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Clara Vine #4
Faith and Beauty
Berlin, on the eve of war…
As soldiers muster on the streets, spies circle in the shadows and Lotti Franke, a young woman from the Faith and Beauty Society - the elite finishing school for Nazi girls - is found in a shallow grave.
Clara Vine, Anglo-German actress and spy, has been offered the most ambitious part she has ever played. And in her more secret life, British Intelligence has recalled her to London to probe reports that the Nazis and the Soviet Union are planning to make a pact.
Then Clara hears of Lotti's death, and is determined to discover what happened to her. But what she uncovers is something of infinite value to the Nazi regime - the object that led to Lotti's murder - and now she herself is in danger.
In a drama which traverses Berlin, Paris, Vienna and London, Clara Vine tries to keep her friends close, but finds her enemies are even closer.
Praise for Jane Thynne's Clara Vine novels:
'An absolute cracker of a read…fast-paced and gripping from the start. Thynne expertly maintains the suspense, while evoking the tension of Berlin as the city gathers its strength for war' Sunday Times
'A thoroughly enjoyable read: fast-paced, atmospheric and genuinely suspenseful' Mail on Sunday
'Pre-war Germany's atmosphere of repression, terror and Nazi hubris is vividly evoked in a gripping but sad tale' Literary Review
'Terrific' Elizabeth Buchan
'The perfect fusion of history, suspense and high romance….the pace is relentless, the background brilliantly evoked and the sex gorgeously spiced with danger.' The Times
'A compelling story of love and betrayal in Hitler's Berlin' Daisy Goodwin, author of The Last Duchess
As soldiers muster on the streets, spies circle in the shadows and Lotti Franke, a young woman from the Faith and Beauty Society - the elite finishing school for Nazi girls - is found in a shallow grave.
Clara Vine, Anglo-German actress and spy, has been offered the most ambitious part she has ever played. And in her more secret life, British Intelligence has recalled her to London to probe reports that the Nazis and the Soviet Union are planning to make a pact.
Then Clara hears of Lotti's death, and is determined to discover what happened to her. But what she uncovers is something of infinite value to the Nazi regime - the object that led to Lotti's murder - and now she herself is in danger.
In a drama which traverses Berlin, Paris, Vienna and London, Clara Vine tries to keep her friends close, but finds her enemies are even closer.
Praise for Jane Thynne's Clara Vine novels:
'An absolute cracker of a read…fast-paced and gripping from the start. Thynne expertly maintains the suspense, while evoking the tension of Berlin as the city gathers its strength for war' Sunday Times
'A thoroughly enjoyable read: fast-paced, atmospheric and genuinely suspenseful' Mail on Sunday
'Pre-war Germany's atmosphere of repression, terror and Nazi hubris is vividly evoked in a gripping but sad tale' Literary Review
'Terrific' Elizabeth Buchan
'The perfect fusion of history, suspense and high romance….the pace is relentless, the background brilliantly evoked and the sex gorgeously spiced with danger.' The Times
'A compelling story of love and betrayal in Hitler's Berlin' Daisy Goodwin, author of The Last Duchess
432 pages, Paperback
First published November 5, 2015
113 people are currently reading
1969 people want to read
About the author
Jane Thynne
24 books488 followersJane Thynne was born in Venezuela and educated in London. She graduated from Oxford University with a degree in English and joined the BBC as a journalist. She has also worked at The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Independent, as well as for numerous British magazines. She appears as a broadcaster on Radio 4 and Sky TV. She has also written WIDOWLAND under the pen name C.J. Carey.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews
October 19, 2016
When I read The Scent of Secrets, I wasn't aware that it was the third book in a series. The author says that the Clara Vine novels can be read as stand alone so I decided to go with the fourth book in the series even though I haven't read the first two. Intrigue and espionage and a murder right at the beginning and love stories in Germany and Paris in 1939 . I remembered immediately why I liked Clara Vine so much - she's smart and gutsy and caring . She's half British , half German , Jewish, an actress and a spy for British Intelligence. Then it felt a little slow at about a third of the way in and I really couldn't wait for more to happen. I have to admit that I skimmed a good portion in the middle to get to where it grabbed my interest again.
Having said that, I still found Clara Vine to be a compelling character. We see the chilling Nazi beliefs personified in the fictionalized characters of the real life Himmler and Goebbels among others and Faith and Beauty Society grooming young girls to be the perfect wives for Nazi officials. But we also see the courage of characters like Clara and Leo and others who while are fictional characters must represent some courageous people who actually worked for the Allies against the Nazis. Even though, I have given this three stars mainly because it felt a bit dragged out, the ending left me interested enough in finding out what happens to Clara Vine.
I received an ARC of this book from Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine.
September 27, 2019
Seriously, seriously wonderful. Moving, fascinating, chilling, with a depth of research few authors are able to integrate so seamlessly into a story. I loved it - one of my best reads of the year.
September 18, 2019
This is a story of an actress, Clara Vine, who leaves England for Berlin in 1933. The story starts in 1939 at the brink of WWII. In Germany, Clara also tries her hand at a second role as a spy. She spies on the life of the Third Reich, passing secrets to British Intelligence.
Meanwhile, Lottie Franke gets murdered. She was a student of Clara’s as a costume designer. She was also a student of the Faith and Beauty Society – “the Nazi’s finishing school for young women. Hitler’s ideal women…they’re groomed as consorts for senior Nazi men.”
Clara’s impression of Lottie’s beauty and matching intelligence doesn’t leave her at rest. She visits Lottie’s parents. She starts putting puzzles together, leading her to discovery of Hitler’s ruthlessness.
The story starts very strong, very informative, but as soon as Lottie gets murder the interesting part of the story faints with each page. It turns into a vain story.
Meanwhile, Lottie Franke gets murdered. She was a student of Clara’s as a costume designer. She was also a student of the Faith and Beauty Society – “the Nazi’s finishing school for young women. Hitler’s ideal women…they’re groomed as consorts for senior Nazi men.”
Clara’s impression of Lottie’s beauty and matching intelligence doesn’t leave her at rest. She visits Lottie’s parents. She starts putting puzzles together, leading her to discovery of Hitler’s ruthlessness.
The story starts very strong, very informative, but as soon as Lottie gets murder the interesting part of the story faints with each page. It turns into a vain story.
March 3, 2016
Words cannot express how wonderful this book is! Once I started The Pursuit of Pearls, I could not put it down. This is the first Clara Vine book that I have read and didn’t realize it was a series until I finished it. Next, I plan to track down her earlier books and read them too.
The book opens in Berlin in 1939 on the eve of World War II. Hitler and his regime are midway through the crackdown on Jews – Kristallnacht has already occurred, and Jews are being forced out of their homes and their businesses. Nazi propaganda abounds, and many Germans, Jewish or otherwise, live in a constant state of fear. The Nazis have created a finishing school for women called The Faith and Beauty Society, the purpose of which is to churn out acceptable brides for high ranking Nazis. The story focuses on both the murder of Lottie Franke, a student at the Faith and Beauty Society, and Clara Vine, a German actress who is working for the British Intelligence Agency. As the book progresses, the two plot lines converge.
Jane Thynne’s painstaking and detailed research into the Nazi Party during this time period makes the book absolutely fascinating. I was captivated by descriptions of the various party leaders including Goebbels, Goring, and Himmler and their spouses, and the amount of dissention that existed between the various leaders. Her writing made me feel like I was transported to Berlin and Paris along with Clara. She also includes a fair amount about the German film industry at that time and interesting tidbits about the amount of effort and detail that went into sewing the numerous Nazi uniforms. The amount of day to day control exerted over the German citizens and the inability of anyone to leave Germany without a very valid excuse even in 1939 (not just Jews) was new information for me. I also learned that the Nazis were in Paris and London in 1939 cataloging the treasures in each city and then compiling a list of people who had spoken out against the Nazis so that they could be punished when Hitler took over their cities. Hitler’s confidence in his supremacy apparently knew no bounds. Many other historical figures from that time period are included in The Pursuit of Pearls, and I found myself frequently looking them up to learn more about those individuals.
This book is one of the best books I have read in a long time. The Pursuit of Pearls is a must read for anyone who enjoys historical fiction but will definitely appeal to any avid reader.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.
The book opens in Berlin in 1939 on the eve of World War II. Hitler and his regime are midway through the crackdown on Jews – Kristallnacht has already occurred, and Jews are being forced out of their homes and their businesses. Nazi propaganda abounds, and many Germans, Jewish or otherwise, live in a constant state of fear. The Nazis have created a finishing school for women called The Faith and Beauty Society, the purpose of which is to churn out acceptable brides for high ranking Nazis. The story focuses on both the murder of Lottie Franke, a student at the Faith and Beauty Society, and Clara Vine, a German actress who is working for the British Intelligence Agency. As the book progresses, the two plot lines converge.
