Why am I passionate about this?

After graduating with a BA in English, I moved to England to pursue a masterā€™s in Literature and Visual Culture. My focus was on women artists working in London during the Blitz and I wrote my dissertation on Lee Miller, who went on to photograph (and doggedly publish) the liberation of German concentration camps. Later I worked in arts administration and marketing, and didnā€™t start writing my debut novel until I was thirty-five. My work is inspired by my favorite authors from the 1940s: Elizabeth Bowen, Patrick Hamilton, and Penelope Fitzgerald. Iā€™m also drawn to historical fiction about ordinary people in difficult social conditions, especially when thereā€™s a love story involved.


I wrote

Bonfire Night

By Anna Bliss,

Book cover of Bonfire Night

What is my book about?

Spanning from England's anti-fascism protests of 1936 through the aftermath of WWII, Bonfire Night brings together an Irish Catholic photographerā€¦

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Trespasses

Anna Bliss Why did I love this book?

Trespasses evokes the anguish of Northern Ireland during The Troubles through the story of a doomed love affair.

This is a heart-wrenching, complex novel full of startling emotional insights. Itā€™s the 1970s in a small town outside of Belfast, and the stakes could not be higher: Cushla is a young, Catholic teacher and Michael is a married, Protestant barrister known for defending IRA members.

Itā€™s unusual to read historical fiction by an author who actually lived in the same time and place that her characters do; I felt I was getting inside knowledge about a historical period Iā€™ve always been interested in.

By Louise Kennedy,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Trespasses as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

ā€œBrilliant, beautiful, heartbreaking.ā€ā€”J.Courtney Sullivan, New York Times Book Review
 
ā€œTRESPASSES vaults Kennedy into the ranks of such contemporary masters as McCann, Claire Keegan, Colin Barrett, and fellow Sligo resident, Kevin Barry.ā€ ā€”Oprah Daily

Set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a shattering novel about a young woman caught between allegiance to community and a dangerous passion.

Amid daily reports of violence, Cushla lives a quiet life with her mother in a small town near Belfast, teaching at a parochial school and moonlightingā€¦


Book cover of The Red Tent

Anna Bliss Why did I love this book?

The Red Tent is about sisterhood and the ways aunties and mothers and daughters support each other.

Itā€™s stunning visually; I read this book almost twenty years ago and can still conjure up the rangy desert and the dusky interior of the eponymous tent. Diamant offers a unique perspective on what was arguably the first Jewish/Gentile love affair, between the Bibleā€™s Dinah, the only named daughter of the patriarch Jacob, and the Prince of Shechem.

It was the first Jewish historical fiction book I ever read and will always have special a place in my heart.

By Anita Diamant,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked The Red Tent as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In The Red Tent Anita Diamant brings the fascinating biblical character of Dinah to vivid life.

'Intensely moving . . . feminist . . . a riveting tale of love' - Observer

Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her fate is merely hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the verses of the Book of Genesis that recount the life of Jacob and his infamous dozen sons. Anita Diamant's The Red Tent is an extraordinary and engrossing tale of ancient womanhood and family honour. Told in Dinah's voice, it opens with the story of her mothers -ā€¦


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Book cover of Ferry to Cooperation Island

Ferry to Cooperation Island by Carol Newman Cronin,

James Malloy is a ferry captain--or used to be, until he was unceremoniously fired and replaced by a "girl" named Courtney Farris. Now, instead of piloting Brenton Islandā€™s daily lifeline to the glitzy docks of Newport, Rhode Island, James spends his days beached, bitter, and bored.

When he discovers aā€¦

Book cover of Love Medicine

Anna Bliss Why did I love this book?

I used to moderate a book club for museum members at what is now the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Love Medicine was chosen by one of our exhibition artists. This astonishing debut is a masterwork about family, poverty, and passion.

The book is set where my grandparents came from, Minnesota and the Dakotas, and illustrates how settlers from Europe (my ancestors) continued to disrupt and destroy Native lives well into the 20th century. Ojibwe spiritual beliefs and Catholicism tangle as tightly as the characters that embody them. Spanning from 1934 to 1985, this novel should not be missed by anyone interested in Native American history.

