I have loved every book I have read by Barbara Wood, which now includes Night Trains. Each book has been completely different in plot, although each one so far has some element of medicine involved.

Night Trains is based on actual events that occurred in Poland during WWII. In this fictionalized version, Polish doctors Jan Szukalski and Maria Duszynska perpetrate a grand-scale hoax to protect the Polish town of Sofia from the Nazis. Their resistance does not include any killing; rather,they inject all who complain of any illness with a vaccine that gives the appearance of a positive typhus reading. This leads to the Nazis' quarantine of the town and the surrounding region, which protects the citizens from further harassment, executions, and deportations to death camps.

Meanwhile, a group of Jewish and Polish resistance fighters are devising a plan to ambush a German train to retrieve the ammunitions it carries, and to rescue a train's human freight headed for death camps in order to obtain more fighters for their cause. These heroes put themselves in great danger, and despite their efforts, do not reap the success that the doctors do with their hoax.

The book is continually suspenseful, with public executions, descriptions of tortures, death camp atrocities, and Nazis always on the watch for suspicious behavior.

I searched the internet to find the historical basis for this book and discovered that a documentary is currently being filmed about it, called "A Private War"; the true hero's name is Dr. Lazowski. Night Trains has many details obviously similar to true events. For those interested, related web sites are:

http://www.stjoenj.net/lazowski/lazowski.html
http://www.claytonentertainment.com/privatewar.htm

Dr. Wood's book is an invaluable guide for any parent who is raising children in a family where alcoholism is present. Well written, it provides clear and sensible guidance for adults trying to protect children from the terrible damage caused by parental alcoholism.

I found this to be an eXcellent book covering all the aspects of sawmilling in Nova Scotia During the late 19th and 20th centuries. It was very informative with plenty of photographs and illustrations. A great book indeed for anyone interested in sawmilling, young and old alike

Having lived in the Islamic world for several years, I found this book entertaining but also quite insightful to the culture of family life dominated by men. The author fully explores a core group of characters and uses satellite characters to flesh out the family saga. I never had read anything by Barbara Wood, but after reading this book, I have ordered more of her works. The bottom line: entertaining to read, AND I learned something.

If you are an American born woman of any race, when you finish this book you will kiss the soil on which you were born and thank your God that you were. If you are a male of any race you will understand some of the horrors of being a woman and learn some compassion. I would highly recommend this book to anyone 15 years of age or older. Very well researched. Well written. Gripping story by one very talented author! I highly recommend many of her other books if you've never read her but this one is probably her very best and certainly the one myself and most of my friends remember her by. Barbara Wood is an undiscovered American Treasure!

This novel has become a winter favorite for me. Snowed in on dark winter evenings I love to snuggle up with this book and allow it to take me away to another world.

Virgins of Paradise, by Barbara Wood, is an exquisitely painted picture of a Muslim family through five decades of love found and lost, war, royalty, loyalty, family ties broken and mended.

Though the ghostly presence of the elder Rasheed floats throughout the story, the rock-solid core of the Rasheed household is really Amira, his wife. She anchors the family with wisdom, her devout beliefs, and her healing herbs. Ibrahim, her son, in comparison, is a weak shell. It is the women in this story who seem to have all the strength, though their society has oppressed them.

This a moving and intriguing tale of the evolution of a family through its births, deaths, weddings, and daily life. Wood writes with such rich detail, you can feel all the research she did before writing this novel. She whisks you away to the hot, dusty city of Cairo, its narrow streets crowded with peddlars, beggars, and men thinking of a revolution.

The reader will want to know Amira's dark secret, find out what happened to the banished Rasheed family member, see if Nafisa will find love across enemy lines, and follow the lives of Camilla and Yasmina to adulthood.

It's winter; it's about time for me to visit with the Rasheeds again.

In the classical Barbara Wood style of mystery, odd family makeup, romance, technobabble, and a nice blend of time turning, she has created, quite simply, one heck of a great read. Fans of any books written by her will find the this book to incorporate every style she has used so far, and with a rather good blending of each style in to one another. The story line keeps your attention and drags you through the night reading till 3:00 in the morning (Actually happened!). A mystery builds upon another mystery and keeps you on your toes as you wonder what exactly is going on. It even begins and ends well-written, something that tends to lack in books these days. There are some flaws in this book that lowered the rating from 10 to 8. Incorrect usage of pin-ying ("Aiii-yah" is used incorrectly in areas and also some pinying errors in writing the words, especially around the numbers.) and a rather poor portrait of chinese culture to what is the western stereotype or imagination (Like medival stories overemphasizing knight's honor). But that's nitpicking. What will bother the reader is the ocassional problems within the story itself and the confusing family buildup. Fans of Mrs.Wood will discover the family buildup to be more confusing then previous books. There are also illogical actions that couldn't happen in its setting (Marrying someone who has a wife already?), and missing information about what happened to so-and-so character that might help the reader understand what is going on. Certain plot elements weren't even tied up, but the reader may suspect that was done on purpose. Overall, the plotline does a good job of covering the problems well enough to make this a great book that will definately keep you interested enough to finish the book to the end.

