In 1900, Baroness Elfriede von Kleist, who has been confined for a couple of years to a Swiss clinic after suffering from depression after the birth of her son, meets Wilfred Thorpe, who is recovering from an illness. Unfortunately, the part of the story I expected to enjoy the most, anything involving the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, was actually the weakest part. I have found that I actually tend to enjoy historical fiction books way more than I think I will prior to starting the book. As Manuel aides his new friends in their preparations for the local county fair, he learns to open up, confronts his deepest fears, and even finds first love. There she gets caught up in possible treasonous acts and meets Benedict Thorpe, a man she thinks is more than he is letting on.

To me it’s jarring to do so much skipping around and did NOT seem essential to building suspense in the overall plot. Lulu is sent to Nassau, Bahamas to cover a story for NY magazine and to get the scope on the Duke and Duchess. All on its own, your memory gathers up helpful details that match your recollection of an event, whether or not those details actually existed at the time. The Golden Hour was an engaging historical fiction novel by Beatriz Williams told in alternate timelines by two women until their life stories ultimately come together in an exciting conclusion. The Golden Hour from graphic novelist and artist Niki Smith is one of the best looks at trauma coping and panic attacks I’ve seen, enhanced through a dynamic art experience that makes it worth reading if only for the landscape panels alone.She expanded my vocabulary with mountebank, devoirs, burgher, soporific (been a while since I had heard this one), and obbroprium. And how about that hypocritical relationship that Lulu demonstrated to Wallis for SO LONG and so entirely the opposite of any sincerity.

Together with twins Xanthe and Xavier, descendants of Jamaican slaves, the siblings follow a trail of mystery to an abandoned resort where, at the “golden hour” of twilight and the “silver hour” of dawn every day, it becomes possible to travel to any point in world history. I thought it was intriguing how the author made the Windsors, somewhat, central and key, along with the real murder mystery of Henry Oakes; little moments in history that aren't completely solved are fun to read different takes on.

The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams is one of those books that takes a long time to read, but one that you want to savor forever. In December 1943, Lulu is in London determined to find her missing husband, who was arrested by the Germans as a spy. As a society columnist for Metropolitan magazine in New York, Lulu is tasked with getting close to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (the former was once king of the United Kingdom and is now governor of the island), for whom Americans have “an insatiable appetite. One beginning in 1900 tells the story of Elfriede von Kleist, a young wife and mother who has been sent to a mental clinic in Switzerland because of severe postpartum depression. Williams illuminates the story with exotic locales and bygone ambiance, and seduces with the irresistible Windsors.