I’ve read many WWII books and wasn’t sure if another heavy book would be the best choice for my Bottles & Books November selection, but then I read more about this novel and was hooked.

Set in France post war and inspired by Marc Chagall’s glass work, this story is one of rebuilding and recovering from unimaginable loss. While so many novels delve into the years at war, this one focused on the huge undertaking of the survivors and the difficulty of creating a new path in life while harboring secrets and demons inside.

After Nazis kill his wife and daughter, Asher loses his faith in a higher power and channels his anger into helping the Resistance as an assasin. When the War ends he no longer has a purpose, and wanders until fate places him at an old chateau and former abbey that operates as an atelier. In this new place of faith, Asher chooses to hide his truths in order to survive and begins to work on rebuilding glass windows as he rebuilds his life.

This was a lovely story of hope, healing, and art.

I love the concept of this book: a man finding healing after the trauma of what he experienced participating in the French Resistance learning a trade in a small village. As a French teacher, I was interested in the idea of the story being inspired by Marc Chagall. However, this was a totally boring slog to me. I don’t even know what else to say. That’s how bored I was.

5 fulfilling stars
“’What makes you think I am a storyteller?’ ‘I can hear your brain machine grinding all the way over here. A story to lift our spirits.’ ‘That’s no easy task in these times.’ ‘Do it anyway,’ Euclid growled. ‘Or die.’”

Bravo. The Glass Chateau takes a different path through the glut of WWII historical fiction. It has lovely, crafted writing, compelling characters and a French setting in need of restoration, a plot arc, moral dilemmas, growth, and hope.

Kiernan brings all the senses to the tale. “The sensation was overwhelming – fat, crunchiness, juice…Sinking his teeth into the warm meat, Asher felt his body rejoice in a hundred ways – the sustenance, flavor, the liquid down his chin, the pleasure, when had he last felt pleasure. ‘Now,’ Asher responded, gnawing away. ‘Now I am a wealthy man.’” And ‘A tomato. It had been ages, and this one was a specimen. Asher gave it a good long sniff, and it seemed as though he were smelling the sun itself, and the rain that had fallen in spring. Sitting on a roadside stump, he nibbled into the flesh. Flavor flooded him, nectar so bright and strong he had to close his eyes.”

The pacing was outstanding. The glass craftsmen rushed to get the stained-glass windows installed, running out of raw materials, then they catch their breath with a description of the rain. “Day upon day it had rained, the scent smothering all others. Rain hissed and seethed. It puddled the lowlands. It crossed the fields in sheets, like ghosts made of water…It seemed like a fog insisting on some quiet idea. It softened the paths and draped branches. It bent garden flowers as though they were ashamed.”

The lush writing is descriptive, yet concise. Asher sees a fish leap. “He’d seen his share of seasons and dodged his quota of hooks. Lurking on the bottom through winter starvation, then spring times of abundance, when bugs skimmed on the surface for easy eating. No fool, this fish. Yet his leap was so high, so extravagant, I stood here thinking, he did not do that only to catch a fly. He wanted to see. To find out what goes on up in this roofless realm. I’ve admired this fish ever since, his optimism and ambition, and what the world must have looked like to him; all the greenness, the vastness of possibilities, the brilliance of the sun…’That fish changed my life. He told me that’s all we get; a leap from the unknown into this nonstop miracle, before we plunge back into unknowing. I began to notice the world again.’” My hope is that The Glass Chateau will find many readers who start to notice a new world as they dive into fresh characters, subtle humor, the moral dilemmas of war.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I ended up skipping from the 30% mark to the least chapter because this book was beyond boring. I was so excited about this because I love Marc Chagall and the blurb said he was the inspiration for this book.
The book follows Asher after WW2 as he’s trying to find his way in a place he no longer recognizes. He ends up in an old church that has been turned into a place where glass is made and turned into windows.
I’m sure I missed a lot by skipping parts, but I found this to be so tedious it was making me sad at the thought of reading it.
To the publisher- I am so sorry; I generally finish everything I read, but I just couldn’t with this one. Please don’t let that deter you from approving me in the future.

