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Mademoiselle Chanel: A Novel

March 25, 2015

chanel

  When you think of Chanel it is likely as a luxury brand of clothes, accessories, and perfume. I know for me it is because owning a vintage Chanel suit is on my bucket list. Forget seeing the pyramids, I want that boucle jacket with the gold chain sewn into the lining to make sure it hangs straight. It is fascinating, then, to read C.W. Gortner’s novel, Mademoiselle ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, fashion, historical fiction, William Morrow

A Spool of Blue Thread

February 27, 2015

spool

A Spool of Blue Thread is Anne Tyler’s newest novel. It is broken into four parts, three of which are about the present day lives of the Whitshanks and two are about previous generations. Initially, Tyler’s exploration is what we expect from a writer who has always been attuned to the rhythms of family life. There is Red and Abby, and their four children, Amanda, Jeannie, ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: family saga, historical fiction, literary, Random House

The Sacrifice

February 18, 2015

sacrifice

Joyce Carol Oates is not one to shy away from the tough subjects. The last book of hers I read was Daddy Love and it was a very difficult look at child abduction and pedophilia. In The Sacrifice she is back with the story of a black teenage girl found in an abandoned factory, raped, beaten, covered in feces and with racist obscenities scrawled on her torso. For those of you ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, ecco, historical fiction, Manhattan, mystery

The Marriage Game: A Novel of Queen Elizabeth I

February 11, 2015

marriage

There is no shortage of books written about the Tudors and Elizabeth I in particular, but Alison Weir takes the Queen’s life in a very specific direction in her new novel The Marriage Game: A Novel of Queen Elizabeth I. There is so much of Elizabeth’s life that can be covered but in this novel Weir begins with the year Elizabeth is crowned queen and covers the 45 years of her ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Ballantine, England, historical fiction, Tudors

The Nightingale

February 9, 2015

nightingale

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah begins with Viann Mauriac, living comfortably in a small town in the south of France with her husband and daughter. Her younger sister Isabelle is in one of the many boarding schools their father has sent her to. When she is expelled again she goes to live with him in Paris, which he does not want, as he has ignored both young women since their ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, family, historical fiction, St. Martin's Press, world war II

Vanessa and her Sister

January 5, 2015

Vanessa

Virginia Woolf is an icon in the world of literature and much has been written about her life so it is a courageous move on the part of author Priya Parmar to explore not Virginia but her lesser known sister Vanessa, in her new novel Vanessa and Her Sister. The novel begins during the heady years when the Stephen family—Thoby, Adrian, Vanessa, and Virginia—are living on their ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 20th century, Ballantine, book clubs, England, family, historical fiction, writers' lives

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