Admittedly I have been living under a rock as I did not realize that this was the fourth book in the series and yet that explains so many of the questions that remain to be answered. I will undoubtedly have to work backwards which will be a pleasure if the previous books hold my attention as firmly as this one.

This is a very different take on WWII novels and I was invested immediately. The main figure, Clara Vine and the people who move within and around her world are well drawn and the issues, situations and dialog are natural and believable. The most compelling part of this novel was the tension created and sustained for the duration. I was gratified that the horrible events of the time were told in a candid manner without glossing over anything and yet never succumbing to the sensational descriptions that other authors have employed.

When I read the last page my only thought was "When is the next installment going to be published? "!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. ( )

Review to follow. ( )

This was a great read. This is my first time to read any of Jane Thynne's books and I am definitely hooked. So, even though I read it out of series I was able to pick up the story pretty quickly. ( )

The book was send to me by the publisher Random House/Ballantine via Net Galley. (Published as Faith and Beauty in the UK). Thank you.

Jane Thynne has decided to continue her series about Clara Vine, the English actress and British agent, working in Nazi Berlin just before the outbreak of war. The Pursuit of Pearls takes place during the spring and summer of 1939. Professionally, Clara is pegged to star in Germania, a film by Leni Riefenstahl glorifying the origin of the Aryan race. Secretly, she is asked by Section D of British Intelligence to find out anything she could about a possible formal alliance between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Personally, she is grieving the disappearance of her fellow agent and lover Leo Quinn and hoping against hope that he is still alive. To further complicate her life, she is the friend and mentor of a very talented young costume student who is brutally murdered not far from Clara’s home. And Clara is beginning to sense that she is being watched and not just for her celebrity status.

There is a lot going on in this novel. Thynne seamlessly introduces the historic players into her fiction. The Nazi wives are still there, as are their husbands. Magda Goebbels is making a spectacle of herself to get back at her philandering husband. The very dangerous Annelies von Ribbentrop is the intellect behind Joachim's diplomacy.

The Clare Vine novels all have a very strong sense of time and place and, in my opinion, this is particularly true in Pursuit of Pearls. Clare’s sweet godson is still a sweet young man who happens to be a leader in the Hitler Youth and believes wholly in Nazi ideology. Berliners are told everything is wonderful, even as basic essentials like coffee and bread disappear to be replaced by barely edible substitutes. Jewish professionals are being given menial jobs….if they are lucky. Jewish businesses are closed or “sold” to Aryan neighbors. All the detail is very, very real. It gives the story a good edge which makes the reader just that much more uneasy.

Lotte’s murder plot is somewhat like Hitchcock’s McGuffin. Both the murderer and Lotte’s actions which cause her murder seem undeveloped. Even Clara’s confrontation with the murderer, the motivation, behind the crime, and the final resolution seem rushed.
The murder does, however, lead to what I consider the most interesting part of the novel, the Faith and Beauty Society, a finishing school for young women deemed to be suitable wives for important Nazi officials, particularly SS officers. Young women are trained in deportment, conversation, dance, music, gymnastics, hunting etc so that they can mate with the perfect Aryan male and produce at least four perfect Aryan children. Lotte is a member and so is her best friend Hedwig. Like Clara’s godson, Hedwig accepts the Nazi philosophy without question until she is faced with some hard truths and she finds courage she never knew she had.

There are open plot lines which hopefully are addressed in future novels. Clara is asked in London if she plans to stay in Berlin when war is declared. She is unsure and since Clara safe back in Britain would not make for interested reading, more books should be forthcoming. I hope so. The new characters like Hedwig and the enigmatic Nazi art historian Eric Adler, as well as intriguing hints about some old friends, are sure to add more danger and drama to Clare’s already interesting life. ( )