Inspired by the wartime experiences of her late father-in-law, award-winning author Bobbie Ann Mason has written an unforgettable novel about an Am...
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Feb 03, 2012
Deborah
rated it: 
An intriguing use of family history as the basis for a novel, and very interesting in its perspective on the French resistance movement. I enjoyed reading it and found it useful as a book to read in small sections before bed: sufficiently compelling without demanding that I continue. It's difficult to balance careful research (which this work appears to have in abundance) with the emotional dynamics of storytelling. In this case, the narrative feels like a deftly built container to hold an under
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Jan 15, 2012
Laura
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This story of a retired airpline pilot who returns to the Belgian site of the crash landing of his B-17 in World War II and who then attempts to locate those who assisted in his rescue and escape to Spain has a compelling story line, and provides an interesting insight into the workings of the French Resistance Movement. However, the telling of this fascinating story, which interweaves the pilot's search for his Good Samaritans with his recollections of his experience, is marred by a very unsym
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Jan 12, 2012
Rick
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History buffs looking for insights into the resistance and readers of literary fiction who like to read about protagonists searching for their emotional centerpiece will enjoy Bobbie Ann Mason's novel "The Girl in the Blue Beret". Ms. Mason spent considerable time and energy trying to bring alive the stepping-on-egg-shells existence of those who helped the allies in a time when resources were scarce, but courage abundant. She did a fine job though the on-page tension lags at times. Mar
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Oct 31, 2011
Mandolin
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Forced into retirement by his beloved airline, Marshall Stone has lost his purpose in life. His thoughts turn to long suppressed memories of World War II and his experiences after crashing a plane behind enemy lines. He remembers with gratitude the people who aided his escape from the Nazis and decides to retrace his steps through Belgium and France. According to the Amazon.com review, "Marshall’s search becomes a wrenching odyssey of discovery that threatens to break his heart—and also
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Aug 15, 2011
Sheila
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Marshall, an airline pilot decides to visit the site in France where his airplane crashed during WWII. He is overwhelmed when he finds people from the small village who initially helped him and some of the crew escape. He completes his final flight before retirement and decides to take a longer trip to France to find more people who were involved in his escape back to Britain during the war. Although he did marry and had two children, his whole life revolved around his career as a pilot. Now tha
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Aug 01, 2011
Heidi
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Marshall Stone is turning 60 and his life is in a state of upheaval. Forced to retire from being a pilot, a job he loves, he is also still dealing with the loss of his wife. With his two children grown, he feels that this is the time to return to the place where his B-17 crash-landed during World War II. He is particularly motivated to find some of the brave individuals who helped him along the way.
When I heard of this book, I was very excited to read it. I love historical fictio More...
When I heard of this book, I was very excited to read it. I love historical fictio More...
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Jul 15, 2011
Stephanie
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This book tells the story of Marshall Stone, an American pilot whose plane was shot down over Belgium during World War II. He has just been forced to retire from as an airline pilot and decides to go back to the scene of the crash and find some of the families and people who helped him escape through France and into Spain.
When reading this book, I split it into two parts. The first part I would give three stars and the second four. The first part was so jumbled, it was jarring to read. More...
When reading this book, I split it into two parts. The first part I would give three stars and the second four. The first part was so jumbled, it was jarring to read. More...
Aug 28, 2011
Julie
rated it:
This book had good intentions but didn’t really live up to my expectations. It was more of a romance than a solid historical fiction. It is another WWII story about a US pilot shot down over Belgium who returns safely thanks to the French Resistance. The story is told as he just retires after a long career as a pilot and decides to revisit France and retrace his steps to freedom. He meets people who helped him and eventually reunites with a young lady that he remembers the most. The story is wro
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Aug 04, 2011
Jo Anne
rated it: 
I didn't like the main character Marshall and could not relate to his aviation career or involvement in war. The writing was good and that is what kept me interested plus I wanted to know what was so special about the girl in the blue beret.
Marshall's wife was dead and at the age of 60 he was retiring from flying. Flying was his passion and his life so he felt "like a caged bird." He left his adult children in charge of watching the house while he left for France to hopef More...
Marshall's wife was dead and at the age of 60 he was retiring from flying. Flying was his passion and his life so he felt "like a caged bird." He left his adult children in charge of watching the house while he left for France to hopef More...
Jul 21, 2011
Jennyreadsexcessively
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Marshall Stone is a newly retired airline pilot and widower. He decides now's the time to return to France to visit the people and places from his WWII experience as a downed fighter pilot. There's a lot of sitting around reminiscing about the era of the French Resistance, when citizens risked their lives to aid stranded allied soldiers during the Nazi Occupation.
"Whatever I did for you, I also did for myself, for my family, for France. We were crushed, Marshall. Defeated. You More...
"Whatever I did for you, I also did for myself, for my family, for France. We were crushed, Marshall. Defeated. You More...
