Cover Image: A Hundred Suns

A Hundred Suns

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#AHundredSuns #NetGalley
A Hundred Suns, a novel by Karin Tanabe, gets you caught up in the story immediately. It’s 1933, we’re in Indochine (Hanoi). Jessie is at the train station and her husband Victor and Daughter Lucie disappear.! Or were they ever there in the first place!
There is a conflict between the natives and the French. Michelin owns two rubber plantations nearby. The Indochine natives they employ are treated badly and communists are infiltrating, breeding hate and working toward a revolt.
Wealthy French and wealthy natives live a life of partying with their big houses, country clubs and also jealousy, envy and opium!
The chapters are shared by two women who have become very good friends (or so it seems). Jessie is an American who met and married Victor Michelin Lesage in France but has convinced him to take charge of the family business here to hide her secrets. Her new friend Marcelle may not be such a good friend..
This is a fast paced story with good characterization and a lot of intrigue.

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I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Fascinating historical novel set in colonial era Viet Nam. A member of the Michelin family, his American wife and their daughter travel move from Paris to the French colony. Interesting look into background of Communism and what it was plotting against. Haves vs have nots is the central theme. Along the way there is romance, intrigue, mystery and revenge. The characters are well developed and the country is portrayed lushly. It help me captive until the end.
4.25

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Victor Lesage, his wife Jessie, and their daughter Lucie, seek to navigate French Indochine [Viet Nam] as the Communists are making inroads. Victor is part of the Michelin family [yes, Michelin rubber] which has vast plantations which "employ" thousands of workers [coolies]. While Victor and his family live in luxurious conditions, the workers' lives are filled with poverty, not enough to eat or drink, and generally abysmal living conditions.

Against this backdrop, we see Jessie has found a friend, Marcelle, and they swim, drink, eat, drink and party. The longer she is in country, the less confident Jessie becomes - convinced that her tumultuous past will not leave her alone.

You will sympathize with the workers, you will begin to understand how Communism might be appealing, and you will see just how treacherous and selfish some people can be. A great storyline with a remarkable ending which shows that true friends can be right under your nose.

I read this EARC courtesy of St. Martin's Press and Net Galley. pub date 04/07/20

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This was a really interesting look at a historical time that is not often covered. In addition to being beautifully written I learned a lot!

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This sweeping historical will capture the imagination of the most jaded readers. It’s the 1930’s when American Jessie Lesage heads to Vietnam with her husband and Michelin heir, Victor. Jessie hopes that the remote rubber plantation will be a good place to leave her scandalous past behind. She soon meets Marcelle de Fabry a wild French woman who lives a scandalous life of her own, with a silk tycoon lover and wants to return Vietnam to its people. Exciting, evocative and impossible to put down

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