Jane Thynne’s painstaking and detailed research into the Nazi Party during this time period makes the book absolutely fascinating. I was captivated by descriptions of the various party leaders including Goebbels, Goring, and Himmler and their spouses, and the amount of dissention that existed between the various leaders. Her writing made me feel like I was transported to Berlin and Paris along with Clara. She also includes a fair amount about the German film industry at that time and interesting tidbits about the amount of effort and detail that went into sewing the numerous Nazi uniforms. The amount of day to day control exerted over the German citizens and the inability of anyone to leave Germany without a very valid excuse even in 1939 (not just Jews) was new information for me. I also learned that the Nazis were in Paris and London in 1939 cataloging the treasures in each city and then compiling a list of people who had spoken out against the Nazis so that they could be punished when Hitler took over their cities. Hitler’s confidence in his supremacy apparently knew no bounds. Many other historical figures from that time period are included in The Pursuit of Pearls, and I found myself frequently looking them up to learn more about those individuals.
This book is one of the best books I have read in a long time. The Pursuit of Pearls is a must read for anyone who enjoys historical fiction but will definitely appeal to any avid reader.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.
June 30, 2019
Three books later and Clara Vine still holds her place as perhaps the most inept spy ever to be employed by the British Intelligence Service.
In the same way that Black Roses was half-baked, aimless and verbose, Faith and Beauty is a slow, vain and pretentious descendant. A decent editor may well have elevated this interesting synopsis to a novel of vague quality: such a simple story should not take the wrong side of four hundred pages to tell. The writing itself is agonizingly compromised. Thynne is clearly intelligent, well-informed and pays an excellent attention to detail. And yet her prose is saturated with exposition and repetition - again, an editor should have rectified this. The novel is overtly research-heavy. Thynne delivers an immense volume of name-dropping as well as what feel like transcribed verbatim excerpts from documentaries. What should achieve some level of authenticity or verisimilitude instead becomes distracting.
The characters are archetypal and devoid of depth. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this series is that it shies away from the most fascinating and crucial elements that may well have earned it some authority. Clara is (implausibly) sucked into the world of Nazi WAGs, thus coming into contact with the echelons of the party. (She is also an Anglo-German-Jewish-actress -spy. It’s shoehorned in). But the timid and unconvincing characterization of Hitler, Himmler and Goebbels belies this potential. Clara Vine is an excruciatingly flat protagonist. She functions as little more than a plot device, through which Thynne can explore different avenues of historical context. She’s not compelling. Clara lacks motive, agency and even a twitch of personality. Her ineptitude is laughable: she contributes absolutely nothing to the Secret Intelligence Service, frequently arousing suspicion, being followed and even arrested at turns. Not a good choice of recruit, I don’t think.
The plot is slow and specious. I find it hard to afford any element of this story credibility, just as with Black Roses (although I should add that Faith and Beauty is an improvement on that travesty). One particular example is how Clara travels between Berlin, London and Paris with absolute impunity. Okay? Despite the horrific events described, I lacked any emotional investment. Because, most crucially, nothing ever felt at stake. And if I’m able to confidently say that about a novel set in one of the most tumultuous times in history, then that perfectly contextualizes my point.
Such a shame. There are objective levels of quality that should be met under any circumstances, and the fact that the novelty of the content may dazzle shouldn’t excuse the fundamental flaws of this series. The execution of a wonderful idea is poor and sadly the result is entertaining for entirely the wrong reasons.
In the same way that Black Roses was half-baked, aimless and verbose, Faith and Beauty is a slow, vain and pretentious descendant. A decent editor may well have elevated this interesting synopsis to a novel of vague quality: such a simple story should not take the wrong side of four hundred pages to tell. The writing itself is agonizingly compromised. Thynne is clearly intelligent, well-informed and pays an excellent attention to detail. And yet her prose is saturated with exposition and repetition - again, an editor should have rectified this. The novel is overtly research-heavy. Thynne delivers an immense volume of name-dropping as well as what feel like transcribed verbatim excerpts from documentaries. What should achieve some level of authenticity or verisimilitude instead becomes distracting.
The characters are archetypal and devoid of depth. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this series is that it shies away from the most fascinating and crucial elements that may well have earned it some authority. Clara is (implausibly) sucked into the world of Nazi WAGs, thus coming into contact with the echelons of the party. (She is also an Anglo-German-Jewish-actress -spy. It’s shoehorned in). But the timid and unconvincing characterization of Hitler, Himmler and Goebbels belies this potential. Clara Vine is an excruciatingly flat protagonist. She functions as little more than a plot device, through which Thynne can explore different avenues of historical context. She’s not compelling. Clara lacks motive, agency and even a twitch of personality. Her ineptitude is laughable: she contributes absolutely nothing to the Secret Intelligence Service, frequently arousing suspicion, being followed and even arrested at turns. Not a good choice of recruit, I don’t think.
The plot is slow and specious. I find it hard to afford any element of this story credibility, just as with Black Roses (although I should add that Faith and Beauty is an improvement on that travesty). One particular example is how Clara travels between Berlin, London and Paris with absolute impunity. Okay? Despite the horrific events described, I lacked any emotional investment. Because, most crucially, nothing ever felt at stake. And if I’m able to confidently say that about a novel set in one of the most tumultuous times in history, then that perfectly contextualizes my point.
Such a shame. There are objective levels of quality that should be met under any circumstances, and the fact that the novelty of the content may dazzle shouldn’t excuse the fundamental flaws of this series. The execution of a wonderful idea is poor and sadly the result is entertaining for entirely the wrong reasons.
July 13, 2016
This story made me feel like I'd been transported to Berlin in 1939 & was experiencing the drama for myself. Riveting. Poignant. Exciting. Fantastic research & writing. Loved it! I was sad to discover this book was recently published because that means I'll have to wait way too long for another Clara Vine adventure! (I listened to the book on Audible & the narrator was wonderful!)
June 1, 2016
This book is marketed to fans of Jacqueline Winspear and Susan Elia MacNeal. I would say that’s a pretty accurate fan base. I found myself thinking this was similar to both authors but this book was a little different for me. One of the first things I noticed was this book is deeply set in the Nazi Reich while the other authors primarily focus on Britain as a setting or backdrop.
The backdrop/setting for this book was really really interesting. I guess I never stopped to think about what German culture was like during the years leading up to the WWII. So I was immediately sucked into the German cultural world that this novel highlighted. The Faith and Beauty girls were an interesting organization and while many of the historical aspects of the novel might not be completely ‘accurate’ I was super interested in it nevertheless. I would have read this book for that reason alone! Very well done and engaging for readers!
I haven’t read any of the other books in this series and for being four books in, I didn’t feel that lost in the story. The author did a nice job at helping the reader navigate previous events, however there were a few times when I felt like there was something I was missing for example, I wondered if there wasn’t more to the relationship between Clara and her sister/family. I felt like maybe there was more that I was missing from previous books. However, on the whole I felt like this book could easily have been read as a standalone.
There was part of me that felt like the murder mystery part took a little too long to develop. The murder did happen very early on in the story which I appreciated, but personally I felt like it took a while to get into the murder aspect which I found a little frustrating. Having it happen so early made me want to start investigating right away but instead more emphasis seemed to be put on getting all the characters into their positions within the story.
That said, I really enjoyed reading this one and felt that the premise and mystery were both interesting and adequate. I liked the spy angle of the story and found it very intriguing and believable.
This was a fun murder/spy mystery novel that could be read as a standalone but would obviously be enriched by the previous novels. It takes you somewhere completely different and adds a unique perspective to the story having it set in Nazi Germany so I would encourage readers to give this one a shot!
See my full review here
The backdrop/setting for this book was really really interesting. I guess I never stopped to think about what German culture was like during the years leading up to the WWII. So I was immediately sucked into the German cultural world that this novel highlighted. The Faith and Beauty girls were an interesting organization and while many of the historical aspects of the novel might not be completely ‘accurate’ I was super interested in it nevertheless. I would have read this book for that reason alone! Very well done and engaging for readers!
I haven’t read any of the other books in this series and for being four books in, I didn’t feel that lost in the story. The author did a nice job at helping the reader navigate previous events, however there were a few times when I felt like there was something I was missing for example, I wondered if there wasn’t more to the relationship between Clara and her sister/family. I felt like maybe there was more that I was missing from previous books. However, on the whole I felt like this book could easily have been read as a standalone.
There was part of me that felt like the murder mystery part took a little too long to develop. The murder did happen very early on in the story which I appreciated, but personally I felt like it took a while to get into the murder aspect which I found a little frustrating. Having it happen so early made me want to start investigating right away but instead more emphasis seemed to be put on getting all the characters into their positions within the story.
