Fiction

Tunisian art historian al Khemir's U.S. debut is a gorgeously written exploration of what it means to collect ancient relics and reinterpret them through a lens clouded by culture, religion, and time. Set in Wadi Hassoun, a small village outside of Cairo, the novel tracks the work of an international team of archaeologists who've been commissioned by wealthy London financiers to unearth a holy Islamic text called the Blue Manuscript. A copy of the book found decades earlier proved so valuable that its pages were separated and sold individually for a small fortune. Is this greed or simply good business? Because other artifacts uncovered in the search—like glass shards and pottery—will be disbursed to museums, team members express few qualms about digging up burial grounds and other sacred spaces. The villagers are less sanguine, and al Khemir uses the team's mixed-race, Arabic translator to question how belief systems shape identity and vocational choices. The author's pithy and wise observations are rooted in contemporary sociopolitical realities and make this an exceptionally complex, engrossing, and poignant story. Highly recommended for all fiction collections.—Eleanor J. Bader, Brooklyn, NY

Camera salesman Carlos Bluhm lives amid the trappings of the fading German émigré aristocracy in Peru with wife Sophie and two teenage sons. We first meet him in 1980s Lima, prowling the dance halls with friends on a drunken boys' night out. Later, middle-aged and paunchy, Carlos manages to catch the eye of Maria, a pretty 16-year-old bar girl from the city slums. What begins as a passionate affair, assumed by most to be a passing fancy, destroys the Bluhms' staid marriage and moves Maria full force into Carlos's life and home. Twenty years later, we find Carlos and Maria just barely together, as years of inequity, misunderstanding, and suspicion have grown impossible to ignore or forgive. Acclaimed Peruvian American author Arana (Cellophane; American Chica) takes an unflinching look at a troubled relationship in this compelling work full of the unspoken thoughts that can change fate and the unexpressed feelings that widen the distances between us. A terse, almost stark departure from the lyrical Cellophane, this intelligent novel should bring new readers to Arana's work. Highly recommended for all academic and public library fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/08.]—Jenn B. Stidham, Houston Community Coll.-Northeast, TX

Cornwell, best known for historical series like the Sharpe novels and the "Saxon Tales," has written a stand-alone work that focuses on one of England's greatest military victories, the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, as seen by archer Nicholas Hook. Hook joins the army to avoid being hanged after attacking a priest and is immediately sent to defend the English garrison at the besieged French town of Soissons. During the carnage following the town's surrender, he rescues a Frenchwoman, Melisande, from marauding troops. The romance that develops between them adds an element of tension to the narrative because Hook must protect her from an array of dangers. The British army resumes battle with a siege of Harfleur and then sets out for Calais but is forced into a seemingly hopeless showdown with French troops near the town of Agincourt. Cornwell bases the final battle scene on the widely held belief that the English were greatly outnumbered by the French and comes up with a plausible scenario for an English victory. Though 464 pages long, this novel never feels inflated or meandering and perfectly captures the spirit of 15th-century Europe. Most impressive, Cornwell has produced a military adventure with a subtle but powerful antiwar tone, filled with dramatic battle scenes that unsparingly convey the horrors and futility of the Agincourt campaign. Recommended for all libraries.—Douglas Southard, CRA International Inc., Boston

There is little previously uncovered material in this exploration of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo's life by Croatian author Drakulic (Café Europe; S), who now lives in Sweden. Like other accounts, it tells of Kahlo's monumental personal struggles: a childhood bout with polio, a near-fatal accident when she was a teenager, and a turbulent, on-again, off-again romance with muralist Diego Rivera. What distinguishes the work is Drakulic's impassioned—albeit imagined—interrogation of the psychological under-pinnings of Kahlo's artistry and daily routines. Emotionally riveting and intellectually rich, the novel juxtaposes Kahlo's first-person psychosocial analysis with art criticism to create something wholly new. Indeed, Kahlo's profound introspection is well honed in Drakulic's rendering, and the painter's account of staggering challenges, from enduring constant physical pain to dealing with Rivera's compulsive womanizing, reads like a series of diary entries. The novel allows readers to glimpse both the public and the private woman, someone whose bravado, marked by colorful costumes and elaborate jewelry, collides with depression and rage. A fascinating portrait of a fascinating person; highly recommended for all fiction and psychology collections.—Eleanor J. Bader, Brooklyn, NY

