43. The Sunflower House by Adriana Allegri

listened on Libby

336 pgs.

2024
Adult Historical Fiction
Finished 8/31/2026
Goodreads rating: 4.32
My rating: 5
Setting: 1938 - 1941 Germany (with short storytelling from 2006)

My comments: I'm giving this a 5 rating, although I didn't love it. I learned a lot and it was written beautifully.  This is written from the p-o-v of two Germans - one who is an SS officer, and the other who is just going along with everything that Hitler and the entire country seem to be going along with.  It's all about facilities throughout Germany that are creating and adopting out children that fit the Nazi clear blood ideology.  Nuts - but  supposedly true.  Whew.

Goodreads synopsis: Family secrets come to light as a young woman fights to save herself, and others, in a Nazi-run baby factory—a real-life Handmaid's Tale—during World War II.

In a sleepy German village, Allina Strauss’s life seems idyllic: she works at her uncle’s bookshop, makes strudel with her aunt, and spends weekends with her friends and fiancé. But it's 1939, Adolf Hitler is Chancellor, and Allina’s family hides a terrifying secret—her birth mother was Jewish, making her a Mischling.

One fateful night after losing everyone she loves, Allina is forced into service as a nurse at a state-run baby factory called Hochland Home. There, she becomes both witness and participant to the horrors of Heinrich Himmler’s ruthless eugenics program.

The Sunflower House is a meticulously-researched debut historical novel that uncovers the notorious Lebensborn Program of Nazi Germany. Women of “pure” blood stayed in Lebensborn homes for the sole purpose of perpetuating the Aryan population, giving birth to thousands of babies who were adopted out to “good” Nazi families. Allina must keep her Jewish identity a secret in order to survive, but when she discovers the neglect occurring within the home, she’s determined not only to save herself, but also the children in her care.

A tale of one woman’s determination to resist and survive, The Sunflower House is also a love story. When Allina meets Karl, a high-ranking SS officer with secrets of his own, the two must decide how much they are willing to share with each other—and how much they can stand to risk as they join forces to save as many children as they can. The threads of this poignant and heartrending novel weave a tale of loss and love, friendship and betrayal, and the secrets we bury in order to save ourselves.

Adult Historical Fiction I've Read

Unfortunately, I think I may have missed some recent titles...

Allegri, Adriana -  The Sunflower House - (1938-1941 Germany) 2024

Armstrong, Kelley - A Stitch in Time (TT 18th Cent. England - American protagonist) 4

Barnes, Kim - In the Kingdom of Men (1967 Saudi Arabia) 3.5

Bartels, Erin - We Hope for Better Things (1861/1963/contemporary Detroit) 5

Benedict, Marie - Agent 355 (based on true story of female spy during American Revolution) 3.5

Benjamin, Melanie -  The Children's Blizzard - 1888 Dakota territories
Blackwell, Elizabeth - In the Shadow of Lakecrest (1928 Lake Michigan) 1
Brooks, Geraldine - Caleb's Crossing (1660s New England) 3
Brown, Amy Belding - Flight of the Sparrow (1676 Mass. Bay Colony) 4

Bryce, Megan - To Catch a Spinster (Regency Romance, England) 2.5

Bybee, Catherine - Highland Shifter (TT America to medieval Scotland)  3.5

.............................- Redeeming Vows (  "  )  4

.............................- Silent Vows (  "  )  3,5

.............................- Binding Vows (  "  )  4
Chamberlain, Diane - Big Lies in a Small Town (contemp & 1940 NC)

Clever, Jessie - The Duke and the Wallflower (Regency-type romance)
Cornick, Nicola - The Phantom Tree (1557 England/ Time Travel) 4

Courtenay, Christina - Runes of Destiny (Contemp. & 9th century Sweden) 4
Dallas, Sandra - Prayers for Sale (1930s/Depression, Colorado)  4.5

Davis, Fiona -The Stolen Queen (1930s & 1978 Egypt;  1978 NYC)
Fortier, Anne - The Lost Sisterhood (ancient Odyssey times)  5
Gerritsen, Tess - The Bone Garden (1830 Boston) 2.5
Goolrick, Robert - A Reliable Wife, (1907 rural Wisconsin) 4

