Best Friends Forever 
Jennifer Weiner, 2009
Simon & Schuster
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780743294300;


Summary
Addie Downs and Valerie Adler will be best friends forever. That's what Addie believes after Valerie moves across the street when they're both nine years old. But in the wake of betrayal during their teenage years, Val is swept into the popular crowd, while mousy, sullen Addie becomes her school's scapegoat.

Flash-forward fifteen years. Valerie Adler has found a measure of fame and fortune working as the weathergirl at the local TV station. Addie Downs lives alone in her parents' house in their small hometown of Pleasant Ridge, Illinois, caring for a troubled brother and trying to meet Prince Charming on the Internet. She's just returned from Bad Date #6 when she opens her door to find her long-gone best friend standing there, a terrified look on her face and blood on the sleeve of her coat. "Something horrible has happened," Val tells Addie, "and you're the only one who can help."

Best Friends Forever is a grand, hilarious, edge-of-your-seat adventure; a story about betrayal and loyalty, family history and small-town secrets. It's about living through tragedy, finding love where you least expect it, and the ties that keep best friends together. (From the publisher.)

Weiner's debut novel, Good in Bed, was published in 2002; it's sequel, Certain Girls, came out in 2008. Best Friends Forever was published in 2009 and Fly Away Home in 2010.

Author Bio
• Birth—March 28, 1970
• Where—De Ridder, Louisiana, USA
• Raised—Simsbury, Connecticut
• Education—B.A., Princeton University
• Currently—lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


Jennifer Weiner is an American writer, television producer, and former journalist. She is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Background
Weiner was born in DeRidder, Louisiana, where her father was stationed as an army physician. The next year, her family (including a younger sister and two brothers) moved to Simsbury, Connecticut, where Weiner spent her childhood.

Weiner's parents divorced when she was 16, and her mother came out as a lesbian at age 55. Weiner has said that she was "one of only nine Jewish kids in her high school class of 400" at Simsbury High School. She entered Princeton University at the age of 17 and received her bachelor of arts summa cum laude in English in 1991, having studied with J. D. McClatchy, Ann Lauterbach, John McPhee, Toni Morrison, and Joyce Carol Oates. Her first published story, "Tour of Duty," appeared in Seventeen magazine in 1992.

After graduating from college, Weiner joined the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pennsylvania, where she managed the education beat and wrote a regular column called "Generation XIII" (referring to the 13th generation following the American Revolution), aka "Generation X." From there, she moved on to Kentucky's Lexington Herald-Leader, still penning her "Generation XIII" column, before finding a job with the Philadelphia Inquirer as a features reporter.

Novels and TV
Weiner continued to write for the Inquirer, freelancing on the side for Mademoiselle, Seventeen, and other publications, until after her first novel, Good in Bed, was published in 2001.

In 2005, her second novel, In Her Shoes (2002), was made into a feature film starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette and Shirley MacLaine by 20th Century Fox. Her sixth novel, Best Friends Forever, was a No. 1 New York Times bestseller and made Publishers Weekly's list of the longest-running bestsellers of the year. To date, she is the author of 10 bestselling books, including nine novels and a collection of short stories, with a reported 11 million copies in print in 36 countries.

In addition to writing fiction, Weiner is a co-creator and executive producer of the (now-cancelled) ABC Family sitcom State of Georgia, and she is known for "live-tweeting" episodes of the reality dating shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. In 2011, Time magazine named her to its list of the Top 140 Twitter Feeds "shaping the conversation." She is a self-described feminist.

Personal
Weiner married attorney Adam Bonin in October of 2001. They have two children and separated amicably in 2010. As of 2014 she lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with her partner Bill Syken.

Gender bias in the media
Weiner has been a vocal critic of what she sees as the male bias in the publishing industry and the media, alleging that books by male authors are better received than those written by women, that is, reviewed more often and more highly praised by critics. In 2010, she told Huffington Post,

I think it's a very old and deep-seated double standard that holds that when a man writes about family and feelings, it's literature with a capital L, but when a woman considers the same topics, it's romance, or a beach book—in short, it's something unworthy of a serious critic's attention.... I think it's irrefutable that when it comes to picking favorites—those lucky few writers who get the double reviews AND the fawning magazine profile AND the back-page essay space AND the op-ed...the Times tends to pick white guys.

In a 2011 interview with the Wall Street Journal blog Speakeasy, she said, "There are gatekeepers who say chick lit doesn’t deserve attention but then they review Stephen King." When Jonathan Franzen's novel Freedom was published in 2010 to critical acclaim and extensive media coverage (including a cover story in Time), Weiner criticized what she saw as the ensuing "overcoverage," igniting a debate over whether the media's adulation of Franzen was an example of entrenched sexism within the literary establishment.

Though Weiner received some backlash from other female writers for her criticisms, a 2011 study by the organization VIDA bore out many of her claims, and Franzen himself, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, agreed with her:

To a considerable extent, I agree. When a male writer simply writes adequately about family, his book gets reviewed seriously, because: "Wow, a man has actually taken some interest in the emotional texture of daily life," whereas with a woman it’s liable to be labelled chick-lit. There is a long-standing gender imbalance in what goes into the canon, however you want to define the canon.

As for the label "chick lit", Weiner has expressed ambivalence towards it, embracing the genre it stands for while criticizing its use as a pejorative term for commercial women's fiction.

I’m not crazy about the label because I think it comes with a built-in assumption that you’ve written nothing more meaningful or substantial than a mouthful of cotton candy. As a result, critics react a certain way without ever reading the books.

In 2008, Weiner published a critique on her blog of a review by Curtis Sittenfeld of a Melissa Bank novel. Weiner deconstructs Sittenfeld's review, writing,

The more I think about the review, the more I think about the increasingly angry divide between ladies who write literature and chicks who write chick lit, the more it seems like a grown-up version of the smart versus pretty games of years ago; like so much jockeying for position in the cafeteria and mocking the girls who are nerdier/sluttier/stupider than you to make yourself feel more secure about your own place in the pecking order.

(Author bio adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 5/21/2014.)

Book Reviews
Warmly and realistically drawn... Weiner, creator of widely popular female characters, injects an element of suspense into her latest, Best Friends Forever. This book begins on an unexpected note of violence, but the friendship of the title is at its heart. Two estranged onetime high-school chums—one now a television weathergirl and the other one of Ms. Weiner's lovable, snack-obsessed frumps—are thrown together to find out what happened in that opening scene and to hash out old grievances. Weiner writes comfortably about the real world.
Janet Maslin - The New York Times


The many fans of Jennifer Weiner...will be delighted by her latest book. In Best Friends Forever, Weiner again employs her trademark characters...but gives them new pizazz, more complexity and fresh insight. It's a winning combination...Best Friends Forever combines comedy and poignancy...It makes a very satisfying read.
The Hartford Courant


Jennifer Weiner is a master of the modern-day fairytale. In best-selling chick-lit romps like In Her Shoes, her heroines look just like us: self-deprecating, plagued by those few extra pounds—and ready for Prince Charming only once they've embraced their quirks. Weiner's latest effort is no exception, this time following a pair of friends—one fat, one thin—over two decades.
Marie Claire


The must-have beach read... In popular chick-lit-with-a-pulse author Jennifer Weiner's newest novel, Best Friends Forever, two childhood gal pals suffer a teenage-falling-out but reunite for an unexpected female-bonding adventure.
Elle


Former mousy types, rejoice! In Weiner's delicious latest, a popular girl hits trouble long after high school and only the geeky pal she once shunned can help.
People


This is where Weiner's talents again come in to play. She lays out an irresistible story about the present but effortlessly pulls us back to Addie and Val's childhood and teen years. It's all about showing us how they became the women they are today. As always, readers can't help but draw on their own memories of growing up, of best friends kept and lost and whether their lives turned out the way they planned. BFF may not fit the textbook definition of social responsibility. After all, suspecting you may have accidentally killed someone and not reporting it is serious business. But the women's dilemma about what to do about it is a textbook-perfect plot point. It gives Val, a weathergirl on the local TV station, and Addie, the loneliest girl in the world, a reason to pull a Thelma and Louise road trip that will end with startling personal discoveries for both women. And you'll never guess what happens to Addie. Best Friends Forever is a frothy treat. It's another superlative novel by Weiner, about a big girl with a bigger heart, that will have women and men of all sizes cheering.
USA Today


Chick lit doyenne Weiner offers airtight proof that the genre thrives with this clever, sad and sweet turn on Thelma and Louise-style rage. Juggling the politics of broken families, heartbreaking betrayal and shaky self-esteem, two girlhood pals—ugly duckling Addie and wounded beauty Valerie— reconnect after their high school reunion, where Valerie exacts a long-in-coming revenge on smug former beau Dan Swansea. But the payback gets more complicated when police chief Jordan Novick, nursing a broken heart and a crush-at-first-sight with Addie, is called in to investigate Dan's disappearance. Along the way, Val and Addie stage what may be the funniest not-quite-heist ever pulled off as they evade the heat over the missing Dan. The big payoff, of course, is that Addie and Valerie mend the mean-girls misunderstanding that drove them apart as teens and discover the shared pain and loss that bound them as kids and, once again, as adults. This beach read will win readers over with its wit and wisdom.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review) A hilarious caper... resplendent in charm and poignancy...Weiner handles sorrow with a deft touch, blossoms in beautifully descriptive passages, and keeps readers glued to the page with curiosity and delight."
Booklist


Weiner proves yet again that women can be their own worst enemies-and shows that women's worst enemies can also be their best friends. Addie Downs can't catch a break. Fat and friendless as a child, she enjoys a few years' respite from isolation when awkward, neglected Valerie Adler moves in across the street in the Chicago suburb of Pleasant Ridge. Val doesn't care that Addie's mom is obese, or that her father doesn't have a real job; she's entranced by the idea of hot meals (Naomi Adler's idea of dinner is Tab and Wheat Thins, topped off with a Salem Light), clean clothes and a regular bedtime. When Val returns with braces and breasts from a summer visiting her father in California, Addie knows the end is near, although she'd never guess how deep Val's betrayal will be. Alone again, Addie leaves for college only to have her father die before she's unpacked. Then Mom is diagnosed with breast cancer, and Addie watches her monstrous body wither to a horrifying death. Orphaned at 20, Addie lives alone in her parents' home, painting watercolors for a greeting-card company. And eating. When she tops 300 pounds, she finally says, "Enough!" and starts a diet and exercise regimen that brings her down to normal proportions. She buys nice clothes, redecorates her house and even has an abortive fling with a married man she meets at the gym. Just as she's starting to feel normal, Hurricane Val bears down on her. Now a TV weathergirl at a local Chicago station, Val, unlike Addie, can't resist going to their high-school reunion, where she does something very bad, attracting the attention of Pleasant Ridge's lonely, needy police chief Jordan Novick. Now Val needs Addie's help, and though Addie knowsshe's being played, she can't resist her BFF, whose harebrained, selfish, irresponsible behavior leads Addie to unexpected joy. So much material recycled from earlier novels (Certain Girls, 2008, etc.) that even fans will feel deja vu.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions 
1. “In all my years of fuming and resentful imagining, all the years I’d carried my grudge like a pocketbook I was afraid to set down even for an instant, I’d never considered that there might be a different way of looking at the situation, another truth,” says Addie of seeing Valerie after many years have passed (on page 96). What does this say about friendships? About personal relationships? About forgiveness?

2. Addie, who suffered from years of insecurity prompted by emotional eating and teasing, often perceives Val as her antithesis. Does this make her a reliable narrator for the story of their friendship? How were Addie’s feelings about herself as a teenager based on what she thought of Val?

3. One of the major themes in this novel is the idea of transformation. Cite examples of how people transform both internally and externally. Who changes by way of fate? Who chooses to change?

4. Compare and contrast how the girls are shaped by their relationships with their respective mothers. How are Val and Addie similar to or different from their mothers?

5. Val’s father is absent, while Addie’s father is physically present, but can be emotionally distant, retreating from his family to his work space. How are Val and Addie shaped by the relationships they have with their fathers? Are there examples of either of them emulating those relationships with men?

6. From Jordan’s baby-proof home to Kevin Oliphant’s “shitbox,” describe how a character’s space, seen through the eyes of Jordan, may have impacted how you felt about him or her.

7. The novel is filled with different versions of the same stories. While investigating Dan Swansea’s disappearance, Jordan comes upon different perceptions of the same people. How does this illustrate the difference between the stories we tell ourselves and what is actually happening? Does this make it easier for Addie’s classmates to point the finger at Jon?

8. From Addie’s stay-at-home father to Patti’s Guatemalan baby, what do you think the author is saying about alternative families?

9. Why do you think Addie chooses to keep her baby?

10. In Best Friends Forever, characters’ lives are often marked by moves. Valerie moves into Addie’s neighborhood, Jordan and Patti move to Pleasant Ridge to start a family. How does the author use this notion to further the plot?

11. The balance of power often shifts between Addie and Valerie. Cite examples when the balance is in Valerie’s favor. When is the balance in Addie’s favor?

12. On page 216, Mrs. Bass tells Jordan that he has “a great deal to learn about human nature.” How is this illustrated with other characters in the novel? Is it at all? What does this tell us about the overall theme of the novel? About the people in the small town of Pleasant Ridge?

13. “I wondered sometimes whether it had to do with Jon. Maybe they hated me because they couldn’t hate him,” Addie says on page 227, attempting to make sense of why she’s a target of bullying. Do you agree with Addie? Do you think she’s making excuses for her classmate’s cruelty?

14. On page 121, Addie describes Jon as someone who would “never grow up, never have to worry about the things grown-ups worried about.” Why do you think the idea of never growing up is such a comfort to Addie?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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The Best of Us
Sarah Pekkanen, 2013
Washington Square Press
338 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781451673517


Summary
An all-expense-paid week at a luxury villa in Jamaica—it’s the invitation of a lifetime for a group of old college friends.

All four women are desperate not just for a reunion, but for an escape: Tina is drowning under the demands of mothering four young children. Allie is shattered by the news that a genetic illness runs in her family. Savannah is carrying the secret of her husband’s infidelity. And, finally, there’s Pauline, who spares no expense to throw her wealthy husband an unforgettable thirty-fifth birthday celebration, hoping it will gloss over the cracks already splitting apart their new marriage.

Languid hours on a private beach, gourmet dinners, and late nights of drinking kick off an idyllic week for the women and their husbands. But as a powerful hurricane bears down on the island, turmoil swirls inside the villa, forcing each of the women to reevaluate everything she knows about her friends—and herself. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1967
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Raised—Bethesda, Maryland
• Education—University of Wisconsin; University of Maryland
• Currently—lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland



Sarah Pekkanen was born in New York City, arriving so quickly that doctors had no time to give her mother painkillers. This was the last time Sarah ever arrived for anything earlier than expected. Her mother still harbors a slight grudge.

Sarah’s family moved to Bethesda, Maryland, where Sarah, along with a co-author, wrote a book entitled “Miscellaneous Tales and Poems.” Shockingly, publishers did not leap upon this literary masterpiece. Sarah sent a sternly-worded letter to publishers asking them to respond to her manuscript. Sarah no longer favors Raggedy Ann stationery, although she is sure it impressed top New York publishers.

Sarah’s parents were hauled into her elementary school to see first-hand the shocking condition of her desk. Sarah’s parents stared, open-mouthed, at the crumpled pieces of paper, broken pencils, and old notebooks crowding Sarah’s desk. Sarah’s organization skills have since improved. Slightly.

After college, Sarah began work as a journalist, covering Capitol Hill. Unfortunately, Sarah could not understand the thick drawls of the U.S. Senators from Alabama, resulting in many unintentional misquotes. Sarah was groped by one octogenarian politician, sumo-bumped off a subway car by Ted Kennedy, and unsuccessfully sued by the chief of staff to a corrupt U.S. Congresswoman. Sarah also worked briefly as an on-air correspondent for e! Entertainment Network, until the e! producers realized that Capitol Hill wasn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, what one might call sexy.

Sarah married Glenn Reynolds, completing her rebellion against her father, who told her never to become a writer or marry a lawyer.

Sarah took a job at Gannett New Service/USAToday, covering Capitol Hill. Sarah was assigned to cover the White House Correspondents Dinner and rode in the Presidential motorcade to the dinner. Sarah convinced a White House aide to let her stick her head out of the limousine moon-roof during the ride and wave to onlookers. Later, her triumph was tempered by the fact that bouncers would not allow her into the Vanity Fair after-party. Sarah attempted entry three times in case the bouncers were just kidding.

Sarah took a job writing features for the Baltimore Sun, and interviewed the actor who played Greg Brady. She refrained from asking if he really made out with Marcia, but just barely.

Sarah and Glenn’s son Jackson was born. He arrived too quickly for Sarah to receive painkillers, and Sarah was pretty sure she saw her mother smirking. When Glenn put a loving hand on Sarah’s shoulder during the throes of labor, Sarah decided the most expedient way to get Glenn to remove his hand was to bite it, hard. She was proved right.

Twenty months later, Sarah and Glenn’s son Will was born. Three weeks later, Sarah and Glenn moved into a new home and renovated the kitchen. Two weeks later, Glenn caught pneumonia and simultaneously started a new job. Ten days after the kitchen renovation was complete, the kitchen caught on fire, and Sarah, Glenn and family moved to a hotel while renovation began anew. Sarah and Glenn decided to work on their "timing" issues.

Having left her journalism job to chase around the ever-active Jack and Will, Sarah started writing a column for Bethesda Magazine and began work on a novel. She did not write it on Raggedy Ann stationery.

Her first book, The Opposite of Me, came out in 2010 and her second, Skiping, a Beat in 2011. Those were followed by These Girls in 2012, The Best of Me in 2013, and Catching Air in 2014.

Sarah gave birth to a bouncing baby boy, Dylan, and  gets a little weepy every time she contemplates her good luck. (Adapted from the author's website.)

Book Reviews
Pekkanen offers a conversational writing style and a knack for making readers care about her characters… a refreshing look at the importance of female friendship.
Washington Post

A perfect book to cozy up with on a rainy day.
Marie Claire

It's just the book to banish the last of your winter blues.
People

Reading this BFF-getaway-gone-wrong novel is like vacay without leaving the couch.
Glamour

A perfect beach read, it's also a perfect weekend book. Get out a few chocolates and a glass of wine and prepare to make some new friends.
Examiner.com

(Starred review.) Pekkanen (The Opposite of Me) sparkles with her latest, a touching tale of college friends whose happily ever afters aren’t as perfect as they might have once expected.... All are granted a brief respite while enjoying perfect beaches, lazy days, and late-night cocktails, but an approaching hurricane will soon test everyone’s mettle—and loyalty. Lovably flawed, realistic characters and a fast-paced story make this a deeply enjoyable page-turner.
Publishers Weekly

Fans of Jennifer Weiner and Emily Giffin will strongly appreciate this rising star in women's fiction.
Library Journal

To celebrate her billionaire husband's 35th birthday, Pauline has arranged the party of a lifetime. With his best friends from college (and their spouses) at a no-expenses-spared resort in Jamaica, what could possibly go wrong? Well, everything.... Pekkanen details every menu, catalogs each event's luxuries and narrates each woman's inner turmoil. The men, even the birthday boy, are merely props for the women's troubles—that is, until Gary's sudden arrival and a Category-2 hurricane begins bearing down on the group. Another tale of female friendships conquering all, wrapped in luxury and faux danger.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. Which of the women in The Best of Us did you most identify with, and why?

2. Discuss the four marriages that are depicted in The Best of Us. What kinds of adjectives would you use to describe each of them? Do any of your past or current relationships have similarities to one or more of these marriages? Which marriage seems the strongest and the most appealing to you?

3. What do you think each woman learns from her time in Jamaica? How does the trip change each of them?

4. At several points in the novel, Gio makes jabs at Dwight and the way that his financial success is on display during the vacation. Allie suggests that Gio’s ability to provide for his family might be a sensitive point for him, saying, “Everyone has different emotional triggers, and even if they don’t make sense to the rest of us, it’s important to respect them” (p. 109). What is this moment in the novel saying about both Allie and Gio? And do you agree with Allie’s assessment?

5. Savannah has many, many witty lines over the course of the novel. Did you have a favorite? She also doesn’t hesitate to say exactly what she is thinking, which contrasts with the personalities of “peacemakers” like Allie. Which woman are you more like, and has there ever been a time when you’ve slipped into the other’s role?

6. As Allie faces the possibility of a fatal illness, she begins to second-guess many aspects of her life, including her relationship with Ryan. She wonders: “Had she been mistaking her husband’s passivity for agreeableness all these years?” (p. 171). How did you interpret Ryan’s easygoing nature? What do you think this quote is saying about the behavior patterns that couples fall into over time?

7. Tina is devastated when she realizes she forgot to call her kids on the first night they all arrive in Jamaica—and then wonders why Gio hadn’t remembered either. How are their parenting styles shown to differ throughout the novel? How do you think one’s role as a parent affects one’s role in a marriage?

8. There are many characters in The Best of Us who look for forgiveness at some point during the narrative. What do you think the novel is saying about the role of second chances in marriages and close friendships? Should they be freely given? And can romantic or platonic love ever truly be unconditional?

9. Which aspect of the trip to Jamaica sounded the most appealing to you? However, as relaxing as a vacation can be, The Best of Us illustrates that it can also be an occasion for stress. Did this resonate with you? Why do you think this happens?

10. Since Savannah, Allie, and Tina were all close friends in college, Pauline is less comfortable with them, and sometimes appears to be standoffish. Did your opinion of Pauline change over the course of the novel?

11. After learning that Dwight has cheated on her, Pauline thinks, “He violated my trust, but what I did was even worse. I never truly trusted him in the first place” (p. 329). Do you agree with this?

12. “Didn’t all marriages carry thousands of hurts? Didn’t husbands and wives injure each other all the time, leaving wounds both big and small, with snapped words or forgotten anniversaries or emotional buttons deliberately pushed? But thousands of kindnesses existed in marriages, too. The important thing was that the kindnesses triumphed over the hurts” (p. 334). Do you agree with this assessment of marriage? If you had to pick one mantra or saying that defined a successful romantic relationship to you, what would it be?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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Beyond the Pond
Jennie Samuel, 2012
Cedar Light Pub.
Kindle only (~273 pp.)
ISBN-13: 9780692018019


Summary
Nothing is Ever What it Seems!

Beyond The Pond takes the young reader on a journey back in time from the Indian Legend of the Cedar tree, to the almost near tragedy that changed Cathryn Price's life forever. Today, Cathryn's great granddaughter, Linda, and her nine year old son, Brady, live in Cathryn's old Victorian home. Brady struggles with changes in his life and finds bringing back his great grandmother's old pond helps to distract him from his own personal tragedies.

But, things have changed with this pond.

What Bradley doesn't know is that the pond and Cedar are in danger due to night prowlers and a Texas drought. The answer is for Olivia, a new fish, to leave the pond in search of a hidden spring and its inhabitants to save the legendary Cedar. And so, a new journey begins deep beneath the earth through an ancient passageway. Olivia's adventure not only encounters danger, but she discovers a secret kept safe by Brady's grandmother for over 50 years.

Brady learns to cope with embarrassment and defeat, and finds that God has a plan for him after all. Beyond The Pond presents an interesting collection of characters, including one who has been around since The Beginning. The gospel message is explained in a simple truth between the most unlikely couple. (From the author.)

Watch the video.

Author Bio
• Birth—December, 1948
• Where—Hollywood, California, USA
• Education—Pierce Jr. College
• Currently—Granada Hills, California


With a 28 year career of writing insurance investigation reports, Jennie decided to take a frog leap from fact to fiction.  She has received several awards as Investigator of the Year from her company, Specialized Investigations. Beyond The Pond is a blend of truth, fiction and fantasy, woven with the gospel message. Jennie holds to the central truths of the Christian faith believing that the Bible is God's only word to us today, and that Jesus Christ is Savior. She is a member of Valley Presbyterian Church, (PCA), North Hills, CA, and confirms the Apostle's Creed as her confession of faith.

Jennie's inspiration to write Beyond The Pond came from actual events and visitors to her own backyard pond. When her first grandson was born, Jennie wanted to pass along the secrets of Pinecone Pond to him. After all, she already had most of her characters—she just gave them voices on a page.

Cedar Light Publishing was founded by Jennie Samuel as a way to publish her first children's novel. The company name comes from one of the elements in the story.

Olivia takes a tiny Cedar wood chip with her on a dangerous journey to light her way in a dark world far from the pond. This is a reminder to trust in Christ, the Light of the World, and allow Him to guide you on the right path. Let your light shine at school, in your neighborhood and all around town, reflecting that:

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. —Matthew 5:14.

Jennie lives with her husband Ben and their yellow lab Champ in Granada Hills, California. (From the author. Visit Jennie's website.)

Book Reviews
(The following reviews are all by Amazon Customers.)

I enjoyed this book. It brought me into a lovely family with a lot of history and
the 'intrigue' of a secret place. I want to read the sequel!!!! Thanks for a lovely book.
beautiful tahoe


Wonderful story; engaging enough for kids and adults reading to kids....This is an allegory with a spiritual story underlying the plot and characters; an outstanding work by a first-time author. Enough mystery and fantasy to engage readers of all ages; in part, inspired by a Cherokee legend. I loved the animal characters. Although the story starts in the 1950's, it quickly moves to present day and references contemporary things (like curly fries) that kids will relate to. There is a lot of information about nature, animals and even hydrology subtly woven into the story without making it feel academic. The Beyond the Pond FB page has photos of the characters the story was based on. A great book for Home-Schools, where it could be incorporated into several subject lessons. A great Christmas gift; it's on my list.
M. Watanabe "Booklady"


Great Book.... This is a good book, I am eleven years old and I enjoyed reading this creative book. If you like mystical creatures and animals this is a good book for you. I am looking forward to the sequel.
Kid's Review


A very fun and enjoyable read.... I thoroughly enjoyed Beyond The Pond. The colorful animal characters are reminiscent of those in the timeless story of Charlotte's Web and the more recent favorite Finding Nemo. The technique the author used to weave together the human story and the animal story and the interactions between the two produced an intriguing tale that both older kids and adults will enjoy. I can't wait to read the sequel.
Donna


Finished your book today—you are a very creative and descriptive writer! I really liked the way you brought it all together at the end—looking forward to the sequel.
Chris

Discussion Questions
1. Why would Cathryn not share the secret about Murdoch with her husband or children, yet she felt it was okay to tell her granddaughter, Rosalie, about him?

2. Why do you suppose Murdoch saved Cathryn when he had let others drown before her?

3. Who did you think the tall figure behind the fence was when this character was first introduced in the story?

4. There were several "fears" or "uncertainties" mentioned in the story that happened to Brady and Olivia. Discuss those fears and how best to get through them.

5. Thalia had been given a special roll by the Creator to protect the land surrounding her. What other historical events do you think she may have seen standing in one place all those years since the 1800s (besides the ones mentioned in the book?)

6. Who was your favorite character in the book and why?

7. Both Brady, Olivia and Murdoch had to make changes when they moved from their family home to a new one. Do you think the other characters in the story helped or made matters worse for them?

8. Do you think it was a good idea that Gaspar and Coyote teamed up together? Why?

9. What does it mean to you to "Rest in God?" Do you think Brady ever put his trust in God? When?

10. There are several times in the story in which rules are broken. Cathryn, Olivia and Murdoch was known not to follow certain rules. What were the results of breaking rules?

11. We don't always understand why bad things happen, or that God may have a reason when he puts trials in our life. How did losing the baseball game affect Brady's relationship with God at the time....then later?

12. Both Brady and Olivia had to make new friends at their new homes, then they both lost the new friend they had made. How did they react to this loss?

13. Compare Olivia's trust in the Cedar light to trusting in Christ. What does light do? Why did some of the characters in the story turn away from the light? Why do people turn away from knowing Christ as their savior? What are some "light" Bible scriptures?

14. Why do you suppose that Coyote would trust Gaspar again?

15. At first, Olivia was insulted that she would be asked to take a dangerous trip. What changed her mind and what gave her the courage to make that trip.

16. Olivia was told that whenever she felt like giving up to trust in the light and it would give her something she needed to continue to move on. What was it ? How did that affect Charlie? How does that affect you? Where do you put your trust?

17. What did Cathryn do to save herself from drowning? Discuss the similarities between Murdoch saving Cathryn and Christ saving us?

18. What kind of friendship did Sterling and Murdoch have? How did Sterling help Murdoch to endure his lonliness and depression at the spring?

19. Discuss Artesia's view of herself. Was she right or wrong?

20. The gospel message was discussed between several of the characters in the book. Recall how each situation came about for Linda and Brady; Cathryn and Murdoch; and Artesia and Murdoch to talk about God with someone they knew. Do you think you could look for opportunities to bring up the gospel to others in the simple way that it was mentioned in the book?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)

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Big Brother
Lionel Shriver, 2013
HarperCollins
373 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780061458576


Summary
From the acclaimed author of the National Book Award finalist So Much for That and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin comes a striking new novel about siblings, marriage, and obesity.

When Pandora picks up her older brother Edison at her local Iowa airport, she literally doesn't recognize him. In the four years since the siblings last saw each other, the once slim, hip New York jazz pianist has gained hundreds of pounds. What happened?

And it's not just the weight. Imposing himself on Pandora's world, Edison breaks her husband Fletcher's handcrafted furniture, makes overkill breakfasts for the family, and entices her stepson not only to forgo college but to drop out of high school.

After the brother-in-law has more than overstayed his welcome, Fletcher delivers his wife an ultimatum: It's him or me. Putting her marriage and adopted family on the line, Pandora chooses her brother—who, without her support in losing weight, will surely eat himself into an early grave.

Rich with Shriver's distinctive wit and ferocious energy, Big Brother is about fat—an issue both social and excruciatingly personal. It asks just how much we'll sacrifice to rescue single members of our families, and whether it's ever possible to save loved ones from themselves. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—May 18, 1957
• Where—Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
• Education—B.A., Barnard College; M.F.A., Columbia
   University
• Awards—Orange Prize
• Currently—lives in London, England.


Lionel Shriver (aka Margaret Ann Shriver) is an American journalist and author born to a deeply religious family (her father is a Presbyterian minister). At age seven, Shriver decided she would be a writer. At age 15, she informally changed her name from Margaret Ann to Lionel because she did not like the name she had been given, and as a tomboy felt that a conventionally male name fitted her better.

Shriver was educated at Barnard College, Columbia University (BA, MFA). She has lived in Nairobi, Bangkok and Belfast, and currently in London. She is married to jazz drummer Jeff Williams.

Writing
Shriver had published six novels before the 2003 We Need to Talk About Kevin. She called it her "make or break" novel, referring to the years of "professional disappointment" and "virtual obscurity" preceding it.

Its publication in 2003, We Need to Talk About Kevin made Shriver a household name. Beautiful and deeply disturbing, the novel asks one of the toughest questions a parent can ask of themselves: have I failed my child? When Kevin Khatchadourian murders nine of his classmates at school, his vibrant mother Eva is forced to face, openly, her son's monstrous acts and her role in them.

Interestingly enough, her agent rejected the manuscript. Shriver shopped her book around on her own, and eight months later it was picked up by a smaller publishing company. The book created a good deal of controversy, but achieved success through word of mouth. As Publisher's Weekly comments, "A number of fictional attempts have been made to portray what might lead a teenager to kill a number of schoolmates or teachers, Columbine style, but Shriver's is the most triumphantly accomplished by far." Kevin won Shriver the 2005 Orange Prize.

Her experience as a journalist is wide having written for the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Economist, contributed to the Radio Ulster program Talkback and many other publications. In July 2005, Shriver began writing a column for the Guardian, in which she has shared her opinions on maternal disposition within Western society, the pettiness of British government authorities, and the importance of libraries (she plans to will whatever assets remain at her death to the Belfast Library Board, out of whose libraries she checked many books when she lived in Northern Ireland).

The Post-Birthday World was issued in 2007. The novel uses a parallel-universe structure to follow one woman's future as it unfolds under the influence of two drastically different men. In 2010 Shriver released So Much for That, which was subsequently named a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction. Her work The New Republic came out in 2012, and Big Brother, inspired by the morbid obesity of one of her brothers, in 2013. (Adapted from Barnes & Noble and Wikipedia [retrieved 6/11/2013].)

Book Reviews
As a writer, Shriver's talents are many: She's especially skilled at playing with readers' reflexes for sympathy and revulsion, never letting us get too comfortable with whatever firm understanding we think we have of a character.
Jeff Turrentine - Washington Post


Shriver is brilliant on the novel shock that is hunger.... Most of all, though, there’s her glorious, fearless, almost fanatically hard-working prose.
Guardian  (UK)


[Shriver] has a knack for conveying subtle shifts in family dynamics. . . . Ms Shriver offers some sage observations.... Yet her main gift as a novelist is a talent for coolly nailing down uncomfortable realities.
Economist


[Shriver’s] best work--Big Brother is her twelfth novel—presents characters so fully formed that they inhabit her ideas rather than trumpet them.
New Republic


[A] delicious, highly readable novel...(which) raises challenging questions about how much a loving person can give to another without sacrificing his or her own well-being. (Five stars.)
People


Shriver consistently delivers whip-smart, often witty dialogue and pungent character insights that add powerful momentum to what, at its heart, remains a simple story. Only a writer of Shriver's talent and courage would attempt a denoument as daring as the one that plays out over the novel's last 15 pages. She succeeds by creating something that does much more than tie up plot threads and usher her characters off stage. Instead, she makes us appreciate anew how profound the emotional and psycological issues of family are, deepening our empathy along with admiration for the unquestionable skill she displays in doing it. —Harvey Freedenberg
BookPage


Shriver (We Need to Talk About Kevin) returns to the family in this intelligent meditation on food, guilt, and the real (and imagined) debts we owe the ones we love.... In Big Brother, nothing reveals character more scathingly than food. Early in the book, the nearly 400-pound Edison arrives... [and] brings the novel energy as well as an occasionally unpalatable maudlin drama.... If this devotion and [his sister] Pandora’s increasing success with Edison’s diet plan sometimes seem chirpily false, a late reveal provides devastating justification.
Publishers Weekly


Brilliantly imagined, beautifully written, and superbly entertaining, Shriver’s novel confronts readers with the decisive question: can we save our loved ones from themselves? A must-read for Shriver fans, this novel will win over new readers as well.
Library Journal


A woman is at a loss to control her morbidly obese brother in the latest feat of unflinching social observation from Shriver. Pandora, the narrator of this smartly turned novel, is a happily settled 40-something... But she's aghast to discover [her brother has] ballooned...to nearly 400 pounds.... The book is largely about weight and America's obesity epidemic.... But the book truly shines as a study of family relationships.... A masterful, page-turning study of complex relationships among our bodies, our minds and our families.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. At the beginning of the novel, Pandora says, "I am white rice." Food has often been used to describe character, often in derogatory ways: "Twinkie," "Oreo," "Cracker", "White bread," etc. Does what we eat say something about who we are? Going beyond pure sustenance, why is food often so central to our lives? Pandora sees herself as having, "always existed to set off more exciting fare. I was a foil as a girl. I am a foil now." Why does Pandora believe this about herself? Is it true? What—or rather who—is the more exciting fare that she is talking about? How do you see Pandora?

2. What was it like for Pandora and her brother Edison to grow up in Hollywood as the daughter of a television star like Travis Appaloosa? Did they like their childhood? How did being the children of a celebrity shape their outlooks on life? Did it contribute to their success or the lack of it?

3. Talk about Pandora's marriage to Fletcher and their family life. Are they happy? Is theirs a good marriage? What is your opinion of Fletcher? Why do he and Edison not get along—what is it about each other that makes them opponents in a battle for Pandora? Are Fletcher and Edison very different, or more similar than they'd like to admit? Does it make any sense that these two men would fight over Pandora, when a sibling relationship is not romantic, and you should easily be able to have a husband and a brother?

4. Pandora's Baby Monotonous business has made her wealthy. Do you like the Baby Monotonous dolls? Would you want to give one to someone you know? How would you feel if you received one as a gift? What signature expressions would the script of a Monotonous doll of you include?

5. Pandora is shocked when she sees her brother for the first time in several years. Why? Why did Edison become morbidly obese? Do you think everyone who is overweight is self-destructive?

6. Just as he's about to return to his life in New York, Pandora decides to move in with Edison to help him lose weight. Do you agree with her plan? Given the circumstances, is this the best solution for her brother? How does Fletcher react when she tells him? Why isn't her husband more supportive? What if it were an elderly parent instead of a brother who needed her? Is it odd for adult siblings to be as close as she and Edison are?

7. She and Edison go on a liquid protein diet. Is this plan realistic for someone as overweight as Edison? How did moving in with her brother affect Pandora's life and her relationships with her husband and her stepchildren?

8. Where you surprised at the twist that comes late in the book? Why do you think the author wrote the story this way? What other endings might she have written? How did it influence your view of the characters? Did you feel cheated, or did feel you still got to keep the story in "Down," as well as getting to read a shorter, sadder one in "Out"? Should Pandora have done more for Edison? How much do we owe to the people we love? Do we have a responsibility to help those we care about? How do you define that responsibility—and where does it stop? How far would you go to help a loved one?

9. Which of the characters in the novel do you most sympathize with? Do you feel sorry for Edison or does he make you angry? Are all of them victims in some way of food? Do you think Pandora ultimately breaks free of that victimization?

10. How do the teenage children react to Edison? Do you think they will become adults with eating/food issues? What are they learning from the adults in their lives?

11. Big Brother is set in Iowa, with references to Hollywood and New York. Why do you think the author chose Middle America as her setting? Why has obesity become such a problem in our country? Do you think getting fat is just about willpower? What about the ingredients in processed foods and marketing jumbo size portions? How much does American industry have a role in both creating and increasing this problem? Why is food and weight so central to our culture, not only in the media but in how we think about ourselves and who we are? Can we change this—recalibrate our relationship to eating and food?

12. In addition to our cultural obsession with weight, Lionel Shriver also explores our fascination with celebrity. How do the two influence and impact each other? Why are so many movie stars so thin? Can you be too thin? How do you interpret Pandora's assertion about both food and career success, "We are meant to be hungry"?

13. Think about Fletcher. He deprives himself of his wife's amazing cooking, eventually spurning even the tiny taster plates she leaves out for him. Why can't he enjoy the smallest of indulgences? Is Pandora justified in taking her husband's turning up his nose at her cooking as a personal rejection? How does Fletcher use his impeccably healthy diet and fitness regime in their relationship?

14. How do you feel about your own weight? If you'd like to be thinner—as it seems so many people do—is that for health reasons, or do you simply think you'd be more attractive? Is it possible your size is too important to you? Don't some of us make ourselves miserable over just a few extra pounds? After all, what do other people value about you—what you look like? Or are your friends more apt to treasure your generosity, your wisdom, your sense of humor?

15. How does overeating differ from other addictions—to alcohol or to drugs? Is obesity the sign of a character failing? Why does it still seem OK to make jokes about fat people when we now frown on, say, making fun of people for being gay?

16. What made you or your group choose Big Brother? How did reading the story compare to your expectations? What did you take away from reading Big Brother?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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Big Cherry Holler  (Big Stone Gap series #2)
Adriana Trigiani, 2001
Random House
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345445841


Summary
(Second in the "Big Stone Gap" quartet.)

