The Light in the Ruins
The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian In the summer of 1955, Serafina Bettini, the only female detective in the Florence (Italy!)Police Department’s Homicide unit, is assigned the grisly […]
The Exiles Return
The Exiles Return by Elisabeth de Waal If the name Elisabeth de Waal sounds familiar, then you probably read her grandson Edmund de Waal’s book The Hare with Amber Eyes, […]
The Go-Between
The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley You may not know the British author L.P. Hartley, but you are probably familiar with the opening line of his 1953 novel The Go-Between. “The […]
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol 1-8 by Beth Brower More my style is a series of historical novels which were recommended to me by my friend Jerry. […]
The Novels of Barbara Pym
The Novels of Barbara Pym 2013 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of my favorite British authors Barbara Pym. So by way of celebration, I reread a […]
Life After Life
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson Don’t you wonder what might have happened if you had married another, spoken sooner, or taken a different route home? Ursula Todd, the protagonist […]
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, […]
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 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 […]
Bring Up The Bodies
Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel (Book 2) I loved Bring Up The Bodies, the sequel to Wolf Hall, winner of the Man Booker Prize. Plenty has been written […]
The Mirror & the Light
The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel (Book 3) A novel of the final four years in the life of Thomas Cromwell and the court of Henry VIII, The […]
The Curse of Pietro Houdini
The Curse of Pietro Houdini by Derek B. Miller In the early days of the Allied invasion of Italy in WWII, 14-year-old orphan Massimo takes refuge in the Benedictine abbey […]