I usually love Beatriz William's books but I found this one to be challenging. I loved the story line of espionage with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. I found it hard trying to keep characters and facts straight with the dual time line. I mostly found that this was a love story and I had a hard time connecting with the characters.

I enjoyed this book. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. Historical fiction lovers will love this one for sure!

After reading 'Her Last Flight', I decided I needed to read ALL the Beatriz Williams. "The Golden Hour' did NOT disappoint. I am a sucker for dual timelines in historical fiction. Similar to 'Her Last Flight', Williams weaves a story crossing decades, where the characters draw you in and you just want to keep reading.

1941-Leonora “Lulu” Randolph, an American Journalist is running away from her past as well as her new widowhood...and runs right to Nassau, Bahamas where the governor and his wife are intriguing to Americans. They just happen to be the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, as in the former King who abdicated the throne to be with his love, the now Duchess. Scandals ensue as well as Lulu wondering if maybe the media is not given a fair shot to the Duke and Duchess.

1900- Baroness Elfriede von Kleist is in a Swiss clinic, recovering from what now would be post partum depression. She is lonely and sad. She meets a man who seems to speak to her very soul...and is torn back to her husband and her now toddler child.

There is soo much to this book that had me googling for more information and looking up old Life magazine covers. If you want a book that keeps you guessing, keeps the kleenex flowing, and just makes you want to walk into the bar and talk with Lulu (you will have to read), I highly recommend this book.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC I totally forgot about (bad me) and am so happy to remember! Beatriz Williams is now on my must read list!

Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to read/review this book due to other commitments. I will certainly update this review if/when I have the chance to read the book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

I actually read this book last year and somehow forgot to write a review about it. I apologize and can only say last year was incredibly busy. Anyway, I do remember loving this book. This was my first Beatriz Williams read but it will not be my last. I was so intrigued by The Golden Hour's story of the Duke and Duchess that I decided I would have to take the time later to do some research into their history. The book pulled me in completely to the tropical setting and I was completely immersed. It was incredibly enjoyable and I can't remember anything I disliked about it at all. Fans of Ms. Williams will love it, as well as historical fiction fans and followers of the Royal Family. I highly recommend it.

A lot going on in this novel that at the end left me with questions. The romance was definitely center stage rather than the mystery. Which I should have known would be the case - this is not in the mystery genre for a reason. But I would still expect the mystery to be solved or have some light shed on it.

The romance part was sweet and the history and setting. 3 stars.

I love Beatriz Williams and many of her books have become some of my favorite historical fiction novels. However, The Golden Hour fell a bit flat for me and it was a slower pace than I’d hoped for.

*thank you netgalley and publisher for the digital copy for review

I LOVE Beatriz Williams! But The Golden Hour just didn't do it for me. I had a hard time with the characters.

You can always find a well crafted story when you read Beatriz Williams. She does a great job time after time!

I found the sections about Thorpe's parents a little tedious; especially at the beginning when it wasn't clear how that storyline connected with the main story. Also, it felt like way too much time was devoted to Thorpe's parents when they weren't even mentioned in the synopsis. Overall, though, it held my interest and was an enjoyable read.

I loved this book!! This is the second book I read from this author and loved! Historical Fiction is my favorite genre and this book is one reason why!!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book.

I normally really love Beatriz Williams books and the alternating timelines/stories that mesh together are usually my thing but I wasn't as into this book as her previous ones. That isn't to say it's bad, more than likely it's just me feeling meh but I really only found one of the storylines to be really interesting and engaging but about halfway I kind of even lost that interest. I think this one might be for die-hard Williams fans and serious royal family fans.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Beatriz Williams just has this magical way of writing so authentically that makes you feel that you are a part of it all. A must read.

I received a free e-copy of The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams from NetGalley for my honest review.

This is the first book I have ever read by Beatriz Williams, and I was not disappointed.

This book follows two women, decades apart,and then slowly their stories come together. Elfriede is sent to a Swiss clinic because she is struggling with a darkness in her sole after the birth of her child, a/k/a postpartum depression. Back in the 1900's there was no such thing as postpartum depression so no one really knew what to do with her. Wile there she meets an Englishman who is recovering from pneumonia. They immediately connect but the problem is that Elfriede is still married.

The second woman is Lulu in the year 1941. Lulu has just as arrived in the Bahamas. She is there to cover gossip about the the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

Filled with murder, secrets and traitors. Wonderfully written!
9 likes

The never ending book. Several place I thought the book was wrapping up then continued on. I usually enjoy Williams books. I was intrigued by the synopsis of Wallis Simpson and Edward after the big scandal. I was even more excited about the unsolved murder that rocked the island. The book offers very little of these events and to get to the point was way to long.

