Debut novelist Erika Swyler does not waste any time before throwing the reader into the deep end of The Book of Speculation. The novel begins with Simon Watson, a librarian with the ability to hold his breath for underwater for almost ten minutes at a time, a skill passed on to him by his mother before she drowned herself when he was seven. Now, he lives alone in the family’s ... Read More...
The 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...
Brilliant: A Novel
I came across this winter-time review from before I even had this blog (yes, I wrote reviews just for myself) and it brought back such happy memories of this book I decided to go public with it. Happy Friday! Maybe it’s the grey on grey days or simply my misguided decision to try and read War and Peace several weeks ago but in the past week I have felt an intense ... Read More...
December Mini-Reviews
I know books won't be on most of your minds tonight but thought I'd get December mini-reviews in before I hit the champagne. Plus, both of these books are light enough that if you start them this morning you'll have finished them well before midnight. The New Countess: As the writer of the pilot for Upstairs Downstairs Fay Weldon knows about the ... Read More...
The Paris Winter
In The Paris Winter, Maud Heighton is a young British woman in 1910, escaping the conventions that bind by moving to Paris to train as an artist at the renowned Academie LaFond. Unfortunately, unlike a number of her classmates she does not have a family fortune to support her Parisian life and so must find employment to continue to stay in Paris. When a friend finds her a ... Read More...
How To Be a Good Wife
When Marta and Hector married, his mother gave her a book of domestic lessons entitled How to be a Good Wife. By the time they’ve been married for over thirty years Marta knows it by heart and knows that bread must be baked fresh every day, that only the husband belongs in the outside world, and that ”catering to his comfort will give you an immense sense of personal ... Read More...
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