Episode 174 when Fiction Drives us to Learn More

[Carol]

Here's a book I always mention when someone asks about a fiction book that drove me to read more.

Steve Berry's The Amber Room about the looting of Russia's Catherine Palace and the disappearance of the spectacular amber panels composing the room. This led me to read The Amber Room: The Fate of the World's Greatest Lost Treasure by Adrain Levy and to visit Russia to see the completed restoration of the room. Breathtaking! and I still wonder where those original panels are and continue to follow news about this topic.

[Ann]

Yes!! I was in Russia before reading The Amber Room, and it makes me mad that I didn't have the background to appreciate the restoration.

[Rhonda]

The most recent book I read that had me revisiting and learning was . It was a good historical fiction novel (1537) and a genre I have just become interested in.