I'm so glad I have read a few other books by Beatriz Williams before The Golden Hour so I could appreciate it fully. Beatriz Williams books are already fun and summery, but this book took it up a level. Very interesting historical basis and Williams's best characters by far. I normally hate when (in)famous people are portrayed in a book, but the way Wallis Simpson was portrayed felt so real (in my own understanding of her). Great writing and a very engrossing plot!

I'm normally a fan of this author, but this title didn't capture my interest. I found it slowgoing and didn't particularly care for any of the characters. The romance fell a little flat for me as well.

Spoilers ahead.




As a huge fan of Williams’ books, it pains me to have to review this one so poorly. I’m so thankful that this wasn’t the first of her novels I’ve read because it might otherwise have been the last. If you’re reading this review and haven’t read others, please give her another try, perhaps starting with The Summer Wives. Williams is an excellent writer who just needed better editing this time around.

Unfortunately, I found The Golden Hour exceedingly difficult to follow, about 100+ pages too long, and very depressing. I was very tempted not to finish it. There was way too much repetition and the story got lost in the overly-descriptive text. Generally, I love time-slip novels, but the choice of using two voices (Lulu telling her own story in an overly-familiar way, as if taking the reader into her confidence, and an unknown narrator telling Elfriede’s), combined with the multiple time periods, was just too confusing. To explain, there was Lulu in Nassau and then later in London and then Elfriede in 3 different time periods (none of them chronological).

The choice of using the Duke and Duchess of Windsor was an intriguing one, but the mystery was too heavy on innuendo and too light on solid clues. Even when the story reached its conclusion (the one satisfying part of the book), there were too many unanswered questions. What was in the envelopes Lulu delivered to the Windsors that made her and Thorpe accuse them of treason? When Lulu and Thorpe confess to each other, why does he respond “Christ in heaven, what a miracle”? Who was behind Thorpe’s capture? Why was Freddie framed? Who was Harold Christie and did he kill Sir Harry Oakes and for what reason? Why did Miami police investigate rather than British Intelligence? Was Thorpe in Nassau to spy on the Windsors because there was suspicion that they were Nazi sympathizers or collaborators? Was the entire story built around the public image the Windsors wanted to project (thus why they hired gossip columnist Lulu to write flattering fluff pieces about them), one they would protect at all costs, even murder?

In her other books, Williams cleverly connects two parallel stories, but, in this one, the only apparent connection is the genetic one between Lulu’s lover Benedict Thorpe and Elfriede, Thorpe’s mother. As for Elfriede’s relationship with Wilfred Thorpe, the biggest frustration for me was that he chose not to tell her about why he was spending so much time in Paris, even though it would have laid her suspicions of his infidelity to rest. Their tragic love was just all so heart-breaking and, to me, unnecessarily cruel. As I mentioned, it’s only in the last few pages that I was able to take a relaxed breath, but not before I found myself cursing Williams for her choices. Despite this, I still look forward to her next book.


I received a complimentary ARC of this book from William Morrow through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel.

This is mildly entertaining, the first novel I have read by Williams. It may have been marketed as historical fiction, but there is scant historical detail. If anything, I would categorize it as historical romance—that would more be accurate given its emphasis on romance.

The main characters are interesting enough to make me want to read to the end. The story begins in 1900, atop a Swiss mountain in a monastery-turned-sanitarium. It ends in the same place in 1944. The main characters—Elfriede and Lulu—are separated by time and place, but united by family. The characters are somewhat developed, but not well enough to be entirely convincing. Lesser figures are two-dimensional: Gerhard seems almost cartoonish, as does the nurse/nanny. Helga is the stereotypical maiden aunt/sister who is no doubt still unmarried because she is so malevolent. Elfriede does not have the best mother-in-law in Scotland, either. Mother Thorpe is quick to judge Elfriede as unhinged, and packs her off to the “loony bin”.

The heroes to Elfriede’s and Lulu’s heroines are Wilfred and Benedict Thorpe. (Yes, they are related.) Given their importance to the story, there is—again—a paucity of detail. I like these men as characters, find them both quite simpatico. But we aren’t given enough background information, at least not in Wilfred’s case. He was in Vienna living it up, on a “grand tour”. If that’s the case, where else did he go, or plan to go, during his year abroad? One year was the typical duration, and it was traditionally a tour of several foreign countries, to occur after one concluded university. Surely a few details more would not be too much to ask, would it? Why no geographic details about the other places visited before Vienna? Or the nearest city to his home in Scotland? Why no family history for Wilfred? Did he have siblings? What about his father?