What a remarkable path of recovery! These characters are striking and they are able to form friendships and community in the making of stained glass. Rich in historical detail.
Many thanks to William Morrow and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for this free ARC in return for my honest review.
World War 2 has ended but the casualties have not! So many people have hidden scars and secrets from the war and in The Glass Chateau author Stephen P. Kiernan follows the story of former French resistance fighter Asher as he wonders his land trying to find peace, to escape the ravages of war, the family lost in an instance, as well as the memories of the 19 Germans he killed as part of the Resistance. Through what appears to be a mystical encounter with an old lady and her dog, he is told of the fictional town on Clovide where people go for peace and healing.. When he arrives he find a stained glass making factory that is home to a host of other individuals also trying to recover from the war. From a former town mayor, to a nameless man, a speechless man and others, this group works at developing stained glass for windows as part of their own road to recovery.
The book is inspired by French artist, Marc Chagall who became famous for changing the art stained glass, this factory eventually gets a commission to install new windows at the local cathedral, and we join along in the glass blowing, manufacturing and artistic developments, all of which are hampered by a lack of materials. Friendships are made, some are expelled from the factory, and by the end the backstories are revealed, as awe-inspiring windows are finally installed.. And then there is the character of Marie, a widow who supplies garden vegetables to the community and whose presence provides relief to many at the factory.
A very well developed plot, with fascinating characters who are realistic in the scars they carry and the mysteries they keep hidden. It is a first-rate effort that teaches of love, healing, tolerance, as well as learning how stained glass is made.

An interesting story of survival. Took awhile to connect the different story lines. A good read. I really enjoyed reading about the creation of the stained glass windows and how the process was re-created.

In France just after the end of WWII, Asher has lost everything. He hears of a city in the south that is being rebuilt and journeys there to find work. He is taken in by a couple at a chateau that makes stained glass windows to replace the ones that were destroyed in the bombings. But Asher must hide his past and identity, as do the other cast of characters who work together to make this special religious art. Based loosely on artist Marc Chagall as the chateau owner (although you would never know it by this book as he is a minor character), this historical fiction novel shows the troubled times just after the War.

This book was interesting but very slow. I liked the storyline and the characters, but I could definitely have used more action and since it was billed as a book about Marc Chagall, I would have liked for him to actually be in it more. This is not a book about him. I liked this book as an alternative to some other more violent WWII stories, but I wish it had fulfilled a bit more of it's potential.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

This book just seemed to trudge along with the main character, Asher. I simply could not get invested in the story. As Asher rambles on aimlessly, so does this story. WWII historical fiction books are typically my favorite genre. However, this one just did not appeal to me and I had to force myself to keep picking up the book and reading one more page.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

For more reviews, please visit my blog at: https://www.msladybugsbookreviews.com/. Over 1000 reviews posted!

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to read The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan. Excellent! Meticulous research, interesting, well written story about a group of people I now want to know more about.

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.

A beautifully written book about healing, friendship, art and trust, set post WWII in France. The country has been devastated and so have the people, everyone has lost someone, and is filled with grief. A group of mismatched, starving and hurting people find shelter at The Glass Chateau where they are given, food, jobs, friendship. Eventually they learn about themselves, each other and how to make stained glass.

Readers of WWII fiction know that many of these novels end when the armistice is declared. However, the end of the war is not only a time of victory/defeat, it is also a time when worlds and countries, along with people, need to be rebuilt. The Glass Chateau is set in France at this time of aftermath and figuring things out.

Asher is desperately in need of solace and sanctuary when he discovers le Chateau Guerin. He has lost so much in the war and his war work was as stressful as possible; It is no wonder that he is/feels damaged.

Asher and others discover the Chateau as a place of sanctuary. Readers will find out what talent Jewish Asher has and how this serves him in a Catholic setting.

Those who enjoy historical fiction and especially stories set in this time period, should give this title a look. It is written by an experienced and capable author.