Fans of Adriana Trigiani’s charmingly quirky novel Big Stone Gap should be delighted with the sequel, Big Cherry Holler, where readers once again hook up with Ave Maria, now entering her eighth year of marriage to Jack. Ave and Jack have weathered some rough times together, including the death of their three-year-old son, Joe.

But tougher times are ahead, beginning with the loss of Jack's job and his launching of a new business in which an attractive woman ends up as his adviser and supplier. Ave fears the woman is after far more, and given the strain she’s felt in her marriage lately, she fears Jack might be willing to provide it.

Her fears increase when Jack backs out of their planned vacation to Italy and asks for a trial separation. Ave makes the trip without him and, after some serious soul searching, devises a plan to save her floundering marriage—if only it’s not too late. (From Barnes & Noble Reviews)

The four books in the Big Stone Gap series are, in order: Big Stone Gap, Big Cherry Holler, Milk Glass Moon, Home to Big Stone Gap.

Author Bio
• Birth—1960
• Where—Big Stone Gap, Virginia, USA
• Education—B.A., St. Mary’s College, Indiana, USA
• Currently—lives in New York, New York


As her squadrons of fans already know, Adriana Trigiani grew up in Big Stone Gap, a coal-mining town in southwest Virginia that became the setting for her first three novels. The "Big Stone Gap" books feature Southern storytelling with a twist: a heroine of Italian descent, like Trigiani, who attended St. Mary's College of Notre Dame, like Trigiani. But the series isn't autobiographical—the narrator, Ave Maria Mulligan, is a generation older than Trigiani and, as the first book opens, has settled into small-town spinsterhood as the local pharmacist.

The author, by contrast, has lived most of her adult life in New York City. After graduating from college with a theater degree, she moved to the city and began writing and directing plays (her day jobs included cook, nanny, house cleaner and office temp). In 1988, she was tapped to write for the Cosby Show spinoff A Different World, and spent the following decade working in television and film. When she presented her friend and agent Suzanne Gluck with a screenplay about Big Stone Gap, Gluck suggested she turn it into a novel.

The result was an instant bestseller that won praise from fellow writers along with kudos from celebrities (Whoopi Goldberg is a fan). It was followed by Big Cherry Holler and Milk Glass Moon, which chronicle the further adventures of Ave Maria through marriage and motherhood. People magazine called them "Delightfully quirky... chock full of engaging, oddball characters and unexpected plot twists."

Critics sometimes reach for food imagery to describe Trigiani's books, which have been called "mouthwatering as fried chicken and biscuits" (USA Today) and "comforting as a mug of tea on a rainy Sunday" (New York Times Book Review). Food and cooking play a big role in the lives of Trigiani's heroines and their families: Lucia, Lucia, about a seamstress in Greenwich Village in the 1950s, and The Queen of the Big Time, set in an Italian-American community in Pennsylvania, both feature recipes from Trigiani's grandmothers. She and her sisters have even co-written a cookbook called, appropriately enough, Cooking With My Sisters: One Hundred Years of Family Recipes, from Bari to Big Stone Gap. It's peppered with anecdotes, photos and family history. What it doesn't have: low-carb recipes. "An Italian girl can only go so long without pasta," Trigiani quipped in an interview on GoTriCities.com.

Her heroines are also ardent readers, so it comes as no surprise that book groups love Adriana Trigiani. And she loves them right back. She's chatted with scores of them on the phone, and her Web site includes photos of women gathered together in living rooms and restaurants across the country, waving Italian flags and copies of Lucia, Lucia.

Trigiani, a disciplined writer whose schedule for writing her first novel included stints from 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. each morning, is determined not to disappoint her fans. So far, she's produced a new novel each year since the publication of Big Stone Gap.

I don't take any of it for granted, not for one second, because I know how hard this is to catch with your public," she said in an interview with The Independent. "I don't look at my public as a group; I look at them like individuals, so if a reader writes and says, 'I don't like this,' or, 'This bit stinks,' I take it to heart.

Extras
From a 2004 Barnes & Noble interview:

• I appeared on the game show Kiddie Kollege on WCYB-TV in Bristol, Virginia, when I was in the third grade. I missed every question. It was humiliating.

• I have held the following jobs: office temp, ticket seller in movie theatre, cook in restaurant, nanny, and phone installer at the Super Bowl in New Orleans. In the writing world, I have been a playwright, television writer/producer, documentary writer/director, and now novelist.

• I love rhinestones, faux jewelry. I bought a pair of pearl studded clip on earrings from a blanket on the street when I first moved to New York for a dollar. They turned out to be a pair designed by Elsa Schiaparelli. Now, they are costume, but they are still Schiaps! Always shop in the street—treasures aplenty.

• When asked what book most influenced her life as a writer, here is what she said:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. When I was a girl growing up in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, I was in the middle of a large Italian family, but I related to the lonely orphan girl Jane, who with calm and focus, put one foot in front of the other to make a life for herself after the death of her parents and her terrible tenure with her mean relatives. She survived the horrors of the orphanage Lowood, losing her best friend to consumption, became a teacher and then a nanny. The love story with the complicated Rochester was interesting to me, but what moved me the most was Jane's character, in particular her sterling moral code. Here was a girl who had no reason to do the right thing, she was born poor and had no connections and yet, somehow she was instinctively good and decent. It's a story of personal triumph and the beauty of human strength. I also find the book a total page turner- and it's one of those stories that you become engrossed in, unable to put it down. Imagine the beauty of the line: "I loved and was loved." It doesn't get any better than that! (Bio and interview from Barnes & Noble.)

Book Reviews
"Something is wrong. Something has shifted and the change was so subtle and so quiet that we hardly noticed it. We pull against each other now." Ave Mari is describing her marriage to miner Jack MacChesney after eight years. During that period they had two children: a daughter, Etta, who is now an energetic preteen, and a son, Joe, who died suddenly of leukemia. Joe's death and the sorrow and pain beneath a tranquil surface is the focus of this tale. When the mine closes, Jack loses his job and Ave suspects that he is involved with another woman. She visits her family in Italy for the summer and finds time to gather her thoughts, to question her behavior as well as Jack's. There she meets the handsome Pete Rutledge, and her own fidelity is tested. Trigiani (Big Stone Gap) reads this story convincingly, with the rural Virginia accent of the friendly and earnest Ave. Well-paced and engaging, this deeply felt story invites the listener to reflect on the nature of love.
Publishers Weekly


In this sequel to Big Stone Gap, it's now the late 1980s, and Ave Maria and Jack MacChesney have been married 11 years. They have a ten-year-old daughter, Etta, but lost their younger child, Joe, a few years earlier. This loss and other marital stresses have tested their relationship, but the summer brings on the biggest trial yet. As Jack tries to launch a new construction business in Big Stone Gap, VA, Ave Maria and Etta take off for Italy. While many of the same humorous characters of the first novel reappear here, the tragedy of the death of a child and the chill it can cast on any marriage make this work more somber than its predecessor. Nonetheless, this novel of love and forgiveness delivers its story in a believable manner. Ave Maria remains someone readers would like to know, and Iva Lou, her librarian friend, still has her finger on the pulse of Mars/Venus relationships in this neck of the woods. Recommended for popular fiction collections. —Rebecca Sturm Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights.
Library Journal

Discussion Questions
1. Big Cherry Holler is a sequel to the bestselling Big Stone Gap. Does it help to read Big Stone Gap before delving into Big Cherry Holler? How did the author structure this book as a stand-alone novel, and how does it function as a continuation of the first book?

2. What is the significance of the title Big Cherry Holler, both literally and figuratively?

3. When the book opens, Ave Maria and Jack Mac have been married for eight years. How have her attitudes about herself and about relationships changed during that time? How has she remained a "spinster" in spirit?

4. Early in the book, it's disclosed that Jack and Ave's son, Joe, died after a sudden illness. In what ways do Jack and Ave deal with his death, both separately and together? How does their marriage bear the scars of their son's untimely death?

5. What role does small-town life—both in Italy and in Big Stone Gap—play in Ave's life? How do the mammoth physical attributes of the outside world play against her life?

6. Ave Maria sees Jack Mac chatting with a tanned, blond woman named Karen Bell, and immediately feels anxious. What evidence of marital estrangement accumulates after that incident? What aspects of Karen's personality do you think would appeal to Jack Mac?

7. How does Ave Maria see Karen Bell as a rival, and in which ways does she feel superior to her? Which feeling ultimately proves more accurate?

8. Were you surprised by the revelation of Theodore's homosexuality? Which clues--both in this book and in Big Stone Gap—are provided before his confession? How do you think this will affect his relationship with Ave?

9. When Ave's protege, Pearl, pleads with Ave to become a partner in the pharmacy, she signs on without consulting Jack Mac (much to his chagrin). What other decisions in her life does Ave keep to herself? Is Jack justified in his anger, or does he, too, keep some aspects of his life private? Which ones?

10. Ave's daughter, Etta, is a main character in the book. Ave describes her as "wide open, and yet very private." What parallels can you draw between Ave and Etta, and how are the two characters different? How is Etta a product of Jack Mac's influence? How does she cope with her brother's death?

11. How do the women of Big Stone Gap—Fleeta, Pearl, Iva Lou—function as a sort of Greek chorus for Ave? How does Ave affect each of their lives, and how do they, in turn, influence hers? How has each woman evolved throughout the two books?

12. The reader sees Ave Maria in a brand-new environment when she travels to Italy. Which facets of her personality come to the forefront? To what factors do you attribute this change in attitude and appearance?

13. While in Italy, Ave imagines what her life would have been like had her mother not married Fred Mulligan. How do you envision Ave's life if she had grown up in Italy? Would it have been more or less fulfilling?

14. Ave's haircut spurs an absolute transformation. In which other ways does her appearance play a role throughout the book? Of which other novels is this reminiscent?

15. What does Pete represent to Ave, both literally and figuratively? How does he reawaken passion in her?

16. Theodore dismisses Ave's assertion that she didn't really have an affair with Pete. How is this juxtaposition of "word vs. deed" a recurrent motif in the book? What examples can you find in the behavior of Ave, Jack Mac, and their friends?

17. When Jack Mac and Ave have their confrontation about Karen Bell, Ave admits that she wanted him to "take her pain away." Besides Joe's death, what other issues has Ave Maria grappled with throughout her life? How has she usually dealt with any pain she has suffered?

18. Do you believe that Jack Mac consummated his affair with Karen Bell? What evidence do you have for that conclusion?

19. Jack Mac tells Ave, "I truly believed in us, and you never did." What actions echo Jack Mac's assertion? How does Jack Mac demonstrate his love for Ave?

20. At the end of Aunt Alice's life, Ave makes an effort to reconcile with her. To what do you attribute this change of heart? How does Ave's relationship with Alice compare to the one she enjoys with her "Eye-talian" relatives?

21. What significance do you derive from the fact that Jack Mac and Pete get along immediately? What does Pete's appearance in Big Stone Gap, as promised, indicate about his character? How is he similar to Jack Mac, and how is he different?

22. Do you feel that this book is a lead-up to Etta's stand-alone story? How do you envision Etta's adolescence and adulthood?

23. Adriana Trigiani, the book's author, also is an accomplished playwright. How does this novel have the feel of a play—whether through Trigiani's use of dialogue, setting, conflict, or any other literary device?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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The Big Crowd
Kevin Baker, 2013
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
424 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780618859900


Summary
From “the lit world’s sharpest chronicler of New York’s past” (Rolling Stone), a novel of two Irish brothers who travel from the gangland waterfront to the halls of power.

Based on one of the great unsolved murders in mob history, and the rise-and-fall of a real-life hero, The Big Crowd tells the sweeping story of Charlie O’Kane. He is the American dream come to life, a poor Irish immigrant who worked his way up from beat cop to mayor of New York at the city’s dazzling, post-war zenith. Famous, powerful, and married to a glamorous fashion model, he is looked up to by millions, including his younger brother, Tom. So when Charlie is accused of abetting a shocking mob murder, Tom sets out to clear his brother’s name while hiding a secret of his own.

The charges against Charlie stem from his days as a crusading Brooklyn DA, when he sent the notorious killers of Murder, Inc., to the chair—only to let a vital witness go flying out a window while under police guard. Now, out of office, Charlie lives in a shoddy, Mexico City tourist hotel, eaten up with regrets and afraid he will be indicted for murder if he returns to the U.S. To uncover what really happened, Tom must confront stunning truths about his brother, himself, and the secret workings of the great city he loves.

Moving from the Brooklyn waterfront to city hall, from the battlefields of World War II to the beaches of Acapulco, to the glamorous nightclubs of postwar New York, The Big Crowd is filled with historical powerbrokers and gangsters, celebrities and socialites, scheming cardinals and battling, dockside priests. But ultimately it is a brilliantly imagined, distinctly American story of the bonds and betrayals of brotherhood. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—August 1958
• Where—Englewood, New Jersey, USA
• Raised—Rockport, Massachusetts
• Education—B.A., Columbia University
• Awards—James Fenimore Cooper Prize; American
   Book Award
• Currently—lives in New York City, New York


Kevin Baker is an American novelist and journalist. He was born in Englewood, New Jersey and grew up in New Jersey and Rockport, Massachusetts.

As a youth he worked on the Gloucester Daily Times, covering school-boy sports, as well as local town meetings and other civic affairs. He graduated from Columbia University, where he majored in political science, in 1980.

Baker is the author of the City of Fire trilogy, which consists of the following historical novels: Dreamland (1999); the bestselling Paradise Alley (2002); and Strivers Row (2006). The middle volume of the trilogy was the winner of the 2003 James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical Fiction and the American Book Award.

He has also written a contemporary baseball novel, called Sometimes You See it Coming (1993), and a graphic novel called Luna Park (2009). Baker was chief historical researcher on Harold Evans’s illustrated history of the United States, The American Century (1999). He is also the author of The Story of Us, the companion book to the  History Channel 2010 series, and wrote the new final chapter for the reissue of Baseball, the companion book to  Ken Burns' 1994 10-part series, Baseball,  which has aired on public television.

Baker resides in New York, where he is a contributing editor to Harper's Magazine. He was formerly a columnist for "In the News" in American Heritage magazine, and is a regular contributor to the New York Times and New York Times Book Review. Baker appeared on C-SPAN's Washington Journal and The Colbert Report in the summer of 2009, to discuss the Barack Obama Presidency. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 1/11/2014.)

Book Reviews
succeeds in creating a compelling imagined world. Most of the telling is through dialogue, and Baker's re-creation of the cadences and diction of another time is impressive…Best of all, the novel delivers on what the title promises, a detailed rendering of the relationships within that era's power cabal…I've read few other novels that portray in such a nuanced way the temptations of power, the complex division of control in a great metropolis and the perils of political deal-making in that environment. Baker doesn't like the Big Crowd any more than Tom O'Kane does, but, fortunately for us, he understands its workings very well.
Scott Turow - New York Times Book Review


With The Big Crowd, Kevin Baker earns the title of Best American Historical Novelist—heck, maybe best American novelist, period. This inspired, fun, serious, thought-provoking, page-turning book gives all the good, old pleasures: if you read it on the subway, be prepared to miss your stop. But Baker also raises the key questions about New York, about America, about who we are. Charlie and Tom O'Kane are characters for the ages." —Darin Strauss, author of Half a Life
Associated Press


Baker takes an all-but-forgotten crime—the William O’Dwyer case—and builds a novel as big and as blustery as the city it portrays. This sprawling saga traces the spectacular rise and fall of two Irish immigrant brothers during the course of the first half of the twentieth century.... Baker takes another juicy bite out of the Big Apple, demonstrating once again that nobody does old New York—in all its glamour and its grit—better. --Margaret Flanagan
Booklist

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.

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Big Lies in a Small Town 
Diane Chamberlain, 2020
St. Martin's Press
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250087331


Summary
—North Carolina, 2018:
Morgan Christopher's life has been derailed.

Taking the fall for a crime she did not commit, her dream of a career in art is put on hold—until a mysterious visitor makes her an offer that will get her released from prison immediately.

Her assignment: restore an old post office mural in a sleepy southern town. Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, but desperate to be free, she accepts. What she finds under the layers of grime is a painting that tells the story of madness, violence, and a conspiracy of small town secrets.

—North Carolina, 1940:
Anna Dale, wins a national contest to paint a mural for the post office in Edenton, North Carolina.

Living in New Jersey, alone in the world and in great need of work, she accepts. But what she doesn't expect is to find herself immersed in a town where prejudices run deep, where people are hiding secrets behind closed doors, and where the price of being different might just end in murder.

What happened to Anna Dale? Are the clues hidden in the decrepit mural? Can Morgan overcome her own demons to discover what exists beneath the layers of lies? (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1950
• Where—Plainfield, New Jersey, USA
• Education—B.A., M.A., San Diego State University
• Awards—RITA Award
• Currently—lives in North Carolina


Diane Chamberlain is the bestselling American author of some 30 novels, primarily surrounding family relationships, love, and forgiveness. Her works have been published in 20 languages. Her best-known books include The Silent Sister (2014), Necessary Lies (2013), and The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes (2006).

In her own words:
I was an insatiable reader as a child, and that fact, combined with a vivid imagination, inspired me to write. I penned a few truly terrible "novellas" at age twelve, then put fiction aside for many years as I pursued my education.

I grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey and spent my summers at the Jersey Shore, two settings that have found their way into my novels.

In high school, my favorite authors were the unlikely combination of Victoria Holt and Sinclair Lewis. I loved Holt's flair for romantic suspense and Lewis's character studies as well as his exploration of social values, and both those authors influenced the writer I am today.

I attended Glassboro State College in New Jersey as a special education major before moving to San Diego, where I received both my bachelor's and master's degrees in social work from San Diego State University. After graduating, I worked in a couple of youth counseling agencies and then focused on medical social work, which I adored. I worked at Sharp Hospital in San Diego and Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C. before opening a private psychotherapy practice in Alexandria, Virginia, specializing in adolescents. I reluctantly closed my practice in 1992 when I realized that I could no longer split my time between two careers and be effective at both of them.

It was while I was working in San Diego that I started writing. I'd had a story in my mind since I was a young adolescent about a group of people living together at the Jersey Shore. While waiting for a doctor's appointment one day, I pulled out a pen and pad began putting that story on paper. Once I started, I couldn't stop. I took a class in fiction writing, but for the most part, I "learned by doing." That story, Private Relations, took me four years to complete. I sold it in 1986, but it wasn't published until 1989 (three very long years!), when it earned me the RITA award for Best Single Title Contemporary Novel. Except for a brief stint writing for daytime TV (One Life to Live) and a few miscellaneous articles for newspapers and magazines, I've focused my efforts on book-length fiction and am currently working on my nineteenth novel.

My stories are often filled with mystery and suspense, and–I hope–they also tug at the emotions. Relationships – between men and women, parents and children, sisters and brothers – are always the primary focus of my books. I can't think of anything more fascinating than the way people struggle with life's trials and tribulations, both together and alone.

In the mid-nineties, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, a challenging disease to live with. Although my RA is under good control with medication and I can usually type for many hours a day, I sometimes rely on voice recognition technology to get words on paper. I’m very grateful to the inventor of that software! I lived in Northern Virginia until the summer of 2005, when I moved to North Carolina, the state that inspired so many of my stories and where I live with my significant other, photographer John Pagliuca. I have three grown stepdaughters, three sons-in-law, three grandbabies, and two shelties named Keeper and Jet.

For me, the real joy of writing is having the opportunity to touch readers with my words. I hope that my stories move you in some way and give you hours of enjoyable reading. (With permission from the author's website. Retrieved 6/6/2014.)

Book Reviews
This rich novel from Chamberlain tracks artists whose lives intertwine after a mural is commissioned for a small town.… Chamberlain’s depictions of creative beauty and perseverance across time and in the face of inevitable obstacles will keep readers turning the pages.
Publishers Weekly


Chamberlain's story is a little slow at the start but picks up and becomes a quick and engaging read. Vaguely reminiscent of Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, this is a good fit for mystery lovers, and the crossover among art, history, and mental health is multifaceted and intriguing. —Chelsie Harris, San Diego Cty. Lib.
Library Journal


A tale of two artists, living 78 years apart in a small Southern town, and the third artist who links them.… One of the strengths here is the creditable depiction of the painter's process…. An engaging, well-researched, and sometimes thought-provoking art mystery.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. How does the prologue introduce us to the novel? What does it leave you wondering about? Did it succeed in making you want to read further?

2. The novel alternates between two time frames and voices—did you feel drawn to the past or present narrative and characters more?

3. Both women suffered terrible and unfair hardship in their lives, can you relate to how they react to it and the choices they make?

4. In the present-day narrative, everyone speculates that Anna lost her mind, and that’s why the mural was finished the way it was. Before what happened to her was revealed, what did you suspect? Were you surprised by what did happen?

5. The novel tackles a lot of tough subject matter within the alternating story-lines. Was there one plot point that resonated with you more than the others?

6. For both of these characters, the mural and art become part of a healing process. For Anna, it is the death of her mother while, for Morgan, it is the accident and time in prison. Is there something similar in your life that has helped you heal from trauma and hardship?

7. As you were reading, did you expect Oliver and Morgan to fall in love? Why or why not? Do you think Oliver is good for Morgan, and vice versa?

8. How did you react to Jesse helping Anna to cover up the murder and in doing so abandoning his life? Do you agree with Anna’s decision to allow him to do so?

9. In chapter 67, Anna and Morgan’s connection is revealed, as is Jesse’s reasoning for requesting that Morgan restore the mural. Did you anticipate this connection?

10. The revelation about Judith Shipley’s true identity is a huge twist at the end of the novel. Did you suspect anything about this? Do you agree with her decision to change her identity completely and start a new life? Would you have come back all those years later?

11. Morgan spends a lot of time thinking about Emily Maxwell and how her actions impacted her life. What do you think about her decision to visit her in the end? Would you have done the same? How do you imagine that visit went?

12. What do you think the future has in store for Morgan?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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Big Little Lies 
Liane Moriarty, 2014
Amy Einhorn/Putnam
480 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780425274866


Summary
Sometimes it’s the little lies that turn out to be the most lethal. A murder … a tragic accident … or just parents behaving badly? What’s indisputable is that someone is dead. But who did what?

Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.
 
New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.
 
Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive. (From the publisher.)

See the 2017 TV miniseries with Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman.
Listen to our Movies Meet Book Club Podcast as Hollister and O'Toole discuss the miniseries and book.

Author Bio
• Birth—November 1966
• Where—Sydney, Australia
• Education—M.A., Macquarie University
• Currently—lives in Sydney


Liane Moriarty is an Australian author and sister of author Jaclyn Moriarty. In its review of her 2013 novel, The Husband's Secret, she was referred to as "an edgier, more provocative and bolder successor to Maeve Binchy" by Kirkus Reviews.

Moriarty began work in advertising and marketing at a legal publishing company. She then ran her own company for a while before taking work as a freelance advertising copywriter. In 2004, after obtaining a Master's degree at Macquarie University in Sydney, her first novel Three Wishes, written as part of the degree, was published.

She is now the author of several other novels, including The Last Anniversary (2006) and What Alice Forgot (2010), The Hypnotist's Love Story (2011), The Husband's Secret (2013), and Big Little Lies (2014). She is also the author of the Nicola Berry series for children.

Moriarty lives in Sydney with her husband and two children. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 8/5/2013.)

Book Reviews
If you're looking for a novel that will turn you into a compulsive book-finisher look no further. Moriarty has produced another gripping, satirical hit…. It’s can’t-put-downability comes from its darker subplots… A book that will make you appreciate the long days of summer.
Oprah.com


A surefire hit.... The Aussie author of last year’s runaway hit The Husband’s Secret comes back with another winning and wise novel that intertwines the lives of three women.
Entertainment Weekly


What's worse than a terrible riot at Pirriwee Public's annual school Trivia Night that leaves one parent dead? The sneaking suspicion that the death was actually murder.... Moriarty...[visits] issues of parenting, divorce, and shattered families in shuttered suburbia.
Library Journal


[D]arkly comic mystery surrounding a disastrous parents' night at an elementary school fundraiser.... [after which] the truth remains tantalizingly difficult to sort out. Deservedly popular Moriarty invigorates the tired social-issue formula of women’s fiction through wit, good humor, sharp insight into human nature and addictive storytelling.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. At the beginning of the novel, Madeline is enraged over Ziggy not being invited to Amabella’s birthday party. Why do you think Madeline becomes so angry about such a seemingly small injustice? Do you think Madeline is the kind of person who just looks for a fight, or do you think she was justified in feeling so upset? And do you think that by tackling both ends of the spectrum —from schoolyard bullying and parents behaving badly in the playground  to displays of domestic violence in all its incarnations—that the author is trying to say something about the bullying that happens out in the open every day?

2. There is a lot of discussion about women and their looks.  On the beach Jane’s mom shows that she has rather poor body image. Jane observes that women over 40 are constantly talking about their age.  And Madeline says, "She didn’t want to admit, even to herself, just how much the aging of her face really did genuinely depress her. She wanted to be above such superficial concerns. She wanted to be depressed about the state of the world…." [p. 82] Do you think this obsession with looks is specific to women, particularly women of a certain age?   Why or why not?

3. There are a lot of scenes in which the characters say they wish they could be violent: Jane says she wants to throw Ziggy into the wall when he has a tirade in the bathtub, that she would hit Renata if she was in front of her, and then she stops just short of kicking Harper. Do you think the author is trying to show the reader Perry’s side and have us sympathize with him? Or, rather, that feeling violent is a natural impulse but one that people learn to suppress?

4. When Ziggy has to do his family tree, Madeline comments, "Why try to slot fractured families into neat little boxes in this day and age?" [p. 184] A lot of Madeline’s storyline is about the complications that arise from the merging of new modern families. What kind of problems exist among families and extended families now that didn’t when you were a child?

5. When Jane recounts what happened the night she got pregnant, she focuses on what the man said rather than on what he did. Why does Jane feel more violated by two words—fat and ugly—than by the actual assault? Jane seems to think the answer is "Because we live in a beauty-obsessed society where the most important thing a woman can do is make herself attractive to men." [p. 196] Do you agree?

6. The power of secrets is a theme throughout the novel. Jane remembers, "She hadn’t told anyone. She’d swallowed it whole and pretended it meant nothing, and therefore it had come to mean everything." [p. 220] Do you think this is a universal truth, that the more you keep something secret, the more power it takes on?

7. Gwen, the babysitter, seems to be the only one to suspect what is going on with Celeste and Perry. Celeste then realizes she’s never heard Gwen talk about a husband or a partner. Do you think the author intended to intimate that perhaps Gwen had had an abusive husband or partner and that she left him?  And in light of what happens at the end with Bonnie, do you think it’s only people who have personally experienced abuse who pick up on the signs?

8. At one point Jane thinks she and Ziggy will have to leave Pirriwee because "rich, beautiful people weren’t asked to leave anywhere." [p. 362] Do you think different rules apply to rich people? Do you think being rich allowed Perry to get away with things longer than would have been likely if he hadn’t had money?

9. Bonnie says, "We see. We fucking see!" [p. 421] Were you surprised to learn about Bonnie’s history?  Were you surprised to discover that all along Max had been seeing what Perry was doing to Celeste?

10. What did you make of the interview snippets to the reporter? Do you think the author used them almost like a Greek chorus to make a point?

11. Madeline muses, "Maybe it was actually an unspoken instant agreement between four women on the balcony: No woman should pay for the accidental death of that particular man. Maybe it was an involuntary, atavistic response to thousands of years of violence against women. Maybe it was for every rape, every brutal backhanded slap, every other Perry that had come before this one." [p. 430] And then Madeline thinks, "Sometimes doing the wrong thing was also right." Do you agree with this statement?  Do you agree with what the women decided to do?  Do you think there’s a stronger bond between women than there is between men?  Were you surprised that women who ostensibly didn’t like one another—Madeline and Bonnie, Madeline and Renata—ended up coming together to help one another out?

12. At one point in the book, Susi says that, in Australia, one woman dies every week because of domestic violence. In the United States, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every day. Every nine seconds in the United States a woman is assaulted or beaten.  Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women—more than that caused by car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined. Are you surprised by these statistics? Why or why not?  Clearly, the author chose Celeste—the picture-perfect mom and/ wife as well as an educated lawyer—to be the victim of domestic violence in order to make a point. Do you think it’s plausible that someone like her would fall victim to abuse such as this?

13. Madeline comments that "there were so many levels of evil in the world." [p. 433] Discuss the implications of this statement in light of the novel and the novel’s different storylines.
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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The Big Love 
Sarah Dunn, 2005
Little, Brown & Co.
256 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781616839604


Summary
Alison Hopkins isn't just looking for Mr. Right...or even Mr. Big. She's holding out for the Big Love.

When 32-year-old Alison's first real boyfriend unceremoniously dumps her—he steps out to buy mustard for a dinner party and never returns—it's time for Alison to re-assess her lifelong search for romantic fulfillment. Does true love even exist? Is every romantic involvement with a coworker inevitably doomed? Does sex without commitment always lead to disaster? Is a girl's evangelical Christian upbringing an impediment to her finding true happiness?

Funnier than any "chick-lit," as poised and accomplished as any literary debut this year, The Big Love is a big-hearted, hilariously entertaining novel that readers all across America are falling for. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—July 28, 1969
• Where—Phoenix, Arizona, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Pennsylvania
• Currently—lives in New York City


Sarah Dunn has moved from Los Angeles to New York five times, and from New York back to Los Angeles four times, which means, at the moment, she is happily residing in New York. The Big Love, her first novel, has been translated into 23 languages. Her second novel is Secrets to Happiness. (From the publisher.)

More
Sarah Dunn was born in Phoenix, Arizona.  She went to the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in English and graduated magna cum laude.  After college, she wrote a humor column for the Philadelphia City Paper while waiting tables (poorly) at TGI Fridays. When she was 24, she published The Official Slacker Handbook, and was subsequently lured out to Hollywood to write for Murphy Brown, Spin City and Veronica’s Closet.

She left TV to work on her first novel, The Big Love, which came out in 2004 and has been translated into 23 languages. She is currently writing a television pilot for NBC called George & Hilly, and her long-awaited second novel, Secrets to Happiness, was published in 2009. She is married to Peter Stevenson, the executive editor of The New York Observer. (From the author's website.)

Book Reviews
The cover of The Big Love features a bed and the title in pink neon letters. It is an indication of the kind of opportunity that awaits any heroine in a flirty, effervescent novel of this genre. But the image also evokes, however back-handedly, the book's sense of a higher power. Alison already has one kind of big love in her life when she strikes out in search of something more earthly. It's a testament to this book's sparkle that Ms. Dunn is able to express all this in warm, good-natured fashion without raising hackles.
Janet Maslin - New York Times


A huge breath of fresh air delivered via witty prose…Thanks to Dunn’s snappy dialogue and quirky characters, The Big Love is a cut above the legions of books about single women in search of a few good men.
Chicago Sun-Times


A sweet-spirited first novel…The Big Love is about more than breaking up and moving on. Raised in an ultraconservative, uberevangelical Christian family, Alison fears that Tom’s departure is God’s way of judging her for premarital cohabitation…With this twist, Dunn elevates the novel from the predictable, with insightful exploration of a woman examining her faith.
Miami Herald


Before you roll your eyes at yet another hackneyed hunk of chick-lit featuring the requisite eccentrically spunky heroine who gets ditched but ultimately finds true love in the unlikeliest place, give The Big Love, Sarah Dunn's debut novel, a chance. The writing is fresh, the characters are just quirky enough without ever verging on cloying, and the ending —not to give it away—is hardly the happily-ever-after, misty-eyed Cinderella fable we've come to expect from those disposable Bridget Jones knockoffs.
Donna Freydkin - USA Today


Unapologetic chick lit…Alison is ruthlessly smart, terribly funny, and totally neurotic…The Big Love is a perfect sugary confection, with a surprising center of wistful wisdom…It’s like a highlights reel from Sex and the City. It’s that funny.
Lev Grossman - Time


For all his concern with the South, Faulkner was actually seeking out the nature of man. Thus we must return to him for that continuity of moral purpose.The annals of love have recorded many a humiliating breakup over the years, but Alison Hopkins gets hit with a humdinger in this surprising, touching and hilariously deadpan debut novel. When she sends her live-in boyfriend Tom to the supermarket right before a dinner party, she figures the worst that can happen is that he'll get the wrong mustard. Instead he calls from a pay phone to tell her he's not coming back at all, because he's fallen in love with his college sweetheart, Kate Pearce-with whom he's been sleeping for five months. If Alison were a Sex and the City siren, she'd distract herself with martinis, Manolos and misappropriated men, but she's a broke columnist for the floundering weekly The Philadelphia Times. Plus, though now lapsed, she was raised evangelist Christian. So it's a new pair of hiking boots, pie-contest judging and furtive dalliances with a coworker for reluctant good-girl Alison as she tries to gauge the ins and outs of the single world that non-fundamentalists mastered in their early 20s. Alison's struggles to fit into the mainstream world are fresh and full of wisdom, and Dunn's humor is marvelously dry: "Bonnie had a sudden flash of what he might come up with on his own so she drew a picture on a cocktail napkin of a wide band of channel-set diamonds, and she wrote down the words `platinum' and `size six' and `BIG' and `SOON.' " This is a delightful exploration of the empowerment that comes from escaping a Big Love turned Bad Love. 
Publishers Weekly


When Alison Hopkin's boyfriend, Tom, whom she thought was "the one," decides to leave her right in the middle of a dinner party, Alison is understandably upset. She is also shocked, in denial, hurt, and ultimately furious. To make matters worse, things aren't going so well on the professional front either. Alison's editor at a Philadelphia alternative newspaper has bypassed her for promotion and instead hires Henry. Alison soon finds herself pretty darn attracted to Henry, but after all, isn't she supposed to be in love with Tom? We sympathize and agonize along with Alison as she struggles to identify the man of her dreams, find professional happiness and success, and finally become an adult. Written with charm and warmth, this entertaining first novel by a TV writer will attract fans of Helen Fielding, Jane Green, or Jennifer Weiner. Recommended for any public library with young and hip romantic fiction readers. —Margaret Hanes, Sterling Heights P.L., MI.
Library Journal

Discussion Questions 
1. Do you think there is a bigger meaning to "the big love" of the title?

2. Have you ever been dumped unexpectedly? How did you react?

3. How did you think Alison's Christian background influenced her decisions? Did it seem to play a big role in the way she lived her life or was it more incidental?

4. How did the book's humor change the tone of the book? How would it have been different without the joking attitude?

5. Did Alison's archenemy strike a chord? Have you had any longstanding rivalries?

6. How important were Alison's friends in her life and her decisions? Did you think she should have listened to them more, or less?

7. Do you think Alison made the right choice by not taking Tom back? What about rejecting Matt? Would you have done the same?

8. What do you think Alison's decision is at the end of the book? Or did she even make one? What do you think happens next?

9. If it were you—what would you do?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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The Big Rewind 
Libby Cudmore, 2016
HarperCollins
256 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062403537


Summary
Listening to someone else’s mix tapes is a huge breach of trust.

But KitKat was dead...and curiosity got the better of me.

When a mix tape destined for her friend KitKat accidentally arrives in Jett Bennett’s mailbox, Jett doesn’t think twice about it—even in the age of iTunes and Spotify, the hipster residents of the Barter Street district of Brooklyn are in a constant competition to see who can be the most retro.

But when Jett finds KitKat dead on her own kitchen floor, she suspects the tape might be more than just a quirky collection of lovelorn ballads.

And when KitKat’s boyfriend, Bronco, is arrested for her murder, Jett and her best friend, Sid, set out on an epic urban quest through strip joints and record stores, vegan bakeries and basement nightclubs, to discover who the real killer is.

However, the further Jett digs into KitKat’s past, the more she discovers about her own left-behind love life—and the mysterious man whose song she still clings to. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
Libby Cudmore worked at video stores, bookstores, and temp agencies before settling down in Oneonta, New York, to write. Her short stories have appeared in PANK, Stoneslide Corrective, Big Click, and Big Lucks. The Big Rewind is her first novel. She is a reporter for The Freeman's Journal and Hometown Oneonta newspapers. (From the publisher.)

Book Reviews
Heads up, vinyl-loving hipsters: Cudmore's debut is for you. Jett Bennett is a young New York City temp who came to the big city with dreams of becoming a music journalist.... [M]usic is the glue that holds the story together.... Cudmore has preserved for all time a slice of current, hipster Brooklyn.
Publishers Weekly


[A] murder mystery, romance, coming-of-age story, and exercise in 1980s and 1990s music appreciation.... However, the author packs many characters and subplots into less than 300 pages, which might set some readers spinning, just like a record. [F]ast-paced, hip, and seminostalgic. —Samantha Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY
Library Journal


Cudmore’s funny, breezy first novel...deftly melds mystery, romance, and music. Jett makes for a very refreshing lead in a novel that will appeal to twentysomethings as well as those enamored with Warren Zevon and the Vapors.
Booklist


(Starred review). [This] might be a new mystery subgenre—the hipster cozy.... Stories of the murdered KitKat...add depth and soul to the story. By the end, readers will...mourn her passing. A mystery that will inspire more than one playlist and, hopefully, a sequel.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, use our generic mystery questions.)

GENERIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers

1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they flat, one-dimensional heroes and villains?

2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you begin to piece together what happened?

3. Good crime writers embed hidden clues in plain sight, slipping them in casually, almost in passing. Did you pick them out, or were you...clueless? Once you've finished the book, go back to locate the clues hidden in plain sight. How skillful was the author in burying them?

4. Good crime writers also tease us with red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray? Does your author try to throw you off track? If so, were you tripped up?

5. Talk about the twists & turns—those surprising plot developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray.

1. Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense?
2. Are they plausible or implausible?
3. Do they feel forced and gratuitous—inserted merely to extend the story?

6. Does the author ratchet up the suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? A what point does the suspense start to build? Where does it climax...then perhaps start rising again?

7. A good ending is essential in any mystery or crime thriller: it should ease up on tension, answer questions, and tidy up loose ends. Does the ending accomplish those goals?

1. Does it grow out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 3).
2. Or does the ending come out of the blue?
3. Does it feel forced...tacked-on...or a cop-out?
4. Or perhaps it's too predictable.
5. Can you envision a better, or different, ending?

8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?

9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?

(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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Big Stone Gap (Big Stone Gap series #1) 
Adriana Trigiani, 2000
Random House
329 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345438324


Summary
(First in the "Big Stone Gap" quartet.)

It's 1978, and Ave Maria Mulligan is the thirty-five-year-old self-proclaimed spinster of Big Stone Gap, a sleepy hamlet in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She's also the local pharmacist, the co-captain of the Rescue Squad, and the director of The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, the town's long-running Outdoor Drama.

Ave Maria is content with her life of doing errands and negotiating small details-until she discovers a skeleton in her family's formerly tidy closet that completely unravels her quiet, conventional life. Suddenly, she finds herself juggling two marriage proposals, conducting a no-holds-barred family feud, planning a life-changing journey to the Old Country, and helping her best friend, the high-school band director, design a halftime show to dazzle Elizabeth Taylor, the violet-eyed Hollywood movie star who's coming through town on a campaign stump with her husband, senatorial candidate John Warner.