We’re told Elfriede has a brother, but that’s it. (Well, apart from Mutti’s bombshell re: Elfriede’s real father.) The fact that such major details are missing says “lazy writing” to me. Thankfully we are given more detail about Lulu’s family.

Lulu has been cut off by her family (another judgmental family), so she must earn her crust of bread. She claims to be an aspiring journalist, but when she has the most important story of her career, she doesn’t send it. Not to Daddy’s magazine, anyway. She could have sent it anywhere else, though; a large newspaper would surely have paid for an eye witness account of civil unrest and insurrection in the Bahamian capitol. Did Lulu think publication would have made her persona non grata on the island? Maybe so with the ‘HRHs’, but if she is as broke as she says, she needed the money. It would also have provided a handsome feather in her cap as journalist, so I guess she isn’t serious about her career.

The fictionalized Duchess of Windsor is described in detail during her ‘reign’ in the Bahamas, but not before or after, which is fine; she isn’t a main character. Her spouse David, the Duke of Windsor, is a paper cut-out figure here, just there because he has to be, for historical accuracy. Her Highness insists on being called Her Royal Highness, a matter on which the Duke insists (but not his brother, the King). Her connection with Lulu is the Red Cross volunteer organization, which Wallis heads.

. The ending comes full circle to the beginning, which wraps up the story neatly. Too bad the content in between is problematic. There are just too many promising storylines that lead nowhere. There is intrigue and rumors of treachery, but that’s it; just rumors. Example: Swedish industrialist Axel Wenner-Gren, rumored to have Nazi connections. Lulu asks if it’s true that he’s on the FBI watch list. Again: mere rumor, no further details. All we know is that he owns an island nearby, where he moved as a tax haven. In the final analysis, I couldn’t overlook the many holes in the storyline.

There are several mysteries, but they’re not all resolved. We are told that Canadian Sir Harry Oakes was a real historical person, was really murdered as described here, and it was never solved. So? How is that relevant to Lulu and/or Benedict? Is Oakes here simply to introduce Lulu at Government House her first night? Why is it necessary to introduce his 17-year-old daughter? Why do we need to know these characters?

There are several plot twists, which makes this story slightly better than average. The personal story of Elfriede is moving, and the author uses her to show how far we have come in at least recognizing postpartum depression. At least we no longer throw women in the “loony bin” for feeling blue after giving birth. There are still plenty who will criticize the new mum for “not wanting her child enough”, or judge her for being an “unnatural mother” because she isn’t all sunshine and roses her first day home. Becoming a mother for the first time is a major life event for women, and can be a quite traumatic event. First-timers need all the support they can get, and time to recover mentally as well as physically. Even if the new mum and baby bond immediately, it’s all still an overwhelming experience—ergo, stressful. Expecting a new mum to know what to do in all circumstances just isn’t fair, or realistic. Why do some think that only the physical body needs time to heal? The mental self needs time to rest and recover, too.

Elfriede has many other things to depress her, such as the other military wives in Scotland who blackball her because she is German. Everywhere she lives, it seems, she is isolated, and too often surrounded by women who hate her because she is beautiful.

Speaking of beauty... Did we (or she!) really need to know that her real papa was a handsome Danish student? Why would her mother spring this on her 18-year-old daughter the night of her wedding?? Yet another weird factoid that comes out of nowhere...and goes nowhere.

In the end, I was disappointed because this book could have been so much better. I had read such glowing reviews of Williams’s books, but this felt like a rush job, as if the author didn’t allot enough time for completing it. The book is okay if you just want an easy beach read. But if you want real historical fiction, full of period detail and storylines that go somewhere, I would give this a pass. This book actually reminded me several times of an old Danielle Steele romance, which is fine in its place, but not a book I would rave about. I imagine it’s tempting for an established author to slack off a bit occasionally, but good grief—as an established author with a major publishing house, you're earning enough to warrant a little effort, and a whole year is surely enough to finish and polish one average-length romance novel. Where was the editorial team? There is a lesson here for publishers: Spend less time and money on hype, and more on working with the author to improve the book.

While I did find The Golden Hour enjoyable, it didn't grab me as most historical fiction novels would. I found myself losing interest at times, but it was well-written.