Julie Thomas (1) (1959–)

This story is centered around a violin and the families that owned it. I enjoyed learning details of classical music, competitions, and how violins are made. The author seemed adept at getting into the mindset of a 14 year old boy's love of music and baseball. The middle chapters about the Jewish family during WWII are told in a compelling manner.

The timeline jumped around quite a bit, which I thought made the story more disjointed than necessary. The beginning chapters were not particularly engaging and could have been significantly edited. Some of the characters seemed to be introduced solely as a plot device and were not organic to the story. There were too many "coincidences" and some key events not very believable. Be prepared for a few scenes of graphic violence.… (mer)

germany, ww2, espionage, historical-figures, historical-novel, historical-places-events, historical-research, history-and-culture, lgbt*****

When I read this book I truly believed that it was a fictionalized true story of a man who lived and suffered under Hitler as well as his own conscience. And who is to say I was wrong. The presentation is that of remaining family members now living in England in 2017 being apologized to by the current espionage branch because as they were digitizing records ignored facts were discovered. The story shifts back and forth between 2017 and the life of Levi Horowitz regarding his service as an English spy in the heart of the Reich.
Levi comes from a practicing Jewish family in Berlin and is sent to England (with a hiccup or two) to work and live in London where he is eventually tapped by the service to become a British agent in Berlin. There are many things that test his Faith as well as his sense of self.
A heartwrenching pageturner of a read.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Harper 360/HarperCollins NZ via NetGalley. Thank you!
There are two previous books in this series of the Horowitz family.… (mer)

For me, "The Keeper of Secrets" had many ups and downs. I loved the story of the priceless Guarneri violin, the history of violin making and all the musical references. The author did a good job weaving the violin through the stories of fourteen-year-old Danimal Horowitz, his grandfather, Simon, and Russian-born, Sergei Valentino. I especially enjoyed Simon's tale. He lost his beloved violin during the Holocaust and the horrors he had to endure at the Dachau concentration camp were gut-wrenching,

However, there were many times when I found the plot incredibly slow, and I had to force myself to keep reading. There was just too much detail which interrupted the flow of the story and bogged the book down, almost to a grinding halt. Also, there was little character development and Sergei's story was just not interesting. As for the ending, although sweet, it finished too conveniently for my liking. "The Keeper of Secrets" was a good read, but not a great one.… (mer)