The Golden Hour had everything I love in a historical fiction novel: a unique setting, romance, dual timelines, politics, murder and intrigue. At first we meet Lulu, a journalist running from some of her own secrets, as she settles in Nassau, Bahamas to cover the Duke and Duchess of Windsor during WWII. However, she quickly realizes there are severe prices to pay when associating with powerful, rich people — especially when the richest man of them all ends up murdered, and others begin disappearing without a trace. The book weaves back and forth between Lulu’s story and that of Elfriede von Kleist, a German baroness and mother, who deals with her own love and loss.

Personally, I found the beginning to be slow-paced and for someone less determined or interested in historical fiction, they may have been tempted to put the book down. However, the story does eventually find a rhythm and revs up the intrigue and mystery I spoke of earlier. It seems every character in this story has a secret and the author does a great job of revealing them at appropriate times — not too soon and certainly not too late that we’ve forgotten entirely their role in the story. The connection between the two women is predictable, but that doesn’t take away from the emotionality of the ties that bind them. I was moved by the sincerity of the story more often than not. There were several characters that had relatively large roles throughout, specifically the bartender Jack, that I feel were done a disservice towards the end of the novel as the reader is never told what happens to him, where he goes, or what secrets he was harboring. Perhaps that was the point.

Regardless, once I made it over the initial slump, I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it to those that love the historical fiction genre. I’ll definitely be picking up another Beatriz Williams novel in the future.

4/5 stars

Published: July 9th 2019
Publisher: William Morrow
Author: Beatriz Williams
Genres: Historical Fiction