Fiction

By Staff -- Library Journal, 8/15/2006

Alderman, Naomi. Disobedience: A Novel. Touchstone: S. & S. Sept. 2006. c.240p. ISBN 0-7432-9156-5 [ISBN 978-0-7432-9156-9]. $24. F

Financial analyst Ronit Krushka, who lives in New York, identifies as lesbian but is seeing a married man. She is also the estranged daughter of a revered London rabbi. This entertaining first novel begins with the death of Rabbi Krushka and Ronit's reluctant return to the Orthodox Jewish enclave of Hendon. “I don't really mind England so much,” she concedes. “But the way Jews are here…it just makes me want to kick over tables and shout.” Unlike their American counterparts, British Jews “must remain more quiet than non-Jews, and women more silent than men.” Using two voices, one learned and lyrical, the other colloquial and chatty, Alderman offers a richly detailed look at a closed community. In contrast, the world outside fades to gray, leaving Ronit's secular existence vague at best. Though this novel covers some of the same territory as Jeanette Winterson's Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, it breaks new ground by extending equal sympathy to both the rebel and those she left behind. Highly recommended.—Leora Bersohn, doctoral student, Columbia Univ., New York

Ammaniti, Niccolò. I'll Steal You Away. Canongate, dist. by Grove/Atlantic. Sept. 2006. c.416p. tr. from Italian by Jonathan Hunt. ISBN 1-84195-824-7 [ISBN 978-1-84195-824-8]. $23. F

Following the phenomenal success of his third novel, I'm Not Scared, comes the English translation of Italian novelist Ammaniti's second effort. Set in the secluded village of Ischiano Scalo, the story follows the everyday struggles of two very human characters. Twelve-year-old Pietro Moroni leads a bittersweet life as the best friend of the school's most sought-after girl, though he's plagued by bullies, an absent mother, and an abusive father. Graziano Biglia is a hometown hero and aging lothario lost after having been used and unceremoniously discarded by a struggling prima donna. This coming-of-age tale is as much about the adolescent boy as the middle-aged man, but while Pietro eventually stands up for himself and takes responsibility for his actions, Graziano learns too late from his mistakes. Although the book deals with heavy issues, the 400-plus pages flow effortlessly. A surprise ending will blow readers away. Recommended for academic libraries and public libraries with large fiction collections.—Karen Walton Morse, Univ. at Buffalo Libs., NY

Atkinson, Kate. One Good Turn. Little, Brown. Oct. 2006. c.432p. ISBN 0-316-15484-9 [ISBN 978-0-316-15484-0]. $24.99. F

Whitbread Award winner Atkinson puts a thoroughly enjoyable spin on this character-driven detective novel, the follow-up to Case Histories. After receiving a surprise bequest, quitting his job, and moving to a French village, former detective Jackson Brodie is torn between wanting to live a quiet, idyllic life and feeling purposeless. He's visiting Edinburgh with his self-involved, increasingly distant lover, Julia, who's acting in a minor play in an arts festival. At loose ends, Brodie witnesses a road-rage incident that sets off a dazzling chain of coincidences involving a hired assassin, a meek historical mystery writer, an obnoxious stand-up comedian, Russian prostitutes, and a loathsome real estate developer and his stoic, long-suffering wife. Atkinson skillfully links the characters to one another, revealing twists from their various points of view, and in Brodie creates a likable star. Once involved in the case, he reverts to a pleasingly take-charge, strong-but-silent type who will leave readers eagerly awaiting his next outing. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/06.]—Christine Perkins, Burlington P.L., WA

Barron, Sandra Rodriguez. The Heiress of Water. Rayo: HarperCollins. Sept. 2006. c.336p. ISBN 0-06-114281-6 [ISBN 978-0-16-114281-9]. pap. $13.95. F

Monica Winters Borrero is a child of mismatched parents: her father is a liberal, romantic American journalist and her mother a cold, beautiful, and rebellious Salvadoran. Monica's early years in the paradise of upper-class El Salvador are idyllic. Then, in 1985, the civil war comes too close, and her mother disappears, presumably drowned. Years later, Monica is living in the United States and working as a physical therapist when she encounters Will Lucero, the grieving husband of comatose Yvette. The three end up at a clinic in El Salvador that promises Yvette a treatment that comes from the venom of a sea creature. As Monica and Will work together to investigate the mysterious clinic and its ties to secrets from Monica's past, they fall in love and discover the connection of the women of Monica's family to the ocean and its creatures. The subject of the civil war is not as fully explored as one might hope, and the mystery is relatively predictable. Still, the romance satisfies, and the descriptions of the power of the sea are beautiful and haunting. Like her heroine, first novelist Barron has a Salvadoran mother and knows the country of which she writes. Recommended for larger public libraries.—Mary Margaret Benson, Linfield Coll. Lib., McMinnville, OR

Bausch, Richard. Thanksgiving Night. HarperCollins. Oct. 2006. c.403p. ISBN 0-06-009443-5 [ISBN 978-0-06-009443-0]. $24.95. F

Caught in the middle of two pairs of warring relatives, middle-aged Will Butterfield feels helpless to control much of anything in his life. The “Crazies” are two old women who happen to be Will's mother and great-aunt. Their late-night calls, fueled by alcohol, give neither used-bookstore owner Will nor his much-younger second wife, Elizabeth, much rest. When the Crazies aren't tearing up his household, his adult children from his first marriage are. Still, Will and Elizabeth's solid, loving marriage weathers the squalls—that is, until Will allows himself to be seduced by his unstable neighbor, which destroys the fragile balance of everyone around him. In his tenth novel (after Hello to the Cannibals), Bausch elevates familial squabbling to an art form, offering a funny, tender look at a small group of small-town Virginians whose lives intersect, collide, and regroup around the 1999 Thanksgiving holiday. He turns enough fictional conventions on end to lure the reader deeper into the heart of his wounded characters, struggling for decency and forgiveness. Strongly recommended.—Beth E. Andersen, Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI

Bissoondath, Neil. The Unyielding Clamor of the Night. Bloomsbury, dist. by St. Martin's. Aug. 2006. c.352p. ISBN 1-59691-192-2 [ISBN 978-1-59691-192-0]. $24.95. F

Bissoondath, whose A Causal Brutality was long-listed for the Booker Prize, takes us into the heart of an unnamed South Asian island nation torn by civil war. Arun, a young teacher sent to the rebel-invested south, takes with him the fears and prejudices of a nation at war with itself. He also takes a strong desire to make a difference, both in his students and in his own heart. Befriended by the local butcher, who also serves as the town leader, Arun learns that in a simple village all is not simple and that loyalties, friendships, and animosity are not necessarily what they seem. Thrust into an often violent situation, Arun finds his own loyalties and beliefs brought into question. Building on the tradition of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, and uncle V.S. Naipaul's A Bend in the River, Bissoondath, a Trinidad-born Canadian author, skillfully executes a story about the compromises and sacrifices we make in extreme situations. An excellent addition to public and academic collections with an interest or focus on literature of the developing world.—Martin R. Kalfatovic, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, DC

Brockmann, Suzanne. Into the Storm. Ballantine. Aug. 2006. c.374p. ISBN 0-345-48014-7 [ISBN 978-0-345-48014-9]. $21.95. F

SEAL Team 16 rolls on in the latest from Brockmann (Breaking Point), here combining with security firm Troubleshooters for training ops in the San Diego desert. The competition between the groups is ferocious, as former team leader Tom Paoletti's new crew wants to stick it to the navy guys. Troubleshooter Lindsey Fontaine plays hostage in the operation, all the while keeping a creeping interest in SEAL Mark Jenkins at bay. At the same time, a serial killer is preying on young women, with one of them becoming a deadly pawn in his game. It's pretty gruesome stuff, and it only gets more graphic as the training op and the killer collide on a snowy night in New Hampshire. Lindsey is front and center at the denouement, but the romance between her and Jenkins seems too hurried to be credible. The serial killer sequence has numerous plot holes, especially when details about his crimes are revealed. Also, lingo and “mantalk” infuse the tale, which will make Brockmann's longtime readers perhaps wonder whether they picked up the wrong author. Libraries, however, will see demand for this one. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 4/1/06.]—Bette-Lee Fox,Library Journal

Cornwell, Bernard. Sharpe's Fury: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Barrosa, March 1811. HarperCollins. Sept. 2006. c.384p. ISBN 0-06-053048-0 [ISBN 978-0-06-053048-8]. $24.95. F

