Celia Rees

There are tons of books set in World War II but not many set in the immediate period after the war. Yes, as this book shows, it is just as ripe a period for literature as the war years.

Edith Graham is a single school teacher who lived in Coventry during World War II. As the unmarried sister she was expected to continue to live with her mother and take care of her. The family was most upset when they discovered that she had taken a posting in Germany with the British Control Commission show more helping to get the education system restarted in Germany. At least that was her cover story; she was also recruited by her cousin Leo who was with MI6 to learn as much as she could about Nazis who were in hiding. Leo was particularly interested in their mutual friend Kurt von Stabenow who had gone to Oxford before the war and become friendly with Leo and more than friendly with Edith. Kurt had trained as a doctor and so was an asset to the Nazi extermination and experimentation process. Edith had been devastated when she went to visit him before the war and learned that Kurt was engaged to a Prussian countess. On a later trip she met Kurt's wife, Elizabeth, and to her surprise rather liked her. Leo thought that if Edith could find Elizabeth then she would lead them to Kurt. Dori, another friend of Edith's who had been a spy during the war, also wanted to find von Stabenow because she thought he was responsible for the deaths of a number of women spies who were caught during the war. Dori wants Kurt brought to justice but Leo on behalf of the British government wants to recruit him to work in research. So everyone is using Edith for their own ends and she has mixed feelings about that. Nevertheless she is more successful than an amateur could be expected to be which draws her into danger. The ending caught me completely by surprise.

The recipes and menus that introduce each chapter really bring this book to another level. They are included because Edith uses recipes to send coded messages to Dori based upon an old cookbook. The author found just such a cookbook in her aunt's home while cleaning after her death. Her aunt had, like Edith, worked in Germany after the war and inside the cookbook there were numerous handwritten recipes which was all that remained of correspondence from that time. Such is the genesis of an intriguing book. show less

Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook, by Celia Rees
The story is a flashback.
World War 2 has just ended and Germany is in turmoil. Great Britain has established the Control Commission to help reconstruct the nation and to also hunt down war criminals. They employ civilians to do much of the work. One such person is Edith Graham who has a college degree in German and speaks the language quite well. In fact, before the war, she traveled in Germany and fell in love, or at least had an affair, with show more a dashing young German man named Count Kurt von Stabenow. But as the shadow of war drew over the continent, they went their separate ways and lost contact with each other.
Now, as she is employed by the Control Commission and sworn to secrecy, she finds out that one of the individuals that is being hunted as a war criminal is a certain physician von Stabenow, who gained some influence within the SS and was involved in certain “Special Actions,” especially those involving the euthanasia programs, “life, unworthy of life.” Her former love for him turns into hatred. To complicate the plot, she is also then recruited by a group associated with Operation Paperclip, a real movement to capture certain leading Nazis and bring them safely into the Allied fold and use their knowledge and expertise against a new perceived enemy, the Soviet Union and a new type of war, the Cold War. And this also included the same said von Stabenow. The complexities of the plot twists are obvious. Double agents and double crosses will excite any fan of spy novels and mystery novels alike.
Some books are driven by action, some by dialog and narrative. This book falls into the latter category. And you will need to keep up with the players, too. Sometimes plots can be driven by generic characters that can be largely skimmed over because it is the action that drives it, but not here. Remember who is who and what is what or you might have a little trouble keeping up. But if you do, you will be richly rewarded.
The author of the book has obviously done a great deal of historical research into the time period which gives a richness and level of authenticity to this novel that enhances the reading experience. And you won’t anticipate the ending. But then, a well-conceived novel should have an unpredictable ending. I won this book as a giveaway on Goodreads.com. show less

Brilliant! I haven't been so absorbed in a post WW2 novel for ages!

Not you're usual post 1945 European reconstruction story. This is set mainly in Germany after the surrender.
Edith Graham decides that now is the time to do her bit and she applies to work for the British government Control Commission for Germany, concerned with rebuilding that nation and searching for war criminals.
Before she leaves London for Germany she is briefed by Vera Atkins about possibly discovering the fate of four show more British women agents dropped behind enemy lines who disappeared. Two other women will form part of this coterie, her friend Dorie and journalist Adeline Parnell.
Edith hits on the idea of using recipes as a coding method for sending messages between them.
Coupled with that is a request from her cousin Leo who's in the Secret Service asking her to make contact with an old flame, Count Kurt von Stavenow. It seems Kurt is a wanted war criminal, a Doctor involved in the most despicable of experiments.
Berlin is a hotbed of swirling competitive government agencies from the US, to Russia and Britain, all trying to gain information. Then there's Harry Hirsch, a member of the Jewish Brigade, acting as a pipeline for people moving to Israel and involved in tracking down high ranking Nazis and their sympathizers hidden amongst the European communities.
The lives of the ordinary people who have fled to places like Hamburg are stories of deprivation, starvation, inadequate shelter, and a lack of fundamental needs. Edith is involved in education. Black marketing is rife, as is the existence of the Nazi hierarchy, driven underground yet existing in relative comfort.
Riveting and compelling I was fully onboard and fully absorbed by the charged plot. The various characters introduced were real and present.
Simply put--a fabulous read!

A HarperCollins ARC via NetGalley show less

After her grandmother is tortured and murdered as a witch, Mary Newbury escapes England disguised as a Pilgrim headed for the New World. She finds that her new companions can be just as rigid in their rules and narrow-mindedness, and she must watch herself and hide her abilities as best she can.
Written as a series of diary entries found in later years, this YA novel does a good job of giving a sense of urgency to the story; I found myself rooting for Mary from the first page and worrying for show more her safety in nearly every page thereafter. It also showcases the ridiculous amount of danger the simple fact of being a woman could place you in and the insanely various forms that danger could take, from childbirth to accusations of witchcraft for appearing to be too smart or too independent for your gender. show less