Sisters Louise and Ida Cook are infatuated with opera. This obsession influences career choices and opens up their circle of influence and as a result, they are asked to partake in a dangerous mission by new and desperate friends.

The content and research were intriguing but the presentation fell flat for me. I’m not sure what the aim was in presenting the narrative in different formats, but it ruined the flow for me. While I am in awe of the risk these two ordinary women took, I failed to connect to them because the story didn’t come alive for me. I am disappointed that a fresh look at WW2 fiction wasn’t as enjoyable for me as I was hoping it would be. Despite my disappointment, I appreciated the author’s exploration of moral courage in the face of risk and of ordinary people standing up and choosing to help another. Just because I didn’t love the author’s choice of presentation, doesn’t mean that you won’t like it.

I was gifted this advance copy by Shadow Mountain Publishing and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Unfortunately, I felt this was more of a history lesson than a good historical fiction, which it had the potential to be. I felt myself not wanting to pick it up. Just Didn’t flow in my opinion.

Ida and Louisa have a very sedate life. One works as a government clerk, and Ida loves to write, often scribbling down snippets and notes of ideas for stories. Their love for opera sees them scrimping and saving to buy opera tickets and then daringly actually going to opera houses in Europe to see their stars perform. During the course of these visits they are befriended by the celebrities themselves who are charmed by the simplicity of the sisters.

When Austria and subsequently Poland followed by France are overswept by the Nazis, Ida and Louise set up a system of trying to help Jews to get out of Europe by a system of sponsorship. To this end during their frequent visits to Europe, they take with them the jewels and furs of the Jews who have managed to save them as a guarantee of their stays in London and elsewhere. The system works despite Ida and Louisa's total lack of training in this kind of work - work they do with their entire hearts and minds overcoming great odds and personal dangers to get as many people as they could out of these countries.

The novel is based on a true story and links and snippets as to actual events are highlighted at the end of the chapters but the appeal of the story is the simple, straightforward lifestyle of two very middle class sisters who stepped out of their comfort zone to help people who were unknown to them. An inspiring read of two very down to earth heroines.

How have I never heard of these sisters before ? These are important historical figures and I wish there was more information out there about them! I’m so glad I chose to read this book and learned about them. Such an interesting topic. Worth the read! Well researched and great read. Thank you NetGalley!

Thank you to Net Galley and Shadow Mountain Publishing. The opinions expressed are my own.
This is the story of the Cook sisters, who risked their lives to smuggle valuables out of Nazi Germany in the 1930's. I found their story to be very interesting and I admire their courage. What I did not like what the short history lessons throughout the story. It almost seemed like two books. I think the book would have been better if the author had combined them and made the history part of the Cook sister's story. I had never heard of the Cook sisters before I read this story. I am glad I had the chance to learn about them and the risks they took during war time. I would recommend this book to all readers that like historical fiction!

The Opera Sisters
By: Marianne Monson
Review Score: 4 Stars

Five Key Feels

-Ida and Louise Cook are amazing women.

-Monson did such an amazing job of building the tension in this book.

-It was interesting to see what was happening in Germany and Austria from the eyes of Brits.

-I learned so much about Opera from this book as well.

-I was so invested in every character that was introduced, holding my breath to find out if they had made it.

——

The Opera Sisters was kindly provided as an ARC by Netgalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing. Thank you for allowing me to read this wonderful book!

Release Date: 9/6/22

The Opera Sisters is an incredible story about Ida and Louise Cook, two women who help families leave mainland Europe for Britain as the Nazis overrun country after country. This is based on a true story, which I did not know! Monson did such an amazing job of weaving these characters together, and showing how hard it was to leave Europe as a Jewish person as World War Two started to build. I also loved learning about Ida’s book writing, and how she uses that money to help anyone she can.

Before this book, I really did not know much about the Opera, or really considered myself a fan. Watching the Opera through the Cook sister’s eyes, and how they used their love of Opera as a way to move about, really added to how much I enjoyed this book.

The Opera Sisters is an incredible read about two incredible women. I highly recommend it.

