Isabel Allende: Violeta, Bloomsbury UK, Trade Paperback, publication date: January 25, 2022

 

The last review of the year:  between Christmas and New Year’s Eve I finished Isabelle Allende’s upcoming  novel “Violeta”, a perfect read for the “in between days” as I call them.  I am always amazed at the sheer limitless fantasy Allende seems to possess ever since her world famous “House of Spirits”. I have been a fan of her unique storytelling talent whether her narrations are set in South-,North America or Europe, they all have fairy tale, magical, epic qualities.   

“Violeta”, her latest book coming out January 25^nd (thank you Bloomsbury for the early galley) is firmly moored in that tradition. Violeta Del Valle, the heroine of the book, reaching the end of her tumultuous, rich life shares her memories in a letter to a male,  Camillo, you find out later who he is.

Born into a wealthy, entrepreneurial family in the 1920ties with a typical patriarch of a father, the family fortune is lost during the Great Depression due to her father's reckless risk taking.  After his sudden death, the family is forced out of their mansion and Violeta and her mother find themselves in a remote rural part of the country.  Her oldest brother becomes the fixed star in her life providing the support for her astonishing talents who are the source for her  financial independence giving her the freedom to love whom she pleases  during a time when this was extraordinary.   Allende never names the country but in my view it is modeled on Chile, her home country, as are actual historical events in South America she weaves into the narration.

The book provides perfect escapism;  a great story  full of colorful characters,  drama, passion, heartbreak, love and historical events.  

 

Alafair Burke: The Girl She was, Faber & Faber UK, 9780571345595, paperback, Jan 13, 2022

This is my first crime mystery by Alafair Burke who is the daughter of James Lee Burke whose atmospheric thrillers set in the Louisiana bayous I really digest.  She has clearly inherited his writing talent; Alafair Burke has her very distinct voice and is a crafty storyteller.  

“The Girl she was” tells the story of Hope Miller who survived  a serious car crash with total amnesia and no memory of her past life. In her new life Hope develops  an exceptionally close bond with her  friend Lindsay Kelly, a lawyer who is surprised when Hope decides to start a new life on Montauk.  When Hope gets entangled in a murder case, the need to find out who she really was before becomes very pressing for Lindsay. 

“The Girl she was” keeps you in suspense for a very long time, with many twists and turns until the last pages.

 

Colson Whitehead: Harlem Shuffle, Doubleday (Penguin Random House US) 9780385547758, large format paperback

I previously read Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize winning “The Underground Railroad” and was completely blown away by the power of the book, language and story in equal measures.  His latest novel “Harlem Shuffle” is far more lighthearted, a great portrait of Harlem life and that of small time crook and businessman Ray Carvey from 1959 to 1964.  Greatly enjoyed reading this unusual novel although I occasionally struggled with the slang specific of Harlem and the lingo gangsters used having to re-read sentences twice to catch the meaning.

Ray Carvey unlike most of the very colorful characters in the book is trying hard to be an upstanding citizen and businessman having started  his own business selling furniture to Harlem clientele.  His cousin Freddie however has opted for a career as a thief and unloading merchandise from suspicious sources at Carvey store is proving to be the extra business Ray needs to stay afloat with his start up.  When Freddie drags him into robbing the Hotel Theresa which of course does not go as planned, Ray’s career as a sometimes crook is propelled into another dimension. Shady cops, Harlem gangsters and lowlifes, jewelers who look the other way become part of his daily life.  At home he maintains the front of a caring father and businessman / husband although his father in law, not completely kosher himself, suspects that not all of Ray’s business is legal…

For me one of the great fun parts of the book was to see how Ray learns to use the curveballs that regularly land in his yard to his own advantage. There are several terrific characters that shape this book but Ray and his cousin Freddie stand out the most.  “Harlem Shuffle” is a terrific mix of a crime novel and a Harlem life saga of the early Sixties with the first race riots causing havoc and changing the social landscape not only of
New York. 

Ray Celestin: Sunset Swing, Pan Macmillian UK, 9781509839001, large format Paperback

 

Since stumbling across Ray Celestin’s debut “The Axeman’s Jazz” set in 1919 New Orleans, I have been patiently waiting for each installment of the “City Blues Quartet”.   