Filled with big-time eccentrics and small-town shenanigans, Big Stone Gap is a jewel box of original characters, including sexpot Bookmobile librarian Iva Lou Wade; Fleeta Mullins, the chain-smoking pharmacy cashier with a penchant for professional wrestling; the dashing visionary Theodore Tipton; Elmo Gaspar, the snake-handling preacher; Jack MacChesney, a coal-mining bachelor looking for true love; and Pearl Grimes, a shy mountain girl on the verge of a miraculous transformation.

Comic and compassionate, Big Stone Gap is is the story of a woman who thinks life has passed her by, only to learn that the best is yet to come. (From the publisher.)

The four books in the Big Stone Gap series are, in order: Big Stone Gap, Big Cherry Holler, Milk Glass Moon, Home to Big Stone Gap.

Author Bio
• Birth—1960
• Where—Big Stone Gap, Virginia, USA
• Education—B.A., St. Mary’s College, Indiana, USA
• Currently—lives in New York, New York


As her squadrons of fans already know, Adriana Trigiani grew up in Big Stone Gap, a coal-mining town in southwest Virginia that became the setting for her first three novels. The "Big Stone Gap" books feature Southern storytelling with a twist: a heroine of Italian descent, like Trigiani, who attended St. Mary's College of Notre Dame, like Trigiani. But the series isn't autobiographical—the narrator, Ave Maria Mulligan, is a generation older than Trigiani and, as the first book opens, has settled into small-town spinsterhood as the local pharmacist.

The author, by contrast, has lived most of her adult life in New York City. After graduating from college with a theater degree, she moved to the city and began writing and directing plays (her day jobs included cook, nanny, house cleaner and office temp). In 1988, she was tapped to write for the Cosby Show spinoff A Different World, and spent the following decade working in television and film. When she presented her friend and agent Suzanne Gluck with a screenplay about Big Stone Gap, Gluck suggested she turn it into a novel.

The result was an instant bestseller that won praise from fellow writers along with kudos from celebrities (Whoopi Goldberg is a fan). It was followed by Big Cherry Holler and Milk Glass Moon, which chronicle the further adventures of Ave Maria through marriage and motherhood. People magazine called them "Delightfully quirky... chock full of engaging, oddball characters and unexpected plot twists."

Critics sometimes reach for food imagery to describe Trigiani's books, which have been called "mouthwatering as fried chicken and biscuits" (USA Today) and "comforting as a mug of tea on a rainy Sunday" (New York Times Book Review). Food and cooking play a big role in the lives of Trigiani's heroines and their families: Lucia, Lucia, about a seamstress in Greenwich Village in the 1950s, and The Queen of the Big Time, set in an Italian-American community in Pennsylvania, both feature recipes from Trigiani's grandmothers. She and her sisters have even co-written a cookbook called, appropriately enough, Cooking With My Sisters: One Hundred Years of Family Recipes, from Bari to Big Stone Gap. It's peppered with anecdotes, photos and family history. What it doesn't have: low-carb recipes. "An Italian girl can only go so long without pasta," Trigiani quipped in an interview on GoTriCities.com.

Her heroines are also ardent readers, so it comes as no surprise that book groups love Adriana Trigiani. And she loves them right back. She's chatted with scores of them on the phone, and her Web site includes photos of women gathered together in living rooms and restaurants across the country, waving Italian flags and copies of Lucia, Lucia.

Trigiani, a disciplined writer whose schedule for writing her first novel included stints from 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. each morning, is determined not to disappoint her fans. So far, she's produced a new novel each year since the publication of Big Stone Gap.

I don't take any of it for granted, not for one second, because I know how hard this is to catch with your public," she said in an interview with The Independent. "I don't look at my public as a group; I look at them like individuals, so if a reader writes and says, 'I don't like this,' or, 'This bit stinks,' I take it to heart.

Extras
From a 2004 Barnes & Noble interview:

• I appeared on the game show Kiddie Kollege on WCYB-TV in Bristol, Virginia, when I was in the third grade. I missed every question. It was humiliating.

• I have held the following jobs: office temp, ticket seller in movie theatre, cook in restaurant, nanny, and phone installer at the Super Bowl in New Orleans. In the writing world, I have been a playwright, television writer/producer, documentary writer/director, and now novelist.

• I love rhinestones, faux jewelry. I bought a pair of pearl studded clip on earrings from a blanket on the street when I first moved to New York for a dollar. They turned out to be a pair designed by Elsa Schiaparelli. Now, they are costume, but they are still Schiaps! Always shop in the street—treasures aplenty.

• When asked what book most influenced her life as a writer, here is what she said:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. When I was a girl growing up in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, I was in the middle of a large Italian family, but I related to the lonely orphan girl Jane, who with calm and focus, put one foot in front of the other to make a life for herself after the death of her parents and her terrible tenure with her mean relatives. She survived the horrors of the orphanage Lowood, losing her best friend to consumption, became a teacher and then a nanny. The love story with the complicated Rochester was interesting to me, but what moved me the most was Jane's character, in particular her sterling moral code. Here was a girl who had no reason to do the right thing, she was born poor and had no connections and yet, somehow she was instinctively good and decent. It's a story of personal triumph and the beauty of human strength. I also find the book a total page turner- and it's one of those stories that you become engrossed in, unable to put it down. Imagine the beauty of the line: "I loved and was loved." It doesn't get any better than that! (Bio and interview from Barnes & Noble.)

Book Reviews
Big Stone Gap is as comforting as a mug of chamomile tea on a rainy Sunday served with Ave Maria's specialty: freshly baked oatmeal cookies.
Andrea Higbie - The New York Times Book Review


Big Stone Gap is as comforting as a patchwork quilt, as charming as a country cottage. Readers would do well to fall into the nearest easy chair, cup of tea in hand, and savor the story of Ave Maria Mulligan. Big Stone Gap's strength lies in its characters, and Trigiani's debut novel holds no pretense. It's a story of simple people with complex emotions — and no one is more complex than Ave Maria. Big Stone Gap is as mouthwatering as fried chicken and biscuits!
USA Today


Trigiani's story of a middle-aged spinster finding love and a sense of self in a small Virginia coal town is a lot like a cold soda on a hot summer day: light and refreshing, if just a little too sweet. Trigiani, a playwright, filmmaker and former writer for The Cosby Show, has a Southern voice that perfectly embodies her main character, the embattled Ave Maria Mulligan. Ave Maria, who's satisfied if not exactly happy in her role as the town pharmacist, begins questioning her quiet, country life after a posthumous letter from her mother reveals a jarring secret. Ave Maria soon faces a crisis of identity, the advances of a surprising suitor and the threat of her acerbic, money-grubbing Aunt Alice. From the suitor, who points out his brand-new pickup truck during a marriage proposal, to the town temptress, who dispenses romantic advice from her bookmobile, Trigiani brings the story alive with her flexible vocal inventions. Fans of true love stories and happy endings certainly won't be disappointed.
Publishers Weekly

Discussion Questions
1.Why do you think the author set Big Stone Gap during the late 1970s instead of today?

2. The coal mines are the site of danger and oppressiveness, while the caverns Ave Maria and Theodore visit reveal the beauty hidden deep in the earth. How does this dichotomy reflect Ave Maria's inner world during her yearlong crisis?

3. As the novel progresses and Ave Maria learns more about herself and her past, her feelings for Big Stone Gap change from contentment to disassociation to joy. Have your feelings for your hometown changed as you've changed? How?

4. Ave Maria refers to herself as a "'ferriner,"but when she visits Italy she realizes that her home is in Big Stone Gap. What other works have you read in which the hero or heroine musttravel to find his or her home in the world?

5. Ave Maria's description of some events, such as kissing Theodore after the Drama and Jack Mac's reaction to her gratitude for bringing over her Italian family, differs from other people's perspectives. Do you believe Ave Maria's interpretations? Why or why not?

6. Theodore and Ave Maria have romantic feelings for each other, but never at the same time. If their feelings had been more coordinated, do you think they would have entered a lasting marriage? Do you think their 'best friend' relationship will endure after Ave Maria and Jack Mac's wedding?

7. When did you suspect that Ave Maria would fall in love with Jack Mac? What were the clues that the author left?

8. Jack Mac tells Ave Maria, "Stop thinking.'" Is Jack Mac correct? Does too much thinking lead Ave Maria into making the wrong choices? Are her emotions a trustier guide or equally unreliable?

9. A common theme in literature is that the heroine (e.g., Snow White, Cinderella, Jane Eyre, Nancy Drew) must lose a parent or parents before she is free to discover who she really is. Is this merely a literary convention or does it have roots in real life? Does it apply to male characters as well? How much significance does Mrs. Mac's death have to Jack Mac's personal development?

10. Ave Maria feels relief and not much surprise when she learns Fred Mulligan is not her father, and later she recognizes aspects of herself in Mario. Though Fred is not her blood kin, what traits did he pass on to Ave Maria while he raised her? How much of Ave Maria's personality was shaped by nature and how much by nurture?

11. When describing her friend Iva Lou, the majorette Tayloe, and Sweet Sue, Ave Maria focuses on the power of beauty and desirability, but she also cautions Pearl that beauty fades while character endures. How does Pearl synthesize the importance of character with the force of beauty?

12. Both Ave Maria and Worley discover their fathers aren't who they thought they were, but Worley learns of his true parentage when his father is still alive. Do you think Ave Maria's expectations of love and marriage would have been affected if she had learned the truth about Mario before her mother died? How?

13. Ave Maria is named for the mysterious woman who took Ave Maria's mother under her wing. Do you see another meaning in Ave Maria's name? Does it tie in with her developing belief in destiny and faith?

14. Big Cherry Holler, Adriana Trigiani's next novel about the people of Big Stone Gap, jumps forward eight years into Ave Maria and Jack Mac's marriage. Knowing these two characters as you do, do you expect the path of true to love run smooth for them? What quirks do Ave Maria and Jack Mac bring to the relationship that could cause bumps or, conversely, even out the way?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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Billy Bathgate
E.L. Doctorow, 1989
Random House
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780812981179 


Summary
In 1930's New York, Billy Bathgate, a fifteen-year-old highschool dropout, has captured the attention of infamous gangster Dutch Schultz, who lures the boy into his world of racketeering.

The product of an East Bronx upbringing by his half-crazy Irish Catholic mother, after his Jewish father left them long ago, Billy is captivated by the world of money, sex, and high society the charismatic Schultz has to offer. But it is also a world of extortion, brutality, and murder, where Billy finds himself involved in a dangerous affair with Schultz's girlfriend.

Relive this story through the title character's driving narrative, a child's thoughts and feelings filtered through the sensibilities of an adult, and the result is E.L. Doctorow's most convincing and appealing portrayal of a young boy's life. Converging mythology and history, one of America's most admired authors has captured the romance of gangsters and criminal enterprise that continues to fascinate the American psyche today. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—January 6, 1931
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Education—A.B., Kenyon College; Columbia University
• Awards—3 National book Critics Circle Awards; National
   Book Aware; PEN/Faulkner Award
• Currently—lives in the New York City area

E. L. Doctorow, one of America's preeminent authors, has received the National Book Critics Circle Award (three times), the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Edith Wharton Citation For Fiction, and the William Dean Howells medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has also published a volume of selected essays Jack London, Hemingway, and the Constitution, and a play, Drinks Before Dinner, which was produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival. (From the publisher.)

More
Edgar Lawrence Doctorow is an American author whose critically acclaimed and award-winning fiction ranges through his country’s social history from the Civil War to the present. Doctorow was born in the Bronx, New York City, the son of second-generation Americans of Russian Jewish descent. He attended city public grade schools and the Bronx High School of Science where, surrounded by mathematically gifted children, he fled to the office of the school literary magazine, Dynamo, where he published his first literary effort, The Beetle, which he describes as ”a tale of etymological self-defamation inspired by my reading of Kafka.”

Doctorow attended Kenyon College in Ohio, where he studied with the poet and New Critic, John Crowe Ransom, acted in college theater productions and majored in Philosophy. After graduating with Honors in 1952 he did a year of graduate work in English Drama at Columbia University before being drafted into the army. He served with the Army of Occupation in Germany in 1954-55 as a corporal in the signal corps.

He returned to New York after his military service and took a job as a reader for a motion picture company where he said he had to read so many Westerns that he was inspired to write what became his first novel, Welcome to Hard Times. He began the work as a parody of the Western genre, but the piece evolved into a novel that asserted itself as a serious reclamation of the genre before he was through. It was published to positive reviews in 1960.

Doctorow had married a fellow Columbia drama student, Helen Setzer, while in Germany and by the time he had moved on from his reader’s job in 1960 to become an editor at the New American Library, (NAL) a mass market paperback publisher, he was the father of three children. To support his family he would spend nine years as a book editor, first at NAL working with such authors as Ian Fleming and Ayn Rand, and then, in 1964 as Editor-in-chief at The Dial Press, publishing work by James Baldwin, Norman Mailer, Ernest J. Gaines and William Kennedy, among others.

In 1969 Doctorow left publishing in order to write, and accepted a position as Visiting Writer at the University of California, Irvine, where he completed The Book of Daniel, a freely fictionalized consideration of the trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for allegedly giving nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Published in 1971 it was widely acclaimed, called a “masterpiece” by The Guardian, and it launched Doctorow into "the first rank of American writers" according to the New York Times.

Doctorow’s next book, written in his home in New Rochelle, New York, was Ragtime (1975), since accounted one of the hundred best novels of the 20th century by the Modern Library Editorial Board.

Doctorow’s subsequent work includes the award winning novels World's Fair (1985), Billy Bathgate (1989), The March (2005) and Homer and Langley (2010); two volumes of short fiction, Lives of the Poets I (1984) and Sweetland Stories (2004); and two volumes of selected essays, Jack London, Hemingway, and the Constitution (1993) and Creationists (2006). He is published in over thirty languages. (From Wikipedia.)

Book Reviews
A wonderful addition to the ranks of American boy heroes...Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer with more poetry, Holden Caulfield with more zest and spirit.... The kind of book you find yourself finishing at three in the morning after promising at midnight that you’ll stop at the next page.
New York Times


The astonishing story of Billy's apprenticeship to Shultz and his education at the hands of the mobster's minions is related by Doctorow with masterful skill, grace and lucidity of prose, inspired inventiveness of scene and true-voiced dialogue. Equally a rollicking adventure and a cautionary tale, both parable of the prodigal son and poignant coming-of-age story, it is mesmerizing reading that soars from the shocking first scene of a gangland execution through episodes of horror, hilarity and sudden, deepening insights. In his odyssey, Billy will learn about human nature as well as extortion and policy rackets; he will travel to the upstate rural community of Onandaga where Schultz will be brought to trial by special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey; he will be exposed to the world of Park Avenue socialites; he will acquire a gun and better manners; he will discover that the "glamor and class'' of a big-time racketeer is achieved through good business methods as well as violence; he will comprehend the seamy relationship between criminals and politicians, and he will fall in love.

Perhaps the most affecting example of the dichotomy that rules his life occurs when, after having witnessed the most vicious brutalities, he returns to the Bronx and goes shopping with his mother for his first suit. In this stunning, lyrical novel, Doctorow has perfected the narrative voice of a lower-class boy encountering the world (surpassing those of the protagonists of Ragtime, Loon Lake and World's Fair ). He falters only in a sentimental, almost fairytale ending that belies the harsh realities by which the narrative is propelled. But so fine and convincing is this story that the reader accepts in its entirety Doctorow's mythical vision, a dark version of the Horatio Alger fable related with a brilliant twist.
Publishers Weekly


Having grown up poor but ambitious on the Bronx's Bathgate Avenue during the Depression, young Billy is now being educated in the ways of the world. But his is no ordinary education, for Billy is a gangster-in-training employed by the notorious Dutch Schultz. As the story moves fluidly from the violent underworld of New York City to the playgrounds of the rich, Billy falls for "the Dutchman's" latest lady—a beauty named Drew Preston who eventually reciprocates his youthful passion. Soon Billy is questioning the actions of the mob he was so eager to join as he seeks to protect Drew from its vengeance. Though at times 15-year-old Billy seems far too precocious, even for a streetwise punk, ultimately we are made to feel his apprehension of the world: that "large, empty resounding adulthood booming with terror." An engrossing tale that successfully re-creates worlds gone by in loving and meticulous detail. —Barbara Hoffert
Library Journal

Discussion Questions
1. Billy Bathgate has been described as “Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer with more poetry, Holden Caulfield with more zest and spirit” (New York Times Book Review). How would you describe Billy? How is he like—or unlike—Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Holden Caulfield?

2. Trace Billy’s evolution—from Billy Behan, a poor kid living in the Bronx, to Billy Bathgate, a street smart, gun-toting member of Dutch Schultz’s infamous gang. How does Billy change? In what ways does he stay the same?

3. In Billy Bathgate, our setting is New York in the 1930s. Discuss the Bronx, Manhattan, Onondaga, Saratoga, and New Jersey, as seen through Doctorow’s—and Billy’s—eyes.

4. Circumstance and fate play large roles in the novel. Of his chance meeting with Dutch, Billy says, “I couldn’t have been planning to juggle continuously every day of my idling life until Mr. Schultz arrived, it had just happened. But now that it had I saw it as destiny. The world worked by chance but every chance had a prophetic heft to it” (29). Discuss this quote in the context of Dutch and Billy’s introduction, and also throughout the course of the novel. Do you think Billy’s success was based on circumstance and fate? Or was it something more?

5. Early in their relationship, Dutch calls Billy his “good-luck kid” (57). But by the end of the novel, Billy realizes “I didn’t know him when he had a handle on things and everything was as he wanted it to be.... [Dutch] had risen and he was falling. And the Dutchman’s life with me was his downfall” (280-281). Is Billy right about Dutch? Did Billy bring him any good luck? Or did Dutch bring more good luck to Billy’s life?

6. Discuss Billy and Dutch’s relationship over the course of the novel. Why did Dutch take on Billy? Why did Billy stay loyal to Dutch? What did both gain—or lose—from their relationship?

7. Similarly, talk about Billy’s relationship with Otto Berman. What does Billy learn from him? In the end, do you think Billy felt closer to Dutch or Otto? Discuss your reasoning.

8. Before falling for Drew, Billy considers Rebecca, a girl he once paid for sex, his girlfriend. How does his relationship with Becky change, and what does it say about Billy’s personal evolution? Think about this quote, from the night of Billy’s neighborhood party, as you discuss: “I reflected as I lay there that my life was changing more quickly and in more ways than I could keep up with. Or was it all just one thing, as if everything had the same charge to it, so that if I was remade to Mr. Schultz’s touch, Becky was remade to mine, and there was only one infinitely extending flash of conformation” (102).

9. Billy seems to struggle with finding his place in Dutch’s gang—and the world. Upon arriving in a posh hotel in Onondaga, he says, “I loved this luxury” (117) and throughout the story he is attracted to the glitz and glamour that comes with being part of Dutch’s group. But then he thinks, “The only thing that cheered me up was the sight of a cockroach walking up the wall...because then I knew The Onondaga Hotel was not all it was cracked up to be” (119). Talk about these conflicting impressions and what they say about Billy as a character.

10. Drew (or Lola or Mrs. Preston) has tremendous influence on Billy throughout the course of the novel. Discuss the evolution of their relationship—from mother/son to charge/custodian to lover. Do you think Billy truly loved Drew? Did she love him? What about Dutch? Discuss Drew’s relationship with him.

11. Of Drew, Billy says: “She’s not after anything, she’s not naturally afraid like most girls you’d meet or jealous or any of that. She does whatever she wants, and then she gets bored and then she does something else” (242). Is this accurate? Why or why not?

12. Billy continuously proves his loyalty to Dutch, and though he thinks of leaving the gang at one point, he quickly dismisses it: “I knew I would do nothing of the kind...life held no grandeur for a simple thief, I had not gotten this far and whoever had hung this charm over my life had not chosen me because I was a cowardly double-crosser” (271). Why doesn’t he cut his losses and run? Is he afraid of Dutch? Is he just fiercely loyal? Or is it something else?

13. Billy survives—both with the gang and with his life in the end of the novel—because he is loyal, he makes smart choices, and he’s adaptable. He thinks: “When the situation changed, would I change with it? Yes, the answer was always yes. And that gave me the idea that maybe all identification is temporary because you went through a life of changing situations” (138). Discuss this quote in the context of the novel. Does it ring true for Billy? Does it hold any meaning for your life?

14. At the end of the novel, we learn that Billy, an adult, has been telling the story of his teenage self. He reflects: “I find some consolation...in having told here the truth about everything of my life with Dutch Schultz.... I have told the truth of what I have told in the words and the truth of what I have not told which resides in the words” (321). What are we to make of that? Have we heard the whole truth? What is gained—or lost—by Billy as an adult telling the story of Billy as a teenager? Why do you think Doctorow chose to tell his story in this way?

15. At the end of Billy Bathgate, we learn that Billy finished high school, went on to an Ivy League college, became a second lieutenant in the Army and is a man of a “certain renown” (321). And to top it all off, he had a son with Drew, who is delivered to his doorstep a year after they have stopped speaking. Where you surprised with the end of Billy’s story? Why or why not?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Ben Fountain, 2012
HarperCollins
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780060885618


Summary
Winner, 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award

A ferocious firefight with Iraqi insurgents at "the battle of Al-Ansakar Canal"—three minutes and forty-three seconds of intense warfare caught on tape by an embedded Fox News crew—has transformed the eight surviving men of Bravo Squad into America's most sought-after heroes.

For the past two weeks, the Bush administration has sent them on a media-intensive nationwide "Victory Tour" to reinvigorate public support for the war. Now, on this chilly and rainy Thanksgiving, the Bravos are guests of America's Team, the Dallas Cowboys, slated to be part of the halftime show alongside the superstar pop group Destiny's Child.

Among the Bravos is the Silver Star-–winning hero of Al-Ansakar Canal, Specialist William Lynn, a nineteen-year-old Texas native. Amid clamoring patriots sporting flag pins on their lapels and Support Our Troops bumper stickers on their cars, the Bravos are thrust into the company of the Cowboys' hard-nosed businessman/owner and his coterie of wealthy colleagues; a luscious born-again Cowboys cheerleader; a veteran Hollywood producer; and supersized pro players eager for a vicarious taste of war. Among these faces Billy sees those of his family—his worried sisters and broken father—and Shroom, the philosophical sergeant who opened Billy's mind and died in his arms at Al-Ansakar.

Over the course of this day, Billy will begin to understand difficult truths about himself, his country, his struggling family, and his brothers-in-arms—soldiers both dead and alive. In the final few hours before returning to Iraq, Billy will drink and brawl, yearn for home and mourn those missing, face a heart-wrenching decision, and discover pure love and a bitter wisdom far beyond his years.

Poignant, riotously funny, and exquisitely heartbreaking, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk is a devastating portrait of our time, a searing and powerful novel that cements Ben Fountain's reputation as one of the finest writers of his generation. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1958 or 1959
• Where—Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
• Education—B.A. Universtiy of North Carolina; J.D., Duke
   University
• Awards—Pushcart Prize; O'Henry Award; Hemingway/PEN
   Award; Whiting Writers Award
• Currently—lives in Dallas, Texas


Ben Fountain is an American fiction writer, whose 2012 novel, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, was selected as a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award.

He is the author of Brief Encounters With Che Guevara, a collection of short stories. He has won numerous awards, including the Texas Institute of Letters Short Story Award for 2002 and 2004, a Pushcart Prize in 2004, an O. Henry Award in 2005 and 2007, and inclusion of his work in New Stories from the South: The Year's Best 2006. In 2007 he won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for a distinguished first book of fiction, and a Whiting Writers Award, a prestigious award for emerging writers, from the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation.

Fountain earned a B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1980, and a law degree from the Duke University School of Law in 1984. After a brief stint practicing real estate law at Akin Gump in Dallas, Fountain in 1988 quit the law to become a full time fiction writer. He lives in Dallas, Texas. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)

Book Reviews
[An] inspired, blistering war novel…Though it covers only a few hours, the book is a gripping, eloquent provocation. Class, privilege, power, politics, sex, commerce and the life-or-death dynamics of battle all figure in Billy Lynn’s surreal game day experience.
Janet Maslin - New York Times


Brilliantly done...grand, intimate, and joyous.
New York Times Book Review


A masterful gut-punch of a debut novel.... Catch-22 is about to be updated for a new era. In his immortal classic, Heller was lampooning the military's attempt to bureaucratize the horror of World War II. In Fountain's razor-sharp, darkly comic novel—a worthy neighbor to Catch-22 on the bookshelf of war fiction—the focus has shifted from bureaucracy to publicity, reflecting corresponding shifts in our culture…There's hardly a false note, or even a slightly off-pitch one, in Fountain's sympathetic, damning and structurally ambitious novel.
Jeff Turrentine - Washington Post


Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk is not merely good; it’s Pulitzer Prize-quality good.... A bracing, fearless and uproarious satire of how contemporary war is waged and sold to the American public.
San Francisco Chronicle


Fountain’s strength as a writer is that he not only can conjure up this all-too-realistic-sounding mob, but also the young believably innocent soul for our times, Specialist Billy Lynn. And from the first page I found myself rooting for him, often from the edge of my seat.
Minneapolis Star Tribune


While Fountain undoubtedly knows his Graham Greene and Paul Theroux, his excursions into foreign infernos have an innocence all their own. In between his nihilistic descriptions, a boyishness keeps peeking out, cracking one-liners and admiring the amazing if benighted scenery.
Cleveland Plain Dealer


[W]ickedly affecting…Billy Lynn has courted some Catch-22 comparisons, and they’re well-earned. Fountain is a whiz at lining up plausible inanities and gut-twisting truths for the Bravos to suffer through.
Philadelphia City Paper


Fountain’s excellent first novel follows a group of soldiers at a Dallas Cowboys game on Thanksgiving Day…Through the eyes of the titular soldier, Fountain creates a minutely observed portrait of a society with woefully misplaced priorities. [Fountain has] a pitch-perfect ear for American talk.
Malcolm Gladwell - The New Yorker


Ben Fountain combines blistering, beautiful language with razor-sharp insight…and has written a funny novel that provides skewering critiques of America’s obsession with sports, spectacle, and war.
Huffington Post


A brilliantly conceived first novel... The irony, sorrow, anger and examples of cognitive dissonance that suffuse this novel make it one of the most moving and remarkable novels I’ve ever read.
Nancy Pearl - NPR, Morning Edition


Seething, brutally funny…[Fountain] leaves readers with a fully realized band of brothers.... Fountain’s readers will never look at an NFL Sunday, or at America, in quite the same way.
Sports Illustrated


Billy Lynn is a member of Bravo Company, which acquitted itself heroically in a deadly confrontation early in the Iraq War. An embedded reporter captured the battle on widely broadcast video. Now, on the last day of a victory tour, an insane PR event put on by the army, the company is at a Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving football game. Native Texan Billy has been deeply affected by the death of squad leader Shroom, who gave him books to read and challenged him to think about what he was doing with his life. During a brief stop at home, Billy's sister urges him to refuse to return to Iraq. Billy also meets one of the fabled Cowboys cheerleaders, with whom he improbably forms an immediate and passionate connection, something that has opened a door to the possibility of a new, more hopeful life. But though Billy has had his eyes opened, in many ways he and his company are happier and feel more purposive as soldiers. Verdict: Employing intricate detail and feverish cinematography, Fountain's (Brief Encounters with Che Guevara: Stories) vividly written novel is an allegorical hero's journey, a descent into madness, and a mirror held up to this society's high-definition TV reality. Tragically unhinged, it also rings completely, hilariously true. —Jim Coan, SUNY at Oneonta
Library Journal


[T]he shell-shocked humor will likely conjure comparisons with Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse Five.... War is hell in this novel of inspired absurdity.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (page numbers refer to the hardcover edition):

1. Do the young men from Bravo meet your expectations of what war heroes are...or should be? Given their behavior—drinking, trash-talk, hyper-sexuality, and brawling—are they what you think of when the word "hero" comes to mind? Do you find Ben Fountain's portrayal of them funny ... offensive ... realistic...?

2. Talk about the individual members of Bravo, especially Billy and Dime—what do you think of them? What other member of the team stood out as you read the novel?

3. What kind of character is Albert? Most books and films are scathing in their portrayal of Hollywood and its values. How does Albert, a three-time Oscar winner, stack up to the stereotypical Hollywood producer—what do you make of him?

4. Talk about the other characters—in particular Billy's family and, of course, Norman Oglesby.

5. Billy feels it's obscene to talk about Shroom's death...

and he wonders by what process any discussion about the war seems to profane these ultimate matters of life and death (p. 137).

Is it possible for any noncombatant to understand the depth of Billy's grief? Is it "profane" to talk about Shroom...or is there a way, as an outsider, to talk about war and death without cheapening it? Billy thinks there ought to be a special lanaguage to do so. Do we have such a language?

6. Follow up to Question 5: The book seems to take aim at civilians who talk to the Bravo team: their questions, comments, and references to patriotism, 9/11, terrorism, God, and war are over-the-top—their words are even presented in a vertical-diagonal format. But much of the outpouring of gratitude seems genuine, even if inane. How does a civilian talk to a combatant, someone who faces the constant threat of death and witnesses violence on a scale unimaginable to most of us? What can any of us say? What have you ever said to a returning soldier?

7. The book abounds with parallels between the world of football, especially the Cowboys, and the military. Talk about how those similarities evidence themselves thoughout the book? What is the author trying to get at by settting up comparisons between the two?

8. Albert tells Bravo that they are true heroes for the twenty-first century. He says that their heroism "has really touched a nerve in this country" (p. 56). What "nerve" has been struck...why is the public so enamored with the young men? Why the deluge of attention and adulation? What is it based on?

9. Follow-up to Question 8: Billy, on the hand, pities the Americans and their frenzy to connect with Bravo. He refers to them as children (pp. 45-46). Why is he so disproving of his fellow Americans? Do you consider Billy cynical? Or does he realize something about the nature of his fellow citizens? If so, what does he see in them...in us?

10. Follow-up to Question 9: Billy thinks that Americans have no conception of the "state of pure sin toward which war inclines" (p. 46). What does he mean? How does war incline to sin if one is fighting for one's country?

11. What do you think of the oilman engaged in fracking shale oil who, during lunch at the Statium club, tells Bravo...

So it's a personal thing with me, boosting domestic production.... I figure the better I do my job, the sooner we can bring you young men home.

Is the oilman genuine in his desire to cut foreign imports? How do you see him—is he a patriot? Why is Dime so angry with him? Is Dime's reaction disrespectful, unfair, even spiteful? Or is he dead-on? Do you find the entire exchange offensive or funny or sad?

12. How does religion, or religiosity, fare in this book? What is Billy's attitude toward God and prayer?

• Is God watching out for the young men of Bravo? Should they be more prayerful?
• Or is the difference between life and death, as Billy contemplates, completely random, a matter of chance?
• Or, again, is it a matter of impersonal, preordained fate? When Shroom tells Billy of an Inuit Shaman who could foretell the day of your death, Billy understands Shroom's point that "if a bullet's going to get you, it's already been fired" (p. 27).

How does Billy engage with religion or spirituality? As a soldier, what form would your (or do your) religious beliefs take?

13. Much is made of class distinction in Halftime Walk. Talk about the many references to social class—starting, perhaps, with Mango's comment that what awaits him on his return from Iraq is a job at Burger King (p. 72).

14. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk is considered satire, a type of literature that takes a sardonic view of societal conventions. What is this book satirizing—what are its specific targets? By definition, satires are humorous, even absurd...are there sections in Halftime Walk you found particularly funny? Are there parts that angered...or saddened you?

15. What is Billy's "long halftime walk"? What is the significance of the book's title? (See also another book issued shortly after Fountain's: Brian Castner's The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life That Follows. The "Long Walk" is a reference to Iraq.)

Spoiler Alert for the remaining questions.

16. Bravo refuses to participate in further discussions of the film project. Why—especially when they're offered a cut of the profits? Is the decision to withdraw a sound one? Why is Dime, in particular, so angry with Norman Oglesby?

17. Follow-up to Question 16: Is Oglesby right when he says that the country needs the film, that it will give a much needed boost to national pride? In other words, is the film greater than Bravo—does its need to be made transcend the needs of the squad as Norman suggests? Is that a valid or a bogus argument?

18. When Billy tells Faison at the end of the book that he would be willing to go run away with her...

She lifts her head, and with the one look he knows it's not to be. Her confusion decides it, that flicker of worry in her eyes? What is he talking about? (p. 305)

What's behind Faison's negative reaction? Does she genuinely fear the consequences for Billy if he goes AWOL? Or is she is attracted to Billy, not for who he is, but for what he is—an acclaimed national hero, a status he would jeopardize if he were to desert? Is there a genuine, heart-felt connection for either of them?

19. Why does Billy decide to return to Iraq? Should he have taken the way out his sister offered him? Were you hoping he would...or hoping he would return and face possible death? If Billy were your brother, son, husband, or boyfriend, what would you advise him?

20. What does Billy come to realize by the end of the book as he settles back in the limo that will take him back to base and from there to Iraq? What is his state of mind?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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The Bird King 
G. Willow Wilson, 2019
Grove Atlantic
440 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780802129031


Summary
An epic journey set during the reign of the last sultan in the Iberian peninsula at the height of the Spanish Inquisition.

G. Willow Wilson’s debut novel Alif the Unseen was an NPR and Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and it established her as a vital American Muslim literary voice.

Now she delivers The Bird King, a stunning new novel that tells the story of Fatima, a concubine in the royal court of Granada, the last emirate of Muslim Spain, and her dearest friend Hassan, the palace mapmaker.

Hassan has a secret—he can draw maps of places he’s never seen and bend the shape of reality.

When representatives of the newly formed Spanish monarchy arrive to negotiate the sultan’s surrender, Fatima befriends one of the women, not realizing that she will see Hassan’s gift as sorcery and a threat to Christian Spanish rule.

With their freedoms at stake, what will Fatima risk to save Hassan and escape the palace walls? As Fatima and Hassan traverse Spain with the help of a clever jinn to find safety, The Bird King asks us to consider what love is and the price of freedom at a time when the West and the Muslim world were not yet separate. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—August 31, 1982
• Where—Morris County, New Jersey
• Raised—Boulder, Colorado, USA
• Education—B.A., Boston University
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in Seattle, Washington, and Cairo, Egypt


Gwendolyn Willow Wilson, known professionally as G. Willow Wilson, is an American comics writer, memoirist, novelist, essayist, and journalist. She is best known for relaunching the Ms. Marvel title for Marvel Comics (which stars a 16-year-old Muslim superhero named Kamala Khan). But she has also received praise for her memoir and novels.

Early life
Wilson was born in Morris County, New Jersey, where she spent the first ten years of her life. She first encountered comics in the fifth grade while reading an anti-smoking pamphlet featuring the X-Men. Fascinated by the characters, she began watching the cartoon X-Men every Saturday.

Two years later she and her family moved to Boulder, Colorado where Wilson continued to pursue her interest in comics and other forms of popular culture such as tabletop role-playing games.

When she turned 27, Wilson decided to leave Colorado and to pursue a degree in history at Boston University. During her sophomore year, while experiencing adrenal problems, she decided to study world religions, including Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Having grown up in an unreligious household, Wilson drawn to Judaism's belief in an "indivisible God who is one and whole." Yet, although Judaism "was a near perfect fit," she explained in a 2017 interview, "it was created for a single tribe of people."

Wislon then turned her focus to Islam, which she saw as "a sort of a deal between you and God." The 9/11 terrorist attack set back her religious studies—fearing she had misjudged the religion—but later resumed her studies.[2]  After graduation, on the way to Cairo where she had taken a job to teach English, Wilson experienced a converstion to Islam: "I made peace with God. I called him Allah."

Living in Egypt, and struggling to negotiate a new culture, Wilson met Omar, a young physics teacher, who offered to serve as a cultural guide, and within a matter of months, the two became engaged. Later, the couple moved to the United States where Wilson returned to her writing career, and Omar worked as a legal advocate for refugees.

Jouralism
During her time in Cairo, Wilson began contributing articles to the Atlantic Monthly, New York Times Magazine and National Post. She was also a regular contributor to the now-defunct Egyptian opposition weekly Cairo Magazine. Wilson was the first Western journalist to be granted a private interview with Ali Gomaa after his promotion to the position of Grand Mufti of Egypt.

Wilson's experiences in Egypt are the subject of her 2010 memoir, The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman's Journey to Love and Islam, which was named a Seattle Times Best Book the same year.

In 2007, Wilson wrote her first graphic novel, Cairo, with art by M.K. Perker; it was named one of the best graphic novels of 2007 by Publishers Weekly, The Edmonton Journal/CanWest News, and Comics Worth Reading.  In 2008 the paperback edition was named one of Best Graphic Novels for High School Students in 2008 by School Library Journal, and one of 2009's Top Ten Graphic Novels for Teens by the American Library Association.

Comics
A year later, in 2008, Wilson launched her first ongoing comic series, "Air." Reunited with her Cairo graphic artist M.K. Perker, "Air" received the Eisner Award for Best New Series of 2009, while NPR named it one of the top comics of 2009.

Wilson also wrote "Superman" fill-in issues #704 and 706 of Superman, the five-issue mini-series "Vixen: Return of the Lion." and "The Outsiders." She then revived "Mystic,"a four-issue miniseries for Marvel Comics (with art by David Lopez)—although a CrossGen revival, Willow's version of "Mystic" bears little resemblance to its previous incarnation.

In 2014, Marvel debuted a new "Ms. Marvel" series written by Wilson. The book stars Kamala Khan, a Muslim teenager living in Jersey City, New Jersey, who takes up the mantle—now that the previous Ms. Marvel, Carol Danvers, has taken the name Captain Marvel.

Although worried about criticism, Wilson did not believe Kamala should wear a hijab because the majority of teenage Muslim Americans do not cover their heads. Yet despite their initial concern, Kamala was received positively—some seeing her as a symbol for equality and religious diversity.

In 2018, Wilson began writing "Wonder Woman" from DC Comics. The character will battle Ares in an arc entitled "The Just War."

Novels
Wilson also turned to novels: 2013 saw the release of her debut, Alif the Unseen. The book won the 2013 World Fantasy Award for best novel.

Wilson's next fantasy novel came out in 2019 —The Bird King, the story of a concubine in the royal court of Granada, the last emirate of Muslim Spain, as the new Christian monarchy begins its rule. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 3/18/2019 .)

Book Reviews
G. Willow Wilson whips up a head-spinning blend of realism, fantasy and history…. And indeed, life in the palace is evocatively sketched. But the chase grows tiresome, stretching on for so long that the reader may begin to wonder why Fatima and Hassan are so important to bag. The novel comes perilously close to reading like an action film, complete with the perfect villain, Luz, with a strange, terrifying splotch on her eye…. Fatima and Hassan’s arduous, sometimes cartoonishly violent journey makes this an uneven book, though a deeply imaginative ending—set on an island that may have sprung from Hassan’s mind—redeems the travel-worn story.
Priyanka Kuman - Washington Post


[A] swashbuckling… novel amid an epic clash between cultures on the Iberian peninsula during the Spanish Inquisition.… Though marketed as literary fiction, this book is pure fantasy, and teen readers especially will relish suspending their disbelief.
Publishers Weekly


With… The Bird King, [Wilson] has cemented her place as one of the brightest lights of fantasy…. Wilson’s tale unfolds with all the grace and swiftness of a classic magical adventure, with strange encounters and new lands waiting with each turn of the page.
BookPage


★ A fun, immersive adventure that moves at a brisk pace through lush settings, across dangerous terrain, and eventually out to the open sea.
Booklist
 

★ A lovely fable…. The worldbuilding is well-constructed but is primarily a support for Wilson's chief focus on character…. Wilson also delicately explores the nature of a love outside the physical…. A thoughtful and beautiful balance between the real and the fantastic.
Kirkus Reviews


A breathtaking historical fantasy…. To say Wilson is a talented storyteller does not adequately capture the magnificent dimensions of her work…. The Bird King [is] a more-than-worthy follow-up to Alif the Unseen. It’s not necessary to read one before the other, but only a fool would miss them both.
Shelf Awareness

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers Book Club Resources. They can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

(Resources by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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The Bird Sisters 
Rebecca Rasmussen, 2011
Crown Publishing
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780307717962


Summary
When a bird flies into a window in Spring Green, Wisconsin, sisters Milly and Twiss get a visit. Twiss listens to the birds' heartbeats, assessing what she can fix and what she can't, while Milly listens to the heartaches of the people who've brought them. These spinster sisters have spent their lives nursing people and birds back to health.
 