Sharpe (The Last Kingdom) is back, and his fans will be delighted that Cornwell has returned from his medieval hiatus (e.g., Pale Horseman) and has Sharpe once again fighting Napoleon's minions in 1811 Spain. The indiscreet British ambassador to Spain has not only taken a mistress who turns out to be a prostitute, but he has written her incriminating letters implying that England wishes to take over Spain's colonial possessions. Sharpe's job is to get the letters back before Spain again becomes Bonaparte's ally. He faces a treacherous Spanish admiral, a murderous priest, an atrocity-committing French officer, and the utter incompetence of one of his own superior officers. As in the other Sharpe novels, there is a lot of action here, played out in sturdy prose. By count, this is the 21st novel starring Sharpe, and readers will hope for a 22d. (Some will also hope that Cornwell will finally complete his Nathaniel Starbuck series about the Civil War.) Recommended for anybody who likes slam-bang historical fiction.—Robert Conroy, Warren, MI

Davies, Adam. Goodbye Lemon. Riverhead: Putnam. Aug. 2006. c.336p. ISBN 1-59448-071-0. pap. $14. F

In an unguarded moment during a family vacation, young Dexter Tennant drowns. His parents and brothers retreat into silence, their sorrow driving wedges between them. Jack Tennant was only five when Dexter, nicknamed Lemon by older brother Pressman, died. Jack has escaped the family, if not the burden of guilt and confusion. But like the lives of his alcoholic brother and father and his obsessive mother, Jack's life is cast in shadow. His dreams of a music career and then of a professorship are aborted by accidents and misfortune. After 15 years, he's come home again to help with his father's recovery from a stroke. Returning reluctantly with his girlfriend, Hahva, an optimistic social worker, Jack struggles with his desire to keep his distance and his desire to end the silence by speaking Dexter's name again. What awaits him is a long journey to the truth. Davies's (The Frog King) second novel, which tenderly captures Jack's reshaping of his legacy and relationships, is filled with compassion and humor. Recommended for fiction collections.—Jan Blodgett, Davidson Coll. Lib., NC

Delbanco, Nicholas. Spring and Fall. Warner. Oct. 2006. c.304p. ISBN 0-446-57871-1 [ISBN 978-0-446-57871-4].$24.99. F

Hermia and Lawrence meet as undergraduates at Harvard in 1962 and spend blissful months in love, their reverie ending once Lawrence graduates. Forty years pass, with each leading independent lives. Hermia's father, a famous painter, leaves her well off after his death. Her mother remarries, and soon after Hermia meets her stepfather's son, Paul, and marries him. The marriage produces a daughter but ends quickly, after Paul's mental troubles cause irreparable harm. Meanwhile, Lawrence travels the world, soaking up the culture and architecture of various countries so that he can fulfill his dream of returning to graduate school and becoming an architect. Along the way, he marries and divorces twice and fathers three children. On a Mediterranean cruise, Hermia and Lawrence meet again, and their old love rekindles. Novelist and literary critic Delbanco (English literature & language, Univ. of Michigan; The Vagabonds) effectively interweaves the past and present in alternating chapters. Readers get to know the characters moving through time and witness the everlasting nature of first love. Recommended for most public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/06.]—Robin Nesbitt, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., OH

Dodd, Renee. A Cabinet of Wonders. Toby. Sept. 2006. c.313p. ISBN 1-59264-164-4. $24.95. F

A familial assortment of oddities and freaks populates this novel set in 1927. “Daddy” Dugan is the dwarf manager of the Starlight Carnival Royale. For his “cabinet of wonders,” he collects Saffron the Wolf Girl; Molly and Faye, a set of gorgeous teenage twin who are physically joined at the hip; Bea, who weighs more than 400 pounds; Alexander/Alexandra, a sexy hermaphrodite; Shadrach the tattooed man; Sean the giant; and others. And then there is Roxy, a normal-looking teen who feels freakish on the inside and only finds comfort with this group of “wonders.” As Roxy travels from one carnival site to another, we come to know the inner thoughts, desires, and dreams of these unique people. At the carnival's final stop in Felicity, WV, a fierce storm destroys the tents and equipment. Gathering together at a local campground, the family decides to break up—each person or pair following his/her/their dream for a new life beyond the carnival scene. Dodd's (creative writing, Georgia Coll. & State Univ.) prose is graceful, smooth, and intelligent, and her well-researched debut novel is sure to please many readers. Highly recommended.—Lisa Rohrbaugh, East Palestine Memorial P.L., OH

Epstein, Leslie. The Eighth Wonder of the World: A Novel. Handsel: Other. Oct. 2006. c.472p. ISBN 1-59051-250-2 [ISBN 978-1-59051-250-0]. $25.95. F

Epstein's forte is absurdist literature combining comedy and tragedy, as in his King of the Jews. Now he turns his kaleidoscopic view to a novel of Fascist Italy, offering a huge historic as well as fictional cast of characters stretching back to the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, who appear as progenitors of Haile Selassie, the “Lion of Judah, Emperor of Ethiopia.” Mussolini and Pope Pius XII are among the counterparts who appear in spectacles in the Roman Theater in Rome in 1936, along with the Zeppelin airship, Hindenberg. Protagonist Amos Prince, a famed American architect, wins the competition to build a monument for Mussolini called La Vittoria. When completed, this mile-high structure will be the tallest in the world. Prince's devoted protégé, Max Shabilian, a Jew torn between the monumental project and his attempt to save the Jews of Rome, presents one of the many conundrums that drive this powerful novel. Highly recommended.—Molly Abramowitz, Silver Spring, MD

Faulks, Sebastian. Human Traces. Random. Sept. 2006. c.576p. ISBN 0-375-50226-2 [ISBN 978-0-375-50226-2]. $25.95. F

British author Faulks (Birdsong) has produced an epic novel about the rise of the disciplines of psychology and psychiatry from the late 19th century to the years after World War I. The story revolves around two men: Jacques Rebière, a precociously talented youth with a scientific bent, and Thomas Midwinter, also intellectually gifted and naturally curious but with more of a leaning toward literature. The two meet by chance in a French resort town and together dedicate their lives to finding a solution to the problems of insanity and reaching a basic understanding of consciousness, personality, and memory. Thomas's older sister, Sonia, also figures in the story, as the novel follows the course of her tragic first marriage, her later espousal to Jacques, and her involvement in her husband and brother's quest. There are liberal doses of 19th-century scientific theory, and actual historical scholars play minor roles. One of the novel's central dramatic events is an almost scandalous misdiagnosis of a woman's illness through the scrupulous following of the “latest” accepted principles of psychoanalysis. This is an enjoyable and edifying literary achievement, though probably not good beach reading. For all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/06.]—Jim Coan, SUNY Coll. at Oneonta Lib.

Fitch, Janet. Paint It Black. Little, Brown. Sept. 2006. c.352p. ISBN 0-316-18274-5 [ISBN 978-0-316-18274-4]. $24.99. F

Beauty and its pretenders prowl around the edges of Fitch's long-awaited second novel. Just as she did so masterfully in White Oleander, Fitch portrays the world of a young woman who is searching for a way to live after being dealt an incredibly lousy hand. Opting for the antithesis of beauty, Josie Tyrell exists within the punk club scene of 1980s Los Angeles, and, unfortunately, she finds familiar terrain in that subculture's harshness and brutal sexuality. Not until she meets Michael Faraday, a child of affluence and privilege, does Josie know that there is such a thing as true beauty in the world. He teaches her about the beauty of the night sky; of music, art, and poetry. But his obsession becomes his undoing as he cannot find enough of this transcendent beauty to protect him from his demons. Giving in to the inescapable lure of his family's ghosts, he commits suicide. Michael was the sole source of light for Josie and his tortured, tortuous mother: now both women engage in a dangerous struggle to survive in a world of darkness. As Josie unravels the story of Michael's despair, she becomes able to move from self-destruction to self-determination. Suspenseful, compelling, and superbly crafted, this work shows Fitch once again taking the art of writing to its highest level. Highly recommended for all contemporary fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/06.]—Susanne Wells, P.L. of Cincinnati and Hamilton Cty.