“Sunset Swing”, the latest in the series, is set in 1967 Los Angeles; it held me firmly captive for 560 pages.  Rarely have I read such incredibly atmospheric period crime novels set in the world of mobsters and Jazz, all centering around Ida Young, a colored female detective, one of the very first and a childhood friend of Louis Armstrong.   

Not one book in the series is weak, recommend them all wholeheartedly. I am always blown away at how Celestin strings along such complex, multilayered plots told from the perspective of mostly 3-4 characters that reappear in the follow ups, ending mostly in an emotionally very charged finale. I love them all, absolutely fascinated by the mobster stories based on real life characters, the excellent writing and the details that went into the research of these period setting. “Dead Man Blues” takes the reader to Al Capone's Chicago in 1928 and “The Mobster’s Lament” to New York in 1947. It is hardly surprising that Axeman’s Jazz won New Blood Dagger Award and every other title has been short listed for prestigious awards.

In “Sunset Swing” Ida Young has retired, she is 67 and has no longer any taste for the world of crime and mobsters.  When a young woman is found murdered in her hotel room with Ida’s name written on a paper slip she is brought into the investigation by the LAPD.  Meanwhile her old friend, the former mobster fixer Dante Sanfelippo , is brought in by the mob to find the missing son of an Italian mobster boss, a last favor before Dante's retirement to a vinyard  in Napa Valley.  Kerry Gaudet, a Nalpam disfigured Vietnam veteran nurse is flying in to search for her missing brother fearing that something terrible has happened to him.  A spider web of connections ties these three people together in a hunt for a brutal serial killer who takes Ida back to a nightmare  case in New Orleans. Celestin surpasses himself with a great plot, anything more would spoil the reading fun of this gripping but sadly final novel in the series. Five stars from me.

 

 

Louise Penny: The Madness of Crowds, hardback · ‎ 9781529379389, Minotaur US 

(cheaper eBook edition available)

 

Ever since my friend Neva tugged a Louise Penny book in my bag for a long transatlantic flight, I have been a big fan of her writing loving the escape to Canada with Inspector Armand Gamache and his Quebec team.  The Madness of Crowds has a serious subject at heart, something we have all been experiencing during this pandemic, how crowds and opinions can be manipulated often resulting in dangerous movements, in this book’s case euthanasia of the old and handicapped.  Armand Gamache and his team are asked to provide security for Professor Abigail Robinson who is at the head of such a movement. Of course it does not take long before serious unrest and even a murder at Three Pines are the consequences of a speech she held. Louise Penny’s novels are far removed from the currently successful so-called cozy crime fiction although there is always a lot of drinking and eating going on for comfort. They always deal with human conflicts and political issues, are meticulously researched with a great plot that often keeps you guessing till the end which is exactly why I love them.  “The Madness of Crowds” was no different, spent some great reading hours my only critique being that several facts and circumstances were reiterated a bit too much for my taste.

 

Louise Erdrich „The Night Watchman“, 9781472155368, Little Brown UK, paperback
(German: Der Nachtwächter, gebunden,  Aufbau Verlag)

 

Ever since the publication of “Love Medicine”  I have been a big fan of Louise Erdrich’s writing,  loving her ability to tell unique stories, weaving in Native American beliefs, dreams and traditions reminding me often of Magical Realism.  I was so thrilled when she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2021 for “The Night Watchman” but only bought a copy recently.

What a pleasure to read her prose again, to immerse myself in her strong main characters:  feisty, determined Pixie “Patrice” Paranteau  who supports her entire family with a rare  job at a factory on the Turtle Mountain Reservation and  Thomas Wazhushk, the night watchman  at the same factory who is based on Erdrich's grandfather,  who like Thomas was also a Chippewa Council member and  successfully  fought a seemingly hopeless case against  the US government in the 1950ties over the so called “Emancipation Bill” , a fancy word  and effort in trying to justify stealing Native American tribal land and to erase their very identity,  introduced interestingly by a Mormon senator.  

I particularly liked how Eldrich structured her novel, breaking it up into very short chapters with the effect that whatever she has to tell stands out that much more:   

Patrice searching for her lost sister after her mother's
dream, her wondrous trip to the city, Wood Mountain, a boxer on the reservation who has a crush on Patrice and Thomas trying to figure out how to beat his opponent by studying  the bill at night during his shift, two Mormon missionaries appearing on the reservation .....

It is a beautifully written book; and wow, what an incredibly rich story, from a literary point of view way at the top on my shelf of favorite books of the year!      

