Jessica Hendra

2 books read for LibriVox

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Lay Down Your Arms Bertha von Suttner, translated by T. Holmes
Martha starts as an Austrian countess who thinks war is glorious, then it takes her first husband at Solferino and keeps coming for everyone she loves. It's earnest and sometimes preachy, but her fury feels earned, and knowing Suttner wrote it decades before 1914 gives it a chill.
Mauprat George Sand, translated by Stanley Young
Bernard starts out half feral, raised by bandit uncles in a crumbling castle, and Edmée basically refuses to love him until he makes himself worth loving, which takes years. If you like romance that's really about a person slowly being rebuilt, this is unusually satisfying.

2 books read for LibriVox

filter sort era

Lay Down Your Arms Bertha von Suttner, translated by T. Holmes
Martha starts as an Austrian countess who thinks war is glorious, then it takes her first husband at Solferino and keeps coming for everyone she loves. It's earnest and sometimes preachy, but her fury feels earned, and knowing Suttner wrote it decades before 1914 gives it a chill.
Mauprat George Sand, translated by Stanley Young
Bernard starts out half feral, raised by bandit uncles in a crumbling castle, and Edmée basically refuses to love him until he makes himself worth loving, which takes years. If you like romance that's really about a person slowly being rebuilt, this is unusually satisfying.