That said, I really enjoyed reading this one and felt that the premise and mystery were both interesting and adequate. I liked the spy angle of the story and found it very intriguing and believable.
This was a fun murder/spy mystery novel that could be read as a standalone but would obviously be enriched by the previous novels. It takes you somewhere completely different and adds a unique perspective to the story having it set in Nazi Germany so I would encourage readers to give this one a shot!
See my full review here
August 23, 2018
First, Ms. Thynne has some of the most gorgeous covers, and I thoroughly love her character Clara Vine. The series is just so engaging and it's quite clever how she weaves the Nazi characters such as Goering, Goebbels, and Hitler into the story, you almost believe that Clara was there during that darkest period of history. The series is a must read for fans of WWII and espionage.
April 19, 2016
This story takes place right before the beginning of WWII, when there are rumors everywhere about everything. Rationing has started in Germany. Book degenerate art burning has started. The Jews are starting to lose their business, although some are still being hidden and used. Hitler is inviting SS officers and special guests to his home to watch movies. They’ve just had a birthday parade for him which lasts 5 hours.
However, there are some who believe that Hitler is not the answer and they are the underground movement. Spreading pamphlets, newsletters, etc. that Goebbel’s hasn’t censored.
This story is pretty much about the spies who are trying to keep an eye on Hitler and trying to stop his destruction before it starts. It was very interesting and I am really glad I got the opportunity to read this one. There was a lot of suspense in the sense that you never knew who was following you or who would turn you in just because they didn’t like you. They were also going around this time in the early stages of taking away the Jew’s business. The main character, Clara, was part Jewish but felt safe since she had papers stating otherwise. Until they were lost in the Seine. This was really just a thrilling, enigmatic story that includes a murder, the threat of being caught spying, the threat of just anything the SS wanted to blame you for and also the underworld of the underground and how they work.
I thought it humorous the jokes that everyone would make of some of the SS officers among the rankings. There was also a lot of name dropping going on as this also takes place on a movie set wherein Clara is an actress. ‘
For me, this was an exceptional read and definitely held my interest. This was a time when the world was in turmoil and I think the author did a great job portraying that in this story. I will have to say while some things were summarized at the end. There was a huge cliffhanger at the end. Will Clara and Leo be back?
Huge thanks to Random House and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review. I just loved, loved, loved this book. It was WONDERFUL, really took me back to those days.
However, there are some who believe that Hitler is not the answer and they are the underground movement. Spreading pamphlets, newsletters, etc. that Goebbel’s hasn’t censored.
This story is pretty much about the spies who are trying to keep an eye on Hitler and trying to stop his destruction before it starts. It was very interesting and I am really glad I got the opportunity to read this one. There was a lot of suspense in the sense that you never knew who was following you or who would turn you in just because they didn’t like you. They were also going around this time in the early stages of taking away the Jew’s business. The main character, Clara, was part Jewish but felt safe since she had papers stating otherwise. Until they were lost in the Seine. This was really just a thrilling, enigmatic story that includes a murder, the threat of being caught spying, the threat of just anything the SS wanted to blame you for and also the underworld of the underground and how they work.
I thought it humorous the jokes that everyone would make of some of the SS officers among the rankings. There was also a lot of name dropping going on as this also takes place on a movie set wherein Clara is an actress. ‘
For me, this was an exceptional read and definitely held my interest. This was a time when the world was in turmoil and I think the author did a great job portraying that in this story. I will have to say while some things were summarized at the end. There was a huge cliffhanger at the end. Will Clara and Leo be back?
Huge thanks to Random House and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review. I just loved, loved, loved this book. It was WONDERFUL, really took me back to those days.
May 8, 2016
This was my first Clara Vine book, and it is so seamlessly done, I enjoyed it wholeheartedly despite not having more of her backstory. She is an engaging character, and I very much got to know her through this episode of her adventures.
The best thing about this book is the way it portrays Berlin. In so many ways the city comes to life, from the luxurious palaces of Nazi elite to dour, working class neighborhoods, to the back rooms of tailor shops where Jewish seamstresses are hidden away. There is a sense of foreboding in everything people do and see. War is coming, though many continue to disbelieve it, and we see its dark tentacles spreading throughout as Europe prepares - once again - for the worst.
I was enthralled by this story, particular the historical tidbits such as the Faith & Beauty society - a kind of finishing school for German girls hoping to marry into the higher echelons of Nazi society. How apt, yet how terrifying, that women were such an integral part of the 'new society' Hitler was trying to build. Yet for them - as for women the world over - being a supportive wife and housekeeper seemed to be the supreme goal. As well as maintaining beauty, poise, and elegant conversation. Not so different, really, from American debutantes at the time. And that is food for thought.
The best thing about this book is the way it portrays Berlin. In so many ways the city comes to life, from the luxurious palaces of Nazi elite to dour, working class neighborhoods, to the back rooms of tailor shops where Jewish seamstresses are hidden away. There is a sense of foreboding in everything people do and see. War is coming, though many continue to disbelieve it, and we see its dark tentacles spreading throughout as Europe prepares - once again - for the worst.
I was enthralled by this story, particular the historical tidbits such as the Faith & Beauty society - a kind of finishing school for German girls hoping to marry into the higher echelons of Nazi society. How apt, yet how terrifying, that women were such an integral part of the 'new society' Hitler was trying to build. Yet for them - as for women the world over - being a supportive wife and housekeeper seemed to be the supreme goal. As well as maintaining beauty, poise, and elegant conversation. Not so different, really, from American debutantes at the time. And that is food for thought.
July 17, 2018
J'ai aimé, mais comme les quelques livres que j'ai lu sur la deuxième guerre mondiale, c'est lourd à lire. Il ne faut pas s'attarder à tous les noms d'endroits, les qualificatifs allemands car on devient vite confus! Comme je ne lis pas trop en diagonale, j'ai trouvé ça dur!! L'histoire n'est pas très enlevante et je suis resté sur mon appétit à la fin du roman...
December 1, 2018
These books just keep getting better. The mysteries are intriguing and suspenseful. The setting provides a dark look at the rise of the Nazi party in Berlin. A great series!
May 4, 2016
A BOOK CLUB BABBLE REVIEW/INTERVIEW by Senior Writer, Amy M. Hawes
The Pursuit of Pearls is everything you hope a novel will be. And, I’m not exaggerating. Except, perhaps, in my ambitious use of the word “you,” because this assumes we share similar criteria. A perfect novel means I’m entertained and I want to keep reading even though I have other things to do. And, I’d love a chance to meet the author for cocktails because I know they’d be fun and fascinating to talk to.
It is so blindingly obvious that Jane Thynne is bright, thoughtful, and a great conversationalist. Just read her Clara Vine series and you’ll know these statements, while sounding suspiciously hyperbolic, are only the truth.
I’m so thrilled she’s joining us today at Book Club Babble.
Amy M. Hawes: In The Pursuit of Pearls, your heroine, Clara Vine, experiences varied encounters with those inside and outside the Nazi regime. You do a wonderful job of showing the many shades of grey between hero and villain by revealing how hypocritical, and therefore distinctly human, these characters are. How important was it to you to convey that even in a regime as inhumane as Hitler’s, the people involved were indeed people?
Jane Thynne: Hi Amy and Book Club Babble! I’m so glad you understood one of my main interests in the Clara Vine thrillers, which was to get a glimpse behind the private life of the Third Reich. I think viewing the Nazi leaders on the human scale – as fathers, lovers and husbands – is not prurient – it just makes their activities more repellent than ever. Yet it was the predicament of the women that really fascinated me. I wanted to explore what it would be like to be married to a man who was responsible for such atrocities. Would it be a gilded cage, or did these women actually support what their husbands did? I discovered that some, like Lina Heydrich, were considered more fanatical Nazis than their men – whereas others, like Emmy Goering, actively interceded on an occasional basis to save friends. Henriette, the wife of Baldur von Schirach, went further and protested to Hitler himself, and was banished from his presence thereafter. The Pursuit of Pearls features Annelies von Ribbentrop, the wife of the Foreign Minister. She was an ardent Nazi and it was her hatred for England that was considered to have influenced von Ribbentrop in 1939 when he urged Hitler towards war.
AH: I was particularly fascinated with your portrayal of the Nazi-run finishing schools for girls, such as the Faith and Beauty Society, where every girl “must be blond and blue-eyed–the precise color was measured against a chart containing sixty different shades . . .” And before marriage to a member of the SS, potential brides were quantified and tested as if they were inanimate objects for purchase. Interestingly, all of these practices were dictated by a man who didn’t meet any of his own standards for male Aryan perfection. Nazi Germany may have taken the objectification of the female to its ultimate extreme but there is no question there are still different standards for men and women when it comes to their physical appearance. Do you believe looking at this concept in its most exaggerated form helps underscore the inherent unfairness and danger of engaging in this practice on any scale?