 

Craig Johnson: Daughter of the Morning Star, 9780593297254, Viking US (Penguin Random House) hardback

 

When a new Longmire novel by Craig Johnson comes out, I am always exited as it means an armchair trip to Wyoming and Montana. His latest book “Daughter of the Morning Star” has a particularly unknown, troubling fact at its heart with an impactful statement by Craig Johnson at the beginning of the novel: native American women have an unusually high missing person and murder rate with most of the killers being non-Natives, and four out of five of them having experienced physical or sexual abuse.  What troubles one the most is the silence and little effort that is put into resolving the missing person cases by the police.  

Tribal Police chief Lolo Long’s niece Yaya, a gifted baseball star in the local “ Lame Deer Lady Star” team with a rocky family history,  is receiving death threats as was the case for her sister Jeanie who has disappeared into thin air after a car stop when traveling with friends from a party. Lolo desperately wants to spare her niece the same fate and asks  Walt Longmire's and Henry Standing Bear's  to look into the threats. With "Daughter of the Morning Star"  Johnson goes deeper into Native American spiritual beliefs  giving it an unusual quality  but of course Longmire remains his usual stubborn self and soon realizes in order to help Yaya they have to look into her sister's disappearance.  Thoroughly enjoyed my once a year Longmire fix and trip out West!  

 

Amor Towles: The Lincoln Highway, 9780593489338, C format paperback, International Edition, Penguin USA

 

Amor Towles novel “A Gentleman in Moscow” is one of my all-time favorite reads and I was very thrilled to finally hold his new book “The Lincoln Highway” in my hands.  But boy, the unexpected happened:   I had such a hard time getting into this very different book, until 250 pages down (567 pages total!)  I finally let go of the idea that Towles writing was a continuation of “A Gentleman in Moscow” but rather the voices of four juvenile runaways in a 1950ties American who are at the center of “The Lincoln Highway”.   

Eighteen yr. old Emmett Watson is driven home by a warden to Morgen/Nebraska after having served his time in a juvenile work camp.  With the foreclosure of their family farm and their father’s death, he and his 8 year old brother Billy plan to drive the Lincoln Highway to San Francisco where they hope to find their mother who abandoned them several years ago...  Little does Emmett know that two of his work camp friends, Duchess and Woolly, had hitched a ride as stowaways in the warden’s car, forcing Emmett to change his plans entirely rerouting their trip into the opposite direction,  heading for New York where Woolly’s wealthy  family lives.  And so begins a very multi-layered story, with several stories within a story similar to Marquez plots.  In alternating chapters Emmett, Duchess, Woolly and Billy tell their version of their 10 day adventure, with a cast of colorful characters like the preacher or Ulysses making guest appearances. Billy, Emmett’s little brother, who has slightly autistic characteristic was my favorite,   followed by gutsy no-nonsense Sally, one of Emmett’s friends from his hometown.   Towles is a master in how he unfolds the formative past of the three unforgettable main characters, Emmett, Duchess and Woolly with each passing day of the trip and how he ties it all up in the end. 

 At times it felt like I was reading a YA novel which irritated me in the beginning but once I settled into this coming-of-age, road trip adventure story, I was won over.   “The Lincoln Highway” will not go down as my favorite Towles novel, but I am positive many will completely fall in love with this captivating, multifaceted tale.

 

Tom Hindle: A Fatal Crossing, 9781529135695, Century / Penguin Random House UK, Pub date: 20. January 2022, hardback

I read a lot of mysteries, so when I say that “A Fatal Crossing” by Tom Hindle is the type of historical mystery that kept me constantly guessing and engaged this is definitely praise. The many twists and turns coming from a cast of well grafted, opaque characters made for a terrific plot which literally kept me in suspense until nearly the very last page creating a great, entertaining read with   memories of Agatha Christie mysteries coming to mind...

When the “Endeavour” sails from Southampton to New York in 1924, no one expects the week long crossing to be very eventful. But it is for an elderly gentleman who is found dead at the bottom of the stairs, everything pointing to an unfortunate slip by accident on a rainy deck at night.  James Temple, a moody, mysterious and short tempered Scotland Yard detective who happens to be on board, insists on a more thorough investigation, with the captain and ship officer Timothy Birth much less enthusiastic to have someone stir up what they consider a fateful accident.  And so begins the unraveling of a mystery to the identity of the dead man, an art dealer as it turns out, with many colorful protagonists, first class passengers in particular as possible suspects for a less than accidental death and Temple and Birth dueling each other on the search for the truth.  Enjoyed “The Fatal Crossing” immensely and congratulations to the publisher for a very atmospheric cover .