Jul 02, 2011
Ed
rated it:
I read an ARC sent by a kind Goodreads member. I loved reading Bobbie Ann Mason's In Country earlier this year. This novel is somewhat different. She explains in the Afterword how she based the novel, in part, on her father-in-law's wartime experiences.
I won't rehash the plot, just to say Marshall Stone, a retired American pilot at age 60, returns to France to hunt up his rescuers from back when his B-17 crash landed during the Second World War.
Well, I'm a big sucker fo More...
I won't rehash the plot, just to say Marshall Stone, a retired American pilot at age 60, returns to France to hunt up his rescuers from back when his B-17 crash landed during the Second World War.
Well, I'm a big sucker fo More...
Aug 25, 2011
Hal
rated it: 
A fine story based on very real events, The Girl in the Blue Beret tells the story of an American WWII pilot who was shot down shorlty after D-Day and who makes his way from Belgium to Spain with the assistance of the French Resistance.
The story jumps back in forth in time as the pilot, recently forcibly retired from his career as a commercial pilot, travels to France to search for the people who helped him.
When most Americans think of the French in WWII, we think of people who rap More...
The story jumps back in forth in time as the pilot, recently forcibly retired from his career as a commercial pilot, travels to France to search for the people who helped him.
When most Americans think of the French in WWII, we think of people who rap More...
Aug 03, 2011
Sarah
rated it:
I love WWII fiction and remember enjoying In Country by this author, so I thought this new adult novel would be a good fit. It was a quick read, but it's not her best work.
Marshall Stone is 60, newly widowed, and still dealing with the crash of his B-17 bomber during the war. Now that he has the time, he returns to France, rents an apartment, and tries to find all the people of the French Resistance who tried to help him return to England. It's a simple plot, but the story is made mo More...
Marshall Stone is 60, newly widowed, and still dealing with the crash of his B-17 bomber during the war. Now that he has the time, he returns to France, rents an apartment, and tries to find all the people of the French Resistance who tried to help him return to England. It's a simple plot, but the story is made mo More...
Sep 30, 2011
Erin
rated it:
This book tells the story of an American pilot who crashed landed a plane in Belgium in 1944 and the events that followed. The story begins in 1980 when he is forced to retire from being a commercial pilot at age 60 and decides that his life is incomplete, so he goes back to Belgium and then France to retrace his steps with hopes of reconnecting with people from the French resistance that sacrificed so much to save his life and the lives of his fellow aviators. I loved the way this story flowe
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Feb 20, 2012
Francie
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"The Girl in the Blue Beret" takes the reader into a little publicized part of the French Resistance during World War Two, focusing on the hiding and escorting of downed American aviators across the Pyrenees and across the Channel to England before heading home to America. The story moves seamlessly from present day to the World War Two experiences of one of these pilots who returns to France to reconnect with those who rescued him and his crew when their plane was downed after a bomb
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Sep 15, 2011
Lisa
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I'm not sure what to think about this book. It is the story about Marshall Stone, recently widowed and retired as an airline pilot at the young age of 60. As a young pilot during WWII, his bomber crash landed in Belgium and many people risked their lives to save his. At 60 years of age, he decides to go back and find the crash site and locate those that helped in his escape.
The book has a sad note about it which seemed to pervade into my daily life while I was reading it. I'm not More...
The book has a sad note about it which seemed to pervade into my daily life while I was reading it. I'm not More...
Feb 04, 2012
Lauren
rated it:
I enjoyed this gentle, low-key, slow-moving novel. It isn't remarkable in conventional terms--plot, character, setting--but Mason conveys something authentic about survivors of the "Good War," about those in the "Greatest Generation." She gets right the reticence, the sense of honor and chivalry, the innocence. That is no small feat.
The main character is not real likeable, but even so, he retains that authenticity of the era. There were a few minor details that More...
The main character is not real likeable, but even so, he retains that authenticity of the era. There were a few minor details that More...
Sep 23, 2011
L
rated it:
There are lots of novels about WWII from lots of viewpoints. I was engrossed with this book because it took the seldom explored viewpoint of the airmen who were shot down in Nazi occupied Europe. During the course of the story you also get the story of a band of French Resistance that fought back by hiding and moving these downed airmen at great risk to themselves. This is a fictional story based on the true events in the life of the authors father-in-law. The ghosts of the main character, Mar
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Aug 01, 2011
Debbie
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I found this book to be frustrating. I did not like how the author jumped around between time periods and characters. Usually this does not bother me, but this author did it too abruptly. The story was interesting, but I found the main character to be annoying and I didn't like him. I also thought that the way the characters talked seemed forced and unrealistic. The story follows a man who was a fighter pilot during World War II. His plane crashes in Belgium. He is then helped by various French
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Jul 25, 2011
Gay
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It took this book a while to get rolling, but i'm glad I stuck with it. The story is of a retired pilot who returns to France to the site of his B52 crash during the war. He looks for the people who had helped hide him and get him back to England, and finally about halfway thru the book he finds Annette, the girl in the blue beret, and of course he falls in love with her. She tells him the story of her capture and life in the work camps and prisons--horrible, tragic stuff.
