Translated by Ann Goldstein About the Book: The Story of the Lost Child is the concluding volume in the dazzling saga of two women — the brilliant, bookish Elena, and the fiery, uncontainable Lila. Both are now adults, with husbands, lovers, aging parents, and children. Their friendship has been the gravitational center of their lives. Both … Continue reading Book Review: The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante
Sweeping Sagas
Book Review: Violeta by Isabel Allende
About the Book: One extraordinary woman. One hundred years of history. One unforgettable story. Violeta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first daughter in a family of five boisterous sons. From the start, her life is marked by extraordinary events. The ripples of the Great War are still being felt, … Continue reading Book Review: Violeta by Isabel Allende
Book Review: The Royal Game by Anne O’Brien
About the Book: The spellbinding new historical novel from the Sunday Times bestseller Anne O’Brien. England, 1444. Three women challenge the course of history… King Henry VI’s grip on the crown hangs by a thread as the Wars of the Roses starts to tear England apart. And from the ashes of war, the House of … Continue reading Book Review: The Royal Game by Anne O’Brien
Book Review: The Family by Naomi Krupitsky
About the Book: A captivating debut novel about the tangled fates of two best friends and daughters of the Italian mafia, and a coming-of-age story of twentieth-century Brooklyn itself. Two daughters. Two families. One inescapable fate. Sofia Colicchio is a free spirit, loud and untamed. Antonia Russo is thoughtful, ever observing the world around her. … Continue reading Book Review: The Family by Naomi Krupitsky
Book Review: The Swift and The Harrier by Minette Walters
About the Book: An unforgettable novel of England's Civil War, from the bestselling author of The Last Hours and The Turn of Midnight. Dorset, 1642. When bloody civil war breaks out between the King and Parliament, families and communities across England are riven by different allegiances. A rare few choose neutrality. One such is Jayne … Continue reading Book Review: The Swift and The Harrier by Minette Walters
Book Review: The Magician by Colm Tóibín
About the Book: When the Great War breaks out in 1914 Thomas Mann, like so many of his fellow countrymen, is fired up with patriotism. He imagines the Germany of great literature and music, which had drawn him away from the stifling, conservative town of his childhood, might be a source of pride once again. … Continue reading Book Review: The Magician by Colm Tóibín
Book Review: Still Life by Sarah Winman
About the Book: 1944, in the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa, as bombs fall around them, two strangers meet and share an extraordinary evening. Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier, Evelyn Skinner is a sexagenarian art historian and possible spy. She has come to Italy to salvage paintings from the wreckage and … Continue reading Book Review: Still Life by Sarah Winman
Book Review: The City of Tears by Kate Mosse
The City of Tears... About the Book: Following on from the Sunday Times number one bestseller, The Burning Chambers, Kate Mosse's The City of Tears is the second thrilling historical epic in The Burning Chambers series, for fans of Ken Follett and Dan Brown. June 1572: for ten, violent years the Wars of Religion have … Continue reading Book Review: The City of Tears by Kate Mosse
Book Review: Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten
Tsarina… About the Book: Lover. Murderer. Mother. Meet TSARINA, the most powerful woman history ever forgot. Spring 1699: Illegitimate, destitute and strikingly beautiful, Marta has survived the brutal Russian winter in her remote Baltic village. Sold by her family into household labour at the age of fifteen, Marta survives by committing a crime that will … Continue reading Book Review: Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten
Book Review: The Diamond Hunter by Fiona McIntosh
The Diamond Hunter... About the Book: When six-year-old Clementine Knight loses her mother to malaria during the 1870s diamond rush in southern Africa, she is left to be raised by her destitute, alcoholic father, James. Much of Clementine’s care falls to their trusty Zulu companion, Joseph One-Shoe, and the unlikely pair form an unbreakable bond. … Continue reading Book Review: The Diamond Hunter by Fiona McIntosh
Theresa Smith Writes 