But back in the summer of 1947, Milly and Twiss knew nothing about trying to mend what had been accidentally broken. Milly was known as a great beauty with emerald eyes and Twiss was a brazen wild child who never wore a dress or did what she was told. That was the summer their golf pro father got into an accident that cost him both his swing and his charm, and their mother, the daughter of a wealthy jeweler, finally admitted their hardscrabble lives wouldn't change. It was the summer their priest, Father Rice, announced that God didn't exist and ran off to Mexico, and a boy named Asa finally caught Milly's eye. And, most unforgettably, it was the summer their cousin Bett came down from a town called Deadwater and changed the course of their lives forever.
 
Rebecca Rasmussen's masterfully written debut novel is full of hope and beauty, heartbreak and sacrifice, love and the power of sisterhood, and offers wonderful surprises at every turn. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Raised—Spring Green, Wisconsin; Northfield,
   Illinois, USA
• Education—B.A., Colorado State University; M.F.A.,
   University of Massachuesetts and Penn State
• Currently—lives in St. Louis, Missouri

Rasmussen was raised in Spring Green, Wisconsin. When she was very young, her parents divorced, with the result that she spent a considerable portion of her growing years in Northfield, Illinois as well. Rasmussen has four brothers.

Rasmussen began writing early. Her short stories have appeared in TriQuarterly and Mid-American Review magazines. She was a finalist in the 30 Below contest of Narrative Magazine. She was also a finalist in the Family Matters contest of Glimmer Train magazine.

Rasmussen received a BA degree from Colorado State University and Master's degrees from the University of Massachusetts and Penn State University. It was during the UM coursework that she completed her first novel, The Bird Sisters two years later, in April, 2011. See the author's website for the story behind her novel.

Rasmussen is married and has a daughter. (From Wikipedia.)

Book Reviews
Rasmussen's debut novel begins like a typical coming-of-age story, but reveals itself to be a singular portrayal of familial sacrifice and loss. As elderly women, sisters Twiss and Milly live alone in the house where they grew up in Spring Green, Wis. They spend their days tending to injured birds and roaming their land, lost in memories. For Milly, there is the constant reminder of what could have been. Twiss spent her childhood happily trailing behind their golf-pro father, but Milly dreamed about a family and children that never happened. There was hope for a young Milly, until an accident strips their father of his golfing abilities and sets in motion a series of events that rips apart the already unstable family. Dad retreats to the barn, and mom bemoans her choice to marry for love, leaving behind her wealthy family; a cousin who was thought to be a friend becomes an unexpected rival; and the sisters are left with only each other. As young women, and as old ones, they learn that their relationship is rewarding, but not without consequence. Achingly authentic and almost completely character driven, the story of the sisters depicts the endlessly binding ties of family.
Publishers Weekly


What a pleasure to become acquainted with Milly and Twiss of Spring Green, WI, as these aging sisters invite us to accompany them back to a summer in the mid-1940s when they were both at the threshold of adolescence. As their falling-apart family is in desperate need of repair, the girls try to patch up their estranged parents' relationship. Milly is as sweet as Twiss is contrary; the two have decidedly different approaches to the challenge. And both are quite taken with their older teenage cousin Bettie, who comes to spend the summer with them. Ripe with surprises, this visit will mold and shape the sisters' lives for years to come. Rasmussen's debut novel is full of grace and humanity. Her heroines are fearless and romantic, endearing and engaging, and her poetic prose creates an almost magical, wholly satisfying world. Verdict: While readers may desire to know more about the sisters' interest in "bird repair" (in their later years they tend to the needs of injured birds), this wistful but wise story is enchanting and timeless. A splendid choice for those searching for literary coming-of-age novels.—Andrea Tarr, Corona P.L., CA
Library Journal


A bittersweet, charmingly offbeat debut introduces spinster sisters Milly and Twiss looking back on a life of complicated emotions and early heartbreak. Rasmussen strikes an appealing tragicomic tone in her flashback-punctuated portrait of the elderly sisters who have devoted their lives to saving birds. Children of mismatched parents—a wealthy mother who gave up her inheritance to marry (for love) a man whose only skill was his graceful golf swing—beautiful Milly and tomboyish Twiss have spent their lives in rural Spring Green, Wis., among characters like Father Rice, who confounds his congregation one Sunday by questioning God's existence and announcing his yearning "to drink a margarita and sleep with a Mexican woman." As children, Milly dreamed of a husband and family, possibly via a relationship with local boy Asa, shy and quiet like her, while Twiss planned on being a scientist or explorer. But after the Accident that deprives their father of his golf skills and the extended visit of Cousin Bett, who rescues Milly from drowning and offers Twiss a surprising insight into herself, the future is set on different tracks. While the climax doesn't ring true, it also doesn't diminish the warmth and originality of Rasmussen's voice. A good-natured, leisurely, sometimes fanciful but fresh first work.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. The Bird Sisters is set in Spring Green, Wisconsin, a small farming community by the Wisconsin River. Spring Green seems to be distinct in nearly every way from Deadwater, Minnesota, which is where Cousin Bett has grown up. How does each location shape the story, each community, and our characters? Can you imagine Milly and Twiss in Deadwater? How do the places we live shape us?

2. The novel is primarily set during the late 1940s, when the pace of life was a little bit slower than it is today. There seems to be a pervasive cultural nostalgia and a renaissance with regard to skills and cultural mores from the recent past (for example, folks learning how to can vegetables, a love of vintage clothing, etc.). Why do you think this is?

3. Memories play such a powerful role in Milly and Twiss's lives because, in many ways, their lives were arrested while both were teenagers. Can they ever be at peace? Is there always time for a fresh start?

4. Milly and Twiss will do anything and everything for each other in the novel, but they won't talk openly about all that has happened to them over the course of their lives especially events in their youth. Why is it so difficult for them? After so many years together, do you think that each knows of the other's disappointments, vulnerabilities, and heartbreaks without having to explicitly say it? Or do you think that even after all this time the two do not know each other as well as they think?

5. Money is a constant source of tension for Milly and Twiss's parents in the novel, but in the beginning of their relationship, their mother thought that her dreams would come true without her family's money, and their father thought that his dreams would come true through his proximity to money at the country club. How were they right and how were they wrong? Money, and lack of it, is also a source of conflict between other characters (for example, Father Rice steals the entire meager collection from the church and Mr. Peterson pays for Bett's medical care). How does money solve problems in the novel as well as create them?

6. Cousin Bettie Bett comes down from Deadwater, Minnesota, to stay with Milly and Twiss for the summer and in doing so changes the dynamics of their family. Bett grows close to each of the sisters in very different ways. How would the family have changed if not for Bett? In other words, do you think that the changes were the result of Bett's particular personality? Or do you think that she was just in the right place at the right time to be seen as a catalyst?

7. Both Milly and Twiss sacrifice their personal dreams for, they think, the betterment of the other. When is personal sacrifice for the sake of the larger goal noble and valiant? At what point is it foolish? Do you think that they make the right choices? How do you think Bett feels about her choices? What do you think she was trying to tell Milly by sending her the book?

8. Milly and Twiss love their parents deeply, but they don't know quite how to forgive them. How do you think their lives might change if they were able to forgive them? Are they able to forgive Bett and Asa?

9. Asa, Mr. Peterson, and Joe all seem to make significant life choices based on snap judgments. How has this impulsive streak served them well? How has it hurt them? If Asa truly loved Milly as he seemed to, how could he so quickly abandon her? Do you think he understood at the time what Milly was asking of him? And by asking it, do you think she was asking too much of someone she loved?

10. Throughout the novel, Twiss and Father Rice exchange letters. In these letters, Twiss often reveals her secret feelings. Father Rice, in turn, reveals his. In the age of the Internet, have we lost the intimacy that can be found in this old-fashioned form of correspondence, the traditional letter? How do we choose to share what we do when it's by letter, e-mail, text, Twitter, Facebook update, blog post, or telephone? When was the last time you handwrote a letter?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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The Bird Skinner 
Alice Greenway, 2014
Grove/Atlantic
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780802121042


Summary
Jim Kennoway was once an esteemed member of the ornithology department at the Museum of Natural History in New York, collecting and skinning birds as specimens. Slowing down from a hard-lived life and a recent leg amputation, Jim retreats to an island in Maine: to drink, smoke, and to be left alone.

As a young man he worked for Naval Intelligence during World War II in the Solomon Islands. While spying on Japanese shipping from behind enemy lines, Jim befriended Tosca, a young islander who worked with him as a scout. Now, thirty years later, Tosca has sent his daughter Cadillac to stay with Jim in the weeks before she begins premedical studies at Yale. She arrives to Jim’s consternation, yet she will capture his heart and the hearts of everyone she meets, irrevocably changing their lives.

Written in lush, lyrical prose—rich in island detail, redolent of Maine in summer and of the Pacific—The Bird Skinner is wise and wrenching, an unforgettable masterwork from an extraordinarily skillful novelist. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1964
• Where—Washington, D.C., USA
• Education—Yale University
• Currently—lives in Edinburgh, Scotland


Alice Greenway divides her time between the United States and Britain. Her first novel, White Ghost Girls, set in Hong Kong in the 1960s, won the Los Angeles Times Award for First Fiction and was on the Orange Prize longlist. She currently lives in Scotland. (From the publihser.)

Book Reviews
Jim's memories of his wife give the novel its erratic heartbeat; thankfully, she escapes the usual fate of a romanticized dead wife and comes across as fully human. Violence has its part in Greenway's thrilling evocation of young love, and so does great tenderness. Their relationship is as fresh as it is heartbreaking. With an attention to detail that's both poetic and precise…Greenway evokes so much more than the weather and mood of her locales. In literature, the natural world frequently exists behind a gauzy scrim. But The Bird Skinner knows we are animals, all of us. The natural world is everywhere—and despite undeniable beauty, it's rarely pretty.
Joanna Hershon - New York Times Book Review


Alice Greenway’s quietly devastating portrait of a man ravaged by loss and guilt would be unbearably sad if it weren’t also so sensitively written and gently understanding of human frailty.... Sensitively written and gently understanding of human frailty.... Greenway’s rapturous prose and warm empathy assert that there is beauty to be found in even the unhappiest lives.
Wendy Smith - Washington Post


Evocative...image-rich... The distinctive environments of disparate islands, interwoven with alternately romantic and horrific flashbacks, create a beautiful, ultimately painful story as haunting as its settings. Gifted at evoking places in the past, Greenway is at her most poignant in moments when outsiders and natives, from hot climates and cold, come face to face, attempting to connect across geographic, cultural, emotional, and psychological divides
Publishers Weekly


A visit from a wartime companion's daughter stirs up unwelcome memories for an embittered ornithologist in this follow-up to Greenway's...White Ghost Girls (2006).... Readers who don't mind the novel's leisurely pace and brooding tone will appreciate Greenway's limpid, poetic prose; her richly nuanced portraits of a nicely varied cast of characters.... Sensitive and finely written.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions

1. The anchor of The Bird Skinner is the title figure, Jim. What makes this misanthropic man an endearing character? Why do the other characters care about him?

2. Why is Jim so resistant to Cadillac’s arrival? What are his excuses? Are they understandable?

3. Discuss how Jim has set himself apart throughout his life. In what ways has he always been an outcast and recluse, from childhood through old age?

4. With what curse does Jim’s grandfather haunt him? How does this curse manifest in Jim’s relationship with Fergus?

5. Despite Jim’s flaws as a father, Fergus cares for and looks after him. Talk about how their roles as father and son change throughout the story.

6. Discuss Jim’s identification with Long John Silver in Treasure Island. How does his obsession with Old Providence reflect his self-image as a gruff, one-legged pirate?

7. What do Jim’s memories reveal about Helen? How does her death relate to his memories of war, and to his posttraumatic stress? Helen’s story is revealed late in the book. Why might this be the case, and is it effective?

8. Is the end inevitable? Do the demise of Helen and Jim’s thoughts about Papa Hemingway foreshadow the conclusion?

9. After the sailing catastrophe, when Jim falls ill, he is sent to Cumberland Island to recover. As an old man “he sees now how his life followed a distinct trajectory, veering ever south from the islands of the Penobscot, down to Georgia, out into the Caribbean, across to Indochina, finally landing him on the shores of the equatorial Pacific” (p. 213). What has island life offered Jim? How did it lead him to and enable his work? Did the island of Manhattan offer similar opportunities?

10. In the Solomon Islands, the field hospital surgeon is overwhelmed by a new epidemic: “‘Some fifty to a hundred mental cases a day.’ Panic, fear, and collapse had swept through the troops as virulently as malaria or dysentery … ‘War neurosis is the current diagnosis’” (p. 186). Is “neurosis” an understandable response to war?

11. Consider the following passage: “Normalized abnormality is how Dr. Harding diagnoses Jim … Actions that seem abhorrent and even criminal to those still living a civilized life become the norm in war … a certain callousness or savagery is … what a man needs to survive here” (p. 189). Does this justify Jim’s behavior toward the dead Japanese soldiers? What light does the Solomon Island tradition of headhunting throw on his actions?

12. Discuss the ways that Cadillac provides Fergus with the warmth and support that he lacked from his father. What are the similarities between his memories of his mother and his experiences with Cadillac?

13. How does Cadillac’s upbringing in the Solomon Islands influence her ambition, her confidence, and her good temperament? In what ways did her childhood lead her to medical studies?

14. Jim was an enigma to his colleagues at the museum. What do Michael and Laina learn about him through Michael’s assignment?

15. Greenway’s keen eye and knack for description evokes a plenitude of vivid scenaries. What are some of the most memorable scenes and images?
(Questions by Barbara Putnam; issued by the publisher.)

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Birds of a Lesser Paradise: Stories
Megan Mayhew Bergman, 2012
Scribner
240 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781451643350


Summary
A heartwarming and hugely appealing debut story collection that explores the way our choices and relationships are shaped by the menace and beauty of the natural world.

Megan Mayhew Bergman’s twelve stories capture the surprising moments when the pull of our biology becomes evident, when love or fear collide with good sense, or when our attachment to an animal or wild place can’t be denied.

In “Housewifely Arts,” a single mother and her son drive hours to track down an African Gray Parrot that can mimic her deceased mother’s voice. A population control activist faces the ultimate conflict between her loyalty to the environment and her maternal desire in “Yesterday’s Whales.” And in the title story, a lonely naturalist allows an attractive stranger to lead her and her aging father on a hunt for an elusive woodpecker.

As intelligent as they are moving, the stories in Birds of a Lesser Paradise are alive with emotion, wit, and insight into the impressive power that nature has over all of us. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Gaffney, South Carolina, USA
• Raised—Rocky Mount, North Carolina
• Education—B.A., Wake Forest University;
   graduate degrees, Duke University, Bennington
   College
• Currently—lives in Shaftsbury, Vermont


Megan Mayhew Bergman was raised in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. She now lives on a small farm in Shaftsbury, Vermont with her veterinarian husband Bo, two daughters, four dogs, four cats, two goats, a horse, and a handful of chickens. In November 2010, Megan was elected Justice of the Peace for the town of Shaftsbury. She also teaches literature at Bennington College.

Megan graduated from Wake Forest University, and completed graduate degrees at Duke University and Bennington College. She was a fiction scholar at Breadloaf and received a fellowship from the Millay Colony for the Arts in November 2007.

Birds of a Lesser Paradise, her first collection of stories, was published in 2012. She has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and her work has appeared in the New York Times, Best American Short Stories 2011, New Stories from the South 2010, Oxford American, Narrative, Ploughshares, One Story, and elsewhere. (From the author's website.)

Book Reviews
In complicated ways, creatures great and small affect the lives of human characters, who treat the animals' ailments, track them in the wild or adopt them as members of the family…We want stories to stir our desires. We also want them to lead us to places we don't recognize and build us a temporary residence there. Bergman provides alluring glimpses into the strangeness, the ruthlessness, of the animal kingdom.
Polly Rosenwaike - New York Times Book Review


Megan Mayhew Bergman’s collection of stories contains all of the elements that, it could be said, make up the very best in short fiction: each story is beautiful, full of palpable pain or joy--sometimes both--all loosely connected and based on the types of figures we’ve all known in our lives. But what sets this collection of stories apart is that each sentence feels sturdily crafted, each ending feels satisfying in a way short fiction rarely does. Mayhew Bergman does something exceptional with Birds of a Lesser Paradise--she quickly constructs a world filled with animals and nature and family who hate and love and mostly need one another--and it feels complete. —Alexandra Foster (Amazon Best Book of the Month)
Amazon Reviews


Bergman’s stellar debut is set among the dense forests and swamps of her native North Carolina and rooted firmly in a crumbling and economically troubled post-crash America. These 12 short stories, all but two of which were published in journals like One Story, Ploughshares, and Narrative (and anthologized in the Best American and New Stories from the South series), may be tethered to familiar Southern gothic tropes, but Bergman deftly sidesteps cliche and sentimentality, using honest autobiographical moments to make her work unique.
Publishers Weekly


Readers will be shocked, amazed, and always entertained by the work of this accomplished writer of short fiction.
Booklist


From a young Southern writer of note, a top-notch debut collection of stories, most of them revolving around motherhood, animals and conflicting loyalties.... The collection’s second half doesn’t quite measure up to the level of the first, but that’s a minor flaw in a book that deserves big praise. The beginning, one suspects, of a fine career.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. How much of a role does nature play in the lives of the heroines of Mayhew Bergman’s stories? How do their relationships with the natural world affect their decisions?

2. Whether it is an African Gray parrot or a lemur, animals are central to each of these stories. How do the characters identify with or distinguish themselves from animals? Do any of the characters share certain qualities with the animals described?

3. In “Housewifely Arts,” what did her mother’s parrot represent to the narrator while her mother was still alive? How did the parrot’s importance change after her mother passed away?

4. How did you react to the veterinarian husband in “The Cow That Milked Herself” examining his pregnant wife in the same way he examines animals? Do you think his clinical take on his wife’s pregnancy reveals any universal truths about motherhood?

5. “For centuries people had used the swamp to hide from their problems” (41), says the narrator of the title story. Does Mae use the swamp to hide from her own problems? If so, how? How does her father’s scare in the swamp change her priorities?

6. Lila feels ugly and damaged after her face is disfigured in “Saving Face,” and goes to great lengths to isolate herself. How do you think her experience with Romulus and the sickly calf will change her? Can she reclaim the person who she was, despite her new challenges?

7. Lauren, the population control activist in “Yesterday’s Whales,” has a crisis of faith when she becomes pregnant. Have you ever experienced an event that’s challenged your long-held convictions? Is there any way to reconcile two wildly different points of view?

8. Do you think the narrator of “Another Story She Won’t Believe” realizes the mess she’s made? What do you think propelled her to self-destruct? Do you think her treatment of the lemurs represents an insurmountable character flaw?

9. What does it take to forgive yourself after an act of negligence? What kind of mother do you think the narrator of “The Urban Coop” will turn out to be, if she can become pregnant?

10. “My mother once told me: Never underestimate avoidance as an effective coping mechanism,” says the narrator of “The Right Company” (146). Is her retreat to the small Southern town of Abbet’s Cove an effective way to deal with the collapse of her marriage? When she tries to free Mussolini’s dog, the animal refuses to make an escape. What does this juxtaposition say about the narrator’s circumstances?

11. In “Night Hunting,” a young girl must come to terms with her mother’s declining health. How does her walk through the cold Vermont night force her to confront her fears? Do the ever-threatening coyotes represent a more primal danger than her mother’s cancer?

12. Could a hunter and an animal lover ever have a functional relationship? Do you think the woman in “Every Vein a Tooth” uses her relationship with animals to avoid the messiness of human intimacy? Or does her extreme devotion to the animals she rescues come from a purer, more optimistic place?

13. “The Artificial Heart” is the only story in Birds of a Lesser Paradise that’s set in the future. How do you think it fits in with the rest of the stories in the collection? Do you think it’s a natural impulse to want to prolong life, even if the quality of that life becomes less than ideal? Or do we become lesser versions of ourselves if we try to cheat death?

14. The narrator of “The Two-Thousand Dollar Sock” is a fighter, as is her husband, and ultimately her dog, Vito, who attacks a bear to protect the family. Do you think humans have a similar compulsion to fight and defend?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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Birds Without Wings
Louis de Bernieres, 2004
Knopf Doubleday
576 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781400079322


Summary
In his first novel since Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres creates a world, populates it with characters as real as our best friends, and launches it into the maelstrom of twentieth-century history.

The setting is a small village in southwestern Anatolia in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire. Everyone there speaks Turkish, though they write it in Greek letters. It’s a place that has room for a professional blasphemer; where a brokenhearted aga finds solace in the arms of a Circassian courtesan who isn’t Circassian at all; where a beautiful Christian girl named Philothei is engaged to a Muslim boy named Ibrahim.

But all of this will change when Turkey enters the modern world. Epic in sweep, intoxicating in its sensual detail, Birds Without Wings is an enchantment. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—December 8, 1954
• Where—London
• Education—Bradfield College; Victoria University of
   Manchester; University of London
• Awards—Commonwealth Writers Prize, 1994.
• Currently—London

Louis de Bernieres is a British novelist most famous for his fourth novel, Captain Corelli's Mandolin. In 1993 de Bernières was selected as one of the "20 Best of Young British Novelists", part of a promotion in Granta magazine. Captain Corelli's Mandolin was published in the following year, winning the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book. It was also shortlisted for the 1994 Sunday Express Book of the Year. It has been translated into over 11 languages and is an international bestseller.

In 2008 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in the Arts by the De Montfort University in Leicester, which he had previously attended when it was known as Leicester Polytechnic.

De Bernières-Smart was born near Woolwich and grew up in Surrey, the first part of his surname being inherited from a French Huguenot forefather. He was educated at Bradfield College and joined the army when he was 18, but left after four months of service at Sandhurst. He attended the Victoria University of Manchester and the Institute of Education, University of London.

Before he began to write full-time he held a wide variety of jobs, including being a mechanic, a motorcycle messenger and an English teacher in Colombia. He now lives near Bungay in Suffolk with his partner, Cathy and two children, Robin and Sophie. De Bernières is an avid musician. He plays the flute, mandolin, clarinet and guitar, though considers himself an “enthusiastic but badly-educated and erratic” amateur. His literary work often references music and composers he admires, such as the guitar works of Villa-Lobos and Antonio Lauro in the Latin American trilogy, and the mandolin works of Vivaldi and Hummel in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.

Books
Latin American trilogy
It was his experiences in Colombia (as well as the influence of writer Gabriel García Márquez, describing himself as a "Marquez parasite") that, he says, profoundly influenced his first three novels, The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts (1990), Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord (1991) and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman (1992).

Captain Corelli's Mandolin
De Bernieres' most famous book is his fourth, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, in which the eponymous hero is an Italian soldier who is part of the occupying force on a Greek island during the Second World War. In the US it was originally published as Corelli's Mandolin.

In 2001, the book was turned into a film. De Bernieres strongly disapproved of the film version, commenting, "It would be impossible for a parent to be happy about its baby's ears being put on backwards." He does however state that it has redeeming qualities, and particularly likes the soundtrack.

Since the release of the book and the movie, Cephalonia (the island on which the book is set) has become a major tourist destination; and as a result the tourist industry on the island has begun to capitalise on the book's name. Of this, de Bernieres said: "I was very displeased to see that a bar in Agia Efimia has abandoned its perfectly good Greek name and renamed itself Captain Corelli's, and I dread the idea that sooner or later there might be Captain Corelli Tours, or Pelagia Apartments."

Red Dog
His book Red Dog (2001) was inspired by a statue of a dog he saw during a visit to the Pilbara region of Western Australia and has been filmed in 2011.

Birds Without Wings
Set in Turkey this 2004 novel portrays the people in a small village toward the end of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of Kemal Atatürk, and the outbreak of the First World War.

A Partisan's Daughter
His 7th novel, published in 2008 tells of the relationship between a young Yugoslavian woman and a middle-aged British man in the 1970s, set in London.

Notwithstanding
Published in 2009, Notwithstanding is a collection of short stories revolving around a fictional English village, Notwithstanding, and its eccentric inhabitants. Many of the stories were published separately earlier in de Bernieres's career and are based on the village where he grew up, Wormley, Surrey, and he muses whether this is, or is no longer, the rural idyll. The author reflects in the Afterword:

I realised that I had set so many of my novels and stories abroad, because custom had prevented me from seeing how exotic my own country is. Britain really is an immense lunatic asylum. That is one of the things that distinguishes us among the nations...We are rigid and formal in some ways, but we believe in the right to eccentricity, as long as the eccentricities are large enough...Woe betide you if you hold your knife incorrectly, but good luck to you if you wear a loincloth and live up a tree.

(Author bio adapted from Wikipedia.)

Book Reviews
In his compassionate portrayal of simple people struggling against sweeping historical forces and his vivid descriptions of the cruelties of war, de Bernieres has reached heights that few modern novelists ever attempt. While Birds Without Wings can be confusing and meandering at times, it offers a thrilling ride through a whirlwind of history that changed forever a pivotal part of our world.
Nicholas Gage - Washington Post

The prose is gorgeous.... Everyone in this cast of characters is someone memorable, and their lives and fates intertwine to make a marvelously engaging story of a village.
Chicago Tribune

De Bernieres is at his finest when he allows us to experience the hardships and horrors through the lives of the villagers. He writes movingly of the battle of Gallipoli from the Turkish point of view, and the brutal, dehumanizing conditions of trench warfare.
Seattle Times

A sweeping account of the rise of modern Turkey and the last days of the Ottoman Empire. In an intensely personal way, [de Bernieres] shows how these historic changes affected the inhabitants of Eskibahce...and in a more global way...how misplaced imperial aspirations and gratuitous war can devastate ordinary people.
Newsday

“Destiny caresses the few, but molests the many,” a proverb-prone narrator reflects as he begins the story of Eskibahce, a small town in Anatolia, and of its inhabitants’ fate in the turmoil of the early twentieth century. After generations of cheerful intermingling, the town’s Muslim Turks, Christian Greeks, and Armenians are divided by the First World War and then by the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. De Bernières gamely tries to illustrate the human cost—a complex series of migrations and persecutions—through a cast of endearing, folksy characters. He interleaves the narratives with the biography of Kemal Ataturk. But history, in this case, may be too vast for his approach; despite many affecting moments, both the big picture and the small stories are lost in an overwhelming sprawl.
The New Yorker


It's been nearly a decade since Corelli's Mandolin became a word-of-mouth bestseller (and then a major feature film), and devotees will eagerly dig into de Bernieres' sweeping historical follow-up. This time the setting is the small Anatolian town of Eskibah e, in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire. The large cast of characters of intermixed Turkish, Greek and Armenian descent includes breathtakingly lovely Philothei, a Christian girl, and her beloved Ibrahim, the childhood friend and Muslim to whom she is betrothed. The narrative immediately sets up Philothei's death and Ibrahim's madness as the focal tragedy caused by the sweep of history-but this is a bit of a red herring. Various first-person voices alternate in brief chapters with an authorial perspective that details the interactions of the town's residents as the region is torn apart by war; a parallel set of chapters follows the life of Kemal Ataterk, who established Turkey as a modern, secular country. The necessary historical information can be tedious, and stilted prose renders some key characters (like Philothei) one-dimensional. But when de Bernieres relaxes his grip on the grand sweep of history—as he does with the lively and affecting anecdotes involving the Muslim landlord Rustem Bey and his wife and mistress—the results resonate with the very personal consequences that large-scale change can effect. Though some readers may balk at the novel's sheer heft, the reward is an effective and moving portrayal of a way of life—and lives—that might, if not for Bernieres's careful exposition and imagination, be lost to memory forever.
Publishers Weekly


In the ten years since his international best seller Corelli's Mandolin, English novelist de Bernieres has truly steeped himself in the culture and history of southwestern Turkey. The result is an absorbing, polyvocal epic centered on a charming coastal Anatolian village where religious and ethnic harmony is shattered by World War I and the subsequent internecine slaughter during which Ottomans become Turks; Turkish-speaking Greek Orthodox Christians become forced exiles, replaced by Greek-speaking Muslims from Crete; and Armenians become victims. This novel emphasizes the brutalities and stupidities of modern warfare (notably at the battle of Gallipoli) even more emphatically than de Berni res's magic realist debut, The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts. About a dozen characters tell their quasi-picaresque stories in short chapters interpolated by an amusing, highly anecdotal sketch of the brilliant career of Mustapha Kemal, later called Atat rk, founder of the modern Turkish nation, who, in abolishing the fez "becomes the only dictator in the history of the world with a profound grasp of the semiotics of headwear." Vivid characterization, wry humor, believable bawdiness, pathos, and trenchant observations of the perils of empire and nation building make this a strongly recommended selection for all historical fiction collections. —Mark Andr Singer, Mechanics' Inst. Lib., San Francisco
Library Journal


The popular British author's first since the huge international success of Corelli's Mandolin (1994) is an epic chronicle of the making of modern Turkey. And it's the story of the destruction of an ethnically mixed population (including Greek, Armenian, and Turkish Christians and Muslims) who had coexisted harmoniously until the militant nationalism of warrior-politician Mustafa Kemal, a.k.a. "Ataturk" (whose history is nestled among several brother narratives), triggered wholesale atrocities and mass deportations. The novel ranges from the late-19th-century Ottoman Empire to the early 1920s and the memories of those who survive beyond them, and is centered in the village of Eskibahce in southwestern Anatolia. The lack of a central plot, frustrating in itself, is somewhat assuaged by the varied, colorful voices of de Bernieres' several narrators. Prominent among them are stoical Iskander the Potter, a repository of indigenous folklore and wisdom; impossibly beautiful Greek girl Philothei, whose thwarted love for Muslim goatherd Ibrahim forms a paradigm for their cultures' struggles; wealthy merchant Rustum Bey, who kills his faithless wife Tamara's lover and consigns her to public stoning, before embarking on a voyage to Istanbul that culminates in a complex relationship with his Circassian mistress Leyla; and Iskander's son Karavatuk, who forms an unlikely friendship with Philothei's brother Mehmetcik, and later narrates an enthralling (if overlong) account of his wartime experiences, notably the historic carnage of Gallipoli. Birds Without Wings also features beguiling interpolated stories, notably that of Yusuf the Tall, who commands his son to kill his promiscuous daughter, then declares himself a murderer. Unfortunately, it also contains numerous passages of authorial moralizing about "nationalism and religion...[and the] evil..." they produce, as well as interminable variations on the metaphors of men as wingless birds and birds as frail, defenseless victims. It would be foolish to deny that there are great things herein, but their author's laboriously shouldered agenda goes a long way toward undermining them. Enormously readable, intermittently brilliant, honorably conceived and felt—and very deeply flawed.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions 
1. Why has Louis de Bernières chosen Birds Without Wings as his title? What actual and symbolic roles do birds play in the book? What does Karatavuk mean when he writes at the end of the novel, “We were birds without wings.... Because we cannot fly we are condemned to do things that do not agree with us” [p. 550–551]?

2. The setting of Birds Without Wings is an early twentieth-century Turkish village. How, despite its distant setting, does the novel mirror the contemporary world? In what way is the world of the novel vastly different from the world today?

3. In his prologue, Iskander the Potter says that he misses the Christians after they were removed from Eskibahçe: “Without them our life has less variety, and we are forgetting how to look at others and see ourselves” [p. 7]. Why does he feel that the presence of “others” allowed the villagers to see themselves? Why is the loss of variety so important? Why were so many different kinds of people able to live together in Eskibahçe so peacefully?

4. What makes Eskibahçe such a marvelously colorful village? Who are some of its most eccentric and engaging characters? How does the village change over the course of the novel?

5. The novel vividly describes the nationalist fervor that swept the world in the early twentieth century: “Serbia for the Serbs, Bulgaria for the Bulgarians, Greece for the Greeks, Turks and Jews out!” [p. 16] What causes these feelings? What are their ultimate consequences?

6. After Ayse and Polyxeni convince the reluctant Daskalos Leonidas to write a message in tears on the wings of a dove,which they hope will fly to Polyxeni’s dead mother, Ayse exclaims, “It’s incredible! A man with that much education, and he didn’t even know about how to get a message to the dead” [p. 77]. What does this scene suggest about the gulf between traditional and modern ways of understanding the world?

7. On the way to Smyrna, Iskander prefaces his story by saying, “The thing about stories is that they are like bindweeds that have to wind round and round and creep all over the place before they get to the top of the pole” [p. 128]. Is what Iskander says here true of the novel itself? How does the story line “creep all over the place”?

8. What kind of man is Mustafa Kemal? How does he achieve his great military success? What are the ultimate consequences of his actions?

9. Leyla tells Rustem Bey that the women in town are saying he is a bad master because he doesn’t beat her [p. 228]. What does this passage suggest about the relationship between women and men in the novel? What roles are women expected to play? In what ways are they oppressed by their culture?

10. What are the most horrific aspects of war as they are described in Birds Without Wings? What are its greatest cruelties? What surprising acts of compassion do the soldiers perform for one another and even for their enemies? How does war affect the village of Eskibahçe?

11. Why does de Bernières use different narrators and different points of view in the novel? Does this multiplicity of voices mirror some of the novel’s main themes?

12. What is the significance of the relationships between Philothei and Ibrahim and between Karatavuk and Mehmetçik? Why are these young people so drawn to each other despite their religious differences?

13. Can Birds Without Wings be read as a cautionary tale for our own times? What does the novel say about the larger themes of love and war, revenge and forgiveness, both toward oneself and others?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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The Birth House 
Ami McKay, 2006
HarperCollins
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780061135873 


Summary 
The Birth House is the story of Dora Rare, the first daughter to be born in five generations of Rares. As a child in an isolated village in Nova Scotia, she is drawn to Miss Babineau, an outspoken Acadian midwife with a gift for healing. Dora becomes Miss B.’s apprentice, and together they help the women of Scots Bay through infertility, difficult labours, breech births, unwanted pregnancies and even unfulfilling sex lives.

Filled with details as compelling as they are surprising, The Birth House is an unforgettable tale of the struggles women have faced to have control of their own bodies and to keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio 
• Birth— N/A
• Where—Indiana, USA
• Education—Indiana State University
• Awards—3 CBA Libris Awards; nominated for Int'l. IMPAC
   Dublin Literary Award
• Currently—lives in the Bay of Funday, Canada


Ami McKay's work has aired on CBC radio's Maritime Magazine, This Morning, OutFront, and The Sunday Edition. Her documentary, Daughter of Family G, won an Excellence in Journalism Meallion at the 2003 Atlantic Journalism Awards. When she moved with her family to Scots Bay, Nova Scotia, she learned that their new home was once known as the birth house. (From the publisher.)

Book Reviews 
The Birth House is a poignant, compassionate, bittersweet and nostalgic look at early 20th-century Nova Scotia…. Reading McKay’s novel is like dipping into a saner, more intimate, past; a past that’s long gone…. McKay is not only a new author to note, but one to look forward to with anticipation.
National Post (Canada)


From the beginning of Ami McKay’s debut novel, The Birth House, we know we’re in for a bit of magic…. The Birth House is compelling and lively, beautifully conjuring a close-knit community and reminding us, as Dora notes, that the miracle happens not in birth but in the love that follows.
Globe and Mail (Canada)


The Birth House is filled with charming detail.… McKay has a quiet and lyrical style that suits her subject.… [It is] a story of individual human tenderness and endurance…. McKay is clearly a talented writer with a subtle sense of story, one that readers will look forward to hearing from, again and again.
Montreal Gazette


An astonishing debut, a book that will break your heart and take your breath away.
Ottawa Citizen


Canadian radio-journalist McKay was unable to ferret out the life story of late midwife Rebecca Steele, who operated a Nova Scotia birthing center out of McKay's Bay of Fundy house in the early 20th century; the result of her unsatisfied curiousity is this debut novel. McKay writes in the voice of shipbuilder's daughter, Dora Rare, "the only daughter in five generations of Rares," who as a girl befriends the elderly and estranged Marie Babineau, long the local midwife (or traiteur), who claims to have marked Dora out from birth as her successor. After initial reluctance and increasingly intensive training, 17-year-old Dora moves in with Marie; on the eve of Dora's marriage to Archer Bigelow, Marie disappears, leaving Dora her practice. A difficult marriage, many difficult births, a patient's baby thrust on her to raise without warning and other crises (including WWI and the introduction of "clinical" birthing methods) ensue. Period advertisments, journal entries and letters to and from various characters give Dora's voice context. The book is more about the texture of Dora's life than plot, and McKay handles the proceedings with winning, unsentimental care.
Publishers Weekly


In this dazzling first novel, McKay takes her readers to an isolated rural community in Nova Scotia, where the men fish and log, and the women do everything in between. At 17, Dara Rare is taken under the wing of the aged midwife, Acadian Marie Babineau. Dara loves Marie fiercely and learns her wisdom and craft accordingly. Although Marie and Dara are occasionally viewed as witches, the local women rely on them until the arrival of Dr. Gilbert Thomas. He does his best to turn the local women away from traditional midwifery to his modern maternity hospital. The plotting leaves a lot to be desired, but McKay is such a wonderful storyteller with a strong sense of place and time that all is forgiven. The Indiana-born author now lives in Nova Scotia; this novel, a book club natural, has been a best seller in Canada since its publication early this spring and deserves the same status here. Highly recommended for all public libraries. —Mary Margaret Benson, Linfield Coll. Lib., McMinnville, OR.
Library Journal


Men may be dogs and romance a joke, but for two country midwives in early-20th-century Canada, there's always the joy of "catching" babies. Dora Rare is an anomaly, the first female to be born into the family for five generations. She and her six siblings, all boys, bunk down together in their home in Scots Bay, Nova Scotia, until her impoverished shipbuilder father sends her to live with Miss B., an elderly Cajun midwife. Dora, 17 and never been kissed, is soon assisting with a delivery, and Miss B. designates the young woman her successor. The midwife is not without enemies. It's 1917, and the money-grubbing Dr. Thomas has established his maternity home nearby, hoping to drive Miss B. out of business. But the old lady forces the doctor to admit he has yet to deliver his first baby. Meanwhile, a marriage is being arranged for Dora, to ladies' man Archer, son of the wealthy Widow Bigelow. Dora, who has low expectations ("A love affair in Scots Bay would just look foolish"), goes along. Archer drinks heavily, abuses her and disappears three months after the wedding. But Dora is coming into her own as a midwife (Miss B. has vanished). When Brady Ketch, the community's most vicious husband and father, dumps his battered 13-year-old daughter on her doorstep, Dora can't save the young mother, but delivers a healthy baby, aided by a crow's feather and some pepper. This is grim material, but McKay has a light touch, and narrator Dora goes her own sweet way, adopting the baby and sighing with relief when she learns Archer has drowned. She's not afraid to bar Dr. Thomas with a pitchfork when he tries to interrupt a delivery, or to eventually live with Archer's kindly brother Hart as his lover, not his wife. This unclassifiable debut was a bestseller in Canada, helped no doubt by its challenging vision of old-fashioned midwives as feminist pioneers.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions 
1. Early in the novel, Dora’s Aunt Fran quotes from The Science of a New Life: "It is almost impossible for a woman to read the current 'love and murder' literature of the day and have pure thoughts, and when the reading of such literature is associated with idleness—as it almost invariably is—a woman’s thoughts and feelings cannot be other than impure and sensual." How does reading shape Dora’s view of the world? How does her love of books play into her relationship with her father? With Miss B.? With Archer?

