BOOK REVIEW: Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

I love older books. My toppling-over TBR pile is crowded with new releases and books that were new releases but haven’t been read yet, but that doesn’t stop me from reaching for something timeless.

Which brings me to Barbara Pym’s Excellent Women. I’ve read a couple of her books in the past. They are quiet, charming, and funny. 

Excellent Women focuses narrowly on the first-person narrator, Mildred Lathbury. It is early in the post-WWII period. (The novel was written in 1952.) Mildred is a clergyman’s daughter who kept house for her father after her mother’s death. After his death, she moved to a small flat in Pimlico and attached herself to the Anglican church parish there. She is close friends with her neighbors, Father Julian Malory and his sister, Winifred, and very involved with the church. She also has a part-time job with the Society for Distressed Gentlewomen (or something like that.) She has an old school chum who she sees from time to time, who lives outside the city. And she is content with her peaceful yet busy life.

This is upended when new people intrude. First, Mrs. Napier moves into the empty flat in Mildred’s building. Mrs. Napier is the wife of a lieutenant currently stationed in Italy who is expected back in London soon. But Mrs. Napier is also an anthropologist who is enamored of another anthropologist, Everard Bone. The man comes and goes from her flat at odd hours, and Mildred hears sounds of argument that are unsettling. Even more unsettling is the husband’s return. Rockingham (Rocky) is handsome and charming, and turns Mildred’s head even as she recognizes that his charm is superficial and a weapon he uses on everyone. Everard is sincere but not at all charming. Mildred is drawn into the messy lives of this trio.

At the same time, the Malorys take a border, Mrs. Gray, a clergyman’s widow. She is a beautiful, take-charge type of woman who quickly catches Julian’s heart. When they become engaged, Mildred discovers herself pitied by the other church members as a rejected woman, even though she insists she’d never considered a match between her and Julian. It’s even worse for Winifred, who it appears will be relegated to an unwelcome third wheel.

As lives grow more complicated around her, Mildred considers the mysteries of love and attraction, but from a detached, lightly ironic perspective. She’s tired of being the person always relied upon to tidy the dishes of others and stand by with a ready cup of hot tea. On the other hand, this is who she is. She can’t help herself.

In the end, she misses her comfortable solitude. Spinsterhood is apparently not the tragedy it’s made out to be.

The novel is a delight.

BOOK REVIEW: The Eights by Joanna Miller

If you’re looking for a moving story of women’s friendship, The Eights by Joanna Miller is the book for you!

Set in 1920, with England (and the world) still reeling from WWI, this novel takes us to Oxford, where women are finally being officially admitted to the university. (While women had attended in the past, they were denied degrees, no matter that they had earned them.) 

The novel follows the first year of four women whose bedsits (dorm rooms) were in the eighth corridor (so they were “the eights.”) These women, Marianne, Dora, Otto, and Beatrice, are as different as people can be, except that they are all dealing with war wounds of their own. They bond on the first day, and rely on each other for support, fun, and friendship throughout the year, gradually opening up and trusting one another with their secrets.

A quiet novel, it is beautifully written, showing not only what college life was like for women at the time, but also dipping back into the war years to show how women contributed and how they suffered. The war cast a long shadow. Moreover, just because women are now official members of the university community doesn’t mean they are universally welcome. They still have to deal with the prejudices of those who would prefer Oxford to remain exclusively male.

If you enjoy historical fiction, women’s fiction, stories of college life, or stories of the toll taken by WWI, you’ll love The Eights.

BOOK REVIEW: Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung

Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung is the next book pick for our historical fiction/history book club. Based on the life of the author’s grandmother, it takes the reader into the mid-20th-century world of the Chinese civil war, during the Communist takeover.

The protagonist, Hai, is the eldest daughter in the wealthy, rural, land-owning Ang family, in a world where daughters are considered worse than useless. They are a drain on the family finances and are treated as such. Because Hai’s mother has birthed only daughters, the matriarch of the family, the brutal Nai Nai, treats her with contempt, forcing her to do hard labor and using physical punishment for any perceived infraction. Nai Nai is so monstrous as to seem inhuman. Hai’s spineless father is scarcely any better and is more of a nonentity.

