Title: The Golden Hour   

Author: Beatriz Williams   

Genre: Historical Fiction    

Publisher: William Morrow 

Format: Paperback 

Pages: 480

Rating: 5/5 stars 

Synopsis (Goodreads):

The New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Wives and A Certain Age creates a dazzling epic of World War II-era Nassau—a hotbed of spies, traitors, and the most infamous couple of the age, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

The Bahamas, 1941. Newly-widowed Leonora “Lulu” Randolph arrives in Nassau to investigate the Governor and his wife for a New York society magazine. After all, American readers have an insatiable appetite for news of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, that glamorous couple whose love affair nearly brought the British monarchy to its knees five years earlier. What more intriguing backdrop for their romance than a wartime Caribbean paradise, a colonial playground for kingpins of ill-gotten empires?

Or so Lulu imagines. But as she infiltrates the Duke and Duchess’s social circle, and the powerful cabal that controls the islands’ political and financial affairs, she uncovers evidence that beneath the glister of Wallis and Edward’s marriage lies an ugly—and even treasonous—reality. In fact, Windsor-era Nassau seethes with spies, financial swindles, and racial tension, and in the middle of it all stands Benedict Thorpe: a scientist of tremendous charm and murky national loyalties. Inevitably, the willful and wounded Lulu falls in love.

Then Nassau’s wealthiest man is murdered in one of the most notorious cases of the century, and the resulting coverup reeks of royal privilege. Benedict Thorpe disappears without a trace, and Lulu embarks on a journey to London and beyond to unpick Thorpe’s complicated family history: a fateful love affair, a wartime tragedy, and a mother from whom all joy is stolen.

The stories of two unforgettable women thread together in this extraordinary epic of espionage, sacrifice, human love, and human courage, set against a shocking true crime . . . and the rise and fall of a legendary royal couple. 

Review:

Thank you to @harpercollinsca for sending me a copy of this book!

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This book turned out to be a lot more complex then I expected, and in a very good way! The premise is that it takes place in the Bahamas around 1941, and follows a woman who goes to the Bahamas to report on the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, who were living there at the time! But in reality, there was a lot more to this book than I thought! Lulu is a complex character who goes to the Bahamas to revamp and rejuvenate her life, and there she meets people who will impact her life forever! But the book also has some other great characters as well, including Elfriede, who at the beginning of the 20th century is struggling with postpartum depression, except they don’t understand what that is so no one really knows how to help her, which is sad! The two women’s stories are kinda intertwined but in an unexpected way (so that’s all I’m going to say on that), but the two stories are in during tumultuous times, which makes for a very interesting book!

Happy reading!