Flynn, Gillian. Sharp Objects. Shaye Areheart: Harmony. Oct. 2006. c.272p. ISBN 0-307-34154-2. $24. F

Fans of psychological thrillers will welcome narrator/Chicago Daily Post reporter Camille Preaker with open arms. Newspaper editor Frank Curry hands Camille the stereotypically plum assignment of a serial-killer-in-the-making story, but the offer takes an unexpected turn when Camille learns that the scene of the crimes is her hometown of Wind Gap, MO, a place to which she has not returned in eight years. Although Camille's desire to cover the story quickly prevails over her trepidation, an icy welcome awaits her at her mother's home and—in the beginning, at least—she is unable to learn much about the case from police or from locals reluctant to reveal their secrets to a prodigal daughter seeking a career-boosting byline. However, as first-time novelist Flynn expertly divulges in this tale reminiscent of the works of Shirley Jackson, there is much more to discover about Wind Gap and, most of all, about Camille. Librarians can confidently recommend this title to readers of the genre, who will, no doubt, return asking for more. Highly recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/06.]—Nancy McNicol, Ora Mason Branch Lib., West Haven, CT

Freudenberger, Nell. The Dissident. Harper: HarperCollins. Sept. 2006. c.448p. ISBN 0-06-075871-6 [ISBN 978-0-06-075871-4]. $25.95. F

This first novel from Freudenberger, who made a critical splash with the story collection Lucky Girls in 2003, focuses on CeCe Travers, matriarch of a rich (and richly dysfunctional) Los Angeles family, and her prestigious houseguest, a visiting artist from China teaching for a year at the upper-crust St. Anselm's School for Girls. Yuan Zhao is as complicated as he is renowned for his paintings and subversive politics, but by casting him as a pet Dissident, the Traverses miss an opportunity to connect with a troubled soul. For his part, the artist is so bewildered by the self-absorbed inhabitants of this not-so-brave new world that he stumbles into dangerous social territory. Energetic, witty writing sparkles throughout a story with much satiric potential, but sketchy characterizations and passages of tedious exposition prevent its delivering fully on its promise. Still, when Freudenberger is good, she is very good, and she remains a writer to watch. Purchase for comprehensive fiction collections.—Starr E. Smith, Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA

Gerritsen, Tess. The Mephisto Club. Ballantine. Sept. 2006. c.368p. ISBN 0-345-47699-9. $24.95. F

Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles return in this taut mystery, the sixth in Gerritsen's (Vanish) Rizzoli series. Both women are appealing, flawed heroines dealing with various personal issues, along with a new case. A gruesome murder scene with elements of a Satanic ritual leads Rizzoli to Joyce O'Donnell, the psychologist who visits and studies the man who nearly killed Rizzoli earlier in the series (The Surgeon), and to the Mephisto Club, a Vidocq Society–type elite group interested in the more metaphysical aspects of crime, namely tracking down evil. The club members believe in Nephilim, or Watchers—evil creatures (with fallen angels and human women as parents) discussed in apocryphal biblical texts, including the book of Enoch and the book of Jubilees. Rizzoli and Isles, both with demons haunting their pasts, are drawn into the group, whose members are tracking the same killer the pair seeks. Edgy suspense, well-drawn characters, and plot twists will keep readers turning pages. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/06.]— Beth Lindsay, Washington State Univ. Libs., Pullman

Gilmore, Jennifer. Golden Country. Scribner. Sept. 2006. c.336p. ISBN 0-7432-8863-7. $25. F

With major political debate focusing on immigration, Gilmore's affecting debut seems particularly timely. The narrative explicates the travails of two Jewish immigrant families, the Blooms and the Brodskys, as it assesses the reality the “golden country” offered them in the early to mid-20th century. While Joseph Brodsky struggles as a door-to-door salesman, brother Solomon becomes a leading bootlegger, drawing in Seymour Bloom; Bloom eventually becomes a Broadway producer, and his son marries Joseph's daughter. While assimilation, from nose jobs to New England colleges, comes into play, Gilmore's sweeping narrative goes much further, covering the political and social markers of almost five decades. Gender relations, as well as the impact of class ascendance on both individuals and families, are deftly and sensitively covered. Although these are not new themes, the novel's historical backdrop—the lure of the Mafia in Brooklyn's impoverished Williamsburg community, the Great Depression, the 1939 World's Fair, the invention of television, the magic of Broadway musicals—makes this a memorable and often powerful book. Highly recommended for all contemporary fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/06.]—Eleanor J. Bader, Brooklyn, NY

Grant, Richard. Another Green World. Knopf. Aug. 2006. c.384p. ISBN 0-307-26359-2 [ISBN 978-0-307-26359-9]. $24.95. F

This comprehensive first novel relates the experiences of four Americans who initially meet in Germany during a 1929 gathering of the Wandervogel, or German Youth Movement, whose members share a love of nature, outside adventures, free ideas, and alternative lifestyles. The group includes Ingo Miller, a sensitive young man coming to terms with his homosexuality; Marty Panich, a spontaneous and freethinking woman who later plays a prominent role in FDR's administration; handsome journalist Sammy Butler, who travels with the Red Army throughout World War II; and Isaac Tadziewski, whom Ingo saves from a group of Fascist youths and who later becomes a leader in the Jewish resistance in Poland. Marty enlists Ingo to join her later in the war to travel behind enemy lines and find Isaac, whom she believes to have documentation that would confirm the genocide of the Jews. But she's in for a surprise. A journalist based in Maine, Grant details the historical and cultural events in Germany, especially the celebration of the Wandervogel, but his characters never seem to develop adequately; the improbable chain of events makes this story confusing rather than enlightening. For historical fiction collections.—David A. Beronä, Plymouth State Univ., NH

Haslam, Gerald W. Grace Period: A Novel. Univ. of Nevada. Aug. 2006. c.300p. ISBN 0-87417-679-4. $24.95. F

Marty Martinez seems to have hit rock bottom. His beloved son died of AIDS, his wife left him for a religious cult, his daughter won't talk to him, and he's been estranged from his siblings ever since his mother died. Then he is diagnosed with prostate cancer, and his whole world completely falls apart. As Marty starts to deal with his illness, however, he discovers what's important to him: his faith as a Catholic, his relationship with his family, and rediscovery of love with a new woman in his life. Although Marty's story is not unique, the approach is different. Not only does Haslam (Straight White Male) address the intimate and often embarrassing issues associated with prostate cancer, but he offers a brave, honest, ethical, and sensitive protagonist who often struggles with issues relating to his Hispanic culture and upbringing. Although the detailed writing style sometimes slows down the story, the novel's appeal grows in proportion to Marty's development as a complex character who learns how to experience life to its fullest. Recommended for large public libraries.—Kellie Gillespie, City of Mesa Lib., AZ

Holden, Taylor. The Sense of Paper. Bantam. Sept. 2006. c.384p. ISBN 0-553-80394-8. pap. $14. F

With this appealing debut, journalist Wendy Holden turns to fiction, using Taylor as her first name. Her novel claims historical anchoring with a plot featuring retired war-zone journalist Charlotte (Charlie) Hudson's research of 19th-century British artist J.M.W. Turner's relation to paper. But it is really a romance between Charlie and a famous contemporary artist, Sir Alan Matheson, who shares an obsession with Turner's landscapes. Their love affair covers a lot of ground, from English cottages to Italian villas to posh London art openings, with dramatic flashbacks to Charlie's intense newspaper days in Kosovo, Iraq, and Northern Ireland and a few run-ins with Matheson's mentally disturbed ex-wife. Things do not start auspiciously; Holden's prose is peppered with clichés and clunky art history, and some of her characters' dialog seems read off cue cards. But Charlie is an intriguing figure, haunted by her harsh past and her failed marriage. When Charlie begins investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of her new lover's daughter, the story loses some of its more turgid claims to art and revels in its ability to suspend us for pages in its own thoroughly diverting obsessions. For larger fiction collections.—Prudence Peiffer, Cambridge, MA

Joern, Pamela Carter. The Floor of the Sky. Univ. of Nebraska. Sept. 2006. c.256p. ISBN 0-8032-7631-1 [ISBN 978-0-8032-7631-4]. pap. $16.95. F

Lila is a pregnant teenager spending the summer at her grandmother Toby's Nebraska ranch. Toby is trying to save her ranch from foreclosure while dealing with her sanctimonious older sister Gertie, whose Alzheimer's-afflicted husband has been put into a nursing home. The events of the summer bring out long-buried family secrets, with every member facing significant challenges before achieving resolution. First novelist Joern is particularly skilled at depicting contemporary small-town life and the issues rural communities face: the difficulty small farmers and ranchers have staying afloat financially and the decision of younger generations either to leave for urban areas or to endure directionless lives. She packs a lot of story into 250 pages, though except for the names of four generations of an extended family, the book doesn't feel crowded. Essential for rural and regional public libraries.—Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis

Koen, Karleen. Dark Angels. Crown. Sept. 2006. c.544p. ISBN 0-307-33991-2 [ISBN 978-0-307-33991-1]. $25.95. F

Raised in the exiled court of Charles II, later maid of honor to his queen and then to his sister, Alice Verney has known no other home than the palaces of Whitehall, St. Germain, and St. Cloud; no other family than the courtiers surrounding the French and English monarchs. She herself is the ultimate courtier—wily, ambitious, and fully alive to the subtle nuances of power, the shifting loyalties, the plots and cabals, and the danger and possibility behind every look, every gesture, and every conversation. At the same time, she is courageous, energetic, and fiercely loyal to her friends. In this prequel to her best-selling Through a Glass Darkly, Koen paints a fascinating and richly atmospheric picture of the court of the “Merry Monarch” as seen through the eyes of a sophisticated young woman whose frailties are all too human and whose worldly ambition ultimately underestimates her heart. The modern language and sensibility of this tale of politics and intrigue are sure to make it popular everywhere, especially with readers wanting to know more about one of the most compelling characters from Through a Glass Darkly. Highly recommended.—Cynthia Johnson, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, MA

Köenings, N.S.. The Blue Taxi: A Novel. Little, Brown. Oct. 2006. c.384p. ISBN 0-316-01061-8 [ISBN 978-0-316-01061-0]. $23.99. F

In Köenings's mesmerizing debut novel, a traffic accident propels an unhappy housewife and a grieving widower into each other's lives. On the streets of Vunjamguu, East Africa, a bus crash robs a young Indian boy of his leg and leads Sarie Turner, a witness, to a relationship with the boy's father. As the news of their affair spreads through the neighborhood (completely bypassing Sarie's bookish, oblivious husband), the townspeople react by questioning their own destinies. Köenings anchors her characters' near-constant internal monologs with elegant, concrete details about their everyday lives; the result is a city teeming with both external bustle and interior world building, as Sarie, her husband, and her lover imagine new paths for themselves. When these visions collide, whose will prevail? Readers who enjoy psychological fiction will be impressed by Köenings's ability to flesh out the inner landscapes of Vunjamguu's diverse citizenry, while those concerned with style will appreciate the clear, graceful sentences that simplify the navigation of these multiple realities. Recommended for most fiction collections.—Leigh Anne Vrabel, Carnegie Lib. of Pittsburgh

LaZebnik, Claire. Knitting Under the Influence. 5 Spot: Warner. Sept. 2006. c.403p. ISBN 0-446-69795-8. pap. $12.99. F

Three twentysomething friends get together every Sunday morning for their knitting circle. This is not your mother's knitting circle—knitted tube tops and bikinis figure prominently. Flighty, gorgeous Kathleen wants to change her life after quitting her job as assistant to her actress twin sisters. Lucy, a scientist and former fatty, wants to think she has the perfect relationship with her boss and lover, James. And sensible Sari, a therapist working with autistic children, tries not to fall for Jason, the father of a client. Sari's story has the most emotional resonance—author LaZebnik (Same As It Never Was) cowrote a nonfiction book on autism and has an autistic son—as she struggles with her feelings for Jason, whom she believes tormented her autistic brother in high school. Refreshingly, the gals' banter is often acerbic but never catty. They are truly devoted friends, and the men in their lives are merely the icing on the cake. The characters and problems here are more realistically portrayed than in many chick-lit books, which makes this a nice combination of humor and heartache. Recommended.—Lisa Davis-Craig, Canton P.L., MI

le Carré, John. The Mission Song. Little, Brown. Sept. 2006. c.344p. ISBN 0-340-92196-X [ISBN 978-0-340-92196-8]. $26.99. F

Just as silver becomes more lovely after its bright surface darkens from human handling, the dazzling façade of spy craft benefits from the deft touch of this master novelist. From the eastern Congo comes one Salvo, a young polyglot of mixed parentage now living in London who often gets called in by British intelligence to listen in and interpret at covert operations. Upon learning at one undercover assignment that his childhood home is to be the site of a coup, he—with one day's training in security—undertakes to outwit the conspirators. In an astonishing homage to the spoken word as rendered on paper, le Carré (Absolute Friends) goes hell for leather through language heard on earphones during Salvo's interpreting. So lucid are these accounts that the reader never misses the meaning in the volleys of words. As ever, le Carré takes every opportunity to lace his work with insights into the treacherous human condition. For every library where a new le Carré is a cause for rejoicing.—Barbara Conaty, Washington, DC

Ledgard, J.M.. Giraffe. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Sept. 2006. c.326p. ISBN 1-59420-099-8. $24.95. F

On April 30, 1975, secret police in Czechoslovakia circled a small-town zoo and slaughtered nearly 50 giraffes, the largest domesticated herd in the world. To this day, the zoo has received no official explanation. Ledgard, a foreign correspondent for the Economist, has turned his investigation of the event into a profoundly affecting debut novel that will wake you up and break your heart. In dreamlike yet incisive language, he tells the tale from multiple viewpoints, beginning with the birth of a giraffe named Snehurka (“Snow White”) for her alabaster belly. We also hear from Emil, a specialist in the blood flow of vertical creatures (humans and giraffes), who accompanies the captured giraffes to Czechoslovakia; Amina, an isolated but perceptive young woman and a sleepwalker (as, figuratively, all her compatriots are) who is deeply attached to the giraffes; and Jiri, the sharpshooter who must act as executioner even as he is told “this night has never happened.” Initially brought in as a fantasy of social engineering—they will become Czechoslovak giraffes, comfortable with winter—the graceful and keen-eyed creatures come to represent everything missing in shell-shocked Czech life and in an ending that is more than metaphor are eliminated as a threat to the state. A stunning and richly thematic work; highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/06.]—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

Lee, Linda Francis. The Devil in the Junior League. St. Martin's. Sept. 2006. c.336p. ISBN 0-312-35495-9 [ISBN 978-0-312-35495-4]. $22.95. F

When Junior Leaguer Fredericka “Frede” Ware's perfect husband steals her money and hightails it out of Willow Creek, TX, with his mistress, she is desperate to keep up appearances and not let anyone in her circle know. She feels she has no choice but to hire her neighbor—the gaudy but ruthless lawyer Howard Grout—to find her wayward hubby and get her money back. He agrees, but there's a catch: Frede must get Howard's unrefined wife, Nikki, into the Junior League! Frede agrees to play Henry Higgins to Nikki's Eliza Doolittle but has her work cut out for her. Nikki curses, favors tight clothes and stiletto heels, doesn't like beige, and wears diamonds before 6 p.m., among many other high-societal infractions. Despite Frede's haughtiness, she is an endearing character who is just a product of her environment, as is the genuine and likable Nikki. Readers who enjoyed Mary Kay Andrews's Savannah Breeze will also enjoy this hilarious tale of another bilked woman who will do whatever it takes to recover what is rightfully hers. Movie rights have been optioned by Fox 2000 Pictures for a 2008 release. Recommended for all public libraries.—Samantha J. Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY

Livaneli, O.Z.. Bliss. St. Martin's. Oct. 2006. c.288p. ISBN 0-312-36053-3 [ISBN 978-0-312-36053-5]. $23.95. F

A writer, composer, and elected member of the Turkish parliament, Livaneli offers readers a fascinating look at the diversity of Turkey today in his American debut (Bliss was first published in 2003). The story is told from the perspective of three main characters. Cemal serves in Turkey's army, fighting the Kurds, though he hails from a village where Turks and Kurds have lived in peace for generations, often intermarrying. His younger cousin Meryam is content with the changeless village life until she is raped at 15 by Cemal's father. Irfan is a Harvard-educated professor and frequent television talking head who with his wealthy wife spends his evenings at the hottest restaurants and clubs. When Cemal returns from his service, he is charged with “taking Meryam to Istanbul”—a euphemism for murdering Meryam somewhere so that the crime is not traced back to the family. In the meantime, Irfan longs for the simple life he dreamed of as a boy and heads to sea in a rented boat. Eventually, the three characters meet, a significant event that affects them all. Highly recommended for libraries where readers like to explore other cultures.—Debbie Boggenshutz, Cincinnati State Technical & Community Coll. Lib.

