The Golden Hour: A Novel

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What motivated Elfriede to disappear after Benedict’s birth? Was it the right decision to make? How would Benedict and Margaret have turned out had she stayed and raised them? Beatriz Williams is the author of several different historical fiction novels. Despite my love for the genre, this is actually the first time I’ve read one of her stories. And I’m definitely a fan of her writing style—you can tell she definitely does her historical research.

Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams - Book Club Chat Review: The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams - Book Club Chat

The art! How have I gotten this far and not talked about the art yet? Formatted around the idea of the golden hour for photography, there are just some goregous shots in here. Absolutely gorgeous. I only know Niki Smith from The Deep & Dark Blue, but I feel like this book has built on what I loved about that book.

This is my third book and favorite so far of Beatriz Williams!! I loved the historical settings of WWl and WWll, including the Duke and Duchess of Windsor with their quite interesting and highly decadent lifestyle, and it’s two main characters that alternated between Elfriede during the turn of the 19th century undergoing dark turmoil after giving birth (postpartum depression now); and in the 1940’s there’s Lulu a NYC writer currently living in Nassau to catch the latest gossip on the scandalous Duke and Duchess (the Duke was banished to the Bahamas to serve as it’s governor.) A marriage, a murder, and a disappearance sets Lulu’s story off in a new direction regarding secrets, government spies and a slight nod of deception.

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A very intriguing murder mystery is also revealed. Sir Harry Oakes multi millionaire is brutally murdered. The Duke is in charge of the investigation. Holy cow! Talk about a lot going on! I really enjoyed this book! I have found that I actually tend to enjoy historical fiction books way more than I think I will prior to starting the book. At least that has been the case with the last few of them that I have read anyways.I received a free e-copy of The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams from NetGalley for my honest review. There’s another storyline in the book from the early 1900s with Elfriede, a German Baroness who suffers from post-partum depression. I enjoyed her story as well and I was curious how the two storylines would intersect. I thought the author did a masterful job and I had my “aha” moment when I figured it out, but I enjoyed the way it all played out. The American appetite for the Duke and Duchess of Windsor is just insatiable,” Lulu explains about her assignment for Metropolitan magazine. About the royal family she says: “We like to gossip about them, all right. Just not to let them rule over us and all.” Is this still true today? Do you follow the news and gossip about the British royal family? If so, why? The remarkable story of the lives of these two women, their families, and the countless people they helped or reported on during WWII is something you must read. Just the dealings going on in the Bahamas during the war was all new to me. I knew the Duke and Duchess were thought to be Nazi sympathizers, but other realities, such as the murder of Harry Oakes, gold mine owner, actually took place. To this day they have not proved who the murderer was. The racial tension, corrupt politics and financial swindles that took place on the island during the war can fill many books.

The Golden Hour – Niki Smith The Golden Hour – Niki Smith

I was first drawn to The Golden Hour for both the setting in 1940s and also featuring theDuke and Duchess of Windsor. I really didn’t know much about them until I watched season one of Netflix’s The Crownand let’s just say they were quite the complicated couple.There truly are some heartbreaking scenes in this story as it covers undiagnosed postpartum depression and PTSD of fighting in a war. There’s also a focus on the abuse of power by the Duke and Duchess and a real-life murder mystery at the island. I was by far most engaged when Lulu was on the Nassau and all the different dynamics on the island. Her “relationship” with the Duchess was unique and not without its complications. Lulu isn’t like other protagonists, she has a dark past and she’s turns a blind eye to corruption but only for so long. this book is more perfect than i could ever put into words. katie has done it again and i will forever feel an emotional pull towards the characters she writes.

The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams | Goodreads

In 1900, Baroness Elfriede von Kleist, who has been confined for a couple of years to a Swiss clinic after suffering from depression after the birth of her son, meets Wilfred Thorpe, who is recovering from an illness. When asked if she minded if Wilfred smoked, "'N-no.' Elfriede thinks she should probably have said yes, because tobacco smoke is possibly the last substance on earth that should fill the passages of Mr. Thorpe's ravaged lungs at the moment, short of poisoned gas. But his pleasure, his anticipation is so obvious, she doesn't have the heart to deny him. A pattern that will shape all the days they spend together." Sheyanne & Liam come into each other’s lives in such a unique way. From there, they develop a love story that is parallel to the kindling of a flame and setting of the sun, in which they slowly get to know one another before realizing they need each other in their lives 🧡 and liam 🫶🏼 liam the love of my life (i will be saying this about ever man katie writes about and no one can stop me) i’m never moving on from him. from the first moment you meet him you WILL fall in love with himLulu says of the Duchess of Windsor, “Women like Wallis never, for a single moment, imagine themselves guilty of anything.” What is Wallis guilty of? Why does Lulu hold her in such contempt? What did you think of her and the Duke? When they appear in the last scene of the book, does Lulu have any sympathy for them at all? Do you?