JT: I really do. It seems incredible to us now that ordinary twentieth century German women would submit to having their noses and foreheads measured and their bodies examined in bathing costumes in order to qualify for marriage to certain men. The extreme misogyny of this society meant that every aspect of women’s lives was patrolled, from the ban on smoking and cosmetics, to Hitler’s creation of a Reich Fashion Bureau promoting wide-hipped traditional dresses that were intended to encourage the right body shape for fecundity. The more I studied Nazi institutions like Bride Schools, which taught women how to obey their husbands, the more I was reminded of Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale. I think we absolutely should draw lessons about the objectification of women, and the way women are encouraged to conform to a male-given agenda, but also to the double-standards some people are willing to live by. Clara Vine manages to exist as a single woman in the Nazi echelons because she is a glamorous actress and they were exempt from the strictures that governed the rest of Aryan female society.
AH: The concept of performance is a constant thread through your novel, and seemingly throughout Nazi Germany. From the parades involving fifty thousand soldiers, the propaganda newsreels before films, or Hitler’s obsession with film itself, the notion of performance is always “on show.” Pun intended! As I see it, this focus reflects an absolute obsession with caring what other people think. So much so, the goal is to control thought and opinion by controlling what is seen. Was this concept of performance involved in your choice to make your heroine an actress?
JT: You’re right. When I decided Clara Vine should be an actress, it made so much sense. Not only was Babelsberg the Hollywood of Europe in the 1930s, responsible for iconic movies like Metropolis and The Blue Angel, but Clara’s acting talent gives her access to VIP circles and the ability to conceal her espionage. Acting highlights the difference between how things are and how they seem; a notion that underlies much of the novel. As you say, this was a regime that was obsessed with acting and film. Hitler would watch two movies a day and Goebbels saw the visual portrayal of a powerful, orderly Nazi Germany as a vital accompaniment to Hitler’s territorial ambitions.
AH: I’ve been playing with makeup and clothes from the moment I had a concept of what they were. And like a mynah bird, anything sparkly immediately grabs my interest. So when your novel taught me that makeup, fashion, and adornment of the female figure was discouraged in Nazi-controlled Germany, it got me to thinking what it would be like for me to live in that sort of culture. Most of your characters either embrace or reject the Nazi recommendations in manners of appearance, but what do you think the level of internal conflict was within the young women who grew up under this regime?
JT: Obviously it wouldn’t be the worst thing about the regime, but the strictures on women’s appearance were very strong, especially in the early days of the Third Reich. Smoking was frowned on – shops were banned from selling cigarettes to women, and storm-troopers were encouraged to dash any cigarette from women’s lips. Lipstick, hair dye, nail polish, even perfume were degenerate, but as was typical of the Nazis, the VIP women who were supposed to embody these values generally did the opposite – Eva Braun used to take Hitler perfume shopping, Hermann Goering gave out Elizabeth Arden gift sets. I think these ironies, hypocrisies, and mixed messages were what fascinated me about the period. Yet for the ordinary young woman, life was very regimented and most seem to have adapted willingly to this iron control. It’s the ones who didn’t that interest me!
AH: One of the most enjoyable aspects of your Clara Vine novels is how replete they are with historical fact. For example, I never knew Linzer tortes were named after Hitler’s birthplace. And I must admit, I can relate to Ms. Vine’s reaction while gazing at one of these tortes, “despite its unfortunate associations, Clara could not stop her mouth from watering . . .” I can only imagine you adore research since you incorporate so many facts with such effortlessness. Is it truly effortless? How do insert the truth in fiction without making it appear forced and do you enjoy the challenge?
JT: Oh, I really do love the research. It’s my favorite part I think. Walking around Berlin and Munich, seeing in my mind the buildings that were there like a palimpsest beneath what has replaced them. Finding buildings like the Berlin Bride School that I never knew existed. Or discovering a tiny piece of color – like the fact that Hermann Goering always kept a lion cub in his home. The danger with research of course is that you have to lose most of it, or you end up as a history lesson, and not a thriller at all.
AH: I recently listened to a radio exposé regarding the use of group gymnastics to instill a sense of hegemony within a people, while simultaneously subverting the notion of individuality. Apparently, it is an incredibly effective training tool. It’s no surprise that Nazi Germany employed this resource, as you reference in your novel. The dynamic between the goals of the government and the irrepressibility of the individual is beautifully contrasted in The Pursuit of Pearls. Do you enjoy exploring this contrast, as much as your work seems to suggest?
JT: Totalitarian societies make for miserable living but great fiction. Just look at any of the novels set in the time of Henry VIII, or The Hunger Games series, or 1984. (I hasten to say I wouldn’t dare compare myself to Orwell!) But there is great dramatic tension between the masses who conform, the state that polices that conformity, and the individual who slips through the cracks. That’s what interests the novelist – the outsider who survives in a repressive society. The Nazis put a premium on group activity – they tried to arrange it so that people spent as little time alone as possible because solitude promotes individual thinking. As a spy, Clara herself is an outsider posing as an insider, but so is the character of Lottie Frank, who is considered too intellectual and subversive for the finishing school she attends, and ultimately pays for her free spirit.
AH: It’s always been a belief of mine that if too many restrictions are put on a person, whether they are self-imposed or otherwise, it is human nature to revolt against them. I think of the man who is very polite and stoic in nature but when it comes to his favorite sports team he allows himself to turn into a raving, barely-controlled lunatic who is permitted to yell and curse at people he doesn’t even know. As I read your book, I wondered if the Nazi encouragement of sexuality, purportedly for the purpose of creating more babies for the Aryan nation, might have been an unconscious reaction to a hyper-regimented existence? Considering the shortages in food, was it really wise to be increasing the population? Hah, of course–“They had been told that bread, sugar, and coffee were in short supply because the Führer wanted to increase the facial fitness of the nation.” Your thoughts?
JT: The Nazi attitude to sexuality was, typically for such a dreadful regime, a mess of contradictions. An emphasis on female modesty was allied with encouragement of unmarried motherhood, and a traditionally Protestant nation was asked to welcome ideas from Himmler such as superior men having two wives. At its extreme it embodied horrors like the Lebensborn, which encouraged girls to Give A Child to the Führer through casual sex with an SS man. It also meant the criminalization of homosexuality. The drive to increase the birth rate was so strong that the League of German Girls, the BDM, was nicknamed the Bald Deutscher Mutter – soon-to-be German mothers – and 16-year-olds would regularly return from the Nuremberg rally pregnant. But I don’t think anything was ever about female sexual pleasure. Ultimately, official attitudes to sexuality were governed by one thing – what suited men, and in particular the top men of the regime.
AH: The era you center your novel in was one which yielded profound worldwide consequences, I have to ask if beyond the undeniable entertainment and thought-provoking qualities of your Clara Vine novels, are there any other sentiments you hope to touch in others through your writing?
JT: I’m always very conscious that I’m writing about a period that wrought devastation to so many millions of lives. I may be writing about individual murders but they are taking place against a backdrop of far greater crime. Even while I’m mostly focused on the lives of ordinary Aryan women in Nazi Germany (though Clara herself is part-Jewish) I never want to forget the actions of the men I write about. The value of writing a chronological series is that I can chart the changes in people’s attitudes as they either accommodate or resist the Nazis. In particular, it’s the efforts of resistance by ordinary citizens, such as the group featured in The Pursuit of Pearls that I want to bring to light.
Jane Thynne is the author of several novels, including The Scent of Secrets and The Pursuit of Pearls. She was born in Venezuela and educated in London. She graduated from Oxford University with a degree in English and joined the BBC as a television director. She has also worked at The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Independent and appears regularly as a broadcaster on television and radio. She is married to the writer Philip Kerr. They have three children and live in London.
The Pursuit of Pearls is everything you hope a novel will be. And, I’m not exaggerating. Except, perhaps, in my ambitious use of the word “you,” because this assumes we share similar criteria. A perfect novel means I’m entertained and I want to keep reading even though I have other things to do. And, I’d love a chance to meet the author for cocktails because I know they’d be fun and fascinating to talk to.
It is so blindingly obvious that Jane Thynne is bright, thoughtful, and a great conversationalist. Just read her Clara Vine series and you’ll know these statements, while sounding suspiciously hyperbolic, are only the truth.
I’m so thrilled she’s joining us today at Book Club Babble.
Amy M. Hawes: In The Pursuit of Pearls, your heroine, Clara Vine, experiences varied encounters with those inside and outside the Nazi regime. You do a wonderful job of showing the many shades of grey between hero and villain by revealing how hypocritical, and therefore distinctly human, these characters are. How important was it to you to convey that even in a regime as inhumane as Hitler’s, the people involved were indeed people?
