A Novel of World War II

This is the best Kindle First book I've read. The Rhys Bowen's Her Royal Spyness series is so much fun to read, I read the latest book in the series as soon as it came out. Accordingly, I was very excited to find out that she wrote a stand-alone novel set during World War II (one of my favorite eras). Bowen did not disappoint - at Farleigh Field there was a delight from start to finish. I've generally found that this means that there are too many characters for me to keep up with, but that wasn't the case at all in Farleigh Field. The central plot of the novel involves Lord Westerham's ancestral home, Farley Place, which serves as the headquarters for one of the British Armed Forces groups. Lord Westerham has five daughters, three of whom play major roles in the story, Pamela, Margot, and Phoebe. Pamela works in Bletchley Park breaking German laws, Margot in Paris working for the French Resistance, and Phoebe at home (she's only 12) discovers the dead body of a soldier whose parachute has failed while trying to land near Farley Place.  There are many subplots that develop with these and other characters as the story progresses and eventually, a number of them bond together very effectively. The solution of each plotline was very realistic and convincing. Bowen's exhaustive research is straightforward, and the anecdotes it includes really add to the story. I loved getting to know the group of aristocrats who supported Hitler and set up a group to try to make peace with Germany (she calls them The Ring in the novel; in fact, she explains in her author's note that it was called The Link).  I highly recommend this novel and was so glad I had chosen this book as I read it in February of the Kindle First show because I knew something about the other author's work.  This is a "stand-alone" novel, so anyone unfamiliar with Bryce Bowen will find it a good introduction to her writing style.

It's a quick and fun read that includes actual historical events, romance, mystery, and humor. I've read a fair amount of World War II novels lately; This was unique to two streams of narrative. The other is the role of the aristocracy that begins to lose privilege, property, power, and an 

The story is well told, although some of the characters (there's a long exhausting cast of characters in the introduction to the book - it's best to ignore that and immerse yourself in them, in my opinion) are stereotypical and poorly drawn.      It took a bit to get started, but once I started rolling, I found I couldn't let go.

I have to say, this is the best Kindle First novel I've read in a long time. And the first one I finished the month I received it. I would recommend it. It put Rhys Bowen's novels higher on my TBR list.d the opportunity to read it.