As the Communist army approaches the Angs’ rural town, the family flees to safety, leaving Hai, her sisters, and her mother behind “to guard the family home.” As if the presence of a woman and a couple of girls could stop the army. Given the awfulness of Hai’s family and the disregard of the Angs for the peasants they have exploited and practically starved, it’s difficult to tell who the real villains are. But it is clear that Hai’s mother was good to the peasant farmers, and that helps protect the Hai women from worse as they are thrown off the land. (Although first, Hai is tortured in her father’s stead.)

A story of resilience in the face of grinding poverty and loss follows, as Hai and her mother and sisters make their way to the big city where they hope to be anonymous, then to refugee camps in Hong Kong, and finally to Taiwan. The novel delves into Chinese culture and 20th-century history, and so was an interesting look at those topics. It reminded me in some ways of The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, being as infuriating as it was fascinating.

BOOK REVIEW: Margery & Me by Maryka Biaggio

Where do you stand on the supernatural, the occult? Did you ever play with a Ouija board as a kid? Ever get a shiver of fear about a ghost nearby, even though you don’t believe in ghosts? What about communication with the dead?

Margery & Me by Maryka Biaggio takes us right to the heart of turn-of-the-20th-century Spiritualism, when séances conducted by mediums were all the rage, and their veracity was hotly debated. This novel tells the story of Margery (Mina) Crandon, a Boston native, who was considered one of the most convincing mediums of her day. Along with her husband, Dr. Roy Crandon, she performed séances for years, subjecting herself to intense scrutiny by scientists, journalists, believers, and unbelievers, who consistently failed to find proof-positive evidence of fraud. Her greatest nemesis was Harry Houdini, who was determined to expose her. (Whether he succeeded or not is the question.)

Biaggio cleverly sidesteps the natural skepticism of readers by having the narrator be Margery’s deceased older brother, Walter. It is Walter’s desire to contact Margery that sets in motion her foray into Spiritualism. He is the one who takes charge during the séances and who supports her against the bullying of her husband and those who would discredit her powers.

It’s a fast-paced read with a sympathetic but imperfect protagonist. And while I remain a skeptic, as long as I was in Margery and Walter’s world, I wanted to believe.

BOOK REVIEW: Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières

Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières is a historical novel published in 1994 that I recall having had on my TBR list at one point, until it got lost in the shuffle. About a month ago, I saw an instagram post praising the book that reignited my interest, so I took it out of the library. Then, before I had a chance to read it, my husband and I went on a cruise. Our first. We went to Istanbul, then Troy, then Ephesus, Crete, and Rhodes. The cruise ended  in Athens. It was thrilling to see all the ancient sites, but I had a nagging sense of guilt for not knowing anything about modern Greek history. (By modern, I mean anything later than Alexander the Great.)

When we got home, I picked up Corelli’s Mandolin, not knowing that it was set on the Greek island of Cephallonia. (Cephalonia. Kefalonia). I was pleasantly surprised, and then, immediately immersed.

The novel takes place largely during WWII, when the island is invaded and occupied by Italian and German forces. The main characters are Dr. Iannis, his daughter Pelagia, a local fisherman named Mandras who becomes engaged to Pelagia before going off to fight, and Captain Corelli. Corelli is a mandolin player who joined the Italian army during peacetime and is now an officer in the Italian garrison on the island, billeted with Dr. Iannis and Pelagia. (Corelli and Pelagia fall deeply in love, despite the fact that this is essentially collaboration with the enemy.) But these are not the only characters. We are introduced to a large number of the island’s inhabitants and soldiers, and even given a disturbing insight into the mind of megalomaniac Mussolini. Dr. Iannnis is not only a doctor, but also a historian, spending long hours writing and rewriting the history of his island, and by extension, of Greece, a labor of love that is moving to read.

The story begins before the war touches the island, takes us through the war, and continues through the bittersweet aftermath to more modern times when it is tourists invading the island.

This is an extraordinary book. I couldn’t put it down. It coincidentally provided me with a history lesson that I had felt was lacking on my cruise. But more than that, it was a moving story of love (in many forms) and of the confusion, stupidity, barbarism, and occasional heroism of war. It shows how people can succumb to the brutality and become brutal themselves, or else rise above it. It’s heartbreaking and beautifully written. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

BOOK REVIEW: Our Spoons Came from Woolworths by Barbara Comyns

I saw Our Spoons Came from Woolworths by Barbara Comyns recommended somewhere on instagram and put it on my list. At just over 200 pages, it’s a quick read and completely engrossing. Originally published in 1950, it was re-released in 2015.

