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A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding

December 7, 2015

a dictionary of mutual

  Imagine, if you can, your entire life changing in a flash. Literally, and by ‘flash’ I mean a blinding light the force and magnitude of an atomic bomb. This is what happens to Amaterasu Takahashi in Jackie Copleton’s new novel A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding. She and her family live in Nagasaki and on August 9, 1945 instead of meeting her daughter at a nearby ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, historical fiction, Japan, WWII

Rebel Queen: A Novel

November 23, 2015

rebel queen

  As a fan of historical fiction I often find myself reading about women as either accessories or behind-the-scenes figures so it was a welcome delight to read Michelle Moran’s Rebel Queen, about Lakshmi, the Rani (or queen) of one of the states in India in the late 19th century. The novel is told from the perspective of a young woman named Sita who lives with her family ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: cultural, historical fiction, India, Touchstone

Alice in Bed: A Novel

November 16, 2015

alice in bed

The Alice in Alice in Bed by Judith Hooper is Alice James, the younger sister of Henry and William James—the author and notable psychologist, respectively. We meet her in late 1889 in a small town in England; she is forty-one and an invalid, unable to leave her bed and able to communicate largely through the copious letters she and her brothers send amongst themselves with a ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, historical fiction, literary, women

At the Water’s Edge

November 6, 2015

at the water's edge

  Water for Elephants author Sara Gruen returns with another novel set in a location that is likely to draw readers in. At the Water’s Edge takes place in a tiny village in the Highlands of Scotland, near the shores of Loch Ness…and you can guess the rest. Madeline Hyde is there with her husband Ellis and his best friend as they try and prove the existence of the Loch ... Read More...

14 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1940s, historical fiction, Scotland, WWII

White Collar Girl

November 4, 2015

  Jordan Walsh comes from a family of writers. Her father is a well-known journalist in Chicago, her mother is a poet and up until his death two years ago, her brother Eliot was poised to carry on the family legacy. Now, it is left to the young Jordan to both fulfill her dreams of becoming a reporter and to try and heal the wounds left behind by her brother’s mysterious ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1950s, book clubs, Chicago, historical fiction, NAL, women

The Hours Count

October 28, 2015

hours count

  Lately, I’ve fallen into a literary rabbit hole of fiction about the 1950s, which is interesting as it’s a time period I’ve never paid much attention to, but is popping up all over the fictional world. The Hours Count is Jillian Cantor’s novel about one of America’s darkest times of political intrigue—when the hunt for Communists meant it seemed difficult to know who ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1950s, historical fiction, New York City, Riverhead Books

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