-
This rich history falls short as fiction
Bob Moyer thinks that Jerome Charyn takes on more history and weaves more tangled webs than he can handle in his latest novel. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer RAVAGE & SON. By Jerome Charyn. Bellevue Literary Press. 288 pages. $17.99. The lower east side of New York City has a heap of Jewish history, and…
-
Seeking the truth about City 40
Paul O’Connor reviews a novel set in the 1950s in the Soviet Union, based on a real-life nuclear disaster, and finds it surprisingly entertaining. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor THE HALF LIFE OF VALERY K. By Natasha Pulley. Bloomsbury Publishing. 370 pages. $28, hardcover. Fans of historical fiction get an extra discipline in The Half…
-
Mystery, history and the lives of women
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson ASHTON HALL. By Lauren Belfer. Penguin Random House Audio. Read by Jayne Entwhistle and Kristen Sieh. 12 hours, 38 minutes. Also available in hardback from Ballantine Books. Don’t start listening to (or reading) this book unless you have some time to spare. Once you start, you won’t want to stop.…
-
The questions that haunt us
Paul O’Connor reviews a historical novel that tells a good story while examining questions that are still with Americans today. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor BLACK CLOUD RISING. By David Wright Falade’. Atlantic Monthly Press`. 290 pages, hardcover. $27. In late fall 1863, the Union Army’s African Brigade marched southward from its Fortress Freedom encampment…
-
Courage and care under fire
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson ANGELS OF THE PACIFIC. By Elise Hooper. William Morrow. 358 pages. $16.99, paperback. Maybe it’s just coincidence, or maybe there’s renewed interest among Americans in World War II. Whatever the reason, this is the second historical novel about Americans in World War II that I’ve read in as many months.…
-
Lost Generation, lost opportunity
Paul O’Connor, esteemed newspaperman and professor, makes it a practice not to review – or even to finish reading – books he really doesn’t like. Keep that in mind as you read his take on a historical novel about books and authors in Paris a century ago. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor THE PARIS BOOKSELLER. By Kerri…
-
Choosing the words, telling the stories
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE DICTIONARY OF LOST WORDS. By Pip Williams. Ballantine Books. 371 pages. $28. Pip Williams’ remarkable debut novel is imaginative, original, intelligent and delightful. The Dictionary of Lost Words is also a book for our times – really, a book for all times. The questions it raises about the power…
-
The ticking bombs…
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE KING’S JUSTICE. By Susan Elia MacNeal. Bantam Books. $17, paperback. Over the course of eight previous novels, Maggie Hope has been an assistant to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, a code breaker, a spy, a prisoner…. She’s come way too close for comfort to a serial killer trying to emulate…
-
Life and love amid the chaos
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA. By Isabel Allende. Random House Audio. Read by Edoardo Ballerini. 10 hours; 8 CDs. $40. Also available in print from Ballantine Books. A Long Petal of the Sea, Isabel Allende’s new novel, is historical fiction at its best. It tells a remarkable story that…