Marlette, Doug. Magic Time. Sarah Crichton: Farrar. Sept. 2006. c.496p. ISBN 0-374-20001-7 [ISBN 978-0-374-20001-5]. $25. F

In Marlette's second novel (after The Bridge), investigative journalist Carter Ransom returns to his deceptively quiet hometown of Troy, MS, after a mental breakdown only to face ghosts from the Sixties. At that time, local Klansmen had burned a church, killing both worshipers and civil rights activists. One hit man was sent to prison by Carter's father, Judge Mitchell Ransom, but now, decades later, he has been paroled and after a change of heart turns states' evidence to convict others at the top. The trial for the accused, Sam Bohanon, a local businessman and former imperial wizard, opens old wounds and puts Troy in the media spotlight. Carter fears that his father covered up the real killers' identity to protect an old family friend, and he even suspects his father was being blackmailed over his affair with one of the Klansmen's wives. Childhood friends, memories of a more “magic time,” and an attractive federal prosecutor help Carter sort through his uncertainties. Marlette, a Pulitzer Prize–winning editorial cartoonist, has written a powerful and eloquent novel filled with all the emotions and fury of the early Sixties. Highly recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/06.]—Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO

Meltzer, Brad. The Book of Fate. Warner. Sept. 2006. c.480p. ISBN 0-446-53099-9 [ISBN 978-0-446-53099-6]. $25.99. F

Presidential aide Wes Holloway has what he considers the perfect life until the fateful day that an assassin strikes. His friend Ron Boyle dies, and a ricocheting bullet hits Wes in the face. Eight years later, with a bullet scar on his cheek and limited use of his facial muscles, he continues to relive the painful memories of that day. Still aide to the now former president, Wes stumbles into a terrifying conspiracy when he discovers that Ron is still alive. Somehow, the fate of Wes and everyone he knows ties in to the secret history of the Freemasons. With rich characters, a puzzling mystery, and a compelling narrative, Meltzer (The Zero Game) has written his best thriller yet. Though the jacket flap is somewhat misleading in describing how much freemasonry history is uncovered, that is a minor quibble in the grand scheme. Don't let this book of fate pass you by.—Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L.

O'Brien, Edna. The Light of Evening. Houghton. Oct. 2006. c.304p. ISBN 0-618-71867-2. $25. F

A celebrated Irish author with 18 works of fiction (e.g., Night; Lantern Slides) to her credit, O'Brien here weaves strands of an Irish countrywoman's life, most compellingly when following Dilly's temporary immigration to New York. There, readers encounter a dazzling comic passage paying homage to James Joyce's famous Christmas dinner scene in the short story “The Dead.” The book's second half takes a semiautobiographical turn, following Dilly's daughter Eleanora from her rural Irish childhood, through her disastrous marriage to a foreigner of whom her family disapproves, and eventually to her development into a controversial writer who lives abroad but never leaves the subject of her Irish homeland far behind. Past and present interweave, as letters and journal entries detail an intricate Celtic knot of a mother/daughter relationship, relaying love, worry, disappointment, and agonizing miscomprehensions. But while the author writes lyrically with great narrative skill and the psychological acuity her fans expect, this tale of the convoluted bonds between mother and daughter is ultimately a bit too long and overwrought to match the best of her work. For larger collections.—Laurie Sullivan, Sage Group International, Nashville

Orths, Markus. Catalina. Toby. Oct. 2006. c.259p. tr. from German by Helen Atkins. ISBN 1-59264-165-2. $24.95. F

This new work by Orths, an award-winning and best-selling German author appearing in English for the first time, is a fictionalized biography of Catalina d'Erauso (1585–1650), reputedly from the Basque region of Spain. While this woman's unusual life has been documented before, here the spin is partly Orths's speculation on why Catalina fled a Spanish convent and traveled to the New World, in the process taking on the identity of a man. Her hopes in the New World are thwarted, but Catalina continues to live as a man, eventually becoming revered as a soldier who fearlessly kills the Indians of South and Central America on behalf of “civilization” and Christianity and then achieving notoriety as a treacherous and combative professional gambler. Catalina is not depicted as friendless and incapable of love, but her ability to form intimate relationships with either men or women is hampered by fear that her true identity will be discovered. Yet the book remains largely unsentimental in tone, offering tinges of irony rather than focusing on loss. A fast-paced and fascinating exploration of gender and historical fiction, this book is recommended for larger public libraries and where interest in historic fiction is strong.—M. Neville, Trenton P.L., NJ

Quindlen, Anna. Rise and Shine. Random. Aug. 2006. c.240p. ISBN 0-375-50224-6 [ISBN 978-0-375-50024-8]. $24.95. F

Meghan Fitzmaurice is a famous morning talk-show host living a privileged life in New York. Her husband, Evan, is a good man; her 19-year-old son, Leo, is well adjusted and wonderful; and she has enough money to do as she pleases. Bridget, the narrator of the story and Meghan's younger sister, is a single social worker who handles crises at a women's shelter in the Bronx and spends sporadic evenings with her boyfriend Irving Lefkowitz, a hard-nosed cop who is old enough to be her father. Despite the sisters' different lifestyles and personalities, they retain a closeness born of a difficult childhood. As women in their forties, they still slip into their big sister/little sister roles, with Meghan taking charge and Bridget feeling a little sister's awe. But within one 24-hour period, both Meghan's marriage and her career fall apart. As Meghan disappears from sight in order to tend to her wounds, Bridget must learn to be the stronger one even while she deals with her own crumbling perceptions of reality, which have always kept her going. Best-selling author Quindlen (Blessings) has created a thoroughly engaging story peppered with memorable characters, who are humorously and touchingly drawn. Highly recommended.—Joy Humphrey, Pepperdine Univ. Law Lib., Malibu, CA

Setterfield, Diane. The Thirteenth Tale. Atria: S. & S. Sept. 2006. c.416p. ISBN 0-7432-9802-0 [ISBN 978-0-7432-9802-5]. $26. F

A ruined mansion in the English countryside, secret illegitimate children, a madwoman hidden in the attic, ghostly twin sisters—yep, it's a gothic novel, and it doesn't pretend to be anything fancier. But this one grabs the reader with its damp, icy fingers and doesn't let go until the last shocking secret has been revealed. Margaret Lea, an antiquarian bookseller and sometime biographer of obscure writers, receives a letter from Vida Winter, “the world's most famous living author.” Vida has always invented pasts for herself in interviews, but now, on her deathbed, she at last has decided to tell the truth and has chosen Margaret to write her story. Now living at Vida's (spooky) country estate, Margaret finds herself spellbound by the tale of Vida's childhood some 70 years earlier...but is it really the truth? And will Vida live to finish the story? Setterfield's first novel is equally suited to a rainy afternoon on the couch or a summer day on the beach. For all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/06.]—Jenne Bergstrom, San Diego Cty. Lib.

Sington, Philip. Zoia's Gold. Scribner. Nov. 2006. c.400p. ISBN 0-7432-9110-7 [ISBN 978-0-7432-9110-1]. $26. F

Sington, who has coauthored six thrillers under the pseudonym Patrick Lynch, relates here the tale of London-based art connoisseur and dealer Marcus Elliot, who has been hired to write the catalog copy for the sale of works by the real-life Russian-born artist Zoia Korvin-Krukovsky (1903–99). Dramatic flashbacks of Madame Zoia's life—as a young noblewoman; a prisoner of the Bolsheviks; an exile who escaped to Sweden and 1920s Paris-Montparnasse; and an older woman—are entwined with Elliot's quest to understand the enigmatic émigrée artist who painted on gold. His suspicions, abetted by a young Swedish journalist, that the artist's final will is fraudulent and the upcoming sale illegal, turn into an obsession that will make readers wonder whether Elliot, whose life has been unraveling since he began the project, is on the ultimate search—for himself. Sington has come up with a most successful crossover that should appeal to mystery lovers as well as those who enjoy a richly textured historical saga.—Edward Cone, New York

Sundaresan, Indu. The Splendor of Silence. Atria: S. & S. Sept. 2006. c.421p. ISBN 0-7432-8367-8. $25. F

Sundaresan's (The Feast of Roses) latest book is about interconnectivity, with the protagonists all seemingly linked to one another. It is these connections that lead Olivia Hawthorne to discover her past and a mother and father she never really knew. Flashbacks to 1940s India occur when Olivia receives a mysterious trunk that promises to explain who she is. The trunk arrives on the same day that her father, Sam, dies and contains information about her biological mother, Mila. Through a letter hidden among the keepsakes in the box, Olivia learns that her father spent time in India searching for his missing brother. While there, he fell in love with Mila, the daughter of the local political agent and fiancée of a prince. It was also there that he got to know Mila's brothers, who knew the whereabouts of his own brother. A series of events leads to the arrival of the trunk for Olivia years later. Sundaresan's descriptive writing style makes for a colorful, engrossing read, and while the story does hop between time periods and locations, the reader is never lost along the way. Similar in story line to Nicholas Sparks's The Notebook, this book is recommended for all libraries.—Leann Restaino, Girard, OH

