The Measure of Gold starts in the fall of 1940 and Germany has just invaded France. In Sweetwater,Tennessee Penelope receives a letter from her childhood friend Naomie who urgently requests her to come to Paris. Penelope is bereft from the loss of her father and makes the decision to go to Paris. By the time she arrives in Paris, her friend has already been taken prisoner and sent to the camps. Once in Paris, she meets Naomie's brother, the brilliant mad alchemist Fulcanelli and his apprentice Lucien. She is drawn into the world of alchemy and espionage. She is assigned to spy on clients in a powerful French brothel. I found the beginning of the book to be very slow, but it picked up once she began her life in the brothel.

The Measure of Gold is a beautiful tale of war, innovation, and humanity. The characters are wonderfully crafted, drawing the reader in as we share their experiences of hope, loss, fear, and moving into a new kind of future.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC

First, special thanks to Books Forward Audiobooks for the advance listeners copy of this book via Netgalley.

The timeline of the story was during Nazi’s invasion in France in WWII. A young lady named Penelope from Tennessee was traveling from America to France following a letter received from her friend Naomi. She was instructed to bring the necklace and all of the trinkets her father left her when he passed away. When she arrived in France, she did not find her friend Naomie but a group of people who has been waiting for her and called themselves scientists. Armed with science, mainly chemistry and yes-alchemy, Penelope became a spy. The group of scientist aimed to save millions - mainly the entire humanity in a very unorthodox and unconventional way. Penelope met Lucien, a scientist at the lab. They fell in love and the romance is them against the world.

I love historical fiction, the deeply emotional stories wrapped with facts of yesteryear’s history is a divine. Somehow, A Measure of Gold by Sarah Patten has a mix of magical realism in a setting of a laboratory. Not to mention the vast reference of science just made this book to another level of interesting. Above all, I love the stories of women and their contribution as everyone fought during WWII era. Girl power at its finest! The writing is smooth and easy to follow. The romance is cute and sweet and and with a love interest named Lucien- I mean, need I say more?!?!

I enjoyed the narration by Elizabeth Cottle. The french accent was music to the ears. For being a lover of historical fiction, science and magical realism, I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of "Measure of Gold." I would rate the first half of the novel as 4 stars and second half as 3 stars. Set in France, Penelope leaves the United States and finds herself joining the ranks of the resistance in France. While there is a thread of a love story, I felt the most compelling love story was the friendship between Penelope and Naomie. The novel was well written and I felt the prose was readable and smooth. The middle of the novel was the least compelling part for me. Because the passage of several years is marked so briefly, I felt myself having to adjust and regroup for a few chapters until I was re-centered in the story. I loved the extended metaphor of alchemy and alchemical elements for love, loss, grief, and resilience. It's a novel about second chances at life, the toll of Hitler's regime, and the complicated experience of living with coexisting emotions like love and grief. I was really pleased with the ending and loved the reference to "transmutation" without giving away any spoilers!

This story had an interesting premise, and I would read it again for the way that the author really dedicated herself to telling the story as historically accurate as she could. This is one of the few audiobooks I've tried, since I'm more of a visual reader, but the audiobook was great - I enjoyed the way the reader took on different personas for each person, and I think that made it definitely more intriguing. While I did love the relationship between Naomi and Penelope, I did feel like the romance was a little odd - I didn't really buy into it as much due to the way the story developed. I did enjoy listening to it, and would read another of her books.

First of all the narrator did an amazing job. Secondly the plot was amazing. I loved discussions of chemistry & physics as I love these subjects.
The plot was very engaging. The writer's writing style is very engaging. Highly recommend this book.

I will always love a strong written historical fiction novel! You can’t go wrong with this one. It has love, friendship, history and strong women!

Set during the Nazi occupation of France, this book follows a young woman Penelope from Tennessee who received a letter from her friend Naomie entreating her to come to Paris. There, Penelope met a bunch of alchemists and ended up being a spy. “Sounds like another WWII historical fiction to me,” you may say. But this one is seasoned with an armload of magical realism. And that's where my issue lies. I thought I signed myself up for a historical fiction but it feels so underwhelming.

The reason I am being generous with my rating is all the Newton references. What can I say, I’m a big nerd at heart. Actually, no that's the second. The Victor Hugo quote at the beginning of the book has that honour. As for the the narrator, she’s done a fascinating job. I like her French accent impression, though sometimes it hinders me to understand what is being said.

Thank you #NetGalley for awarding me an advance audio copy to give my unbiased review!
What kind of ending was that!?! So I will not spoil it for anyone, I’ll just leave that comment as is.
I’m glad I listened to this book as I’m not sure I could have gotten through the written version without shelving it, then coming back to it later. Let me just say, some times I was bored and other times, I wondered where the author was going with that train of thought. I enjoyed the history lesson and value of scientists helping to fight WWll. I liked Penelope’s character and the value she added in the fight, but the accompanying love story was scattered and lacked depth. I didn’t want more love story myself, because I am not typically a romance reader, but if you are, you may have to use your own imagination

Amazing read, truly memorable.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

This book was my choice for January book of the month 2022!!

