This book was engrossing and I just couldn’t put it down. A very interesting story written well. This is my first book by this author and it won’t be my last. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC. This is a World War II historical novel based loosely around true events with a little bit of everything: magic, romance, mystery, love, and loss. I loved the two main characters, Fenna and Arie (which was my dad's name and was a Holocaust survivor). I enjoyed the latter part of the book as it moves into the events during WWII. My only issue was that I felt it could have been condensed a bit.

I really appreciated the inclusion of the author's notes at the end of the book. If you're a fan of WWII fiction, or just a great read, you won't be disappointed!

I want to thank Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Ways We Hide by author Kristina Mc Morris. She previously wrote Sold on a Monday.
“Yet only nightmares came flooding back, of being trapped in a stairwell, a basement, a casket. A grave, buried alive.”
A scary beginning gets your attention. It’s a magic trick that seems to be going horribly wrong!
A different slant on WWII. How Houdini’s magic saved lives!
Feena and Arie were special people.
There are strong well+defined characters throughout.
The Ways We Hide published September 6th, 2022.

This brilliant story follows Fenna who is growing up in Copper County, Michigan to being in the middle of WWII. Fenna has always been fascinated with magic since she was a little girl. Then tragedy strikes.

Now we go forward to 1943 where she is part of the British military intelligence. She joins the MI9 where she creates devices with hidden features to protect British soldiers. The story continues to unfold alternating chapters across different time periods.

Then, Fenna finds out that her childhood friend is in trouble. To try to save him, she signs up to go undercover in the Netherlands. Facing danger, she has to fend for herself while trying to stay a few steps ahead of her own past.

😭😭 oh my goodness. This one is definitely a tear jerker.

I'm a big fan of WWII historical fiction with a strong female protagonist and this book delivered just that. We also have a touch of friends to lovers/ second chance romance thrown in the mix, which was the icing on the cake.

Fenna Vos starting at a young age has grown up obsessed with Houdini and mastering his tricks. While working her own show as a skilled magician/ escape artist, she's approached to assist in the war with her unique skills. Being an expert at lock picking, slight of hand deception, and escapism makes for her the perfect war time employee.

While in London inventing devices to assist the Allies and creating escape aids within army supplies, like shaving kits, and Monopoly boards with hidden maps and tools, etc., Fenna is tasked with her hardest assignment yet. Traveling to the Netherlands, to bring back her longest childhood friend. This is where the intensity picks up and can become at times very nerve-racking with heart racing moments.

Being the first book I've read by the author, but having Sold on A Monday on my TBR list for quite some time, I went in not really knowing what to expect. I'm excited to read Sold on A Monday even more so now. The only reason I am giving four and not five stars to this book is I felt, initially, I was intrigued. I loved her childhood with Arie, but when we were going through Fenna's backstory during her teenage years, it wasn't as attention grabbing as I would have liked. I started to become bored and wanted it to pick up the pace, so we could get to the meat of the story. Once we arrived at that though, the pacing picked up and I stayed captivated.

If you are looking for your next historical fiction book and enjoy World War II Era books, I'd highly recommend picking this one up.

**Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my Goodreads account immediately and will post it to my Amazon & Instagram accounts upon publication.

WWII - this based on true events - a story of love and loss. Fenna is called by British Intelligence - she joins forces as an “inventor” to help those escape the Nazis -
It’s also her past she wants to escape

I read this book not long after Anthony Marra's Mercury Pictures Presents, which is another new book with a unique American perspective on World War II. I suggest reading them together. This book, for me, was fascinating for its behind-the-scenes look at the people called upon to aid soldiers and spies; designing gadgets that would ensure their safety, aid in their escape, or allow them to die before they were tortured into revealing secrets. The idea that these items could best be created by an illusionist seemed both wildly imaginative and completely obvious all at once. I found the settings as compelling as the characters, as they traveled small towns in the US, and then further abroad. I highly recommend reading the afterward. Until I read it, I didn't realize that many of the characters in the story (aside from the more well-known) were based on real people. Also, it was especially interesting to see how the author skillfully intertwined several true events in an attempt to preserve their memory.

THE WAYS WE HIDE by Kristina McMorris (Sold on a Monday) is an historical fiction novel that occurs in the first half of the twentieth century. The main character, Fenna Vos, is introduced as a talented magician who idolizes and mimics Houdini while eventually having a chance to aid British intelligence during WWII. There are multiple flashbacks to 1928 when Fenna lived with her widowed immigrant father near a copper mine on Michigan's upper peninsula. It is a lonely life and her one true friend is a young man named Arie Jansen. Eventually, they are reunited and hints of a romance form even as they struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder and both work to help the Resistance in Europe. At almost five hundred pages, the book is long and its pace could be increased, but McMorris shares a moving and suspenseful story filled with numerous realistic details about life in the US during the Depression, London during wartime, and dangers associated with espionage efforts. THE WAYS WE HIDE, written by an award-winning author, is a LibraryReads selection for September 2022.