High school sweethearts Ivy and David are expecting their first child after years of trying, they're renovating a Victorian house, and David's business has finally become successful. This debut by the mystery reviewer for the Boston Globe and author of Writing and Selling Your Mystery opens with Ivy and David having a yard sale to get rid of things the previous owner left behind. During the sale, a woman who went to school with them years ago arrives unexpectedly and begins acting rather strangely toward the couple. When this woman goes missing and her car is found nearby with the newspaper ad for their sale circled, the police begin to suspect that Ivy and David are somehow involved. As the evidence mounts and clues are uncovered, David is charged with murder, and Ivy must find the truth. Although fans of the suspense genre won't be surprised by the plot twists here, this is an entertaining read with a strong ending and a great lead character in Ivy. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 9/1/08.]—Beth Lindsay, Washington State Univ. Libs., Pullman

Nicola's stage-four cancer takes her from Sydney to Melbourne, Australia, for alternative therapies and a brief stay in friend Helen's spare room. Two women who have known each other for 15 years, spending three weeks together with the weight of one crushing disease: How do we calculate what's important in our lives? Garner (Cosmo Cosmolino) offers up her own equation as these two sexagenarians nearly come to blows when mortality is the bottom line. Nicola puts up with cupping (per Helen, "the more benevolent bullshit") and incapacitating vitamin C drips because she wants to believe they will save her. Helen, who thinks the Theodore Institute reeks of quackery, wonders if the torture of the treatments is worth the cost in terms of Nicola's dignity and time with family and friends. As Helen says, "Death will not be denied. To try is grandiose." Garner's neat prose suits these two crusty dames, who drag themselves through a situation where, ultimately, love is all that counts. Highly recommended for public libraries.—Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal

Gershow's first novel offers much more than one might initially expect. It's not merely about the emotional struggle awkward teenager Lydia Pasternak must endure after her brother Danny's unexplained disappearance—the story presents a fractured family that contained little love to begin with and now is forced to expose these flaws to a stunned community and hovering local media. At the time he goes missing, Danny is a popular athlete but also a dim-witted, selfish lout who has shunned and mocked his sister as his popularity has grown. Mr. and Mrs. Pasternak ignore brainy, precocious Lydia as they fervently search for their son, and Lydia becomes a sympathetic curiosity who grudgingly accepts the newfound attention. Amid a hurricane of emotions, Lydia too often finds herself feeling numb and bitter more than anything else. The result is a sad, bravely written story that elicits sympathy for the situation rather than any of the characters and demonstrates that not all tragedies have heroes. Heartily recommended for most fiction collections.—Kevin Greczek, Hamilton, NJ

Saira, the protagonist of Haji's first novel, is a young American woman whose parents are immigrants from India and Pakistan. She spends her early life resisting her mother's pressure to follow tradition and marry within her culture. Instead, Saira wishes to go away to college and pursue a career in journalism. Yet the best parts of the story are the rich characterizations of Saira's extended family, especially great-aunt Big Nanima and cousin Mohsin, who have successfully bucked tradition as well. Saira's mother, so well intentioned in her tunnel vision, is also a wonderful creation. Less convincing are the brief references to Saira's academic and professional life and, most of all, her love affair with a fellow writer. On the whole, though, the struggles of second-generation immigrants are well presented, calling to mind novels like Monica Ali's Brick Lane. In addition, the climax is powerful and satisfying, as Saira belatedly comes to recognize the inescapable tug of family. Recommended for all libraries.—Evelyn Beck, Piedmont Technical Coll., Greenwood, SC

Harding's (The Solitude of Thomas Cave) deceptively simple novel offers a perceptive view of a British childhood in 1961. Anna is eight years old when her mother disappears from her life. She and her brother, Peter, are told by their father that she has died in an accident, which coincidentally occurred at the same time a major spy case breaks in the news. While Anna's grief settles over her, Peter's anguish causes an unusual reaction: he wonders if their mother could have been a spy and is now leading a secret life elsewhere. Peter builds tales about their mother that baffle Anna. His obsession grows, fueled by his extensive knowledge of history and his insatiable curiosity about the Cold War and espionage. His theory takes center stage and looms large, coloring their childhood and possibly affecting what he and Anna know. The novel alternates between Anna's and Peter's childhoods and the adult Anna researching facts in Poland and Germany about their mother's early life. In this painful, remarkably tender tale, Harding's focus on Anna and Peter—highlighting the power of imagination, identity, memory, and the ability to persevere—makes this powerful psychological study most effective. Recommended for all public libraries.—Andrea Tarr, Corona P.L., CA

