trying to safely make it to her uncle's home after her family is slaughtered by Salimbenis.  Romeo sees her "corpse" and falls in love with her beauty.  She in turn, falls for him but begs revenge against Salimbeni.  Later she comes to her senses and tells Romeo that he doesn't have to kill Salimbeni to claim her.  She loves him as she is.  However, Gulietta's uncle has a different solution for the feud:  He's going to marry Gulietta to Salimbeni.  Needless to say, Gulietta is not okay with this situation.  I don't want to give away the end of the original sotry.

In the modern day, the main character is another Gulietta Tolomei, but she was raised as Julie Jacobs, not knowing who she was, for her own safety.  When her beloved Aunt Rose dies and seemingly leaves everything to Julie's obnoxious twin, Janice (who is really Gianozza Tolomei, just as the original Gulietta had a twin), Julie heads off to Siena to find a treasure that her mother left for her.  There, Gulietta runs into all kinds of crazy.  On the plane she meets Eva Maria Salimbeni who turns into a bit of a fairy godmother for Gulietta.  Once landed in Siena, Eva Maria introduces Gulietta to her godson, Alessandro Santini.  In the search for the treasure that her mother left, Gulietta learns the history of Siena and it's contrada, the history of her family, and the truth of Romeo and Guiletta until, buried under Siena, she comes face to face with the truth of the story.

I will be the first to admit that I have a problem with Shakespeare's play.  Many people talk about the play as an epic love story.  It's the story of two teenagers who couldn't control themselves and caused the deaths of, if I remember correctly, six people in less than a week.  How is that an epic love story at all?  It's insane!  But the way the story is presented by Fortier is not only a bit more believable but a beautiful representation of love, loyalty, betrayal, and truth. 

In a series of reading group questions that I found, I found one question that stuck out to me.  Once she learns of it, modern day Guiletta seems be believe in the curse set by her ancestors.  Was there actually a curse, or did all the parties involved simply believe that they were cursed?  It's not really clear either way, but it speaks of the power of belief.  A technique that I use all the time when I tutor is telling my students to tell themselves that they are going to have a good day, particularly when they come in in a bad mood.  Within ten minutes, they're smiling and happy.  Belief is an incredible thing.

Anyway.  I would really suggest this book whether or not you actually like Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.  While there is a love story in the book, it's much much more of an adventure story than a romance.  There's also a mystery in the hunt for Juliet's Eyes.  Will Gulietta and her Romeo finally get a happy ending?

I've also included a gorgeous picture of Siena because why not?  Go visit!

A Rose by Any Other Name

You've seen me write about Kathleen Brooks before, and I hope you never get tired of it because, quite honestly, you will get a new post every time there's a new release.  (TIP:  There's a new release on January 30th so be on the lookout.  I even have that day off.)  Today I'm going back to what is probably my favorite of all the Bluegrass books from any of the collections.  It's actually one of the Bluegrass Singles, a standalone book that was published after the Bluegrass Brothers series and before the Forever Bluegrass series.

The Keeneston Roses finally tells the story of the town fairy godmothers:  Lily Rae, Daisy Mae and Violet Fae Rose.  When we fall in love with them, they're in their sixties and well established in the town.  But how did they come to be the Roses?  How did three women who love families and love end up as three old maids?

They each had their heart broken.

The book takes us to after the War.  I'm pretty sure the reference is to World War II, because of timing from the other books.  The three perfect Rose triplets are growing up in small-town Keeneston, and each has their own dream.  Their father owns the local pharmacy and their mother is a well respected matron.  Lily falls first, and she falls for the boy next door.  It turns out that the boy next door is not as nice as he seems.  At the climax of Lily's broken heart, the sisters are armed with their typical weapons: a broom, a wooden spoon, and a spatula.  Daisy falls next, for a nice young man who is later involved in the Vietnam War.  He dangles her for years before finally breaking her heart.  Violet follows her dreams to culinary school in France where she falls for her teacher.... Who later turns out to be a real jerk.

What happens after each of the Roses gets their heart broken is what makes this story great.  Although they each give up on love for themselves, they dedicate their lives to helping others find love.  And they are incredibly successful!  They pair people up with few, if any, inaccuracies, like they have a sixth sense about who belongs together.  In the Forever Bluegrass series, they pass their matchmaking mantle on to a younger generation, but they still keep their hands in.

When devastation rocks Keeneston and the Rose family, the triplets have to learn how to survive in a male dominated world as single women.  And they work to each of the women's talents.  Violet and Daisy convert their father's pharmacy into the famous Blossom Cafe, and Lily converts the large Victorian they grew up in to the Bed and Breakfast.  Both are iconic locations to the series, and it was amazing to see their roots.

*Ahem* years later, the Roses are all faced with a second chance at love.  Will they take it?  If they do, will becoming married women somehow change their relationship?

Step back in time in Keeneston to find out.

I also want to make a note on the cover choice I made here.  Normally, I choose to show my faithful readers the most current version of the cover of a book, because as we know, covers change and it's easier to find something if you know what you're looking for, I really prefer the original cover of this book.  A Rose, of course, symbolizes all three of the sisters, but their bond and the link between them is what takes them from lovable grannies to the amazing, perfect characters that they are; growing up, they never had to worry about taking a chance--their sisters and their parents would be there to catch them.  I missed that in my life, and I feel that I would be an entirely different person if I'd had someone who believed that I really could do whatever I wanted to.  That is the reason I always return to this book.  It's my bad day book, my rainy day book, my I want to feel like I'm in love book.  And it always will be.

Okay, now that I'm in a sufficiently sappy mood (reading this one, above all of the other Bluegrass books, makes me believe in love, and I'm already a hopeless romantic!), I'm going to turn on some music and do the cleaning that I've been avoiding while reading!  I'll be back in Keeneston again in less than TWO WEEKS, and I couldn't be more excited.  Kathleen Brooks picks the best teasers, and they always make me want to read the books more than I already do!

There's a running hope in the Facebook Blossom Cafe group that Ms. Brooks will turn the Roses into vampires so we never have to lose them.