LINK:
https://libraryreads.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/LibraryReads-September-2022-Final.pdf

This book was everything I wanted it to be. It had me turned pages without even realizing. It was so good!

This book was a tear jerker for me! I did enjoy this book, even though it took me a couple chapters to get into it (it started slow), but by the middle, I couldn't put it down! It was my first book by Kristina McMorris. I will be reading more of her stuff!
I love how Fenna hung in there, through all of the obstacles that came her way. She was a strong, creative woman & I love how she was presented especially in the WWII time period!
I really loved the relationship between Fenna and Arie...they just completed and accepted each other so well. I was loving them from the second Fenna left for England! They always found each other no matter where they were in their lives. They were genuinely soul mates!

The Ways We Hide has such a deeper meaning after finishing the book, as does the cover. While I did find the first half of the book to be slightly alow and disjointed, the second half of the book picked up quickly. It had similarities to Nightingale and while I did enjoy the ending, the book could have been wrapped up a little quicker. I felt there were some parts in the middle that dragged, although they were setting the stage for later.

Ways We Hide is the story of Finn, a young woman who was orphaned at a young age after experiencing a very traumatic event. She finds a new home with a fellow immigrant child’s family .Through her childhood, she finds a love for magic and illusionism. She begins to practice tricks and perform magic shows and eventually makes a career out of it. During WWII she is recruited to help with the war and eventually reconnects with her long lost friend. When he is lost in war zone after going undercover there, Finn herself volunteers to go on a mission to find him.
I REALLY loved this book. While it is long, the way the author draws you into Finn’s life and her story really makes you feel a connection with her. It helps you to understand why she made some of the choices she made. The story is somewhat divided into 3 parts: her childhood, her time in England and her time on the war front. All 3 parts play a role in how the story comes together in the end. Her childhood was full of heartache and trauma, but she found love, family and connection through Artie and his family. In England, she builds confidence in herself and finds a way she can help the war effort through her magic that had previously been somewhat of a coping mechanism for her past trauma and a guard to avoid future heartache. When she goes undercover to find Artie, she really draws on all of her life’s experiences to try to save the one person she’ really loved and also to survive not being caught herself! There were many suspense filled moments and you come to realize that sometimes the line between right and wrong isn’t always clear. .

I had no idea illusionists made an impact during WW2, but Kristina McMorris brought this historical fact to life in "The Ways We Hide." In the book, Fenna Vos moves from her role as the daughter of a miner to the ward of a family friend to an illusion master and escape artist to a member of British Intelligence. She uses her skills learned throughout her life to help soldiers escape from captivity. But her biggest escape plan is yet to come. Can she tackle her biggest fear to perform a life or death act?
I did enjoy reading this book. My heart broke for Fenna in various places, and (spoiler alert) - I cried at the end. It's pretty long, though, and meanders at times.
I also like that the author made the main character a female although her inspiration was male. And the suggested reading list at the end encourages me to read more about this topic.

Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, particularly when it’s about WWII. Just getting a feel for how people lived and what life might have been like draws me to want to read more and more. There are so many situations and possibilities of what did and didn’t happen.

Interestingly, The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorris is about an American woman, a magician. Fenna is the mastermind behind a traveling magic show. In her frustration with her assistant, she considers branching off on her own when a British man visits after a show to recruit her help with the war efforts.

Fenna ends up in London developing all sorts of equipment that can be delivered to pilots and soldiers. This equipment often have another purpose, like hidden maps on a deck of cards or board games with hidden tools. She even develops a way to heat up soup for warmth, but the test products blows up at a senior officers office. Yikes!

A man from Fenna’s past, who’s always supported her and even asked her to marry him before she started her magic show, swings by to see her in England. He doesn’t stay long, saying he needed to return to the States.

Not much time is passed when Fenna learns her friend has gone missing. The British think he’s joined the Nazi, but Fenna doesn’t believe it. She offers to be a bait to lure him so she can learn the truth. Luckily, Fenna learned enough Dutch growing up that she could pass as a native. Fenna drops with a team into the fields of Holland in hopes of finding her friend before the others after discovering their goal was to kill him on sight.

This is a fantastic storyline that is like no other I’ve ever read in historical fiction. I give this book 5 out of 5 tiaras because of the adventure I went on throughout this book! I’ve never read a story where an American relocated London to help with the war efforts, especially not a woman, a magician at that! There are many ways Fenna had to hide throughout this story, a very fitting title.

I'm a sucker for historical fiction and especially any geared towards WWII, but I have never read one like this before. I found the aspect of illusionists and how their skill sets were helpful during the war absolutely fascinating! This was intriguing and heartfelt. Definitely recommend!

Quick & Dirty
-multiple timelines
-single POV WWII novel
-vaudeville subplot
-down on her luck orphan

Synopsis
Fenna is no stranger to heartache and loss. She's known far too many tragedies in her young life. As a child, she discovers a love of magic tricks, a talent that would ultimately help her manage her anxiety and give her something to run toward. But fate has a bigger plan for Fenna, and war is calling. When she answers the call to support secret ops for the British army, she has no idea that her path will soon cross with the one person she longs to see.