2. Dora makes the following observation after attending her first birth: "How a mother comes to love her child, her caring at all for this thing that’s made her heavy, lopsided and slow, this thing that made her wish she were dead … that’s the miracle." What do you think she meant? Do you feel this is true?

3. Folklore, home remedies, women’s traditions, herbalism, and a belief in the divine feminine are all part of Miss B.’s way of life. She is determined to pass these things along to Dora. Does Dora try hard enough to preserve them? Should she let them go? In your own life, what traditions matter most to you (and why)?

4. According to medical texts and advertisements of the early 1900’s, women who were prone to "emotional behaviour" were often labeled as hysterical. A poster in Dr. Thomas's office reads:

Feeling Anxious? Tired? Weepy? You are not alone. The modernization of society has brought about an increase in neurasthenia, greensickness and hysteria. Symptoms of Neurasthenia include: Weeping, melancholy, anxiety, irritability, depression, outrageousness, insomnia, mental and physical weariness, idle talking, sudden fevers, morbid fears, frequent titillation, forgetfulness, palpitations of the heart, headaches, writing cramps, mental confusion, constant worry and fear of impending insanity. Talk to your physician. He can help.

Do we see this kind of questioning today? Are women's emotions still targeted by advertisers?

5. When Archer asks Dora to marry him, he tells her that "love takes care of herself." Dora chooses to say yes. What does Dora’s decision say about her situation and station in life? Do you think she should have chosen to follow in Miss B.'s footsteps instead?

6. Through a visit to Dr. Thomas’s office, Dora discovers that women’s sexual pleasure (specifically orgasm) is considered to be a medical function (or dysfunction). Ads of the time, such as the one for the White Cross Vibrator, reinforced this notion. How does Dora come to terms with these ideas? What kinds of taboos, if any, surround women’s sexuality today?

7. Miss B. says this about Mabel’s home birth: “The scent of a good groanin’ cake, a cuppa hot Mother’s Tea and time. Most times that’s all a mama needs on the day her baby comes.” She later says this to Dr. Thomas: "Science don’t know kindness. It don’t know kindness from cabbage." Dr. Thomas replies, "Science is neither kind nor unkind, Miss Babineau. Science is exact." How do these statements show the differences between Miss B. and Dr. Thomas? In moving the birthing experience from homes and birth houses to hospitals, what have women lost? What have they gained?

8. After Dora discovers Aunt Fran’s affair with Reverend Norton, she writes: "He’s been seeing her. He's noticed her so much that now she's his." Why do you think Dora decided to keep it a secret? Should she have told someone? What would you have done?

9. Dora says this about her mother: "Everything I’ve learned from Mother, every bit of her truth, has been said while her hands were moving." What does this say about her relationship with her mother? Is this kind of communication still an important part of women’s lives?

10. The author includes ephemera from Dora's life (invitations, news articles, sections from The Willow Book, folk tales, advertisements, etc.) throughout the novel. How did this affect your reading experience? Do you have a favourite from them?

11. There are many mentions of birthing folklore and techniques, from groaning cake to mother's tea, from Miss B. turning Ginny's breech baby to quilling. What wives' tales about pregnancy and birth have you heard? Are there any that you'd swear by?

12. The sisters of the Occasional Knitters Society support Dora throughout the book (keeping the secret of Wrennie's birth, taking care of Wrennie when Dora goes to Boston, meeting together for conversations and sisterhood). What makes their friendship so strong? Do you think friendships like that are still possible today?

13. Mrs. Ketch comes to her house for help, Dora feels conflicted. Given Dora's history with Mrs. Ketch, why do you think she chose to assist her in helping her "lose" her baby?

14. Maxine is unlike anyone Dora has ever met before. Boston is very different from Scots Bay. What do Maxine and Boston bring to Dora's life? Have you ever made a change in location or met someone who immediately changed your life?

15. In both the prologue and the epilogue, we see how, over time, life has changed in Scots Bay. Other towns in other places have changed too—some have disappeared forever. What do you think we have gained with these changes? What have we lost?

16. After Dora and Hart become lovers, he talks of marriage and she refuses. Why do you think she is so determined not to marry him?

17. In the epilogue, Dora reflects on her past and what the birth house has meant to her and to the community. There is a sense of change, but also a sense of traditions preserved and lessons learned. What thoughts will you take away from The Birth House?
(Questions issued by publishers.)

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The Birth of Venus 
Sarah Dunant, 2003
Random House
416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780812968972


Summary
Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family's Florentine palazzo. A child of the Renaissance, with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the painter's abilities. But their burgeoning relationship is interrupted when Alessandra's parents arrange her marriage to a wealthy, much older man.

Meanwhile, Florence is changing, increasingly subject to the growing suppression imposed by the fundamentalist monk Savonarola, who is seizing religious and political control. Alessandra and her native city are caught between the Medici state, with its love of luxury, learning, and dazzling art, and the hellfire preaching and increasing violence of Savonarola's reactionary followers.

Played out against this turbulent backdrop, Alessandra's married life is a misery, except for the surprising freedom it allows her to pursue her powerful attraction to the young painter and his art. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—August 8, 1950
• Where—London, England, UK
• Education—B.A., Cambridge University
• Awards—Silver Dagger Award for Crime Fiction
• Currently—lives in London, England

Sarah Dunant is a writer, broadcaster and critic. She was a founding vice patron of the Orange Prize for women's fiction, sits on the editorial board of the Royal Academy magazine, and reviews for the Times, Guardian, and Independent on Sunday. She teaches creative writing at The Faber Academy in London and biennially at Washington University in St. Louis in its Renaissance studies course. She is also a creative writing fellow at Oxford Brookes University. She has two daughters and lives in London and Florence.

Early career
Dunant was born in London. She attended Godolphin and Latymer School and studied history at Newnham College, Cambridge, where she was heavily involved in theatre and the Footlights review. After a brief spell working for the BBC she spent much of her twenties traveling (Japan, India, Asia and Central and South America) before starting to write. Her first two novels, along with a BBC television series, were written with a friend. After this she went solo.

Since then she has written ten novels, three screenplays and edited two books of essays. She has worked in television and radio as a producer and presenter: most notably for BBC Television where for seven years (1989–1996) she presented the live nightly culture programme The Late Show. After that she presented the BBC Radio 3 radio programme Night Waves.

Books
Dunant's work ranges over a number of genres and eras. Her narratives are hard to categorise due to their inventive treatment of time and space, and a favoured device of hers is to run two or more plot strands concurrently, as she does in Mapping the Edge. A common concern running through her work is women's perceptions and points of view, with other themes included.

Her first eight novels were broadly written within a thriller form. Their setting was contemporary and allowed her to explore such themes such as the drug trade, surrogacy, terrorism, animals rights, cosmetic surgery and sexual violence.

Then in 2000 an extended visit to Florence rekindled her first love: History. The novels which followed—The Birth of Venus (2003), In the Company of the Courtesan (2006), and Sacred Hearts (2009) were extensively researched historical explorations of what it was like to be a woman within the Italian Renaissance. The trilogy looked at marriage, the culture of courtesans and the life of cloistered nuns. They were all international best sellers and were translated into over 30 languages.

Her 2013 novel Blood & Beauty centers on a depiction of Italy's Borgia dynasty. It sets out to offer a historically accurate vision of a family who have been much maligned by history. Dunant states in her afterword that she plans to write a second, concluding novel, about the family. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 9/22/2013.)

Book Reviews
Though The Birth of Venus has been described, for obvious reasons, as serpentine (and it cannot be denied that the plot is so sinuous it defies summary), the imaginative energy of the enterprise is clearly warmblooded, playful, even reckless—more feline than reptilian. Dunant puts me in mind of a well-fed, quick-witted house cat, crouched before the mouse hole of history. She's not that hungry, but she will pounce upon whatever emerges, just for the fun of chasing it all over the house.
Valerie Martin - New York Times


Though Savonarola threatens to destroy Florence, the reader is confident that the city will endure, though not unscathed—much like Alessandra herself. Things cannot go back to the way they were before, and Dunant has injected a kind of realpolitik into the genre, making it far more poignant and interesting.
David Liss - Washington Post


A beautifully written historical novel is always a pleasure, but one that also offers subtle and insightful parallels to events in our own century is a treasure. Sarah Dunant's The Birth of Venus belongs in the latter category.
Diedre Donahue - USA Today


Lorenzo de’ Medici has just died, Savonarola is busy consigning Florence to the flames, and Alessandra Cecchi, a plain, headstrong girl from a prosperous Florentine family, is about to be married off to a much older suitor (who secretly plans to use her to hide his passion for her brother). Alessandra, who loves to draw, is besotted with the young painter who has been hired to decorate the family chapel. Part feverish thriller, part historical romance, the story of the outspoken heroine’s sentimental education—a comprehensive curriculum including every conceivable transgression—sometimes comes off as a heady blend of Browning’s “My Last Duchess” and Anaïs Nin. But Dunant’s skill lies in combining these elements with a finely textured and pertinent depiction of a cultured citizenry in the grip of rampant fundamentalism.
New Yorker Magazine


In this arresting tale of art, love and betrayal in 15th-century Florence, the daughter of a wealthy cloth merchant seeks the freedom of marriage in order to paint, but finds that she may have bought her liberty at the cost of love and true fulfillment. Alessandra, 16, is tall, sharp-tongued and dauntingly clever. At first reluctant to agree to an arranged marriage, she changes her mind when she meets elegant 48-year-old Cristoforo, who is well-versed in art and literature. He promises to give her all the freedom she wants-and she finds out why on her wedding night. Her disappointment and frustration are soon overshadowed by the growing cloud of madness and violence hanging over Florence, nourished by the sermons of the fanatically pious Savonarola. As the wealthy purge their palazzos of "low" art and luxuries, Alessandra gives in to the dangerous attraction that draws her to a tormented young artist commissioned to paint her family's chapel. With details as rich as the brocade textiles that built Alessandra's family fortune, Dunant (Mapping the Edge; Transgressions; etc.) masterfully recreates Florence in the age of the original bonfire of the vanities. The novel moves to its climax as Savonarola's reign draws to a bloody close, with the final few chapters describing Alessandra's fate and hinting at the identity of her artist lover. While the story is rushed at the end, the author has a genius for peppering her narrative with little-known facts, and the deadpan dialogue lends a staccato verve to the swift-moving plot. Forget Baedecker and Vasari's Lives of the Artists. Dunant's vivid, gripping novel gives fresh life to a captivating age of glorious art and political turmoil. Dunant's foray into historical fiction (she is best known for her literary suspense novels) will inevitably be compared to Girl with a Pearl Earring. Chevalier readers will certainly enjoy the novel, though its meatier historical background and more robust prose style set it apart.
Publishers Weekly


The Birth of Venus is riveting historical fiction that skillfully weaves the tale of the fictional Alessandra Cecchi with Renaissance Florence, near the end of the 15th century. The book begins with the cleansing of Alessandra's corpse in a convent and the discovery of a snake tattoo on her body, then reverts to the first-person account of her life. The city is in turmoil, under the grip of the fundamentalist monk Savonarola. Alessandra yearns to paint and studies with a young painter her father has brought from the North. To be able to stay in Florence, she has an arranged marriage at the age of 15 to Cristoforo, a wealthy older man, who has a secret that impacts their relationship. Alessandra and Cristoforo witness the rise and fall of Savonarola, whose preaching about morals makes a huge impression, especially on men suspected of homosexuality. A fascinating story that brings the era alive for the listener; it adapts very well to the audio format and is competently and professionally read by Kathe Mazur. Highly recommended. —Mary Knapp, Madison P.L.
Library Journal


British author Dunant weaves everyone's favorite art history moments into a vivid tapestry of life on the Arno during the upheaval of the Renaissance. The postmortem ablutions of Sister Lucrezia reveal surprises. The breast cancer that was thought to have killed her was neither cancerous nor mammary, and her aged monastic corpse was lavishly decorated with a most vivid and decidedly impious serpent. How such things came to be are revealed in a retracing of the late nun's youth, flowering, and de-flowering following the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent. Fourth and favorite child of a prosperous silk manufacturer and his highly cultured wife, Alessandra Cecchi is far less conventionally attractive than her sister, but she's got her mother's brains and a powerful craving to make art. So, cursed with excessive wit and artistry, this young Florentine is highly vulnerable to the surly attractions of the painter her upwardly mobile father has brought home from the gray reaches of northern Europe to do up the family chapel. The nameless decorator, however, seems impervious to her gawky charms, and the possibility of a relationship is nipped in the bud by the sudden need of a much older family acquaintance to find a wife and get an heir. Alas, on her wedding night Alessandra learns in the most humiliating way how it came to be that her flamboyant brother Tomaso was such good friends with her new husband Cristoforo and how there will be none of the carnal pleasures of the garden-variety marriage. The charming and cultured Cristoforo has formed this unholy alliance to stay out of the clutches of Girolamo Savonarola's religious storm troopers. To the chagrin of all, the grisly wedding coupling fails to produce a child. Then, as the Dominican Taliban starts to squeeze the life from the Florentine Republic, Alessandra finds her way back to the family chapel and the very needy young genius. No real surprises in the romance department, but the depiction of Florence as Tehran under the Ayatollah is an eye-opener.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. Alessandra has the will and the talent to paint. She does not have the training or the social opportunity. How far does The Birth of Venus explain why, in the great roll call of artistic geniuses of the Renaissance, there are no names ofwomen?

2. The image of the serpent with a human head is a motif that runs through the novel in many different forms. What are its guises and how does its meaning shift as the novel progresses?

3. Both Alessandra and her mother in their own ways subvert and rebel against the world they are brought up in. Which one of them do you think is the happier or most fulfilled?

4. The only character in the novel who seems to have any real freedom is Erila, yet ironically she is a slave with no rights or apparent power. How is it that she can walk such an independent path when those around her are so trapped?

5. Lorenzo the Great dies early on into the novel, yet his spirit and that of his family, stalk the book both politically and culturally. What image do you get of him and the impact that the De Medici's had on Florence?

6. Alessandra's entire world is contained by her belief in God. Yet in the time she is writing there seems to be almost two different kinds of God, depending on whether you are a follower of the renaissance or of Savonarola. How does Alessandra see the difference between the two and how fairly do you think she judges them?

7. How far is Savonarola the villain of the novel?

8. How far is this a novel about a city as much as a character?

9. The novels contains many different kinds of love: intellectual, spiritual, sexual, maternal. Which moves you most and why?

10. Alessandro and her brother Tomaso are at odds with each other form the beginning of the novel. But how far should we trust Alessandra's judgement of him, given that they are in competition for the same man?

11. How much sympathy do you have for Cristoforo as a character and what kind of portrait of homosexual life in Florence do you get from his thoughts and actions?

12. Alessandra's marriage, though painful in some ways, is in other ways quite fulfilling, given the confines of the time. At a time when women were seen as so fundamentally inferior, do you think it would have been possible for them to have an equal relationship sexually and intellectually with men?

13. In 15th century there was also no word for depression, only melancholy, and no treatment. How different would suffering depression have been in time when all meaning was seen to stem from God? And why does the painter fall into this trap?
(Questions issued by publishers.)

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The Bishop at the Lake (A Blackie Ryan Mystery)
Andrew M. Greeley
St. Martin's Press
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780765355027


Summary
Matters of succession lead to attempted murder in the latest of Greeley’s popular mysteries.

Archbishop Malachi Nolan has designs on the Diocese of Chicago despite the fact the Most Reverend Blackwood Ryan, himself recently appointed an archbishop, is currently in line for the post. Assigned to keep watch on his rival, Blackie travels to the Nolan family estate in Grand Banks, where he soon finds himself immersed in an entirely different dynastic struggle.

Spike Nolan, founder of Aviation Electronics, isn’t even dead yet, but his children, grandchildren, and their respective spouses are already feuding over who will inherit control of the multimillion-dollar company. The only family member who doesn’t have a stake in the quarrel is the clerical Malachi... so why is he the one targeted by an unknown killer?

To get to the bottom of the mystery, Blackie will have to sort through the tangled family dynamics of this highly dysfunctional clan, as well as figure how out his fellow archbishop was nearly stung to death by hornets inside a locked room!. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—February 5, 1928
• Where—Oak Park, Illinois, USA
• Education—A.B., S.T.B.,* L.S.T.,** Mary of the Lake
   Seminary; M.A., Ph.D., University of Chicago.
• Currently—lives in the Chicago, Illinois area


The reverend Father Andrew M. Greeley is an Irish-American Roman Catholic priest, sociologist, journalist and best selling author.

Father Greeley is Professor of Sociology at the University of Arizona and is a Research Associate with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. He writes a weekly column for the Chicago Sun-Times and contributes regularly to the New York Times, the National Catholic Reporter, America, and Commonweal. He has given numerous interviews on radio and television.

After studies at Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago, he received an AB from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Chicago in 1950, a Bachelor of Sacred Theology (STB) in 1952, and a Licentiate of Sacred Theology (STL) in 1954, when he was ordained. From 1954 to 1964 he served as an assistant pastor at Christ the King parish in Chicago, during which time he studied sociology at the University of Chicago. He received a Master of Arts in 1961 and then a PhD in 1962. His doctoral dissertation dealt with the influence of religion on the career plans of 1961 college graduates.

At various times Greeley was a professor at the University of Arizona, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Chicago.

Father Greeley had many other honors and awards bestowed upon him, such as honorary degrees from the University of Arizona and Bard College, New York state, and the National University of Ireland in Galway. In 1981, Father Greeley received the F. Sadlier Dinger Award, which is presented each year by educational publisher William H. Sadlier, Inc. in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the ministry of religious education in America.

His fiction often deals with romances, including details of sexual encounters, typically written with underpinnings of a theology based on what theologian David Tracy calls the Catholic "analogical imagination", in which human love serves as a metaphor for the love of God for humankind. They reveal the author’s strong attachment to Irish culture: indeed, Greeley perhaps illustrates the Irish maxim that people from other countries of Irish descent are "More Irish than the Irish themselves". His major characters tend to be Irish-American Catholics from Chicago, and one example of this is John Blackwood "Blackie" Ryan, a mystery-solving clergyman (first priest, later auxiliary bishop, most recently Archbishop of Chicago), who is apparently one of Greeley's alter egos and who is sometimes compared with G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown.

Father Greeley's first work of fiction to become a major commercial success was The Cardinal Sins (1981). He then put out the Passover Trilogy: Thy Brother's Wife (1982), Ascent into Hell (1983), and Lord of the Dance (1984). After that, he wrote on average a minimum of two novels per year. In 1987 alone he produced four novels and two works of non-fiction. He labels himself as "a smart-aleck, in other words, and a glib smart-aleck who can be dangerously humorous and even pugnacious when someone tries to put him down". His literary output has been such that it has been said that he "has never had an unpublished thought."

At the height of the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal, Father Greeley wrote The Priestly Sins (2004), a novel about a young priest from the Plains States who is exiled to an insane asylum and then to an academic life because he reports abuse that he has witnessed. His book, The Making of the Pope (2005) was intended as a follow-up to his The Making of the Popes 1978. This was a first hand account of the coalition building process by which Joseph Ratzinger ascended to the papacy as Benedict XVI. In 1996, his novel White Smoke described the scenario of the election of a new Pope. The author has also dabbled in science fiction, writing the novels God Game and The Final Planet. His book entitled A Stupid, Unjust, and Criminal War: Iraq 2001–2007 (2007), evaluates and presents the logic of the rush to start the Iraqi War by the Bush administration and its consequences for the United States.

Income generated from the sale of his books has been used to fund many charitable organizations. For example, In 1986, Father Greeley established a $1 million Catholic inner-city School Fund, providing scholarships and financial support to schools in the Chicago Archdiocese with a minority student body of more than 50 percent. In 1984, he contributed a $1 million financial endowment to establish a chair in Roman Catholic Studies at the University of Chicago. He also funds an annual lecture series, "The Church in Society," at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois, from which he received his S.T.L. in 1954. He is pro-life but his political positions tend to agree mostly with those of the Democratic Party.

Father Greeley is an ardent supporter of the Chicago Bears, Bulls and the Cubs.

He suffered a fractured skull and left orbital bone near his eye in a fall on November 7, 2008 in Rosemont, Illinois, when his clothing got caught on the door of a taxi as it pulled away. He was hospitalized in critical condition, and recovered at home in the care of his family. (From Wikipedia.)

*   S.T.B. —Bachelor of Sacred Theology
**  L.S.T. —Licentiate of Sacred Theology

Book Reviews
In Greeley's winning sixth Blackie Ryan novel (after 2006's The Bishop in the Old Neighborhood), Ryan's boss, the archbishop of Chicago, sends Ryan to check up on Malachi Howard-Nolan, a fellow priest who's jockeying for a prestigious appointment. Blackie heads out to the compound where Nolan's extended family has gathered for a reunion and discovers that matters are both simpler and more complex than he'd imagined. Nolan turns out to be obnoxious and ambitious, but also lazy and incompetent, so his ecclesiastical aspirations aren't likely to come to much. When Nolan suffers a life-threatening attack of hornets, Blackie suspects someone in his rich, nutty family wishes him ill. There's also romance afoot: Blackie's strapping nephew finds himself attracted to Nolan's charming niece. A few chapters narrated by the nephew jar, but strong character development, snappy dialogue and a multilayered plot make this one of the better entries in the series.
Publishers Weekly


Blackie Ryan returns in another predictable but fun Chicago-based whodunit featuring the usual amalgamation of stereotypical Irish-American characters.... [A] puzzling locked-room mystery.... Nothing new here, but most Greeley fans won't want or expect anything beyond this comfortably familiar plot. —Margaret Flanagan
Booklist


Bishop Blackie confronts another locked-room mystery, this one with hornets. Chicago's coolest cleric is dispatched to posh Grand Beach, enclave of the rich and contentious Nolan clan, under orders to sniff around. The recent, possibly sneaky behavior of Archbishop Malachi Nolan, son of the progenitor, has piqued the interest of Sean Cardinal Cronin, Blackie's boss. Ever alert to the surge of others' ambition, the Cardinal is concerned about the precise shape of Malachi's. Opportunities for sniffing, however, vanish when Malachi is ferociously attacked. His whole family knows Malachi's unfortunate history with hornets, whose bites have led to severe allergic reactions. Someone has managed to introduce and unleash a swarm of them into the locked room in question, and the result is nearly lethal. Is it a case of attempted murder? Is the Pope Catholic? "Well, you better solve that locked-room mystery, or your perfect record will be ruined," the Cardinal enjoins Blackie, who solves it, of course—as will many, many readers, since it's not all that mysterious. Or interesting. As for the internecine war among the Nolans, here too the author has done better. As usual, Father Greeley serves up heaping helpings of the Irish goo (Irish Linen, etc.) that his audience has always found yummy.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for The Bishop at the Lake:

1. What is the reason Blackie's boss sends him to Grand Beach? Does the intrigue and plotting surrounding church politics surprise you?

2. What is wrong with this family! Describe the characters and dynamics of the Nolan family members, starting with Spike and his wife, Lady Anne, as well as their children and respective spouses and children. Who is your least favorite?

3. Everyone knows, of course, who the favorite is...but some claim that Margaret is too perfect? Agree or not?

3. What is the rivalry about between Margaret and her mother? Why has her mother worked to set the others against her own daughter?

4. Author Greeley establishes a contrast between two families —the Nolans and his own family, which includes his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew Joseph. Talk about the differences between the Nolans and Murphies.

5. Why does Blackie come to believe that Malachi Nolan is not much of a rival?

6. Greeley weaves questions of faith throughout his stories. Talk about the references in this novel to the Papal encyclical, God is Love. What does Greeley mean when he says that human passion is a sacrament reflecting God's love? And how does the meaning of forgiveness play out in this novel?

7. This is a "locked room" mystery. Were you puzzled about how the hornets were let loose—or who let them loose—in the closed room? Or was it obvious? What about the why?

8. Good mysteries usually have "red herrings"—false leads to throw both characters and readers off the scent. What are the red herrings in this novel—and how skillfully were they deployed? How susceptible were you to the misleading clues?

9. Were you satisfied by the way the mystery ended—did you find the outcome surprising or predictable? Was it a compelling story, one that kept you turning pages? Or did you find it difficult to become engaged?

10. Have you read other books in the Blackie Ryan series? If so, how does this one compare to the others? Is it fun to revisit the same characters, notably Blackie and his sister's family? If this is your first Blackie Ryan book, are you inspired to read others?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use the, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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Bitter Grounds 
Sandra Benitez, 1997
Macmillan Picador
464 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780312195410


Summary
Winner, 1998 American Book Award

In 1932 El Salvador, Elena de Contreras and her husband Ernesto live the luxurious life of the very wealthy: regular trips to Europe and the United States, vast amounts of property, several gorgeous homes. In sharp contrast to their privileged existence, however, are the lives of the coffee workers they employ, who know only the hardships of back-breaking labor and low wages.

Mercedes Prieto, a Pipil Indian, comes from such a back-ground. After losing her son and husband in the aftermath of a violent uprising against rich plantation owners, she flees with her daughter Jacinta to work in the household of Elena de Contreras. Their arrival sets in motion a spellbinding story that takes three generations to unfold, as the two families become inexorably intertwined and their private turmoil mirrors the upheaval of the world around them.

Rich in history, tradition, color, and drama, Bitter Grounds is at once poetic and unsentimental, a page-turning saga that satisfies and entertains to the very last drop. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1941
• Where—Washington, DC, USA
• Reared—in Mexico and El Salvador
• Education—B.A., M.A., Northeast Missouri State Univ. (USA)
• Awards—American Book Award
• Currently—lives in Edina, Minnesota, USA


Sandra Benitez was born in Washington, D.C., and spent her childhood and early adulthood in Mexico and El Salvador. She then moved to the United States and received both an under-graduate and master's degree from Northeast Missouri State University.

She published her first novel, A Place Where the Sea Remembers, when she was 52. She lives with her husband in Edina, Minnesota. (From the publisher.)

Book Reviews
Packs an emotional punch.... A compelling read.
Boston Globe


Grabs us at the most visceral level.... Benitez's clear writing and considerable imagination enable her to make the political personal, luminous, and even comic.
Ms Magazine


Centering on a letter that remains unopened for 26 years, Benitez's impressive saga follows the intertwined lives of three generations of Salvadoran women, the very rich and the very poor, friends and mothers and daughters, mistresses and servants and, finally, oppressors and victims and guerrillas. Their lives are played out against the backdrop of the ever-present radio soap-opera serial and the violence and corruption of the police state and civil war of 20th-century El Salvador. Benitez's prose is rich and fluid; one tastes and smells the world of Jacinta and Magda and their mothers and daughters. Like her first novel (A Place Where the Sea Remembers), this work is another welcome addition to the growing body of Latina literature. —Mary Margaret Benson, Linfield Coll. Lib., McMinnville, Ore.
Library Journal


A luminously rendered second novel from the author of A Place Where the Sea Remembers (1993). Here, memorable pairs of mothers and daughters, caught up in the violence of recent Salvadoran history, live, love, and die for their passions. Ben¡tez excels at capturing the textures of landscape, of class and period, and tells here a multigenera-tional saga shaped by politics but refreshingly free of polemic. Her upper-class characters are as fairly delineated as her peasants, as she tells the story of three generations of mothers and daughters whose lives intersect. She begins with the infamous massacre of 1932, when Indian peasants suspected of being communists were slaughtered in the countryside. Thirteen-year-old Jacinta and her mother, Mercedes Prieto, are the only survivors of the attack in which their home is burned and Mercedes's husband killed. The two struggle to survive. When Mercedes begins working for wealthy landowners Elena and Ernesto de Contreras, however, life improves. Elena, a more enlightened product of her class and times, has her own sadness: On the eve of daughter Magda's wedding, she discovers Cecilia, her best friend, in bed with Ernesto. Hurt and angry, she vows never to see Cecilia again, which of course has repercussions in a story that suffers from foreshadowing. As the country experiences coups and falling coffee prices, the women try to live normal lives but find it impossible. Jacinta's first love is killed for being a union supporter; Alma, her daughter by a married man, becomes a revolutionary and dies in a botched kidnapping; and Magda, who employs Jacinta and raises daughter Flor, along with Alma, loses her husband and son-in-law in the same kidnapping. Exile in Miami with a hint of a happy ending as the war heats up in the late '70s is the only option for Jacinta, Magda, and her family. A sometimes schematic but always vivid chronicle of strong women facing the challenges of living in sad and violent times.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions 
1. How do the generations change, in their attitudes, beliefs, aspirations? Consider the world events surrounding these characters during the span of the novel, from 1932 to 1977: How are outside forces (economic depression, war, worker rebellion, civil unrest) reflected in their daily lives?

2. What is the significance of "Los Dos," the daily radio soap opera—both its content and the rituals of its audience?

3. Coffee provides a way of life in El Salvador. What is its role in the lives of these characters, symbolically and literally?

4. Discuss examples of magic realism and their role in the story: do you think the departure from reality adds to or detracts from your belief in these events? Why do you think the author chose to include them? Other writers (Laura Esquivel, Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, to name a few) have also used this effect; if you've read their work, compare it to Bitter Grounds, or discuss if or why Latin American writing lends itself to magic realism. Do any North American writers try their hands at it?

5. Discuss some of the characters whose lives take dramatic and irreversible turns.

6. Bitter Grounds depicts the sharp differences between the lives of the rich and the poor. But the two classes also shared much in common. In what ways were they alike?

7. The poor turned to the left for help politically, the rich turned to the right, and this polarization eventually led to a tragic civil war. Who do you think is to blame for the failure to find a middle ground?

8. Women writing about women are sometimes accused of doing so at the expense of their male characters. Discuss the role of men in this novel and how you feel they are portrayed.

9. What did you find interesting about mother/daughter rela-tionships in Latin America? And how do these differ, if at all, from the way things work in our country?

10. In the final analysis, who were the winners and who were the losers in Bitter Grounds?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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Bitter Orange 
Claire Fuller, 2018
Tin House Books
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781947793156


Summary
From the author of Our Endless Numbered Days and Swimming Lessons, Bitter Orange is a seductive psychological portrait, a keyhole into the dangers of longing and how far a woman might go to escape her past.

From the attic of Lyntons, a dilapidated English country mansion, Frances Jellico sees them—Cara first: dark and beautiful, then Peter: striking and serious.

The couple is spending the summer of 1969 in the rooms below hers while Frances is researching the architecture in the surrounding gardens.

But she's distracted. Beneath a floorboard in her bathroom, she finds a peephole that gives her access to her neighbors’ private lives.

To Frances' surprise, Cara and Peter are keen to get to know her. It is the first occasion she has had anybody to call a friend, and before long they are spending every day together: eating lavish dinners, drinking bottle after bottle of wine, and smoking cigarettes until the ash piles up on the crumbling furniture.

Frances is dazzled.

But as the hot summer rolls lazily on, it becomes clear that not everything is right between Cara and Peter. The stories that Cara tells don’t quite add up, and as Frances becomes increasingly entangled in the lives of the glamorous, hedonistic couple, the boundaries between truth and lies, right and wrong, begin to blur.

Amid the decadence, a small crime brings on a bigger one: a crime so terrible that it will brand their lives forever. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—February 9, 1967
• Where—Oxfordshire, England, UK
• Education—Winchester School of Art; M.A., University of Winchester
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in Winchester, England


Claire Fuller is an English writer and the author of the novels Our Endless Numbered Days (2015), Swimming Lessons (2017), and Bitter Orange (2018). She  was born and raised in Oxfordshire.

In the 1980s she studied sculpture at Winchester School of Art, working mainly in wood and stone, before embarking on a marketing career. Later, she attained her Master's in creative and critical writing from the University of Winchester.

Awards
Fuller began writing fiction at the age of 40. She told a fellow writer,

Getting the words down is torture. Once they're written, I love rewriting, editing and polishing.

The polishing has paid off handsomely, winning her a number of literary prize—the Desmond Elliott Prize for her 2015 debut novel, Our Endless Numbered Days; the BBC Opening Lines Short Story Competition in 2014; and the Royal Academy Short Story Award in 2016.

Fuller and her husband live in Winchester, England. Her son and a daughter are grown. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/9/2017.)

Book Reviews
English mansion? Check. Dazzling couple? Check. Yearning outsider? Now you have all the ingredients for a psychological powder keg, ready to explode during the summer of ’69 (Most Anticipated Books of Fall).
Elle


Fuller is a master of the quietly eerie; she’s excellent at creating an aura of pervasive dread—and sustaining it till the very last page (Best Books of Fall).
Nylon


[B]rooding…. Fuller moves fluidly between the time of the story and a period 20 years later, when Frances is lying in a hospital and close to death. The lush setting and remarkable characters make for an immersive mystery.
Publishers Weekly


Fuller’s most mysterious novel yet, a house haunted by the stories its characters tell of their pasts and the slow unraveling of the truth. Dark and twisty and full of secrets, Bitter Orange is a satisfying page-turner …a spooky and psychological read. —Kelsey O’Rourke, Literati Bookstore, Ann Arbor, MI
Library Journal


(Starred review) Fuller is a master of propulsive action, making the ground spin as each unreliable narrator takes center stage. Every measured sentence builds on itself….  [A] gripping and unsettling look at the ugly side of extreme need and the desperate measures taken in the name of love.
Booklist


(Starred review) In the vein of Shirley Jackson's bone-chilling The Haunting of Hill House, Fuller's disturbing novel will entrap readers in its twisty narrative, leaving them to reckon with what is real and what is unreal. An intoxicating, unsettling masterpiece.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for BITTER ORANGE … then take off on your own:

1. Discuss Frances as a character. How would you describe her when we meet her 20 years earlier?

2. Follow-up to Question 1: Frances recalls visiting the public restrooms at King's Cross just to be shocked by the graffiti on the walls. What does this say about her? Can you point to other details that illuminate Frances's character for readers?

3. Follow-up to Questions 1 and 2: What is it about Frances's personality and her past that make her particularly vulnerable to Cara and Peter?

4. Why might the author have decided to have Frances tell us the story twenty years away from the actual events? What difference does this narrative hindsight make?

5. What do you first make of Cara and Peter? At what point does your opinion of them change as the novel progresses? Talk about the past trauma that binds the couple to one another despite the fact that Peter is married to someone else.

6. Consider Cara and Frances. How, for instance, do Cara's younger years in Ireland, and her love of Italy as an expression of escape, fit together with Frances's experience of having her own potentialities clamped down?

7. Why does Frances fear her growing attachment to the couple? What makes her so apprehensive? And how is her worry ironic—given our own understanding (as readers)?

8. In what way are all three characters unreliable narrators? Who can you believe … or to what extent?

9. Talk about the supernatural elements in the novel. What do they add to the story?

10. Bitter Orange takes place in a crumbling country estate. Talk about how the house serves as a symbol for the larger society—or even, perhaps, for Cara and Peter themselves. Consider, too, the long-ago summer heat wave and its metaphorical role in the events of the novel.

11. Does Bitter Orange provide enough suspense to keep you turning pages? Were you prepared for the ending?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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Bittersweet 
Colleen McCullough, 2013
Simon & Schuster
384pp.
ISBN-13: 9781476755410


Summary
In her first epic romantic novel since The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough weaves a sweeping story of two sets of twins—all trained as nurses, but each with her own ambitions—stepping into womanhood in 1920s and 30s Australia.

Because they are two sets of twins, the four Latimer sisters are as close as can be. Yet these vivacious young women each have their own dreams for themselves: Edda wants to be a doctor, Tufts wants to organize everything, Grace won’t be told what to do, and Kitty wishes to be known for something other than her beauty.

They are famous throughout New South Wales for their beauty, wit, and ambition, but as they step into womanhood, they are not enthusiastic about the limited prospects life holds for them.

Together they decide to enroll in a training program for nurses—a new option for women of their time, who have previously been largely limited to the role of wives, and preferably mothers. As the Latimer sisters become immersed in hospital life and the demands of their training, they meet people and encounter challenges that spark new maturity and independence.

They meet men from all walks of life—local farmers, their professional colleagues, and even men with national roles and reputations—and each sister must make weighty decisions about what she values most. The results are sometimes happy, sometimes heartbreaking, but always...bittersweet.

Rendered with McCullough’s trademark historical accuracy, this dramatic coming of age tale is wise in the ways of the human heart, one that will transport readers to a time in history that feels at once exotic and yet not so very distant from our own. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—June 1, 1937
• Where—Wellington, New South Wales, Australia
• Education—Holy Cross College (Australia); M.D., University of Sydney
• Currently—lives on Norfolk Island in the Pacific


Colleen McCullough-Robinson is an Australian author and medical researcher, best-known for her 1977 novel (and subsequent mini-series) The Thorn Birds.

McCullough was born in Wellington in 1937, in the outback of central west New South Wales. Her father was James McCullough and her mother Laurie was a New Zealander of part-Maori descent. During her childhood, McCullough's family moved around a great deal, eventually settling in Sydney, where she attended Holy Cross college.

After stint as a teacher, librarian, and journalist, she enrolled at the University of Sydney to study medicine. Iin her first year, however, she suffered dermatitis from surgical soap and was advised to abandon her dreams of becoming a medical doctor—she could never scrub for surgery. Instead, she switched to neuroscience and worked in Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, where she established the department of neurophysiology.

In 1963 McCullough moved to the United Kingdom for four years. While at the Great Ormond Street hospital in London, she met Yale University's chairman of neurology, who offered her a research associate job. She accepted and spent the next ten years (till 1976) at Yale Medical School in New Haven, Connecticut, researching and teaching. At Yale she penned her first two books.

The success of these books enabled her to give up her medical-scientific career and to try and "live on her own terms" In the late 1970s, she finally settled on the isolation of Norfolk Island in the Pacific. There she met her husband, Ric Robinson, whom she married on in 1983 at the age of 46 (Robinson was 33).

Recognition
In 1984 a portrait of Colleen McCullough, painted by Wesley Walters, was a finalist for the Archibald Prize, awarded for the "best portrait painting preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, Science or Politics."

In 1993 she was awarded a Doctor of Letters degree by Macquarie University for the depth of historical research in her novels of ancient Rome.