#bookstagram #books #readingnow #boogiereadsbooks #fivekeyfeels #audiobooks #audiobook #historicalfiction #arcreview #netgalley #shadowmountainpub #theoperasisters #mariannemonson #worldwar2

One of the most interesting books of unsung heroes that I"ve read in a long time! The Opera Sisters tells the story of two sisters in the UK and their efforts to save Jews in Germany.

Ida and Louise Cook are avid opera lovers. They save every penny they make from their jobs to see operas in the UK, and Europe. A chance meeting on one of those trips leads them to helping people leave their country and find new lives in England. This is not easy; England wasn't very open to taking these refugees, public sentiment did not yet understand the dire peril these folks were in, and the bureaucratic hurdles were huge. In addition, the personal risk to Ida and Louise was quite substantial. Yet these two women saved many lives and most people have never heard of them. That needs to change; everyone needs to read this book!

Well researched, well written, historically accurate and with clear attribution to historical sources, The Opera Sisters is a tribute to the amazing work of these two women and the many others who helped them help others.

Touching and powerful.
Many thanks to Shadow Mountain Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Well researched book but I found it had to get into and rather boring. Having never of the sisters, I was interested to find out about their role during the Holocaust. The sisters seemed very shallow to have successfully helped the Jews. Mixed feelings about this book.

As a human with a deep appreciation for WWII historical fiction done well, The Opera Sisters takes it to a new level. This beautiful tale of bravery and harrowing/daring feats to save lives is a new take on WWII fiction that I couldn't put down. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

My favorite time period is World War II, and I’m drawn to books set then. I especially love it when the stories are based on real events. I’d never heard of the Cook sisters, but I will be searching out more information about them. This story was gorgeous and one that I’ll revisit.

Ida and Louise Cook were remarkable women. I loved learning about their story and focus to save "the one." The sisters worked tirelessly and impacted the lives of many people This book turned facts and figures into real people with real-life stories. I'd never heard of the opera singers mentioned in the book, and after I finished reading the it, I looked up the stars up on the Internet and listened to some of their recordings. The description of the bombing of London during the 8th-month Blitz brought that to life. My knowledge of WWII will forever be better because of this book.

The Opera Sisters is a riveting historical fiction novel based on the true story of Ida and Louise Cook, two British working-class sisters, who helped Jews escape Germany during WWII and the events leading up to it. The pace of the story keeps the reader engaged as events unfold and the protagonists' awareness of and concern for the plight of Jews in Germany evolve. The portrayal of their courage and compassion is inspiring to witness. Marianne Monson presents a thoroughly researched account of the lives of the sisters and effectively ties together fact and fiction, providing greater depth to the story. Through rich detail and descriptive imagery, Monson creatively interlaces historical events alongside the plot, presenting a broader context amid the lives of the characters. Monson also includes footnotes and websites for readers who want to delve deeper into primary sources and historical archives.

Readers of historical fiction in general and the WWII era specifically will enjoy this engaging novel.

Thank you NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased review.

This book was beautiful, exciting, traumatic and well described the monstrosities of the time! The bravery these women showed during WWII was incredible! I loved this whole book! I hope you will take the time to read it!

I love romance and wanted to include this beautiful quote from Ida herself!
“Romance is the quality which gives an air of probability to our dearest wishes . . . people often say life isn’t like that, but life is often exactly like that. Illusions and dreams often do come true.” Ida Cook

This was the strangest novel with brief chapters interspersed of historical content: Hitler’s first arrest, Kristallnacht, the Anschluss, D-Day, etc. Familiar with all this history, I skimmed over them to get back to the story. Chapter notes also interrupted the flow to explain the actual fate of the people portraited.
I did enjoy the story of Ida and her sister Louise, although it barely scratched the surface of the historical experience, relying too much on the history lessons.

This accounting of the heroism of Louise and Ida Cook prior to and during the Second World War is definitely a story that needs to be told. There were so very many heroes during that horrible time who have gone unrecognized simply due to the immensity of the war and the vastness of the need for help. The Cook sisters’ love of opera provided a unique opportunity which they took full advantage of.

I appreciate the efforts of the author, Marianne Monson, to bring these heroines to our attention and I loved reading the story.

