Saturday, February 28, 2009

Glamour-Louise Bagshawe

Glamour
Louise Bagshawe
Plume, Feb 2009, $15.00
ISBN: 9780452289420

The three young girls meet at a posh Beverly Hills high school because they are the outsiders; undesirables not good enough to mingle with the rest of the affluent student body. Thus Texan Sally Lassiter, Englishwoman Jane Morgan and Jordanian Helen Yanna form their own pact to help each other survive the bullying barracudas and harassing sharks. However, finances force Sally and Jane to drop out and Helen is packed off in marriage to live in the Middle East.

Over the next few years separately all three obtain business success with Sally a designer, Jane a corporate officer, and Haya (formerly Helen) an international carpet seller. A decade later, the trio meets in Los Angeles; where they concoct a concept to combine their skills to open up a luxurious shop GLAMOUR. While the store is extremely successful, the partners never recapture the level of friendship they had as teens and drift in separate directions while taking potshots at one another.

The obvious homage to Sex and the City is throughout this intriguing character study, but Louise Bagshawe puts her own spin on affluence and trysts. The three prime players contain differing personalities. As teens they need to bond with someone in similar dire straits, but as late twenties with professional success, they no longer need one another. Although there are some cul de sac scenes that feel like padding, fans of women’s modern fiction will enjoy following the exploits of three women in Los Angeles.

Harriet Klausner

A Flickering Light-Jane Kirkpatrick

A Flickering Light
Jane Kirkpatrick
Waterbrook, Apr 2009, $13.99
ISBN: 9781578569809

In 1907 in Winona, fifteen year old Jessie Ann Gaebele loves to take pictures of in Minnesota’s beautiful landscapes. Neither her family nor her peers understand the teenage girl’s obsession with photography. No one except that is professional photographer F.J. Bauer who feels an affinity with the young girl as he loves picture taking too. He hires her as his apprentice.

Jessie Ann proves adept at all the workings involving photography including the use of dangerous toxic chemicals in the backroom and the flash powder used as lighting. However, she feels out of her league as a woman and loaded with guilt when she falls in love with her married mentor as she knows his somewhat difficult wife Jessie is not a bad person. Although he knows not to act on his wants, Bauer finds himself increasingly desiring his apprentice especially her unabated enthusiasm for what he cherishes too, photography.

Reaching back to her family tree, historical novelist Jane Kirkpatrick provides readers with a terrific "biographical fiction" of her grandmother as a teen at the turn of the previous century breaking the gender barrier. The key to this super tale is that the prime three players based on real persona are not over the top nasty people; instead the audience will empathize with each. Readers will also obtain a deep look at the danger of photography in the first decade of the twentieth century and cannot help compare it with “danger” of the digital age; as exposure has different connotations. Ms. Kirkpatrick provides a profound look at an era when women were given limited options yet Jessie Ann refuses to allow societal restraints from preventing her from being what she wanted to be and open-minded Bauer encourages her.

Harriet Klausner

Friday, February 27, 2009

I'm Perfect, You're Doomed: Tales from a Jehovah's Witness Upbringing

I'm Perfect, You're Doomed: Tales from a Jehovah's Witness Upbringing
Kyria Abrahams
Touchstone, Mar 3 2009, $25.00
ISBN: 1416556842

Kyria Abrahams was raised as a Jehovah Witness, which she explains means humans are divided between the have and have nots; the have true believers will live forever in a new Eden on earth while the "worldly" will be shunned though ironically the Jehovah's Witness extended community pray for their salvation. She did not celebrate Halloween or her birthday except with thank you prayers to the Lord. Every night she would go to bed expecting the end so had her end of the world pack ready for expeditious movement. She shunned a friend for having a devil’s device, an Ouija board. However, when she married as a teen she began to have doubts as she hated her spouse and turned to drugs and alcohol. When that failed she went on line where Ms. Abrahams discovered a whole new world out there including adultery. Now in her twenties, she is a shunned fallen one having kicked Jehovah out of her life and having the Jehovah Witness “fire” her.

This is a well written autobiography that provides insight into the lifestyle of a former member and her family. The keys to this intriguing account are that the author uses humor and clearly remains fond of her apparently dysfunctional family and even the religion; she avoids acrimonious nastiness. The memoir changes in tone from semi-humorous to totally serious at the point Ms. Abrahams married as she quickly detested her husband and turned to escapist self destructing activity. Although the author seemingly has turned her life around as evident by this fine book, she fails to explain how and what helped her overcome two plus decades of upbringing. Still Ms. Abrahams provides readers with a profound anecdotal look of growing up as a Jehovah Witness.

Harriet Klausner

Hold Love Strong-Matthew Aaron Goodman

Hold Love Strong
Matthew Aaron Goodman
Touchstone, Apr 2009, $24.95
ISBN: 9781416562030

In 1982 in the Ever Park project in New York City, thirteen year old Jelly Singleton gives birth to Abraham on the bathroom floor of her grandmother’s apartment while her mom thinks her daughter is having a gas attack. The rest of the family that includes his nine year old Uncle Roosevelt, his Aunt Rhonda and her brood especially the oldest four year old Donnel are at the movies watching ET.