The book is narrated by Sophia, who has just told her life story to a friend. Because of the friend’s reaction, she decided to write it as an autobiography or memoir. She has an unsophisticated voice and outlook that charms the reader even as her story breaks the reader’s heart.

In England during its Great Depression, Sophia is a twenty-one-year-old art student who falls for another artist, twenty-one-year-old Charles. They are far too young and naive to wed. His mother is very much against the marriage and accuses Sophia of trapping him, even though Charles is no great prize. His maternal relatives are all awful to her. (His parents are separated.) His father is OK with the marriage so long as it means he can cut off Charles’ allowance. Sophia’s parents are no longer living. She has a sister and a brother who pop in and out of her life.

At any rate, they are married. They take a small apartment and for a while, they live off of wedding presents and Sophia’s meager income from a commercial artist job. Charles just paints. Rarely, he sells something to a friend. The novel gives the impression (although Sophia never comes out and says it) that he is a mediocre artist. She is probably the better one but because her art is commercial, it doesn’t count.

As the money starts to become scarce, Sophia finds out she is pregnant. The ignorance of these two about the facts of life is horrifying. Moreover, Charles doesn’t want children and blames her for being pregnant, not seeming to realize how it happened. Because of her pregnancy, she loses her job. Sophia is very matter-of-fact about their descent into poverty, which gives a blunt and bleak view of how they live. The novel also gives a detailed, eye-opening look at the facilities for childbirth at a charity hospital at the time. Sophia survives, as does the baby, and now their lives become even more difficult.

Charles is an annoying character. He refuses to work because he believes he is a great artist. He shows no concern for the fact that they can’t pay rent and have no money for food. He tries going behind Sophia’s back to put their baby in an orphanage where, Charles says, he’d be better cared for. But that is an excuse for his own self-centeredness. Readers will root for her to ditch this guy as soon as possible, but she’s afraid his relatives will then take the baby from her.

Poverty takes its toll on the young couple. Sophia is the sole support for her family, earning money by modeling for other artists When she becomes pregnant again, she is bullied into having an abortion. The marriage falls apart. It’s misery upon misery, with a few bright spots, but it is all related in such a clear-eyed way that readers will keep rooting for things to get better. (Spoiler alert, they do.)

The novel reminds me in a way of another older, re-released book that I also enjoyed, Nothing Grows by Moonlight by Torborg Nedreaas. In that book, the female protagonist is older and jaded when she tells her story, but in this book, one gets the sense that Sophia can’t be jaded, and it makes the story more uplifting.

BOOK REVIEW: Nothing Grows by Moonlight by Torborg Nedreaas

 I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

I’ve been reading some beautiful but painful-to-read books lately. Nothing Grows by Moonlight by Torborg Nedreaas is another. Originally published in 1947 in Norway, it is being re-released by The Modern Library in an English translation by Bibbi Lee.

Set in the mid-twentieth century (contemporary at the time, but now historical), it’s the story of a woman who suffered terribly at the hands of an older man, her high school teacher, with whom she’d fallen obsessively in love at seventeen. He slept with her, used her, pretended to care for her when it suited him, and repeatedly tossed her aside. 

The novel is unusually structured. It’s in the first-person viewpoint of another older man, who is relating the story as told to him by the woman in one long alcohol-infused night. They are strangers who met at a train station. (In this way, it reminds me a little of The Night in Lisbon by Erich Maria Remarque.)

The woman is older now, thirty-eight. The events of her life are not presented chronologically because that is not how memory works. She’s haunted by the relationship and what it has cost her, but at the same time, she is clearly still in love with the man who destroyed her. She suffered abortions, poverty, and alcohol abuse, all of which fed upon each other to send her into a downward spiral of despair.

The fact that the woman is not named makes it feel both anonymous and universal. It is a cry for justice.

Nothing Grows by Moonlight is a powerful novel and highly recommended. However, as a content warning, there is a graphic description of a self-induced abortion. 

