Fiction

Crusoe’s Daughter

Crusoe’s Daughter by Jane Gardam This is my third Gardam book in as many months. Having enjoyed Old Filth and The Man in the Wooden Hat, I turned to Crusoe’s […]

The Man in the Wooden Hat

The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam (Book 2) Don’t you occasionally wonder how your spouse experiences your mutual milestones as well as the minutia of your everyday […]

Old Filth

Old Filth by Jane Gardam (Book 1) Prior to his retirement to Dorset, Sir Edward Feathers was a successful Hong Kong judge. He was greatly admired in the legal community, […]

Beautiful Ruins

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter Satirical novels about the movie business are funny but rarely charming. Beautiful Ruins manages to be both.  In 1962, a beautiful actress arrives on the […]

The Weird Sisters

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown “The weird sisters” of the title are not necessarily all that peculiar, but as daughters of a professor of Shakespeare who names them after […]

The Weight of Ink

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish I love it when a novel inspires me to conduct extra research, and in The Weight of Ink there was plenty of material […]

The Visitors

The Visitors by Sally Beauman The discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1923 was the single most important Egyptian archeological find of the 20th C. Not because King Tut was […]

The Three Weissmanns of Westport

The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine Betty Weissmann lives with her two middle-aged daughters. Or rather mother and daughters are living together again—after 20+ years. This unnatural situation […]

The Thing Around Your Neck

The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The NCN Book Club’s January read was a stunning short story collection, The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, […]

The Spies of Shilling Lane

The Spies of Shilling Lane by Jennifer Ryan The Spies of Shilling Lane is another British World War II era novel from the author of the best-seller The Chilbury Ladies’ […]

The Son

The Son by Philipp Meyer When a friend asked me about The Son, I told her that I probably would not finish it– seeing as it is about a few […]

How to Age Disgracefully

How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley When recent empty nester Lydia applies for the job running the local Senior Citizens’ Social Club, she envisions quiet, grateful pensioners enjoying bingo […]

The Silver-Haired Sisterhood

The Silver-Haired Sisterhood (the further adventures of the Five French Hens) by Judy Leigh The Five French Hens are back in another improbable adventure. (Old ladies do not really live […]

The Examiner

The Examiner by Janice Hallett I loved The Examiner, a fiendishly clever epistolary novel. I read the book in a weekend, and was repeatedly flummoxed by the plot’s twists and […]

One Death at a Time

One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman Romance writer Abbi Waxman (The Bookish Life of Nina Hill) has written a mystery. Twentysomething Natasha Mason and iconic, retired actress Julia […]