Over the tweener years, Abraham dreamed of becoming a member of the Huxtable family in Brooklyn while his mom turned to crack and Roosevelt went to prison. During that period grandma kept the family together. When Donnel, who was more like an older brother to his younger cousin, goes to prison, Abraham is ready to give up. However, his girlfriend Kaya keeps the pressure on that education is their tickets out of the projects. His hope for a scholarship resides more on his basketball skills than his classroom success, but with encouragement he tries to improve his academic standing.

HOLD LOVE STRONG is a powerful look at inner city life and survival in the projects as a poor family struggles to overcome addiction, deaths, incarcerations, and broken dreams. Grandma is the key to keeping her family together and giving hope to all even addicted Jelly and Donnel who through away an NBA career. Character driven, Matthew Aaron Goodman provides a profound family drama of living in the projects where daily existence easily snuffs out the hopes and dreams of those who want the life of the Huxtables.

Harriet Klausner

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Me Cheeta-Cheeta

Me Cheeta
Cheeta
ECCO (Harper), Mar 3 2009, $24.99
ISBN: 9780061647420

Septuagenarian Cheeta of Tarzan fame is proud of his film résumé. Before becoming Weissmuller’s sidekick in 1934, he was captured two years earlier in the Liberian jungle and brought to Hollywood under the name Jiggs. After performing in eleven Tarzan movies as Cheeta, he was considered too old so he was forced into retirement. He came out of the rest home for retired acting chimps to make one film in the 1960s in Doctor Doolittle (Harrison not Murphy). Still alive and residing in Creative Habitats and Enrichment for Endangered and Threatened Apes (C.H.E.E.T.A.) in Palm Springs, California, he provides his unique perspective of Hollywood.

This is a unique autobiographical fiction in that it is “written” by a chimp who tells his story in Hollywood. Cheeta provides an insider look at some of the great names especially in the 1930s and 1940s like Gable, Bogart, Rooney, and of course his sidekick Johnny Weissmuller. Although there is little about the life of an animal star in spite of the author, fans will enjoy the latest Hollywood exposé as Cheeta tells about his co-stars’ monkey business as the likes of Natalie Wood and Victor Mature agreeing he was a better kisser than James Dean.

Harriet Klausner

The Winter Vault-Anne Michaels

The Winter Vault
Anne Michaels
Knopf, Apr 21 2009, $25.00
ISBN: 9780307270825

Avery and Jean met near the St. Lawrence River. The engineer and botanist are attracted to one another, fall in love and marry. In 1964 he is assigned as part of a team dismantling, relocating, and reconstructing the Great Temple. Traumatized with the loss of their child that leaves both heartbroken, their relationship becomes a victim too as they go back to Toronto separately.

Avery returns to school as an architectural student and Jean meets Polish artist Lucjan, a Polish immigrant. However, Lucjan proves errant when it comes to relationships; as if he is unable to relax perhaps from his time in Warsaw when the Red Army more than just threatened everyone. Jean has her baggage too as she has not forgotten Avery and their history together that included two watery destructions of the past.

This is a profound tale that looks deep into the debate between historical heritage and modern day progress as Avery and Jean participate in the development of two watery graveyards that on the one hand provided great economic growth to the respective regions. The story line is character driven with the action somewhat muted to the support role as THE WINTER VAULT is more cerebrally poetically passive than active.

Harriet Klausner

Mommy by Mistake-Rowan Coleman

Mommy by Mistake
Rowan Coleman
Pocket, Mar 2009, $15.00
ISBN: 1416583882

She is stuck on a train when she meets him where they talk. The next thing Natalie Curzon knows is that they are in Venice enjoying the sights in between making love. Jack tells her he will call her soon, but does not; breaking her heart. She soon learns she is pregnant and keeps her baby Freddie. When her electricity fails, she tells Gary the electrician that her spouse Freddie’s daddy is in Dubai.

Natalie meets Gary’s assistant teenage girlfriend Tiffany, also as a single mom is raising a child who black and tells her the same lie. The pair attend a first aid class where they meet Meg who believes her husband is cheating. They begin to form a single moms’ group with two other women. Jack is back and wants to be a father to Freddie, but shows no interest in Natalie, who detests the word platonic because she loves Jack. She also wonders how to tell her new sisters that she is single having made up a spouse in Dubai.

The latest Rowan Coleman mommy lit (see THE ACCIDENTAL MOTHER and ANOTHER MOTHER'S LIFE) will remind the audience of family dramas by Eileen Goude and Barbara Delinsky. Natalie learns the hard way that raising a baby nukes the parent’s lifestyle as does her new friends who forge a support group to help control the nuclear waste. Points of view rotate so the audience knows what the prime characters are thinking and feeling, but Natalie is the focus as a likable vulnerable single mom.