 

Chris Whitaker: We begin at the end, Zaffre/Bonnier UK, 9781785769405, paperback
(deutsch: Von hier bis zum Anfang, Piper, gebundenes Buch)

 

My attention was drawn to “We begin at the end” when the CWA Dagger Awards were announced; Chris Whittacker won the Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year.  Receiving high praises by such peers as Jane Harper, Louise Penny and Mark Billingham, I bought a copy and was very impressed by the fine writing and the  American noir story line. 

Centered on thirteen year old Duchess Radley and her little brother Robin the story is so raw, it is almost heartbreakingly sad at times particularly when their troubled mother Star and Duchess set a series of events in motion that have a disasterous effect on all characters in the book.  

Whittaker's writing is almost lyrical and carefully crafted, reminding me of Chandler in many ways  but yet a very different voice, unusual for a crime novel, making it stand out.

Set in Cape Heaven, California and Montana the nature and countryside descriptions are beautiful, as are the finely drawn out characters in the book who, I know it sounds like a cliché, stay in your head for some time.  But non as much as Duchess who makes your heart ache or police officer Walk who is doing his best to protect the children of his high school friend Star with a killer on the loose and trying to help his best friend Vincent King to get his feet on the ground after being recently released from prison. As a teenager Vincent was convicted of killing Star's sister Sissy with a devastating effect on their families and friends.  

"We begin at the end" ranks as one of my favorite and more memorable crime novels so far.  

 Abir Mukherjee: The Shadows of Men, Vintage/ Harvill Secker London, (Penguin Random House) 9781787300606 Trade Paperback, pub date:  November 2021 

Those who have been following my reviews know that I am a big fan of Abir Mukherjee’s atmospheric crime novels set in 1920’s India featuring British detective Sam Wyndham and Indian police sergeant Surendranath Banerjee.  

The novels in the series have deservedly won several prizes and “The Shadow of Men”, the fifth in the series, publishing in November,  is set in Calcutta of 1923 with the beginning of uprisings between Muslims and Hindus during their fight for independence from the Raj. 

Sam and Suren recount in alternating chapters how Suren came to find himself accused of murdering a high standing Hindu theologian facing the death sentence. Their seemingly impossible task in trying to prove that the wrong man has been accused is a more opaque, complex plot than that of previous novels; at least that is how it felt to me. The second half of the book, with the plot unfolding, a clever ending and introducing new characters, had my full attention again.  Even if “The Shadow of Men” is not my favorite in the series, I really enjoyed that Surendranath took center stage this time and loved the read.

 

David Heska Wanbil Weiden: Winter Counts,  Ecco / Harper Collins UK, paperback, 9780062968951

 

“Winter Counts” is set in the Rosebud Lakota Indian Reservation in South Dakota, which immediately sets it apart from your ordinary crime novel.  It is also a sobering account of modern Native American life on a reservation dealing with unemployment, alcohol, opioid and heroin addiction. 

Shortlisted for the Edgar Award for First Novel and many other prizes, Weiden created a critical, terrific story with well-drawn out, very likeable characters that stayed with me for some time.

Virgil Wounded Horse works as an enforcer on the Rosebud reservation meaning he deals out justice using violence for those who have escaped the tribal or American legal system, employed by victims or their families.  Coming from a troubled, broken family himself, he is raising his nephew Nathan after his sister’s death. 

When Nathan nearly dies of an overdose, the reservations problem becomes suddenly very personal. Hired by a tribal member to investigate the narcotic trail pointing towards the Mexican cartel in Denver, Virgil teams up with his former girlfriend Marie Short Bear who once dated one of the suspected drug dealers.  The situation becomes truly twisted, when Nathan is used as a pawn in a crooked set up facing a serious prison sentence forcing Virgil to work with the US narcotic law enforcement to get his nephew out of an impossible situation.

“Winter Counts”  is an unusual debut I enjoyed immensely.