Hannah, Kristin - The Women - Vietnam
Harkness, Deborah - Shadow of Night (1591 England, France, Prague) 2.5

............................... - Time's Convert  (American & French Revolution embedded in fantasy) 4.5 

Harmel, Kristin - The Forest of Vanishing Stars (WWII Poland)
Harmon, Amy - Where the Lost Wander (1853 Overland Trail) 5

Hart, Amelia - Weyward  (1619, 1942, & contemporary England)
Hashimi, Nadia - The Pearl That Broke Its Shell (Early 20th Century Kabul, Afghanistan)  4.5

Hawker Olivia - One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow (1876 Wyoming) 3.5

.........................-The Fire and the Ore (1856 Mormon Trail/Utah)

Healey, Jane - The Women of Arlington Hall - Jane Healey (1948-1950 Washington DC. Female codebreakers)

Henry, Patti Callahan - The Secret Book of Flora Lea - 1939 & 1960 England, WWII
Hoffman, Alice - Everything My Mother Taught Me (1908 coastal Mass.) 4.5

..........................- The Museum of Extraordinary Things (1911 NYC)  5

Holmberg, Charlie N. - Keeper of Enchanated Rooms (1846 secluded island off RI & Boston) 3.5
Howe, Katherine - Physick Book of Deliverance Dane (Salem Witch Trials) 4

Jenner, Natalie - The Jane Austen Society (post WWII Hampshire, England) 4.5

Johnson, Sadequa - The Keeper of Lost Children (1950 - 1968 Philadelphia)

Jones, Luisa A. - The Gilded Cage - (1897 England)

Kline, Christina Baker - The Exiles (1840s Britain & Australia, plus ship voyage) 4.5
.................................... - Orphan Train (1929 Minnesota) 4.5
Krueger, William Kent - Ordinary Grace (1961 Minnesota) 4.5

Loigman, Lynda Cohen - The Matchmaker's Gift (Contemp. & early 20th century NYC)
Lovett, Charlie - The Bookman's Tale (back & forth Cothswolds & NC) 5

Lusbuskes, Brianna - The Boxcar Librarian (Early 29th century Montana)

Mann, Catherine - Lightning in a Mason Jar (1970s & contemporary SC) 4

Meissner, Susan - A Fall of Marigolds (1911 Shirtwaist Factory Fire and 9/11) 2.5

............................The Nature of Fragile Things (1906 SF & Tucson) 4

Moreno-Garcia, Silvia - Mexican Gothic - 1950 Mexico
Morton, Kate - The Forgotten Garden (multiple/early 20th century: Australia & England)  5

Mosse, Kate - Sepulchre (1891 & Present) 1 DNF

Moyes, Jojo - The Giver of Stars (1937 eastern KY)

Nesbit, TaraShea - Beheld (1630 Plymouth colony) 3
Otsuka, Julia - Buddha in the Attic (1920-1940 California) 2

Owens, Delia - Where the Crawdads Sing (1952 - 70 NC coast) 5
Pulley, D. M. - The Buried Book (1952 rural farmland Michigan) 4.5

Quinn, Kate - Signal Moon (SS/1943 & 2023 England)
Raybourn, Deanna - A Curious Beginning, (1897 England) Mystery 5

Rendon, Marcie R. -  Murder on the Red River (#1 Cash Blackbear) (1970 ND/MN state line)

.............................. -Girl Gone Missing (#2 Cash Blackbear) (1970 ND/MN state line)

............................. - Sinister Graves (#3 Cash Blackbear) (1970 ND/MN state line)

Richardson, Michele - The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (1936 eastern KY/Appalachia) 5
Romer, Anna - Lyrebird Hill (1898 and 2013 in alternating chapters, New South Wales, Australia)

St. James, Simone - The Broken Girls - 1950 & 2014 Vermont
Shaffer, Mary Ann & Annie Barrows - Guernsy Literary and Potato Peel Society (WWII German Occupation, England)  5
Spera, Deb - Call Your Daughter Home (1924 SC/ 3 female POV) 4.5

Stewart, Mary - Thornyhold (southern England - in the past) 5

Sullivan, J. Courtney, The Cliffs (2000 Maine and previous) 4.25

Swyler, Erica - The Book of Speculation (contemp & 200 yrs. before, northeast coast) 3.5
Taylor, Janet B. - Into the Dim Time Travel that takes us to 1200 Eleanor of Aquitaine & Becket's London

Timberlake, Amy - One Came Home (1871 Wisconsin)  2
Wallace, Michael - Crow Hollow (1676 Puritan Boston) 4
Wingate, Lisa - The Book of Lost Friends (1875 & 1987 Louisiana) 4.5

Zugg, Victor - A Ripple in Time (TT to early 1700s Charleston)

......................-The Planters (1720 SC coastline) 3.5

42. Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson

listened on Libby

464 pgs. (14+ hrs.)