Jane Thynne: Hi Amy and Book Club Babble! I’m so glad you understood one of my main interests in the Clara Vine thrillers, which was to get a glimpse behind the private life of the Third Reich. I think viewing the Nazi leaders on the human scale – as fathers, lovers and husbands – is not prurient – it just makes their activities more repellent than ever. Yet it was the predicament of the women that really fascinated me. I wanted to explore what it would be like to be married to a man who was responsible for such atrocities. Would it be a gilded cage, or did these women actually support what their husbands did? I discovered that some, like Lina Heydrich, were considered more fanatical Nazis than their men – whereas others, like Emmy Goering, actively interceded on an occasional basis to save friends. Henriette, the wife of Baldur von Schirach, went further and protested to Hitler himself, and was banished from his presence thereafter. The Pursuit of Pearls features Annelies von Ribbentrop, the wife of the Foreign Minister. She was an ardent Nazi and it was her hatred for England that was considered to have influenced von Ribbentrop in 1939 when he urged Hitler towards war.
AH: I was particularly fascinated with your portrayal of the Nazi-run finishing schools for girls, such as the Faith and Beauty Society, where every girl “must be blond and blue-eyed–the precise color was measured against a chart containing sixty different shades . . .” And before marriage to a member of the SS, potential brides were quantified and tested as if they were inanimate objects for purchase. Interestingly, all of these practices were dictated by a man who didn’t meet any of his own standards for male Aryan perfection. Nazi Germany may have taken the objectification of the female to its ultimate extreme but there is no question there are still different standards for men and women when it comes to their physical appearance. Do you believe looking at this concept in its most exaggerated form helps underscore the inherent unfairness and danger of engaging in this practice on any scale?
JT: I really do. It seems incredible to us now that ordinary twentieth century German women would submit to having their noses and foreheads measured and their bodies examined in bathing costumes in order to qualify for marriage to certain men. The extreme misogyny of this society meant that every aspect of women’s lives was patrolled, from the ban on smoking and cosmetics, to Hitler’s creation of a Reich Fashion Bureau promoting wide-hipped traditional dresses that were intended to encourage the right body shape for fecundity. The more I studied Nazi institutions like Bride Schools, which taught women how to obey their husbands, the more I was reminded of Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale. I think we absolutely should draw lessons about the objectification of women, and the way women are encouraged to conform to a male-given agenda, but also to the double-standards some people are willing to live by. Clara Vine manages to exist as a single woman in the Nazi echelons because she is a glamorous actress and they were exempt from the strictures that governed the rest of Aryan female society.
AH: The concept of performance is a constant thread through your novel, and seemingly throughout Nazi Germany. From the parades involving fifty thousand soldiers, the propaganda newsreels before films, or Hitler’s obsession with film itself, the notion of performance is always “on show.” Pun intended! As I see it, this focus reflects an absolute obsession with caring what other people think. So much so, the goal is to control thought and opinion by controlling what is seen. Was this concept of performance involved in your choice to make your heroine an actress?
JT: You’re right. When I decided Clara Vine should be an actress, it made so much sense. Not only was Babelsberg the Hollywood of Europe in the 1930s, responsible for iconic movies like Metropolis and The Blue Angel, but Clara’s acting talent gives her access to VIP circles and the ability to conceal her espionage. Acting highlights the difference between how things are and how they seem; a notion that underlies much of the novel. As you say, this was a regime that was obsessed with acting and film. Hitler would watch two movies a day and Goebbels saw the visual portrayal of a powerful, orderly Nazi Germany as a vital accompaniment to Hitler’s territorial ambitions.
AH: I’ve been playing with makeup and clothes from the moment I had a concept of what they were. And like a mynah bird, anything sparkly immediately grabs my interest. So when your novel taught me that makeup, fashion, and adornment of the female figure was discouraged in Nazi-controlled Germany, it got me to thinking what it would be like for me to live in that sort of culture. Most of your characters either embrace or reject the Nazi recommendations in manners of appearance, but what do you think the level of internal conflict was within the young women who grew up under this regime?
JT: Obviously it wouldn’t be the worst thing about the regime, but the strictures on women’s appearance were very strong, especially in the early days of the Third Reich. Smoking was frowned on – shops were banned from selling cigarettes to women, and storm-troopers were encouraged to dash any cigarette from women’s lips. Lipstick, hair dye, nail polish, even perfume were degenerate, but as was typical of the Nazis, the VIP women who were supposed to embody these values generally did the opposite – Eva Braun used to take Hitler perfume shopping, Hermann Goering gave out Elizabeth Arden gift sets. I think these ironies, hypocrisies, and mixed messages were what fascinated me about the period. Yet for the ordinary young woman, life was very regimented and most seem to have adapted willingly to this iron control. It’s the ones who didn’t that interest me!
AH: One of the most enjoyable aspects of your Clara Vine novels is how replete they are with historical fact. For example, I never knew Linzer tortes were named after Hitler’s birthplace. And I must admit, I can relate to Ms. Vine’s reaction while gazing at one of these tortes, “despite its unfortunate associations, Clara could not stop her mouth from watering . . .” I can only imagine you adore research since you incorporate so many facts with such effortlessness. Is it truly effortless? How do insert the truth in fiction without making it appear forced and do you enjoy the challenge?
JT: Oh, I really do love the research. It’s my favorite part I think. Walking around Berlin and Munich, seeing in my mind the buildings that were there like a palimpsest beneath what has replaced them. Finding buildings like the Berlin Bride School that I never knew existed. Or discovering a tiny piece of color – like the fact that Hermann Goering always kept a lion cub in his home. The danger with research of course is that you have to lose most of it, or you end up as a history lesson, and not a thriller at all.
AH: I recently listened to a radio exposé regarding the use of group gymnastics to instill a sense of hegemony within a people, while simultaneously subverting the notion of individuality. Apparently, it is an incredibly effective training tool. It’s no surprise that Nazi Germany employed this resource, as you reference in your novel. The dynamic between the goals of the government and the irrepressibility of the individual is beautifully contrasted in The Pursuit of Pearls. Do you enjoy exploring this contrast, as much as your work seems to suggest?
JT: Totalitarian societies make for miserable living but great fiction. Just look at any of the novels set in the time of Henry VIII, or The Hunger Games series, or 1984. (I hasten to say I wouldn’t dare compare myself to Orwell!) But there is great dramatic tension between the masses who conform, the state that polices that conformity, and the individual who slips through the cracks. That’s what interests the novelist – the outsider who survives in a repressive society. The Nazis put a premium on group activity – they tried to arrange it so that people spent as little time alone as possible because solitude promotes individual thinking. As a spy, Clara herself is an outsider posing as an insider, but so is the character of Lottie Frank, who is considered too intellectual and subversive for the finishing school she attends, and ultimately pays for her free spirit.
AH: It’s always been a belief of mine that if too many restrictions are put on a person, whether they are self-imposed or otherwise, it is human nature to revolt against them. I think of the man who is very polite and stoic in nature but when it comes to his favorite sports team he allows himself to turn into a raving, barely-controlled lunatic who is permitted to yell and curse at people he doesn’t even know. As I read your book, I wondered if the Nazi encouragement of sexuality, purportedly for the purpose of creating more babies for the Aryan nation, might have been an unconscious reaction to a hyper-regimented existence? Considering the shortages in food, was it really wise to be increasing the population? Hah, of course–“They had been told that bread, sugar, and coffee were in short supply because the Führer wanted to increase the facial fitness of the nation.” Your thoughts?
JT: The Nazi attitude to sexuality was, typically for such a dreadful regime, a mess of contradictions. An emphasis on female modesty was allied with encouragement of unmarried motherhood, and a traditionally Protestant nation was asked to welcome ideas from Himmler such as superior men having two wives. At its extreme it embodied horrors like the Lebensborn, which encouraged girls to Give A Child to the Führer through casual sex with an SS man. It also meant the criminalization of homosexuality. The drive to increase the birth rate was so strong that the League of German Girls, the BDM, was nicknamed the Bald Deutscher Mutter – soon-to-be German mothers – and 16-year-olds would regularly return from the Nuremberg rally pregnant. But I don’t think anything was ever about female sexual pleasure. Ultimately, official attitudes to sexuality were governed by one thing – what suited men, and in particular the top men of the regime.
AH: The era you center your novel in was one which yielded profound worldwide consequences, I have to ask if beyond the undeniable entertainment and thought-provoking qualities of your Clara Vine novels, are there any other sentiments you hope to touch in others through your writing?