McCullough is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Controversy
Her 2008 novel The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet engendered controversy with her reworking of characters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Susannah Fullerton, the president of the Jane Austen Society of Australia, said she "shuddered" that Elizabeth Bennet was rewritten as weak, and Mr. Darcy as savage.

She is one of the strongest, liveliest heroines in literature … [and] Darcy's generosity of spirit and nobility of character make her fall in love with him—why should those essential traits in both of them change in 20 years?

Bibliograhy
Novels (stand-alones):
Tim (1974) ♦ The Thorn Birds (1977) ♦ An Indecent Obsession (1981) ♦ A Creed for the Third Millennium (1985) ♦ The Ladies of Missalonghi (1987) ♦ The Song of Troy (1998) ♦ Morgan's Run (2000) ♦ The Touch (2003) ♦ Angel Puss (2004) ♦ The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (2008) ♦ Bittersweet (2013).

Masters of Rome series
The First Man in Rome (1990) ♦ The Grass Crown (1991) ♦ Fortune's Favorites (1993) ♦ Caesar's Women (1996) ♦ Caesar (1997) ♦ The October Horse (2002) ♦ Antony and Cleopatra (2007).

Carmine Delmonico series
On, Off (2006) ♦ Too Many Murders (December 2009) ♦ Naked Cruelty (2010) ♦ The Prodigal Son (2012) ♦ Sins of the Flesh (2013). (Author bio adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/8/2015.)

Book Reviews
Filled with humor, insight and captivating historical detail, McCullough's latest is a wise and warm tribute to family, female empowerment and her native land.
People


Just as epic as her ultra-romantic classic, The Thorn Birds.
Marie Claire


Vintage McCullough...underlines several of McCullough's enormous strengths as a writer—superbly deft characterization; multiple plots that move apace; a warmth and generosity in the telling; and dialogue sharp and, in moments, uproariously funny...a meditation on love and the decisions we make that riffle into our future.
Courier-Mail

 
Lovers of McCullough’s bestseller The Thorn Birds will be happy to hear that Bittersweet takes us back to historic country Australia...as clever, compelling, and as down-to-earth as its four heroines.
Australian Women's Weekly


It’s the heartwarming family bonds that will have you passing this gem on to friends.
Better Homes and Gardens (Australia)


A master class in succinct, precise prose, captivating yet flawed characters and an engrossing historical setting…meticulously researched and cleverly composed.
Good Reading (Australia)


Fabulous...engrossing.
Manly Daily (Sydney)


[A] sweeping historical saga..... McCullough’s richly drawn characters grab hold of the heartstrings from the beginning of their journey...and prove that, even when choices are not in wide supply, happiness is attainable—even if, at times, it is bittersweet.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Readers of historical family dramas will be excited to find a new, satisfying book to enjoy while longtime fans of The Thorn Birds will be over the moon, welcoming back a dear old friend. Take it to the beach, on the plane, or the couch, this book will be the best traveling companion of the summer.
Library Journal


Four sisters are McCullough's avatars of women's progress in Depression-era Australia.... The chief attractions here [is]the...detailed exposure of sex discrimination and feminist struggles.... [But McCullough] doesn't manage to endow her story with much conflict or narrative drive. An uneven but enlightening novel.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)

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Bittersweet  
Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, 2014
Crown Publishing
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780804138567


Summary
Suspenseful and cinematic, Bittersweet exposes the gothic underbelly of an idyllic world of privilege and an outsider’s hunger to belong.

On scholarship at a prestigious East Coast college, ordinary Mabel Dagmar is surprised to befriend her roommate, the beautiful, wild, blue-blooded Genevra Winslow. Ev invites Mabel to spend the summer at Bittersweet, her cottage on the Vermont estate where her family has been holding court for more than a century; it’s the kind of place where children twirl sparklers across the lawn during cocktail hour.

Mabel falls in love with midnight skinny-dipping, the wet dog smell that lingers near the yachts, and the moneyed laughter that carries across the still lake while fireworks burst overhead. Before she knows it, she has everything she’s ever wanted: friendship, a boyfriend, access to wealth, and, most of all, for the first time in her life, the sense that she belongs.

But as Mabel becomes an insider, a terrible discovery leads to shocking violence and reveals what the Winslows may have done to keep their power intact—and what they might do to anyone who threatens them. Mabel must choose: either expose the ugliness surrounding her and face expulsion from paradise, or keep the family’s dark secrets and make Ev's world her own. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1976
• Raised—in Senegal, West Africa, and Vermont, USA
• Education—B.A., Vassar College
• Awards—Crazyhorse Fiction Prize; Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize
• Currently—lives in Brooklyn, New York City, New York


Miranda Beverly-Whittemore is an American author who spent part of her early years in Senegal, West Africa, with her two academic parents who were conducting ethnographic research. The family returned to American, living in Vermont. She spent her childhood summers on Lake Champlain, a setting similar to Bittersweet's lake Winloch. Miranda graduated from Vassar with a degree in English and went on to New York to work for the Unterberg Poetry Center at the 92nd Street Y.

She is the author of three novels, including The Effects of Light (2005), Set Me Free (2007, winner of 2007 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for the best book of fiction by an American woman), and Bittersweet (2014). A recipient of the Crazyhorse Fiction Prize, she lives and writes in Brooklyn and Vermont. (Bio compiled by LitLovers.)

Book Reviews
A fairy tale aspect—of the Grimm, not the Disney variety—pervades the novel, which artfully builds an increasing sense of menace.... Like a Downton-in-Vermont, Bittersweet takes swift, implausible plot turns, and its family secrets flow like a bottomless magnum of champagne, but Beverly-­Whittemore succeeds in shining a light into the dark, brutal flaws of the human heart.
Margo Raab - New York Times Book Review


Mesmerizing gothic thriller…Bittersweet is worth savoring—it unfolds like a long summer day, leisurely revealing the dark.
Lisa Kay Greissinger - People


What begins a little like Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep quickly warps into a sickly addictive thriller…think ABC’s Revenge when it was good, only more scandalous…. With books like Bittersweet to stuff in beach bags, it’s beginning to feel a lot more like summer.
Stephan Lee - Entertainment Weekly


The theme of paradise lost courses through this coming-of-age tale tinged with mystery—Beverly-Whittemore’s solid, if not particularly inspired, third novel.... As the increasingly tragic story unfolds, the taste left in the reader’s mouth is more likely to be sour than bittersweet.
Publishers Weekly


Beverly-Whittemore captures both the idyllic beauty of a Vermont summer and its dark shadows …gothic tangles wind the plot more and more tightly.… A suspenseful tale of corruption and bad behavior among wealthy New Englanders. Readers who enjoy coming-of-age stories featuring dark secrets that affect generations will find much that appeals here.
Library Journal


Takes the reader inside the glamorous world of the super-wealthy, where everything is not as it seems, and dark, long-buried family secrets gradually make their way to the surface....its strength lies in its elements of mystery. The result is a page-turner that will keep readers guessing until the end.
BookPage


Suspenseful and intriguing, filled with characters who both fit the blue-blood mold and break the stereotypes we all associate with the upper class. Her short chapters, with their cliff-hanger endings, will keep readers turning pages late into the night.
Booklist


(Starred review.) As a young woman struggles to read Paradise Lost, she faces her own temptation. Is she brave enough to choose good over evil? ... As she uncovers evidence of dastardly deeds—some deliciously improbable—Mabel comes face to face with her own secrets. Beverly-Whittemore has crafted a page-turner riddled with stubborn clues, a twisty plot and beguiling characters.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. Mabel is the narrator of Bittersweet, but she tells the story from a point in the future, the summer depicted in chapter sixty. Why do you think I chose to tell the story this way? How would the story have been different if it had been told by someone besides Mabel, or told by Mabel while she was experiencing the events?

2. At the beginning of Bittersweet, Mabel longs to be part of the Winslows’ inner circle. Have you ever wanted to be part of an inner circle? Did you get “in”? Once you were “in,” was it everything you dreamed it would be? Does becoming a Winslow turn out to be everything Mabel dreamed it would be?

3. In chapter nineteen, Galway says, “Thing about this family is, you stick around long enough and remember what you hear, you can piece together the truth about just about anyone.” In what ways do secrets work as a currency for the Winslows? How have the circumstances of Mabel’s childhood prepared her for this way of being? Does Mabel’s curious nature—and her drive to uncover secrets—help or hurt her desire to become a Winslow? How do different characters—Ev, Indo, Lu, Birch—play on her hunger for knowledge to try to get what they want?

4. On the whole, do you believe Mabel acts with bravery or cowardice? How about in the following moments: when she agrees to report to Birch on Ev’s behavior (chapter twenty-two); when she pushes Masha for final proof of John’s paternity (chapter forty-one); when she tells John who his father is; when she reveals John’s paternity to Ev (chapter forty-seven); when she agrees to keep Birch’s secret in exchange for Lu’s freedom (chapter fifty-nine); when she returns to Winloch for good (chapter sixty)?

5. Why do Ev and Mabel become so close? Do they use each other, or is one of them always in power? Does the power dynamic between them shift? When and why? Have you ever had a friendship that reminds you of Ev and Mabel’s? Are you still friends with that person?

6. Why do Ev and John fall in love? Do you think John ever had an inkling of his paternity? Was it wrong for Ev to keep his paternity a secret? Should Mabel have told him who his father was? Do you believe Ev was ever pregnant? How does Ev’s justification of their incestuous marriage belie deeper truths about the Winslows’ moral universe?

7. Why do Mabel and Galway fall in love? At the end of the book, she explains that she has come to forgive Galway for not telling her what was on the back of the van Gogh; would you be able to forgive such an omission? Would you be able to accept the fact that Galway’s activism has been funded by his parents? Are Mabel and Galway a good match?

8. How would you compare Ev and Mabel’s friendship to Lu and Mabel’s? In what ways are the Winslow girls a product of their family? How do their attributes mirror those of the women in the generation above them—Indo, Tilde, and CeCe? Are the women in this family close? Why or why not?

9. The end of the book brings the revelation that Tilde has actually been trying to protect the Winslows all along. Did this make you reevaluate Tilde’s actions in earlier parts of the book, for example, when she reprimands cousin Hannah for being naked on the rocks (chapter thirty-two)? Are there any blind spots in Tilde’s plan of protection?

10. In their last conversation, Indo calls Mabel greedy (chapter forty-eight). Is this an accurate word to describe Mabel? Is being greedy an insult in Indo’s eyes? Who else might be called greedy in this book, and in what ways?

11. Birch is very charismatic and holds great power, but he might best be described as sociopathic. Is this aspect of his character a benefit or detriment to him and/or the Winslows? Do you think sociopathic tendencies can be useful for people in positions of power? Were Athol to have come to power, would he have acted like his father?

12. Do you believe it’s a curse or privilege to be born into the kind of money and privilege that the Winslows possess?

13. For much of Bittersweet, Mabel is reading Paradise Lost. Why do you think I made this the book Mabel was reading during her summer at Winloch? What themes do the two books share? What about Winloch makes it especially suited for a tale like Mabel’s? How does the natural world contribute to what occurs during Mabel’s summer at Winloch?

14. The end of Bittersweet—set at some point in the future—finds Mabel and Galway married with children, Birch dead, Tilde in charge, Athol miserable, Ev isolated, and Lu a scientist. What do you think has happened in the intervening years? Have Mabel and Ev gone back to college? Is Mabel in touch with her parents? How (and where) is Daniel? And what happens after this final Midsummer Night’s Feast—where do the Winslows go from here?

15. Does Bittersweet have a happy ending? Mabel has become a Winslow—is that a good thing?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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Black Leopard, Red Wolf  (Dark Star Trilogy 1)
Marlon James, 2019
Penguin Publishing
640 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780735220171


Summary
In the stunning first novel in Marlon James's "Dark Star" trilogy, myth, fantasy, and history come together to explore what happens when a mercenary is hired to find a missing child.

Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter: "He has a nose," people say.

Engaged to track down a mysterious boy who disappeared three years earlier, Tracker breaks his own rule of always working alone when he finds himself part of a group that comes together to search for the boy.

The band is a hodgepodge, full of unusual characters with secrets of their own, including a shape-shifting man-animal known as Leopard.

As Tracker follows the boy's scent—from one ancient city to another; into dense forests and across deep rivers—he and the band are set upon by creatures intent on destroying them.

As he struggles to survive, Tracker starts to wonder: Who, really, is this boy? Why has he been missing for so long? Why do so many people want to keep Tracker from finding him? And perhaps the most important questions of all: Who is telling the truth, and who is lying?

Drawing from African history and mythology and his own rich imagination, Marlon James has written a novel unlike anything that's come before it: a saga of breathtaking adventure that's also an ambitious, involving read.

Defying categorization and full of unforgettable characters, Black Leopard, Red Wolf is both surprising and profound as it explores the fundamentals of truth, the limits of power, and our need to understand them both. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1970
• Where—Kingston, Jamaica
• Education—B.A., University of the West Indies; M.A., Wilkes University
• Awards—Man Booker Prize, Dayton Literary Peace Prize
• Currently—lives in Brooklyn New York City, New York


Marlon James is a Jamaican novelist, who taught English and creative writing at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and currently is teaching at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York.

James's most recent novel, the 2019 epic fantasy, Black Leopard, Red Wolf, has been compared to an African Game of Thrones. His 2014 novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, won the 2015 Man Booker Prize. Seven Killings re-imagines the attempted murder of Bob Marley and a narrative of Jamaican history.

The Book of Night Women, his 2010 novel about a slave woman's revolt in a Jamaican plantation in the early 19th century, won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Minnesota Book Award. It was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His earlier novel, John Crow’s Devil, written in 2005, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

James is a graduate of the University of the West Indies where he earned a degree in Literature (1991). Subsequently, he earned his Master's in Creative Writing from Wilkes University. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 11/20/2014.)

Book Reviews
Gripping, action-packed.… The literary equivalent of a Marvel Comics universe—filled with dizzying, magpie references to old movies and recent TV, ancient myths and classic comic books, and fused into something new and startling by his gifts for language and sheer inventiveness.
Michiko Kakutani - New York Times


Marlon James is one of those novelists who aren’t afraid to give a performance, to change the states of language from viscous to gushing to grand, to get all the way inside the people he’s created.… [Black Leopard, Red Wolf] looks like another great, big tale of death, murder and mystery but more mystically fantastical.… Not only does this book come with a hefty cast of characters (like Seven Killings), there are also shape shifters, fairies, trolls, and, apparently, a map. The map might be handy. But it might be the opposite of why you come to James—to get lost in him ("Ten Things Our Critics Are Looking Forward to in 2019").
Wesley Morris - New York Times


[A] sprawling fantasy novel set in a dark-age Africa of witches, spirits, dazzling imperial citadels and impenetrable forests. In a genre dominated by imagery derived from the European middle ages, Black Leopard, Red Wolf feels new and exciting
Wall Street Journal


Fantasy fiction gets a shot of adrenaline.
Newsday


Like the best fantasy, like the best literary fiction, like the best art period, Black Leopard, Red Wolf is uncanny.
Boston Globe


Stand aside, Beowulf. There’s a new epic hero slashing his way into our hearts, and we may never get all the blood off our hands.… James is clear-cutting space for a whole new kingdom. Black Leopard, Red Wolf, the first spectacular volume of a planned trilogy, rises up from the mists of time, glistening like viscera. James has spun an African fantasy as vibrant, complex and haunting as any Western mythology, and nobody who survives reading this book will ever forget it. That thunder you hear is the jealous rage of Olympian gods.
Washington Post


Black Leopard, Red Wolf is bawdy (OK, filthy), lyrical, poignant, violent (sometimes hyperviolent), riotous, funny (filthily hilarious), complex, mysterious, and always under tight and exquisite control…. A world that is both fresh and beautifully realized…. Absolutely brilliant.
Los Angeles Times


James is a professed fantasy nerd, so Black Leopard, Red Wolf will certainly appeal to fans of all the well-acknowledged authors with at least two initials—George R.R. Martin, J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, etc. But if you’ve read James’ 2014 novel A Brief History of Seven Killings…, you’ll drag yourself to the midnight queue to buy Black Leopard regardless of the whole "Game of Thrones" selling point.
Huffington Post


Black Leopard, Red Wolf aims to be an event, and to counter the dominant impression of the genre it inhabits.… Black Leopard delivers some genre-specific satisfactions: the fight scenes are choreographed with comic-book wit.… But it deliberately upends others. When I first saw the news that James was writing a fantasy trilogy, I had assumed that, after reaching the pinnacle of critical acclaim, with the Booker, he was pivoting to the land of the straightforward best-seller.… Instead, he’d written not just an African fantasy novel but an African fantasy novel that is literary and labyrinthine to an almost combative degree.
The New Yorker


The novel teems with nightmares: devils, witches, giants, shape-shifters, haunted woods, magic portals. It’s terrifying, sensual, hard to follow—but somehow indelible, too.
Vogue


James’ visions don’t jettison you from reality so much as they trap you in his mad-genius, mercurial mind.… Drenched in African myth and folklore, and set in an astonishingly realized pre-colonized sub-Saharan region, Black Leopard crawls with creatures and erects kingdoms unlike any I’ve read.… This is a revolutionary book.
Entertainment Weekly


[A] planned trilogy with a trek across a fantastical Africa that is equal parts stimulating and enervating.… Though marred by its lack of subtlety, this is nonetheless a work of prodigious imagination capable of entrancing readers.
Publishers Weekly


★ An epic sweep, an intensely layered structure, and raw if luscious language that pins readers to the page… A gloriously delivered story that feels eminently real despite the hobgoblins, and for literary readers, eager to see the world… in a new light. —Barbara Hoffert
Library Journal


★ Wrought with blood, iron, and jolting images, this swords-and-sorcery epic set in a mythical Africa is also part detective story, part quest fable…. James' trilogy could become one of the most talked-about and influential adventure epics since George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. Black Leopard, Red Wolf begins as a story told by a prisoner to his jailer. How does this structure inform the reader’s experience of the novel?

2. Over the course of the novel, Tracker reveals a complex family background. How do you think that background affects his relationships with other characters as the story unfolds?

3. Tracker and Leopard’s relationship is at the center of this novel. How would you describe that relationship? Why is it so hard for the two of them to get along for much of the book?

4. Is Tracker the “hero” in this story? Do you find you trust him as a narrator? And if not, what parts of his tale do you think he might be lying about?

5. Black Leopard, Red Wolf is populated with a lot of characters, many of them working together (at least sometimes) to accomplish the same goal. Other than Tracker, which member of the fellowship did you find most compelling and why? Who did you have the most questions about?

6. Tracker has problematic ideas about and relationships with women. How do these issues inform the narrative?

7. Sogolon and her quest loom large over the rest of the novel. What do you think of the choices she makes in pursuit of her goal?

8. What aspects of Black Leopard, Red Wolf feel connected to the classic fantasy tradition? How does the book depart from that lineage?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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Black Out 
Lisa Unger, 2008
Crown Publishing
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780307472298


Summary
When my mother named me Ophelia, she thought she was being literary. She didn’t realize she was being tragic.

On the surface, Annie Powers’s life in a wealthy Floridian suburb is happy and idyllic. Her husband, Gray, loves her fiercely; together, they dote on their beautiful young daughter, Victory. But the bubble surrounding Annie is pricked when she senses that the demons of her past have resurfaced and, to her horror, are now creeping up on her. These are demons she can’t fully recall because of a highly dissociative state that allowed her to forget the tragic and violent episodes of her earlier life as Ophelia March and to start over, under the loving and protective eye of Gray, as Annie Powers.

Disturbing events—the appearance of a familiar dark figure on the beach, the mysterious murder of her psychologist—trigger strange and confusing memories for Annie, who realizes she has to quickly piece them together before her past comes to claim her future and her daughter. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—April 26, 1970
• Where—New Haven, Connecticut, USA
• Reared—The Netherlands, UK, and New Jersey, USA
• Education—New School for Social Research
• Currently—lives in Florida


Lisa Unger is an award winning New York Times, USA Today and international bestselling author. Her novels have been published in over 26 countries around the world.

She was born in New Haven, Connecticut (1970) but grew up in the Netherlands, England and New Jersey. A graduate of the New School for Social Research, Lisa spent many years living and working in New York City. She then left a career in publicity to pursue her dream of becoming a full-time author. She now lives in Florida with her husband and daughter.

Her writing has been hailed as "masterful" (St. Petersburg Times), "sensational" (Publishers Weekly) and "sophisticated" (New York Daily News) with "gripping narrative and evocative, muscular prose" (Associated Press).

More
Her own words:

I have always most naturally expressed myself through writing and I have always dwelled in the land of my imagination more comfortably than in reality. There’s a jolt I get from a good story that I’m not sure can be duplicated in the real world. Perhaps this condition came about because of all the traveling my family did when I was younger. I was born in Connecticut but we moved often. By the time my family settled for once and all in New Jersey, I had already lived in Holland and in England (not to mention Brooklyn and other brief New Jersey stays) for most of my childhood. I don’t recall ever minding moving about; even then I had a sense that it was cool and unusual. But I think it was one of many things that kept me feeling separate from the things and people around me, this sense of myself as transient and on the outside, looking in. I don’t recall ever exactly fitting in anywhere. Writers are first and foremost observers … and one can’t truly observe unless she stands apart.

For a long time, I didn’t really believe that it was possible to make a living as a writer … mainly because that’s what people always told me. So, I made it a hobby. All through high school, I won awards and eventually, a partial scholarship because of my writing. In college, I was advised by teachers to pursue my talent, to get an agent, to really go for it. But there was a little voice that told me (quietly but insistently) that it wasn’t possible. I didn’t see it as a viable career option as I graduated from the New School for Social Research (I transferred there from NYU for smaller, more dynamic classes). I needed a “real job.” A real job delivers a regular pay check, right? So I entered a profession that brought me as close to my dream as possible … and paid, if not well, then at least every two weeks. I went into publishing.

When I left for Florida, I think I was at a critical level of burnout. I think that as a New Yorker, especially after a number of years, one starts to lose sight of how truly special, how textured and unique it is. The day-to-day can be brutal: the odors, the noise, the homeless, the trains, the expense. Once I had some distance though, New York City started to leak into my work and I found myself rediscovering many of the things I had always treasured about it. It came very naturally as the setting for Beautiful Lies. It is the place I know best. I know it as one can only know a place she has loved desperately and hated passionately and then come to miss terribly once she has left it behind.

But it is true that we can’t go home again. I live in Florida now with my wonderful husband, and I’m a full-time writer. There’s a lot of beauty and texture and darkness to be mined in this strange place, as well. I’m sure I’d miss it as much in different ways if I returned to New York. I guess that’s my thing … no matter where I am I wonder if I belong somewhere else. I’m always outside, observing. It’s only when I’m writing that I know I’m truly home. (Author bio from the author's website.)

Book Review
Lisa Unger delivers such a ride you don't want the whirligig to stop….Built into the story is Annie's grim reality as well as her even more terrifying imaginations. Until the very end, Unger leaves us twisting as to which is which, and what is actually happening….Black Out is…psychotic scary, all the way.
New York Daily News


Black Out is an outstanding example of the psychological thriller. It's also a white hot page-turner. However, this book is more than a thrill ride. Its feeling-tones and issues linger after the denouement, as is the case with significant literature. Its exploration of the human psyche brings insights both authentic and profound. Annie's plight will mean something to astute readers -they will take it personally. Lisa Unger is not—or not yet—the American Dostoevsky, but she may be on her way.
Naples Sun-Times


Unger's latest keeps the adrenaline pumping with a roller-coaster plot and harrowing psychological suspense...well worth the ride.
People


Annie Powers leads the perfect life in Florida with her husband, Gray, and their four-year-old daughter in this stellar character-driven stand-alone from bestseller Unger (A Sliver of Truth). Less than a decade earlier, however, Annie was Ophelia March, the teenage captive-or accomplice-of spree killer Marlowe Geary. Gray, a partner in his father's private security consultant firm, tracked Marlowe and rescued Ophelia after sending the killer's car over a cliff. Reinventing herself with Gray's help, Annie can't remember all that happened during her years with Marlowe, and she's prone to panic attacks and blackouts. When a strange man appears on her property, Annie's sure Marlowe is back. As a shady police detective digs into her past, Annie must try to recover the memories she buried if she's ever going to be free from Marlowe. Unger expertly turns what could have been a routine serial-killer story into a haunting odyssey for Annie, dropping red herrings and clues along the way until the reader feels as unsettled as Annie
Publishers Weekly


Annie Powers is the picture of respectability, with a devoted husband and darling baby daughter. She is hiding a terrible secret, though: in the past, she was a serial killer's companion and girlfriend. Her experiences have left her traumatized and emotionally fragile, and she lives in fear of discovery. In her first stand-alone novel (after Beautiful Lies and Sliver of Truth), Unger continues her tradition of page-turning action and intriguing plots. The story is engaging, but the heroine would be far more likable if she took some responsibility for her past actions. Unger seems to make excuses for her main character, presenting her as the poor, forlorn victim of a violent lover. Readers will wonder if the author is implying that a bad childhood and fear for her own life justify this woman's behavior. After all, she accompanied a murderer and stood by while he brutalized innocent victims. The ending is imaginative, if far-fetched, but the author's style makes this highly entertaining anyway. Recommended.
Linda Oliver - Library Journal

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

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Black Rabbit Hall 
Eve Chase, 2016
G.P. Putnam's Sons
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780399174124


Summary
A magnetic debut novel of wrenching family secrets, forbidden love, and heartbreaking loss housed within the grand gothic manor of Black Rabbit Hall.

Ghosts are everywhere, not just the ghost of Momma in the woods, but ghosts of us too, what we used to be like in those long summers . . .

Amber Alton knows that the hours pass differently at Black Rabbit Hall, her London family’s country estate, where no two clocks read the same.

Summers there are perfect, timeless. Not much ever happens. Until, of course, it does.

More than three decades later, Lorna is determined to be married within the grand, ivy-covered walls of Pencraw Hall, known as Black Rabbit Hall among the locals. But as she’s drawn deeper into the overgrown grounds, half-buried memories of her mother begin to surface.

Lorna soon finds herself ensnared within the manor’s labyrinthine history, overcome with an insatiable need for answers about her own past and that of the once-happy family whose memory still haunts the estate.

Stunning and atmospheric, this debut novel is a thrilling spiral into the hearts of two women separated by decades but inescapably linked by the dark and tangled secrets of Black Rabbit Hall (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
Eve Chase is the pseudonym of a journalist who has worked for a variety of magazines in the UK. She lives in Oxford, England, writing in a small garden shed, which she and her husband built—a way, she says, to get out of the house without having to rent office space.

Chase admits she's always been fascinated by houses...

[E]specially these old English homes, these ancestral houses that get passed down from generation to generation. More than bricks, stone, and mortar are passed down—along with the responsibility and great cost of upkeep, the secrets and scandals of the manor are passed on to future generations.

Another idea that caught Chase's fancy revolved around a group of children at play in one of those ancestral houses, particularly one that was falling apart. Those children—and the house—became characters in her first novel, Black Rabbit Hall, published in 2016. (Adapted from Huffington Post.)

Book Reviews
A house, not a person, is the star of Chase’s debut novel—an ivy-covered country estate in Cornwall. Required Reading
New York Post


Like the setting of Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Chase’s novel is lovely, dark and deep. But if you start it after sunset, you’ll likely have hours to go before you sleep. And when you awake, you might find that you have dreamed of Black Rabbit Hall again.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
 

A gorgeously written novel describing the love and affection that hold families together and the powerful forces that can tear them apart.
Huffington Post


[A] leisurely paced modern British gothic.... [Lorna's] exposé of the family secrets paves the way to the upbeat resolution. Chase deserves high marks for her atmospheric setting and vivid prose, and fans of old-fashioned gothic stories will find this a winner.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Pencraw Hall...is still inhabited by the elderly former matron, Mrs. Alton, who is...desperate for money to maintain the residence...allows Lorna to tease out information about the house and the family's tragic past. Verdict: Chase's heart-wrenching first novel is equal parts romance, mystery, and historical fiction. —Jennifer Funk, McKendree Univ. Lib., Lebanon, IL
Library Journal


For fans of Kate Morton and Daphne du Maurier, Black Rabbit Hall is an obvious must-read, but it is sure to please any reader who delights in devilishly thrilling dramas.... There is a dreamy quality to the writing that gives the novel the tenor of a Gothic fairy tale, and although there is a sense of malice and danger that thrums beneath it all, Chase’s achingly beautiful investigation of her characters’ inner lives results in a story that is haunting rather than scary.
BookPage


Debut novelist Chase weaves together Lorna's investigations with Amber's tribulations, a tapestry embroidered with madness, a horrifying accident, and malicious lies. Compellingly readable and riddled with twists and turns worthy of Daphne du Maurier, Chase's tale will delight fans of romantic mysteries.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. Lorna and Amber are two very different women at very different places in their lives, but both are forever changed by events that occur at Black Rabbit Hall. In what ways are these women similar? How are they different? Did you relate to one character more than the other?

2. As children, Amber and Toby are almost inseparable, but after their mother’s death they both change dramatically—Amber reflects that she “no longer feel[s] like a girl inside” (p. 93), and Toby becomes increasingly angry and wild. Why do you think the twins grow apart, instead of together? Do you think they would have stayed close if Momma had lived? Why or why not?

3. During her first visit to Black Rabbit Hall, Lorna discovers a horse’s skull displayed in the library. Why do you think Mr. and then Mrs. Alton kept this, and why is it displayed so visibly? Do you agree with their choice? Jon comments, “This lot would stuff their own ancestors, given half a chance.” What do you think he means?
 
4. Which Alton sibling is your favorite? Why? Which sibling do you most identify with? Are they the same character?
 
5. When the novel begins, Amber is fourteen. After the Alton family tragedy, however, she is forced to grow up quickly and take responsibility for her siblings. How do you think this responsibility affects her relationship with Lucian? How did you respond to their relationship? Did you have a “first love,” and if so, did you relate to Amber’s feelings? Why or why not?

6. Lorna is enchanted by Black Rabbit Hall, knowing from the beginning this is where she’d like to be married. But as she explores, she feels more and more drawn to the family that lived there. Why did you first think she felt so tied to the Alton children? Is there somewhere from your family’s past that you won’t ever forget? Have you explored your own family history, and if so, did you find anything surprising?

7. Discuss the character of Caroline Alton. She admits to Lorna that she found her stepchildren “unfathomable” (p. 168). Do you think she is a bad stepmother? Are her actions ever justified?

8. As Lorna finds herself pulled further into the hallways and history of Black Rabbit Hall, she feels increasingly distant from Jon. Did you feel frustrated with Lorna’s treatment of the wedding? Did you feel frustrated with Jon? At one point Lorna thinks of an ex who claimed that Lorna “tests” relationships to see if they’re worth saving. Do you think this is true?

9. Nancy Alton remains a beacon of beauty and grace throughout the novel. Why do you think Eve Chase wrote her as an American? In what ways is she different from Caroline? Are the two women ever alike, and should they be?

10. Lorna finds much more than a wedding venue when she finally understands what happened at Black Rabbit Hall. Were you surprised by the ending? How do you feel about the Alton children, decades later?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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Black River 
S.M. Hulse, 2015
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
240 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780544309876


Summary
A tense Western and an assured debut, Black River tells the story of a man marked by a prison riot as he returns to the town, and the convict, who shaped him.
 
When Wes Carver returns to Black River, he carries two things in the cab of his truck: his wife’s ashes and a letter from the prison parole board. The convict who held him hostage during a riot, twenty years ago, is being considered for release.

Wes has been away from Black River ever since the riot. He grew up in this small Montana town, encircled by mountains, and, like his father before him and most of the men there, he made his living as a Corrections Officer. A talented, natural fiddler, he found solace and joy in his music. But during that riot Bobby Williams changed everything for Wes—undermining his faith and taking away his ability to play.

How can a man who once embodied evil ever come to good? How can he pay for such crimes with anything but his life? As Wes considers his own choices and grieves for all he’s lost, he must decide what he believes and whether he can let Williams walk away.

With spare prose and stunning detail, S. M. Hulse drops us deep into the heart and darkness of an American town. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1984
• Rasied—Spokane, Washington, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Montana; M.F.A., University of Oregon
• Currently—lives in Spokane, Washington


Although born in California, S.M. "Sarah" Hulse was raised in Spokane, Washington. As a high schooler, she was a congressional page and enrolled at Georgetown University in D.C., thinking of a possible career in the foreign service. She left Georgetown after a year, however, transferring to the University of Montana, where she received her B.A. in English. She taught high school in Idaho and then decided to pursue a degree in creative writing. She earned an M.F.A.from the University of Oregon. Black River, her 2015 debut novel, was her thesis project.

Hulse has also written and published short fiction. "Sine Die," a story about a congressman with anterograde amnesia, won literary magazine Willow Springs’ 2011 fiction prize, earning Hulse $2,000. She has said, though, that "short stories are hard for me. I’m glad I wrote them in grad school—they’re wonderful for craft—but the prime comment I got was, 'This would make a great novel!' "

Hulse claims a kinship with the Western writing community. The list of authors who have been influential to her includes Ron Hansen, Kent Haruf, Annnie Proulx, Mark Sprague, and Thomas Savage, as well as Canadian author Mary Lawson and Ozarks native Daniel Woodrell. (Woodrell wrote a blurb for Black River.) (Adapted from a Publishers' Weekly interview.)

Book Reviews
Mainly the book is about stubborn men who communicate in begrudging fragments, circling one another like moody horses. Ms. Hulse aspires to Kent Haruf territory, and comes close enough to make this a promising debut. The sentimental overtones could be quieted a bit, but the lyrical landscapes and the emotional weather are in place.
John Williams - New York Times


Hulse has positioned this slim novel at the confluence of several extraordinary events that could easily have caused an emotional pileup. In addition to returning his wife’s ashes to Black River at the very moment he must face his old torturer, Wes also becomes reacquainted with his stepson, Dennis, an angry young man he abandoned years earlier after an armed confrontation at the kitchen table. A rape, a train crash, a pair of suicides and some plotted murders hardly lower the story’s temperature.... [A] tough, honest novel by a surprisingly wise young writer.
Ron Charles - Washington Post


Hulse evokes the Montana landscape in lyrical, vivid prose...[she] is a gifted wordsmith with promising dramatic instincts.
Boston Globe


The assured rhythms of the language convey grace, restraint, insights, power, and beauty. Black River transcends its setting and the circumstances of a few people in a small Montana town to say something true and enduring about violence and families, and grief and compassion.
Los Angeles Review of Books


Transcending its genre-fiction setting, Black River is a powerful meditation on faith, family and redemption set in present-day Montana.
Guardian (UK)


(Starred review.) This top-of-the-line modern American Western debut explores the themes of violence, revenge, and forgiveness with a sure hand.... Wes [Carver], ...a man of faith, has a moral struggle over accepting the sincerity of his former tormentor’s religious conversion. Events take a darker, more tragic turn before any hope for a resolution can arise.... Hulse handles his story like a pro.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Hulse is a smart writer, able to reveal her character's gut-level emotions and trickiest self manipulations. Comparing the author to Annie Proulx, Wallace Stegner, or Kent Haruf is no exaggeration. Her debut is bound to turn readers' hearts inside out and leave them yearning for some sweet, mournful fiddle music. —Keddy Ann Outlaw, Houston
Library Journal


(Starred review.) Hulse clearly loves Montana, and her own fiddle playing and knowledge of horses shine through the novel. She maintains suspense and manages to avoid the clichés of redemption stories in this assured debut.
Booklist


(Starred review.) [A] stark, tender tale about one man's quest for faith and forgiveness.The initial question is whether Wes Carver can forgive Bobby Williams, the inmate who tortured him during a prison riot that left two of his fellow corrections officers dead..... Profound issues addressed with a delicate touch...from a gifted young artist.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)

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The Black Tower 
Louis Bayard, 2008
HarperCollins
512 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780061173516


Summary
Vidocq. The name strikes terror in the Parisian underworld of 1818.

As founder and chief of a newly created plainclothes police force, Vidocq has used his mastery of disguise and surveillance to capture some of France's most notorious and elusive criminals. Now he is hot on the trail of a tantalizing mystery—the fate of the young dauphin Louis-Charles, son of Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI.

Hector Carpentier, a medical student, lives with his widowed mother in her once-genteel home, now a boardinghouse, in Paris's Latin Quarter, helping the family make ends meet in the politically perilous days of the restoration. Three blocks away,a man has been murdered, and Hector's name has been found on a scrap of paper in the dead man's pocket: a case for the unparalleled deductive skills of Eugene Francois Vidocq, the most feared man in the Paris police. At first suspicious of Hector's role in the murder, Vidocq gradually draws him into an exhilarating—and dangerous—search that leads them to the true story of what happened to the son of the murdered royal family.

Officially, the Dauphin died a brutal death in Paris's dreaded Temple—a menacing black tower from which there could have been no escape—but speculation has long persisted that the ten-year-old heir may have been smuggled out of his prison cell. When Hector and Vidocq stumble across a man with no memory of who he is, they begin to wonder if he is the Dauphin himself, come back from the dead. Their suspicions deepen with the discovery of a diary that reveals Hector's own shocking link to the boy in the tower—and leaves him bound and determined to see justice done, no matter the cost.

In The Black Tower, Louis Bayard interweaves political intrigue, epic treachery, cover-ups, and conspiracies into a portrait of family redemption—and brings to life an indelible portrait of the mighty and profane Eugene Francois Vidocq, history's first great detective. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1963
• Raised—Springfield, Virginia, USA
• Education—B.A., Princeton University; M.A., Northwestern University
• Currently— Washington, D.C.


Louis Bayard is an author of 9 novels, many of which draw their inspiration from history. Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Bayard grew up in Northern Virginia. He earned his B.A. from Princeton University and his M.A. in journalism from Northwestern University.

Bayard's most recent work, Courting Mr. Lincoln, was published in 2019. His historical mysteries include Mr. Timothy (2003), The Pale Blue Eye (2006), The Black Tower (2008), The School of Night (2010), and Roosevelt's Beast (2014). The Pale Blue Eye, a fictional mystery set at West Point Academy during the time Edgar Alan Poe was enrolled, was shortlisted for both the Edgar and the Dagger Awards. His works have been translated into 11 languages.

Bayard has also written book reviews and essays for The Washington Post, New York Times, Salon and Nerve. He has appeared at the National Book Festival, and he has written the New York Times recaps for Downton Abbey and Wolf Hall.

Earlier Bayard worked as a staffer at the U.S. House of Representatives for D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. He also served as press secretary for former Representative Phil Sharp of Indiana. He continues to live in Washington where, in addition to his own writing, he teaches fiction writing at George Washington University (Adapted from online sources, including Wikipedia. Retrieved 5/9/2019.)

