Lawrence Osborne is a travel journalist in addition to writing fiction, which may be why I read his novels so slowly. His words describe far-off places in a way that makes them appear before my eyes. His novel The Forgiven was one of my favorites in 2012 and now he is back with his latest, The Ballad of a Small Player. Whereas Forgiven took place in the hot, desolate landscape ... Read More...
Hunting and Gathering
For every one of us there is a point when we know we are in love with a book and for each of us it is different. For me, it was page 17 in Hunting and Gathering when the anorexic Camille crumpled up a note from a well-meaning young doctor asking her to call him so he could take her to dinner. One sentence, no special words and yet, to me, it so perfectly encapsulated this ... Read More...
Fever: A Novel
When Mary Mallon leaves Ireland for the United States in the late 1800s she has already seen too much of death—both of her parents, her sister, and her sister’s young children. Death holds little mystery for her but life in Manhattan is full of opportunity when her aunt teaches her to cook. Rather than live as a laundress, with her arms up the elbows in scalding hot water or ... Read More...
Visible City: A Novel
In Visible City author Tova Mirvis takes on two of the most socially polarizing groups in America today—mommies and not-mommies. Both groups feel themselves to be ignored and misunderstood and both groups can count on staunch supporters. In the children-need-discipline group is Claudia, an architectural historian who is being auditorially assaulted on all sides. Immediately ... Read More...
The Anatomy Lesson
Aris Kindt was not necessarily a bad man but he was a thief. For every town where he was caught he was whipped and branded so his torso and neck told the painful history of his life. It isn’t until he returns to Amsterdam and is caught stealing a burgher’s fine coat that he is not only whipped but then has his hand amputated. Shortly after this, he is condemned to hang—an ... Read More...
The Blazing World
Sometimes all it takes is a name and the die is cast. For Harriet Burden, the fact that her father called her Harry from a young age felt like a challenge; one that she grabs onto with all the tenacity of a pit bull, even when it causes her nothing but pain. Harriet is the protagonist in Siri Hustvedt’s new novel, The Blazing World, a tour-de-force of one woman’s determination ... Read More...
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