Amy Tan is another author returning this year after a multi-year absence. In The Valley of Amazement she weaves a tapestry of the lives of three generations of women, one silken thread at a time. The novel is a portrait of life in a courtesan house in Shanghai at the turn of the century. Violet’s mother, Lucia, is the proprietor. As she is growing-up Violet believes that ... Read More...
Havisham: A Novel
I felt I could hold on to more by staying here. If I’d gone off…I’m not sure I would have known who I was. I would have come apart perhaps. Even if it doesn’t come to you right away, the name Havisham is likely to bring at least a flicker of recognition to a reading brain. It’s the surname of the epitome of love jilted at the altar, Catherine Havisham in Great ... Read More...
Ending October: Mini-Reviews
October was a massive month in book publishing and I was fortunate enough to read some amazing new releases (The Goldfinch, We Are Water, The Signature of All Things). With my focus on works of such depth and intensity some of the novels that did not move me to the same degree got ignored. Here then are three books I read with varying degrees of enjoyment. New ... Read More...
The Mountain of Light
There are many symbols of wealth and luxury but one of the oldest and most prized is the diamond and nowhere was it so plentiful and extravagantly displayed as in India during the reign of the maharajahs. The Mountain of Light: A Novel is Indu Sundaresan’s sparkling new novel about Kohinoor, the 186 carat diamond fought over, stolen, and prized above all else for generations in ... Read More...
The Signature of All Things
Elizabeth Gilbert is back after her foray into relationships in Eat Pray Love and Committed, with a new work of fiction called The Signature of All Things. The novel is a family saga that spans generations and continents. Gilbert begins with Henry Whittaker, Alma’s father and a man who fell into his field through stealing plant specimens from one of England’s greatest ... Read More...
Mrs. Poe
Mrs. Poe is author Lynn Cullen’s fictional look at the relationship between American poet Frances Osgood and Edgar Allen Poe, told from Osgood’s point of view. The novel opens in Manhattan with Osgood trying to sell some of her poetry, as her portrait painter husband has abandoned her and their two daughters for a wealthy divorcée. Despite her husband’s disappearance (which ... Read More...
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