This is the fast-paced story of Charlotte Lee, CEO of an herbal pharmaceutical company in California, involved not only in alternative medicine but in research for a cure for cancer. The action goes back and forth in time and place, tracing Charlotte's ancestors, Mei-Ling and Perfect Harmony, her grandmother who started the company when she arrived from Singapore as a 16 year old.

Wood peels back the layers of the stories in a way that kept me involved even though I usually am not too fond of flashbacks.

There were,however, a few improbable scenes and I thought the book could have been less dramatic in places.

Wood's books are always good reading, and it is evident that she does an amazing amount of research. Many of her books have a medical theme, usually non-conventional medicine. My favorite of her books was "Green City in the Sun", which was about Kenya - a wonderful story that gave me a lot of insight into this country. Another excellent one was "Virgins of Paradise", about Egyptian women and the family structure there. I even listened to the audio after reading the book. Both were packed full of interesting information that gave insight into how people in these places live.

One of the things that puts Barbara Wood into a class of her own in historic, adventure and now also in biotech thriller writing: her thorough background research. She puts a lot of work into creating a complex and rich historical as well as atmospheric background for her lead characters. And she does it quite well for characters from foreign cultural background: the main character in "Perfect Harmony" is Charlotte Lee, a young Chinese-American woman. She is the CEO of Harmony Biotech, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in Chinese herbal medicine. As dramatic events unfold in present time and Charlotte sees her company, her professional existence and her life threatened, Wood unfolds the story of Charlotte's family and the history of the company in an equally engaging parallel storyline, and drama picks up on the mystery as well as the romantic level. Barbara Wood is the master of generation-spanning scenarios and great family sagas, as she has demonstrated before in her Egyptian tale "Virgins of Paradise" and the Australian saga "Dreamtime". Even when her sometimes a bit overly dramatic and predictably romantic heroines every once in a while come across as old-fashioned, this does not compromise the overall quality of her storytelling. Wood is a wonderful storyteller and is performing at her best in "Perfect Harmony". Pick it up, kick off your shoes and don't plan anything else for the weekend.

Interesting fairly fast-paced pre-historical/historical/contemporary novel told in past/present/past/present format. The orgins of a small tribe in
California are connected to the anthropologist excavating a cave, and researching the artifacts discovered after a major earthquake. Enjoyable, but coincidences abound. The historical parts are so much better than the contemporary parts. The historical being well researched and written; and the contemporary was somewhat corny and seemed amateurish; not the author's usual calibar at all. Made me wonder if Barbara Wood even wrote the present day portions.

As a California native born in Santa Monica, I've always wondered about the street names and city names, as well as what the area looked like prior to civilation invading the area.
I've also been a great fan of Jean Auel and have read many other stories that talk about ancient man.
This particular book is a great find for any Los Angelino or (like myself) a California native who has now moved away who also enjoys stories about Indian and ancient man.
The story is pretty well-crafted and obviously a lot of time went into the research. I enjoyed seeing the progression of history through the descendants of Marima, and think the author found a great way to take a fairly contrived idea and make it into a workable story.
I enjoyed the older indian stories more than the contemporary half of the novel, but perhaps that is because I am more curious about yesterday in Los Angeles than today. It gives the reader an inside look at what the people, land and customs were like and how the Los Angeles area indians fared through history.

This was a wonderful book - a real page turner. Barbara Wood has done a lot of historical research and woven it into a beautiful story.

Barbara Wood has too many stories to tell. For some authors, that could be a problem. For the redoubtable Ms. Wood, it is a challenge, and with "The Blessing Stone" she rises to that challenge superbly. The mysterious blue stone of the title connects the stories as it moves from hand to hand throughout the ages.

We begin at the dawn of, er... Woman, with an early human woman named Tall One who finds the stone and with its guidance (or at least it inspiration) leads her people to water and safety. The tale progresses to pre-Biblical times where we visit with some people who might be the ancestors of the Hebrews. (Was it the Reed sea or the Red sea? Hmmm...) The story pulses with the charm of a well-told folk tale as we learn the (unlikely?) origins of wine and beer. Ms. Wood's eye for the interesting detail is ever sharp, and her sense of humor holds sway even during the most dramatic episodes. On through ancient Rome to an England under siege by Vikings, we visit a Turkish harem, the island of Martinique (beware of pirates) and take an arduous journey through the American west along the Oregon trail.

If all of this sounds like too much, then heed the words of Bono when he sings "too much is not enough," because the author leaves us happily wanting more.

In her latest book, Barbara Wood touches on some familiar themes and visits some familiar settings, but what's most familiar here is her deft control of the narrative thread as she weaves this enchanting tapestry. Some of the episodes are quite short, others nearly novelette length, but all are perfectly constructed to bring home Ms. Wood's overiding statement that, in any age, sisterhood is powerful and women are indispensable.