Tolkin, Michael. The Return of the Player. Grove. Sept. 2006. c.336p. ISBN 0-8021-1801-1. $24. F

In this sequel to Tolkin's The Player—which Robert Altman adapted for the screen in 1992—Hollywood film exec Griffin Mill is back. He's gotten away with murder, but his career is stalled, and he's down to his last $6 million. In an effort to reinfuse his cash flow, he walks away from the studios and sells his soul to billionaire Phil Ginsberg. Meanwhile, he's impotent, his second marriage tanks, and he thinks he shouldn't have divorced his first wife to marry the girlfriend of his victim. And, as if his life isn't sufficiently dysfunctional, he's on the brink of being charged with another murder—an aging actor who was just another rung on Griffin's ladder back to financial moguldom. On the other hand, a really good business pitch to Ginsberg might just land him that private island and personal jet. Tolkin's understated style and over-the-top characters continue to amaze. Only in Hollywood could this bizarre tragicomedy seem even remotely plausible. Recommended for collections with readers lusting for the lives of the rich and famous. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/06.]—Susan Clifford Braun, Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA

Turrill, David. Long in the Tooth. Toby. Sept. 2006. c.332p. ISBN 1-59264-166-0. $24.95. F

When you steal your brother's fiancée, and that drives him to murder the woman, which leads your father to commit suicide, you might take to drinking to avoid the ghosts that haunt you. This is the situation in which we find 30-year-old Tinker “Tin” Balune as he plots his own suicide at his family's northern Michigan summer cabin. But his plans are interrupted when he meets his neighbor Sweeney's teenage daughter, Moira, who convinces him to help her unload some furniture and in the process gets him to tell his story. When Moira and Tin return to their cabins, they find a note from Satchel (Tin's fugitive brother) saying he has kidnapped Sweeney and that Tin must meet him as an exchange for the man's return. What begins as a melodrama turns into a complex mystery in Turrill's (An Apology for Autumn) superbly written page-turner. Including murder, rape, suicide, incest, kidnapping, and mistaken identities, this story is not short of intrigue. Recommended.—Joshua Cohen, Mid-Hudson Lib. Syst., Poughkeepsie, NY

Tyrewala, Altaf. No God in Sight. MacAdam/Cage. Aug. 2006. c.200p. ISBN 1-59692-194-3. $23. F

In Tyrewala's debut novel, multiple characters narrate interrelated pieces, giving us the same story from different points of view. The novel starts with the Khwaja family, whose pregnant daughter, Minaz, is debating with her boyfriend whether to get an abortion. Akbar, the abortionist, tells of how he hears the voices of dead babies and is traumatized by what he does. From these stories, we move on to a shoe-store owner who wants to sell out and move to America to work in his brother's grocery store. The family of a young man with polio must rely on a matchmaker to find him a bride. Finally, a young wife searches for her missing husband, only to find him dead along with 15 terrorists killed for planning an attack on the prime minister. Ordinary people are caught up in circumstances over which they have no control. Tyrewala's many-threaded approach offers a colorful tableau of modern city life in Mumbai (Bombay), India, but so many characters are vying for our attention that it is a challenge to distinguish their voices in the assortment. Recommended for large public libraries with an interest in multicultural fiction.—Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO

Vida, Nina. The Texicans. Soho, dist. by Consortium. Oct. 2006. c.304p. ISBN 1-56947-434-6 [ISBN 978-1-56947-434-1]. $23. F

Most of what has happened to Joseph Kimmel since he came to Texas in 1845 has been unpredictable. A runaway slave named Luck stole his horse, leaving him near death when Henry Castro of Castroville rescues him. Although he considers himself a loner, Joseph goes on to marry a young Alsatian woman. (Otherwise, she will be claimed by Ten Elk, a Comanche chief.) Years later, Joseph saves Luck from punishment at the hands of the Texas Rangers. Though Joseph's marriage lasts, and he becomes a successful rancher, he is haunted by a woman named Aurelia Ruíz, a healer who calls down storms with her screams and is able to dispel the racism she frequently encounters. Aurelia and all the other diverse characters of Vida's (The End of Marriage) compelling novel re-create a hair-trigger time in the great state of Texas. A Larry McMurtry readalike; recommended. [For another novel about the early Texas settlers, see Alan Wier's Tehano.—Ed.]—Keddy Ann Outlaw, Harris Cty. P.L., Houston

Wagamese, Richard. Dream Wheels. St. Martin's. Sept. 2006. c.384p. ISBN 0-312-35926-8 [ISBN 978-0-312-35926-3]. $24.95. F

The life of a rodeo cowboy takes on a spiritual cast in this story about a Native American bull rider who overcomes a tragedy with the help of his family and an unlikely friend. Joe Willie Wolfchild is the best rodeo rider there is—until he is thrown by a bull. With one arm destroyed and one leg crushed, Joe returns to his family's ranch to heal, his career over. Meanwhile, in a city a world away are Aiden Hartley, a hardened teenager drawn toward the power of crime, and his mother, Claire, who seeks an elusive stability in one man after another. While Joe grapples with his physical disabilities, Aiden spends a year in jail for planned robbery. Their lives converge when Aiden's youth officer arranges for Aiden and Claire to spend three weeks working on the Wolfchilds' ranch. Although the plot is predictable, the narrative is poetic and spiritual, giving depth to what could have been a trite story. Wagamese (For Joshua) draws on Native American teachings and the beauty of nature to illustrate the healing power of tradition and the land. Recommended for public libraries.—Joy Humphrey, Pepperdine Univ. Law Lib., Malibu, CA

Wagner, Bruce. Memorial. S. & S. Sept. 2006. c.432p. ISBN 0-7432-7235-8 [ISBN 978-0-7432-7235-3]. $25. F

Joan Herlihy is a moderately successful but dissatisfied Los Angeles architect who yearns to join the elite group of celebrity “starchitects” (Gehry, Koolhaas, et al.), and the stupendous Freiberg Memorial will definitely put her on the map—if only she can win the commission. Joan tells herself that she will do whatever is necessary. Meanwhile, her brother Chester has become addicted to Internet pharmaceuticals, and their divorced mother Marj is about to lose her life savings to scam artists. Coincidentally, Marj's ex-husband, Ray, who walked out decades ago, is living nearby with his Indian girlfriend and their troubled dog, currently featured on television's famous Dog Whisperer show. Billed as a change of pace from his earlier sequence of Hollywood novels (including I'm Losing You and Still Holding), this work is in fact typical Wagner fare, a rapid-fire social satire that is closely modeled on Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities but with a crueler, more caustic tone. Wagner is plugged into all the latest trends, but his vision is simply too Los Angeles–centric to succeed outside the city limits. Mainly for California collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/06.]—Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law School Lib., Los Angeles

Walter, Jess. The Zero. ReganBks: HarperCollins. Sept. 2006. c.336p. ISBN 0-06-089865-8 [ISBN 978-0-06-089865-6]. $25.95. F

Real-life events still strive to catch up with the imagination of Franz Kafka. Here, Walter has NYPD member Brian Remy awaken not as a bug but as the victim of an unsuccessful attempt on his own life, commemorated by a suicide note reading in its entirety, “Etc.” He comes to in the nightmare of post-9/11 New York City, where his body is failing, his sight is afflicted by floaters, and his memory is subject to significant lapses. He is, in short, a mess and also an all too representative inhabitant of this brave new world, where the nation has morphed into a public relations firm and “The Boss” is determined to fight back, even at the cost of having each and every American sit through Tony and Tina's Wedding. Following his Edgar Award–winning Citizen Vince (with its alternate take on the Carter-Reagan debate), Walter goes from strength to strength, establishing himself as the current master of fractured U.S. history with all of the surrealism and black humor necessary for such an undertaking. Kafka would have to laugh (and we do, too). For all public libraries.—Bob Lunn, Kansas City P.L.