 

Ann Patchett: These Precious Days, Bloomsbury UK, Trade Paperback 9781526640956, pub date Nov. 23, 2021

Thanks to an early proof by Bloomsbury I was able to read Ann Patchett’s upcoming collection of essays titled “These Precious Days”, out in November.   I enjoyed “Commonwealth” so very much but I loved this deeply personal multi-facetted book of essays even more.  Patchett’s literary memoir really got under my skin, whether she is talking about her “Three Fathers” and how the women in her family like to marry more than once, her marriage to her husband Karl who is a medical doctor and a pilot or “Sisters”. 

As someone who worked in publishing most of her life, I loved the essays about her writing career and literary life;  her bookshop Parnassus in Nashville where she lives, her publishers, her  essay “Covers” rang so true  or “Reading Kate DiCamillo”.  

“There are no children here” explains why she has remained childless.

But my favorite essay is the one about her unexpected and deep friendship with Sooki which tore me up the most. “These Precious Days” and “A Day at the Beach” are a manifestation of friendship, love and generosity written with such honesty and raw emotion; I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes more than once.   Her spunk and wit are often found in the  much lighter essays, like “The First Thanksgiving” or “My Year of No Shopping” .

Go get a copy once the book comes out, highly recommend “These Precious Days” with my whole heart, she is a terrific and understandably much beloved author with that incomparable Southern warmth and openness.

 

Colm Toibin: The Magician, Viking (Penguin Random House UK) 9780241004616,

 C format Trade paperback, publication date: September 23, 2021

 

To read a new novel by Colm Toibin is always a pleasure, (thank you PRH for the galley) I love his exquisite writing and story-telling. Add the subject of Thomas Mann to his upcoming novel, to publish in September, and you know you are in for a real treat.  

I have to confess I have a hard time reading Thomas Mann's novels although he is one of Germany’s literary greats and a Nobel laureate to top it off. "Buddenbrooks" is still one of the most well-known German classics.  However his very dysfunctional family history and his biography provide fascinating material for several novels.  “The Magician”, as Mann was called by his family members, was an absolute delight to read, loved it.

Colm Toibin’s biographical novel follows Thomas Mann’s actual life very closely; his homosexual tendencies and fantasies which he most probably never acted out provided him with material for his novels causing quite a stir when published.  His sexual preference did not keep him from marrying the much younger Katia Pringsheim who came from a very wealthy, cultured Jewish family in Munich, they had six children over the years and became one of Germany’s most fascinating literary families with Erika, Klaus and Golo Mann their most prominent, outspoken children. All six siblings lived lives which were overshadowed by their emotionally absent, famous father.  As a couple Katia and Thomas remained devoted to each other until his death. The rise of the Nazis forced them into exile several times, first Switzerland, later France and eventually the US where they settled and were given citizenship and then back again to Switzerland.

The novel is not only an extensive, captivating story of their family with Katia the absolute ruling matriarch but also an excellent synopsis of world and German politics during their life time which greatly affected their lives.   The novel centers around Thomas Mann and Colm Toibin’s imaginative dialogues and thoughts are probably very close to what actually happend.. I was often shocked how emotionally inept Mann reacted to all the pain and misery surrounding him, his life focused and devoted to writing predominently.  

“The magician” is definitely one of my favorite literary reads of the year.

 

Richard Osman:The Man who died twice, 9780241425435, C format paperback, September 2021, Penguin Random House UK 

The Thursday Murder Club  with the formidable silver locked gang of four are back :Elisabeth, Joyce, Ron, Ibrahim and their younger side kicks Chris, Donna and Bogdan.  The new sequel" The Man who died twice"  is releasing in September, I  am grateful for an early galley.   

Elisabeth's first husband, like her a former intelligence professional, makes an unexpected appearance begging for help. As it turns out, he has stolen extremely valuable diamonds from the mob and has a serious death thread hanging over his head. 

Richard Osman writes with the same humourous, funny tone I enjoyed so much in the first novel but perhaps the novelty has worn thin with the second, did not quite enjoy "The Man who died twice" as much as the first book. Still an entertaining, funny read  if you want to escape reality.

 

Miranda Cowley Heller: The Paper Palace, 9780241470725, C format Paperback, Viking (Penguin Random House UK)

“The Paper Palace” broke the spell for me in being bored by many novels I started this year, they felt like a rehash of topics I had read before.  Cowley Heller’s debut, which is hard to believe, was just the book I had been waiting for this summer. What made me love this book is her exquisite, warm, fluid writing, her description of nature, swimming, family dynamics,  the distinct voice of the main protagonist Elle Bishop and a great story.