BOOK REVIEW: Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore

I read Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore for a book club. It’s a gripping (and enraging) account of the young women exposed to radium in their occupation of painting luminescent dials for watches and military equipment. After its discovery, radium was considered a miracle drug, touted for everything from a cure for gout to an aphrodisiac to a beauty treatment. But its most exciting property was that it glowed.

Women were entering the work force in large numbers in the WWI era, and working in the dial painting factory was considered a plum job. Women were uniquely suited to painting the tiny numbers on the dials. There was no protective equipment, despite the radioactivity of the radium-containing paint, because the dangers were not recognized (or not acknowledged.) And worse, the women were taught that the best way to bring the delicate paint brushes to a precise point was to wet them between their lips. And so for months, even years, these women ingested minute but cumulative doses of radium day after day after day.

And then, usually after a couple of years had passed, often when they were no longer working for the company, they began presenting to dentists and physicians with a mysterious array of symptoms, commonly including disintegration of their jaw bones, loss of teeth (and pieces of bone), hemorrhage,  purulent eruptions, and bone pain. Eventually, it became clear that they were suffering from radium poisoning. A deadly and incurable disease. But the men owning the companies and the higher ups who were all getting rich, denied the possibility and refused any concessions to the women. Instead, they fired troublemakers. They called the women hysterical and insinuated there was nothing wrong with them. And when the women banded together in lawsuits, mostly to get settlements to pay for medical care (they were all essentially bankrupted by job loss and medical bills) the response of the companies was to stall and appeal, hoping the women would die and the suits would be dismissed. (They also declared bankruptcy, reorganized, and reopened elsewhere.)

It’s an important book. And while it’s true that studying these brave women advanced medical science, and that in the aftermath, important industrial safety measures were passed, the most vivid scenes in the book are of the horrific pain and suffering experience by these women, and the callousness and greed of corporate men.

BOOK REVIEW: Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Langston Hughes is an author on my should-read list, so I was glad of the nudge provided by Netgalley to read the novel Not Without Laughter. First published in 1930, it is being re-released by Union Square & Co. with an introduction by the poet Jasmine Mans.

The novel is semi-autobiographical: a coming-of-age story of a young Black man, Sandy, growing up in Kansas. Sandy is primarily reared by his grandmother, Hager, who was once enslaved. She is a deeply religious woman who refuses to hate, despite the injustices she sees in the world. She works hard as a laundress. And she has big hopes for Sandy.

Also in the family are Hager’s three grown daughters. The eldest, Tempy, has married well and is financially comfortable. However, she feels superior to the rest of her family and rarely comes home. The middle daughter, Annjee, is Sandy’s mother. She’s another hard-working woman, in service to a white family, but her focus is on her much-absent husband, Jimboy, not on her son. She works long hours, and when she’s home, she’s tired and depressed over Jimboy. He’s got itchy feet, never able to hold a job for long and constantly on the move looking for something better. And finally, the youngest daughter, Harriett, is a good-time girl. She wants better for herself. She is fiercely aware of racial injustice. And she doesn’t want to get trapped in the drudgery that rules the lives of her sisters and mother. She runs off to join a carnival. She resorts for a while to prostitution. But she finally finds her stride as a Blues singer.

Sandy is influenced by all of these family members. He grows up learning to take jobs wherever he can to help his grandmother and to have some spending money. But he’s also a fine student. He knows that a good education is his best hope of escaping poverty.

It was a little difficult settling into the book. The beginning uses a lot of Black dialect that, in this day and age, is disconcerting to read. But this is less pronounced, or less noticeable, as the book progresses and we are pulled deeper and deeper into Sandy’s life. The novel doesn’t shy away from his confusion and conflicted feelings. It presents the family members compassionately while showing them warts and all. It shows the differing struggles of the Black community in Kansas in that time period, but also brings to life their love and joy. 

BOOK REVIEW: The Air Between Us by Deborah Johnson

The first book for the new year is one that has been on my TBR pile for far too long. The author, Deborah Johnson, taught a class I took...back in 2023!...on writing historical fiction. She’s a great teacher, and I’m annoyed with myself for taking so long to read her work which, of course, I loved!