2026
Adult Historical Fiction
Finished 8/24/226
Goodreads rating: 4.43
My rating: 4.75 - It got a little slow here and there.  Great story all told.
Setting: 1950 through 1968 in Philadelphia, Pa, Manheim, Germany, farm in southern Minnesota, fancy boarding school in perhaps VA...

My comments: Three characters are followed , two in the early 1950s and one starting in 1965, and they all come together at the end of the book, in 1966 with an epilogue in 1968.  All are black.  Two live through impossible, difficult situations because of the hatred that many whites of these periods had for people of color.  The civil rights movement.  black army soldiers in Germany pairing up with white German women and having mixed-race babies out of wedlock. And the story of the woman who discovered an orphanage in Manheim, Germany, loaded with these mixed babies.  She desperately wants kids, but that's not to be...until she decides to adopt and follow.

Goodreads synopsis: In this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The House of Eve, one American woman’s vision in post WWII Germany will tie together three people in an unexpected way.

Lost in the streets and smoldering rubble of Occupied Germany, Ethel Gathers, the proud wife of an American soldier spots a gaggle of mixed-race children following a nun. Desperate to conceive her own family, she feels compelled to follow them to learn their story.

Ozzie Philips volunteers for the army in 1948, eager to break barriers for Black soldiers. Despite his best efforts, he finds the racism he encountered at home in Philadelphia has followed him overseas. He finds solace in the arms of Jelka, a German woman struggling with the lack of resources and even joy in her destroyed country.

In 1965, Sophia Clark discovers she’s been given an opportunity to integrate a prestigious boarding school in Maryland and leave behind her spiteful parents and the grueling demands. In a chance meeting with a fellow classmate, she discovers a secret that upends her world.

Toggling between the lives of these three individuals, Keeper of Lost Children explores how one woman’s vision will change the course of countless lives, and demonstrates that love in its myriad of forms—familial, parental, and forbidden, even love of self—can be transcendent.

TRY THESE Beans (over Rice) in the Crockpot!!

SO GOOD!!!

Next time:

🫘 soaked pinto beans

🥔 potatoes

🥕 carrots

🧅 onions

🌿 celery

🥬 cabbage

🧄 at least 2 Tbsp jarred garlic

beef bouillon for the cooking liquid

2 Tbsp Worcestershire

basil

thyme

black pepper

2 bay leaves

garlic powder

onion powder

For an italian-y batch   I'd go in a completely different direction:

• Pinto, cannellini, or great northern beans
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Celery
• Onion
• Cabbage
• Tomatoes — canned diced tomatoes would be especially good
• Garlic — generous amount!
• Italian seasoning
• Basil
• Maybe a little oregano
• Beef bouillon, if you like that savory depth
• Worcestershire — just a splash
• Black pepper

1 lb. dried beans  (Note:  Pinto beans worked GREAT for me)

   (Optional:  soak beans overnight in cold water to reduce cook time and improve digestibility.  Drain and rinse before cooking) NOTE:  if you're starting with completely dried kidney beans, they need special handling because of their natural toxin. Pinto beans are much less of a concern, but I still recommend soaking and boiling the beans before putting them in the slow cooker.

1 onion, diced

2-3 stalks celery, diced

1 pound of carrots, chunked

2 T. minced garlic

1 lb. smoked sausage, thinly sliced (NOTE:  I had a half pound

      of leftover roast beef, so I chopped it up and used instead_

3 bay leaves

6 cup broth, water, or a combination  (I actually used about 8 cups

      of water, then 3 or 4 "double" packets of beef bouillon)

     try with green peppers, chopped tomatoes?