There seemed to be great confusion in Monson’s mind as to whether the story should be a novel or a non-fiction so she addressed this literary contradiction by the use of copious footnotes, explaining just about everything, throughout the novel. For me, the footnotes were quite distracting. It was bad enough to have explanatory notes about what was actually happening in the war, but it was most distracting to have notes telling that what she had written was not the way it happened, but she needed to write it that way for the flow of the novel. Then she would go on to tell how the scene actually happened. Or in another case, the people in the novel weren’t the actual people in reality, etc.

With some serious editing I think this could be a first class novel of heroism in WWII … OR … a first class non-fiction about heroism in WWII.

I’m most appreciative to NetGalley and to the publisher, Shadow Mountain Publishing, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I hope many people will read it and learn from it.

I so tried to get into this story but it just didn't hold my attention. I'm sure it's a marvelous novel but just not for me.

The Opera Sisters by Marianne Monson
Publishing date: September 6, 2022 by Shadow Mountain Publishing

ARC - thank you, Shadow Mountain Publishing and Net Galley!

I enjoyed Marianne Monson's "Frontier Grit" immensely, so I was very pleased to be invited to accept an ARC of her newest book, "The Opera Sisters."

This is the all-too-real story of two ordinary working girls, sisters living with their parents in WW II era London. Prior to the outbreak of the war, their shared pastime was attending opera performances. It was in the milieu of the opera that they formed relationships with a few performers who led them to understand what was going on in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s. Author Monson expertly details the sisters' entree to the world of saving people from concentration camps and certain death.

The story continues from the beginning of the sisters' decision to take on responsibility for helping their fellow human beings to long after the war when they finally are able to make their coveted trip to America. Upon arriving in their hotel suite, they were greeted with evidence of the gratitude and love of the 29 families they personally helped save from the Holocaust.

In the middle of the story, we learn how these two remarkably unremarkable women were able to help all these people and how they literally put their own lives on the line, making "opera trips" to Nazi Germany in order to do so. They were aided by Ida's earnings from her romance novels, but also by dozens of ordinary British citizens of modest means who heard of their work and offered to "guarantee" a refugee. No rich aristocrats or members of the wealthy class were involved - it was all the work of ordinary people who decided to do something to fight evil. No one asked about the religion or ethnicity of the refugee - they just wanted to help. There are also detailed descriptions of London during the Blitz, and how everyone suffered, sheltering in the underground at night, getting little sleep because of the carpet bombing and going out in the morning to find their homes and their entire neighborhoods replaced by piles of smoking rubble.

In addition to the story being written a bit like a thriller, the author's footnotes offer supporting details and evidence which serve to clarify just how dangerous this activity was. She also footnotes various persons and situations that she abbreviated in order to keep the book "tighter." Nothing is exaggerated. Nothing is untrue. Some people and situations were merely rearranged. Her footnotes also offer poignant details about the kinder (child) transports, the voyage of the St. Louis (the ship full of Jews escaping Hitler's rule who were turned away from every country including the USA, only to go back to Germany), and some other "red flag" episodes that should have clued in the world to what was really going on in Germany.

I see this book as a testament to what ordinary people can do. It reminds us that during evil times, people will and do step up to help. It is not only the military forces that win wars, but the common citizen, never recognized by the writers of history who just keep going, doing what they can to help others along the way despite their own monumental losses. The people who refuse to give up despite loss of their spouses, their children, their homes, their neighborhoods.

This historical fiction book was a great storytelling and left me wanting more books by this author
Overall I would recommend this book to friends
Thank you NetGalley for arc !

#TheOperaSisters #NetGalley

The Opera Sisters by Marianne Monson, is based on the true story, of two British sisters, Ida and Louise Cook. There was a phrase that kept going through my mind, while I was reading, "I'm only one person, how can I ever make a difference?"
Ida and Louise, two ordinary, opera loving sisters, didn't waste time, they went out of their way to help refugees. Ida a romance author donated her time, effort and money to the cause of helping Jews, to escape war torn Germany, even before the war started. Louise, a secretary, also, worked alongside Ida, to free families and individuals. The two sibling, made sure to save, not only Jews, but some of their possessions as well, from furs, to jewelry, they would wear it proudly across the border and put it in a secure place, so it could be returned later. I've read many books about World War II and about concentration camps. Bless these two sisters, for their efforts in helping, without any thought for their own safety.