Gold is the latest novel by Chris Cleave, author of Little Bee. This time Cleave takes on the world of Olympic biking, following two women who are contenders for Gold, Kate and Zoe. They are now 32 and have been racing together since they were 19. Zoe has a fierce determination to win at any cost, while Kate has sacrificed her practice many times for her family. I felt really drawn into the world of Olympic training and into the…
The Elephant Keeper is a novel by Christopher Nicholson set in eighteenth century England, about a young boy who grows up to become the caretaker of an Elephant named Jenny. It is still hard to believe how many people don’t find animals intelligent, or worthy of care and respect; this was particularly true at the time in which this novel is set. We follow young Tom Page as his life becomes inextricably linked to the Elephant in his care. He…
Five Quarters of the Orange is a novel by Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat. It is set in a small village in France during the German occupation of WWII, and tells the story of a small girl and her siblings and mother who get involved with one young German soldier with tragic consequences. This novel is similar to Chocolat in its delicious descriptions of food, but it is a darker, more troubled story. Harris is a wonderful writer who pulls…
Isolde, Queen of the Western Isle by Rosalind Miles is the first of her Tristan and Isolde novels. I love stories based on the Arthurian legends, but was not familiar with Miles works until now. I found the subject matter interesting, but the writing lacking. Since there are more books to come in this series, we leave our hero and heroine quite alive and well at the end of the novel, and you would have to read the rest of…
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress (A Memoir of Going Home) by Rhoda Janzen is one of the most hilarious memoirs I’ve ever read. I’ll admit that I didn’t know much about the Mennonites before reading this book, and often got them confused with the Amish. Janzen will clarify any and all misconceptions you might have by the end of the book. After being in a terrible car accident the same week her husband of 15 years leaves her for a guy…
The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif, is a sweeping novel set in Egypt at the turn of the 20th century during British occupation, with a parallel story set 100 years later at the turn of the millenium. In the modern story, we meet Isabel, an American journalist who has fallen in love with an older Egyptian man, and travelled to Egypt where she becomes close friends with his sister. In a box of Isabel’s great grandmother’s personal belongings she…
The Dogs of Babel is a strange and interesting book by Carolyn Parkhurst. It is the story of Paul, a man whose wife has died, and the only witness is their dog Lorelei. In his grief, he decides to try to teach Lorelei to talk, so he can uncover the truth about his wife’s death. The novel was strangely compelling until it took a turn towards the gruesome. Reading Parkhurst’s comments at the end of the book, she says she…
A Wedding in December is the first of Anita Shreve‘s many books that I have read. It tells of school friends reuniting for a weekend in the Berkshires for a wedding. It is the wedding of their friends who were high school sweethearts and are now together again after 27 years. The story brings to mind the movie The Big Chill. Although in the book, they are not gathered for a funeral, there is the long ago death of their…
The Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich takes the reader deep into the sights and smells of 16th century Venice. I’m not entirely sure that is a good thing, as it was so real I could almost smell all the filth brought to life in these pages. Through much research, Rich has created a highly imaginative story of a Jewish midwife, who breaks the law by delivering a Christian baby and has to flee for her life, while escaping the…
The Ruins of Us is a debut novel by Keija Parssinen. It tells the story of Rosalie, an American woman living in Saudi Arabia with her wealthy Saudi husband for almost three decades. When he decides to take a second wife, which is his right by law, their family slowly begins to fall apart. Having been raised in Saudi Arabia by American parents, Parssinen tells her tale with an inside view, yet always that of a foreigner, no matter how…