The Air Between Us is set in small-town Mississippi in the 1960s. It begins with a 10-year-old Black child emergently bringing a poor White man to the local hospital, a gut-shot hunter, a heavy drinker, who had fallen on his own gun. The hospital is owned by the town’s wealthy White surgeon., Dr. Connelly. It has a separate entrance and separate rooms for Black patients, who are treated by the town’s Black surgeon, Reese Jackson. This particular patient has supposedly been brought in just on time, and the surgery is supposed to have been a success. But shortly afterward, the man unexpectedly dies. This is the mystery at the book’s core.

But the answer to the mystery unfolds quietly in the midst of everything else going on, which has more import than one man’s strange death. Times are changing. The town has always been strictly segregated, but now Federal anti-segregation forces are at work. Surprisingly, it is Dr. Connelly who is fighting the hardest for the townfolk to accept integration of the schools. It’s even more surprising because his powerful father, a State Senator, is fiercely racist and has a weekly column in the newspaper where he spouts nastiness to keep the White folks riled.

The novel is written with multiple viewpoints, delving into the conflicts, relationships, and secrets of the townspeople. It deals with racial prejudice, but also class and gender politics. Violence simmers beneath the surface, catching the tensions of the period. And the ending surprised me.

If you like historical fiction, Southern fiction, or mysteries, this book is highly recommended!

BOOK REVIEW: I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

Ruta Sepetys writes superb, gritty, YA historical fiction. My history/historical fiction book club chose I Must Betray You for our next meeting, and I flew through the book.

Cristian Florescu is a 17-year-old high school student in Bucharest, Romania, in 1989. Romania is under the thumb of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife Elena. It was one of the most repressive regimes of the Eastern Bloc. The Ceauşescus lived in obscene luxury while Romanians starved. The currency was so worthless, Kent cigarettes were used for bartering. Obtaining food meant standing in long lines, with no guarantee of there being anything left. It was all the things you hear about failed Communist states, and worse.

The worst was the constant surveillance. Cristian lives in a one bedroom apartment with his parents, sister, and grandfather. His grandfather is outspoken about the loss of liberty and corruption of the regime, but everyone else speaks in whispers. Cristian is inspired by his grandfather’s bravery, and keeps a secret notebook about what life is like.

Cristian is coerced into becoming an informer when a security agent finds a minor crime to hang on him. The agent promises medicine for Cristian’s grandfather, who his dying of leukemia. As Cristian falls deeper into the deceptions he must undertake, he grows increasingly paranoid and distrustful of those around him. The fear and loneliness is palpable. And yet, he holds onto hope.

I Must Betray You is a fascinating look at Romania at the time of the collapse of the Soviet empire, highlighting the terrors of the police state and the bravery of the resisters. It’s hard to believe this was 1989. In some ways, it seems forever ago, and in others, just yesterday. Highly recommended!

Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh by Joan Fernandez

Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh by Joan Fernandez introduces us to the sister-in-law of Vincent Van Gogh, Johanna. She was the wife of Theo Van Gogh. All I knew of the great artist was the rather simplistic story that he was never appreciated in his lifetime. And that his brother was an art dealer who tried, without much success, to sell his paintings. Vincent’s talent was only recognized posthumously. 

But how? There is a leap to be made from Vincent Van Gogh’s death to his later fame. The fact that he reached the heights he did is even more remarkable given that Theo died very shortly after Vincent. The credit belongs to Johanna Van Gogh, without whom his work very likely would have been lost.

In this detailed and imaginative biographical novel, Jo receives the recognition she deserves. Defying convention, the young widow does not return to her father’s house to be taken care of. Instead, she moves to Bussum, a small town in the Netherlands, and runs a boardinghouse. And raises her infant son. All the while, she fights to bring Vincent Van Gogh’s work to the eyes of the art world, selling his paintings, arranging exhibits, and writing opinion pieces. The fight is real, as she is opposed by men who repeatedly tell her women do not belong in their sphere. And she is particularly opposed by a prominent Parisian dealer, Georges Raulf, who is obsessed with cleansing the art world by destroying anything modernist, most particularly the work of Van Gogh.

It’s a hard road for Jo, but readers will rejoice alongside the heroine as her striving is ultimately rewarded.

