On Tour 12/20/23-02/09/24 “Bonfire Night” by Anna Bliss

Release Date: December 26, 2023

About The Book:

London, 1936: At twenty-one, Kate Grifferty is a press photographer in a Fleet Street agency, an unusual job for a young woman. But Kate is both talented and daring, recklessly going wherever the story might be—including, one October day, to an anti-fascism protest in East London. There, she meets David Rabatkin, a brilliant Jewish medical student. While his idealistic brother is eager to go to Spain and join the fight for the Republic, David knows where his path lies: at home, fulfilling the expectations of his profession and his family.

Kate is exposed for the first time to the dangers and demands of David’s world, where marrying within the Jewish faith is seen as not only preferable, but key to survival. Kate neither expects nor wants to be any man’s wife, hampered by convention. And though she and David are both outsiders, as war looms, other differences between them are thrown into sharp relief.

Brighton, 1940: Catastrophe forces Kate to flee London and the onslaught of war finds her working at her sister’s seaside boarding house, while David tends patients at a busy London hospital as the Blitz rages. But Kate’s challenges and disappointments have only deepened her desire to capture images of life unfurling around her, the beauty and violence, struggles and surprising joys. And soon fate and ambition will align, providing her with the chance to make her mark at last . . .

About The Author:

Anna Bliss is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara and the University of Sussex, where she wrote her dissertation on women’s narratives of the London Blitz during World War II. An alumna of the juried Northern California Writers’ Retreat, she also has studied at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Social Welfare, the American Jewish

University, and the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. Bonfire Night is her debut

novel. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and sons. https://www.annablissauthor.com/

Social Media:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/annablissauthor

Book Blurbs:

“A most tender work of art…Bonfire Night is a treasure of a novel, beautifully written with the unflinching style and subtle psychological insights of such masters as Ian McEwan and Graham Swift.” –Natalie Jenner, internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls

If you are a fan of Kate Quinn or Kristin Harmel, pull up a chair and settle down with Anna Bliss’s propulsive debut Bonfire Night. Wonderfully written and exquisitely researched, the work is a rare look into the rise of fascism in London preceding World War II, while exploring the costs of both love, female ambition and the lengths we will go to in order to make our mark on the world.“ —Jo Piazza, international bestselling author of The Knockoff and We Are Not Like Them

“This beautifully written, timely historical novel encompasses so much – difficult family ties, female ambition, and the sacrifices we make for love. With her meticulous research and heartrending descriptions of life in Brighton during the war, Anna Bliss had me turning the pages into the night.” —Janet Skeslien Charles, New York Times and International bestselling author of The Paris Library

Bonfire Night is a powerful, poignant debut written with the skill of a master. Ms Bliss’s perfectly flawed characters and exceptional research led me on a rich, multi-layered journey of love, betrayal, heartbreak, and most compelling of all, a burning search for freedom within the raging fires of war.” —Genevieve Graham, USA Today Bestselling author of Letters Across the Sea

Bloggers On Tour:

Dec. 20th- Tammy Reads https://instagram.com/tammyreads62

Dec. 22nd- Plains Reading https://instagram.com/plains_reading

Dec. 23rd – Books Love And Understanding https://instagram.com/booksloveandunderstanding

Dec. 27th- Lindas Book Obsession https://www.facebook.com/lindasbookobsession/

Jan. 3rd- Reading Late Into The Night https://instagram.com/reading.late.into.the.night

Jan. 8th- Megs Book Club https://instagram.com/megsbookclub

Jan. 12th- Joannas Bookshelf https://instagram.com/joannasbookshelf

Jan. 12th- Bryant Park Books https://instagram.com/bryantparkbooks

Jan 16th- Love My Books 2020 https://instagram.com/lovemybooks2020

Jan. 16th- Sarahs Bookish Reviews https://instagram.com/sarahs.bookish.reviews

Jan 17th- Marilyn Goncalves https://instagram.com/marilynjgon