Many thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for this title. All opinions are my own.

“These people, they were the astonishing thing, they were the accomplishment. After all they’d withstood and suffered and survived, somehow stained glass made the misfits beautiful.”

I adore historical fiction books, especially ones involving art, and after a self imposed break from WWII novels, The Glass Château enveloped me with a warm hug.
Inspired by the artistry of Marc Chagall, author Stephen P. Kiernan eloquently unravels a tale of postwar survival, redemption and accountability. The main character Asher moves through roles as cobbler, husband, father, resistance assassin, and finds himself on the doorstep of a French château - an atelier of glass.

The creation of stained glass in this 16 century building is the perfect metaphor for the residents themselves: creative, beautiful, strong yet ultimately fragile. Each has work to do on personal forgiveness as they collectively build something better and lasting. As secrets swirl around them, they strive to show the world that among the darkness and destruction of the war, the beauty and determination of the human spirit might survive.

Thanks to Net Galley and William Morrow Publishing for the early copy in exchange for my honest review.

“The Glass Château,” by Stephen P. Kiernan, William Morrow, 384 pages, June 20, 2023.

One month after the end of World War II, people in France are stunned by how much recovery work has to be done. Every church, school, hospital, bridge, road and rail line has been destroyed. People must unite to rebuild.

Asher, Levi and Eli have been friends since school days. All three were in the same Resistance cell. Asher lost his family during the war, and in revenge served as an assassin.

After the war ends, Asher arrives at what is left of St. Anne’s Church and finds that Levi and Eli are already there. Asher was a cobbler in the town of Bonheur before the war. His wife’s name was Aube. Their toddler daughter was Rachel.

A woman tells him that she hears that good things are happening in the town of Clovide. Asher wanders through the countryside, until he reaches Clovide. He finds the cathedral. Some of the walls are still standing. He is able to get a job supplying wood for the glass making forge. At first, he is hauling wood, then he learns to make glass.

Asher turns out to have a gift for making windows, and decides to hide the fact that he is Jewish so the devout Catholics who own the chateau will not expel him. As the secrets of the chateau’s residents become known one by one, they experience more heated conflict and greater challenges.

This is about people and their search for peace after war. It is also the story of friendship. The character development is the novel’s strength.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Set in post-war France, Asher – a bootmaker turned assassin for the Resistance – attempts to cobble some semblance of a life. He lost his family in the war. France is polarized politically, rubble is everywhere, while food is scarce. Asher thought victory would bring peace, but so far it has only brought hunger, nightmares, and continued violence.

His odyssey brings him to an atelier (studio) full of misfits attempting to replace bombed out cathedral windows using salvaged glass from an abandoned Nazi motor pool. Asher joins the group first doing menial work and eventually learning how to design and build with stained glass. The only wrinkle: Asher is Jewish and the windows depict Christian themes unfamiliar to him.

The elegant sentence-level writing propelled me through the novel as much as the plot. (Living in the south, I particularly liked “humidity as oppressive as a bitter mother-in-law.”)

The ghost of Marc Chagall permeates the book: his images and his avant-garde approach to stained glass. My thoughts also drifted to another fictional Jewish artist, likewise influenced by Chagall-- “My Name is Asher Lev” by Chaim Potok. I wonder if Asher’s name is a nod to Potok. Whatever the case, when finished, the reader will want to spend time googling Chagall’s magnificent stained-glass work.

(Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book.)

The Glass Chateau is a unique exploration of one aspect of post WW II European life--how to survive the peace that follows war. Stephan P. Kieman has captured the confusion, discord, and anguish that enveloped survivors of World War II. Life cannot return to normal for those who survived such a destructive and all-encompassing war. For Jewish survivors, entire families and homes were lost. How to pick up the pieces and survive is a big puzzle to solve for those who did survive the war.