BOOK REVIEW: The Resettlement of Vesta Blonik by Denise Smith Cline

The Resettlement of Vesta Blonik by Denise Smith Cline is a lovely, unputdownable novel of resilience in the face of unimaginable hardship. Set during the Depression Era, it’s the story of two strong-hearted people, bent but not broken by poverty and loss. Vesta Blonik is a thirty-year-old farmer, never married, who lives with her bullying father on a hardscrabble Minnesota plot. Used to hard work and her father’s belittling scolds, she is nevertheless blind-sided when he sells the land and abandons her to a future that looks more and more desperate. Vesta struggles against hopelessness, until she begins receiving letters from a stranger in North Carolina, Gordon Crenshaw, through the machinations of well-intentioned clergymen and Gordon’s not-so-well-intentioned family. It seems Gordon is looking for a wife. Beautifully written and emotionally compelling, this novel will have readers impressed by Vesta’s leap of faith and by the healing power of simple compassion.

Thank you to Regal House for an advance copy of this wonderful novel.

BOOK REVIEW: And Then There Was the One by Martha Waters

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

I enjoy a good historical mystery with a romantic subplot. And Then There Was the One by Martha Waters caught my eye, so I was pleased with the chance to review it.

Set in 1930s England, it plays with the genre, both embracing it and spoofing it.

The heroine is Georgiana Radcliffe, daughter of a country gentleman. Georgiana is resigned to spinsterhood, believing that her widowed father and younger sister can’t function without her. In fact, she’s convinced she’s indispensable to her whole tiny Cotswold village, Buncombe-upon-Woolly. This impression was reinforced over the past year when four murders were committed in the otherwise quaint village. Georgiana inadvertently solved the crimes before the constables, thanks to her superior knowledge of poisons. (She is an avid gardener.) 

However, four murders is too many. Now, the town is overrun with Murder Tourists. And when the town’s council chairman dies suddenly, Georgiana is determined to investigate, even though the cause of death was ruled a heart attack. This time, she doesn’t want to go it alone. With the approval of her best friend, Arthur, the town’s very responsible journalist, she invites a renowned investigator from London to help solve the murder (if, in fact, one occurred.) The detective declines, but sends his assistant (actually, his secretary) to help them, Sebastian Fletcher-Ford.

Sebastian is the most handsome man ever seen in the village. He unabashedly uses his good looks and charm to ingratiate himself with the villagers and Murder Tourists. Georgiana refuses to be charmed. She thinks he is annoying and none too bright.

And yet, as their investigation proceeds, she finds there is more to the man than a handsome face, glowing skin, and athletic physique.

This is a smart romp with an interesting mystery at its core, a delightful romance, and a fun supporting cast.

BOOK REVIEW: The Hanging of Ruben Ashford by Lauren Small

The Hanging of Ruben Ashford by Lauren Small is a thoughtful historical mystery set in Baltimore in 1917-18, a place and time that can be seen as defined by Jim Crow laws. The novel fully embraces the historical setting, my favorite kind of historical novel.

Josie Berenson is fascinated by human behavior. Why do people make the choices they make? Although she has a good position in a psychology lab in Boston, running rats through mazes, a chance encounter with Dr. Nell Winters changes both their lives. Nell is physician in Baltimore, and Josie joins her there. They fall in love, and their devotion grows stronger as they face challenges together.

Nell has not joined in the white flight from her Baltimore neighborhood. She is a firm believer in racial equality and will treat both Black and White patients. However, she believes change must come slowly. Josie is more of a crusader. She wants change now.

Josie joins the clinical practice of Dr. Adolf Meyer (a real person) at the Phipps Psychiatric Clinic at Johns Hopkins. He is also interested in human behavior, and often consults in unusual psychiatric cases. Josie’s job is to dig deeper, not only interviewing patients, but their loved ones, neighbors, servants, etc.

While some of her methods are not exactly ethical (like bullying a servant into betraying details she is not supposed to reveal, without considering that the lack of discretion might get the poor girl fired) Josie is effective.

The mystery is set in motion when a young White teacher at a home for “feeble-minded children” is found murdered in a stable. Her head has been bashed in. A Black employee of the school, Ruben Ashford, is found holding a bloody hammer, standing over the body, blood on his clothes. According to the lawyer who has presented the case to Dr. Meyer, there are two witnesses to the murder and Ruben has confessed. Yet the lawyer doesn’t quite believe in his client’s guilt because there is no motive. Dr. Meyer assigns Josie the task of investigating the murder, not to find the culprit, that’s pretty clear, but to find out why he did it.