Harriet Klausner

Monday, February 23, 2009

The Ten-Year Nap-Meg Wolitzer

The Ten-Year Nap
Meg Wolitzer
Riverhead, Mar 2009, $
ISBN: 9781594483547

Ten years ago lawyer Amy took maternity leave to give birth; she has not returned to work instead raising her son. Her close friend Jill struggles with life in the Manhattan suburbs. Former artist Roberta struggles with raising a family vs. work. Finally Chinese-American mathematician Karen ponders using her skills or staying home.

These four women struggle with similar issues of whether to stay home to raise a family or go back to work. They are friends, but find little comfort sharing their thoughts of being just like their mothers as each considers bringing in income before they become too old to do so and what they want out of life even as each wonders where the time went.

This fascinating contemporary drama focuses on the premise that kids nuke dreams forcing a parent to make difficult choices between their personal desire and what their offspring needs. Although the action is limited, Meg Wolitzer gets deep into the respective heads of her four stay at home Manhattan moms. Each wonders if they made the right decision since they feel their brains have turned into mush and whether it is too late to go back to work at their dormant profession as technology has moved on.

Harriet Klausner

The Ten-Year Nap-Meg Wolitzer

The Ten-Year Nap
Meg Wolitzer
Riverhead, Mar 2009, $
ISBN: 9781594483547

Ten years ago lawyer Amy took maternity leave to give birth; she has not returned to work instead raising her son. Her close friend Jill struggles with life in the Manhattan suburbs. Former artist Roberta struggles with raising a family vs. work. Finally Chinese-American mathematician Karen ponders using her skills or staying home.

These four women struggle with similar issues of whether to stay home to raise a family or go back to work. They are friends, but find little comfort sharing their thoughts of being just like their mothers as each considers bringing in income before they become too old to do so and what they want out of life even as each wonders where the time went.

This fascinating contemporary drama focuses on the premise that kids nuke dreams forcing a parent to make difficult choices between their personal desire and what their offspring needs. Although the action is limited, Meg Wolitzer gets deep into the respective heads of her four stay at home Manhattan moms. Each wonders if they made the right decision since they feel their brains have turned into mush and whether it is too late to go back to work at their dormant profession as technology has moved on.

Harriet Klausner

Saturday, February 21, 2009

If Tomorrow Never Comes-Marlo Schalesky

If Tomorrow Never Comes
Marlo Schalesky
Multnomah, Mar 17 2009, $12.99
ISBN: 9781601420244

They met as kids and though she came from a stable house headed by a pastor and him from a home in which his mother died early and his father went to prison, they fell in love. Kinna Hollis and Jimmy Henley married and planned to raise a family. She became a nurse and he went into construction work. For the next dozen years they tried to have children, but she was infertile though they tried almost everything.

Their love teeters on the abyss as Kinna has become obsessed and Jimmy feels like a failure. She steals fertility medicine from the hospital she works in as a nurse. However, when he failed to run the machinery to rescue an injured worker, he is fired; when the hospital catches her theft she is fired. Jimmy is depressed when he returns home, but all Kinna wants is his sperm. He walks out on her. Stunned she rescues an elderly woman Thea from the nearby sea and soon that senior meets Jimmy and gives him a dog. As the despair deepens, Thea keeps showing up until an accident at the construction site forces Jimmy and Kinna to look at their relationship before the sea takes back their sand castle dreams.

The story line starts a bit slow as readers struggle to understand the lead couple; Kinna is initially hard to like with her obsessive impulsive behavior and Jimmy has withdrawn fearing failure like his dad. Once Thea enters the plot and keeps showing up with locket in hand at odd moments, the plot takes off as a deep inspirational character study as Kinna learns that sometimes dreams and goals must be dropped. With a strange whimsical twist on the merged themes of God works in mysterious ways but is there for everyone making everything even the impossible possible, Marlo Schalesky provides a strong metaphoric inspirational.

Harriet Klausner

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Security-Stephen Amidon

Security
Stephen Amidon
FSG, Feb 2009, $25.00
ISBN: 9780374257118

In Stoneleigh, Massachusetts Edward Inman runs a security company while married to Alderman Meg. He and Meg know their relationship is loveless, but she will never let him go as long as she runs for public office; which she is as she tries to become town mayor. In fact, Edward loves his former girlfriend Kathryn recently divorced; they are having a heated affair.

Meanwhile college student Mary Steckl accuses wealthy Doyle Cutler of sexual abuse. The police and most townsfolk assume she is full of BS and is probably protecting her widower alcoholic father Walter from some drunken rage of his in which he injured her shoulder. Walt thinks immediately rape through his alcoholic haze. However, one person witnessed what happened to Mary at the Cutler mansion, but Kathryn's brooding nineteen year old son Conor has his own issues and so far is silent except with Doyle.

This is an interesting small-town saga with an ensemble cast including other prime participants not mentioned above like Angela the student who is also at Cutler mansion. The two major subplots of what happened to Mary and the affair between Edward and Kathryn never merge; in fact the latter just sort of vanishes without closure while the former ends violently but somehow without closure too. Fans of morality plays that border on soap opera (as everyone in Stoneleigh seems overwhelmingly loaded with angst) will appreciate this gloomy glimpse at the power of money to make people dance the affluent piper’s tune.

