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Equal of the Sun

March 25, 2013

Equal of the Sun

There is not much historical fiction out there about sixteenth-century Iran (Persia at the time) and what there is, is about the shahs of the day. The world of women and the harem is generally written about from the stereotypical perspective of one man and hundreds of lovelies who live only to serve him. A heroine might appear but even then she is most often saved by a prince. ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: cultural, historical fiction, Iran, Scribner

Beautiful Ruins

March 23, 2013

Beautiful Ruins

In a remote village on the coast of Italy the young owner of The Hotel Adequate View receives only the second American guest in the hotel’s history. She’s surrounded by mystery but appears to have come from Rome where the filming of Cleopatra is still ongoing. Little does Pasquale Tursi know it, but his life is about to be changed forever. Beautiful Ruins is an expansive story ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Harper, historical fiction, Italy

The Orchardist

March 6, 2013

The Orchardist

It’s already been said but bears repeating: Amanda Coplin’s The Orchardist is a stunning debut; the story of a plot of land and the people who shape it while it shapes them. When William Talmadge is nine he and his sister, Elsbeth settle into a remote, rural area of north-central Washington state with their mother. She has no explanation in choosing this location  but, even at ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, family saga, Harper, historical fiction, Pacific Northwest

Ignorance

February 27, 2013

Ignorance

In a small Catholic village in Occupied France, Jeanne and Marie-Angèle attend the local convent school.  From the beginning they are distinctly different girls from their backgrounds to their current family life. Marie- Angèle is the blonde-haired, blue-eyed daughter of the local grocer while Jeanne is a small, dark and intense girl whose mother has been reduced to cleaning ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Bloomsbury, France, historical fiction, WWII

No One is Here Except All of Us

February 22, 2013

no one is here

That one world is at war does nothing to interrupt the patient churning of peaceful years someplace far away. There are so many kinds of fiction and so many ways an author can draw a reader in. Some appeal to the masses and write a quick easy read and some require more from their readers. No One is Here Except All of Us is a unique book and so, not easy to review. It’s the ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, Europe, historical fiction, magical realism, Riverhead Books, WWII

Frances and Bernard

February 18, 2013

Frances and Bernard

In today’s world of email, texting, and skype there is an instant gratification element to communicating that blunts its finer points, especially in relationships. It is with great delight, then, to read Frances and Bernard, Carlene Bauer’s fictional look at the friendship between two writers, using the relationship between Flannery O’Connor and Robert Lowell as its basis. The ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, historical fiction, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, literary

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