As Josie begins her investigation, she is confronted with the reality of the racial divide in Baltimore, which seems much greater than what she was accustomed to in Boston. As Josie struggles to understand Ruben Ashford, Nell fights the Spanish Flu epidemic that is decimating the inhabitants of the city. 

The novel puts on display the injustices of the day, the horrors of the epidemic, and the challenges two women face loving one another. 

BOOK REVIEW: Crooked Cross by Sally Carson

There is a bookstore in the UK that I’m determined to go to one of these days. Persephone Books specializes in reprints of neglected/forgotten female writers. I’ve discovered a few great novels from the bookstore’s instagram posts, but one in particular caught my eye recently. Crooked Cross by Sally Carson, originally published in 1934, is set in the early days of Hitler’s rise to power. At first, the re-released edition was not available in the U.S., then I could only find the audiobook. Now, finally, there is a kindle version, that I quickly downloaded. Right about the same time, it was featured in a NY Times book review. (Here’s the link but there may be a paywall.)

The novel begins on Christmas Eve, 1932, with a celebration in the home of the Krugers, an “ordinary” German family. Both parents are alive and loving. And there are three adult children, two boys, Hemly and Erich, and one girl, Lexa. The boys have been largely unemployed for years due to the post-WWI economic depression in Germany. Both are restless, looking for something to do. Lexa is the main protagonist, a woman who loves her family, loves her community, and serves as something of a focal point in both. She’s young and naive, but strong and knows her own mind. She is also in love with Moritz Weissmann, a talented physician at the local hospital, to whom she is engaged to be married. Moritz is a Catholic, as was his mother. But his father is Jewish. Moritz is beloved by pretty much everyone and is good friends with Hemly.

The slow spread of fascism and Hitler-worship insidiously envelops them all. Her brothers embrace the Nazi party because they finally have jobs. Hemly, who is not a strong or particularly intelligent man, also loves it for the feeling of belonging and purpose that it gives him. Erich, handsome, athletic, charming, and with a cruel streak a mile wide, loves it because of the power he can siphon off from it and the license it gives him to enjoy his sadistic tendencies. Lexa tries to ignore what is happening, but she lives in a constant state of unease. Of disconnection. The book does a wonderful job of showing how the whole town is on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Tempers flare. People get crotchety and mean. Old friendships fracture. Scapegoating grows rampant. And Moritz is first quietly shunned, and then openly persecuted for being Jewish. 

The one sure, unalterable fact is that Lexa and Moritz remain true to one another.

The novel is written in an old-fashioned style. It isn’t at all subtle. It’s not a heroic, hiding-Jews-in-the-attic story of WWII Germany. The main characters are mostly Nazis. Not reluctant Nazis, but men and women who whole-heartedly embrace what Hitler is selling. Written essentially contemporaneously with the events of the novel (fictional, but not so fictional), the end of the story was not known by the writer. And it is particularly chilling because we readers, while recognizing parallels, know how this story will ultimately end, but not how ours will.

BOOK REVIEW: The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

Kate Quinn’s The Briar Club is another winner. I read The Rose Code for one book club, and now The Briar Club for another. It’s a fast-paced, can’t-put-it-down read.

The plot focuses around two murdered corpses found in a women’s boarding house in Washington D.C. in 1954. Initially, the discovery is narrated by the house. It’s gimmicky, but it works. The police are there investigating, and the house lets us know that the murderer is still in the building.

Each chapter then focuses on a different character, all boarders in the house. It goes back 4 years and works its way to the time of the murder. The central protagonist is a mysterious woman named Grace March. Before her arrival, the residents had been strangers, each with their own problems, dreams, and secrets. With her gracious and kind friendliness, Grace becomes a confidante and supporter of each. The women become a found family. But while Grace gets to know them, and brings them together, nobody really knows her.

The blossoming relationships grabbed me, and the murder mystery pulled me along. And of course, the historical tidbits kept it fascinating.

BOOK REVIEW: To Chase the Glowing Hours by Katherine Kirkpatrick

 I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

To Chase the Glowing Hours by Katherine Kirkpatrick transports the reader to the 1920s and the heady days of the archeological discovery of King Tut’s tomb.

