Our Book Friends Book Club is excited to discuss our February book club picks!

Both books are from authors who are previous book club picks! And both books provided deep discussions and incredible research. We know these next books will hit home, too.

February Book Club Pick 1

First up, we have Code Name Sapphire from Pam Jenoff. Pam is known for writing well researched historical fiction delving into jewish lives during WWII. Her past books include The Lost Girls of Paris, The Orphan’s Tale, and The Woman With The Blue Star. Her books are always filled with hope and share stories of survival and love.

Code Name Sapphire is set in 1942 and follows a woman who must rescue her cousin’s family from a train found for Auschwitz. Hannah Martel has narrowly escaped Nazi Germany after her fiancé was killed. When her ship bound for America is turned away at port, she has nowhere to go but to her cousin Lily, who lives with her family in Brussels. Fearful for her life, Hannah is desperate to get out of occupied Europe. But with no safe way to leave, she must return to the dangerous underground work she thought she had left behind.

Seeking help, Hannah joins the Sapphire Line, a secret resistance network led by a mysterious woman named Micheline and her enigmatic brother Mateo. But when a grave mistake causes Lily’s family to be arrested and slated for deportation to Auschwitz, Hannah finds herself torn between her loyalties. How much is Hannah willing to sacrifice to save the people she loves? Inspired by incredible true stories of courage and sacrifice, Code Name Sapphire is a powerful novel about love, family and the unshakable resilience of women in even the hardest of times.

February Book Club Pick 2

Up next, we have The House of Eve by Sedeqa Johnson. We are still trying to get over our tears after reading her book Yellow Wife last year. And this one sounds like another beautiful heart breaker!

The House of Eve is a daring and redemptive novel set in 1950’s Philadephia and Washington DC that explores what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how much one is willing to sacrifice to achieve. her greatest goal.

1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising a daughter. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright.

Eleanor Quarles arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition and secrets. When she meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC’s elite wealthy Black families. His par­ents don’t let just anyone into their fold. Eleanor hopes that a baby will make her finally feel at home in William’s family. And maybe grant her the life she’s been searching for. But having a baby—and fitting in—is easier said than done.

Ruby and Eleanor will both make decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives.

Discussion Dates

Code Name Sapphire: Sunday, February 26.

3pm Discord

4pm Zoom with the author

The House of Eve: Sunday, March 5th

3pm Discord

If you’d like to join us, please shoot me an email at hello@leighellenlandskov.com. You can also sign up on our Instagram page at Book Friends Book Club and I will send you the links to our chats.