Stephen P. KiernanCríticas

Excellent book about life WWII in France. Surviving the room meant you had lost at minimum one person but the reality was much more traumatic. A group of men collect at a chateau to build glass windows like Marc Chagall. The window building was great but so was the recovery of the people.

"Asher stood alone in a flattened world. No mission, no assignments, no occupation, no money, no food, no family, no home. He searched his soul for a sliver of faith, any remnant, and found none."

Before the war, in the seaside town of Bonheur, France, Asher had a business as his grandfather had ensured he was apprenticed to a cobbler. Asher had a home, a wife, and a daughter. But that was before. For the past 4 years, he was a member of the same Resistance cell as childhood friends. In the aftermath of war, Asher is conflicted, adrift, and wandering. During Asher's wandering, he is directed to Clovide, said to be a place where good things are happening. At Le Château Guerin, Asher introduces himself as Asher Green. Green is not his last name, but a name made up on the spot of needed introduction.

I was introduced to the author's writing by gifted copies from a reader friend of "Universe of Two" and "The Baker's Secret." I knew after one chapter of the 1st book that I would like to read more of his writing. The author's beautiful writing is emotive, and the reader immersed in the setting, and the characters' lives lift off the pages and becomes the very definition of literature's verisimilitude. This novel brings an understanding of post-WWII trauma. They have survived, but they carry grief, guilt, shame, and burdens unspeakable even to each other. "Victory does not equal peace." Victory does not equal peace within a country torn and ripped to shreds by enemy occupation, enemy fire, and resistance against the enemy. But it is more imperative to understand victory in war does not equal peace within one's mind.

I have always loved to view stained glass windows in the churches and cathedrals I have visited since I was a young child. In reading the novel, I appreciated the details of the creation of stained glass windows, broken souls using broken glass: the intricate work, the craftmanship, the conditions in the atelier where such beauty is achieved. The picture of each window unique, the art of each window beautiful beyond words. Each window emanating a message and how wonderous that each message is meaningful to the eye of the beholder perhaps in a different way and yet the same.

Even if you've never read an author's acknowledgments before selecting this novel to read, I encourage you to read the Acknowledgements at the end of this book. You will learn the author's inspiration for this novel and his meticulous research that contributed to the fabric of his storytelling.

Asher, a Jew, is grieving the loss of his wife and child who were killed in WWII. He is angry at the Germans, and fears for his life as a Jew. He wanders through France, and finally is welcomed at the château. He doesn't admit that he is Jewish, but goes along with the Catholic customs. There, he is trained to make glass for the stained windows of the cathedrals that were destroyed during the war.
He has a relationship with Marie, but she is also grieving. He is also befriended by others, and shown how friendship can transcend race and religion. Historic fiction - but went on a bit long for me.

I kept avoiding this book, maybe the cover, maybe the title but neither intrigued me sufficiently to move it to the top of my reading pile. Another WW II post war book - something was putting me off, holding me back. But then I started reading and still was not totally committed. I am not sure exactly which page hooked me but when it happened I was all in. I didn’t find the story nearly as important as the individual character portrayals and their search for understanding, redemption, closure and forgiveness.

Asher, the protagonist, who has lost everything, ponders what he would become if he was able to “put down the grief, the hunger for revenge, the guilt over what the war had required him to do”. He wants peace, reconciliation and reconstruction and more he wants “a terrible storm to pass.” When he is accepted as a member of the Chateau he understands that he is not alone in this search - all of the residents of the Chateau are horribly damaged, concealing heartbreaking secrets. Their faith and labor at glass making are going to challenge them and provide the basis of their healing.

The lessons taught and learned are simple yet extraordinary. A fish leaping so high out of the water teaches “that all we get: from the unknown into this nonstop miracle, before we plunge back into unknowing”. “The discovery that fury was a a form of love.” There are just so many incredible observations as these men travel from what they were to what they had become to what they could be.

As a brief aside - the not so hidden references to Chagall and his symbolism were well placed curiosities that left room for a tangential hmmm. Was that a hidden something and where was it going or just an author’s prerogative to insert something that was an important “influence.” The explanation in the acknowledgments answered those questions.