JT: I’m always very conscious that I’m writing about a period that wrought devastation to so many millions of lives. I may be writing about individual murders but they are taking place against a backdrop of far greater crime. Even while I’m mostly focused on the lives of ordinary Aryan women in Nazi Germany (though Clara herself is part-Jewish) I never want to forget the actions of the men I write about. The value of writing a chronological series is that I can chart the changes in people’s attitudes as they either accommodate or resist the Nazis. In particular, it’s the efforts of resistance by ordinary citizens, such as the group featured in The Pursuit of Pearls that I want to bring to light.
Jane Thynne is the author of several novels, including The Scent of Secrets and The Pursuit of Pearls. She was born in Venezuela and educated in London. She graduated from Oxford University with a degree in English and joined the BBC as a television director. She has also worked at The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Independent and appears regularly as a broadcaster on television and radio. She is married to the writer Philip Kerr. They have three children and live in London.
November 26, 2017
This one is a disappointment. I read it after finishing Woman in the Shadows (I read the first two out of order, because I had recieved the second one as a gift and wasn't initially aware it was the second). So perhaps if I had read thrse in order, it would make a little more sense, but I felt the plot of this one is far too similar to the other two. Clara, in this novel, has somehow become a more inept spy than in the previous two. I'm not sure how she gets worse over time, but here she needs a man to tell her that she's being followed.
Insofar as the plot, in Woman in the Shadows, there is an incident at the Nazi Bridal School - a girl is killed, what's her secret, oh she was blackmailing someone. In this novel, a girl is killed at the Faith and Beauty school, oh she was blackmailing someone. The murder definitely is on the back burner in both books, but that is okay in Woman in the Shadows, because the book is interesting, the characters are interesting and we haven't seen this before: a murder in a Nazi school, Clara gets involved, there is a sketchy Nazi sympathizer who is or is not actually a sympathizer, Clara is attracted to him while still pining for Leo, the murder is not solved by German police because it may be an issue they're trying to cover up, but Clara solves it and takes care of the problem, although I did like the small twist of Hedwig killing the killer in this version. However, it is a tricky thing to make Hedwig, a Nazi sympathizer, suddenly not be one because of her boyfriend. Hedwig is actually a much more interesting character than Clara in this novel, but I think the ending would be more believable had she shown some disconnect with the Nazi philosophy earlier on. In fact, I kind of rooted for Hedwig when Jochen admitted he had used her: she is shown as a not terribly attractive girl, she is bookish, and she is now in love with a guy who has lied to and used her. It is so familiar to women and so insulting, I kind of wanted her to denounce him - at least it would have been more in keeping with her character- and at the dame time I was glad she didn't. I found her mostly sympathetic and was, therefore, glad to see her turn her back on Nazism - yet her change still feels too inconsistent and too easy. It is also part of the old annoying trope that women will give up their convictions and beliefs just so a man will love them. In this case, a woman giving up her convictions and beliefs is considered acceptable because her beliefs agree with Nazism, which is admirable to probably all of Thynne's readers, but which is also problematic in terms of both character and of straight women's relationships to men.
Overall, this novel is too reminiscent of Woman in the Shadows, it seems to have dumbed Clara down, and the research, which was woven beautifully into the first two, felt overdone. The plots are too similar, the cast of characters too similar (the bigwig Nazi wives and Goebbels) and I would like to see something more in the next novel. Fewer Nazi officials or something. I did love the twist at the end about Angela. I still plan to read the next installment, and I still recommend the series, but I am not enthusiastic about this novel.
Insofar as the plot, in Woman in the Shadows, there is an incident at the Nazi Bridal School - a girl is killed, what's her secret, oh she was blackmailing someone. In this novel, a girl is killed at the Faith and Beauty school, oh she was blackmailing someone. The murder definitely is on the back burner in both books, but that is okay in Woman in the Shadows, because the book is interesting, the characters are interesting and we haven't seen this before: a murder in a Nazi school, Clara gets involved, there is a sketchy Nazi sympathizer who is or is not actually a sympathizer, Clara is attracted to him while still pining for Leo, the murder is not solved by German police because it may be an issue they're trying to cover up, but Clara solves it and takes care of the problem, although I did like the small twist of Hedwig killing the killer in this version. However, it is a tricky thing to make Hedwig, a Nazi sympathizer, suddenly not be one because of her boyfriend. Hedwig is actually a much more interesting character than Clara in this novel, but I think the ending would be more believable had she shown some disconnect with the Nazi philosophy earlier on. In fact, I kind of rooted for Hedwig when Jochen admitted he had used her: she is shown as a not terribly attractive girl, she is bookish, and she is now in love with a guy who has lied to and used her. It is so familiar to women and so insulting, I kind of wanted her to denounce him - at least it would have been more in keeping with her character- and at the dame time I was glad she didn't. I found her mostly sympathetic and was, therefore, glad to see her turn her back on Nazism - yet her change still feels too inconsistent and too easy. It is also part of the old annoying trope that women will give up their convictions and beliefs just so a man will love them. In this case, a woman giving up her convictions and beliefs is considered acceptable because her beliefs agree with Nazism, which is admirable to probably all of Thynne's readers, but which is also problematic in terms of both character and of straight women's relationships to men.
Overall, this novel is too reminiscent of Woman in the Shadows, it seems to have dumbed Clara down, and the research, which was woven beautifully into the first two, felt overdone. The plots are too similar, the cast of characters too similar (the bigwig Nazi wives and Goebbels) and I would like to see something more in the next novel. Fewer Nazi officials or something. I did love the twist at the end about Angela. I still plan to read the next installment, and I still recommend the series, but I am not enthusiastic about this novel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 17, 2023
A booked I liked, but became boring and confusing. I just wanted to finish reading to throw it away.
Clara Vine is an actress who is smart and adored by everybody, also a spy for the British. Let me note this is the fourth book of the Clara Vine saga and the only one I read. I think you don't need the previous books to understand what's going on, so I am not going to read any other book in the saga.
It is a book for the suspicious minds and for those who have good memory. The first half of the book talks about a hundred different people, it's sooo hard to keep track of all the names. Some names are important to the story, others are just mentioned once and never again.
One of the unimportant names, with little background, performs a plot twist in the last pages of the book and I did not see it coming but I was also very unimpressed and actually confused about what he did and why. I just wanted to finish reading to throw it away.
On top of lots of confusing names with very little background, you have chapters that shift focus from Clara Vine to a student's perspective, romantic experience and her totally different life.
It's a historical drama book, based on real facts but with fictional characters, and it gets a little political at times.
You learn the anxiety and hardships people had to go through, even before Second World War. The division of society, discrimination against Jewish people and the endoctrination Hitler and his buddies enforced in all aspects, including who gets to stay alive and who *needs* to be killed and annihilated.
Throughout the book, I liked the description of daily life in Germany in the 1930s and 40s, how coffee or butter were scarce for common citizens, but high society parties had all that and caviar. You can learn some German words from that era.
The author mixes made-up characters and real people from Nazi government you need to look up on Wikipedia. It's an interesting take, but when you read about real people who are dead now talk to unreal people, it gives the impression you're reading conversations among ghosts.
Something that bothers me is how a lot of the future of the country and war seem to depend on Clara's next actions. Besides that, the actress and spy does some senseless things, like posing nude for a seductive Nazi official who is clearly dangerous, and knows some compromising things about her.
Close to the end, the story becomes a drag, with too many unnecessary descriptions between little bits of action. A lot of things just become blurred with so much info.
I really liked some aspects of the book and disliked others. It kept me curious and excited for the most part. I appreciated the reading, but the book is not so special for me to keep it on my shelves, I'm giving it away.
Clara Vine is an actress who is smart and adored by everybody, also a spy for the British. Let me note this is the fourth book of the Clara Vine saga and the only one I read. I think you don't need the previous books to understand what's going on, so I am not going to read any other book in the saga.
It is a book for the suspicious minds and for those who have good memory. The first half of the book talks about a hundred different people, it's sooo hard to keep track of all the names. Some names are important to the story, others are just mentioned once and never again.
One of the unimportant names, with little background, performs a plot twist in the last pages of the book and I did not see it coming but I was also very unimpressed and actually confused about what he did and why. I just wanted to finish reading to throw it away.
On top of lots of confusing names with very little background, you have chapters that shift focus from Clara Vine to a student's perspective, romantic experience and her totally different life.
It's a historical drama book, based on real facts but with fictional characters, and it gets a little political at times.
You learn the anxiety and hardships people had to go through, even before Second World War. The division of society, discrimination against Jewish people and the endoctrination Hitler and his buddies enforced in all aspects, including who gets to stay alive and who *needs* to be killed and annihilated.
Throughout the book, I liked the description of daily life in Germany in the 1930s and 40s, how coffee or butter were scarce for common citizens, but high society parties had all that and caviar. You can learn some German words from that era.
