I’ve always been fascinated by America, the American experiment, the American experience. In college, I found my place in the sociology, anthropology, political science and literature of the American people, their values and ideals. My novels are born of the culture of merging, conflicting cultures we, as Americans, were born into and from my conviction […]
Tag Archives | book review
Shadow of the Wind: a Story for the Stouthearted
For those who love the ghosts lying deep in the heart of old European cities, Carlos Ruiz Zapon’s Shadow of the Wind is not to be missed. I had just begun reading this book when a writer acquaintance told me she loved the story so much she […]
ONE WHO LOVES Now in Print!
I’m delighted to announce that Toni Fuhrman’s novel, One Who Loves, will be coming out in print on March 15th. Those of you who appreciate the tangled relationship of love, loss, and grief won’t want to miss this story.
Ann Patchett’s COMMONWEALTH: a Review
Ann Patchett, in Commonwealth has captured the lives of six children whose families have been splintered by the love affairs of their parents. She does so with humor and compassion and her always compelling grasp of storytelling and language. Bert Cousins, father of three (soon to be four), shows up uninvited at the christening of […]
Illumination Night: Love and Redemption in the Hands of a Master Storyteller
We enter Alice Hoffman’s Illumination Night through the eyes of Simon, stretching to gaze out of his window on a hot summer morning. Simple details give us Simon’s four-year-old world—his room, his mother in the kitchen, his father out […]
The Headmaster’s Wife: A Read for the Soul
A naked old man found wandering through Central Park turns out to be the Headmaster of a Vermont elite prep school. How can this be? How can such a man come to this? It violates every belief we carry about the inhabitants of that world. The Headmaster’s Wife, weaves a tale of obsession, grief and […]
The Nightingale: A Powerful Read
“In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are.” With those words, Vianne Rossignol opens the story of her life, and the lives of her loved ones, during the occupation of France. Rossingnol means ‘nightingale” in French, and in the end Vianne recognizes herself in that […]
Ann Patchett: Stories That Dissolve Cultural Divides
My greatest aspiration as an author is to carry readers inside the social turmoil of our times and thereby dissolve the bitter cultural divisions that plague the nation. Ann Patchett is therefore one of my favorite authors, for she explores the bonds that join us. Bel Canto is her most famous example, but The Magician’s […]
A Winter Journey: A War Story for Today
World War II scattered as many lives as it destroyed, leaving another generation to piece together their lost and buried pasts. Diane Armstrong’s Winter Journey is one such story and a gripping one, but it is far more than the tale of one woman’s search for her past. It’s a story that should send shivers […]
The Girl on the Train: a Mixed Review
Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train, carries the reader into the lives of three women who occupy, at one time or another, two houses on Bleinheim Rd. in London. Rachel views them from the train, and for her they represent the marriage she had and lost. Anna, the second voice, is her replacement. Megan, […]
The Bright Forever: a Different Mystery
I like mysteries that are based more on character than plot, and Lee Martin’s Pulitzer Prize Finalist, The Bright Forever, is one of those. It is as much about the social dynamics of small towns and the destructive power of isolation as the tragedy that results. Pieces of the story unfold from the point […]
What Happened to My Sister: A Mixed Read
Elizabeth Flock’s What Happened to my Sister follows her best seller Me and Emma and, according to the reviews, I should have read the latter first. I didn’t, and perhaps that’s the reason for my mixed review. I’d love to hear comments from any who have read it, in order or not. Nine-year-old Carrie Parker and […]