Harriet Klausner

Figures in Silk-Vanora Bennett

Figures in Silk
Vanora Bennett
Morrow, Apr 1 2009, $25.99
ISBN: 9780061689840

The House of York English King Edward IV is out of money so must find new sources to replenish the treasury. Though young to be a monarch, the Plantagenet ruler knows the only group with cash is the affluent merchant class who control power based on their manipulating the rivalry for the monarchy between the Houses of York and the Lancaster.

In 1471 wealthy silk merchant John Lambert suffers an economic setback, which forces him to marry his two daughters to rich spouses rather quickly. However, his offspring do not quite see life as dire as he currently does. His older daughter Jane starts a heated scandalous affair with the young monarch; eventually becoming his mistress. Thus he turns to his other child Isabel who he pressures into marrying obese silk merchant Thomas Claver. As Isabel struggles with the horrific thought of marriage to odious Claver, a stranger provides her comfort in a church. Even after doing her duty, Isabel has not forgotten the unknown person who was kind to her. When Claver dies, the stranger returns, but he is not quite the Good Samaritan the widow thought he was.

Though the romances of the siblings are critical to the story line, the key to this deep fifteenth century tale is the power struggles between the aristocracy and the rising merchant class. Jane rises in influence through her being the king’s mistress while Isabel's rise to power is through her knowledge of silk-weaving and global trade as she leads an effort to supplant Venice as the silk trade center. Together John’s offspring appear to be the most influential figures in England as they “control” the king and the silk. Fans will relish this powerful historical as real persona embellish the look at an early globalization era with internal partisan strife that sounds so twenty-first century as history in general terms repeats itself.

Harriet Klausner

Don't Let It Be True-Jo Barrett

Don't Let It Be True
Jo Barrett
Avon, Mar 10 2009, $13.99
ISBN: 9780061241178

Houston socialites are noted to hide scandalous secrets from their past with being outed as a Democrat perhaps the most hideous skeleton in the upper crust closet. However, Kathleen Connor King's secret makes concealing being a donkey seem minor. The oil heiress is broke leaving her ranch and King Foundation in jeopardy and is considering canceling the vaunted annual family sponsored charity fund raiser. Her own trust fund went bust for a good cause when she financed the Pediatric Cancer Center at a time she was ignorant of her family’s poverty level.

Her live-in boyfriend former Enron lawyer Dylan Grant is stunned when he learns his recently deceased father destroyed the family estate and his inheritance. Apparently the oil properties were lost to nouveau riche Bo Harlan in a poker game. Kat and Dylan compare notes and come up with a grand but legal scheme to keep up appearances, win back the Grant oil revenues, and avoid a Vegas mobster

Although lighthearted and the ending can be seen from the moment the lovers realize they are broke, this is an amusing satirical spin on the American dream of earn wealth the old fashioned way through inheritance. The lead couple is a likable pair though neither thinks in terms of gainful employment because it could spoil their image; instead they choose a ruse to take back the loot Bo won. Mindful of the movie Fun with Dick and Jane, fans who enjoy a soft spoof will want to read DON’T LET IT BE TRUE.

Harriet Klausner

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The Order of Things-Lynne Hinton

The Order of Things
Lynne Hinton
St. Martin’s, Mar 2009, $24.95
ISBN 9780312347963

University research librarian Andreas “Andy” Hackett suffers from deep depression that has begun to impact her work and her everyday living. Going to the job is increasingly difficult so a desperate Andy signs herself into Holly Pines psychiatric hospital for needed help.

However, the therapy depress her further as Andy feels the staff has no interest in helping the patients; in other words it is a job not a profession. Weeks later with the insurance about to end, Andy spends her last night at the chapel where she notices middle aged African-American Lathin due to the bandages on his arms. Later, back in her room, Lathin starts talking to her through the connecting vent. He talks about his family especially his daughter Mary who is an abuse victim who has become a psychosomatic mute. She talks about how shallow life feels and her only good times in a depressing moving from one place to another childhood were with her cousin on their grandmother’s farm until her best friend relative died tragically while Andy failed to help her.

This engaging character study stars an intelligent but troubled woman whose past affirms the child is the adult theory of psychology. Andy is simply unhappy as she has been her entire life except for those brief moments on the farm; even those memories are devastated by the accidental death of her best friend. Readers will empathize with her and appreciate the catharsis dialogue between her and Lathin through the vent as everyone needs a friendly listener. Ironically fans will want a happy ending, but the climax is too simple in to short a time even if confession is good for the soul.

Harriet Klausner

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Lavender Morning-Jude Deveraux

Lavender Morning
Jude Deveraux
Atria, Mar 31 2009, $25.95
ISBN 9780743437202

In Williamsburg, Virginia, the parents of Jocelyn “Joce” Minton come from different sides of the track. Her mom was the upper class elite debutante while her dad was a working class handyman. When Joce was five years old, her mom died. Her father remarried someone from his side of the tracks. Joce’s maternal relatives cut her and her dad off due to his new family, which also include twin brats.