Jacobs's sequel delves into the lives of characters first introduced in the popular The Friday Night Knitting Club. Five years after Georgia has died of ovarian cancer, her daughter Dakota and various members of Georgia's knitting club still occasionally meet at her knit shop. On the surface, the story is about what has happened to these women who formed deep bonds of friendship while learning to knit. Yet it really investigates grief and how each of the characters learns to come to terms with the loss of Georgia. Readers might find some of the events a tad un-realistic and the individual plotlines for each character a touch predictable as they develop and intertwine. Still, the novel's humor and pathos manage to make the women and especially Dakota very real and enjoyable to know. Knitting is not completely forgotten, as readers are left with a sense of how the craft has calmed these souls as they journey through their individual stories of acceptance and personal growth. Fans of Debbie Macomber's Blossom Street series (The Shop on Blossom Street, A Good Yarn, Back on Blossom Street, and Twenty Wishes) will find much to enjoy here. Definitely a required purchase for all public libraries.—Margaret Hanes, Warren P.L., MI

You may feel like your Southern ladies lit shelf is crammed, but you'll want to save a place for this debut novel—essentially a hymn of praise for licensed practical nurses (LPNs). Set in an eastern North Carolina nursing home, the book follows Lorraine, an African American nurse; her daughter, April; Margaret and Bernice, elderly white patients; and Rhonda, a younger, white hairdresser who comes on Sundays. Moving back and forth in time, Johnson does a fine job of illustrating the rich inner lives of those imprisoned by failing mental or physical health. Although not without its flaws, the novel moves beyond stereotypes as Lorraine lives in loving service to those unable to do for themselves. Like so many Southern novels, strong women predominate, and good men seem scarce. One may wish to know more about Rhonda's and April's lives, but the irrepressible Bernice and her obsessive antics over a prized stuffed monkey compensate. Even with the conundrum of an abundance of good fiction and limited budgets, novels about everyday people like Lorraine are in short supply. Strongly recommended for popular and Southern fiction collections. [Johnson was a producer of the 2006 Broadway musical The Color Purple.—Ed.]—Rebecca Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights

Kiriyama Prize and American Library Association award winner Jones (Mister Pip) uses the sensuous tango to link generations in this inventive novel, first published in 2002 in New Zealand. In 1915 New Zealand, young Louise helps two Quakers escape war service by hiding them in a cave. A piano tuner named Schmidt, suspected of being German, joins them. To pass the time, Schmidt teaches Louise the tango. Years later in Buenos Aires, Louise becomes Schmidt's shop assistant in his music business—and his mistress. The parallel story belongs to Rosa, Schmidt's granddaughter, who owns a restaurant in Wellington that features Argentine music. She entices Lionel, a dishwasher, to learn the tango. During these after-hours interludes, she talks about the great love story of her grandfather and Louise. Rosa takes Lionel to the cave hideout, where they dance the tango and become lovers in the same place Schmidt and Louise began their affair. Lionel returns to his parents' ranch, ending his affair with Rosa, but when he falls in love with a local woman, he begins to teach her the tango. Jones's latest is an imaginative love story well told. Recommended for all public libraries.—Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO

A beautiful, thirty-something suburban housewife, Laney Brooks is married with two lovely children to a successful insurance broker and author. However, her perfect life is a facade: she drinks too much, pops pills, snorts cocaine, and sleeps with any man who catches her eye. Koppelman's portrait of this self-destructive suburban matron is wrenchingly accurate. In elegant, almost poetic prose, she guides readers through the mind-numbing activities that make up Laney's days and dissects those events that have precipitated her deep, chronic clinical depression. This short novel is not an easy read; so vividly is Laney's misery limned that as the heroine spirals downward, readers intimately share her agonies. The author, whose first novel, A Mouthful of Air, detailed a young New Yorker's postpartum depression, is becoming the spot-on chronicler of 21st-century women with mental illness. Her brave and challenging look beyond appearances of beauty to the ugly reality of a disturbed mind will remain with readers long after they've finished the book. Highly recommended for literary collections.—Andrea Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS

It's difficult today to recapture the excitement the muscular stories of Jack London (1876–1916) aroused when they first appeared a century ago. In his life and writing, London seemed a figure of unrestrained will and unparalleled vigor, the Ken Kesey of his age, possessed of an energetic prose style that could degenerate into purple prose, a wayward social conscience, and an exuberant sense of self that attracted companions from all walks of life. In Malmont's (The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril) fictionalized account of the last year of this writer's short but vibrant life, Jack flees to Hawaii—the titular "paradise"—in 1916 to nurse his health and recover his zeal for writing. Actor-director Hobart Bosworth pursues him: if Jack doesn't script a film for him, Hobart's studio will go belly-up. While this is a diverting read, the prose at times becomes tumid, especially when Malmont is writing about Jack and his wife, Charmian: "She brushed the thick locks of his dark wet hair from his prominent forehead so that she could see his wild eyes, which were brimming with the Irish in him today." Recommended for most general collections.—David Keymer, Modesto, CA