Musings
This book was everything I didn't know I needed in a book. I couldn't put this one down, even during a recent bath! Word to the wise: it's a long one (573 pages), so don't expect to breeze through it. Those new to historical fiction might find this one a bit of a challenge; there are some competing themes, seemingly unrelated timelines, and plenty of plot twists. Despite all this, the book comes together in the end as McMorris threads all the plot lines together into a rich tapestry of love, loss, and bravery. I really appreciated how the author included aspects of Dutch culture and the Dutch immigrant experience, something I haven't encountered much in my reading. Overall, this was a strong read that some people will love, but others might find it too long and layered.

Book Review

The Ways We Hide
Kristina McMorris
reviewed by Lou Jacobs



readersremains.com | Goodreads


Multi Award winning McMorris weaves another heartfelt moving historical fiction gem, destined to be a blockbuster bestseller to rival her amazing Sold On Monday and secure multiple literary awards.

Young Fenna Vos, raised solely by her Dutch miner father in a small immigrant filled town in Michigan, has struggled to overcome early tragedy and adversity to forge a place in a man’s world by utilizing her obsession with the magic and illusions of Harry Houdini.

The story opens in 1942 with Fenna performing on stage as an assistant to Charles Bouchard, as he performs feats of magic and escapology to thunderous hoots, hollers and applause from the audience. But, actually she is the mastermind behind his “death defying” escapes. She has groomed him and devised and choreographed the illusions and magic, and yet, performs as “his assistant” for over three years on tour. She remains at center stage virtually unseen. She is approached after the performance by Christopher Clayton Hutton, who proposes and offers a job in London as a wartime civil servant to assist him. Her job would be to devise gadgets and escape aids to thwart the Germans in order to save lives of Allied soldiers and P.O.W.s. Hutton is well aware that Fenna is the brains behind their act, and is desirous of obtaining her unusual skill set for MI9’s war effort. Fenna vividly recalls being immersed as a child watching spy and detective adventures at the movies, and accepts the offer with trepidation. She has no inkling that eventually she will leave the comfortable confines of London, and request to be dropped behind enemy lines in occupied Holland to find and clear the name of her dear childhood friend and love of her life, Arie Jansen. He has disappeared without a trace and is suspected of being a Nazi collaborator.

McMorris utilizes flashback chapters of Fenna’s early life in 1928 to lay the foundations of her early life, exposure to tragedy, and mechanisms to overcome her adversity to life in an orphanage that lead to her future motivations and independence. She had disabling nightmares after experiencing the trampling tragedy on a stairway, at a Christmas Party.. After someone falsely called “fire” both adults and children were trampled to death. She envisions caskets nightly, some filled with her own image. Arie Jansen proved to be a godsend in his nightly offering her solace and a distracting story about brave knights, dragons, and pirates. He also gave her a book that would alter her life forever. She found on her pillow, a pocket-sized book: Houdini’s Big Little Book of Magic and Stunts. Fenna sets out to make her own way in the world.

Kristina McMorris weaves a complex and twisted tale with multiple interwoven subplots, with elegant and passionate prose that immerses the reader with an escalating tale of secrets, intrigue, desperation, friendship and love. This evocative tale results in a compulsive page turner to find closure in Fenna Vos’ life. This gripping story of survival was inspired by multiple true events and real persons, as disclosed by the author in an insightful Afterword.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark Publishers for supplying an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.

The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorris is a novel that is set during WWII. The main characters both are participants, but the war is not the story as much as the story of magic, illusions, and love. The novel covers a range of Fenna’s life and her experiences.

Fenna Vos grew up poor in Michigan and somehow survived a horrible experience with stampeding people. Her dislike of being confined is strongly linked to that survival. She has nightmares for years unnoticed until a neighboring boy, Arie, hears her crying out and helps her. Those nightmares for both of them leave them bound to each other in their trauma.

Years later Fenna, an illusionist , is approached by British Intelligence to help build illusions to ship to the people stuck in German camps behind enemy lines (for example: cards when they are wet show maps of the area to help escaping. Her life in Britain is difficult, but she feels she is helping, until an event happens and she needs to help Arie behind German lines.

The novel contains information that was new to me. The terrible Christmas tragedy when numbers of people were trampled. The horror of being behind the lines in the Netherlands. The group of scientists who were trying to help soldiers and others held behind German lines. BUT it is also about how we hide within ourselves when things are hard or uncomfortable.

The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorris was a good read.

This book has everything to love. The characters were amazing, the details were rich, and the setting was enthralling.

You know that feeling you get, those goosebumps when you’re reading a book and you finally understand the title? You’ll get that in this book. You’ll also laugh, moan in despair and root for the main players Fenna and Arie, as well as the small characters, the ones in the shadows. The WWII setting was at times deep and heavy, and difficult to carry, and yet the irrevocable truths I found within these pages are indisputable. I wanted a very different ending, but after processing it a bit I realized that every page, every chapter was crafted with expertise and amazing research, and pored over with love. A wholly satisfying experience. (Be sure not to skip the author’s notes at the end.)