Sometimes the past has the power to devour the future. Sometimes, as the days grow shorter and more dreary, the only anecdote is a book that takes you far away and holds you there until the very last page. Ruins of Lace is just such a book. In the 1600s King Louis XIII banned the wearing of lace, making it the most desirable and dangerous commodity in the kingdom. The ... Read More...
White Truffles in Winter
Nothing speaks more accurately to the complexity of life than food. Whether you seldom eat in a restaurant or consider yourself to be a foodie, your life has been impacted by Auguste Escoffier, one of the most renowned chefs in the culinary world. His reign occurred during the mid-to-late 1800s when he oversaw the creation and management of the fine dining restaurants and ... Read More...
The Art Forger
The 1990 theft of thirteen painting from the Gardner museum in Boston is still one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in the art world. Despite the seeming ineptitude of the two thieves, a massive manhunt and a $5 million reward, the works have never been recovered. B.A. Shapiro uses this theft as the background for her new book The Art Forger. Claire Roth is a talented artist ... Read More...
The Wine of Solitude
At eight, Hélène Karol lives in a small Russian town with her parents, Boris and Bella, and her grandparents. She is an odd, lonely girl largely because her mother is willful, spoiled and selfish, interested in only her own desires and unwilling to do anything more than blame her daughter for spoiling her fun. When her father loses his job and leaves for Siberia to manage a ... Read More...
Beautiful Lies
Set in late 1800s England, Beautiful Lies is the story of Maribel Campbell Lowe and her husband, Liberal MP, Edward Campbell Lowe. The story follows Edward’s mission to bring economic relief to the working classes in England who, at that time, are in the midst of massive poverty and joblessness. This part of the story is clearly defined and well thought out. Clare Clark has ... Read More...
The Headmaster’s Wager
In 1930 Percival Chen’s father left him and his mother in mainland China to go to Vietnam and seek his fortune. He never returned and so, after his mother’s death, Percival left their province to go to school in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, the Japanese invasion in 1941 meant that Hong Kong was no longer safe, but it precipitated Percival’s marriage to a young beauty much above ... Read More...
