Ida and Louise Cook were two courageous sisters who showed their bravery in a time when most of us would have been terrified to go against authority. Leading up to the Second World War, they helped as many Jewish people as they could, not only escape Germany, but secure homes for them to live in in the safety of other countries. I had no idea when I requested this book that it was based on a true story, and that made me love this story even more.

The author included tons of historical articles and information in this book, which helped the reader understand what was happening at that time, bit could sometimes feel a bit long. There were parts of this book I feel could have been condensed, but overall it was a beautiful and inspiring read.

Thank you to NetGallery and Shadow Mountain Publishing for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

So good! Finished in 12 hours. I couldn’t put it down. They saved 24 people! I like to think that I would try my best to save people if I have need to, but I honestly won’t know until I am in that situation. Hopefully I won’t ever be.

Opera Sisters by Marianne Monson

Historical fiction is my favorite genre. As such, I have read many many books on the Holocaust, all were based on true events , some more loosely than others. Opera Sisters by Marianne Monson is the amazing story of two opera loving sisters , Louise and Ida Cook who helped many Jewish families escape from Germany and Austria in the years just before the start of WWII. Before I start reading a historical fiction book, I research the true events to educate myself of events I was not aware of. The author’s painstaking research just awed me, the references at the end of each chapter made me realize how the events in the novel so accurately resembled what really happened. I don’t think I have come across too many novels that had such a meticulous research and the author deserves every accolades coming her way. I have read Her Quiet Revolution by this same author and found the same meticulous research also. I also happen to be an opera lover and appreciated some of the descriptions and details of operas the two sisters have attended. I can see how those descriptions might not have added to the novel and how some readers did not appreciate those details. I was reading this book while watching news coverage of the war in Ukraine and the resulting refugee crisis and it gave me goose pimples how history is repeating itself.
Overall 5 stars for this historical novel.
Thanks NetGalley, the publisher and Marianne Monson for this advanced copy. I wish much success to the author promoting this book.

I've read so many novels about WWII but every time, I find something new that I had no Idea about.
this novel is based on a true story and is about Cook sisters, Ida and Louise. the Cook sisters eventually would end up helping Jews and other refugees from occupied countries to United Kingdom.
though some parts of the book got a bit overly wordy and boring (for me) but overall it was a really good read.
it's a very solid and researched story about actual events. historical fictions always had and always have a special place in my heart. I loved it dearly and highly recommend it.
thanks to NetGallery for providing my copy.

A gripping and intense read
If all history books were written like this book everyone would want to study history! This book is based on true events and characters and it is fantastic. Louise and Ida are sisters living in England after the end of Worlds War I and they witness the events leading up to the second world war. They are normal women of little note working in regular jobs that have no glamour attached to them and living with their parents in London. But everything begins to change when they decide to buy a gramophone that introduces them to the wonder of opera. After experiencing operas on the gramophone, they determine to attend an opera in person. After much scrimping and saving they attend their first live opera and get to meet the star. When she mentions the grandeur of European Opera, they determine they will attend there. Through a series of surprising meetings, they become friends with many of the performers and some of their friends, and family members many of whom are Jewish. As the Nazi fervor begins to increase, they are approached and asked if they will aid in the rescue/escape of these people. When they agree that first time, they have no idea the impact and changes that one choice will have on their lives and the lives of others. This book is intense in part because you know these are real people making hard choices with heavy consequences. It pulls you in as you wonder if any success is even possible and rejoice when there is a success or fight tears when best efforts fail. There are frequent footnotes throughout the book and a section where the author notes the changes she made and the reasons why. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy. This is my review and all thoughts are my own.

I love this of book tbe front cover is also eye catching. Plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader hooked.

The Opera Sisters spans two decades, from 1923-1947, with the bulk of the story taking place in the late 30s and early 40s as WW2 is brewing and the Nazis are coming to power. Sisters Ida and Louise Cook are opera superfans, living and working in London and saving every spare coin for opera tickets. They end up befriending several big name opera singers as well as a German conductor. Through these friendships they begin an operation of helping facilitate the escape of refugees from Nazi controlled Germany and Austria. Based on a true story and real people, The Opera Sisters is a beautiful and of course tragic read.