The author mixes made-up characters and real people from Nazi government you need to look up on Wikipedia. It's an interesting take, but when you read about real people who are dead now talk to unreal people, it gives the impression you're reading conversations among ghosts.
Something that bothers me is how a lot of the future of the country and war seem to depend on Clara's next actions. Besides that, the actress and spy does some senseless things, like posing nude for a seductive Nazi official who is clearly dangerous, and knows some compromising things about her.
Close to the end, the story becomes a drag, with too many unnecessary descriptions between little bits of action. A lot of things just become blurred with so much info.
I really liked some aspects of the book and disliked others. It kept me curious and excited for the most part. I appreciated the reading, but the book is not so special for me to keep it on my shelves, I'm giving it away.
October 6, 2017
I have just finished # 4 in this series and there is a sameness to all of these books. They all begin with a young woman in peril, then they switch to the exploits of Clara Vine who is both an Anglo-German actress working in Berlin in its successful film industry in the 1930s and a secret spy for the British. What is interesting about these novels is the salacious, gossipy and probably accurate portrayal of the top Nazi brass and their spouses most of whom (no surprise) are horrible people...venomous, spiteful, antisemitic in the extreme and greedy greedy greedy for jewels, art works, glory and,of course,Hitler's favours. There are also hilarious scathing portraits of the British Mitford sisters who were heavily involved with Hitler and the pathetic Duke and Duchess of Windsor who hoped to get back on the British throne with the Fuhrer's help. The Fuhrer comes across as a creepy and curiously charismatic (again no surprise)madman. The other interesting aspect of this series is how the Nazis tried to force ordinary German women to stay make-up free, barefoot, pregnant (with the kids of the master race) and in the kitchen,through various social programs and institutions like schools for SS brides( no kidding) while the Nazi wives swanned around in Elizabeth Arden and Chanel. Of course the untermenchen like Jews really took the brunt of all this craziness.
March 23, 2025
By 1939, it should have been apparent that Hitler was determined to start a war (although some British and French officials were determinedly blind). Daily, the Nazi newspapers ran propaganda reports against the Polish people and the Hitler Youth conducted air raid drills for when Poland and Britain would attack German cities from the air.
Clara continues her work, both acting and spying. When she travels to Paris to meet a British agent, understand the cover story of being photographed by Vogue, she catches the eye of Obersturmbannfuhrer Conrad Adler, a wealthy German aristocrat and art expert. Somehow, he has discovered Clara’s Jewish heritage; her ID documents are lost in the Seine, and she is at risk until she can obtain new forgeries.
Then Clara comes across a secret document that basically states Germany will invade Poland on September 1, preceded by a non-aggression agreement with the Soviets, and Clara knows she must get this intel to the British.
Of course lots more is going on. Clara doesn’t know whether her former lover, Leo Quinn is still alive. Adler offers her a marriage of convenience that would assure her safety, but she isn’t sure whether she can trust him. Meanwhile, she has been trying to learn who murdered a young woman from the BDM-Werk Glaube und Schönheit (Faith and Beauty Society).
Clara continues her work, both acting and spying. When she travels to Paris to meet a British agent, understand the cover story of being photographed by Vogue, she catches the eye of Obersturmbannfuhrer Conrad Adler, a wealthy German aristocrat and art expert. Somehow, he has discovered Clara’s Jewish heritage; her ID documents are lost in the Seine, and she is at risk until she can obtain new forgeries.
Then Clara comes across a secret document that basically states Germany will invade Poland on September 1, preceded by a non-aggression agreement with the Soviets, and Clara knows she must get this intel to the British.
Of course lots more is going on. Clara doesn’t know whether her former lover, Leo Quinn is still alive. Adler offers her a marriage of convenience that would assure her safety, but she isn’t sure whether she can trust him. Meanwhile, she has been trying to learn who murdered a young woman from the BDM-Werk Glaube und Schönheit (Faith and Beauty Society).
June 18, 2016
I was lucky enough to win The Pursuit of Pearls by Jane Thynne in a giveaway from Goodreads. This review is based upon my own opinions entirely. I have to start by saying that I did not know that this book was part of a series. With that said, I didn't feel like I had to have read the other books prior to reading The Pursuit of Pearls to understand the plot. It could definitely be a stand alone novel.
Taking place in Berlin, Germany in 1939 on the eve of World War II, the reader is acquainted with The Faith and Beauty Society, established by the Nazis, where young blonde, blue eyed Aryan women were groomed to become the future wives of high ranking SS officers. The novel evolves around the murder of Lottie Franke, a promising student of The Faith and Beauty Society, and Clara Vine, a German-Anglo actress, with duel citizenship, who was also a spy for the British Intelligence Agency. Lottie Franke was Clara's student. She was assigned to work with Clara by the Faith and Beauty School. It was not surprising that as Clara learned about Lottie's murder she took an immediate interest in finding out who murdered Lottie and why. Clara's other main objective in the novel was to find out for the British Intelligence Agency if the rumors were true that Hitler was trying to establish an alliance with Russia and when it would take place.
Jane Thynne included very good details about the Nazi party, including detailed descriptions of many well-known SS officers and their particular traits and unique qualities. She included various party members such as Goebbels, Goring, and Himmler and their spouses. Through dialogue and actions I learned that there was much dissension that existed between these high ranking Nazis. I found it interesting to learn that the Nazis were already infiltrated into the Parisian and British life as early as 1939. During that time, they also began cataloging art and compiling lists of citizens they believed were working against the Nazi party so they could be dealt with when they took over their cities.
I found it hard to put this book down. Although I never read the other books in this series, I may now seek them out so I can read them. This is a book that I would recommend very highly.
Taking place in Berlin, Germany in 1939 on the eve of World War II, the reader is acquainted with The Faith and Beauty Society, established by the Nazis, where young blonde, blue eyed Aryan women were groomed to become the future wives of high ranking SS officers. The novel evolves around the murder of Lottie Franke, a promising student of The Faith and Beauty Society, and Clara Vine, a German-Anglo actress, with duel citizenship, who was also a spy for the British Intelligence Agency. Lottie Franke was Clara's student. She was assigned to work with Clara by the Faith and Beauty School. It was not surprising that as Clara learned about Lottie's murder she took an immediate interest in finding out who murdered Lottie and why. Clara's other main objective in the novel was to find out for the British Intelligence Agency if the rumors were true that Hitler was trying to establish an alliance with Russia and when it would take place.
Jane Thynne included very good details about the Nazi party, including detailed descriptions of many well-known SS officers and their particular traits and unique qualities. She included various party members such as Goebbels, Goring, and Himmler and their spouses. Through dialogue and actions I learned that there was much dissension that existed between these high ranking Nazis. I found it interesting to learn that the Nazis were already infiltrated into the Parisian and British life as early as 1939. During that time, they also began cataloging art and compiling lists of citizens they believed were working against the Nazi party so they could be dealt with when they took over their cities.
I found it hard to put this book down. Although I never read the other books in this series, I may now seek them out so I can read them. This is a book that I would recommend very highly.
June 13, 2016
Pursuit of Pearls is a very, very light treatment of Berlin just prior to WWII. Clara Vine is an actress, secretly a German Jewess on her mother's side and whose father is a well-known British pro-Nazi supporter. She is also a spy, being recruited in an earlier novel by her lover Leo who has gone missing in Vienna. The cast of characters is substantial, incorporating the upper echelons of the Nazi party such as Goering and Goebels as well as Hitler into major parts in the plot, as well as the fictional ones.
The novel is saturated with period details, such as Hitler hating red lipstick and denouncing those women who chose to wear it because they countered the image of the fresh faced wholesome Nazi female ideal. Though interesting, I felt that setting featured most strongly in the story, overwhelming character development and supplanting the intended suspense of the plot.
Though the fourth in a series featuring Clara Vine, Pursuit of Pearls stood alone easily. I believe that this book would be enjoyed by those who have little familiarity with WWII history, or the time preceding it and likely would be very suitable for those who like historical fiction, written with a light but informed hand.
The novel is saturated with period details, such as Hitler hating red lipstick and denouncing those women who chose to wear it because they countered the image of the fresh faced wholesome Nazi female ideal. Though interesting, I felt that setting featured most strongly in the story, overwhelming character development and supplanting the intended suspense of the plot.
Though the fourth in a series featuring Clara Vine, Pursuit of Pearls stood alone easily. I believe that this book would be enjoyed by those who have little familiarity with WWII history, or the time preceding it and likely would be very suitable for those who like historical fiction, written with a light but informed hand.
February 4, 2017
I received a galley copy of the novel through Goodreads Giveaways.
It may seem strange, but I enjoy reading books about World War II, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust. Yet, until this book, I had never been plunged into the depths of Nazi elite, to see how Germany operated from the inside.