This book is a thought provoking masterpiece. Incredibly well written and meticulously researched. So many thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for a copy.

something about how it was written made the prose strange to me, but it was a great storyline told from a different perspective: survival rather than resistance. page turner near the end

I am struggling through the end of The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan. It is a novel inspired by Marc Chagall. The main character has lost his wife and daughter in WWII, fought in the French Resistance, killed 22, and feels that all hope is gone. The devastation description reminds me of Ukraine.

The Ukraine War continues, and I hope that eventually, the rebuilding will begin.

But the love story is too soap opera for me. I would have preferred to read another book about Chagall. Both the main character and Chagall did stained glass windows. I have a blue glass lion from the New York World’s Fair and was fascinated by how the glass blower made it. Now I know more than I wanted to know about the craft and will never ever attempt it! The book slogged along and suddenly pops in a fascinating fact here and there.

Update, the last four chapters are the best in the book. I raised my evaluation to 4 because of them. It was a pain for me to read because of the slow pace at the beginning and the middle.

Worth reading but be prepared to not dash through the book quickly. I still want to read a biography of Marc Chagall. I have been inspired by his paintings so much.

In the village of Vergers, a small town on the Normandy coast of France, the hard work of fishing or farm life was offset by the comfort of sharing food and drink with family and friends. Emmanuelle (Emma for short) apprenticed to Ezra Kuchen. This village baker crafted his bakery creations for all to enjoy in their daily lives, and especially when celebrating special occasions, or comforting in times of loss and sadness. But the invasion of German troops changed everything. Like many, Emma didn't believe the Allies were coming to liberate them from occupation, atrocity, and treachery.

The lyrical writing is beautiful. Elegant in its simplicity yet collectively a masterpiece. It is a story of courage, bravery, persistence, resilience, kindness, and benevolence. All a reader’s senses are captured vividly, creating the imagining of delectable tastes of food and sips to drink, the smell of bread baking or a fresh catch from the sea, the sound of a rooster crowing to begin the day, or the splashing water against the fishing boats, or of boots clicking on pavement and the snap of a salute, the sights of the beauty of land and sea, or the sights of soldiers in every corner of their world, the warmth and touch of a loved one’s closeness and love, or the fear of forcible restraint and worse.

It is one of the most emotive reading experiences of WWII historical fiction that I have read. The bread is a metaphor natural to the joys of daily life to becoming horrific and humiliating when baking is compulsory for the enemy and withheld from villagers starving for food. One of many that led by example in WWII, Emma chose actions of the care and welfare of others before self, and was determined to find solutions to obstacles and treachery. I highly recommend the novel to every reader.

A Q&A with Stephen P. Kiernan and Emma and Reading Group Discussion Questions are available at the end of the novel.

This book was a gift from a reader friend, and I appreciate her introduction to this author.

This was a moving story of a broken man in a broken world searching for goodness, hope, and ultimately redemption. Though it was very much a character-driven novel, at times (especially at the beginning) it had the feel of an epic journey. The ending was touching and truly brought the story full circle.

I also appreciated the author's notes about the inspiration behind the story.

This would be a good read for those interested in historical fiction, especially if they enjoy stories about the resilience of the human spirit.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the early read.

DNF

Charlie Fish began his contributions during WWII by calculating arcs for aerial trajectories at the Metallurgic Lab at the University of Chicago. His brilliant mathematical mind led him to New Mexico to work on the Manhattan Project. Charlie knew project assignments came through the military but in silos or compartmentalized for the project's safety from spies. When Charlie realizes the purpose of his top-secret work, his conscience is in crisis. Meeting Brenda in Chicago was the best thing that ever happened to him, but would she still love him when she realizes what he's done?

Brenda worked at Dubie's Music, the family music store. With her father and brother serving in the war, Brenda and her mother kept the store open, selling pianos, organs, and accordions. Her attendance at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, a premiere organ school in Ohio, would have to wait. Charlie wasn't the type of man Brenda thought she'd fall in love with, but he was in New Mexico when she figured it out.