I couldn't stop reading to the audio book until I reached the end to know how everything ended.

As far Historical Fiction, especially based during WW2, goes, this is definitely one of my favourite reads in the genre.

I loved the descriptive writing and the easy flow of the book, building on emotion based on the characters' and their surroundings.

It shows what people are willing to do, not only to ensure their own survival, but the survival of those they care for. The book is a mixture of friendship, love, loyalty, espionage and alchemy.

I cried at the end, as it wasn't how I expected it would end, but I understand the author's point.

A big thumbs up to Elizabeth Cottle, as narrator of this audiobook, she was just a dream to listen to.

Thank you for the opportunity to listen to the book, full review will be published on my blog soon.
Sincerely Yours, Annie

I found "Measure of Gold" interesting. The WWII history was very interesting. However the story became a little tedious for my liking and just drug on. The narrator was very good. Spoke clearly. Overall I would recommend "Measure of Gold", just be ready for a story that moves slowly.

I listened to this audiobook narrated by Elizabeth Cottle who was very good at drawing the reader in with her narration. Prior to this book I was not very knowledgeable regarding alchemy and especially the part it could play in a war. I learned so much from this story. It also has notes of love, betrayal, friendship, and espionage.
Many thanks to Books Forward Audiobooks and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This audiobook was very challenging for me. The story focused more on the science of alchemy vs the actual WW2 storyline which was what I assumed would be the main storyline. Additionally, the love story was not at all interesting. Lucien barely seemed interested in Penelope and I felt zero connection between them.

Overall, I wasn't drawn into the story and it took real effort to want to continue listening as the focus of the story seemed awkward and very different than the description of the book.

I have to be honest. The plot was appealing from what i could see, however, it truly was difficult for me to focus and stay on task while listening to the book! I admit, this has great potential to be an amazing historical fiction, however, to me, it felt like the characters weren’t as appealing and relatable as they need to be. I’m unsure of whether the fact that the book seemed boring to me and I couldn’t focus was due to the fact that I prefer not to listen to audiobooks or if it’s just because I don’t necessarily prefer historical fiction. Either way, this book could be a great book, it really depends ont he person.

A decent historical fiction, but nothing made this book particularly stick out to me. The mood of the setting didn't match the plot and the beginning was very boring for me.

I truly tried to be fully engaged while listening to this story but, I kept forgetting to go back to listen; other things would grab my attention & I was never truly able to bring myself to get back to the story, fully. I'm sure that many other people will really adore this book - there is a lot to like. This was just not for me.

I listened to the audiobook version. I didn't care for the same narrator trying to do so many different accents. It was distracting. I also had a hard time connecting to the main character, Penelope. I really liked all the historical details of WWII in Paris, but at times it felt like they were just being crammed into the story. Some of the vocabulary in the book also came across as pretentious, but that may have been due to the audiobook. I think I would have appreciated this book more if I had read it instead of listened to it.

I received a free copy of this book.

Measure of Gold follows Penelope's journey from receiving a letter from a childhood friend in her hometown in TN asking her to come to Paris after her father's death to study alchemy for the war resistance. The prose is beautiful and the narrator does a fantastic job.

Based on the description I would have expected more magic. There were small touches of it and alchemy was certainly a focus, but it was more science-focused than magic,

While the last third of the book was lovely and I enjoyed the ending, the first half was difficult to get through. It was very slow with not much happening and a lack of clarity about how what she and the Royal Society was actually doing to support the Resistance. Had I been reading a physical copy of the book I wouldn't have finished it, but I'm glad I did.

Review in 10-ish words: Lyrically written magical realism with slightly jarring plot timeline.

Synopsis: The story follows Penelope, an American woman living in German occupied France during WWII. Penelope begins her adventure in France on a mission to find her friend Naomie and this is how she comes to meet Fuccinelli, Naomie's brother and Lucien, who are both members of the royal society. Penelope's will to work in the French resistance is ignited through a love of alchemy and a fostered connection to Fuccinelli and Lucien. Eventually, this leads Penelope to working as a spy in one of those most famous brothels in France. What will her time there really cost?

My thoughts:
I listened to the audiobook for this one and felt the narrator's voice lended to the lyrical feel of the story. The author's writing is very poetic and I was definitely enraptured by some of the paragraphs of prose.
I found the links to alchemy and science interesting, although at times it felt as if the emotions Penelope spoke about were quite textbook or clinical and this made it difficult to really connect to her as a character nor her relationships with the other characters.
My favourite part of the story was when Penelope was working in the brothel. I loved the high tension of Penelope being amongst the German officers.
Overall, I didn't love this one as much as I hoped I would. The timing and pace towards the second half was difficult to engage with. I didn't really have any buy in for the ending or to seeing what would result.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a complementary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The opinions in this review are entirely my own.