It startled and fascinated me. The description I had for the book stated that Clara entered the Faith and Beauty School as part of her investigation of Lottie's death, which is not true. Clara moves throughout the Nazi elite as a German actress and British spy. Much of her story does not focus on Lottie's death, but on her flittering around Europe as a spy.
I really didn't like that she was willing to throw so much of her life away to learn anything about her ex-lover Leo's whereabouts. But, since this is an installment in a series, much more about Clara's character is hinted at through the chapters, giving way to more novels about her.
I really enjoyed the story, but I was really waiting for Clara to do something exciting.
It may seem strange, but I enjoy reading books about World War II, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust. Yet, until this book, I had never been plunged into the depths of Nazi elite, to see how Germany operated from the inside.
It startled and fascinated me. The description I had for the book stated that Clara entered the Faith and Beauty School as part of her investigation of Lottie's death, which is not true. Clara moves throughout the Nazi elite as a German actress and British spy. Much of her story does not focus on Lottie's death, but on her flittering around Europe as a spy.
I really didn't like that she was willing to throw so much of her life away to learn anything about her ex-lover Leo's whereabouts. But, since this is an installment in a series, much more about Clara's character is hinted at through the chapters, giving way to more novels about her.
I really enjoyed the story, but I was really waiting for Clara to do something exciting.
April 29, 2017
Germany is on the brink of war, and actress turned spy Clara Vine must decide if she will stay in Germany as it grows more dangerous, or return to England.
She is shocked when Lottie Franke is murdered. Lottie was an aspiring costume designer who apprenticed at Clara's film studio, and a student at the prestigious Faith and Beauty school, which trains girls to one day be the wives of top Nazi members. Clara begins to find clues that Lottie's death could be tied to those in the highest ranks of the Reich.
This is the fourth book in the Clara Vine series.
There's not too much I can say about this one. I have the same issues with this one that I had with The Scent of Secrets: too much scene setting and unnecessary detail. This one, however, was also a lot slower. I was able to finish Scent of Secrets with some interest in the outcome, but I wasn't able to make it past the quarter mark in this one. I don't think I'll be reading any more books in this series.
She is shocked when Lottie Franke is murdered. Lottie was an aspiring costume designer who apprenticed at Clara's film studio, and a student at the prestigious Faith and Beauty school, which trains girls to one day be the wives of top Nazi members. Clara begins to find clues that Lottie's death could be tied to those in the highest ranks of the Reich.
This is the fourth book in the Clara Vine series.
There's not too much I can say about this one. I have the same issues with this one that I had with The Scent of Secrets: too much scene setting and unnecessary detail. This one, however, was also a lot slower. I was able to finish Scent of Secrets with some interest in the outcome, but I wasn't able to make it past the quarter mark in this one. I don't think I'll be reading any more books in this series.
June 3, 2016
I loved this book! It was a mixture of historical fiction meets mystery suspense. I thought the author did a great job keeping the pace of the story as well as creating interesting storylines. It was so cool how real historical figures were put in the story as characters. I had no idea this book was part of a series and appreciated that this book was awesome on its own. I look forward to reading the other novels in the Clara Vine series!
I received this book for free through the Goodreads Giveaways. Thank you!
I received this book for free through the Goodreads Giveaways. Thank you!
March 14, 2016
I was happy to win The Pursuit of Pearls in a First Reads giveaway because I was intrigued by the premise of this book. In the end, after picking it and putting it down a number of times, I decided I was never going to finish this book. It did not hold my attention, nor were the characters engaging to me. Maybe this is the perfect book for someone, but I know that person is not me.
September 1, 2018
I tried... hard... to give this book a chance... I've never stopped have always powered through bad books.. but this one seemed to be getting worse as I read.
October 22, 2018
I read 135 pages before I quit. It took me quite a while to read that far, so this was not a book for me.
February 12, 2022
A Clara Vine adventure is always a treat, but - and maybe it’s because I have read the books in close succession - each book follows a similar patter and that’s becoming old.
The original murder isn’t a priority for Clara. She doesn’t even investigate it at all and yet she always end up finding who the perpetrator is because it ends up being related to the spying she has to do. There is always a Nazi love interest and there is always secondary characters that you discover and learn to appreciate and never hear about after - did they survive? No idea.
As the books unfold, I’m quite amazed at how much Clara trusts people. Except in books 1 & 2, she is asked by random stranger to uncover the nazis dirty secrets, seemingly unbothered that so many people know what she does in the unforgiving Nazi regime…
I deeply enjoy learning all those details of the day to day Nazi regime from Faith and Beauty to the lists made of political opponents in England to arrest in case of an invasion. That’s extraordinary and quite chilling.
What I know, however, was that the Gestapo was relentless in pursuing whoever was mentioned to them and I find it hard to believe that Clara can go back to her life after being arrested a second time…
Anyway, I give a lower note than usual 3/5, because of these narrative flaws.
The original murder isn’t a priority for Clara. She doesn’t even investigate it at all and yet she always end up finding who the perpetrator is because it ends up being related to the spying she has to do. There is always a Nazi love interest and there is always secondary characters that you discover and learn to appreciate and never hear about after - did they survive? No idea.
As the books unfold, I’m quite amazed at how much Clara trusts people. Except in books 1 & 2, she is asked by random stranger to uncover the nazis dirty secrets, seemingly unbothered that so many people know what she does in the unforgiving Nazi regime…
I deeply enjoy learning all those details of the day to day Nazi regime from Faith and Beauty to the lists made of political opponents in England to arrest in case of an invasion. That’s extraordinary and quite chilling.
What I know, however, was that the Gestapo was relentless in pursuing whoever was mentioned to them and I find it hard to believe that Clara can go back to her life after being arrested a second time…
Anyway, I give a lower note than usual 3/5, because of these narrative flaws.
June 29, 2024
It is 1939 in Berlin and the threats of war echo across Europe, especially in Germany. Clara Vine continues to work for the film studios. She has just been offered the most ambitious part that she has ever played in films. But she has a secret life - that of a British spy. Clara knows she is living dangerously; she has spied on the lives of those in the Third Reich. She has passed on information to British contacts.
Then she is called to London. British intelligence wants her to investigate the reports that Russia and the Nazis are planning to make a tact. Then a young girl is murdered. Lottie Franke was a student in the Faith and Beauty finishing school, as well as an aspiring costume designer. This is a school that readies young women to become the wives of Nazi elite men. The police are investigating her death as that of a lone madman.
A friend of Lottie's is not so sure and asks Clara to help her find out why Lottie was killed. Clara digs deeper and finds there is something else that she was killed for. Clara also meets Conrad Adler, a Nazi officer who is not totally sold on Nazism. He asks her to marry him. Clara is still hoping against hope that Leo, her longtime love is still alive.
The ending of this book is so good. Looking forward to the next in the series.
Then she is called to London. British intelligence wants her to investigate the reports that Russia and the Nazis are planning to make a tact. Then a young girl is murdered. Lottie Franke was a student in the Faith and Beauty finishing school, as well as an aspiring costume designer. This is a school that readies young women to become the wives of Nazi elite men. The police are investigating her death as that of a lone madman.
A friend of Lottie's is not so sure and asks Clara to help her find out why Lottie was killed. Clara digs deeper and finds there is something else that she was killed for. Clara also meets Conrad Adler, a Nazi officer who is not totally sold on Nazism. He asks her to marry him. Clara is still hoping against hope that Leo, her longtime love is still alive.
The ending of this book is so good. Looking forward to the next in the series.
June 27, 2017
What an excellent book. At a time when the world was preparing for war, whom can you trust? If you are of dual heritage, where do your sympathies lie? What will you do? Clara is faced with wanting to do the right thing by risking her life so that others may not know the horror of war, but at what cost to her? The telling of all the back-biting going on amongst the top ranking Nazis and their wives opened up that even those is power were unable to trust one another on their quest to world domination. This book weaves a story of many people and how their lives will become interconnected, leading up to the final pages. At times this story dragged a bit and that is what caused me to drop it one star, although I wish we could do halves. I would recommend this book to any that enjoy wartime intrigue and espionage.
June 9, 2018
Berlin, 1933. Clara Vine, an Anglo-German actress is staring in movies at the Ufa studio. She is also a British spy charged with trying to learn Hitler’s plans regarding Russia and Poland. The murder of a girl from the Faith and Beauty School, who had been working with her, learning about fashion design leaves her shaken. As she is drawn into encounters with the highest echelons of the Nazi hierarchy, she is constantly on the lookout for anyone who might follow her as well as searching for Leo Quinn, her handler and lover. The author does a great job of creating the atmosphere in Berlin in that era, the adoration of Hitler and the fear that stalked everyone. Looking forward to the next in the series.
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