Zoe is a woman who is struggling with her life and her marriage. When she and her husband move to Morocco she wants to start afresh but still cannot leave the past behind. She finds a diary hidden in the house. It was written buy twelve year old Josie in 1942 during the war. Josie was a remarkable child and her story of hope and tragedy helps Zoe . Along the way we see what it was like in Morocco during the war and feel the uncertainty that fills the life of a refugee. Wonderfully told and rich in the current and past stories, beautifully brought together

3.5 stars! This dual timeline story follows Josie, a 13-year-old French girl stuck in Casablanca during WWII, and Zoe, a woman in 2010 who moved to Casablanca and finds Josie’s diary detailing her experiences during the war. Josie’s family is Jewish, so they fled France. Casablanca was a pitstop for them on their way to the U.S.

I enjoyed reading Josie’s story and learning a little more about Casablanca’s role in WWII. Josie is a spunky and strong teenager. But I often struggled reading Zoe’s chapters. A lot of her reflections as she read Josie’s diary felt forced, and the story dragged in the middle.

I’m glad I hung in there, though, because the best part of this story was the ending. I won’t spoil anything, but there’s a twist I fully didn’t see coming. And the ending is a beautiful reflection on grief and loss.

Read this if:
- you’re looking for a WWII novel set outside of Europe
- you love dual timeline/POV stories
- you’re captivated by the glamor of Casablanca and want to know more

Thanks @netgalley for the e-ARC!

Set in Morocco, during 1941 and France has fallen to Nazi occupation. Twelve year old Josie has fled with her family to Casablanca, whilst waiting for safe passage to America. Josie finds the sights, smells and sound as well as the heat overwhelming to her senses, and the authors descriptive narrative really brings all these things vividly to life for the reader. Josie loves that she and her family are now away from the troubles that they fled from. In a dual timeline theme, the storyline skips forward by Seventy years and follows Zoe, another new arrival in this intoxicating port city. Zoe is struggling, with her marriage, her baby daughter, and with her new life as an expat in such an unfamiliar place.

Then Zoe discovers a small wooden box and a diary from the 1940s, which had been hidden beneath the floorboards in her daughter’s bedroom, and suddenly she is reading Josie’s words. Zoe learns that the Casablanca Josie knew is very different from the one she knows, but she starts to see the city through the young Josie’s eyes, and develops a new perspective which fills her with hope and will hopefully heal her broken heart.

This is an emotional read, both heartwarming and at times heartbreaking but I was hooked from page one and found myself reading well into the night. The gripping storyline along with the likeable and relatable characters, and the amazing setting made this an enjoyable and engaging read, and one which I fully recommend.

The pacing of this story was rather slow and the characters were very thinly drawn. I could not get emotionally invested in the characters, especially Zoe’s. I know I’m in the minority on my rating, but overall I was disappointed in this book.

Fiona Valpy brings another beautifully written and poignant novel with this book, The Storyteller if Casablanca. As a place that often lives in my mind as dreamy, surreal and romantic; this eye opening look at Casablanca’s role in history and struggles in their communities was enlightening. Zoe is a young mother with marital problems who finds herself in Morocco for her husband’s job. She is struggling, until she discovers a journal written by Josie, a young Jewish girl fleeing to America during WWII. As she is drawn into the story of Josie and her family, Zoe comes to understand more about herself and see her surroundings more clearly. Fiona Valpy is one of my favorite historical fiction authors, with writing that draws you in with imagery and characters you feel you know. This book is wonderful and I highly recommend it. I received a ARC, all opinions are my own.

I love Fiona Valpy’s books and really enjoyed this one. Historical fiction when written well is one of my favourite genres so I was looking forward to this one. I found it took longer than her previous novels to get into but once i did, it was great! I recommend this and her other novels.
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this x

I really loved this book. The book tells the story of 2 different times in Casablanca's history. The main character and her husband have moved here for a fresh start in their marriage after some traumatic event in their lives. We don't really know what the event was but we do know that the husband spends a lot of time away from home at his office and the wife has to fill in her time caring for their infant daughter and finally getting involved in some volunteer work with refugees. The second story is told by the wife reading a journal she found of a young French refugee who is waiting with her family during WW II to be able to leave for America. The journal records all her family's issues with getting the right paperwork in place to be able to leave and her father's involvement with the resistance movement. Both stories are interesting in their own right but the twist I never saw coming toward the end of the book was a shocker. And then there was a second twist that made me gasp again. I'll stop there to not give too much away but I would highly recommend reading this book.

