Overall, what did you think of A Crown of Stars? (No spoilers in this thread, please!)
Creating an interesting novel that attempts to bring real people to life must be challenging. I felt that the Jolivet sisters sprung off the pages of A crown of Stars and were such interesting characters. I really enjoyed this historical novel.
Book: A Crown of Stars
I enjoyed this book much more than expected. It gripped me from the beginning and held on till the end. I knew very little about the deliberate sinking of The Lusitania and nothing of the FMC in the book. The story is more about Rita Jolivet and her sister than about the ship disaster, but the sinking ship tragedy left me feeling heaving and heartbroken for all that was affected by it and by WW1. Highly recommend reading.
I enjoyed this book a great deal. Well developed characters, fast paced, truly a delight to read. This was my first Shana Abe book, I will certainly read her other books.
I thought it was one of the better historical fiction novels Iād read in a while. The authorās descriptions of the era were exceptionally well done, and I was sucked in from the very first page.
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I was engaged with the novel from the very beginning especially because though historical fiction is a genre I read often I did not remember learning about the Lusitania. I also feel historical fiction is engrossing way to expand your knowledge of history.
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I gave this novel a 5. The authorās talent for description brought every setting in the story alive. I learned a great deal.
I think the book is beautifully written and enjoyed it from start to finish.
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The story of this family was very well done, I truly felt like I had a sense of who they were and of the era.
I enjoyed learning detail of events from that time period. Knowing very little about the silent movie era or that women went on concert tours. It was a time for women to begin to find themselves and it was a pleasure to see two women forging an unexpected path.
It was a delight to see how these girls grew into women. I knew the Lusitania story beforehand and felt like the book did justice to the events, before, during and after the sinking.
This was an excellent read.
I enjoyed the book. Years ago I read a non fiction about the sinking of this ship so I was very interested in this historical fiction. I was very pleased that the first three parts.were about the sisters lives before the voyage of the ship. I was almost dreading part 4.
I could not put this book down! Such joy, sister delight followed by tragedy. I liked to book so much I gave it to my adult daughter to read!
I enjoyed reading about the talented Jolivet sisters, their relationships, and their lives of privilege. Unfortunately, war touches everyone, and it was a difficult time for women to be ambitious and have careers.
I loved this book! The story of the sistersā lives was so fascinating. At that time, they seemed to have a lot of freedom. This was a wonderful work of Historical Fiction.
When I first started this book I thought āOh here we go, another story of privileged British Womenā.
Was I ever wrong! These two sisters broke out into the world and forged their own way. I also knew very little about the sinking of the Lusitania. Since so much is written about the Titanic, people forget about the Lusitania.
The writing style of this author is very readable. I will now look for more of her previous books.
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I, too, really enjoyed the book. My favorite kind of fiction opens my eyes to something in history that I know little or nothing about. A Crown of Stars did just thatā¦a refresher on the Lusitania and an introduction to the Jolivet sisters. The author really brought it all to life for me.
What a delightful surprise. I knew a little about the Lusitania, and I wasnāt sure how much more there was to learn or if I was really interested in learning about it. Instead, I thought the characters were well developed and the historical details about the two sisters, hooked me right in. Well, done!
I really enjoyed this book. Two young women starting out on their own with support from each other. I really knew very little about the Lusitania tragedy so it was interesting that this was the backdrop for the story. The characters were well developed and each had such different but complementary personas. The love stories enriched the story as well.
I very much enjoyed the book. Her attention to detail and her ability to set a scene as well as craft believable dialogue and set a fine pace made this book a great read. I was surprised by how swept up I was in the story of Rita and her family and not at all restless to get to the section about the Lusitania. In fact, she wrote so well and used the epigraphs , ( I believe that is the correct term), in such a clever way as to add to the story line and the mounting tension. She did a fabulous job and created a very good book.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. I started with a pre-conceived expectation this is another ābodice ripperā set in history and I was completely wrong.
I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. Iāve already recommended it to many others who like historical fiction.