The Paris Hours: A Novel
by Alex George
Ordinary Lives in an Extraordinary City (2/13/2020)
I quite simply loved this book. Set in Paris on a single day in 1937, it tells stories of four ordinary people, unknown to each other, but connected nevertheless. Each is struggling with a powerful loss; memories of those losses inform their daily activities. They will encounter the consequences of their actions or inaction. Some will succeed, others will not.
This is a beautifully written book, so empathetic to the characters that I felt I knew each and wanted all to overcome their obstacles. The Paris Hours is a small book and can be read in one sitting. I did so, not because it was possible, but because I did not want to put it down. The interweaving of the various characters' stories was done so skillfully that the climax when all are brought together seemed the most natural occurrence possible. Alex George is a great storyteller and a brilliant writer. Into this tale of ordinary people, he includes cameos of a few celebrities and ex-patriots to round out the picture. I highly recommend this book.
Lady Clementine
by Marie Benedict
The Unheralded Churchill (11/12/2019)
"Lady Clementine" came from a genteel, though impoverished, background, which provided the pathway for her to meet and marry Winston Churchill. It was clear from their first meeting that Clementine's knowledge about history and politics set her apart from other young women of his acquaintance and quickly led to a brief courtship and marriage.
Clementine or "Clemmie," as Churchill would call her throughout their lives, quickly determined that to love and build a strong marriage, she would have to become directly involved in his political life. She began attending all his meetings so that she gained understanding of his world and could discuss and debate issues with him. Attendance clearly startled the all-male associates of Winston, but did not deter Clemmie. It was the first of many new precedents she would establish.
"Lady Clementine" is a fast-paced and informative novel by an excellent storyteller. It was fascinating to learn how Clemmie addressed the special needs of women and children and also involved them directly in the response to Hitler's launch of the Battle of Britain. Highly recommended for lovers of historical fiction and especially British history. Also an excellent read for book clubs.
The Guest Book
by Sarah Blake
The Guest Book—A Timely Warning for Our Lives (3/25/2019)
This book follows the 19th Century lives of three generations of the Milton family, leaders of the "old money" world of New York who spend summers on their own private island off the coast of Maine. It is on this island that the mores, manners, and beliefs about their roles in America; choices about people who should be included in their lives are burnished and passed on to each new generation.
A beautifully written book with fresh and vibrant descriptions; some characters are imbued with such passionate joy and hope that I felt I was walking beside them. The Guest Book explores many sub-themes about relationships, but two major ones are paramount. Leadership is a role that must evolve through time and societal change, and family secrets hurt all not privy to the "walled up" events and are likely to continue their hurtful legacy through succeeding generations.
This book is timely, relevant to the "Me Too" movement and the electrifying growth of diversity in our government. I enjoyed this book very much and feel that it would stimulate thoughtful, meaningful debate, especially in book club discussions.
The Lost Man
by Jane Harper
The Lost Man by Jane Harper (11/28/2018)
Like Harper’s first two books, The Lost Man seizes the reader’s interest and doesn’t let up until the final page. It is a fast read. Ms Harper’s pacing and red herrings keep one deeply involved in the story. Set in Australia’s outback, the landscape and desolate environment are equal characters with the human participants. Rather in keeping with the setting, Harper’s prose is straightforward and offers few visual pictures or eloquent language. She more than makes up for these deficiencies by being an imaginative and believable storyteller. I highly recommend this book.
Note: This is not part of the series begun in The Dry; it is a stand-alone novel.
Meet Me at the Museum
by Anne Youngson
Meet Me at the Museum (4/17/2018)
Meet Me at the Museum, an epistolary novel, is a small book that gave me great enjoyment. A chance letter of inquiry from a woman in England reaches a Danish museum curator. His reply launches a casual correspondence that grows into the fulfillment of deep and previously unrecognized needs of both participants.
The worlds of Tina and Kristian begin to expand, reawakening them to aspects of their lives and environments that both have abandoned. The casual correspondence becomes a need.
Though this is the story of two people who are past middle age, most readers will realize that Tina's and Kristian's concerns, interests, opinions and ideas have parallels in all our lives. A careful reading will provide gems of wisdom or at least stimulate thoughts and suggest new options, or renewals, in your life.
While love is not lost on the young, love between those with greater life experiences is delightfully multifaceted. Thank you to BookBrowse and Flatiron Books for the opportunity to enjoy this ARC.
Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd, Russia, 1917 - A World on the Edge
by Helen Rappaport
Many Partied While Chaos Reigned All Around (10/29/2016)
Helen Rappaport has vast experience and knowledge about the era of the Russian Revolutions and the events that led to the ultimate breakdown and overthrow of the Czar and his government. She has used knowledge gained in preparation of a number of other books about this period plus new primary sources from foreign diplomats, journalists and curious observers who were serving or visiting in Petrograd in 1916-17, to write a fascinating and extremely readable book.