Wilmot, Patrick. Seeing Double. Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin's. Aug. 2006. c.400p. ISBN 0-312-34263-2 [ISBN 978-0-312-34263-0]. $24.95. F

This first novel is initially rather dull and chaotic, with far too many pretentious literary references and shallow characters that seem to have no reason to be there. However, the story of Bob Marley, a Rasta practitioner, artist, and Christ figure, is ultimately compelling. The narrative follows Marley's journey through the political bedlam of the fictional African country of Niagra. Despite the corruption and sanctioned torture of the regime, a small band of idealists manages to take over the country peaceably, only to have it taken back by a military force led by the United States and other major countries. The references remain a bit pretentious, but when the story finally gets going, they begin to add to the plot rather than detract from it, and the satirical digs at U.S. foreign policy in particular are hilarious. Unfortunately, few people will read past the slow beginning. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.—Amy Ford, St. Mary's Cty. Lib., Lexington Park, MD

Yan Geling. The Banquet Bug. Hyperion. 2006. c.288p. ISBN 1-4013-6665-1. $24.95. F

Yan's first book to be written in English exposes corruption and scandal in the author's native China. At its center is Dan Dong, an unemployed factory worker living in Beijing and scrimping by with the help of his loyal and loving wife. Sumptuous gourmet offerings tempt Dan to become a “banquet bug”—someone who uses a false identity to eat freely at state-sponsored banquets. While masquerading as a journalist to savor exotic fare like peacock and shark fin, Dan is introduced to distasteful acts of bribery, fraud, and institutionalized brutality and abuse largely victimizing rural residents and women. As time passes, he is reluctantly drawn deeper into endeavors that expose moral decay almost everywhere. Readers will enjoy Yan's juxtaposition of epicurean delights with Dan's experience of dark gruel and canned food beyond expiration. Ultimately, Yan's well-paced novel questions the media's place at the table with corporate and government representatives as much as it finds China's emerging capitalism unappetizing. This book's predictable success, plus Yan's previous achievements with short story collections (e.g., White Snake), demonstrate why Yan is among the few Chinese authors to receive critical acclaim both in the United States and in mainland China. Highly recommended.—Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of Oregon Lib., Eugene

Zigman, Laura. Piece of Work. Warner. Sept. 2006. c.288p. ISBN 0-446-57838-X [ISBN 978-0-446-57838-7]. $23.99. F

In her fourth novel, Zigman (Animal Husbandry) tells the story of thirtysomething Julia Einstein, who has put her career as a publicist on hold to be a stay-at-home mom. Julia loves spending her days with her young son, even though she'd be the first to admit she's not exactly a domestic goddess. Everything changes when her husband, Peter, gets fired from his high-powered job and quickly proves to be much better at the household chores. Soon, Julia has no choice but to rejoin the work force. She takes a job working for a firm that represents “has beens,” and her first assignment is to relaunch a difficult, elderly, once-upon-a-time movie star, Mary Ford. Mary's comeback vehicle is a perfume that, everyone agrees, literally stinks. Nonetheless, Julia ends up orchestrating the star's comeback—and her own. This is a humorous and well-written look at what happens when the girl with the great single life gets the hot guy and becomes a mom. It's been a few years since we've seen a novel from this author, so there will be demand. For all public libraries.—Karen Core, Detroit P.L.

Short Stories

Albert, Elisa. How This Night Is Different. Free Pr: S. & S. 2006. 197p. ISBN 0-7432-9127-1 [ISBN 978-0-7432-9127-9]. $18.

These two debut collections examine Jewish themes but take widely different approaches. In How This Night Is Different, Albert explores such themes as Jewish life-cycle events, family holiday celebrations, the Holocaust, and becoming observant by embellishing the raucous, overindulgent, overbearing aspects of Jewish life—the family at a child's ritual circumcision replete with foreskin jokes, a friend incredulous at Rachel's preparing for her Orthodox wedding after having been secular much of her life. A letter to Philip Roth idolizing his take on an earlier era and offering to have his child is actually rather funny. This collection is recommended for readers who think Jewish self-deprecation in the 21st century is still relevant.

In the four stories that make up Awake in the Dark, Nayman explores the lives of children whose parents were Holocaust survivors. She delves into the psyche of her protagonists as they struggle with their own identities and the need to ferret out their parents' secrets. In “The House on Kronenstrasse,” for instance, a woman buries her German mother in New York, travels back to Heidelberg, and uncovers an unbelievable past—she is not the person she thought she was. Further and more unusual unraveling of the past occurs in “The Lamp,” “Dark Urgings of the Blood,” and “The Porcelain Monkey.” There's breathtaking storytelling here, replete with psychological detail and stunning clarity; recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/06.]—Molly Abramowitz, Silver Spring, MD

Nayman, Shira. Awake in the Dark. Scribner. Oct. 2006. c.304p. ISBN 0-7432-9268-5 [ISBN 978-0-7432-9268-9]. $24. F

Atwood, Margaret. Moral Disorder. Nan A. Talese: Doubleday. Sept. 2006. c.240p. ISBN 0-385-50384-9. $24.95. F

This collection of 11 interconnected short stories opens as a Canadian woman named Nell and her longtime partner, Gilbert (known as Tig), face aging together into an uncertain future. Subsequent tales go back into Nell's childhood—spent partly in the Canadian wilderness with her entomologist father—and proceeds through her adolescence and academic career, culminating in a series of teaching and editing positions. The stories also move through North American cities and lovers and Nell's relationship with Tig, his two adolescent sons, and their life on a farm. “White Horse” is a strong and evocative account of Nell's relationship with younger sister Lizzie, who is schizophrenic, and with Gladys, a white horse rescued from neglect. The final three tales, “The Entities,” “The Labrador Fiasco,” and “The Boys at the Lab,” bring us full circle to the themes of aging and death, as witnessed by caretakers. In these reflective selections, Atwood, one of North America's most prominent and prolific authors (e.g., The Handmaid's Tale, the Booker Prize–winning The Blind Assassin) turns inward, as autobiographical as she has been to date. The result is alternatively humorous and heart-wrenching, occasionally sardonic and always brutally honest in the depiction of our often contorted relationships with one another, with nature, and with ourselves. Demand will be high. Recommended for all fiction and literature collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/06.]— Jenn B. Stidham, Houston Community Coll.-Northeast

Busch, Frederick. Rescue Missions. Norton. Oct. 2006. c.304p. ISBN 0-393-06252-X [ISBN 978-0-393-06252-6]. $24.95. F

The opening story, “The Rescue Mission,” and the closing story, “Sense of Direction,” of this brilliant collection by the late Busch (The Night Inspector) aptly illustrate the search for love, hope, and meaning that propels his characters through their ordinary lives. Most of the men and women in these compelling stories either try to pluck others out of surging and swirling tides of personal misery (“The Rescue Mission,” “Good To Go”) or attempt to resurrect old passions and loves that formerly animated them (“One Last Time for Old Time's Sake,” “The Barrens”). Disappointment, regret, anger, hope, and passion quicken Busch's parables of the ragged ways that people fall in and out of love. Busch's quirky yet dazzling prose—“they were old people in the cul-de-sac of distress”; “they were one more man and one more woman caught in somebody's story”—is worth the price of admission. Highly recommended.—Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Lancaster, PA

Butler, Robert Olen. Severance. Chronicle. Sept. 2006. c.264p. ISBN 0-8118-5614-3 [ISBN 978-0-8118-5614-0]. $22.95. F

Some believe the human head remains conscious for a minute and a half post-decapitation. Moreover, in a heightened emotional state, words rush out of our mouths at the rate of 160 per minute. With the enigmatic beauty of Vladimir Nabokov's prose and the inscrutable brevity of Jorge Luis Borges, Pulitzer Prize winner Butler (A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain) captures the thoughts of various such talking heads in 62 short, short stories consisting of 240 words each. The characters are both fictional and historical: e.g., a mud man beheaded by a saber-toothed tiger circa 40,000 B.C.E., Anne Boleyn beheaded by Henry VIII in 1536, and actress Jayne Mansfield, who lost her head in a car accident in 1967. Butler's tale of the chicken beheaded for a Sunday dinner in 1958 Alabama gives new meaning to the old joke about the chicken crossing the road. With veiled references to his previous writings, Butler imagines his own decapitation by elevator in 2008 after a book signing. Humorous and beguiling, these stories eloquently capture the ways in which our most mundane thoughts spill out of us the moment we lose our heads. For most collections.—Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Lancaster, PA

A Fictional History of the United States with Huge Chunks Missing. Akashic. Aug. 2006. c.313p. ed. by T Cooper & Adam Mansbach. ISBN 1-933354-02-X [ISBN 978-1-933354-02-6]. pap. $15.95. F