Book Reviews
Bayard makes brilliant application of Vidocq in this fanciful adventure…No snatch-and-run researcher, Bayard takes care to capture Vidocq's roguish voice and grandiose affectations, as well as the melodramatic substance of his published memoirs.
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times


A clever follow-on from his two previous historical thrillers, Mr. Timothy and The Pale Blue Eye. Like them, The Black Tower weaves history and fiction together in the trademark style—linguistic brio, a slickly unfolding plot, a raft of colorful characters—that has propelled Bayard's work into the upper reaches of the historical-thriller league…In Bayard's hands, Vidocq becomes an arrogant, bullying, wine-swilling, foul-smelling underworld spy and master of disguise—and an utterly compelling character.
Ross King - Washington Post


(Starred review.) A compelling and sympathetic narrator instantly draws the reader into Bayard's stellar third historical detective novel. In 1818, the notorious Vidocq, a master detective who's rumored to work on both sides of the law, pulls 26-year-old Parisian doctor Hector Carpentier into a torture-murder inquiry. The victim, Chrétien Leblanc, died without revealing that he was on his way to visit Carpentier, news that comes as a complete shock to the doctor, as the dead man was a stranger to him. Vidocq soon discovers that Leblanc was actually in search of Carpentier's late father, who bore the same name. The elder Carpentier cared for Louis-Charles, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette's young son, who died in prison in 1795. Bayard keeps the reader guessing until the end, though the puzzle aspect is less prominent than in his previous novel, The Pale Blue Eye, which featured Edgar Allan Poe as sleuth. Few writers today can match the author's skill in devising an intelligent thriller with heart.
Publishers Weekly


Bayard sets his latest historical adventure in the streets of Paris as the blood lust of the revolution subsides. It is 1818 when Vidocq, a former convict and the (real-life) founder of the newly created plainclothes investigative force known as the Sûreté, tracks down obscure medical student Hector Carpentier, whose name was found in the pocket of a dead man. As they work through the clues together, they move from the slums of Paris out to the royal gardens of Saint-Cloud. The duo soon realizes that the murders they are investigating may be connected to the whereabouts of Marie Antoinette's lost son, said to have died in the Black Tower. Then they conclude that they might have found the lost prince. As Vidocq and Carpentier fight to keep him alive, they face a dark cover-up and evil alliances that will shape the history of France. Bayard's well-crafted mix of history and suspense keeps this novel from getting bogged down in historical trivia. Recommended for all libraries.
Ron Samul - Library Journal


Having previously channeled Dickens and Poe, historical novelist Bayard throws down the gauntlet to Dumas in another high-energy melodrama. Set in early-19th-century Paris and environs, the book recounts the life-changing experience of medical student Hector Carpentier, who's enlisted by celebrated police detective Eugene Vidocq (a real historical figure) to follow clues suggesting that members of the recently restored Bourbon monarchy known to have been executed by the Jacobins who overthrew them did not include the Dauphin Louis-Charles, younger son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. A scrap of paper bearing Hector's name, a meeting with a down-at-heels baroness and an astonishing accretion of details concerning the late M. Carpentier pere, who had himself pursued a medical career, enable Vidocq to persuade the initially disbelieving Hector that his humble father, an artisan of no particular accomplishment, "might have rubbed shoulders with a Bourbon or two." Dastardly plots, thrilling last-minute rescues and escapes, the destruction by fire of the boardinghouse run by Hector's stoical mother and the mystery surrounding the docile man-child, who may be the one who might be king, are cast together in a whirligig narrative whose impertinent momentum never flags (despite the appearances of enough red herrings to overpopulate a sizable sea). Young Carpentier is a perfectly suitable unwilling (and quite sensibly unheroic) hero, and the ego-driven, Rabelaisian Vidocq drags the story along by his flaring coattails, never fearing any challenges to his wit and resourcefulness (his eccentric jocosity, however, often feels forced). The novel's witty succession of trapdoor endings, culminating (we think) in "the quietest of abdications," keeps surprising us long after it seems Bayard's plot has nowhere else to go. Who says they don't write 'em like this anymore? Long may Bayard reign.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions 
1. In The Black Tower, Louis Bayard depicts a Paris that has gone through many political and social upheavals. How have the attempts to sweep away the past failed? Are countries able to shed their history completely?

2. The relationship between parent and child is a theme that plays out throughout the book. How are the characters' lives affected by the actions of their parents?

3. How can the senior Dr. Carpentier reconcile the things he did and saw in the Temple with his medical ethics? How do his notes reflect the change in his feelings? Why do you think he never told his family of his experiences?

4. How does the relationship between Hector and Vidocq evolve over time? Does it ever approach an equal partnership?

5. How much of Vidocq's personality is shaped by his past? How much is a self-creation?

6. Vidocq is considered by many to be the father of modern detection. How are his methods different from today's? How are they the same? In what ways did Vidocq's policing techniques represent a departure from his predecessors?

7. What is the significance of the Baroness having different-colored eyes? How are her actions shaped by her experience as an emigré?

8. Hector comments that the Duchesse d'Angouleme left the Temple but the Temple never left her. What does he mean by that? How is the Duchess changed by her contact with Charles?

9. Even after the French Revolution, Paris was visibly split between the upper and lower classes. How does that division play out in criminal terms? Do the events of The Black Tower predict, in any way, the ultimate downfall of the Bourbon dynasty?

10. Do you believe Charles was the lost dauphin? How would history have been different if Louis the Seventeenth had reclaimed his throne?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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Black Water 
Louise Doughty, 2016
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780374114015


Summary
From the author of Apple Tree Yard comes a masterful thriller about espionage, love, and redemption. Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the 100 Notable Books of 2016.

John Harper is in hiding in a remote hut on a tropical island. As he lies awake at night, listening to the rain on the roof, he believes his life may be in danger. But he is less afraid of what is going to happen than of what he’s already done.

In a nearby town, he meets Rita, a woman with her own tragic history. They begin an affair, but can they offer each other redemption? Or do the ghosts of the past always catch up with us in the end?

Flashing back from late 1990s Indonesia to Cold War Europe, Harper’s childhood in civil rights-era California, and Indonesia during the massacres of 1965 and the subsequent military dictatorship, Black Water explores some of the darkest events of recent history through the story of one troubled man.

In this gripping follow-up to Apple Tree Yard, Louise Doughty writes with the intelligence, vivid characterization, and moral ambiguity that make her fiction resonate in the reader’s mind long after the final page. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—September 4, 1963
• Where—Melton Mowbray (East Midlands), England, UK
• Education—Leeds University; M.A., University of East Anglia
• Currently—lives in London, England


Louise Doughty is the author of seven novels, including the recently published Apple Tree Yard, which is currently being translated into eleven languages.

Her first novel, Crazy Paving (1995), was shortlisted for four awards including the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Her sixth novel, Whatever You Love (2010) was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction.

She has also won awards for radio drama and short stories, along with publishing one work of non-fiction, A Novel in a Year (2007), based on her hugely popular newspaper column. She is a critic and cultural commentator for UK and international newspapers and broadcasts regularly for the BBC. She was a judge for the Man Booker Prize in 2008 and is currently Chair of Judges for this year’s Fiction Uncovered promotion.

Doughty was born in the East Midlands and grew up in Rutland, England’s smallest county, a rural area that later provided the setting for her third novel, Honey-Dew. She attended Leeds University and the University of East Anglia, where she did the MA in Creative Writing course with Malcolm Bradbury and Angela Carter. She then moved to London and spent the rest of her twenties in a series of temporary jobs including teaching and secretarial work.

It was her experiences as a temp secretary that provided the material for her Crazy Paving, a black comedy about accidents, Chaos Theory and urban terrorism. That was followed by Dance With Me (1996), a novel about ghosts, mental illness and sexual betrayal, and Honey-Dew (1998), a satire of the traditional English mystery.

Doughty took a dramatic departure with her fourth novel, the internationally acclaimed Fires in the Dark (2003), based on the history of the Romany people and her own family ancestry. It was followed by Stone Cradle (2006) and Whatever You Love (2010).  In 2007, she published her first work of non-fiction, A Novel in a Year, based on her newspaper column of the same name.

She has written major features, columns and cover articles for a wide variety of newspapers and magazines including the Guardian, Independent, Daily Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, and her broadcasting career includes presenting radio series such as BBC R4's A Good Read and Writers’ Workshop. She is a regular guest on the radio arts programme Saturday Review. She lives in London. (From the author's website.)

Book Reviews
Doughty’s excellent new novel is a character study, a glimpse at mid-century American civil rights, a thriller, a meditation on the effects of foreign policy on individuals, a modern love story and a portrait of Indonesian unrest in the 20th century.... If it sounds like a handful, it is. But Doughty has found an ideal vehicle for her wide-ranging interests.
Olen Steinhauer - New York Times Book Review


Doughty’s language is punchy, visually striking and emotionally potent.... This is a compelling and vivid psychological drama, with plenty of bite.
Leyla Sanai - Guardian (UK)


Skilfully drawn and compelling.... This serious novel marks a departure for Doughty, whose psychological thrillers, including Apple Tree Yard, have been so successful. This one strays more into le Carre territory—where she seems equally at home.
Carla McKay - Daily Mail (UK)


[T]he different elements never fully connect, the dense prose reading more like a newspaper investigation than fiction. Although tormented by his immoral choices, Harper elicits little sympathy from the reader, except during flashbacks to his childhood in L.A.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Doughty takes a page from John le Carre, crafting a riveting, psychological, morally ambiguous tale...richly detailed.... [T]he role of mercenaries in world affairs adds a new perspective to the spy novel genre.
Library Journal


Through Harper, Doughty creates a jarringly realistic backdrop of Indonesia’s violent past, sharply contrasting the menacing atmosphere with a growing romance and Harper’s memories of a vulnerable childhood in 1950s Los Angeles. A tense, contemplative literary thriller and worthy follow-up to Doughty’s critically acclaimed Apple Tree Yard (2013).
Booklist


Doughty has created a novel comparable to Graham Greene’s masterpiece The Quiet American in its taut exploration of morality on a geopolitical and personal scale.... The plot is complex and delves into dark, unjustly forgotten corners of history...as much a character study as it is an espionage thriller.... Black Water is a gripping thriller, incisive character study, a critique of US foreign policy and a love story haunted by the 1965 massacres in Indonesia.
Shelf Awareness


(Starred review.) [A] morally and emotionally fraught thriller...about an operative for an Amsterdam-based black-ops organization grappling with fallout from his personal and professional history in Indonesia.... Powerful, probing fiction in the tradition of Graham Greene and John le Carré.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, consider our LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for Black Water...and then take off on your own:

1. What do you think of Nicolaas Den Herder, AKA John Harper? Why is he living in a hut in a remote corner of the world? In what way is he more than he appears? Is he a moral individual?

2. Talk about Harper as young Nocolaas. How did his beginnings, his birth in a prison camp and his upbringing, shape the man we meet in the novel? In what way does his childhood explain why Harper is the man he is—and why he leads the life he leads?

3. Follow-up to Questions 1 and 2: At one point, Rita asks, "John, what happened to you?" Why does she ask that question? Second, what did happen to Harper? How does Louise Doughty unravel life events that have cost John so dearly? And what, exactly, are those costs?

4. What about Rita? What do you make of her?

5. Talk about the dire poverty, in Indonesia. Consider the conversation Harper had with a colleague in 1965 regarding a bag of rice that would feed a single person for two weeks—it cost 1,000 rupiah. A schoolteacher, on the other hand, earned 500 rupiah a month. Harper responded, "when rice is that expensive, human beings are cheap." What are the implications of that observation, for the people of Indonesia or even, on a global scale, for nations, rich and poor?

6. Rita assures Harper that things are better in Indonesia. Can Harper convince himself that life has changed for the better? What do you think?

7. Follow-up to Question 5: How does the nexus of global politics and multinational corporations play out in this novel?

8.  What, precisely, is Harper's role in Indonesia? People in his position are sent into countries to find answers to questions. What questions? And for whose benefit?

9. What kind of life does a spy lead? Consider friends and lovers, how people are viewed as assets and tools, the constant facade one hides behind, to say nothing of the presence of danger. What does that kind of life do to a soul? Or what kind of person chooses that profession?

10. Talk about Nicolaas's beloved Poppa, a man willing to put everything at risk to help those in need. How do we explain that kind of virtue in a world so fallen? Might the author be suggesting that, despite our lip service for doing good, Poppa is the one out of step in a fallen world, a world where people like Harper (and ourselves, perhaps?) are preoccupied with their own preservation?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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Black Water
Joyce Carol Oates, 1992
Penguin Group USA
154 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780452269866


Summary
Joyce Carol Oates has taken a shocking story that has become an American myth and, from it, has created a novel of electrifying power and illumination. Kelly Kelleher is an idealistic, twenty-six-year-old "good girl" when she meets the Senator at a Fourth of July party.

In a brilliantly woven narrative, we enter her past and her present, her mind and her body as she is fatally attracted to this older man, this hero, this soon-to-be-lover. Kelly becomes the very embodiment of the vulnerable, romantic dreams of bight and brave women, drawn to the power that certain men command—at a party that takes on the quality of a surreal nightmare; in a tragic car ride that we hope against hope will not end as we know it must end.

One of the acknowleged masters of American fiction, Joyce Carol Oates has written a bold tour de force that parts the black water to reveal the profoundest depths of human truth. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—June 16, 1938
• Where—Lockport, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Syracuse Univ.; M.A., Univ. of Wisconsin
• Awards—National Book Award for Them, 1970; 14 O. Henry
   Awards; six Pushcart Prizes
• Currently—lives in Princeton, New Jersey


Joyce Carol Oates is one of the most influential and important storytellers in the literary world. She has often used her supreme narrative skills to examine the dark side of middle-class Americana, and her oeuvre includes some of the finest examples of modern essays, plays, criticism, and fiction from a vast array of genres. She is still publishing with a speed and consistency of quality nearly unheard of in contemporary literature.

A born storyteller, Oates has been spinning yarns since she was a little girl too young to even write. Instead, she would communicate her stories through drawings and paintings. When she received her very first typewriter at the age of 14, her creative floodgates opened with a torrent. She says she wrote "novel after novel" throughout high school and college— a prolificacy that has continued unabated throughout a professional career that began in 1963 with her first short story collection, By the North Gate.

Oates's breakthrough occurred in 1969 with the publication of Them, a National Book Award winner that established her as a force to be reckoned with. Since that auspicious beginning, she has been nominated for nearly every major literary honor —from the PEN/Faulkner Award to the Pulitzer Prize—and her fiction turns up with regularity on the New York Times annual list of Notable Books.

On average Oates publishes at least one novel, essay anthology, or story collection a year (during the 1970s, she produced at the astonishing rate of two or three books a year!). And although her fiction often exposes the darker side of America's brightest facades—familial unrest, sexual violence, the death of innocence—she has also made successful forays into Gothic novels, suspense, fantasy, and children's literature. As novelist John Barth once remarked, "Joyce Carol Oates writes all over the aesthetical map."

Where she finds the time for it no one knows, but Oates manages to combine her ambitious, prolific writing career with teaching: first at the University of Windsor in Canada, then (from 1978 on), at Princeton University in New Jersey. For all her success and fame, her daily routine of teaching and writing has changed very little, and her commitment to literature as a transcendent human activity remains steadfast.

Extras
• When not writing, Oates likes to take in a fight. "Boxing is a celebration of the lost religion of masculinity all the more trenchant for its being lost," she says in highbrow fashion of the lowbrow sport.

• Oates's Black Water, which is a thinly veiled account of Ted Kennedy's car crash in Chappaquiddick, was produced as an opera in the 1990s. (Author bio from Barnes & Noble.)

Praise for Oates from the UK
• One of the female frontrunners for the title of Great American Novelist.— Maggie Gee, Sunday Times

• A writer of extraordinary strengths...she has dealt consistently with what is probably the great American theme— the quest for the creation of self...Her great subject, naturally, is love.—Ian Sansom, Guardian

• Her prose is peerless and her ability to make you think as she re-invents genres is unique. Few writers move so effortlessly from the gothic tale to the psychological thriller to the epic family saga to the lyrical novella. Even fewer authors can so compellingly and entertainingly tell a story.—Jackie McGlone, Scotland on Sunday

• Novelists such as John Updike, Philip Roth, Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer slug it out for the title of the Great American Novelist. But maybe they're wrong. Maybe, just maybe, the Great American Novelist is a woman. —The Herald

Book Reviews
Presumably Ms. Oates was attracted to the story because it embodies so many of the themes that have obsessed her throughout her prolific career: the violence and randomness of modern life; the intersection of private and public nightmares; the "unspeakable turn of destiny," as she once called it, that can instantly shatter an individual's hopes and dreams. Once again, she has depicted a strangely passive young woman who allows herself to be drawn willy-nilly into disaster. Once again, she has given us a shrewd and powerful man, intent on controlling his fate. And once again, she has portrayed two lives on a collision course, headed for destruction.
Michiko Kakutani - New York Times


"You would not choose to drown, to die . . . trapped together in a sinking car, with a stranger," a narrator observes about the fate of Kelly Kelleher, heroine of Oates's gripping and hallucinatory novella. In a plot shocking for its blatant familiarity, a figure identified as The Senator tipsily drives a young woman away from a Fourth of July party, veers off a dock and plunges the car into dank water, where he deserts her and she drowns, a chastely wrapped condom still in her Laura Ashley purse. Brief chapters, some taut as prose poems, sink into Kelly's past (she had hoped to help him campaign for the presidency) and then surge forward. Ebbing and rising like the engulfing waters, the narrative, too, swallows her in its finale. Returning to the theme of Death and the Maiden (the picture hangs on a wall in American Appetites, and the phrase was the original title of her classic short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"), Oates here extracts a deeper, more terrible meaning. Kelly feels "chosen," having long ago fallen under the sway of Politics and Eros as incarnated by the treacherous Senator, on whom she based her college honors thesis. The author chillingly augments her scrutiny of the tainted American official by incorporating statements about capital punishment by current legalists. Oates is at the top of her stunning form.
Publishers Weekly


It all began when Kelly Kelleher was introduced to The Senator, a man she had wanted to meet since selecting him as the topic of her senior honors thesis. Charmed and infatuated, Kelly eagerly accepts his invitation to leave the island party where they've met and ride back to Boothbay Harbor together on the late night ferry. Those who remember Chappaquiddick can predict Kelly's ultimate fate, but certainly not the horrors she must have suffered strapped to the seat of a car that would become an aqueous death chamber. Immense courage shines through the tangled streams of her thoughts, memories, and hallucinations. As witnesses to her plight, we can only keep vigil as she drifts in and out of consciousness, waiting for the reprieve that surely must be hers. Oates brilliantly redefines the meanings of guilt and innocence, vengeance and reward in this thought-provoking allegory of our life and times. Highly recommended for all fiction collections. —Janet W. Reit, Univ. of Vermont Lib., Burlington
Library Journal


"She was the one he had chosen.'' This is Kelly Kelleher's thought as she leaves the party with a senator, as much a symbol of her desire to change her life as it is the fulfillment of a romantic dream. She's a young woman struggling to assert herself, but this rash move ultimately ends in tragedy. Oates makes readers feel that they are along for the very frightening ride in the car with Kelly and her senator in this shocking, all-too-familiar story. It's fast paced, almost as if to compel readers to keep up with the speeding car. Although brief, the book develops Kelly's character so well that the loss of such a young and promising life is deeply felt. The man sharing the last moments of her life is known only as "The Senator" throughout. Even for readers unaware of the true incident that was catalyst for this story, the novel stands strongly on its own. —Carolyn Koehler, Richard Byrd Library, Fairfax County, VA
School Library Journal


Oates's latest is an impassioned re-creation of the tragedy at Chappaquiddick—with names withheld and the date moved to the current, post-Reagan era. Her name is Elizabeth Kelleher, called "Kelly" by her friends; her age, 26 and eight months; occupation, reporter for the liberal Citizen's Inquiry, whose editor once worked on the Bobby Kennedy campaign. Pretty, tentative Kelly attends casually and without expectations the Fourth of July get-together hosted by her best friend, Buffy St. John, on Grayling Island—little realizing that "the Senator"— charismatic liberal politician, contender for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, and subject of her senior thesis at Brown—will drop in for a few drinks and a game or two of tennis. The Senator, red-eyed, heavy, and in his late 50s, looks the political warhorse he is, but it's his appetite for debate, politics, and life itself that intrigues the young journalist—he is, after all, her hero. She allows him to lead her on a walk along the beach, to kiss her, to suggest that they catch the ferry off the island and have dinner at his hotel. She is the one, the one he's chosen, Kelly tells herself, frightened though she is as the Senator speeds down a dark, unpaved road toward the ferry, sloshing a fresh gin-and-tonic on her dress. But when his car flips off the road and into the black, polluted Indian River, Kelly gradually realizes that her assumption is false: she isn't chosen, at least not for rescue—and her brief life, with its half-understood longings, fears, and dreams, is over almost before it has begun. One may question whether yet another fictional account, no matter how brief and evocative, of this infamous accident is really worthwhile—though Oates fans (and there are many) won't be disappointed..
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions 
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get your discussion started:

1. Kelly sees the Senator's invitation as a romantic fulfillment and as a way to change the course of her life. How so? She also believes she is "chosen." In what way is her belief in being chosen ironic?

2. Talk about the ways in which Oates develops Kelly as a character? Describe her personality.

3. The Senator is twice Kelly's age, yet Kelly is attracted to him. Oates seems to be concerned with the nexus of politics, power and eros—or innocence vs. corruption. How do those three forces become entangled, not just in this story, but also in real life?

4. Some readers have found the scene of Kelly trapped in the car lurid and sensationalistic. Others find Kelly's flashbacks and hallucinations brilliantly descriptive. What do you think?

5. Talk about the Senator's stature as a politician vs. his failings as a private individual, as well as a system geared to protect the powerful.

6. You get the references to the real life incident behind this novel, right?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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Black Water Rising
Attica Locke, 2009
HarperCollins
448 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780061735851


Summary
Jay Porter is hardly the lawyer he set out to be. His most promising client is a low-rent call girl and he runs his fledgling law practice out of a dingy strip mall. But he's long since made peace with not living the American Dream and carefully tucked away his darkest sins: the guns, the FBI file, the trial that nearly destroyed him.

Houston, Texas, 1981. It is here that Jay believes he can make a fresh start. That is, until the night in a boat out on the bayou when he impulsively saves a woman from drowning—and opens a Pandora's box. Her secrets put Jay in danger, ensnaring him in a murder investigation that could cost him his practice, his family, and even his life. But before he can get to the bottom of a tangled mystery that reaches into the upper echelons of Houston's corporate power brokers, Jay must confront the demons of his past.

With pacing that captures the reader from the first scene through an exhilarating climax, Black Water Rising marks the arrival of an electrifying new talent.

Writing in the tradition of Dennis Lehane and Greg Iles, Attica Locke, a powerful new voice in American fiction, delivers a brilliant debut thriller that readers will not soon forget. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1971
• Born—Houston, Texas, USA
• Education—Northwestern University
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California


Attica Locke is an American author of several works of fiction and a screenwriter, perhaps best known for the television series Empire. A native of Houston, Texas, she graduated from Northwestern University and now lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and daughter.

Locke’s first novel, Black Water Rising (2009), was nominated for a 2010 Edgar Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize. It was shortlisted for the prestigious Orange Prize in the UK (now the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction). She followed that novel with three other works: The Cutting Season (2012), Pleasantville (2015), and Bluebird, Bluebird (2017).

In addition to her novels, Locke has worked in film and television. She was a fellow at the Sundance Institute's Feature Filmmakers Lab, has written scripts for Paramount, Warner Bros., Disney, 20th Century Fox, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, HBO, and DreamWorks.

Locke is a member of the academy for the Folio Prize in the UK and is also on the board of directors for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 10/26/2017.)

Book Reviews
Atmospheric…deeply nuanced story…[Locke] is able to write about Jay's urgent need to behave manfully and become a decent father with a serious, stirring moral urgency akin to that of George Pelecanos or Dennis Lehane.... Subtle and compelling as it is, Black Water Rising is at times overwritten. There are endless references to Jay’s fear, nausea, timidity and general quailing, long after any sensate reader has come to understand what ails him.
Janet Maslin - New York Times


Jay Porter, a struggling black lawyer and the protagonist, is more than casually wary of the police and keeps three guns handy just in case. But then no one completely trusts anyone here. The book cleverly replaces the kind of cold-war paranoia that used to animate thrillers with racial paranoia instead.
Charles McGrath - New York Times Book Review


[W]hen a mystery plot is all knotted up and largely devoid of compelling characters or atmosphere, then it's in trouble. That's the kind of trouble Attica Locke's debut novel, Black Water Rising, lands in immediately after an engrossing first chapter.... The plot that proceeds from [its] attention-getting opening is murkier than the bayou after a crawfish convention. All of these circumlocutions would be tolerable if the characters had any heft; instead, all of them, including Jay, feel sketchy. Locke comes to mystery fiction from her career as a screenwriter....[and her] screenwriting background squeaks all too loudly in many transitional moments.
Maureen Corrigan - Washington Post Book World


(Audio version.) This extraordinary debut focuses on Jay Porter, a black lawyer in Houston struggling to become upwardly mobile while weighed down by a past as a civil rights worker who was betrayed and disillusioned. His moral fiber is put to the test when he's witness to a murder that eventually places him and his pregnant wife in jeopardy. It's a good thriller setup, but what distinguishes Locke's story are the glimpses into Porter's past, which, in turn, focus on the racial rebellions on campuses in the '60s (the author has written an upcoming HBO miniseries on the civil rights movement). Dion Graham's whispery, almost sing-song narration seems initially inappropriate, but, oddly, as the plot unfolds, this approach morphs into a mesmerizing intimacy that makes Locke's riveting prose even more compelling.
Publishers Weekly


When Houston lawyer Jay Porter responds to pressure from his wife and jumps into the bayou to rescue a drowning white woman during a birthday dinner cruise he'd planned, he has no idea of the hell he's about to enter. There's a murder nearby that same night. Jay suspects that the drowning woman was involved. Ominous threats convince him that it's bigger than just a simple murder and that the players go all the way to the top of Houston's business and political elite. Only by facing down the racially charged past that's been haunting him for years can Jay find it in himself to overcome his longstanding belief in keeping quiet instead of speaking up. Despite a slow start and a measured pace that fail to give the narrative the expected intensity, Locke's debut thriller ends in a satisfying whirlwind of drama. Deftly exploring social and economic themes during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, she balances Jay's current situation with flashbacks to his past as a student activist fighting for racial equality. Readers who enjoy Stephen Carter's thrillers (e.g., The Emperor of Ocean Park) will want to try.
Amy Brozio-Andrews - Library Journal


(Starred review) First-novelist Locke presents a searing portrait of a man struggling to reconcile the bitterness of his life experiences with the idealism of his convictions. Like Dennis Lehane, she skillfully deploys the conventions of the thriller while also presenting biting social commentary, a sure sense of place, and soulful characters. —Joanne Wilkinson
Booklist


A debut thriller about an African-American lawyer with some difficult clients and a radical past. Jay Porter smokes too many Newports; he's short on money; his wife Bernie is pregnant; and the slip-and-fall lawsuits that bolster his practice have nearly dried up as Houston heads from boom to bust in 1981. When he rescues a woman from a bayou after gunshots ring out, Jay keeps mum to the cops. His own tangles with "the Man" haunt him: At 19, only a close-call acquittal saved him from going to prison on a charge of helping to kill a federal agent. From his radical past, Jay is left with wariness and memories of a romance with white revolutionary Cynthia Maddox, who turns up years later as Houston's mayor and with whom he reconnects while representing a hooker in a civil case against an oil magnate. Jay needs the mayor's help to protect striking black union members who have come to him after being assaulted by their white counterparts. The book's three intersecting story lines promise nothing but trouble. The rescued woman is either a victim, a killer or a pawn in a scheme to damage Jay; the hooker could bring down the oilman; and the strike could bankrupt Houston. Jay, pulled into this vortex, also struggles with grim memories of his dad fatally beaten by rednecks and Black Panther allies decimated by the FBI. Locke expertly etches a portrait of her anxiety-ridden protagonist, and she animates the complex plot with the assurance of a practiced screenwriter (she's currently working on an HBO series about civil rights).
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions 
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help you get a discussion started for Black Water Rising:

1. Talk about Jay's past, as a student activist, and the way in which his past affects his present. How is Jay's idealism in conflict with his desire to keep his head down—and how does that unease manifest itself throughout the story?

2. How does Jay's "racialized disposition, his sensitive, almost exquisite sense of the world as black and white" affect his judgment? In the world of this book, is Jay's divided view of the world correct? How about in real life?

3. When Jay rescues the white woman at the beginning of the story, why does he leave her on the steps of the police station? What assumptions does he make about the entire incident—who she is, why she refuses to talk, and the consequences of his own invovlement?

4. What moves Jay to become involved in the woman's case?

5. In what way has money become "the new Jim Crow"?

6. What are Jay's feelings toward Cynthia Maddox...and what are your feelings toward her character? What about her comment that "No one understands discrimination more than I do"?

7. Jay's father-in-law, a minister, wants Jay to help the dockworkers by instigating a lawsuit in support of their cause. Why is Jay reluctant to get involved? What does he mean when he thinks he's "been there before"?

8. What are the three distinct storylines of this mystery, and how do they become enmeshed with one another to create the different layers of complications?

9. Does the book deliver in terms of being both a mystery and suspense story? Did you find yourself quickly turning the page to find out what happened next? Were you surprised by the twists and turns of the storyline? Is the ending satisfying?

10. Some reviewers feel the story contains too many distracting subplots or flashbacks, which drag down the pace of reading. Do you agree? Others feel the novel reads in parts like a screenplay. What might they mean and do you agree...or not?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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Black Wave:  A Family's Adventure at Sea and the Disaster That Saved Them
Jean and John Silverwood, 2008
Random House
224 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781588367341 (Kindle ed.)


Summary
I told God that if he would let us survive this night, I would make it mean something worthwhile. And then, somehow, I felt calmer than I have ever felt. Unreasonably so. Irrationally so. I looked over the scene of our wrecked life and I smiled—a crazy smile for sure—and I looked through the dark at the mad beauty of it. —Jean Silverwood

An exhilarating true-life adventure of one family’s extraordinary sea voyage of self-discovery and survival, tragedy and triumph

Successful businessman John Silverwood and his wife, Jean, both experienced sailors, decided the time was right to give their four children a taste of thrilling life on the high seas. And indeed their journey aboard the fifty-five-foot catamaran Emerald Jane would have many extraordinary and profound moments, whether it was the peaceful late-night watches John enjoyed under the stunning celestial sky or the elation shared by the whole family at the sight of blissful pods of dolphin and migrating tortoises.

John and Jean had hoped to use the trip as a teaching opportunity, with the Emerald Jane as a floating classroom in which to instruct their children in important lessons–not only about the natural world but about the beauty of human life when stripped down to its essence, far from the trappings of civilization.

Yet rather than flourishing amid the new freedoms and responsibilities thrust upon them, the children were sometimes confused, frightened, resentful. The two oldest, fourteen-year-old Ben and twelve-year-old Amelia, missed their friends and the comfortable life left behind in San Diego, while the two youngest, Jack, seven, and Camille, three, picked up on the stressful currents running above and below the surface—for throughout the journey, the Silverwood family found its bonds tested as never before (From the publisher.)

Author Bios
John Silverwood
• Birth—1952
• Where—Detroit, Michigan, USA
• Education—B.A., Colgate University
• Currently—San Diego, California

Book Reviews
The jaw-dropping true tale of the Silverwood family and their awe-inspiring survival when faced with the most harrowing of events on the high seas is a truly remarkable account. Carrington Macduffie and Joe Barrett bring this story to life, capturing the tense journey down to the slightest detail in these realistic readings. While Macduffie certainly offers more in the line of theatrics, both performances are earnest and raw, allowing the listeners to ebb and flow with the story as if they were tucked away on the Silverwood's 50-foot catamaran. The journey is the destination in this tersely written tale, and with skilled, experienced narrators guiding the way, this trip proves seaworthy.
Publishers Weekly


It could be said that the Silverwoods' account of hitting a coral reef off the Scilly Islands is a repeat of history, because their 50-foot catamaran, the Emerald Jane, did exactly what the tall sailing ship Julia Ann had done in 1855. Luckily for John, Jean, and their four children, they had the benefit of 21st-century survival gear, particularly the GPS survival beacon that provided the crucial link to the French emergency crews who saved them. Black Wave is an exciting tale; readers know from the start that the family survives, but what makes for deep engagement is learning the parallel story of Captain Pond and his crew and passengers. It is during John Silverwood's recovery and rehabilitation-his leg is crushed during the wreck and later amputated-that he learns about the Julia Ann. As he delves into its history and learns how the 19th-century crew dealt with their devastating misadventure, it helps him put his family's experience into perspective. This book shows that we all deal with catastrophic events differently, but if our actions are explored and investigated, we learn that human beings, no matter the era, have the same basic instincts and needs to make sense of their experiences (Adult/High School). —Joanne Ligamari, Twin Rivers United School District, Sacramento, CA
School Library Journal


A San Diego family's adventure-filled, two-year journey from New York to the South Pacific in a 55-foot catamaran sailboat. Along the way, the Silverwoods endured close encounters with modern-day pirates of the Caribbean, a Force-10 gale off Colombia, a broken generator in Tahiti and every kind of sea creature imaginable. In many ways, the children-Ben, 16, Amelia, 14, Jack, nine, and Camille, five-proved more resilient than their parents. John, an alcoholic, suffered several tumbles from the wagon early on, causing his admittedly high-strung wife Jean to nearly pack up the kids and leave. He soon righted himself, aided by some hastily arranged tropical AA meetings, and Jean was eventually calmed by daily runs on the beach and the companionship of a chance-met South African family making a similar round-the-world voyage. The Silverwoods' courage and survival skills got their ultimate test when the Emerald Jane crashed into a hidden reef in the remote South Pacific, destroying the boat and severely damaging John's leg. In this life-and-death trial, all of them were changed, brought together as few families ever are. The first-time authors prove able narrators and engaging hosts throughout this well-crafted memoir. Wisely, they focus not only on the natural wonders experienced on their marathon journey, but on the small everyday matters: meal preparations, the kids' home schooling at sea, mechanical problems with the boat. These up-close, authentic details enrich a story that works on many levels-as intimate family portrait, colorful travelogue and high-seas drama. Moreover, the Silverwoods wrecked on the same reef where a three-masted sailing ship, the Julia Ann, was struck back in1855,thus providing them with a riveting historical coda to their own adventure. Highly readable, educational and entertaining. Agent: Mel Berger/William Morris Agency
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)

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Black-Eyed Susans 
Julia Heaberlin, 2015
Random House
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780804177993


Summary
An electrifying novel of stunning psychological suspense.

I am the star of screaming headlines and campfire ghost stories. I am one of the four Black-Eyed Susans. The lucky one.

As a sixteen-year-old, Tessa Cartwright was found in a Texas field, barely alive amid a scattering of bones, with only fragments of memory as to how she got there. Ever since, the press has pursued her as the lone surviving “Black-Eyed Susan,” the nickname given to the murder victims because of the yellow carpet of wildflowers that flourished above their shared grave. Tessa’s testimony about those tragic hours put a man on death row.

Now, almost two decades later, Tessa is an artist and single mother. In the desolate cold of February, she is shocked to discover a freshly planted patch of black-eyed susans—a summertime bloom—just outside her bedroom window. Terrified at the implications—that she sent the wrong man to prison and the real killer remains at large—Tessa turns to the lawyers working to exonerate the man awaiting execution.

But the flowers alone are not proof enough, and the forensic investigation of the still-unidentified bones is progressing too slowly. An innocent life hangs in the balance. The legal team appeals to Tessa to undergo hypnosis to retrieve lost memories—and to share the drawings she produced as part of an experimental therapy shortly after her rescue.

What they don’t know is that Tessa and the scared, fragile girl she was have built a fortress of secrets. As the clock ticks toward the execution, Tessa fears for her sanity, but even more for the safety of her teenaged daughter.

Is a serial killer still roaming free, taunting Tessa with a trail of clues? She has no choice but to confront old ghosts and lingering nightmares to finally discover what really happened that night.

Shocking, intense, and utterly original, Black-Eyed Susans is a dazzling psychological thriller, seamlessly weaving past and present in a searing tale of a young woman whose harrowing memories remain in a field of flowers—as a killer makes a chilling return to his garden. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1960-61 (?)
• Where—Decatur, Texas, USA
• Education—N/A
• Currently—lives in Dallas/Fort Worth area, Texas


Julia Heaberlin is the American author of three novels: Playing Dead (2012), Lie Still (2013), and Black-Eyed Susans (2015).

Heaberlin is also an award-winning journalist who has worked for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Detroit News and Dallas Morning News.

Before launching her career as an author, she was an assistant managing editor over features sections at large metropolitan newspapers. Many of those sections won national and state journalism awards. The Star-Telegram "Life & Arts" section was named as one of the Top 10 sections in the country during her tenure.

Heaberlin has edited real-life thriller stories that inform her writing, including a series on the perplexing and tragic murders of random girls and women buried in the desert in Mexico and another on the frightened women of domestic violence.

She lives with her husband and son in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, where she is a free-lance writer and is at work on her fourth book. (Adapted from the author's website. Julia's personal version is HERE.)

Book Reviews
A masterful thriller that shouldn’t be missed....brilliantly conceived, beautifully executed.... [Julia] Heaberlin’s work calls to mind that of Gillian Flynn. Both writers published impressive early novels that were largely overlooked, and then one that couldn’t be: Flynn’s Gone Girl and now Heaberlin’s Black-Eyed Susans. Don’t miss it.
Washington Post


A terrific plot, matched by the quality of the writing and superbly paced tension.
London Times (UK)


A breakout book.... Heaberlin maintains her tight grip on narrative control, expertly maintaining the delightful, nail-biting suspense.... It’s her emerging talent as a masterful storyteller that sets this book apart.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram


Compelling.... [One of] ten amazing books you need to read this summer.
Cosmopolitan (UK)


[A] gripping psychological thriller.... The suspense builds as Tessie uncovers devastating secrets from the past en route to the shocking ending.
Publishers Weekly


An absorbing character study and a good choice for readers who want to really sink into a psychological thriller.
Booklist


As the only survivor of a serial killer, Tessa Cartwright has spent the last 20 years trying to forget her past, but when the killer's execution date looms, she begins questioning everything she once believed.... [A] truly compelling tale of the fragility of memory and elusive redemption.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
(Spoiler Alert: If you haven't yet finished the book, many of these questions may reveal more than you'd like them to.)

1. Did you or someone you know experience violent psychic trauma as a child? Based on that, or survivors you see on TV, do you believe there is such a thing as full recovery? Do you believe children are more resilient than adults?
   
2. Was the doctor helpful to Tessie in their sessions before the trial? Do you believe in repressed memory and the techniques to unlock them?
   
3. How do you relate to Tessa's relationship with her teen-age daughter?
   
4. Tessa was conflicted about the death penalty. Are you for or against it? Did this book change your mind a little one way or the other? Have you ever made a stand beyond stating your opinion? Does it irritate or inform you when friends use Facebook as their forum? If you live in Texas, were you surprised about the matter-of-fact way an execution plays out in the middle of Huntsville?
   
5. What was your favorite "Southern moment" in Black-Eyed Susans?
   
6. How do you think forensic scientists and death penalty lawyers emotionally survive a career where death is a constant? Could you do it?
   
7. Was Tessie always in the right when it came to her relationship with Lydia?
   
8. Was there more darkness or light in Lydia? Tessa? Do you think most human beings, in a tough situation, will do what serves them, or what is really right?
   
9. What do you think of the idea laid out in this book—that voices in your head, especially of someone you love who has died, can be more productive than destructive?
   
10. When do you think a person's true nature, and the nature of a friendship, is mostly likely to be revealed?
(Questions from the author's website.)