Based on the life of Charles B. Fisk, a gifted mathematician that built the detonator for the atomic bomb used in WWII, this is riveting historical fiction. With emotive writing, the characters are no longer simply names but bring history to life on the written page. Every love story is unique, but everything is felt more intensely in times of war. Blending history and romance, it's also a coming-of-age story for Brenda as a self-absorbed young woman until she realizes that not all of her mother's reactions and responses were about her, and not all of Charlie's reactions and responses were about her.

This book was gifted to me by a reader friend, and I am deeply grateful for it is another part of the history of WWII that I never knew; however, in reading this story, I will never forget.

When you read a lot of books like I do, you realize that there are good books and not so good books. Occasionally you get a surprise and read a GREAT book. A book that is so beautifully written it made me read much slower than usual so I wouldn't miss any of the lyrical sentences. A book with a main character who you know that you'll never forget - one who touches not only your mind but also your soul. A book with a theme that gives you a point of view that you've never read before and makes you think. The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan is all that and more. It's one if the best books that I've read in a long time and I know it will be on my top 10 list for 2023.

As the novel begins, the war in France has been over for a month. After the celebrations, the people realized what needed to be done to return to normal. Many people had no homes, every bridge and road had been destroyed, most churches and houses were gone and many families were wiped out. There were many people alone in the world, wondering how to bring life in France back to some kind of normalcy. Asher, a young Jewish man, has lost his wife and daughter and had his business destroyed. In retaliation for the shooting of his loved ones, he has been an assassin in the French resistance. He knows how many people he killed and one in particular haunts his dreams. All Asher wants now is peace and forgiveness. He wanders through the French countryside for a year looking for a place of peace. Several people tell him that peace can be found in Clovide but no one is exactly sure where it is. As Asher travels, he is plagued with doubt and fear combined with extreme hunger but he continues his odyssey. When he finally finds the castle her finds that it is full of a group of men who as damaged as he is but slowly recovering as they work together to make a stain glassed windows for the local Catholic cathedral. When Asher is allowed to stay, he realizes that he must hide his Jewish religion or he fears that they might not let him stay. There is plenty of food and constant work to make the glass. Asher finds that he has an artistic talent and begins to enjoy the process of making glass. Will working with glass - making beautiful glass from common ordinary sand - help Asher find his peace and redemption or are his wounds too deep to be healed?

This is a beautiful well written novel with fantastic characters . I won't forget Asher and his quest for peace. I actually read this book a month ago and I find my mind going back to the story and the characters. To me, that is a sign of a great piece of fiction.

"Victory does not equal peace."

By June 1944, the German Occupation weighs heavily on the Norman coastal village of Vergers. The Germans confiscate whatever food the villagers grow or catch, deport men of working age to their armaments factories, and delight in summary executions. One person they shoot is Ezra Kuchen, the baker; the villager who takes his death the hardest is his assistant, Emmanuelle, known as Emma.

Emma would never dream of joining the Resistance, whose activity she blames for other losses, and who believes the Allies will never invade, so what’s the point? But willy-nilly, Emma becomes the prime mover in a complicated barter arrangement whose weblike strands encompass the whole village, and which the Germans would certainly call resistance.

Her treason centers around baking bread for the occupiers, which she cuts with enough straw to make extra loaves for neighbors in need. In each loaf, she carves a subtle V.

I like this part of the novel the best, and not only because of Emma’s ingenuity. Every fiber of her duplicity exists to satisfy someone else’s wants, which she at first resents, because they leave no room for her own.

But over time, she realizes that throwing herself into feeding others gives her a reason to live despite her pessimism, and keeps her from dwelling on her repressed desires, which would drive her mad. When someone tells her to have hope, she snaps, “Can that be eaten? What does it taste like?” But since the novel opens on June 5, 1944, the reader knows what’s coming before she does.

Having written about military occupations and traveled Normandy, I was looking forward to The Baker’s Secret. (My fondest memory of the many French walking trails I’ve followed is of Calvados, where a group of local hikers pressed wine and food on me and told me how grateful they felt to Americans for having liberated them.) I gobbled up this confection of a novel in just about one sitting, which says something about its excellent pacing, but I felt hungry soon afterward. The story pleases, but, except for Emma, the characters have no depth, and the fable-like tone makes it hard to tell whether to take the narrative’s real tragedies seriously.