"Caught in the Revolution" provides an up close vision of almost unbelievable extremes in early 20th century Russian society: peasants from the countryside and factory workers standing in the city's soup lines and sleeping in whatever shack or lean-to might lend shelter during a brutal winter; Russian soldiers that avoided slaughter on the battlefields of World War I and made it back to the capital; an elite aristocracy and nobility as well as members of a diplomatic corps of European and the U.S. ambassadors and ministers who all led lives of lavish partying in palace homes and shopping in the most elegant shops on Nevsky Prospekt. The actions of the latter indicated a complete obliviousness to the desperate lives of the poor in less elegant, but nearby streets.
Wives of the diplomats prepared bandages and clothing for the Russian soldiers still in battle and tended the wounded and dying ones who managed to make it back to Petrograd. Hospital facilities tended to be ones set up by individuals from Europe and staffed by volunteer nurses who came from various war fronts. Observers from the West, including the well-known suffragette Emma Pankhurst and novelist and short story writer Somerset Maugham (among many others), arrived to add to the chaos and dissension in the overcrowded city.
Less apparent on the streets, but just as active behind the scenes were the various heads of factions which maneuvered among themselves to seize leadership of opposition to the status quo and determine the future direction and next government of Russia.
Finally, not to be over-looked, is Rasputin, the mystic-healer-spiritualist who was universally disliked by all but the Romanovs who sought his skills in treating their youngest child and only son (whose future was so closely tied to the survival of the Romanov dynasty) who was a hemophiliac.
Helen Rappaport sorts out the chaos and establishes vivid and memorable images of each of the players "Caught in the Revolution." Her non-fiction narrative has nothing in common with dry textbooks most readers of this review will remember and reads more like popular and compelling fiction. More people would love the study of history if more writers had Rappaport's skills that make this book such an engaging, but thoroughly documented read.
The Tea Planter's Wife
by Dinah Jefferies
A Question of Trust (7/4/2016)
The setting is early 20th Century Ceylon, now Sri Lanka and represents the waning days of the British Empire before transition of colonies to independent states; nevertheless, change is in the air. Our characters, wealthy English tea plantation owners encounter changing expectations by their line workers.
Nineteen-years-old and newly wedded, Gwen is just arriving in Colombo, Ceylon, to join her husband Laurence. Their story and that of associated characters is told in a straightforward manner with references to past events—a first wife and young child who both died at an early age—which provide the unknown elements that impact Gwen's life and trigger the reader's curiosity and anticipations.
Jeffries writes in a straightforward, clearly understandable manner. Similarly, her characters are straightforward (except for their secrets) though not especially complex. Descriptions paint the picture, though are not particularly lyrical.
The author's great strength is her ability to ensure ongoing interest through the ever-increasing pace of the tale. This book is a page-turner and even if you are able to solve the conundrum early on, clever red herrings and roadblocks will keep you second-guessing yourself to the last page. The Tea Planter's Wife is a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable read.
The Forgetting Time
by Sharon Guskin
A Spellbinding Debut Novel (11/22/2015)
I have an ongoing interest in memory, mostly what we remember, its selective nature and how our memory of an event changes over time. This book greatly expanded my concept of this phenomena.
If you are a reader who finds characters the most interesting part of a novel and enjoys watching them grow as the story progresses; who likes books with characters so real you envision them as your neighbors or work colleagues or friends, will be unwilling to put down The Forgetting Time.
Ms. Guskin has been remarkably adept at presenting a concept that is difficult for western minds to comprehend let alone accept. She has told a story that shows the power of love and the potential for growth in forgiveness and acceptance; the painful, unrelenting nature of loss; explored our understanding of memory—how and what we remember—and why we must also have a forgetting time, a time of letting go.
In presenting the thesis of this novel, the author has shown how we grow when we open our minds to new concepts and differences in the cultures of all people. I have "left" the book, but I will be pondering the facets of our minds that shape our lives for a long time.
Tides of War: A Novel
by Stella Tillyard
A Time of Turmoil and Opportunity (11/27/2011)
Tides of War has all the elements that create deeply moving and compelling historical fiction. Its wartime London crackles with new possibilities, especially opportunities for women who are released from the constraints of conventional family life. Balancing London’s briskness is the sultry seductiveness of Seville whose ladies provide distractions from the brutality of the battlefront for the soldiers and the reader.
With a historian’s fine attention to detail, Tillyard paints word pictures that become fully realized for the reader—and with words that are fresh and innovative. She develops a vast cast of players that allow us to see a broad cross section of society, both in England and Spain; events are depicted in meticulous detail, ensuring that we grasp the full scope of the novel’s history.
However, the central fictional figures around which the places, events and historical figures should swirl and be spun into a meaningful complete jigsaw puzzle are strangely unaffecting—neither likeable nor so despicable that the reader is curious to see what mayhem they might provoke.
I have read compelling non-fiction that read like fiction. Unfortunately, Tides of War is a novel that reads more like non-fiction. While the narrative was informative, it was not compelling.
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