There aware times that I read a book an do not want it to end, and this is one of them. A wonderful story, encompassing two different eras and telling the story of two very different women. Beautifully written, characters that I felt as though I really knew by the end and a setting that made me feel as though I really was in Casablanca. Well worth reading, I certainly could not put this book down.

I really wanted to immerse myself in both the stories of Josie being a refugee in Casablanca in the 1940s and Zoe a new expat who arrives with her husband in 2010 to live in the same house, but unfortunately I did not 100% engage. However I did learn a lot about life in Casablanca, now and then. I felt I was back at school, which at times was interesting and at others was a thinly disguised history lesson. The big reveal was pretty obvious from 1/3 of the way through and the ending was trite. This is an undemanding book, which given its subject matter should have been more meaty and challenging.

Fiona Valpy is an auto buy author for me, I have loved her previous work! The storyteller of Casablanca was no different I absolutely adored it! Set in such a beautiful setting in 2 different eras, I found myself drawn into the narrative and couldn’t put it down.

Casablanca is a holding station for European refugees escaping Nazi rule. Most are Jewish, or political dissidents.Josie, a twelve year old Jewish refugee, arrives with her family. Luckily they have enough money for housing, and bribes. Trying to obtain exit visas is very expensive. Her father goes each day to stand in line for the precious papers. Josie explores the underbelly of the city, meeting the citizens, including a storyteller. Years later, Zoe reluctantly comes to Casablanca with her husband, and discovers Josie’s hidden box filled with mementos of her time there. These two stories are skillfully intertwined to make THE STORYTELLER OF CASABLANCA a must read historical novel.

First, thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read th1s ARC.

Everyone has a story to tell. In The Storyteller of Casablanca we hear the story of Zoe, an expat, who has recently moved to Casablanca with her husband , Tom, and baby daughter, to get a fresh start and escape the past. While Tom is at his new job, Zoe is struggling to make a new life.
She wants to learn how to quilt and meets another expat through the wives club of her husband's company who teaches her how to get started.. While working on the quilt in the attic she notices a floorboard out of place, and upon further inspection, she discovers a journal,
Zoe starts to read the journal and the story of Josie, a 12 year old Jewish refugee who fled France with her family at the beginning of WWII begins.
Zoe and Tom's fresh start is not going so great and the distance between them continues to grow. Zoe finds comfort in reading Josie's journal until there are no more pages to read and Zoe is left wondering about Josie's fate. Using the clues from the journal Zoe researches what could have happened to Josie.

The ending will make you cry-a good cathartic cry-when you find out the ending of Josie's story and learn of the hidden struggles that have been keeping Zoe and Tom apart.

I am a historical fiction fanatic and am head-over-heels excited that I found a new author to love. I really enjoy dual timeline novels, savoring how the two stories meld into one, with a theme that is relevant regardless of time or place. In this case, the theme is hope. One that triumphs over tragedy.

The publishing industry is saturated with many books set in WWII, yet some standout. This is such a book. I found the storyline to be original, one that captured my attention from the beginning to the end. Ms. Valpy's attention to detail with her beautiful prose brings the streets and people of Casablanca to life. I loved the fact that one storyline revolving around a young girl would influence the life of a grown woman. The unexpected twist at the end tugged at my heartstrings. Loved how the storytellers and dreamers helped each to find hope within the pages of their own life story.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author/publisher and Netgalley. I was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

A paragraph from the book ' You know, I used to think of myself as a tiny drop in the ocean of life. But I've come to see that I am not a drop in the ocean: I'm an entire ocean in one tiny drop. Some things are impossible to move on from - instead, you have to find a way to live with them. The secret is to open your heart, even as it breaks. Because that's when you discover that you have the capacity to contain it all - the pain and the love, the dark and the light. Just like the ocean.
The above paragraph sums up this beautiful novel. This novel is set in dual timelines of 1941 and 2010 and is the story of 12 year old Josie and Kate who finds Josie's diary. Set in Casablanca this novel takes us through the beautiful landscape of Morocco and I could picture that stunning place through the author's description.
This book deals with very tough subjects like second world war, anxiety, trauma, bereavement and refugee crisis but there is a beauty in how the author has shown the joy of healing and a satisfaction of offering that helping hand to someone in need. The amalgamation of different cultures that the author has portrayed through the eyes of a 12 year old is just brilliant. No matter what I write about this stunning novel I won't be doing it justice. I will say that this is definitely one of the most beautiful books that I have ever read!

I really enjoyed this dual time line book set in 2010 and 1941-43. Zoe and her husband Tom move to Casablanca to make a fresh start in their troubled marriage. Zoe finds a journal under a floorboard written by Josie, a pre-teen who is in Casablanca with her family after escaping from France during WWII.