Seasoning suggested:

          (1 tsp. Creole seasoning, plus more to taste)

          S & P

          1 T. Worcestershire sauce  

ChatGPT suggested:

For a crockpot full of beans:

• 1–1½ tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• ½–1 tsp dried thyme (had no thyme, used BASIL)
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1–2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce (probably used at least 2 T)

Put all in crockpot and stir to combine.  Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours, until beans are soft and creamy.

Discard bay leaves.

Serve over rice.  (I didn't!  I ate it as soup)

It's supposed to freeze great, but I wouldn't double the recipe - my crock pot was full to almost overflowing!

39. SInister Graves by Marcie R. Rendon

#3 Cash Blackbear

listened on Libby

240 pgs.

2022
Historical Fiction Mystery
Finished 8/18/2026
Goodreads rating: 3.98
My rating: 4
Setting: 1970s Minnesota/ND in/near Ojibwe land

My comments: I like this series.  Cash Blackbear is so imperfect ....and real.  She drinks too much.  She sleeps around too much.  She's had a really tough life, being hoisted from one non-Native American foster home to another.  None of them were "good."  And she's only 19.  Talk about a tough cookie!  She lives to drink beer and play pool.  In this episode, while looking for the identity of a drowned Native American girls, she is thrust into a "holy roller" type small church in the middle of nowhere with a really odd preacher and his wife.  The story moves quickly and takes quite an interesting turn....and then it's over, so quickly!

Goodreads synopsis: Set in 1970s Minnesota on the White Earth Reservation, Pinckley Prize–winner Marcie R. Rendon’s gripping new mystery follows Cash Blackbear, a young Ojibwe woman, as she attempts to discover the truth about the disappearances of Native girls and their newborns.

A snowmelt has sent floodwaters down to the fields of the Red River Valley, dragging the body of an unidentified Native woman into the town of Ada. The only evidence the medical examiner recovers is a torn piece of paper inside her bra: a hymnal written in English and Ojibwe.

Cash Blackbear, a 19-year-old Ojibwe woman, sometimes helps Sheriff Wheaton, her guardian, on his investigations. Now she knows her search for justice for this anonymous victim will take her to the White Earth Reservation, a place she once called home.

When Cash happens upon two small graves in the yard of a rural, “speak-in-tongues kinda church,” Cash is pulled into the lives of the malevolent pastor and his troubled wife while yet another Native woman dies in a mysterious manner.

36. Light It Up by Nick Petrie

#3 Peter Ash

listened on Libby

400 pgs.

2018
Adult Mystery/Thriller
Finished 8/5/2026
Goodreads rating:  4.16
My rating: 3.75
Setting: Contemporary Denver, CO

My comments: I probably shouldn't have read three of these so close together....the planning and shooting and descriptions got a little too much and I discovered my mind wandering a bit.  Excellent story, though, about legalized pot and all the cash surrounding it, and lots of really bad guys, most of them brilliant retired military, now guns-for-hire.  And you never really worry, because you know that nothing, NOTHING, is going to stop Peter from being the smartest, braves, winner.  

Goodreads synopsis: Combat veteran Peter Ash leaves a simple life rebuilding hiking trails in Oregon to help his good friend Henry Nygaard, whose daughter runs a Denver security company that protects cash-rich cannabis entrepreneurs from modern-day highwaymen. Henry's son-in-law and the company's operations manager were carrying a large sum of client money when their vehicle vanished without a trace, leaving Henry's daughter and her company vulnerable.

Then, when Peter is riding shotgun on another cash run, the cargo he's guarding comes under attack from hijackers and he narrowly escapes with his life. As the incidents mount, he has to wonder: for criminals as sophisticated as these, is this money really worth the risk? And if not, what about his cargo is worth more?

Turn 4 x 6 Index Cards Into a Cute 3" x 4" Glue Book or Junk Journal

 

Great video from Nicole from Relax. Cut. Glue showing how quick and easy it is to make the cutest, easiest mini journal  with just those index cards, glue, and scraps.:  A 💥NEW💥Tiny Tuesday Project! - YouTube  

You can take however long you want to fill it up....part of the prep is using scraps to create all the background pages, ready for ephemera, journaling, gluing, or whatever you desire!