"From the shores of Lake Ontario to the hustle of Berlin, from the art of oculary to punk opera, this is a story of dark secrets, suppressed desires, forgiveness, and love."
Looking forward to reading.

After starting and stopping this book countless times, I managed to get to the end. I think this book had potential and the overlying storyline was an interesting concept. But, struggled to follow the trail of the story and kept getting confused by the writing and methods of telling the story. I wanted to like this one but I just couldn't get invested enough to get lost in the world it created.

TWO WHITE QUEENS AND THE ONE-EYED JACK is a coming of age story, with very unique characters: a set of albino twin girls, and two boys with one eye (hence the very literal title!). While one of the boys is born blind in one eye, the other physically loses an eye in his infancy. We then follow his embracing of glass eyes, while his friend finds joy in cameras (they also have one eye). There are a lot of parallelisms in the book, and the characters embrace their fate in what sometimes seems too good to be true, with a lot of wordplay and interconnected themes.

I think the book could have benefited from different editing and writing choices - there were jumps in the story where a little-something and more details would have improved the experience. The fact that the author wrote based on real-life events might have influenced this, as there could have been gaps in the stories she knew, or perhaps didn't want to stray too far from the truth.
The characters are so good, there is so much there... I don't think I would have met these original characters any other way, and I find myself thinking about them more than I'd like to admit. Could definitely see this becoming a movie or a tv show.

There should be some trigger warnings in this book: there is rape and abuse by family member, descriptions of eye sockets and removing/placing glass eyes in them.

Thank you for providing a review copt of this book. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped and did not finish. I appreciate the opportunity.

Interesting.... yet unique is the best way to describe this one.

Not a fav story for me as I had a really hard time following along and connecting with both the characters and story taking place.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my complimentary eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Please excuse my tardiness in posting my review. My TBR list is continuously growing and I keep finding so many amazing books being requested + added to my pile! I have so much gratitude for this copy that has been shared with me.

Synopsis was very interesting. Characters and overall story did not work for me. I definitely struggled to read this and the transition between the different POVs was very rough.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

I loved it. I love indepth, multi-character stories that take place over long periods of time. I adore this one as the characters all interweave and develop while crossing paths with each other. The fact that it takes place in Ontario and Germany is a definite added bonus.

Title: Two White Queens and One-Eyed Jack
Author: Heidi von Palleske
Pages; 304

A story about starting over in second chances, friendship, loss and forgiveness... I think???

As with the title, there is a lot going on in this book. Maybe I am just too stupid to keep up, but it feels like the author is looking down on her readers from her very tall and very smart horse. A story that I felt was pretty pointless in this end. I just couldn't understand the plot and kept getting lost in the story.

The above kept me from enjoying this book or from ever being captivated, meaning this book kept being put back on the shelf without a lot of progress being made, until eventually I completely gave up.

As such I would not recommend this book, this being prefaced by the fact that I did not finish it.

Stories of friendship, told over long periods of time, usually hold my attention. Not this one. I started and restarted this one several times, and had continuous difficulties with the writing style, which was choppy, often jumping between storylines and time periods with no continuity. Not sure that I would recommend this book to my friends.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I was so excited when I was approved for this book. The synopsis looked amazing, but life happens and it took a while before I could get to it. The writing was choppy, there were time jumps that did not make sense, switching between characters needed better transitions and more. I wanted to love this book. I even ended up getting the audiobook version of this to help me get into the story when the e-galley form was not doing it for me. I appreciate the effort the author put into writing this book, but it simply was not for me.

I had to DNF this one. I just could not get in to the storyline. I really wanted to continue this one but just couldn’t. Will update this review if I revisit this title in the future.

I personally love books about friendship or just bonding. This is a story of two boys and their journey from the shores of Lake Ontario to Berlin. Gareth and Jack are two six year old boys, They were playing on a hot June day in 1965 when by accident Jack loses eyes and those two friends start their journey towards awakening.
Loved the whole story, people should read it more!