Last seen in Blood Money (1999), fan favorite Jane Whitefield returns for another deeply satisfying adventure in Perry's sixth book in the series and his 17th novel (after this year's Fidelity). Married for five years to a surgeon, Jane has been living an anonymous life in Amherst, NY, ever alert for danger but at peace, disturbed only by an unfulfilled desire to bear a child. When a bomb disrupts a hospital fund-raiser, Jane finds a pregnant teenager fleeing an abusive boss who needs her in order to collect an inheritance. Chased by a team of six hired hunters, Jane heads west with Christine, along the way using skills and sensitivity inherited from her Senecan Indian ancestors to escape danger. She leaves Christine in Minneapolis, planning to relocate her under yet another identity once the baby is born. But the girl fails to follow Jane's orders, and soon both face great peril. Never melodramatic and always masterful at creating conflicted characters (one feels sorry even for Christine's boss), Perry offers a highly enjoyable tale in which the roles of hunter and hunted are reversed with devastating effect. Recommended for public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/08.]—Ron Terpening, emeritus, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

Kai, at 27, returns unexpectedly to his mother's home in Fort Lauderdale, FL, just as Maura has entered a happy stage of her life, remodeling her house and building a life with her partner, Matt. Kai and those closest to him have struggled with his bipolar disorder all his life. Currently off his medications (but on some illegal painkillers), he's fleeing the first serious relationship of his life, which happens to be with a man. Unable to accept that he is gay, he seeks refuge in his childhood home. Maura and Matt work to help Kai through the crisis while trying to preserve their own happiness and way of life. Quinn, author of six previous novels (e.g., The Beloved Son; The Good Neighbor), presents a look at the world as seen by someone with bipolar disorder. Although the premise is intriguing, the story and characters are not especially compelling: despite the potential for drama, things fall into place too nicely, and there is little real tension in the narrative. Recommended for comprehensive GLBT collections.—Caroline Mann, Univ. of Portland Lib., OR

Rock's fifth novel (after The Bewildered) is narrated by 13-year-old Caroline, who lives in a woodsy area near Portland, OR, with her father, not in a tidy suburban neighborhood but in a cave. They visit the city periodically, carefully dressed in city clothes so as not to attract attention, where Father picks up his government checks "for being in a war." It's up to Caroline to calm her father during his frequent nightmares about helicopters swarming and rattling the night. Their unconventional life changes suddenly when the authorities swoop in to take charge of Caroline and her father and send them to a farm where Father is put to work. Even though Caroline is content with the routine and their small but clean living quarters, Father still can't tolerate being confined, and they escape back into the woods only to meet tragedy again. The novel has many uneasy moments and allusions to stories left untold in Caroline's life, but Rock's insight into his characters' worries and hopes propels the story to its emotional conclusion. A compelling read; recommended for all fiction collections.—Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO

This loosely historical piece set in 1928 centers on the lives of the Chinese and white residents of Locke, CA. The alcoholic Madam (Poppy) See, proprietor of the town's whorehouse, takes a pregnant, teenage Chloe Howell on as one of her girls, only to lose her lover, Richard Fong, to Chloe. Adding to this mix are Corlissa Lee, a white woman married to the local Chinese preacher, who assists three women smuggled from China, one being Richard's wife. Ryan's writing is reminiscent of that of Amy Tan and Lisa See because she incorporates elements of ghosts and tales of Chinese folklore and frequently provides backstories for her characters. As a whole, Ryan's debut feels forced, as the story moves slowly and meanders without providing enough significance to the nine principal characters she identifies in the book's opening. Several of them seem more like the minor characters that Ryan also lists. Despite this, Ryan's work maintains a lyrical and haunting quality throughout. Overall, this finalist for the 2008 Northern California Book Award is a good first effort, but only libraries with considerable budgets or demand for such historical works need consider.—Shirley N. Quan, Orange Cty. P.L.s, Santa Ana, CA