By Louise Erdrich,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Love Medicine as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

ā€œThe beauty of Love Medicine saves us from being completely devastated by its power.ā€ ā€” Toni Morrison

Set on a North Dakota Ojibwe reservation, Love Medicineā€”the first novel from master storyteller and National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrichā€”is an epic story about the intertwined fates of two families: the Kashpaws and the Lamartines.

With astonishing virtuosity, each chapter of this stunning novel draws on a range of voices to limn its tales. Black humor mingles with magic, injustice bleeds into betrayal, and through it all, bonds of love and family marry the elements into a tightly woven whole that pulsesā€¦


Book cover of Churchill's Secret Messenger

Anna Bliss Why did I love this book?

Rose Teasdale is a young British woman in Churchillā€™s typing pool and Lazare Aron is a Jewish French Resistance fighter. They make for great company in this World War II spy novel.

When Rose is selected for the Special Operations Executive, a secret British espionage group, she is literally dropped behind enemy lines and into Lazareā€™s arms. Hlad is a meticulous researcher and elegantly incorporates the true history of Operation Jerichoā€”an RAF bombing on a Nazi-held French prison near the end of the Warā€”into a compelling love story.

I listened to the audiobook version of Churchillā€™s Secret Messenger while walking around my Northern California neighborhood one rainy pandemic winter, and really enjoyed Simon Vanceā€™s rich narration.

By Alan Hlad,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Churchill's Secret Messenger as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A riveting story of World War II and the courage of one young woman as she is drafted into Churchillā€™s overseas spy network, aiding the French Resistance behind enemy lines and working to liberate Nazi-occupied Parisā€¦

London, 1941: In a cramped bunker in Winston Churchillā€™s Cabinet War Rooms, underneath Westminsterā€™s Treasury building, civilian women huddle at desks, typing up confidential documents and reports. Since her parents were killed in a bombing raid, Rose Teasdale has spent more hours than usual in Room 60, working double shifts, growing accustomed to the burnt scent of the Prime Ministerā€™s cigars permeating the staleā€¦


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Book cover of We Had Fun and Nobody Died: Adventures of a Milwaukee Music Promoter

We Had Fun and Nobody Died by Amy T. Waldman,

This irreverent biography provides a rare window into the music industry from a promoterā€™s perspective. From a young age, Peter Jest was determined to make a career in live music, and despite naysayers and obstacles, he did just that, bringing national acts to his college campus atUW-Milwaukee, booking thousands ofā€¦

Book cover of Letters Across the Sea

Anna Bliss Why did I love this book?

Iā€™d recommend this book to fans of The Notebook and serious history buffs alike.

Molly and Max are childhood friends who grew up across the street from one other in Toronto. They know and trust each other implicitly, so when an attraction develops between them as young adults, Molly and Max quickly tumble into love. Whatā€™s the issue? Sheā€™s Protestant, heā€™s Jewish, and Depression-era Canada is boiling with antisemitism.

Structurally, Letters Across the Sea is a classic World War II novel; Graham makes it stand out with loads of fascinating Canadian history and an unflinching look at the brutal conditions of the Pacific Front. 

By Genevieve Graham,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Letters Across the Sea as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Inspired by a little-known chapter of World War II history, a young Protestant girl and her Jewish neighbour are caught up in the terrible wave of hate sweeping the globe on the eve of war in this powerful love story thatā€™s perfect for fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

If youā€™re reading this letter, that means Iā€™m dead. I had obviously hoped to see you again, to explain in person, but fate had other plans.

1933

At eighteen years old, Molly Ryan dreams of becoming a journalist, but instead she spends her days working any jobā€¦


Explore my book šŸ˜€

Bonfire Night

By Anna Bliss,

Book cover of Bonfire Night

What is my book about?

Spanning from England's anti-fascism protests of 1936 through the aftermath of WWII, Bonfire Night brings together an Irish Catholic photographer and a British Jewish medical student, each discovering the price of love, art, and ambition. Kate Grifferty is a press photographer in a Fleet Street agency, an unusual job for a young woman. Sheā€™s talented and daring, going wherever the story might beā€”including, one October day, an anti-fascism protest in East London. There, she meets David Rabatkin, a brilliant Jewish medical student. They fall deeply in love, but as war looms, the differences between them are thrown into sharp relief.

Book cover of Trespasses
Book cover of The Red Tent
Book cover of Love Medicine

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