The Paris Wife by Paula McLain is historical fiction based on the life of Heminway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson. She was a quiet 28 year old who met and fell in love with the young 20 year old Heminway long before he became a famous writer. They married and set sail for Paris in the 20’s becoming friends there with Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald and more. McLain gives the reader a portrait of life in Paris at…
The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan is the perfect book lover’s book to read on a cold winters day, even better if you’ve ever dreamed about owning your own little bookshop. It takes place in small town Scotland and is chock-full of charm. Nina is a librarian in a busy city in England, and when her library shuts down and she loses her job, she risks everything to follow her dreams. A lovely, enjoyable, feel good read.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is a great novel spanning four generations of a Korean immigrant family living in Japan starting in the early 20th century. Strong, hardworking women are at the heart of this novel. When young Sunja’s gentle minister husband is imprisoned, she goes to work to provide for her family, trying to give her elder son the best education possible and keep her younger son out of trouble, all the while keeping a powerful secret that could…
The Story of Arthur Truluv is the latest from Elizabeth Berg. A short, sweet little novel about 85 year old Authur who meets 18 year old Maddy in the cemetery where he goes daily to visit his wife. They form an unlikely yet tender relationship which is the heart of this novel. Arthur’s neighbor Lucille joins in the fun and everyone’s as happy as orange blossom cookies with a good cup of tea. Perhaps a little too quaint, but its…
Hiddensee, by Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked, is a retelling of the life of Drosselmeier, the beloved Godfather of the Nutcracker’s Klara. It is the story of young Drosselmeier’s upbringing, how he died, met fantastical forest creatures, came back to life and eventually became the toy maker who carved the famous Nutcracker. A wonderful and engaging story set in the enchanted Black Forest of Bavaria and reminiscent of Grimm’s Fairy Tales; an enjoyable read.
The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson is a book about a woman who writes graphic novels and comics for a living. Her half sister is the perfect, married, stable mother, or so it seems. When her grandmother in Alabama becomes ill, she returns to the South to look after her, and all sorts of unexpected events unfold, not least of which is the appearance of Batman (you’ll have to read it to find out.) This is a great book that…
The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley is a fascinating book set in the mountains of Peru during the mid 1800’s. A small party from the East-India company is sent from England to smuggle cinchona tree cuttings out, as their bark is rich in quinine for treating malaria. What they find is truly magical. Pulley’s descriptions were so fantastical that I often struggled to visualize what she was describing, and I found this tiring. The line between what is real and…
The Wanderers by Meg Howrey is a brilliant novel about three astronauts going through a seventeen month simulation to prepare them to be the first humans to go to Mars. Howrey did a great deal of research for this book and based it on an actual trial simulation. We follow an Helen, Yoshihiro, Sergi and their families during the simulation and learn about the inner life and strength and sacrifice that it takes to venture into space. Beautifully written, transformative;…
In the Midst of Winter is the new novel by Isabel Allende. It brings together three very different people during a snowstorm in Brooklyn. An American professor in his sixties, a young Guatemalan illegal immigrant and a Chilean woman and fellow academic. Their lives intersect after an accident leads to unexpected discoveries that throw them all together. Told in past and present, Allende is, as always, a brilliant storyteller. However, I have read all of her books and this is…
The Doll Funeral by Kate Hamer is a beautifully written atmospheric novel that follows 13 year old Ruby as she learns shes been adopted and sets off to find her real parents. Set somewhere in a forest town in England, Ruby befriends a group of siblings living on their own who she thinks might help lead her to her real family. Hamer crosses seamlessly back and forth between the living and the dead as the mystery of Ruby’s true family…