Elise Landau is a Jew living in Vienna before World War II. Her parents realize the danger they are facing and make plans for the family to leave the country. They must all go separate ways and Elise ends up working as a housemaid on an estate in England. Being from an artistic family in Continue Reading…
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Posted: Red Emmy from Oral History by Lee Smith: Character Connection. Be sure to link up your own Character Connection posts for May! Princess Academy by Shannon Hale: Review–4 Stars Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides: Review–4 Stars The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman: Continue Reading…
Gustine is a dress lodger (lower class prostitute in an upper class dress) in Sunderland, England in the 1830s. One night she meets Dr. Henry Chiver, a surgeon in disgrace who has promised his small group of students that he will find a human body for them to dissect and study. Unfortunately, there is still Continue Reading…
Lee Smith’s Oral History meanders through about three generations of Cantrells, an Appalachian family. The lynchpin of their history is Red Emmy, a woman named as a witch by the earlier generation. We’re not told much about Red Emmy in the story. She might be present for about 20 pages. But she sets her mark Continue Reading…
Calliope Stephanides is born to a family of Greek immigrants living in Detroit. She tells the story of how she came to be by starting with her grandparents in their isolated village. As the Turks and Greeks were fighting, they managed to flee to America and start a new life there. Calliope then moves on Continue Reading…
Miri is a small teenage girl from the mountains. She feels inadequate in her village because she isn’t allowed to help in the quarry, the lifeblood of trade. She tries her best to help every way she can, but she just knows that everyone must think she’s a burden. One day, with the spring traders, Continue Reading…
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Giveaway: ARC of Ice by Sarah Beth Durst Posted: Review: The Exile of Sara Stevenson by Darci Hannah–3 Stars Review: Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith, read by Lisette Lecat–3 Stars Review: A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Continue Reading…
Gemma Doyle is living in India, but she desperately wants to move back to England. As 16-year-old girls will do, she’s bickering constantly with her mother over it. One day, in the midst of an Indian market, tragedy strikes and Gemma gets sent back to England. But she also starts having strange visions. Can the Continue Reading…
Synopsis from GoodReads: In 1887, a young Arthur Conan Doyle published A Study in Scarlet, creating an international icon in the quick-witted sleuth Sherlock Holmes. In this very first Holmes mystery, the detective introduces himself to Dr. John H. Watson with the puzzling line “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive,” and so begins Watson’s, Continue Reading…
Mma Ramotswe has just gotten engaged to Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni. But she’s not going to let a little thing like that change her life too much. She’s still running her business and solving mysteries with her unique blend of luck, insight, persistence, and wisdom. I’m missing something. I know I am. Too many Continue Reading…
Sara Stevenson has shamed her family and has been exiled to a remote Scottish island for months. Along with her lady’s maid, Kate; Kate’s husband; and the lightkeeper, William, she will have to weather a long winter, unsure of the fate of her lover. I thought this was pretty good. It’s not exactly my typical Continue Reading…