Elle Bishop is spending her summer with her family in the “The Paper Palace”, a slightly decaying set of cabins in the back woods of Cape Cod which has been in her family’s possession as long as she can remember and where she has spent almost all her childhood and adult summers.

But this year the past is catching up with her, something irreversible has happened during last night’s annual summer party which is how the novel opens.  

Meandering through nearly 50 years of Elle’s life, the puzzles is put together as she remembers her childhood and tumultuous family history, her unconditional love to Jonas her childhood friend, her happy marriage to Peter and own children,  her formidable mother Wallace and husbands until a dreadful incident nearly destroyed Elle's life years ago casting a shadow to the present.  No more details, it would spoil it all, this basic story line doesn’t really do the book justice...  

Publishing July 8^th in the US by Riverhead and in the UK by Viking, I guarantee you great summer page turner. Nick Hornby, Meg Worlitzer, William Boyd and Claire Fuller give it full thumbs up.  So do I, loved every 400 pages of it and had to reread the ending twice…

 

Lily King: Writers & Lovers, Picador/UK, 9781529033137, paperback, 

(German edition: Writers &Lovers, C.H. Beck, hardback)

Excellent reviews for Lily King’s “Writers& Lovers” caught my eye after it was also recommended by several people whose judgement I trust... Although I am hardly the target reader for this novel age wise, I  enjoyed this uplifting, funny, warm story immensely, the right novel at the right time.  

Thirtyish Casey Peabody always wanted to be a writer and is happy supporting herself working as a waitress while trying to finish her first novel which is taking far longer than expected. When her mother dies unexpectedly, she is overcome by grief and starts to question the validity of her life decisions: her drifting around, being incapable of finishing her book, the breakup of a love affair, living in something close to a garden shack or the mountain of debt piled up from her master’s degree.  Life is yet to become less complicated when she is drawn to fellow writer Silas and almost at the same time meets Oscar, a widower and professor in his forties with two small boys that capture her heart.  

"Writers and Lovers"  has a lighthearted seriousness to it, if that makes sense,  which really struck a chord with me. A perfect summer read.

 

Mary Gabriel: Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art, 9780316226189, Little Brown, Hardback
 

If one book held me captured and sustained me intellectually from December 2020 until yesterday, it has been Mary Gabriel’s incredible, masterful and painstakingly researched biography about five of the most instrumental women painters in Modern American art who were key figures of the New York School and Abstract Expressionism:  Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Helen Frankenthaler and Joan Mitchell.  Admittedly this is not a book for everyone but for interested readers Gabriel’s chronicle of the life paths of these five pioneering, trailblazing women was an absolutely inspiring, fascinating read. 

The vast amount of information Gabriel brought together goes far beyond the art scene and looks at the political and socially turbulent happenings in New York, the US and Europe from the 1920ties until the Sixties.  Mary Gabriel spent 7 years researching and writing “Ninth Street Women”; I am completely blown away by her meticulous research, how her writing makes this book so easy to read despite the mountains of detail and complex web of people to follow.  I literally lived with the artists during my reading hours; she makes this book come to life so much, no highbrow art language here.

An epilogue follows their lives beyond the sixties until death:  five women who changed modern American art, suffering rejection, being ridiculed, often going hungry, who were ignored by galleries and museums for being daring and female, who all had very turbulent personal lives but continued to dedicate their lives to their art until the end.  Three were married to famous male painters which did not make their lives less complicated:  Lee Krasner to Jackson Pollock, Elaine to William deKooning and Helen, after her she was already well established in the art world, to Bob Motherwell.

This is a book not only for those interest in modern art but it is especially a brilliant biography of five unusual women who led very exceptional lives as painters.  5 stars from me, fascinating 730 pages to enjoy!

 

Paula McLain: When the Stars Go Dark, 9780861540808, Oneworld Publication UK, hardback ,
Pub date May 13, 2021

(US edition 9780593357231, Ballantine, large format paperback)

 

All the novels I previously read by Paula McLain had historical backgrounds featuring strong female characters like Beryl Markham, Martha Gelhorn or Hadley Hemingway; all three terrific reads, she is a great storyteller in my opinion.  With “When the Stars go Dark” she enters a new terrain, that of a literary thriller/mystery and having just finished the last page, she has my all thumbs up!   

