I knew when I set myself a monthly reading challenge it wasn't always going to be easy to find the time to read even just one book, and that's exactly how March went. I ended up only reading one book, and it took me most of the month to even decide what I wanted to read. In the end, I landed on The Glassblower by Petra Durst-Benning.

It's the first of a trilogy about three sisters from Lauscha, Germany, a town where nearly everyone is a glassblower. When the Steinmann sisters' father dies unexpectedly, Johanna, Ruth and Marie are left to fend for themselves. Johanna takes a job as a shop assistant for a shady merchant; Ruth marries poorly for money; and Marie explores her creative side. Johanna ends up quitting her job after she is assaulted by her employer; Ruth leaves her abusive husband; and Marie teaches herself how to blow glass. Eventually the three sisters go into glassblowing for themselves.

This book has a lot of bad reviews on Goodreads, with many saying it doesn't belong in the historical fiction genre. There are plenty of reviews calling the book too simple, the heroines annoying, and the storyline boring. I'm not sure if we were reading the same book...

Here's what I got out of it - three girls left to figure out life on their own in a time when women weren't allowed to do much of anything do exactly what they're told they can't do. I found myself rooting for all three sisters for different reasons, and I can't wait to read the next book in the trilogy to see where life takes them.