The format of the book’s chapters worked really well for me, where instead of standard length chapters, it was more set almost as little stories/essays, some as long as a typical novel chapter but many only a couple paragraphs. With the amount of time this book covers, the stories managed to be succinct and clear, making it easy to follow the timeline even when a year or more passes between chapters. The only thing I didn’t love were a few of the opera descriptions felt really lengthy and not in a way that necessarily added to the book for me.

Overall I liked reading both about the people making their escapes and also the experiences of the Cook sisters as they did everything within their power to help.

4/5 stars.

I received a complimentary e-copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thanks to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the opportunity to read and review.

I’m not a huge fan of opera and I don’t know much about it so that aspect of the story wasn’t my favorite. (Hence the 4 stars)
I loved the war and rescue parts of the story- it was very well done.
It was interesting to hear how they didn’t anticipate war, but when it came I liked the descriptions this author gave of the shelters and how the people carried on in spite of all the hardships.
The sisters in this book were so brave and generous and compassionate to the strangers they helped. A great read!

4,5 stars
WW2 is a frequently written about theme, especially through the point of view of people who couldn't look the other way. Even as I predicted how the story would develop, I didn't know about the Cook sisters or their story.
By reading, you can tell the author did their research and, even when changing the narrative of what truly happened, it was based by true events and real people. It has a solid pace and it's an incredible piece of historical "fiction".
At times, I found myself skimming some parts, but it was a lovely read. It's astounding how history is repeating itself in so many ways.
I feel like i already knew this was going to be a high-rated book for me by how many lines I highlighted in only 20 pages.
Thank you so much to NetGalley for this ARC.

First of all the cover is beautiful and caught my attention immediately. I really thought I would love this book but it was just okay for me. That being said there will definitely be an audited for this book that will love it.

The Cook sisters, like so many others during WWII, were amazing and are to be commended for their work in aiding so many people. I loved that it was based on a true story.

What I didn't love was the sometimes overly wordy and descriptive prose, especially those pertaining to the opera. I found myself getting bored by it. Another thing that was hard for me was the little anecdotes throughout the story describing different events. It was like reading a novel and then all of the sudden reading from a text book.

But like I said, there will be an audience for this book and I think the author did the sisters justice with her story.

Content: clean

Rounded up from 3.5

This is a very interesting book based on two sisters who are obsessed with opera. They travel to performances and meet beloved divas.
It is during a trip to Germany that they unwittingly assist a Jewish family escape to London. This leads to a commitment to assist as many families as possible. They do this by finding sponsors which means lobbying their friends and acquaintances in London.
I have read several books with similar plots but this one was a different twist. The sisters are brave, inventive and successful….all with a backdrop of opera.
I highly recommend this book.

This was absolutely stunning. The plot was well-paced and captivating from start to finish. The characters were brave, courageous, and inspiring. I highly recommend this moving read! Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.

I was drawn to this book by its beautiful cover, its connection to opera, and the tantalizing promise of a story based on real-life events of English sisters whose love of opera allowed them to help Jews to escape World War II Austria and Germany in order to begin new lives abroad.

The story did not disappoint, and this was a fascinating World War II historical novel..

Ida and Louise Cook are middle class British women, whose jobs as secretaries are largely dull. But they develop a passion for opera and attending concerts. This passion, combined with hopes of one day traveling abroad to visit the great opera houses, adds a dash of excitement and sophistication to their lives. Ida also manages to develop her hobby writing romance stories into a career with serial publications, allowing them to squirrel away their new earnings.

Both women are transformed by their first visit abroad, to Salzburg’s famous music festival, and by subsequent trips to Frankfurt. As their love for German and Austrian opera houses grow, they begin to make friends with those in the opera world, and learn that the situation is growing increasingly dire for the Jewish population as Hitler’s grip on power tightens.