Joce fails to fit in with her new step-family, but finds her elderly neighbor Miss Edi Harcourt as an angel watching over her. When Miss Edi dies, Joce inherits her estate including an ancestral house in Edilean, Virginia. However, it is the 1941 letter that she finds that intrigues Joce. Though a bit hurt that her “grandma” Miss Edi hid her past, Joce arrives in town to investigate what happened to her beloved guardian angel during WWII. There she meets two hunks who are interested in her.

LAVENDER MORNING is a fabulous family drama filled with twists especially in involving Joce. The story line effortlessly rotates between WWII and modern times. Although too much coincidence occurs that move the inquiry too easily forward, fans will enjoy the optimistic contemporary romantic trip to Edilean and the bittersweet tragic events of the 1940s.

Harriet Klausner

Monday, February 16, 2009

Sunset Bay-Susan Mallery

Sunset Bay
Susan Mallery
Pocket, Feb 2009, $6.99
ISBN: 9781416567172

On the plus side, Los Angeles CPA Megan Greene is doing well at work, has a great nurturing father and is engaged to a doctor. On the minus side she is somewhat estranged from her shallow younger sister Leanne and a source of scorn from her even shallower mother.

Megan’s life goes into tailspin when she learns her fiancé is cheating. She ends her engagement angering her mother who reminds her she had no prom date. At work, a newbie is trying to use her not as a mentor but someone whose reputation is to destroy so there is one less body to step on in the climb up the ladder. Dealing with these issues seems easy until her father tells her to grow up. However the worst blow occurs when her high school boyfriend Travis comes home as he still owns her heart, the one he broke when she was eighteen. She considers returning to what enabled her to cope as a teen: designing clothing.

This modern day Job is an intriguing character study of a woman who seems contented in her life though she has relationship issues that she has ignored until the plus side of her personal ledge implodes. The poignant story line will leave readers thinking how they will react to what one perceives as a strength turning into a potential debilitating weakness. Although too much hammers as the heroine at one time, fans of contemporary second chance at life tales will appreciate Susan Mallery’s insightful drama.

Harriet Klausner

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Tuck-Stephen Lawhead

Tuck
Stephen Lawhead
Thomas Nelson, Feb 2009, $26.99
ISBN: 9781595540874

In the late eleventh century they fled to the forests of the March from the invaders who routed Rhi Bran y Hud and his loyal Grellen fighters from their home Elfael; William the Conqueror gave their land to Abbot Hugo. Although the forest outlaws have become a powerful force due to their skill with the longbow inside the dense forest, they know they are losing the war outside the March. Hugo accompanied by traitorous Guy of Gysburne and their ferocious Ffreinc barbarians assault Bran’s subjects with a brutality never seen before as women and children are expendable to this ruthless horde.

Robin and the Grellen feel helpless while their loved ones are being butchered. They know they must confront a much more powerful enemy not as outlaws hiding behind trees in the forest, but as a freedom fighting force. Bran has strong allies like Will Scarlet the forester, Angharad the seer, Merian the warrior and especially the diabolical Friar Tuck. Leaving Will and the seer behind with the Grellen inside the March to continue the guerilla tactics, Bran and Tuck leave the forest to rally the collapsing Ffreinc forces under the rallying cry of the return of the heir. At the same time Lady Merian learns her father is dead and her brother is a puppet married to the enemy. Their efforts look even more hopeless than when they started the end game.

The final tale of the King Raven trilogy (see SCARLET and HOOD) is a terrific finish to a great retelling of the Robin Hood legend. The story line is fast-paced keeping the sense of desperate franticness that the heroes face while their people are being butchered. Fans of the saga will relish Stephen R. Lawhead’s excellent rendition but should first read the previous books to obtain a better understanding of what inspires Bran and his loyal teammates to keep on going though they are dispirited and confronting overwhelming odds to become living legends instead of dead outlaws; as even the myths are written by the victors.

Harriet Klausner

Tuck-Stephen Lawhead

Tuck
Stephen Lawhead
Thomas Nelson, Feb 2009, $26.99
ISBN: 9781595540874

In the late eleventh century they fled to the forests of the March from the invaders who routed Rhi Bran y Hud and his loyal Grellen fighters from their home Elfael; William the Conqueror gave their land to Abbot Hugo. Although the forest outlaws have become a powerful force due to their skill with the longbow inside the dense forest, they know they are losing the war outside the March. Hugo accompanied by traitorous Guy of Gysburne and their ferocious Ffreinc barbarians assault Bran’s subjects with a brutality never seen before as women and children are expendable to this ruthless horde.

Robin and the Grellen feel helpless while their loved ones are being butchered. They know they must confront a much more powerful enemy not as outlaws hiding behind trees in the forest, but as a freedom fighting force. Bran has strong allies like Will Scarlet the forester, Angharad the seer, Merian the warrior and especially the diabolical Friar Tuck. Leaving Will and the seer behind with the Grellen inside the March to continue the guerilla tactics, Bran and Tuck leave the forest to rally the collapsing Ffreinc forces under the rallying cry of the return of the heir. At the same time Lady Merian learns her father is dead and her brother is a puppet married to the enemy. Their efforts look even more hopeless than when they started the end game.