Arguing that all history is fiction, editors Cooper (Lipshitz Six, or Two Angry Blondes) and Mansbach (Angry Black White Boy) have selected 17 stories for this anthology that intend to describe what else happened beyond the events related in high school history classes. Ranging from Alexander Chee's “Wampeshau,” set in 1426; to Kate Bornstein's “Dixie Belle: The Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”; to Daniel Alarcon's “The Adonyne Dreams of Various Imbeciles,” which takes place in an undisclosed era that appears to be the 21st century, these stories run the gamut from hilarious to tragic as they target subjects that are controversial or politically incorrect. The authors, all published novelists, screenwriters, academics, and/or cartoonists, have chosen to reflect on moments in history that moved them, with results that are diverse, readable, entertaining, and compelling. As indicated by the title, large chunks of time are not covered, but readers still get a new perspective on U.S. history. Recommended.—Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Providence

Fountain, Ben. Brief Encounters with Che Guevara. Ecco: HarperCollins. Aug. 2006. c.240p. ISBN 0-06-088558-0. $24.95. F

Many a protagonist in this solid, aptly titled debut collection from Fountain (fiction editor, Southwest Review) seems to carry a deep guilt about privilege. Whether a graduate student kidnapped by guerrillas while doing fieldwork on a rare species of bird in Colombia or a relief worker in Sierra Leone caught up with a diamond smuggler, these characters navigate the moral minefield of doing good deeds while being very human. Fountain quietly builds a story so that the cultural reality of its setting seeps into the most mundane love affairs, golf tournaments, or fishing trips (the excellent “Bouki and the Cocaine”). Despite their various international settings and plots, the stories are not overweeningly ambitious and are rarely emotional or enlightening. If anything, they fall away from conclusions or epiphanies, which may be their most potent aspect. Only one story, the anomalous and well-paced “Fantasy for Eleven Fingers,” about a piano prodigy in fin-de-siècle Vienna, strives for a Roald Dahl finale. Recommended for most fiction collections.—Prudence Peiffer, Cambridge, MA

Lehane, Dennis. Coronado. Morrow. Sept. 2006. c.224p. ISBN 0-06-113967-X [ISBN 978-0-06-113967-3]. $24.95. F

Long before he became well known for Mystic River (2001), Lehane was writing short stories and teaching creative writing. This modest-sized volume of five previously published stories and a two-act play aptly show off his talents. There's not a wasted word in these dark, spare tales about disenfranchised males of the South. “Until Gwen” moves like a chess game, pitting a heartbroken Bobby against his amoral father. Readers can appreciate it even more after reading Coronado. The play brings seemingly unrelated characters together in a bar (plenty of drinking and gun toting in these stories), and Lehane cleverly weaves them together, watching to see if we can figure out the crime. Just what is the ultimate crime (“What's worse than murder?” asks one character) might be the author's main theme, as Bobby, Elgin, Blue, and the others repeatedly flail against some tide they cannot control. Highly recommended for those who appreciate the psychological fiction of Pete Dexter and George Pelecanos and essential for libraries populated by aspiring screenwriters and playwrights.—Teresa L. Jacobsen, Solano Cty. Lib., CA

MacLaverty, Bernard. Matters of Life & Death and Other Stories. Norton. Sept. 2006. c.192p. ISBN 0-393-05716-X [ISBN 978-0-393-05716-4]. $23.95. F

Death figures prominently in these remarkable short stories, most of which are set in Northern Ireland. In “A Trusted Neighbor,” the death of a former neighbor, a Protestant policeman, leads the main character to recall how Belfast's increasing violence destroyed the trust between his Catholic family and the policeman. In the first of two stories titled “Matters of Life & Death,” two young boys stay at the home of family friends—an upper-middle-class doctor and his wife—in the days after their father's death. “Up the Coast” concerns a young female artist working in an abandoned village whose sense of peace and wholeness is shattered by a sexual assault. A Joycean feel pervades the early 20th-century milieu of “A Wedding Ring,” a tale of two spinster sisters who run a boarding house and the elder sister's disapproval of a romance between their niece and a border. Subtle, compassionate, and richly evocative, these tales linger long in the reader's mind. Highly recommended for public libraries.—Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, Andover, MA

Ohlin, Alix. Babylon and Other Stories. Knopf. Aug. 2006. c.288p. ISBN 0-375-41525-4 [ISBN 978-0-375-41525-8]. $23. F

In her first collection, which follows her debut novel, The Missing Person, Ohlin offers stories that are uniform in length and time frame (they're all contemporary) but vary in locale. Young, witty, sardonic, and usually female, the narrators find themselves at some emotional distance from their siblings, parents, or lovers. In the title story, a young executive falls in love with a woman he meets at a coworker's wedding only to learn that she is a compulsive liar. In another, “The King of Kohlrabi,” an amusingly cynical teenaged girl helps support her divorced mom by taking a receptionist job at a disreputable testing lab after meeting the company's owner in a grocery store. Reading a few stories in succession (which is easy to do) feels like being at a party filled with quirky people who are all related in some way. Each story is held together by a low-key tension that propels the reader through the pages. Highly recommended for libraries collecting modern short fiction.—Reba Leiding, James Madison Univ. Libs., Harrisonburg, VA

Stavans, Ilan. The Disappearance. Triquarterly. Aug. 2006. c.152p. ISBN 0-8101-2374-6. $22.95. F

The Mexican and European Jewish heritage of multilingual screenwriter, translator, critic, and fiction writer Stavans (Latin American & Latino culture, Amherst Coll.; Dictionary Days: A Defining Passion and Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language) is reflected not only in his plots but also in his obvious admiration for such writers as Isaac Bashevis Singer, whose three-volume Collected Stories he edited. “The Disappearance,” the first of three pieces, features an actor who kidnaps himself and may or may not end up alive in Israel. The novella “Morirse esta en hebreo” examines the multifaceted dynamics of a Jewish Mexican family during the turmoil leading up to the presidential election of Vicente Fox in 2000. “Xerox Man” is the gem of this volume, a mystery about a book thief and his theologically bizarre obsessions. All three stories are about the otherness of being a Jew in a predominantly Christian society or country and thus never feeling completely assimilated. This captivating book is highly recommended for academic and large public libraries.—Mary Margaret Benson, Linfield Coll. Lib., McMinnville, OR

This Is Not Chick Lit: Original Stories By America's Best Women Writers. Random. Aug. 2006. c.336p. ed. by Elizabeth Merrick. ISBN 0-8129-7567-7 [ISBN 978-0-8129-7567-3]. pap. $13.95. F

If your library buys short story collections, this is one you will want to purchase. The artful title will hook readers, and the stories will reel them in. “Volunteers Are Shining Stars,” by Curtis Sittenfeld, author of the best-selling Prep, follows the severe personality clash that occurs between two women's center volunteers. Judy Budnitz's “Joan, Jeanne, La Pucelle, Maid of Orleans” turns the spotlight of modern reality television on the historical person of Joan of Arc. In Jennifer Egan's “Selling the General,” a down-and-out PR consultant stages a nearly disastrous PR stunt between a B-movie star and a genocidal general. Chick-lit clichés of the newly married New York status seeker who gives up her job and hires a cleaning woman are undermined by the protagonist's jealousy of her hired help in Caitlin Macy's “The Red Coat.” These stories are some of the collection's highlights, but every story is fresh and intriguing, and reading the stories as a whole will lead readers to discover new favorite authors.—Amy Ford, St. Mary's Cty. Lib., Lexington Park, MD

Zoshchenko, Mikhail. The Galosh and Other Stories. Overlook, dist. by Penguin Group (USA). Aug. 2006. c.208p. tr. from Russian by Jeremy Hicks. ISBN 1-58567-631-4. $24.95. F

Soviet satire reached its peak in the 1920s, and Zoshchenko was at the movement's forefront. His brief sketches frequently appeared in newspapers and were known for their colloquial, tongue-in-cheek wit capturing daily life in the emerging Soviet Union. This new translation presents more than 60 of Zoshchenko's stories. The vivid characters include a woman who baits thieves on trams with packages of old cloth and chicken bones, a railway-line manager who speaks of halting bribery but ends up debating the merits of its various forms, a man who paper-chases among offices to retrieve a lost galosh while losing the other galosh, and residents of a communal apartment who, overwhelmed by the politics of an electric bill, opt to have the electricity cut off. Providing a humorous yet empathetic glimpse into the era, this title is recommended for academic or strong Russian collections.—Heather Wright, ASRC Aerospace Corp. Lib., Cincinnati

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Fiction

By Staff -- Library Journal, 8/15/2006

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