Yes, "The Blessing Stone" is a gem.

I love Barbara Wood's books and this is the best one I've read in a long time, I hated to finish it!

Barbara Wood has written a truly magical book. It not only entertains but educates with tidbits of information about religion,history,cultural differences,geography, etc. I was mesmerized from the first page and hated to see the last page appear. Fix a cup of tea, curl up in a cozy spot and prepare to be enthralled.

The story is a little sad, but it is very interesting. There are a lot of animals in it, and anyone who likes animals would enjoy reading this book. It takes place in a forest and a meadow. The author uses lots of exotic names of animals such as sedgehens and yellow birds. The main enemy is man and He comes into the story a bit too much. The story is very detailed and does have lots of hard words, but it's worth reading. I liked it much better than the Disney movie.

I first read Bambi 30 years ago and was lucky enough to find a 1929 copy that I will hold dear to my heart forever. The author takes you deep into the forest where you become one of the animals. You can feel the cold and smell the fear among them when the two-legged animal called "Man" arrives. It allows readers to immerse themselves in the world, seeing it from an animal's point of view.

It's a great book to share with kids and a valuable learning experience about the ways of nature. At times it is cruel and very true to life. It teaches respect for our elders, and love of family. We stand back and watch Bambi grow stronger until he has a sense of wisdom that only experience can bring. This is truly a book to share with your kids. It is so much more than a Disney cartoon.

The only reason I read Bambi by Felix Salten was because I thought the Disney movie was kind of "cute."

THE BOOK IS SOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER.

This isn't exactly what you would call a children's book. Salten has written what some would almost call a satire about survival in the woods and the dangers of manpower. This book (along with Salten's other book, Fifteen Rabbits) has been the only book that has moved me to tears. This is a must-read for ANYONE. You won't be able to put it down. But, beware, there are some pretty moving and powerful scenes in this story, so have some kleenexes ready! (In the end, EVERY major character, including Faline, his father, etc., is killed except for Bambi and his two young children.)

P.S.--If you liked this book, be sure to go out and read Salten's other book about forest life, except this time from a rabbit's point of view: Fifteen Rabbits. You'll love it!

This book was recommended to me by a friend and I wish I had read it sooner! I enjoyed all aspects of the book, the digs, the biblical referencing and the interpertations of the scrolls! I wasn't too keen on the computer jargon, but you didn't need to be a computer wiz to understand the jest of it. It was well written and obviously well researched! Being it was recommended to me, I therefore would recommend it anyone who enjoys a cat and mouse chase! (no pun intended) Also, just for the historical and bibllical aspect, if nothing else. I was intriqued by Catherine and her strong will to vindicate her mother and what her mother stood for. It's a fast read and a real page turner!

The Prophetess tackles a deep and fascinating subject. Although it is somewhat outdated now that we have already crossed the Y2K barrier, it still is a wonderful read. Archaeoligist Catherine Alexander makes a startling discovery of some ancient scrolls in Egypt which hold manifold secrets that can change the world. With the millennial Zeitgeist at full throttle, the scrolls hold a pertinent message about the world on the threshold of the 21st century. Many greedy parties are after these valuable scrolls, and Catherine is in a race against time and the people after her as she spans continents in search of the secret of the scrolls. The book has an exciting sequence of events and a powerful climax. A great book!

This book is one of the best I've read in ages. Barbara Wood takes us on a thrilling adventure with Catherine Alexander a top-notch archaelogist who is uncovering the secrets of the past and startling facts that could shake the foundation of the world as we know it. It is so very very hard to put this book down. I was even reading it while eating. I recommend it to everybody. You will not be disappointed!

I found this to be an exciting book, not as thrilling as Butterfly but I couldn't put it down. I was pleased that Beverly and her twin got together and was glad it all turned out the way it did. It had a lot of twist and turns. I recommend everyone read Butterfly first, than read this. I read Butterfly twice. I wish Kathryn Harvey had more books out like Butterfly.

While Butterfly was a tough act to follow, Stars does its best. granted it doesn't have the gripping plot twists that the first part of the story had but it's got plenty to keep your interest and appease your Beverly/Danny fix. You'll read about Phillippa and her early life in boarding school waiting for her adoptive father who has all but disappeared, and you'll struggle with her as she grows fat and earns the name "Choppy." And then she sheds the weight and sets out to find her twin sister. No fair reading ahead, but you'll be tempted. And do order both books. They haven't become outdated.

I thought this book and Butterfly was great the first time I read it about 10 years ago. I ran across Butterfly again online and got it for a song. Reading it again, was just as good as the first time. After I finished, I passed it on to my daughter who is reading Butterfly now. It is time to order and re-read the sequel. I hope everyone enjoys them as much as I do.