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The Pearl that Broke its Shell

May 7, 2014

pearl

Nadia Hashimi merges the past with the present in the story of two women from one family. Rahima has the grave misfortune to be yet another daughter born into her family. In Afghanistan the lack of sons is a social and economic disaster. Her father is addicted to opium and does little or no work. Without a son to go out in the world and shop and work for the family their ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Afghanistan, book clubs, cultural, historical fiction, William Morrow

The Pink Suit

May 5, 2014

pink suit

The pink suit is both the description of the outfit worn by Jacqueline Kennedy when her husband was assassinated and the name of Nicole Mary Kelby’s new novel, The Pink Suit. The novel traces the history of the infamous suit, but Kelby goes beyond that to seamlessly weave a story behind the facts. Kate is a young Irish immigrant whose sewing is of such high quality that she ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1960s, book clubs, fashion, historical fiction, Little Brown and Company, New York City, women

Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932

May 2, 2014

It’s a testament to author Francine Prose’s prodigious talent that she can bring together a cross-dressing lesbian Nazi spy, a French baroness, and a Hungarian photographer, and not have it read like a bad joke. Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932   takes all of the characters listed, adds an American author, the photographer’s French girlfriend, and the Chameleon Club’s ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, Harper, historical fiction, Paris, WWII

Ruby: A Novel

April 28, 2014

ruby

  Ephram Jennings has been in love with Ruby Bell since they met as children fishing in a lake near their hometown of Liberty, in east Texas. When Ruby returns to Liberty after escaping as a young woman to the high life in New York City, she has lost all the shine that made her a beauty and seems to have no control over her own body, spending nights howling and screaming, ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, Hogarth, magical realism, Southern life

Dear Lucy: A Novel

April 23, 2014

dear lucy

This wonderful work of magical realism was one of my favorite debuts for 2013. It was just released in paperback this week so if you missed it the first time around here's my review.   “There are words that I am looking for and when I find those words I will know that they were the words I was looking for, to tell people about the shapes of things inside ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, coming-of-age, debut, literary, Simon & Schuster

Casebook: A Novel

April 21, 2014

casebook

  From the time he is nine years old Miles Adler-Rich is a snoop. Not just a hanging around snoop, a hiding walkie-talkies and wiring-an-extension-into-the-family’s-phone-line snoop. Initially, he just wants to know if his parents are going to relent and let him watch Survivor but when his efforts to know all fail and they announce they’re getting divorced, it becomes ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, coming-of-age, contemporary life, Knopf

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