Despite being a successful journalist and biographer, Harry Sterling is heading into middle age with a divorce, a drinking problem, an estranged son, and a teaching job at a second-tier Florida university. Impulsively looking into a rumor about stolen scientific work involving a local fortune-teller, Harry becomes attracted to Maggie, a socially awkward young woman from the outskirts of town, exposing himself to ridicule from fellow academics. Intrigued by unusual panels on the trailers in Maggie's neighborhood, Harry digs into the past of the prominent physicist credited with discovering the (fictional) Ziegart effect. The second novel (after Every Secret Thing) by the daughter of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Shaara and the sister of best-selling writer Jeff Shaara has elements of quirky charm—an illustrated tarot card and its meaning heads each chapter, and the theories of physicist Nikola Tesla come into play—but the story is choppy. Plot clues, scattered among random details, are hard to recall, and shifting points of view from Harry to minor characters are confusing. Unless book groups go for it, this is an optional purchase for fiction collections, but Shaara shows promise.—Laurie A. Cavanaugh, Brockton P.L., MA

In Swerling's fourth installment (after City of Glory) of her sweeping epic of the Turner and Devrey families in New York City, the evangelical and abolitionist movements of the 1830s–50s provide the backdrop for a complex and compelling tale. Nicholas Turner is the latest in a family of medical men to practice in New York, but ideas such as his theory of germs that cause disease lead some to regard him with skepticism. Samuel Devrey, the son of Lansing "Bastard" Devrey, has a foot firmly planted in the West but his heart bound to a young Chinese woman he purchased to be his wife. The reader will be carried along by the fast-paced story as if sailing on one of the Devrey clipper ships that bring tea from China. This book can be read independently of the first three with little loss to the current story. For most fiction collections.—Pamela O'Sullivan, Coll. at Brockport Lib., SUNY

Willig (The Seduction of the Crimson Rose) here ups the ante in her Napoleonic-era spy series. It is still 2004, and Ph.D. candidate Eloise Kelly continues to conduct research in the archives of Richard Selwick, aka the Purple Gentian, but now she is also involved romantically with Colin Selwick, the executor of the estate. As their relationship blooms, we return to 1803 Sussex. Charlotte Lansdowne, bosom friend to Richard's sister, Henrietta, lives at Girdings with her cantankerous grandmother. A Twelfth Night house party welcomes home the current Duke of Dovedale, Robert Lansdowne, a distant cousin who was Charlotte's emotional rock when she was orphaned at a young age. Turning slightly from France to intrigue in India, where Robert hied off to 12 years earlier, Willig freshens the pot as Robert initially is on a mission of revenge that involves bacchanalian rites. But, with Charlotte's aid, he helps to thwart a plot of royal proportions. Will Charlotte finally let herself love the man? Or can she not accept that her hero has feet of clay? Another well-written chapter in the series that began with The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. For romance collections, especially where the other "Flower" titles have taken root. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/08.]—Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal

Born in the extreme Antarctic region of Chile, Coloane is to the southern polar regions what Jack London is to the northern ones. The cowboys, miners, sheep ranchers, and farmers who populate these nine stories inhabit a savage, brutal environment, where the slightest slipup, as some of the characters find out, is hazardous. The situations in the stories, largely based on Coloane's true-life experiences, realistically capture the raw brutality of the environment. The lead story, "Tierra del Fuego," made into a movie in 2000, demonstrates what happens when greed gets in the way of an already roughly hewn mix. "Five Sailors and a Green Coffin" picks up on the theme of hidden gold with ironic results. "The Lighthouse Builder" is a fascinating character study about what happens to those who find that they do not belong in this environment. Originally published in 1956, these stories appear in print in English for the first time in this well-wrought translation, which is a fitting companion to his earlier collection Cape Horn and Other Stories from the End of the World.—Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC Lib., Dublin, OH

Mothers excuse the inexcusable, sisters defend the indefensible, and spouses orbit each other like off-kilter planets in this delightfully messy collection of short stories about contemporary family relationships. A recent recipient of the Rea Award for short fiction, Nelson (Living To Tell) gives readers plenty to ponder as her frequently baffled characters struggle to make sense of the circumstances in which they find themselves. The settings are uniformly bleak; while many of the stories take place in Kansas, the physical location serves primarily as a reflection of the characters' emotional landscapes. Readers who relish conflict will burn through the pages as the disasters pile up, while those who appreciate well-rounded characters will be impressed with the variety of responses to said disasters, which reveal just how strong, flexible, and adaptable human beings can be under pressure (see especially "Kansas" and "Biodegradable"). This weary hymn to coping with life's cruelties is a tour de force that's recommended for all but the smallest short story collections.—Leigh Anne Vrabel, Carnegie Lib. of Pittsburgh