At first, they are convinced to smuggle out precious jewels and furs owned by prominent Jewish families that will provide those families needed funds when they are able to flee their homeland. Soon, Ida and Louise are traveling back and forth and acting as guarantors for the refugees, and seeking other British families who will do the same.

Monson follows both the Cook sisters and the lives of the Jews they help escape, and the stories are both moving and gripping. My only complaint is that the novel is, at times, too sweeping in scope. As a reader, we were already following quite a large cast of characters, so hopping around to events such as the bombing in Guernica that inspired Picasso’s famous canvas, or Hitler and Chamberlain’s conversations, or the bombing of Pearl Harbor and numerous others should not have been handled as separate scenes, but rather discussed through conversations by the characters to keep us more grounded in the story.

Despite that, I greatly enjoyed this historical novel, and highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this novel, in exchange for an honest review.

A truly amazing story! What these two women did and sacrificed to save others from the horrors of WW2, is truly inspirational. The lives that were saved and touched by these women are tremendous. They were national heroes, who did not do it for glory, but to save those they could. A must read!

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Opera Sisters by Marianne Monson is a great WWII-era historical fiction that is based on a true story of selflessness and courage of epic proportions.

I found this true story based on Louise and Ida Cook, two British citizens, and their stunning and courageous action that helped smuggle and save at-risk Jewish individuals living in Germany.

This is a new story for me. I had not heard of these sisters participating in extraordinary acts. It is just amazing how one can read so much about WWII, and yet there are always new facets to pick up and experience.

The author did a great job setting the scene, adding rich historical detail and imagery, adding secondary and contemporary events to help give a broader perspective and timeline, and tied the fact and fiction together to give us a beautiful, gripping, and emotional journey of two women, joining forces with other “normal citizens” to help save innocent souls, and that helped in their own way, right some of the wrongs and atrocities that took place during this time. If only more people could be like these strong and courageous women.

A great read shedding light on a fabulous story.

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Shadow Mountain Publishing for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 9/6/22.

“The Opera Sisters” by Marianne Monson tells the true story about Ida and Louise Cook, two British sisters who, during WWII, worked to bring refugees, mainly Jewish, from occupied territory to the UK. Ida had written a book about their story called “Safe Passage,” which was reference material for this book.

Judging the book itself, not being a fan of opera, I found the first part of this book, while setting up the background of the sisters and how they came to travel to Germany to attend opera festivals, to be rather slow moving. There was a bit too much opera discussed for me, but maybe opera fans might enjoy that section. The book picked up a bit of pacing when Ida and Louise are approached by mutual friends about taking jewelry to England, followed by the women working to help those who needed to escape from the continent. I found the last part of this book again a bit slow, but it was summarizing the sisters after England went to war with Germany - effectively closing the borders and not allowing the sisters to physically travel to Germany. The fact that these women helped so many was interesting - especially how they did it. I also found the sections where “other stories” were included - such as a mention of the Spanish War affecting Pablo Picasso - interesting for an overall “this is the timeframe, here’s what else was going on.” In fact, in comparison to Ida’s book, which I also read, those sections give the book more depth - which I enjoyed. This book was interesting, but I found myself skimming a bit at the beginning (as I mentioned opera’s not my thing) and a bit toward the end. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

THE OPERA SISTERS by MARIANNE MONSON is a beautifully written book based on the true story of Ida and Louise Cook, two ordinary women who loved music and opera, who did an extraordinary job saving as many Jews as they could from annihilation during the Nazi madness leading up to and during the second world war. The author has obviously done a grear deal of research and has used true stories which bring home to the reader the atrocities performed by Hitler and his regime against anyone who they saw as inferior. I like to see families showing incredible courage and patience as they hope to be reunited, and the love and compassion shown by Ida and Louise as they work tirelessly to obtain guarantees for the desperate people who come to them for help.
I cannot recomend The Opera Sisters highly enough. It is an inspirational read in which the author champions God’s Chosen People who suffer the consequences of anti-semitism, and honours those who, often at great danger to themselves, help them. It is not a book that I will forget in a hurry!
i was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Shadow Mountain Publishing. The opinions in this review are completely my own.