Jojo Moyes: The Giver of Star, Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House UK), 9780718183231, large paperback

Last review of 2019, perfect read between Christmas and the end of the year, a terrific yarn from the fabulous Jojo Moyes based on historic facts about the female Horseback Librarians of Kentucky who during the Great Depression employed by the US government WPA program went on horseback through ice, snow and heat bringing books and joy to dirt poor people in the Kentucky hills despite a lot of resistance from narrow minded folks and criminals. It’s a story about five strong women who followed their heart and conviction supporting each other.  

There is Alice Van Cleve, an educated, well brought up English woman who married into Kentucky royalty, a corrupt yet pious mine owning family finding herself stuck in a loveless, suffocating marriage.  

Margery O’Hare, whose tough childhood with an abusive felon of a father leads her to live a life as a self-reliant rebel horse- woman becoming the heart of the Horseback Librarians teaching them about horseback riding, the countryside and the Kentucky mountain folks.  She is not afraid to use her gun on occasion.

Izzy Brady, crippled after contracting polio as a child, has pretty much given up on a life for herself until her mother forces her to enter the Horseback Library.

Beth Pinker brings with her the toughness of a woman growing up with 8 brothers who is not afraid to ruffle feathers.

Last but not least Sophia Kenworth, the backbone of the library and keeper of the books, a trained librarian who spent 8 years in a colored librarian forced to return to Baileyville to care for her brother William after he suffered a mining accident in the Van Cleeve mines.

“The Giver of Stars” is a true page-turner of a novel with well crafted characters and a captivating storyline.  Jojo Moyes said this is the book she loved writing the best spending some time in Kentucky researching and writing, it clearly transpires, she had me greatly entertained.

Kali Fajardo-Anstine: Sabrina & Corina, One World New York, Penguin Random House, small hardback

Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s  “Sabrina & Corina” was a finalist for this year’s  National Book Award and has been listed several times as one of the best books of the year, deservedly in my opinion. She is definitely someone to watch, falling into the writing steps of Sandra Cisneros and Julia Alvarez.  The book has one of the most beautiful covers I have seen all year, you want to pick up a copy  just alone for that.

Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s literary short stories have a kick, most are set in Denver / Colorado describing the everyday world of Latinas. Reading them off and on, they had a powerful effect on me every time, I often felt unsettled when a story was finished. In parts reminding me of the subtle way Elizabeth Strouts’s describes the undercurrents running in seemingly ordinary lives, Fajardo-Anstine tells life stories in her very own distinctive voice. The tales of Latino working class women, their tragedies,  loves and abuse are so very real,  their story painful and aching at times.  But they also tell of female strength and family bonding.  “Sabrina & Corina” is probably the most powerful one, giving the collection its name. But they are all exquisitely written, be it “Galapago”  where a grandmother kills an intruder or “Any further West” where a  sex worker picks up her daughter heading for San Diego to find a new life,   “Remedies”  where New Mexican heritage and a half sibling provide strength to a young girl  or “Ghost Sickness” which also has a Native American element.  

Sandra Cisneros’ quote says it best: These stories blaze like wildfires.   

Marc Petitjean; The Heart - Frida Kahlo in Paris

9781590519905, Hardcover, Pub date April 28th, 2020, Other Press, NY/USA (Penguin Random House)


Marc Petitjean is a filmmaker, photographer and writer who set out to write about a lesser known period of Frida Kahlo's life in Paris in 1938  also investigating the meaning of a painting called "The Heart" she gave to his father. It is also an attempt to find out about the seriousness of the romance that developed between them. Michel Petitjean was working in an art gallery Renou & Colle in Paris during the 1930ties, an important place for the Surrealist movement around Andre Breton, Dali, Picasso and Marcel Duchamp. Petitjean was also the official lover of wealthy intellectual, Marie-Laure de Noailles, living with her and her husband in their villa.  

Frida Kahlo had met the Breton's in Mexico City granting them refuge at her and Diego Rivera’s famous Blue house when they found themselves without a place to stay. Out of gratitude Breton offered to arrange her first exhibition in Paris for her but when she arrives by ship from New York, nothing has been set up and her sleeping arrangement at Breton’s house is not what Frida is expecting. She and Breton's wife Jacqueline Lamba become close friends starting an affair but the bisexual Frida becomes also very attracted to Michel Petitjean who is her contact at Renou & Colle where her exhibition is finally taking shape. Their attractions leads to a passionate romance, something Marc Petitjean discovers many years’ later thru letters made available to him from various sources after having been contacted by  journalists and  historians from the US.  

I was very fascinated by this very personal and intimate account of Marc Petitjean’s investigation into his father’s time with Frida, learning a lot about this rather unknown period in Frida Kahlo's life and the surrealist connection. It was a crucial period for Frida as a serious artists when Diego Rivera was on the verge of leaving her after conducting an affair with her sister Christina. The clash between the very emotional Frida and the more abstract intellect of the surrealist artists in Paris could not have been more pronounced producing some fascinating encounters. 

This is a book for readers interested in art,  feminist literature and art history; I greatly enjoyed reading the proof of this upcoming small hardback.  

Anika Scott: Finding Clara, Hutchinson (Penguin Random House UK) 9781786331885, trade paperback 

“Finding Clara” is set in the winter of 1946 in war torn Essen, Germany where the first order of business is to survive with a roof over your head and food in your belly. Clara Falkenberg is on the run trying to avoid Allied troops under a false identity as her real background would land her in an allied prison for war criminals in a second. As the daughter of one of the most successful steel industry tycoons and an English mother, Clara was forced to run her father’s business with the use of slave laborers under the Nazi regime to achieve their production quota. But this does not feel like an excuse to her as guilt and disgust with herself are eating at her consciousness. 

Captain Fenshaw of the British Forces is hot on her heels as Clara is trying to find her best friend Elise in the ruins of Essen.  Enter fate and Jakob Relling, a black market dealer who lost one leg as a soldier in Russia, and Willy, a boy in hiding in a coal mine guarding a priceless commodity – food and daily goods..   

What made this novel so appealing to read is its setting in unfashionable Essen, the prewar center of Germany’s  steel industry, a very well-drawn out female characters in Clara Falkenberg, her cold hearted family, Jakob Relling, a salt of the earth type black marketer trying to provide for his sisters and the grim, realistic description of life during the post war years. It reminded me in parts and atmosphere of “The Aftermath” (Niemandsland) by Rhidian Brook which has been made into a movie starring Kira Kneightly. I can easily see the potential of this plot for TV or Netflix.  The author has clearly done some extensive research and written an authentic capturing story. I would guess some ideas were drawn from the history of the Krupp family. 

I have to confess I was not totally blown away even though it is a well crafted story, it was just too predictable for my taste. But I can easily see the appeal to readers who are not very familiar with German history during that time.