The Glass Chateau contains an element of magical realism. In Kieman's novel, this magical realism might also be credited to faith and a belief in God. Readers can choose if the strangers voice offering wisdom comes from God or is through some sort of magical realism. For survivors, the end of war is suddenly shocking and filled with choices that must be made. To simply put one foot in front of another and keep moving on are choices that are filled with risk. How to choose. For Asher, the central protagonist, the choice is to hide who he is, since being Jewish was to risk ones life during the war. As Asher tries to choose a way forward, the choices are seemingly made through the guidance of a voice telling him which way to go.

The characters in The Glass Chateau are a mixed group, each with a distinct personality. Their lives unfold slowly as Asher gets to know them. In the time that he spends at The Glass Chateau, Asher discovers the healing that he needs to move on and start his life over. There is a great deal of research that Kieman included. Readers learn about the need to find food and housing after war has destroyed both. Asher must choose a new career, and thus readers learn about the work involved in blowing glass. The detail included by the author is impressive. Although it took me a while to truly get involved in the novel, once I did, I could not put it down.

I totally recommend The Glass Chateau. The characters will live on for readers. Thank you to author and publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Thank you also to NetGalley for introducing me to another wonderful author.

Most WWII historical fiction focuses on actions taken during the war. Kiernan instead focuses on the aftermath in France, where every road, bridge, and town has been destroyed.
Asher is a devout Jew whose wife and daughter were carelessly slaughtered by the Nazis. He joined the Resistance to help avenge their deaths, and assassinated 19 Nazi officers. After the war ends, he returns to his home town, only to discover that his home and workshop are gone. So he begins wandering, always on the brink of starvation, until he discovers the Glass Chateau. There, people damaged by the war are welcomed, and trained to create stained glass windows to replace those shattered in cathedrals. Asher keeps his religion a secret, and discovers that he has a talent for creating masterpieces in glass.
I love the theme of redemption in this book!

“How can anyone have faith after god abandoned us?” This is a question I ask myself often.”

I loved the Baker’s Secret and now The Glass Chateau is another favorite of mine by Stephen P. Kiernan. The Glass Chateau is inspired by the life of Marc Chagall. It was fascinating to learn what goes into blowing glass and creating stained glass windows.

“There is no water great enough to wash away my sins.” Could you love someone who committed eighteen intentional deaths and one unavoidable one? If you were that person could you love yourself? Could you ever forgive yourself? The war changed everything and everyone.

The story takes place post WWll in France. The war changed everything and everyone. Several men are taken in by Marc and Brigitte at le Chateau Guerin. They come there to heal, to hide, to find peace and to be accepted. Each one carries their own haunting secrets and burdens. They bond and make friends with people they would never possibly be friends with if they really knew their life stories.

The character development in this story is outstanding. I fell in love with every person, even with the ones I thought it would be impossible to love.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for an ARC of of the Glass Chateau in exchange for an honest review. This is an outstanding book, beautifully written with people you will fall in love with. If you read it, you will undoubtedly see the world differently, be more patient, be kinder and be more tolerant.

World War 2 has ended, leaving much of France in ruins. Having served in the French Resistance to avenge the death of his wife and daughter at the hands of the Nazis, Asher has no home to return to and wanders the countryside in search of food and shelter. Arriving at Le Chateau Geurin, he is put to work ferrying wood to the kilns where residents make glass for stained glass windows. Under the guidance of the chateau's owner, Marc, and the care of his wife Brigette, Asher and the other residents, traumatized by war, work together to heal their psychic wounds via artistry and faith. But Asher is hiding the fact that he is a Jew amongst stout Catholics. He is also keeping to himself the nightmares that plague him, constantly reminding him of the 19 deaths on his conscience. He is not the only one guarding the secrets produced by war, and everyone at the chateau is seeking peace and healing.

Crafted in beautiful prose, The Glass Chateau is made up of unforgettable characters in the intricately painted background of post-war France. Historical fiction fans who love a character-driven, slow paced narrative with lyrical prose and something to say about the human condition should not miss this book. This is my first experience with Kiernan's writing but I will be quickly devouring his backlist hoping for more of the magic present in this novel.