Benjamin Franklin’s Bastard by Sally Cabot is historical fiction based the lives of Benjamin Franklin and his son William Franklin. As little is known about the true identity of William’s mother, Cabot has created a possible story based on lots of research. It is an interesting and entertaining read, giving us a glimpse inside the family life of one of the founding fathers of our nation. Those who like historical fiction will enjoy this book.
The Fountain of St.James Court; or Portrait of the Artist as an Old Woman by Sena Jeter Naslund, is a novel inside a novel, switching from present day Kentucky, to the past, during the life of French painter Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755–1842). In the present, we have Kathryn Callaghan, who has just completed her novel, Portrait of the Artist as an Old Woman. Naslund’s novel takes place over the course of one day in Kathryn’s life as she leaves her novel…
Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler is a novel about a secret relationship between a young white girl and a black boy, deeply in love in 1930’s Kentucky. This is the story of their forbidden relationship and its lifelong consequences. Kibler writes in present day and the past, speaking from the voices of two women, young and old, each struggling with their own demons, traveling on a road trip together to a funeral. The characters and the story are both…
Archangel is the new collection of short stories by Andrea Barrett. I am not usually a fan of short stories, as they seem to always leave me wanting more, and I much prefer the novel. However, Barrett is a master, and I was sold from the very first story. Her writing is filled with scientific discovery, mostly in the early 20th century. Some of it is based on fact and some of the stories have overlapping characters. Barrett is one…
Intuition by Allegra Goodman is a brilliant novel that takes the reader deep inside scientific labs where cancer research takes place. Set in Cambridge, Goodman probes deep into the world of research, politics, ethics, and truth. A rare achievement. Goodman’s writing is pitch perfect and the novel is compelling to the end. A recommended read.
The Smart One by Jennifer Close is a novel about family. It is the story of three grown kids who move back home to deal with their various problems, and their Mother (who has always been considered the smart one) welcomes them all, and feels overwhelmed at the same time. Although the novel could have used better character development, Close captures the emotional nuances of the family members well. There’s nothing extraordinary here, in fact it’s quite ordinary, but that’s…
The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman is a bit misleading by it’s title. It is about an antique cookbook collection, not the collector himself. We also don’t even get to the cookbooks until about half way through the book, which is a shame, as they were the best part of this novel. It is a modern day story about those who made it rich in the internet hey day of the late 90’s. Interspersed with this story are gems from…
The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo by F.G. Haghenbeck tells the story of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo’s tumultuous life from her her blue house in Coyoacan Mexico to her travels to America and Europe, her marriage to Diego Rivera and the many artists she surrounded herself with throughout her life. I know the story of Kahlo’s life well, so there wasn’t a lot new here. In this book, Haghenbeck brings her to life through dream images, journal entries and the…
The Signature of All Things is the new novel by Elizabeth Gilbert, of Eat, Pray, Love fame. It is a big sweeping epic novel spanning the mid-18th through19th centuries, focusing on one family of explorers and botanists. The novel centers around the life of Alma Whittaker, a brilliant woman born into luxury at the turn of the19th century in America. With a curious mind and the freedom to explore it, she becomes one of the best naturalists of her time,…
The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh follows the life of Frances Irvine, a wealthy young woman in Victorian London. After her father dies, she is left with no money and forced to accept a marriage proposal to a distant cousin living in South Africa. Once there, she discovers as much about herself as the place. In stunning prose, evoking vividly the wide open plains and the horrors of the diamond mines, McVeigh brings the town of Kimberly and the surrounding…