JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

A Hero in France by Alan Furst

A Hero in France by Alan Furst is a riveting thriller set during the French Resistance in Nazi-occupied Paris. Alan Furst is a master espionage writer, but this is the first novel of his I’ve read.

Taking place in 1941, Mathieu is the leader of the French Resistance and helps downed British airmen escape back to England. He is highly intelligent, wary, methodical and organised, and his ring of associates together help fight the Nazis during the war. Aiding Mathieu as part of his covert network are Lisette, a seventeen-year-old student and courier; Max de Lyon, an arms dealer turned nightclub owner; Chantal, a woman of class and confidence; Daniel, a Jewish teacher fueled by revenge; Joëlle, who falls in love with Mathieu; and Annemarie, a willful aristocrat with deep roots in France, and a desire to act.

This book contains sections, not chapters, and each section switches between focus characters. For a couple of pages, Mathieu will be the focus character, weaving through underground drains to save British pilots stranded in Europe. And then the section will switch focus to one of his lovers, or helpers, or pilots, or associates, and this new angle provides a different element to the story that is both enlightening and intriguing.

The novel travels between farmhouses, barns and churches of the French countryside, all housing people that are determined to take down the occupying forces of Adolf Hitler. Mathieu is their leader, and he solves hurdles and complications with ease and efficiency.

A Hero In France is fast-paced with slow building suspense and a fantastic plot. Alan writes with as few words as possible, allowing the reader to join the dots themselves and use their imagination. He encapsulates one of the classic writing rules: show don’t tell. Alan captures the time period perfectly with historical accuracy and realistic characters.

As the novel progresses, a new threat develops. A spy is tasked with infiltrating the French Resistance to capture Mathieu and his associates, and their lives all start to intersect. I recommend this novel to all readers interested in thrillers and crime novels. It requires some concentration and some prior knowledge of the French Resistance to fully enjoy the story.

Thank you to Hachette for sending me a review copy of this book.

The Marble Collector by Cecilia Ahern


A forgotten childhood. A discovered life.
What if you only had one day to find out who you really were?

When Sabrina Boggs stumbles upon a mysterious collection of her father’s possessions, she discovers a truth where she never knew there was a lie. The familiar man she grew up with is suddenly a stranger to her.

The Marble Collector is the latest adult fiction novel from Cecilia Ahern, with lyrical prose and seamlessly woven transitions between past and present that is reminiscent of some of her earlier work.

The Marble Collector follows Sabrina Boggs, a young woman who discovers a box of marbles that belonged to her father Fergus. Both she and her mother, who has been divorced from her father for over a decade, didn’t even know that Fergus played marbles. A few of the expensive marbles from the box are missing, and so begins a quest for Sabrina to uncover information about Fergus’ past and track down the missing marbles. She uncovers stories, people and memories from his past and learns things about him that she never knew and doesn’t understand.

The chapters in the novel alternate between Sabrina’s present and Fergus’ past. Cecilia explores Fergus’ childhood, his discovery of marbles, his love for the game, his heartbreaking childhood, and his need to hide his hobby from his wife and child.

Through the two parallel storylines, Cecilia explores the doubts and heartbreak that plagues not only Sabrina’s life but also casts a shadow on her father’s life. The Marble Collector is thought-provoking and beautifully written and illustrates that shining a light on someone else can help you truly understand yourself. Sabrina begins to confront her own doubts and her own marital issues only after discovering that her father had similar problems when he was younger.

This book had a certain type of melancholic atmosphere to it – Sabrina’s frayed disconnect with both of her parents is jolting but a little devastating. And her father’s childhood is filled with guilt and mistakes but also innocence and naivety. The relationship between Fergus and his siblings allows the reader to reminisce about their own childhood and their own relationship with their family.

This isn’t a fast-paced book – it progresses gradually. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The book is wonderfully written and should be savoured and not rushed. I recommend this to readers both young and old. The parallel timelines allow readers to relate to different characters in the book, whilst also being intrigued and interested in the different storylines.