The final tale of the King Raven trilogy (see SCARLET and HOOD) is a terrific finish to a great retelling of the Robin Hood legend. The story line is fast-paced keeping the sense of desperate franticness that the heroes face while their people are being butchered. Fans of the saga will relish Stephen R. Lawhead’s excellent rendition but should first read the previous books to obtain a better understanding of what inspires Bran and his loyal teammates to keep on going though they are dispirited and confronting overwhelming odds to become living legends instead of dead outlaws; as even the myths are written by the victors.

Harriet Klausner

Saturday, February 14, 2009

The High City-Cecelia Holland

The High City
Cecelia Holland
Forge, Feb 2009, $25.95
ISBN: 9780765305596

Late in the tenth century, with his beloved cousin Conn dead lying in a cave under Kiev, Raef Corbansson feels survivor guilt and isolation. He knows his cousin who was his best friend and who saved his worthless life. Raef feels that was such a waste as he should have died not Conn (see VARANGER). Raef becomes a rower on a ship where no one seems to speak the same language. They shipwreck near Chrysopolis with his crewmates captured by an invading army. Raef rescues his oarmate and helps save the Armada loyal to Byzantine Emperor Basil under the command of Michael Lecapenus win the battle.

Raef and the victors travel to Constantinople to celebrate, but he cannot as Conn and the magic inside him both haunt him. Emperor Basil is irate when Raef refuses to join his army and pledge dying loyalty to him especially his refusal to track down and bring home in chains if necessary the runaway Empress Helena who has joined the enemy; he soon faces a treason charge. Lecapenus and Laissa the whore help his escape from an emperor, a city and an empire he sees as corrupt.

The superb fifth Dark Ages Viking saga (see VARANGER and Conn’s father’s escapades in THE SERPENT DREAMER, THE SOUL THIEF and THE WITCHES' KITCHEN) is an exhilarating historical thriller that continues the adventures of the survivor of the second generation. This time much of the novel rotates between an anguished yet heroic Raef with no time to grieve and the absolute demanding Basil. Fascinatingly, Raef’s saving the armada becomes yesterday’s news as the Emperor demands what you will be doing for me immediately. Fans of the tenth century saga of a traveling Irish barbarian will fully relish this direct sequel to VARANGER; newcomers will better appreciate Raef’s anguish if they read the previous entry first.

Harriet Klausner

Angels of Destruction-Keith Donohue

Angels of Destruction
Keith Donohue
Shaye Areheart (Crown), Mar 3 2009, $25.95
ISBN: 9780307450258

In 1985 in wintry Pennsylvania nine year old Norah knocks on the door of lonely widow Margaret Quinn. The older woman lets the frozen waif inside, but is surprised to learn the child insists she does not have parents and has always been on her own. Norah explains that she needed shelter from the cold night and saw the light in Margaret’s home. Margaret excitedly allows Norah to stay; feeling redemption as her own daughter Erica as a teen ran away a decade ago to the West Coast with her boyfriend to join the radical Angels of Destruction.

Margaret and Norah agree that Norah will masquerade her as her granddaughter. Norah enters the school and becomes friends with a student Sean whose dad abandoned him. When Norah begins to insist she is an angel with a destructive message, some fear her while others revel in her seemingly magical happiness. However, one person in the shadows has followed her from before and struggles with what to do about her.

Obviously the bond between Margaret and Norah is the center of the tale as they even convince the older woman’s skeptical sister that the child is her grand-niece. Using flashbacks, readers learn what happened to Erica on the road west. However, the key to the story line that keeps reader’s attention is who Norah truly is and what is her mission in Pennsylvania.

Harriet Klausner

Friday, February 13, 2009

Love Mercy-Earlene Fowler

Love Mercy
Earlene Fowler
Berkley, Mar 2009, $24.95
ISBN: 9780425225974

In Morro Bay, California, Love Mercy Johnson has taken in stride recently becoming a widow as she is generally contented with her life though she still “talks” with her Cy and misses his foghorn laugh. She enjoys writing a column and taking photos for a magazine, working on her in-laws' cattle ranch and co-owning the Buttercream Café except for balancing the books. Her only regret is her rift with her grandchildren; she wishes she could patch things up with them, but they have long memories.

Out of the blue, her eighteen years old granddaughter, Loretta Lynn "Rett" arrives in Morro Bay after hitching across the country to escape from a relationship that turned ugly. Whereas Rett dreams of making it as a song writer or as a truck driver, Mercy wants her granddaughter in her life. Still they struggle to make amends, but the divide remains wide until a crisis forces grandma and grandchild to decide to unite or remain apart.

This is a profound character study of two women divided by a family feud that keeps each from reaching out to the other; something both emotionally need and want. Readers will admire Mercy, whose asides to Cy enable readers to understand her. Rett brings the youthful enthusiasm that anything is possible. Rotating perspective with Benni Harper playing a minor role, Earlene Fowler proves Rett’s theory of life and relationships as she and her grandma hold the engaging plot together.

