Vikki VanSickle

Vikki VanSickle has worked as a bookseller, a menstrual health educator, a creative writing instructor and publishing professional with Penguin Random House Canada. Currently, she lives and writes in Toronto and hosts a book segment on CTV Your Morning.

VanSickle's new novel is The Mystic and the Missing Girl.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

I am a voracious reader and like to read across all sorts of genres. Here are some titles I have absolutely loved recently.

The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey is a compulsive, twisty piece of speculative fiction that reminded me at times of Never Let Me Go. Set it an alternate 1970s, three boys remain at one of the last remaining homes for boys who are susceptible to a mysterious, unnamed illness. They know very little about the world, much like Nancy, another child who lives with loving parents who never let her leave the house. But these children are connected in a stunning, horrifying twist. The world building in this novel complex but never confusing, like a gorgeous puzzle revealed in stunning pieces from multiple perspectives. It can be difficult to pull off a believable and satisfying child narrator in adult fiction, but Catherine Chidgey does it so well. She is an author who deserves a much bigger profile. This title and a previous title, Pet, are among the books I recommend the most.

I love it when an author can successfully blend genre elements, and Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett is a prime example of how this can be done well. Set in a magical version of 1920s Montreal where Magicians are maligned by society, it is both historical and fantastical. After her cat shelter is destroyed in a magical attack, Agnes needs a new place to house her many stray cats. She finds herself renting a location from Havelock, the infamous Witch King, a magician who is in hiding from his villainous sister and general society. At first Agnes and Havelock do not get along, but irritation turns to attraction, as it so often does in these cozy romances. Magical and historical elements, enemies-to-lovers romance trope, time travel—this book has it all yet never feels overly stuffed or uneven.

I love a thriller, but when you read a lot of them, the plot, rhythms and twists start to become predictable. This is not true of The Artful Anna Harris by Tracy Maton, in which one con artist meets her match and a deadly game of cat and mouse unfolds. Anna has created a new persona and life for herself in a charming English town, complete with the perfect fiancé, but one bad decision involving a handsome stranger (who is also not who he claims to be) puts everything (including her life) in jeopardy. Anna is very unlikable at first, but somehow, I found myself rooting for her. I admired author Tracy Maton’s ability to create flawed, compelling and surprising characters. If you love a thriller but feel a bit tired of them, this one feels like a shot of (very dark) espresso.

Visit Vikki VanSickle's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

James R. Benn

James R. Benn is the author of the Billy Boyle World War II series, historical mysteries set within the Allied High Command during the Second World War. The series began with Billy Boyle, which takes place in England and Norway in 1942.

Benn's new novel is The Ninth Circle, the twenty-first installment of the Billy Boyle series.

Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. Benn's reply:

Le Chambon-sur-Lignon is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France. During the Second World War, it was the scene of a remarkable conspiracy of goodness. Local residents made the commune a haven for Jews and other refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. The refugees were hidden both within the town and in the countryside while some were escorted to neutral Switzerland. Precise numbers are impossible to determine, but estimates of the number of people sheltered in Chambon and its area range from eight hundred to five thousand.

I am researching this chapter in WWII France for a Billy Boyle novel, and I’m reading two accounts which differ greatly in their tone and approach (both are excellent). One of the challenges in reading for research is finding a book that hits the marks you’re interested in as an author. Sometimes a book looks good but when you get into it, the material is disappointing.

Not so with these two titles.

Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of the Village of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There, by Philip P. Hallie.

This is perhaps the quintessential work on Le Chambon. It shows how quietly, peacefully, and in full view of the Vichy government and a nearby division of Nazi SS, Le Chambon's villagers and their clergy worked to save thousands of Jewish children and adults from certain death. At the center is Le Chambon pastor André Trocmé, who serves this primarily Huguenot Protestant area. His wife, Magda Trocmé, and Daniel Trocmé, his cousin, are key players. André Trocmé was an ardent pacifist who did not shy from aggressively confronting evil. Hallie’s book works at almost a spiritual level. He provides broad details about the rescue activities but also illuminates the deeply held beliefs which drove Trocmé, and the villagers, to act as they did at such great risk.

Village of Secrets; Defying the Nazis in Vichy France, by Caroline Moorehead.

Village Secrets also tells the extraordinary story of Le Chambon and the surrounding plateau where a cluster of tiny, remote villages are bound together by a long and arduous history. Moorehead goes beyond Le Chambon and brings in a wider circle of activists, but what makes this book different from Hallie’s is the extraordinary level of detail about people and places. As an example, I knew that the hotel at the center of Le Chambon had been taken over by the Germans to house their troops. But in Village of Secrets Moorehead tells us that they were convalescent soldiers from the fighting on the Russian Front. We read about their daily routines and how, perhaps, they noticed the larger number of refugee children and did not report it. She also goes into the logistics of supplying hundreds of hidden refugees with food and documentation. The distribution of supplies and ration books was taken up by pères tranquilles, or the older, married men in the village who worked at their jobs during the day and supported the Resistance at night.

Details like these are meat on the bone for a writer.

Happy Reading to all!

Learn more about the Billy Boyle WWII Mystery Series at James R. Benn's website.

The Page 99 Test: The First Wave.

The Page 69 Test: Evil for Evil.

The Page 69 Test: Rag and Bone.

My Book, The Movie: Death's Door.

The Page 69 Test: The White Ghost.

The Page 69 Test: Blue Madonna.

Writers Read: James R. Benn (September 2016).

Q&A with James R. Benn.

The Page 69 Test: Proud Sorrows.

The Page 69 Test: The Phantom Patrol.

Writers Read: James R. Benn (September 2024).

The Page 69 Test: A Bitter Wind.

Writers Read: James R. Benn (September 2025).

The Page 69 Test: The Ninth Circle.

--Marshal Zeringue