I'm not a big reader of Historical Fiction, but this novel kind of made me want to be. It also inspired a desire to learn History better, since I was never much good at memorizing History facts in high school and now have a pretty pathetic grasp on it all. Anyway, I think that's a pretty positive recommendation for this book in itself, but I have more good things to say :) This is the other of the two ARCs I received within like a week of each other (first and second of my life) after putting my info into a couple web forms I got in emails, so I was motivated to read it before it's release date, which I believe is in March. When I received the email about this book the title made me think it might be a Fantasy novel, but I quickly knew from reading the blurb that it was not. It's a Historical Fiction novel about three widows at the end of World War II. My favorite of the protagonists, Maryanne, was heavily involved in a plot to kill Hitler with her husband and childhood best friend and their associates. The plot failed, the men were killed for it, and after the war ends Maryanne rounds up two other widows from those involved, and brings them to live with her in her family's not-fancy castle. The novel promised a thoughtful exploration of women in war, and hinted at each of these women having secrets, perking my interest at the potential of a domestic thriller-ish aspect, which materialized in the reading of the novel about as much as I expected (not a lot.) Despite not being Fantasy *or* much of a Thriller, this book was immediately engrossing and I loved reading it. It was a timely read too, challenging and inspiring and sad and hard to read even as I couldn't put it down. In some ways I don't know what to think about this book overall, because it gave me so many thoughts and feelings reading it. What a horror the holocaust was, and how easily normal 'good' people allowed and helped it happen were major themes of this novel - it's so important to remember the past and not repeat it's mistakes.