Hello, fall! It may not be here officially, but in the book world this week is one of the busiest for new releases. And this year looks to be huge with fall novels coming from popular authors like Hernan Diaz, Barbara Kingsolver, Jodi Picoult, Elin Hilderbrand, Emily St. John-Mandel, Bonnie Garmus, and Kate Atkinson. I’m happy to add Ariel Lawhon to the list. I was late to the ... Read More...
Those Fatal Flowers
While my fascination surrounding the legend of Troy has waned (I can only watch Eric Bana and Brad Pitt in the movie so many times) my curiosity about mythology has not. Those Fatal Flowers is a genre-bending tale of a handmaiden to a goddess who is cursed for her carelessness, but has the opportunity to save herself and her sisters if she can complete a heroic quest. Quests ... Read More...
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
I adored Maggie O’Farrell’s last novel, Hamnet. She returns, with another novel set in the 1500s, but in Italy this time. The Marriage Portrait is about a young Italian princess and bride, Lucrezia of the famous Medici family, known for its support of key artists and scientists of the Renaissance. The Marriage Portrait is both her story and the name of one of the few portraits ... Read More...
The Chef’s Secret by Crystal King
Giovanni’s uncle, Bartolomeo Scappi, was a celebrity in Rome. He was the private chef to three popes and the author of a wildly popular cookbook. Now he is dead and Giovanni’s life is about to turn upside down. He had been his uncle’s apprentice for 11 years and had known the man as a father figure for all of his life. When Scappi’s will is read, everything is left to Giovanni, ... Read More...
A Column of Fire by Ken Follett
In the eyes of the church, the Bible was the most dangerous of all banned books...Priests said that ordinary people were unable to rightly interpret God's word, and needed guidance. Protestants said the Bible opened men's eyes to the errors of the priesthood. A Column of Fire is the third book in Ken Follett’s Kingsbridge series and he goes big in this final ... Read More...
The Last Tudor
Just when I think I know all I need to know about the Tudors, Philippa Gregory writes another riveting piece of historical fiction about the family. And when her latest, The Last Tudor, ends I’m still thinking there should be one more book to come. I began The Last Tudor thinking it would be about either Henry’s only son, Edward or his cousins Mary and Elizabeth. I ... Read More...