Harriet Klausner

Honolulu-Alan Brennert

Honolulu
Alan Brennert
St. Martin's, Mar 3 2009, $24.95
ISBN: 9780312360405

In 1914, Korean Regret wants to attend school, but has no money to do so because in her country females are banned from classrooms. To go to school, she must leave the peninsular; she chooses Hawaii where girls attending school is the norm. She signs up as a mail order bride and a wealthy Hawaiian agrees to marry her.

She changes her name to Jin and arrives in Hawaii. However, she finds the islands not to be a paradise as her plantation owning spouse is abusive and overindulges with alcohol and gambling, which in a vicious circle leads to more nastiness towards her. She and some of her mail order bride peers, in similar ugly marriages, flee for Honolulu where they hope to find a better way to earn a living.

This epic look at Hawaii over several decades in the first half of the twentieth century contains a ton of interesting tidbits that anchor time and place but also supersedes the coming of age character study of an Asian expatriate. Especially enlightening and extremely insightful is the WW1 and Depression Eras as the female Asians struggle with survival. Fans will appreciate Alan Brennert’s deep look back as Asian immigrants making it in the Hawaiian Territory before WW II changed the paradigm.

Harriet Klausner

The Believers-Zoe Heller

The Believers
Zoe Heller
Harper, Mar 3 2009, $25.99
ISBN: 9780061430206

Over four decades since the 1960s leftist activism of their youths, Audrey and Joel Litvinoff had hoped their children would have some of their enthusiasm. However, instead they live radically different lives than their parents as each of the trio attempts to escape from what they perceive has become perpetual hypocritical activism. Rosa works with troubled teens which leave her questioning right from wrong as defined by her parents. Following a Castro period, Karla has turned to marriage to escape her parents and their unending drone beat of get involved. Lenny has turned to drug addiction as his escapism.

Even Joel and Audrey have changed. Joel relishes his role as star attorney to the “Un-American’ while Audrey has become shrewish re her mantra you are either part of the solution or part of the problem while sipping expensive champagne. She especially turns ugly when Joel falls into a coma after a stroke and his hypocrisy surfaces.

This is an interesting family drama as the activist parents head into late middle age, their offspring rebel against their refrain in differing ways. The five Liviniff brood are fascinating antagonists with differing personalities. However, none takes charge of holding the story line together. Instead the premise feels in many ways as an ensemble cast running from each other even when all gather at the hospital. Thus the parts are intriguing and well written but are greater than their sum.

Harriet Klausner

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Tricking of Freya-Christina Sunley

The Tricking of Freya
Christina Sunley
St. Martin's, Mar 2009, $25.95
ISBN: 9780312378776

Having overheard her mom and aunt argue even if their voices were kept low, Freya Morris knows her Aunt Birdie once gave birth to a child. However, no one says anything further as to what happened to the child. She hopes one day to meet her nameless cousin, but in the meantime writes a memoir she prays she can present to her unknown and unnamed relative.

Freya has lived in Connecticut, but her maternal Icelandic relatives live in Gimli, Canada. She learns she is a descendent of a long line of great Icelandic poets, which means her cousin is too. Whereas her aunt pushes their Icelandic heritage on Freya; her mom is Americanized. Over the decades Frey is pulled in opposite directions.

This is an odd but fascinating novel that gracefully moves between time (over two decades) and place United States, Canada and Iceland). The key to tale is the fully developed three strong females as the two sisters yank the next generation in totally opposite ways. Fans who appreciate a somewhat dark dysfunctional family saga will enjoy Freya’s fable as one side of her embraces the convenience of American materialism while the other cherishes Icelandic adaptation to Norse mythology.

Harriet Klausner

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Mistress of the Revolution-Catherine Delors

Mistress of the Revolution
Catherine Delors
NAL, Mar 2009, $16.00
ISBN: 9780451225955

In the mid 1780s fifteen year old aristocrat Gabrielle de Montserrat and commoner Pierre-André Coffinhal meet and fall in love. However, her older brother rejects such a union as Pierre is beneath their lofty social status. Instead he forces his younger sister to marry the much older, wealthy, and abusive Baron de Peyre. He is cruel to his young wife; so when he dies after Gabrielle gives birth to a daughter she rejoices.

The teen widow and single mom Gabrielle arrives at the court of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette. There she becomes the mistress of Count de Villers. However, soon after her arrival, the Revolution explodes in Paris. Gabrielle is arrested and faces the wrath of the Revolutionary Tribunal where lawyer Pierre-Andre, still outraged by the Montserrat scorn several years ago sits in judgment and Lady Guillotine awaits in the open for her.

Though the underlying theme is a bittersweet love story, MISTRESS OF THE REVOLUTION is much more as the plot contains a deep look at the political intrigue and machinations with the Guillotine hovering for rumored missteps stealing the show. Catherine Delors has written a strong French Revolution Era historical as Gabrielle is a great protagonist who holds the plot together while the key men in her life provide a profound look at what society allows them to do to a woman before, during, and after the Revolution; nothing changes for the second class female. Her encounters with the major historical figures circa 1789 seems unnecessary and distractingly forced yet fans of historical tales will relish Gabrielle’s adventures to avoid a date with Lady Guillotine.