The ending se More...
The ending se More...
Oct 06, 2011
Mary
rated it:
This novel is written in the present (1980s) with flashbacks to WWII by a pilot who crash landed in Belgium and was smuggled out of the country by the French resistence. He goes back to visit those who rescued him and finds out the price that some of those in the French Resistence had to pay to assist the American's trying to get out of the country.
The story is engaging although I must say that I did not particularly love the main character. I found him to be somewhat self centered a More...
The story is engaging although I must say that I did not particularly love the main character. I found him to be somewhat self centered a More...
Aug 17, 2011
Stacy
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This book was SLOW MOVING. The name is "The Girl in the Blue Beret". But what it should have been called was "The Older Ex-Pilot in France" because there was hardly anything about the girl in the blue beret. I feel that more time should have been spent on her; you only really get to hear about her or her story at the end. Hmmm....and I struggle with this review because I know the author wanted to kind of make you wonder about her and she dangled a carrot or two here and th
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Sep 05, 2011
Jo
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I liked this book....it was about an American Air Line pilot who had to retire at 60, much to us regret. He was widowed a couple of years before and his children were grown. He went to France to visit the area where his plane had gone down in WWII in 1944 and was surprised to find the family that first sheltered him lived in the same house. Picking up that string and following it, he learned of the fate of some of his rescuers and ultimately found The Girl In the Blue Beret. They exchanged m
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Dec 20, 2011
Kay
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Knowing a pilot well made this book even more interesting since a lot of it is about the love of flying a plane. But it is more about how a defining event in life can shape that life and the very individual search for one person by another turns out to be fascinating and memorable and meaningful. Finding the people that helped out when American pilots crashed in France, helped them escape, hid them, and the sacrifices they made and the connection that lived over the years was profound and the st
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Dec 13, 2011
Caroline
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(book: The Girl in the Blue Beret)This is a masterful portrait of a callow, unsophisticated American man plunged into the drama of World War II. We 'see' his life as a pilot thereafter through his point of view, more concerned about losing the plane on foreign soil and the fate of one of his gunners in particular than the fate of the resistance members who came to their rescue. When his fairly superficial,traditional wife dies, and he retires from commercial airline work, his attention finally r
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Jul 11, 2011
Brenda (Lansdowne)
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Based on the real-life experiences of the author's father-in-law, a widowed pilot forced to retire from his job as an airline pilot back before the Reagan Administration, finds himself only sixty years old with time on his hands. He needs and wants to go back to France to find the French resistance members who helped him and other aviators escape from the Germans.
When he gets back there, he finds the Girl in the Blue Beret, they share not only memories, but experiences that they have More...
When he gets back there, he finds the Girl in the Blue Beret, they share not only memories, but experiences that they have More...
Jan 27, 2012
Pr
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I had great hopes for this title and could easily have finished this if I hadn't had (literally) 30 other titles screaming for attention. A two star rating would more accurately reflect that I felt disappointed by the book. I've long been fascinated with WWII and enjoy historical fiction and romance. I also am at that point in life where "life after retirement" holds a fascination. This felt like I was reading a romance novel (sans the intimate connections) rather than literary fiction
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Aug 24, 2011
Lindi
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I'm not sure if I would have finished The Girl in the Blue Beret if I hadn't had insomnia last night, but then the compulsion kicked in and I couldn't put it down. After 40 years, a retired pilot returns to Belgium and France to track down and thank the folks who helped him escape the Nazis when he crash-landed his plane during a bombing mission. In the process he questions his own life and relationships.
It's not one of Mason's best in my opinion -- her research was showing and some More...
It's not one of Mason's best in my opinion -- her research was showing and some More...
Aug 19, 2011
Donna
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This book really drew me in. Last year I read a true biography from the WWII time period and this added a new layer of understanding to the time period. It is the story of a WWII pilot who returns to France after his retirement to find people who helped him when his plane was shot down during the war. It is well-told and the characters are strong. I did find the romance toward the end of the book to be a bit of a let-down. I preferred hearing the story and getting to know the characters rat
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Aug 16, 2011
Suzanne
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Story is about a pre 9/11 pilot that has to retire when he reaches a certain age, but was not happy about it. He is a widow and doesn't really know what to do with himself. He was a pilot in WWII and was shot down over France. He decides to go back and learn about the people in the Resistance movement that helped him and many others to get back to England.
The idea for the novel came from experiences that the author's father-in-law had in WWII and it very well done.
The end More...
The idea for the novel came from experiences that the author's father-in-law had in WWII and it very well done.
The end More...
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