One weak link is the German soldiery. Kiernan’s occupiers deal out plenty of brutality, but they’re stiff, utterly predictable marionettes who act like no soldiers I’ve ever read of or seen, let alone like the Wehrmacht. They are easily fooled, spout racial and political prejudices like windup toys, seem not to understand their own weaponry, and even invite Emma to a place where she can see their fortifications, which they then boast of to her. They’re not buffoons, exactly; more like a collection of bumbling neurotics with guns.

Just as the Germans are unreal enemies, the villagers are improbable, idealized good guys. They’re more like a foreigner’s idea of what French people must be like, with generic, styled modes of expression, attitudes, and descriptions.

For starters, I don’t believe that Vergers has a Jewish baker, that Ezra Kuchen is Jewish, or that the villagers would honor him in death so fervently. He’s a cliché, a blatant device, and, incidentally, the only villager to possess a last name, whose meaning (“cake”) is no subtler than anything else in this story.

Kiernan tries hard to evoke Emma’s fear that someone in Vergers will betray her, but you know they won’t; they’re too righteous. Over time, a candidate presents himself, but he’s so roundly detested that you expect his duplicity rather than fear it.

I appreciate Kiernan’s attempt to show the cruelties perpetrated during the Occupation, and to portray the violence of the invasion as a decidedly mixed blessing for the people of Normandy. But The Baker’s Secret, though it has its poignant moments, teeters between cartoonish fable and skewed reality.

Something about this book bugged me and largely concerned how the characters were portrayed. Brenda, whose portions of the book are told from the first person, annoyed me, but more problematic, her motivations were never fully explored. Charlie, whose story is told in the third person, always seems a bit distant, but he annoyed me too, especially as he experiences his crisis of conscience, but fails to really put it into words. The book overall was interesting, especially in its descriptions of the Manhattan Project and the debates the scientists held about the morality of what they were doing. Still, throughout, I felt something the could be described as the glaze of contemporary eyes on this piece of past, which fails to capture the spirit and uncertainty of the times.

This started out very well - interesting concept and likable characters. But, it became predictable and there was very little character development. I would recommend this as a beach book. I thought the writing was fairly good, so there is hope for Mr. Kiernan. Needs to work on having his characters grow.

Not a book club book. Well written

Thought provoking. 4 stars.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I was a little unsure at the start as there was a lot of description of to the science in the book, which can sometimes be off-putting, but it flowed well and wasn't overpowering. All the characters were well developed, if not a little stereotypical at times, but I enjoyed following them and I liked the alternating viewpoints.

I liked Jeremiah's character, particularly how he was so curious and fearless about the world, but I thought the romantic aspect of the story was a bit unnecessary. Another minor point about the book was how Jeremiah was referred to as Frankenstein, which irritated me a little.

The book begins with a pleasant romance between Brenda who works in her father's music store and Charlie who starts to hang out there. It's very charming to imagine the two together. Charlie is a mathematician working for the government in Chicago during WWII. His determination and intelligence gets him promoted to the Las Alamos lab where it begins to make your head spin.

While I learned about the Atomic Bomb years ago, to read about fictional characters working there was another experience. In the US News, it says, "We cannot be proud of what we have done." Charlie thinks about this after the bomb has hit. This about sums it up: "Consider mankind as a species. Is it a collection of angels who make music and art and automobiles? Or is it a mob of monsters?" Something to think about.

I would rate this historical fiction high and hope that many more people read it.

This story sure pulls out a lot of feels and is based at least in part on history. I received this for free and I voluntarily chose to review this. I've given this a 5* rating. Not sure this should be read by the under 18 readers. This whole story is about WW II and the bombing of Japan. This author captures the high emotions of both sides of this event. I must say, I, myself, am torn on this issue. My mother's first fiancé was one of the one's killed at Pearl Harbor. A young man goes for a job, and is lead to do mathematics' work. It goes from there. A good book to do some soul searching for yourself.