Harriet Klausner

Monday, February 9, 2009

Secrets Of The Tudor Court: The Pleasure Palace- Kate Emerson

Secrets Of The Tudor Court: The Pleasure Palace
Kate Emerson
Pocket, Mar 2009, $16.00
ISBN: 1416583203

In 1498, six months after the death of papa when his ship sunk at sea, eight years old Jane Poyancourt and her widowed mother Jeanne flee France following the passing away of King Charles. King Henry VII makes the grieving Jane his ward and employs the child who is the age of his daughters as their French tutor by simply speaking to them. Soon after reaching England, Jane’s Uncle Sir Rowland Velville informs his young niece that her mamam died from a sudden fever.

A few years later, Jane is beautiful and remains at the court though a new handsome Henry sits on the throne now. Several members of the court want to court the displaced Frenchwoman, but she shows no interest in any of them. That changes when prisoner of war Duc de Longueville Louis D'Orleans is sent to the Tower awaiting ransom payment. She is attracted to him and is considering becoming his mistress. Meanwhile her childhood friend Guy Dunois comes to the English court and wants to become Jane’s lover. Jane also investigates her mother’s sudden untimely death, which leads to her spying for her royal guardian.

This interesting early sixteenth century tale lives up to its title as the audience sees another side to the Tudor courts of Henry VII and more so his son Henry VIII. The story line provides the reader with a sense of time and place especially the intrigue that engulfs the reign of Henry VIII, but does so through the amorous adventures of Jane. Fans of the era will relish Kate Emerson’s fine historical biographical fiction of an actual member of the Tudor court supported by real people.

Harriet Klausner

Saturday, February 7, 2009

A Mad Desire to Dance-Elie Wiesel

A Mad Desire to Dance
Elie Wiesel
Knopf, Feb 17 2998, $26.95
ISBN: 9780307266507

In the late 1990s in New York, sixty year old Polish Jew Doriel Waldman knows his nightmarish childhood has left him depressed, lonely, and believing he is going insane. He reluctantly turns to psychoanalyst Dr. Therese Goldschmidt for help though he believes the shrink will do nothing to relieve him of his demons. His attitude towards the doctor is belligerent as he rants at her in anger about his youth and his solitary future.

Doriel was born in 1936. He and his father hid from the Nazis during the occupation; his two sisters were less fortunate having been killed by the bastards and he assumes suffered much worse atrocities from these beasts. His mother was part of the Polish underground resistance; ironically, God played quite a trick on the Waldman male survivors when after the war ended she died in an accident. He further explains he feels guilty as a Jew in WW II Europe who cannot even claim being a Holocaust survivor even if he was a preadolescent at the time. Therese begins to connect with her angry recalcitrant patient as he begins to understand the traumas that have left him melancholy for five decades and a slight flicker of hope as he returns to his religion for solace but even there he finds the demon inside him.

This intense look at survivors of traumas years after the events have occurred is an intense superb but extremely difficult tale to read. The audience learns what haunts Doriel (through Therese’s notes) as his memories deleted the good times leaving behind an expanded bad. Fans of Elie Wiesel will appreciate this powerful character driven tale of the long term effects of a trauma on the soul of a survivor.

Harriet Klausner

Heart and Soul-Maeve Binchy

Heart and Soul
Maeve Binchy
Knopf, Feb 17 2998, $26.95
ISBN: 9780307265791

Cardiologist Dr. Clara Casey knows how far she has fallen from grace with her new position as the head of t St. Brigid’s Hospital. She agreed to a one year stint at the always in financial need clinic while trying to resuscitate her medical career. She does no care about revising her dead marriage as she knows it collapsed due to her cheating spouse’s wandering penis. She also has two adult daughters who are demanding and spoiled and her ex keeps sniffing around her.

Clara plans to do the best she can at St. Brigid’s and ignore her family as much as possible. She finds her staff hardworking and cheerful in spite of lousy hours, crappy pay, and fractious patients. Her Polish assistant Ania is bright and hardworking although Clara knows if she had been in Ireland she could have been one of her former husband’s trophies. Instead she is an indispensable addition to the staff. Nurse Fiona Ryan brings professional care taking to the patients having moved past her personal disaster of NIGHTS OF RAIN AND STARS. Outside the clinic Clara meets friendly people especially at a local restaurant. Clara is having the time of her life and considers extending her stay though her daughters and her ex object; like they have a vote on her life.

The fascination with this fine entry by Maeve Binchy is that the star of the story line Clara is off page more often than not as the spotlight is frequently on the support cast in and out of the hospital; the amazement is how well the plot stays focused even meandering to other countries. The cast is strong as always and their lives interweave in a much more complex convoluted intricacies that make the DNA matrix look like a preschool puzzle. With the return of characters like the nurse from previous novels, fans of Ms. Binchy will have a wonderful time reading her latest multifaceted look at relationships.

Harriet Klausner