I've tried to read this book several times, and I gotta be honest, you have to be in the right frame of mind and persevere. It loses stars only for that because the character, backdrop and the rest of it, once you 'get your eye in' as it were and deal with the perspective flipping (I'd say more like acrobatics in places), then this is actually a really interesting, if difficult to follow book.

The story is written through many perspectives, but the author is able to weave them together so well I knew who was speaking and where I was in the timeline throughout the whole book.

Jack and his best friend, Gareth, are playing climbing trees when he falls and due to his injury ends up losing one of his eyes. He is given an acrylic eye, which his body rejects and is soon going to Germany every couple of years to get a new eye. He is able to find that his eye can be helpful in certain instances, he can take better pictures because he only has to close one eye and his camera acts as the replacement eye. He also later rebels and gets a "different" eye to wear for special occasions so he looks like David Bowie, he uses his "like" eye for regular day to day wear.

Jack's mother, Hilda, is a German immigrant whose father was put to death to pay for war crimes he was found guilty of after WWII. She remembers a young man who stayed with her family during the war that was a ophthalmologist, Siegfried, who can create a glass eye for her son. She is a doting mother who, at the detriment of her marriage and partial neglect to her other children, hovers over Jack and constantly cries over his eye. She takes her son to Germany from Canada every couple of years and finds a friendly relationship with Siegfried until the end of her marriage when she is able to let herself rekindle long hidden feelings with her former friend.

Siegfried tells of his memories of a young Hilda and tells her she must bring her son back to Germany every two years or sooner to be refitted when it really isn't necessary, he wants to see her and falls in love with her again through their letters. He finally lets her know if his love when Hilda's marriage is over.

Gareth is an artist and through his artwork is free to express himself. He blames himself for Jack losing his eye, and is always seeking redemption. He feels it is his duty to make people feel through his artwork.

The two queens are twin albino girls, Blanca and Clara, who live with their grandfather and are treated as if they are spawned by sin. As they grow older they find they have artistic abilities through piano and singing and decide to pursue a career as opera/punk singers.

Everyone has a voice in the story. More importantly all of their stories are believable. I really enjoyed reading this book. I was given the opportunity to read this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a meandering tale of multiple characters whose lives interconnect. However I was confused with all of the characters because none were really distinctive. The character I enjoyed most were Hilda. I think she had the better storyline but she seemed to be a side character. Her story alone would have made a great book. Each chapter change felt clunky and confusing. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

It took me a few tries to get into this book. I am glad I persevered as it ended up being an enjoyable read. I’m not sure that I would recommend it to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for the opportunity to to read and review this book.

This is a fascinating novel reminiscent of John Irving's style. Von Palleske introduces us to history we didn't know we interested in learning about, the art of making glass eyes. Her characters are unique, in appearance--albino twins, and their ability to interact in the world, or fail to interact, as in the main character's inability to resolve his guilt, forcing him outside the mainstream of society. He feels connected to his childhood best friend for life through this guilt after urging him to climb a tree and the friend falls, losing his eye. There's sexual ambiguity, unearthly music (the twins), and frenemies galore. I was fortunate to receive a digital copy from the publisher Dundurn through NetGalley.

I ended up abandoning this after a number of efforts to complete it. Interesting concept but content felt a bit wander-y and I lost interest.

This was a great read, so different but captivating and utterly enchanting. Each character was endearing. I loved each and every one of them and won't forget them. The story took place over a lifetime, from very young until very old and introduced a number of wonderfully interesting storylines. from losing ones sight to albinism. from Nazi Germany and its division into East and West to its reunification and the falling of the Berlin Wall. There are some harsh, yet very real scenes in this book, assault and bad language, yet it is tender and kind too. The end was so unexpected. I even cried. It was beautifully written, poetic and magical in parts I really enjoyed it and I think it will be loved by those who enjoy wonderful tales with depth & substance.

This book was a mystical adventure for me as a reader, as it reminded me so much of fairy tales that I enjoyed. The author did a great job of creating a very unique read!