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MY REVIEW:

I personally have conflicting views on The Awakening of Miss Adelaide. It was difficult for me to engage with the book for the first several chapters. I found the plot to move quite slowly with little of the interaction between characters that I usually enjoy. This seemed to be a more introspective style. Then a glaring error about the winter solstice that was repeated more than once nearly made me want to stop reading. The fact that the remarks were not even necessary to the story made their inclusion questionable to me. Nevertheless, I continued reading like the good reviewer I try to be and eventually found the story to be worth my time.

The Awakening of Miss Adelaide is a historical novel set during World War 1. Adelaide’s story begins in Italy where she has inherited a villa. A famous opera singer, Adelaide has decided to remain on the estate due to the war but soon finds herself at the mercy of the army and disease which will change her life forever. An unexpected reunion with a former love interest and a trip back home brings even more change and mystery into her life.

Historical details about women’s fight for the right to vote and women’s lack of personal rights during that era were particularly interesting. Overall the story was mostly interesting with a touch of faith, mystery, and romance. Those who enjoy historical fiction may well enjoy this book also.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by Celebrate Lit. A favorable review was not required. All views expressed are my own.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

Book: The Awakening of Miss Adelaide Author: Linda Brooks Davis Genre: Historical  Release Date: July, 2019 Click here to grab your copy!

Orphaned as an infant, Oklahoma heiress Adelaide Fitzgerald has enjoyed every advantage. She possesses a unique gift for music and has excelled on the opera stage in Italy. As a philanthropist, she’s adored from America to Europe.

But Miss Adelaide is about to awaken in a 1918 nightmare. The Great War—and the Great Influenza—knock, and Adelaide finds her uninvited guests more than unwelcome. They threaten her life and alter her identity and purpose.

Snatched from a quiet life in an Italian villa, Miss Adelaide is thrust into conflicts others have created. What battle scars will she sustain? And where will love lead her?

In The Awakening of Miss Adelaide, war and peace, laughter and heartache, love and loss come together to ignite a fresh fire that reveals one woman’s hidden needs and potentials.

What will gaining a fresh understanding of herself require of the Angel of the Opera?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Linda Brooks Davis was born and reared, educated, and married in Texas. Her children and six grandchildren were born in Texas. She devoted the bulk of her 40 years as a special educator in Texas schools. But her mother and grandmother hailed from Oklahoma, the setting for Linda’s 2015 debut novel, The Calling of Ella McFarland, which won the 2014 Jerry Jenkins Operation First Novel Award and the 2016 American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award. Linda continues to write from her home in San Antonio, Texas. She and her beloved husband Al worship and minister at Oak Hills Church. Linda enjoys chatting with readers through her website www.lindabrooksdavis.com.

MORE FROM LINDA:

Awakening Miss Adelaide begins with my mother’s cedar chest, which bore an unwritten warning: Hands off! Priceless treasures resided in its depths. My parents’ wedding suits. An old tattered quilt. Mother’s felt hat with a jaunty feather at the rolled-up grim. Bible notes. A stained tablecloth. Equally stained ladies’ handkerchiefs. And old, crocheted, scorched pot holders.

My paternal great-grandmother wrote letters and created intricate, painstaking handwork while she was committed to an asylum in Terrell, Texas. They represent the dearest items in the cedar chest.

Incalculable are the times over the years when a family member would comment Great-granny didn’t appear insane at all. I often wondered how it was she resided at a state mental hospital from 1900 until her death in 1948. How could an insane person write coherent letters and create such handwork?

Mystery shrouds those answers as surely as Great-grandmother herself.

Family legend developed around her. Stories varied from “She wasn’t crazy. Her husband wanted to get rid of her” to “She was an Indian who chose the name McFarland to avoid White bias against the indigenous people.” The truth hides somewhere amid the deadfall of her tragic life.

Sometimes research for a novel can feel like digging up bones. In a way, it is.

One such “bone” I got my teeth around and refused to let go was an article in a 1913 edition of Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It described a murder committed in the lobby of the Metropolitan Hotel. This violent act occurred in connection with an adulterous affair.

Consequently, heightened emotions, lowered common sense, and the control males exerted over females resulted in one man’s murder and the murderer’s acquittal. The “offending” woman’s husband dragged her home kicking and screaming and committed her to a mental asylum for “emotional insanity.”

I wondered if the “offending” man had been treated in like manner. Hardly.

How could I NOT include this morass in a novel?

Someone ought to write a book about that was often said around our family reunions. My interest in doing just that developed little by little over the years. The Women of Rock Creek series deals with some of the ways in which women were denied equal rights when they were denied the vote. Such realities presented an ideal platform for illustrating some women’s plight in the hands of unscrupulous men–inequality in education, the courtroom, and even in mental health care.

With an abundance of love and respect for my great-grandmother; her daughter, my grandmother; and her grandson, my father, I offer this imaginary story. It contrasts two different women: one with a voice heard around the world and the other with no voice at all.

I offer The Awakening of Miss Adelaide to the Lord to do with it as He sees fit. May this story inspired by the agony experienced by my great-grandmother serve to lighten someone else’s load.

BLOG STOPS:

Bettimace, August 10 Godly Book Reviews, August 10 Reflections From my Bookshelves, August 10 Connect in Fiction, August 11 Mary Hake, August 11 Genesis 5020, August 12 Through the Fire Blogs, August 12 For Him and My Family, August 13 Just Your Average reviews, August 13 Life of a traveling wife, August 14 Connie’s History Classroom, August 14 Bigreadersite , August 15 Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, August 15 Blessed & Bookish, August 16 Emily Yager, August 16

CarpeDiem, August 17 Library Lady’s Kid Lit, August 17 Daysong Reflections, August 18 Stephanie’s Life of Determination, August 18 Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 19 Locks, Hooks and Books, August 19 Pause for Tales, August 20 For The Love of Books , August 20 Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 21 Texas Book-aholic, August 21 janicesbookreviews, August 22 A Reader’s Brain, August 22 Inklings and notions, August 23 Simple Harvest Reads, August 23 (Spotlight)

GIVEAWAY:

To celebrate her tour, Linda is giving away the grand prize of an eBook copy of her book and a $50 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/e682/the-awakening-of-miss-adelaide-celebration-tour-giveaway