This is probably the best book I've read based during a war. It held my attention from beginning to end, even though some parts were a bit confusing to me. Even with the confusion - mostly about war and organs - I did learn about both subjects, which is always lovely to me. The alternating perspectives was also a bit confusing until the very end.

The character development, for Brenda especially, was great. I couldn't stand her for a good chunk of the book - probably up until the last fourth of the book. I always love characters who recognize their mistakes and work to change things. I also loved the development for her mother. It was heartwarming to watch her soften and act more caring towards her entire family.

The writing itself was beautiful. It reminded me a lot of a Nicholas Sparks book, though maybe with a little more depth into certain topics. This was my first book by this author, but with how much I adored this book, I'll absolutely be looking into his others as soon as I can.

My favorite thing about this book was the realistic aspect. Kiernan showed the toll war takes on everyone involved - whether that be the partners and family of soldiers or the soldiers themselves. He showed how it can affect marriages, families, and mental health.

Overall, this was absolutely a book that was worth reading. I learned a lot about the war, organs, and even relationships. The writing was wonderful, and it felt so real at times that I'd feel as if I were a part of the story myself. The book does contain some sensitive subjects, so it may be best to read with some caution.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book via JeanBookNerd Tours and am voluntarily leaving a review.

An enthusiastic five stars!! Fascinating, touching, heart-wrenching, deep story on so many levels; not merely a science novel or a business novel but a love story and so much more.

Universe of Two is a rich blend of a love story beginning with first brief contacts and a novel that explores the deep moral issue surrounding the development and use of the atomic bomb to end WWII. Readers are transported by the protagonists to their mid 1940s lives as the novel is narrated by each who is touched by the war yet attempts at first to live his/her life as if the war isn't a part of his/her life. As their love deepens they are torn away from each other as he commits to a secret project of which at first he remains naive of it's purpose so dives into the challenges of a welding project that scientists oversee and question whether the it a detonator for a bomb can be successfully accomplished. He lives for the letters from his true love that help him through the long days and isolation of living at the project's secret grounds at Los Alamo. The distance issue is solved as she takes the risk and moves to New Mexico. They are often able to spend precious week-end time in their own world and soon they marry. Eventually the detonator challenge is fit into the entire project and goals of the secret work site which invades and deeply troubles the now enlightened successful detonator developer who continues his week-end rendezvous where he's unable to share the secret project and his moral wrestling with his wife.

I highly recommend this novel to readers and to those who appreciate historical novels with a fresh approach to a major historical event. Through the excellent presentation of issues and a well-considered narration ,readers are compelled to examine the moral issues and their beliefs surrounding the US's development and use of the first atomic bomb.With this as a driving force in the novel, it can be unsettling and applicable to today as the discussions and proliferation of nuclear weapons are often in the news.

In short, this excellent novel is on my list of books to read again, and I've often recommended it to friends and now recommend it again.

Great science fiction, with a bit of a love story as well. I enjoyed it a lot, and the science was well thought out and realistic.

What an amazing book! Hospice worker Deborah is working with a dying historical academic whose great work is shrouded in scandal. He has done so much research on an unknown story surrounding World War II and a Japanese pilot that bombed the upper northwest woodland. Does Deborah believe his story?
This dying man also helps her in her marriage relationship with her husband, Michael, who is having terrible PTSD after his third deployment to the Middle East. I love the line, "Dying people have taught me to live." that Deborah states.

Universe of Two is a love story based roughly on the life of Charlie Fisk, a mathematician who was part of the Manhattan Project during WWII. Brenda, just out of high school and hoping to attend a music conservatory, works at the family organ shop in Hyde Park, IL. She meets Charlie who comes into the shop and enjoys listening to Brenda play the organ. Charlie has been brought to Chicago to work on a secret project which even he doesn't fully understand. As Charlie and Brenda's relationship becomes more serious, Charlie is sent to Los Alamos, NM to continue working on a top secret project. Eventually Brenda follows Charlie to NM where they marry. Charlie's work is part of the Manhattan Project and when the nuclear bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he becomes deeply troubled and obsessed with the devastating number of lives that were lost. After Los Alamos Charlie is given the opportunity to further his education/career at Stanford which he ultimately forgoes for a life in the organ business.½