Lord Carnarvon is an English earl, fascinated by the ancient Egyptians. He spends a great deal of the family wealth supporting the efforts of Howard Carter, a brilliant but difficult (and possibly mentally disturbed) archeologist in a quest for an undisturbed royal Egyptian burial chamber. In 1922, Carter finds King Tut’s tomb.

The novel tells the story from the point of view of Carnarvon’s daughter, Lady Eve. Eve is devoted to her father and shares his love of Egyptology. When Carter’s telegram arrives telling Carnavon he’s found the burial chamber but will await the earl’s arrival before entering it, Eve tags along. A 22-year-old socialite, Eve is far more interested in archeological discoveries than in London balls and parties. And she is far more interested in Howard Carter than in any London beau.

Kirkpatrick does a splendid job of including the reader in the excitement of the find. Lady Eve, Lord Carnavon, Howard Carter, and Carter’s assistant are the first people to step inside the chamber in over 3000 years. Although there is some evidence that grave robbers may have tapped into the chamber, the astounding array of artifacts and absence of disarray indicate that whoever was there didn’t take much, if anything. Lady Eve’s awe brings the setting to life.

The novel is meticulously researched. The artifacts are lovingly described. The political situation in Egypt is both peripheral and central to the story. And the ethical questions are explored. Who really has the right to possess these artifacts? Who has the right to tell the story of the dig? Is a little bit of grave robbing OK, compensation for all the effort?

An enjoyable read. Highly recommended.

BOOK REVIEW: Purely Academic by Stringfellow Barr

If you enjoy satirical novels about the world of academia, you won’t go wrong with Purely Academic by Stringfellow Barr. (How’s that for an author name?) Although first published in 1958, it feels surprisingly contemporary. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The novel largely focuses on Dr. Schneider, chairman of the history department, but other characters also share their views: the pompous but effective university president who’s seeking a bigger, better job; the chairman of the economics department, a schmoozer who vacuums up all the funding for his own department and who wants to succeed the president; the schmoozer’s very young, beautiful, charming wife who is bored with their marriage; the president’s Machiavellian secretary, the power behind the throne; a high-living member of a large philanthropic board, who may be the most clear-sighted of all, and others.

Although the jockeying for power, the politicking, the complaints about low salaries and unteachable students are timeless, the novel is written in an older style. It starts fairly slow as Barr maneuvers all the characters into place for the finale. He also head-hops, making the prose a bit clunky. But once you settle into the read, the style becomes less noticeable. What stands out is the irony. This novel is clever.

The characters are all unpleasant in their own way. Even Schneider, who you can’t help but root for, has some fairly large character flaws. And yet, I was entranced. Once the stage is set, the president gets the call to move up to a large state school. Then things start happening fast. 

Stringfellow Barr was a history teacher himself, who moved on to administration as a college president, and then to president of a research foundation. So it seems this book is written from the voice of experience. 

This is another old novel found in the library, but it’s available on kindle or used copies can also be found. If you’d like to see the academic world lampooned, give it a try. 

BOOK REVIEW: Seeds of the Pomegranate by Suzanne Uttaro Samuels

 I received this e-galley for free from Edelweiss. That did not influence this review.

Seeds of the Pomegranate by Suzanne Uttaro Samuels (releasing on September 2) is a propulsive historical novel set in early 20th century Sicily and New York. (I could not put this one down!)

Mimi Inglese is an extraordinarily talented young artist whose rise is cut short by tuberculosis infection. At least, that is what she believes and what her family wants to believe. Her father is struggling and failing to keep the estate he inherited profitable. He decides, with the “help” of a wealthy friend, Vito Cascioferro, to move his family to New York and start over by opening a store. What he doesn’t admit, to himself or to Mimi, is that Vito has little interest in the store. Or in him. Vito has been following Mimi’s artistic education and plans to make use of her skills as an engraver in his counterfeiting business.

Readers will sympathize with Mimi’s plight as she is dragged deeper and deeper into the mob’s increasingly competitive and violent dealings in New York. Although presented with opportunities to escape, family obligations keep holding her back. 

The beautiful prose and complex family dynamics combine with an omnipresent sense of menace that kept me turning pages, anxious to see what would come next. Highly recommended!