I won't go into detail, but did enjoy the descriptions of Casablanca and the surrounding area in Morocco, both in the present, and during the war.

This novel is both heartbreaking and uplifting, and I would recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

This excellent historical novel is told in two time periods: 2010 and early 1940s WWII in North Africa.

In 2010, Zoe and her husband are living in Casablanca as ex-pats. Her husband is employed by a shipping company. Their marriage is on the rocks and Zoe is deeply distressed. As she walks in her house, she hears a creak in the floorboards and discovers a hidden journal, a Jewish star, and other artifacts from Josie, a young girl who lived there early in the War.

As Zoe reads the journal entries, she learns more about the people and circumstances of the period. Josie and her family have left France and are trying to get to the United States before the Nazis close in.

I received a free advanced ebook of The Storyteller of Casablanca from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

This historical novel occurs in two different time frames - the Casablanca of early World War II and the more contemporary city of 2010. In the World War II era, young Josie and her parents and sister await permission to immigrate to America. Josie's mother has Jewish blood and so according to the Nazis the entire family is tainted. They had left their home in France in the hope that they might eventually secure passage across the Atlantic. The paperwork to immigrate to America is nightmarish at best and once their visas are in hand they then can apply to leave Casablanca for Portugal, a mid-step on their journey. At least Josie and her family have a safety net because they have some funds to rent a home, buy food, and live fairly comfortably while in the midst of the interminable wait.

Josie's father begins a rather perilous mission to build up resistance against the growing German influence in Casablanca and also to gather and disseminate information that might assist Allied forces. It isn't long before young Josie becomes aware of her father's activities and she longs to help him.

In 2010, young mother Zoe and family rent the same house where Josie and her family had lived 70 years earlier. Zoe discovers Josie's journal and her treasure box so Zoe feels connected to Josie. Zoe's marriage is falling apart; her hands are raw and torn from too frequent hand scouring as though she is attempting to scrub away some sort of secret agony. Left mostly to her own devices while her distant husband works, Zoe learns to quilt which then serves as a kind of treasure or memory box of her own.

The plot itself is quite interesting but the author's style is a little too simplistic for this reader. Certainly the sections of Josie's journal should be an easy read since she is 12-13 years old but Zoe's parts could have been more expressive and detailed. One thing the author did exceptionally well, however, is her description of refugee camps and their inhabitants, both in the 1940s and 2010. The desperation of those who leave everything and everyone behind in order to have some peace and a future for their families exposes the all-too-frequent tale of the inhumanity in our world.

I have read lots of historical fiction set during World War II but I believe the setting of Casablanca is unique.

Read 10% of the way into this book but kept starting and stopping. I had trouble getting into it and figured it was better to review as is. It was written well just not my cup of tea.

The Storyteller of Casablanca is a lovely book. It takes you through the modern day story of Zoe moving to Casablanca for her husbands work and contrasts it with that of 12 year old Josie who moves there with her family during the war.
Josie’s story is told through her own words when Zoe finds her diary, and Zoe is suffering badly from anxiety due to events that happened before the novel takes place.
The story is told well and draws you in as the authors previous books have. Well worth a read.

Tom and Zoe move to Casablanca for a job opportunity and hopefully to repair what is wrong in their marriage. Zoe sets up the attic room in their new home for her baby girl, Grace, and hidden in the floor she finds a wooden treasure box and a diary. It belongs to Josie, a 12-year-old, who with her family is escaping the Nazis and are waiting for passage to America. Zoe sits in the room and reads her journal and the wisdom displayed by such a young girl while she works on a quilt called the Tree of Life. I found the story in the diary fascinating but it didn't fell like it was written by a 12-year-old. The story is told from Zoe's point of view in 2010 and Josie's.

I was more interested in Josie's story of life in Casablanca during the war and she really depicted the sights, sounds and smells of Casablanca and the food made by their housekeeper. Her parents' struggle to get the proper paperwork so they could leave as just so frustrating to read.

I didn't really care much for Zoe. It's revealed pretty early that there is trouble in her marriage and her husband drinks a lot but I got a bit tired of the descriptions of her washing her hands and how much they hurt. There were hints that something bad happened but by the end of the story I really didn't care all that much. She is one of those characters that sees something and assumes the worst and when she confronts one of the parties involved refuses to listen to an explanation.

Zoe decides she wants to make a quilt using the Tree of Life pattern and being a beginning quilter she befriends another ex-pat who helps her. Kate's stories of quilts telling a story was quite interesting but while I understood the need for the refugee center I didn't fell a real connection there either.

Things wrapped up quickly at the end and it was handled well.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Amazon UK Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book.