Set in Mendocino, Northern California, the main character is Anna Hart, a missing person detective who retreats to her home town to recovery from a personal tragedy only to walk into another missing person case of a local teenage girl, Cameron.  Will, her former high school friend and now the chief of police, gladly accepts Anna’s seasoned expertise and offer to help with the investigation. This case has a familiar ring to both of them from an unresolved disappearance of Jenny, one of their friends from teenage days.  In Anna,  McLain created a very likable, intelligent, strong protagonist who after a very troubled childhood was able to turn her life around with the help of loving forster parents.  In her author’s note McLain reveals how her own autobiography helped with the plot and the female lead and that she poured a lot of her past experiences into the book which makes it so believable. 

I had a reluctant “well let’s see about his” approach when I started the novel as I was biased being a fan of her historical novels but she won me over fast and I raced through the book towards the finale.  Paula McLain can very clearly write excellent mysteries too!   

 

Matt Haig: The Midnight Library, Canongate, paperback, 9781786892737

(German edition: Matt Haig: Die Mitternachtsbibliothek, Droemer, hardback)

 

I had to buy a copy of Matt Haig’s “The Midnight Library” to cast my own verdict since it has been such a huge bestseller internationally.  The storyline appealed to me and having just finished,  I can definitely see where the attraction of this book lies for so many in these rocky times. It is a life affirming book, a bit of a fairy tale/fable which makes you feel better about own mistakes or regrets. I liked it but it did not blow me away. 

We have all been faced with the question what would have happened if one had taken a different direction in one’s life. For Nora the list of failures and regrets becomes so enormous that depression and suicidal thoughts start to overtake her life. When she is transported to the Midnight Library on the brink of suicide which houses all the books of different outcomes of her previous life decisions and is run by the formidably librarian Mrs. Elm, she is given the chance to try on these other lives.  It is a warm, uplifting type of book offering food for thought and comforting affirmations. 

I was reminded of a book I read many years ago, “Hector and the Search for Happiness” by Francois Lelord,   which I  loved and can highly recommend if you liked “Midnight Library”.

 

Lara Prior-Palmer: Rough Magic, Ebury Press (Penguin Random House UK), 9781785038860, paperback
 

Through this pandemic I have been magically drawn to travel non- fiction and by chance Lara Prior-Palmer extraordinary memoir found me which I tore through in record speed. Literally could not put it down. 

In 2013 Lara entered the Mongol Derby as a restless, bored 19 year old, supposedly the toughest horse race in the world which she never expected to win.  This race takes place over 10 days where competitors ride 25 semi wild horses totally unfamiliar to the riders, racing from ger to ger (Mongolian nomadic tents),  suffering through all the elements, hunger, dehydration and disease, often accidents occur, even death.  As Lara recounts her 10 days, I was pulled in by her observant, exquisite writing voice which gives this book such a literary quality and sets it apart from many memoirs.  She is a truly gifted writer and storyteller as she switches between childhood memories of an eccentric, privileged  family, her lifelong love for horses with a famous horse champion aunt, her scatterbrain self and the daily ordeal of the race itself.  Her portrait of the Mongolian landscapes and horses she rides every day, the people in whose tents she sleeps and the riders competing with her, while battling with her inner self  held me transfixed. 

I adored this book and hope Lara Prior-Palmer continues to write.

 

Donna Leon: Transient Desires, 9781785152627, W. Heinemann/Penguin Random House UK, C format paperback
 

Whenever I get the latest copy of a new Donna Leon novel I know I am in for a treat of some very pleasurable reading hours escaping to Commissario Brunetti’s Venice.  At the moment my concentration level is often poor for various reasons and “Transient Desires” broke that spell.  Every writer who turns out a book a year is bound to have better and not such brilliant ones.

“Transient Desires” falls into the first category: two young American women are found badly injured at the back entrance of a hospital, the victims of a boating accident as it turns out, with two young men abandoning the unconscious women after dropping them with their boat in the very location.

The investigation falls to Brunetti and his colleague Claudia Griffoni and as is often the case in Leon’s novels, the original crime leads to a far more sinister one but I will not reveal more as it would spoil the reading pleasure.  These novels are always a fine study of Venetian and Italian life, the human psyche, politics
and social interaction which are the reason I enjoy them so very much. 

The German edition has not been announced yet.