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.

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.

What a beautiful book. Written by Beatriz Williams. Her prose is wonderfully descriptive and her imagery is realistic.

This is the historical fiction story of the war years of World War II as a backdrop. We do not come directly in contact with the war or the Holocaust in this novel, but they are there in the background. Mentioned in passing and referred to but not directly confronted in this story.

This is a novel as seen through the eyes of Lenora "Lulu" Randolph, who later becomes Mrs. Thorpe, when she marries Benedict Thorpe. It is also the story of another Mrs. Thorpe, the former Elfriede von Kleist, who 40 years earlier marries another ginger haired man named Wilfred Thorpe. Alternating between the lives of these two women we hear the stories of history that surrounds their relationships with these men.



Hinting a mystery as the book opens, Lulu Randolph is escaping her past by living in the Bahamas during the war. She has gotten herself a contract with a New York newspaper to write a society column about the Governor of the Bahamas and his wife, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Her news position as a reporter acknowledges the American obsession with England and their royalty, even those who have been sent to the outpost of Nassau in disgrace. The Duchess, Wallis Simpson, wants to present a positive image to the press and engages our Lulu to write the society news column. Mixing fiction with fact, we learn about the real life at the Government House in Nassau and about the Duke's relationship with people like, Harry Oakes and his son-in-law, Alfred de Marigny. A mystery that has never been solved is presented, Oakes is murdered in his bed.

Also the Burma Road riots are presented in the book to show the issues of race that were happening at this point in history.



At one point Wallis Simpson, the divorcee who became the Duke of Windsor's wife, who took away his chance being the King of England, talks to Lulu about marriage, comparing it to skiing, saying, "Have you ever been skiing?..It's exciting really. You stare down that slope and you think what a thrilling ride it's going to be. In your head, you may map out exactly where you're going to turn, how fast, how damn magnificent you are going to look as you swish your way downward. Then glorious finish to start all over again.....That's the general idea. Or nobody would try. So you push off, all dressed up in your fine new skiing clothes, and at first it all goes exactly how you expect, just exhilarating fun, everybody admiring how your've mastered the hill. Until you find a patch of ice, maybe, or the slope turns steep, or you take a wrong turn, and all at once you've lost control. ...The slope becomes your master instead of the other way around. You see the end approaching and there's nothing you can do to avoid it anymore. You've started the whole thing in motion, and you've got to see it through, no matter how bad the crash at the bottom."



Going back further is the story of Elfriede, who meets her ginger hair prince charming in Switzerland, in a hospital, while they are recovering from illnesses. He from pneumonia and Elfriede from what is now known as postpartum depression. She goes back to her husband and young son and we learn about her life leading up to the present as the plot unfolds. Building suspense, Williams develops both story lines bringing them closer in proximity as we come to the end.

In the end this is a story of two strong but flawed women, who find the strength to help the men they love in a war torn world.