I love book blogging.  So much.  It's a lot of fun for me, but sometimes, well, sometimes it gets overwhelming.  And stressful.  And exhausting.  In the crush, things occasionally get overlooked or forgotten.  Take Degrees of Courage by Shari Vester, for instance.  I was supposed to review it today, but I haven't even cracked the cover.  So, I'm going to go with a book spotlight instead.

First, the back cover blurb:

Degrees of Courage tells the story of three women of a Hungarian family—mother, daughter, and granddaughter—their lives set against the most dramatic and turbulent decades of the 20th Century.  Set apart by generations, each is confronted with problems beyond individiaul control, be iturn-of-the-century Victorian prejudice, devastating wars, or life under a terror-driven regime.  To cope, they carried on with equal courage but with vastly different outcomes: one was able to overcome, one was destined to break under pressure, and one turned all to her advantage.

Although the story is semi-fictional, loosely based on family history, it also contains strong elements of historical truth familiar to many people, especially to Hungarians who lived through the horrors of the Second World War and the subsequent Communist takeover that led to a bloody revolt against the hated Stalinist dictatorship.

Degrees of Courage is a testimony of what it took to live in an age and time when today's "Let it be" mentality was simply unimaginable.

Second, the book trailer:



Lastly, here's the link to the book's official blog tour page at Historical Fiction Virtual Blog Tours.  There, you can find more information about the author and view a schedule of the book's upcoming tour stops.

Enjoy!