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Blackberry Winter
Sarah Joi, 2012
Penguin Group USA
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780452298385


Summary
In 2011, Sarah Jio burst onto the fiction scene with two sensational novels—The Violets of March and The Bungalow. With Blackberry Winter—taking its title from a late-season, cold-weather phenomenon—Jio continues her rich exploration of the ways personal connections can transcend the boundaries of time.

Seattle, 1933. Single mother Vera Ray kisses her three-year-old son, Daniel, goodnight and departs to work the night-shift at a local hotel. She emerges to discover that a May-Day snow has blanketed the city, and that her son has vanished. Outside, she finds his beloved teddy bear lying face-down on an icy street, the snow covering up any trace of his tracks, or the perpetrator's.

Seattle, 2010. Seattle Herald reporter Claire Aldridge, assigned to cover the May 1 "blackberry winter" storm and its twin, learns of the unsolved abduction and vows to unearth the truth. In the process, she finds that she and Vera may be linked in unexpected ways. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1978
• Where—Washington State, USA
• Education—B.A., Western Washington University
• Currently—lives in Seattle, Washington

Sarah Jio is a veteran magazine writer and the health and fitness blogger for Glamour magazine. She has written hundreds of articles for national magazines and top newspapers including Redbook, O, The Oprah Magazine, Cooking Light, Glamour, SELF, Real Simple, Fitness, Marie Claire, Hallmark magazine, Seventeen, The Nest, Health, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, The Seattle Times, Parents, Woman’s Day, American Baby, Parenting, and Kiwi. She has also appeared as a commentator on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Sarah has a degree in journalism and writes about topics that include food, nutrition, health, entertaining, travel, diet/weight loss, beauty, fitness, shopping, psychology, parenting and beyond. She frequently tests and develops recipes for major magazines.

Her first novel The Violets of March, published in April, 2011, was chosen as a Best Book of 2011 by Library Journal. Her second novel, The Bungalow, was published in December of the same year. Blackberry Winter came out in 2012. The Last Camellia and Morning Glory were both issued in 2013.

Sarah lives in Seattle with her husband, Jason, and three young sons. (From the author's website.)

Book Reviews
Terrific.... Compelling.... An intoxicating blend of mystery, history and romance, this book is hard to put down.
Real Simple


Engaging.... Enticing.... [A] fascinating exploration of love, loss, scandal, and redemption.
Publishers Weekly


This novel will enchant Jio's fans and make them clamor for her next offering.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. The novel is set both in the 1930s and the present day, and the narration switches back and forth between Vera Ray and Claire Aldridge. Why do you think the author chose to set up the narrative this way? What does it lend to the story? How does it help the reader get a better sense of the events of the novel?

2. In the opening pages of the novel, Claire alludes to a “phantom pain” in her abdomen. Did you have a sense of what had happened to her before the details of her accident were revealed? How did learning the truth about what happened to Claire alter your perception of her and Ethan’s relationship? Why do you think the author held back the details of the accident at first?

3. This novel deals closely with the gulf between the rich and the poor, particularly in the 1930s. Were you surprised by the apathy the police demonstrated over Daniel’s disappearance? Is Vera surprised?

4. How would you characterize Claire’s relationship with Dominic? Is it a threat to her relationship with Ethan? Why do you think Claire turns to Dominic instead of her husband initially?

5. Claire and Ethan seem reluctant to talk to one another throughout much of the novel. How does this contribute to the growing distance between them? What finally spurs them both to close the gap?

6. Consider Abby and Caroline. What role do they play in Claire and Vera’s lives? How do the women support one another? Would Claire and Vera have had the strength to do what they needed to do in their lives without Abby and Caroline’s support?

7. What do you make of Vera and Charles’s relationship? Vera leaves because she doesn’t want to be the reason Charles loses all that he has. Do you think if she hadn’t left, they could have stayed together? Do you believe him when he tells her that he wishes she would have let him make that choice for himself?

8. Why does Vera believe that Lon Edwards will help her find her son? Would you have done the same thing in her position? Can you imagine her state of mind when he tells her he won’t help her?

9. How does researching Daniel and Vera’s story allow Claire to heal? How does learning what happened to Vera compel Claire to move forward with her own life?

10. Vera and Claire’s storylines intermingle in many ways. What did you make of the revelation that Charles was a Kensington? In what other ways are Claire and Vera tied to one another?

11. Do you believe that Josephine pointed Vera towards the leaky rowboat? What were her motivations for kidnapping Daniel? Did she believe she was doing the right thing?

12. What did you make of Warren’s revelation? Were there any hints earlier on that might have clued the reader in to this piece of the puzzle?

13. How does the significance of the title come into play at the end of the novel? What does it mean to Claire to have the gardener tell her that blackberry vines “choose souls to protect?” Are you hopeful for Claire and Ethan’s future?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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Blackbird House 
Alice Hoffman, 2004
Doubleday
240 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385507615


Summary
An evocative work that traces the lives of the various occupants of an old Massachusetts house over a span of two hundred years.

In a rare and gorgeous departure, beloved novelist Alice Hoffman weaves a web of tales, all set in Blackbird House. This small farm on the outer reaches of Cape Cod is a place that is as bewitching and alive as the characters we meet:

Violet, a brilliant girl who is in love with books and with a man destined to betray her; Lysander Wynn, attacked by a halibut as big as a horse, certain that his life is ruined until a boarder wearing red boots arrives to change everything; Maya Cooper, who does not understand the true meaning of the love between her mother and father until it is nearly too late.

From the time of the British occupation of Massachusetts to our own modern world, family after family’s lives are inexorably changed, not only by the people they love but by the lives they lead inside Blackbird House.

These interconnected narratives are as intelligent as they are haunting, as luminous as they are unusual. Inside Blackbird House more than a dozen men and women learn how love transforms us and how it is the one lasting element in our lives. The past both dissipates and remains contained inside the rooms of Blackbird House, where there are terrible secrets, inspired beauty, and, above all else, a spirit of coming home.

From the writer Time has said tells "truths powerful enough to break a reader’s heart" comes a glorious travelogue through time and fate, through loss and love and survival. Welcome to Blackbird House. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—March 16, 1952
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Adelphi Univ.; M.A., Stanford Univ.
• Currently—lives in Boston, Massachusetts

Born in the 1950s to college-educated parents who divorced when she was young, Alice Hoffman was raised by her single, working mother in a blue-collar Long Island neighborhood. Although she felt like an outsider growing up, she discovered that these feelings of not quite belonging positioned her uniquely to observe people from a distance. Later, she would hone this viewpoint in stories that captured the full intensity of the human experience.

After high school, Hoffman went to work for the Doubleday factory in Garden City. But the eight-hour, supervised workday was not for her, and she quit before lunch on her first day! She enrolled in night school at Adelphi University, graduating in 1971 with a degree in English. She went on to attend Stanford University's Creative Writing Center on a Mirrellees Fellowship. Her mentor at Stanford, the great teacher and novelist Albert Guerard, helped to get her first story published in the literary magazine Fiction. The story attracted the attention of legendary editor Ted Solotaroff, who asked if she had written any longer fiction. She hadn't — but immediately set to work. In 1977, when Hoffman was 25, her first novel, Property Of, was published to great fanfare.

Since that remarkable debut, Hoffman has carved herself a unique niche in American fiction. A favorite with teens as well as adults, she renders life's deepest mysteries immediately understandable in stories suffused with magic realism and a dreamy, fairy-tale sensibility. (In a 1994 article for the New York Times, interviewer Ruth Reichl described the magic in Hoffman's books as a casual, regular occurrence — "...so offhand that even the most skeptical reader can accept it.") Her characters' lives are transformed by uncontrollable forces — love and loss, sorrow and bliss, danger and death.

Hoffman's 1997 novel Here on Earth was selected as an Oprah Book Club pick, but even without Winfrey's powerful endorsement, her books have become huge bestsellers — including three that have been adapted for the movies: Practical Magic (1995), The River King (2000), and her YA fable Aquamarine (2001).

Hoffman is a breast cancer survivor; and like many people who consider themselves blessed with luck, she believes strongly in giving back. For this reason, she donated her advance from her 1999 short story collection Local Girls to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA

Extras
From a 2003 Barnes & Noble interview:

• Hoffman has written a number of children's books, including Fireflies: A Winter's Tale (1999), Horsefly (2000), and Moondog (2004).

• Aquamarine was written for Hoffman's best friend, Jo Ann, who dreamed of the freedom of mermaids as she battled brain cancer.

• Here on Earth is a modern version of Hoffman's favorite novel, Wuthering Heights.

• Hoffman has been honored with the Massachusetts Book Award for her teen novel Incantation.

• When asked what books most influenced her life or career, here's what she said:

Edward Eager's brilliant series of suburban magic: Half Magic, Magic by the Lake, Magic or Not, Knight's Castle, The Time Garden, Seven-Day Magic, The Well Wishers. Anything by Ray Bradbury, Shirley Jackson, J. D. Salinger, Grace Paley. My favorite book: Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. (Author bio and interview from Barnes & Noble.)

Book Reviews
[W]ith every loss comes the triumph of the human spirit. Hoffman doesn’t wrap it up with a pretty bow. She makes it real. Her characters survive with grit, persistence, the passage of time, and occasionally, some pretty twisted mental and physical hang-ups. But they are survivors and their survival left its mark on me. READ MORE …
Kathy Aspden, AUTHOR - LitLovers


Fire, water, milk, pears, halibut…play important symbolic and sometimes almost magical roles. This may not be the subtlest of literary devices, but Hoffman's lyrical prose weaves an undeniable spell.
Publishers Weekly


[A] change for Hoffman whose fiction often features…a bit of magic.… [H]haunted-and haunting-characters populate the tales, which are also notable for their intense sense of place. Hoffman's many fans should welcome this little gem with enthusiasm. —Starr E. Smith, Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA
Library Journal


[E]ntrancing.… Hoffman…orchestrates intense romances and profound sacrifices. Those who live in Blackbird House, by turns brilliant, crazy, and courageous, follow their dreams, endure nightmares, and find that their numinous home is as much a part of their being as their parents' DNA.
Booklist


With a dozen stories, some more clearly connected than others but all set in the same farmhouse on Cape Cod from the time of the British blockade to the present, Hoffman creates a continuous narrative built up through a sense of place.…. A quiet but deeply moving achievement of lyric power.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. How does "The Edge of the World" set the tone for Blackbird House? How would you characterize the house—is it frightening, soothing, mysterious? Did your feelings about the house change as the book unfolded? If so,how?

2. In the opening story, "The Edge of the World," a fisherman and his son are lost at sea. How do they haunt Blackbird House, both literally and figuratively? In which ways are the other characters, themselves floundering and lost, seeking to be found? What other ghosts—both literal and metaphorical—are present in the book?

3. When Coral finds eggs with holes in "The Edge of the World," she views them as omens "of lives unfinished." What other omens does Coral notice? How are these omens similar and different from the signs that Maya’s mother perceives two hundred years later in "India"? How is the white bird an omen?

4. Why do you think that Vincent stays away from his childhood home for so long in "The Edge of the World"?What do you suppose his mother’s reaction is upon his return? Why do you think he is fearless about the sea?

5. The image of drowning courses throughout the book, from the literal loss of life of John and Isaac (in "The Edge of the World") to Lysander’s accident ("The Witch of Truro"), to the characterization of Emma’s parents as "two drowning people" in "The Summer Kitchen." What about the act of drowning is so potent in describing loss, either of life or of love? In which other ways does the power of nature play a role in the book?

6. Love at first sight occurs with many of the couples in Blackbird House. Name them. How does this thunderbolt of passion change and shape their lives? Which couple do you think is best suited for one another in the book? The worst? Do you believe in love at first sight?

7. Sibling relationships are very important in Blackbird House. How does sibling rivalry inform some of them,such as Violet’s relationship with Huley (in "Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair")? How do siblings form a support network for one another, such as Emma and Walker ("The Summer Kitchen" and "Wish You Were Here") and Garnet and Ruby ("The Token")? Which sibling pair do you consider to be the most loving and supportive toward one another? Does one pair remind you of you and your siblings?

8. "I realized I would have to be careful about who I became," Garnet says in "The Token." What drives her toward this revelation? How does Garnet’s relationship with her mother change as a result of it? Who else in the book has an epiphany that’s driven by the behavior of a parent?

9. Why does Larkin promise Lucinda he will "change the world" in "Insulting the Angels"? How is this uncharacteristic of him? What change does Larkin himself want? Why do you think that Lucinda leaves the baby with him and goes off to fight?

10. Violet sees books as a passageway to something greater. How does knowledge broaden her horizons? In what ways does it stifle her? Do you think she’s correct when she wonders, in "Lionheart," if sending Lion to Harvard was the "greatest mistake she’s ever made"? Why are Lion, and his son after him, so adored by Violet?

11. "When he kissed her, he felt as though he were swallowing sadness," thinks Lion, Jr., of his love for Dorey (p. 116, in "The Conjurer’s Handbook"). What about Dorey attracts Lion? How does their relationship overcome its mournful circumstances to take flight? What similarities do Dorey and Violet share?

12. How does Maya turn away from her parents in "India"? In what ways does she emulate her brother in her dismissal of what her parents stand for? Do you think they come to a better comprehension of one another after Kalkin’s death? Why or why not?

13. "Loneliness can become nasty and hopeless," Hoffman writes on page 162. Which characters allow loneliness to fill them with bitterness? In contrast, who enjoys time alone and grows as a result of it?

14. In the book, there’s a reluctance to meddle in the business of others—from "The Wedding of Snow and Ice,"where neighbors ignore the physical abuse occurring next door, to "The Pear Tree," a chronicle of a family’s struggle with a troubled child. Why is the community so hesitant to become involved in these situations? What about Blackbird House might encourage the isolation of its inhabitants? How is this similar to or different from your personal experiences in a community?

15. How does Jamie’s experience in "The Wedding of Snow and Ice" shape the course of his life? What about it sparks his decision to become a doctor? How is he similar and different to Walker, another young boy (in "The Summer Kitchen") who decides to enter the medical profession?

16. Emma wishes for "the person she could have been if she hadn’t been stopped in some way" (p. 219) in "Wish You Were Here." Who else in the book has a dividing line between the person they were and who they are now? Do you have a point in your life that’s as significant? What is it?

17. What compels Emma to reach out to the boy at her door at the end of the book? How does the boy share striking similarities to Isaac in "The Edge of the World"? How does Hoffman bring the story full circle in the novel’s last scene?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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Blacktop Wasterland 
S.A. Cosby, 2020
Flatiron Books
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250252685


Summary
A husband, a father, a son, a business owner…And the best getaway driver east of the Mississippi.

Beauregard "Bug" Montage is an honest mechanic, a loving husband, and a hard-working dad. Bug knows there’s no future in the man he used to be: known from the hills of North Carolina to the beaches of Florida as the best wheelman on the East Coast.

He thought he'd left all that behind him, but as his carefully built new life begins to crumble, he finds himself drawn inexorably back into a world of blood and bullets.

When a smooth-talking former associate comes calling with a can't-miss jewelry store heist, Bug feels he has no choice but to get back in the driver's seat. And Bug is at his best where the scent of gasoline mixes with the smell of fear.

Haunted by the ghost of who he used to be and the father who disappeared when he needed him most, Bug must find a way to navigate this blacktop wasteland … or die trying.

Like Ocean’s Eleven meets Drive, with a Southern noir twist, S. A. Cosby’s Blacktop Wasteland is a searing, operatic story of a man pushed to his limits by poverty, race, and his own former life of crime. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
S. A. Cosby is a writer from Southeastern Virginia. He won the 2019 Anthony Award for Best Short Story for "The Grass Beneath My Feet", and his previous books include Brotherhood of the Blade and My Darkest Prayer. He resides in Gloucester, Virginia. When not writing, he is an avid hiker and chess player. (From the publisher.)

Book Reviews
A roaring, full-throttle thriller, crackling with tension and charm.… Cosby immediately displays a talent for well-tuned action, raising our heart rates and filling our nostrils with odors of gun smoke and burned rubber.… Cosby's voice is distinctive, and he plays a sharp-tongued Virgil as we descend into the Hades of bucolic poverty.
Daniel Hieh - New York Times Book Review


Violence-tinged heists, muscle cars, and dead-end poverty in America generate the full-on action and evocative atmosphere in this beautifully wrought tale.
Boston Globe


One of the year's strongest novels. The noir story quickly accelerates and doesn’t lose speed until it careens to its finale. It’s a look at race, responsibility, parenthood and identity via pin-perfect characters with realistic motives. Cosby invests Blacktop Wasteland with emotion while delivering a solid thriller.
South Florida Sun Sentinel


[A] high-octane neo-noir thriller…. The gritty, brutal narrative is complemented by the author’s sublime use of sensory description and… epic, jaw-dropping chase sequences…. Cosby is definitely a writer to watch.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review) Bug's got a conscience not typical of the thriller genre, but other than that, this debut novel recalls almost perfectly the classic heist thriller in the vein of Richard Stark's "Parker" novels. It'll go like hot cakes. —David Keymer, Cleveland
Library Journal


(Starred review) Cosby never misses a note in this high-energy read.… A superb work of crime fiction, uncompromisingly noir but deeply human.
Booklist


A gifted getaway driver desperately wants to go straight.… Beauregard’s anguish makes him a sympathetic lead. But the supporting cast isn't nearly as compelling.… The at-times action-packed ride can’t hide the fact that this one doesn't fire on all cylinders.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. "A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he was meant to be." —Frank A. Clark. This quote opens the novel. Do you feel this set the tone for the entire book? At the end of the novel, did you feel that Beauregard was a good father?

2. In the first chapter Beauregard is accused of cheating during a drag race. By the end of the chapter he has coerced an apology from the person that accused him. Does this indicate to you that Beauregard is a man of honor and integrity in a lawless world or that he is a character driven by rage and slights both perceived and implied?

3. Throughout the novel we are told about Beauregard’s love for his father’s ’71 Plymouth Duster. Do you feel that the Duster symbolizes Beauregard’s relationship with his father, and if so, how?

4. The novel makes several references to violence and its cyclical nature. "Money can’t fix it and love can’t tame it," as Beauregard says. Do you feel that a propensity for violence can be inherited? If so, can that cycle be broken?

5. Beauregard makes several references to being two individuals. At times he sees himself as Beauregard, loving father and husband, and at other times he sees himself as "Bug," outlaw getaway driver. Is this something that is universal? Do you believe we all possess this kind of duality?

6. At multiple points in the narrative Beauregard exhibits a high degree of intelligence. He is proficient in mathematics and mechanical engineering and strategy. Yet we see him seemingly drawn inexorably to illegal activities. In your life experiences, have you known someone of great intelligence who makes unfortunate decisions about their life? How much do you think Beauregard’s race and where he lives has to do with his choices or lack thereof?

7. Beauregard often thinks of his father in terms that seem both heroic and critical. At one point his mother even tells him he looks up to a ghost. Do you think by the end of the novel Beauregard’s feelings for his father have solidified one way or the other? If so, how do you think he feels about him?

8. Beauregard often speaks or thinks about people underestimating him, but one of his co-conspirators, Ronnie Sessions, is able to get the better of him, if only momentarily. Do you think Beauregard underestimated Ronnie, or did he mistakenly trust him? And what do you think is the difference in respect to Beauregard’s relationship with Ronnie?

9. What are some of the similarities and differences between Beauregard and Ronnie? Does it seem like they are two halves of the same coin or complete opposites?

10. Kelvin is Beauregard’s cousin and his best friend. How do you feel his fate will affect Beauregard going forward after the events of Blacktop Wasteland?

11. By the end of the novel, Beauregard’s prized Duster has been nearly demolished. Do you feel this is symbolic of a change in Beauregard as a person?

12. Despite their contentious relationship, Beauregard does his best to take care of his mother and look out for her best interests. Have you experienced a relationship with a family member that is difficult, and if so were you still able to have a positive emotional connection with that person?

13. Beauregard has a somewhat distant relationship with his daughter, Ariel, from a previous relationship. Yet her desire to go to college is one of the primary motivations for him returning to a life of crime. Did their relationship seem realistic? Did you notice any appreciable difference between his relationship with Ariel and his sons?

14. Toward the end of the book Ronnie remarks that the world is damaged. Beauregard responds that the world is fine, it’s men like him and Ronnie that are damaged. Do you believe this? How much do you think their surroundings and upbringing contributed to Ronnie and Beauregard’s later actions?

15. Beauregard assists a couple when their vehicle breaks down on the side of the road as he is casing the jewelry store. He takes them to a nearby hospital as the woman goes into labor. Later, Eric, the young man of the couple, is in the jewelry store when the robbery happens. He is accidentally killed by Quan. When Beauregard finds out he reacts with anger and regret. How do you feel Eric’s death affected Beauregard? Do you believe his remorse was genuine?

16. At the end of the book Kia asks Beauregard if he will ever really change. Beauregard responds "I don’t know if I can." Do you think men like Beauregard can ever really change?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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Bleeding Edge 
Thomas Pynchon, 2013
Penguin Group USA
496 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781594204234


Summary
It is 2001 in New York City, in the lull between the collapse of the dot-com boom and the terrible events of September 11th. Silicon Alley is a ghost town, Web 1.0 is having adolescent angst, Google has yet to IPO, Microsoft is still considered the Evil Empire. There may not be quite as much money around as there was at the height of the tech bubble, but there’s no shortage of swindlers looking to grab a piece of what’s left.

Maxine Tarnow is running a nice little fraud investigation business on the Upper West Side, chasing down different kinds of small-scale con artists. She used to be legally certified but her license got pulled a while back, which has actually turned out to be a blessing because now she can follow her own code of ethics—carry a Beretta, do business with sleazebags, hack into people’s bank accounts—without having too much guilt about any of it.

Otherwise, just your average working mom—two boys in elementary school, an off-and-on situation with her sort of semi-ex-husband Horst, life as normal as it ever gets in the neighborhood—till Maxine starts looking into the finances of a computer-security firm and its billionaire geek CEO, whereupon things begin rapidly to jam onto the subway and head downtown.

She soon finds herself mixed up with a drug runner in an art deco motorboat, a professional nose obsessed with Hitler’s aftershave, a neoliberal enforcer with footwear issues, plus elements of the Russian mob and various bloggers, hackers, code monkeys, and entrepreneurs, some of whom begin to show up mysteriously dead. Foul play, of course.

With occasional excursions into the DeepWeb and out to Long Island, Thomas Pynchon, channeling his inner Jewish mother, brings us a historical romance of New York in the early days of the internet, not that distant in calendar time but galactically remote from where we’ve journeyed to since.

Will perpetrators be revealed, forget about brought to justice? Will Maxine have to take the handgun out of her purse? Will she and Horst get back together? Will Jerry Seinfeld make an unscheduled guest appearance? Will accounts secular and karmic be brought into balance?

Hey. Who wants to know? (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth— May 8, 1937
• Where—Glen Cove, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Cornell University
• Awards—National Book Award; William Faulkner
   Award
• Currently—lives in New York City, New York


Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. is an American novelist, noted for his dense and complex novels. Both his fiction and nonfiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, styles, and themes, including history, science, and mathematics. For his most praised novel, Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon won the 1974 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and he is regularly cited by Americans as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Many observers have mentioned Pynchon as a Nobel Prize contender, and renowned critic Harold Bloom has named him as one of the four major American novelists of his time—along with Don DeLillo, Philip Roth, and Cormac McCarthy.

Pynchon is also known for being very private; very few photographs of him have ever been published, and rumors about his location and identity have circulated since the 1960s.

Family background
Thomas Pynchon was born in 1937 in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York, one of three children of Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Sr. (1907–1995) and Katherine Frances Bennett (1909–1996). His earliest American ancestor, William Pynchon, emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony with the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, then became the founder of Springfield, Massachusetts in 1636, and thereafter a long line of Pynchon descendants found wealth and repute on American soil.

Pynchon's family background and aspects of his ancestry have provided source material for his fictions, particularly in the Slothrop family histories related in the short story "The Secret Integration" (1964) and Gravity's Rainbow (1973).

Early years
Pynchon attended Oyster Bay High School in Oyster Bay, where he was awarded "student of the year" and contributed short fictional pieces to his school newspaper. These juvenilia incorporated some of the literary motifs and recurring subject matter he would use throughout his career: oddball names, sophomoric humor, illicit drug use, and paranoia.

After graduating from high school in 1953 at the age of 16, Pynchon studied engineering physics at Cornell University, but left at the end of his second year to serve in the U.S. Navy. In 1957, he returned to Cornell to pursue a degree in English.

After leaving Cornell, Pynchon was employed as a technical writer at Boeing in Seattle, Washinton, where he compiled safety articles for the Bomarc Service News, a support newsletter for the BOMARC surface-to-air missile deployed by the U.S. Air Force.

Pynchon's experiences at Boeing inspired his depictions of the "Yoyodyne" corporation in V. and The Crying of Lot 49, and both his background in physics and the technical journalism he undertook at Boeing provided much raw material for Gravity's Rainbow.

After publishing several short stories in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Pynchon began composing the novels for which he is best known: V. (1963), The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), and Gravity's Rainbow (1973).

Early novels and writings
• V.  was published in 1963, winning a William Faulkner Foundation Award for the best first novel of the year. After resigning from Boeing, Pynchon spent some time in New York and Mexico before moving to California, where he was reportedly based for much of the 1960s and early 1970s. It was during this time he flirted with the lifestyle of the Beat and hippie countercultures. In 1964, his application to the graduate program in mathematics at UCC-Berkeley was rejected. 

In 1966, he wrote a first-hand report on the Watts riots in Los Angeles—"A Journey Into the Mind of Watts,"  published in the New York Times Magazine.

• The Crying of Lot 49
In 1966, a few months after turning down an offer to teach at Bennington College in Vermont, Pychon published his second novel, The Crying of Lot 49. Although more concise and linear in its structure than Pynchon's other novels, its labyrinthine plot features an ancient, underground mail service known as "The Tristero" or "Trystero," a parody of a Jacobean revenge drama called The Courier's Tragedy, and a corporate conspiracy involving the bones of World War II American GIs being used as charcoal cigarette filters.

Crying Lot proposes a series of seemingly incredible interconnections between these events and other similarly bizarre revelations that confront the novel's protagonist, Oedipa Maas. Like V., the novel contains a wealth of references to science and technology and obscure historical events. Both books dwell on the detritus of American society and culture. The novel continues Pynchon's strategy of composing parodic song lyrics and punning names, and referencing aspects of popular culture within his prose narratives.

• Gravity's Rainbow
Published in 1973, Pynchon's third novel is his most celebrated. An intricate and allusive fiction that combines and elaborates on many of the themes of his earlier work—paranoia, racism, colonialism, conspiracy, synchronicity, and entropy—the novel has spawned a wealth of commentary and critical material. Its artistic value is often compared to that of James Joyce's Ulysses. Some scholars have hailed it as the greatest American post-WW2 novel.

The major portion of Gravity's Rainbow takes place in London and Europe in the final months of World War II and the weeks immediately following VE Day. Encyclopedic in scope and often self-conscious in style, the novel displays erudition in psychology, chemistry, mathematics, history, religion, music, literature, and film.

Gravity's Rainbow shared the 1974 National Book Award with A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer, while the Pulitzer board vetoed its own jury's recommendation, describing the novel as "unreadable," "turgid," "overwritten," and in parts "obscene."

Later novels and writings
A collection of Pynchon's early short stories, Slow Learner, was published in 1984, with a lengthy autobiographical introduction. In October of the same year, his article "Is It O.K. to Be a Luddite?" was published in the New York Times Book Review.

In April 1988, Pynchon contributed an extensive review of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel Love in the Time of Cholera to the New York Times, under the title "The Heart's Eternal Vow."

• Vineland
Pynchon's fourth novel, released in 1990, disappointed a majority of fans and critics. Set in California in the 1960s and 1980s, it describes the relationship between an FBI COINTELPRO agent and a female radical filmmaker. Its strong socio-political undercurrents detail the constant battle between authoritarianism and communalism, and between resistance and complicity—with a Pynchon's typical humor.

• Mason & Dixon
Pynchon's fifth novel was published in 1997. A sprawling postmodernist saga recounting the lives and careers of the English astronomer, Charles Mason, and his partner, the surveyor Jeremiah Dixon—surveyors of the Mason-Dixon line during the birth of the American Republic. The majority of commentators acknowledged it as a welcome return to form.

• Against the Day
Released in 2006, Against the Day weighed in at 1,085 pages with over 100 characters. Composed in part of a series of interwoven popular fiction genres, the novel inspired mixed reactions: "exhaustingly brilliant" or "lengthy and rambling." Its extensive condemnation of capitalism, and loyalty to the 1960s ideals was received with regret by mainstream critics in the US.

• Inherent Vice
Pynchon's seventh novel, pubished in 2009, was described by its publisher as "part-noir, part-psychedelic romp, all Thomas Pynchon. Private eye Doc Sportello comes, occasionally, out of a marijuana haze to watch the end of an era as free love slips away and paranoia creeps in with the L.A. fog."

• Bleeding Edge
Published in 2013, Pynchon's most recent novel takes place in Manhattan's Silicon Alley during “the lull between the collapse of the dot-com boom and the terrible events of September 11."

Themes
Along with its emphasis on racism and imperialism, Pynchon's work explores philosophical, theological, and sociological ideas in quirky and approachable ways. His writings demonstrate a strong affinity with "low culture"—comic books and cartoons, pulp fiction, popular films, television programs, cookery, urban myths, conspiracy theories, and folk art. This blurring of the conventional boundary between "High" and "low" culture is one of the defining characteristics of his writing.

Investigations and digressions into the realms of human sexuality, psychology, sociology, mathematics, science, and technology recur throughout Pynchon's works.

• The Crying of Lot 49 also alludes to entropy and communication theory and contains parodies of calculus, Zeno's paradoxes, and the thought experiment known as Maxwell's demon. It investigates homosexuality, celibacy and both medically sanctioned and illicit psychedelic drug use.
  
  
• Gravity's Rainbow describes many varieties of sexual fetishism. It also derives much from Pynchon's background in mathematics: at one point, the geometry of garter belts is compared with that of cathedral spires, both described as mathematical singularities.
  
  
• Mason & Dixon explores the scientific, theological, and socio-cultural foundations of the Age of Reason while also depicting the relationships between actual historical figures and fictional characters

The wildly eccentric characters, frenzied action, frequent digressions, and imposing lengths of Pynchon's novels have led critic James Wood to classify Pynchon's work as "hysterical realism." Other writers whose work has been labeled as hysterical realism include Steve Erickson, Neal Stephenson, and Zadie Smith.

Privacy
Relatively little is known about Thomas Pynchon's private life; he has carefully avoided contact with reporters for more than forty years. Only a few photos of him are known to exist, nearly all from his high school and college days, and his whereabouts have often remained undisclosed.

At the 1974 National Book Awards ceremony, which he won for Gravity's Rainbow, a double-talking comedian "Professor" Irwin Corey accepted the prize on Pynchon's behalf. Many guests assumed it was actually Pynchon delivering Corey's trademark torrent of rambling, pseudo-scholarly verbiage. Adding to the confusion, a streaker ran through the hall at the end of Corey's address.

A 1976 article in the Soho Weekly News claimed that Pynchon was in fact J. D. Salinger. Pynchon's written response was simple: "Not bad. Keep trying."

Pynchon does not like to talk with reporters, and refuses the spectacle of celebrity and public appearances. Journalists have continued to speculate about why. Book critic Arthur Salm wrote in 2004 that Pynchon...

simply chooses not to be a public figure, an attitude that resonates on a frequency so out of phase with that of the prevailing culture that if Pynchon and Paris Hilton were ever to meet—the circumstances, I admit, are beyond imagining—the resulting matter/antimatter explosion would vaporize everything from here to Tau Ceti IV.

In the early 1990s, Pynchon married his literary agent, Melanie Jackson—a great-granddaughter of Theodore Roosevelt and a granddaughter of Robert H. Jackson, U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Nuremberg trials prosecutor. The two have a son, Jackson, born in 1991.

The disclosure of Pynchon's 1990s location in New York City, after many years in which he was believed to be dividing his time between Mexico and northern California, led some journalists and photographers to try to track him down. In 1997, a CNN camera crew filmed him in Manhattan.

Angered by this invasion of his privacy, Pynchon called CNN asking that he not be identified in the footage of the street scenes near his home. "Recluse," he told CNN, is "a code word generated by journalists...meaning, doesn't like to talk to reporters." "Let me be unambiguous," he said. "I prefer not to be photographed." The next year, a reporter for the UK Sunday Times managed to snap a photo of him walking with his son.

During 2004, Pynchon made two cameo animated appearances on the television series The Simpsons. He wanted to do the show because his son was a big fan. (Adaptd from Wikipedia. Retrieved 9/26/2013.)

Book Reviews
Exemplary...dazzling and ludicrous...Our reward for surrendering expectations that a novel should gather in clarity, rather than disperse into molecules, isn't anomie but delight. Pynchon himself's a good companion, full of real affectation for his people and places, even as he lampoons them for suffering the postmodern condition of being only partly real.
Jonathan Lethem - New York Times Book Review


Brilliantly written...a joy to read...Full of verbal sass and pizzazz, as well as conspiracies within conspiracies, Bleeding Edge is totally gonzo, totally wonderful. It really is good to have Thomas Pynchon around, doing what he does best.
Michael Dirda - Washington Post


A book that fights mightily against the landfill by taking all the random pieces of that wastrel-conman era and putting them into a plot that is both ridiculous and far too close to reality to laugh at without a back-draft of dread.
Boston Globe


It's fitting that Pynchon is tackling the near-present, because the real world has all but overtaken his elaborate, far-out fictions. Paranoia, conspiracy, electronic connection, government surveillance—there's nothing like reading a Pynchon novel while new revelations about the NSA are popping up on your cellphone.
Los Angeles Times


The truth is, Pynchon writes like no one else. He somehow injects love and humanity as the antidote to the dehumanization he fears and obsesses about. He convincingly warp-speeds from one setting and characters to another within the same sentence. Even in his hyper-narrative ways, he remains the master of phrasing—cool, hip, explosive narrative fragments overstuffed with meaning...If you're willing to enter this bleeding-edge (def: more advanced and riskier than cutting-edge) novel, figure to come out the back page a different reader, probably better off.
USA Today


Surely now Pynchon must be in line for the Nobel Prize?... Thomas Pynchon, America's greatest novelist, has written the greatest novel about the most significant events in his country's 21st century history. It is unequivocally a masterpiece.
Scotsman (UK)


A pitch-perfect portrait of pre-9/11, pre-social media New York that's both seductive and impossibly innocent.
Vogue


Brilliant and wonderful.... Bleeding Edge chronicles the birth of the now—our terrorism-obsessed, NSA-everywhere, smartphone Panopticon zeitgeist—in the crash of the towers. It connects the dots, the packets, the pixels. We are all part of this story. We are all characters in Pynchon's mad world. Bleeding Edge is a novel about geeks, the Internet, New York and 9/11. It is funny, sad, paranoid and lyrical. It was difficult to put down. I want to read it again.
Slate.com


The book's real accomplishment is to claim the last decade as Pynchon territory, a continuation of the same tensions—between freedom and captivity, momentum and entropy, meaning and chaos—through which he has framed the last half-century...As usual, Pynchon doesn't provide answers but teases us with the hint of closure, leaving us ultimately unsure whether the signals add up to a master plot or merely a series of sinister and unfortunate events. The overall effect is one of amused frustration, of dying to find that one extra piece of information that will help make sense of this overwhelming and vaguely threatening world. It feels a lot like life.
Wired Magazine


Where Vineland slyly set a story of Orwellian government surveillance in 1984, Bleeding Edge situates a fable of increasingly sentient computers in, naturally, 2001. Of course, the year 2001 means something besides HAL and Dave now.... The plot's dizzying profusion of murder suspects plays like something out of early Raymond Chandler....but no one rivals Pynchon's range of language, his elasticity of syntax, his signature mix of dirty jokes, dread and shining decency.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Maxine [Tarnow's] investigations lead her to hashslingrz monomaniac Gabriel Ice; Igor, a Russian mafioso with a conscience; two rap-spouting sidekicks named Misha and Grisha; government agent Windust, a murderer and torturer....and many more. [A]uthentic, deeply connected characters, all heightened by Pynchon's darkly hilarious way with language and located on the "bleeding edge" as the world changed. —Barbara Hoffert
Library Journal


(Starred review.) Pynchon makes a much-anticipated return, and it's trademark stuff: a blend of existential angst, goofy humor and broad-sweeping bad vibes.... [T]here's paranoia aplenty to be had in Pynchon's saute pan, served up in the dark era of the 9/11 attack, the dot-com meltdown and the Patriot Act.... [B]ut Pynchon has long managed to blend his particularly bleak view of latter-day humankind with...true humor in our foibles.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.

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The Blessings 
Elise Juska, 2014
Grand Central Publishing
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781455574032


Summary
Elise Juska's The Blessings is an extraordinary novel about an ordinary family.

The Blessings rally around one another in times of celebration and those of sorrow, coming together for departures and arrivals, while its members harbor private struggles and moments of personal joy.

College student Abby ponders homesickness in her first semester away from her Philadelphia home, while her cousin Stephen commits a petty act of violence that takes a surprising turn, and their aunt Lauren faces a crisis in her storybook marriage she could never have foreseen.

Through the lens of one unforgettable family, this beautifully moving novel explores how our families define us and how we shape them in return. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Raised—Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Education—M.F.A., Universityof New Hammpshire
• Awards—Tom Williams Memorial Award; Charait Award
• Currently—lives in Maine and Philadelphia


Elise Juska's fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Ploughshares, Gettysburg Review,  Missouri Review, Good Housekeeping, Hudson Review, Harvard Review, and many other publications. She is the recipient of the Alice Hoffman Prize for Fiction from Ploughshares, and her work has been cited in The Best American Short Stories.

She is the author of several novels—The Blessings (2014); One for Sorrow, Two for Joy (2007); The Hazards of Sleeping Alone (2004); and Getting Over Jack Wagner (2003).

Elise earned her Master’s in Fiction Writing at the University of New Hampshire, where she received the Tom Williams Memorial for fiction writing and the Charait Award for best short story. She has since taught fiction writing at The New School in NYC, in the MFA program at the University of New Hampshire, and at numerous summer writing conferences.

Elise now spends summers writing on an island in Maine and the rest of the year teaching at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where she directs the undergraduate Creative Writing Program and is the recipient of the 2014 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. (From the publisher.)

Book Reviews
[A] bighearted novel.... Juska's moving, multifaceted portrait of the Blessing family gleams like a jewel (A 2014 Best Book).
Philadelphia Inquirer


Takes us into the heart of one of Philadelphia's large Irish-Catholic families.... [T]he storytelling is confident and Juska writes movingly about the emotional life of individuals within a close social unit.
Toronto Star


There's no shortage of novels about the quirks and tragedies of large families, but The Blessings is a uniquely poignant, prismatic look at an Irish-Catholic clan as it rallies after losing one of its own.
Entertainment Weekly


(Starred review.) Several generations of the Blessings, a Philadelphia-based, Irish-American family, come beautifully to life in a deceptively simple tale that examines the foibles, disappointments and passions that tie family members together.... [T]he reader leaves feeling lucky to have spent some time in their presence.
Publishers Weekly


[Juska] is a shrewd observer of human nature and has an outstanding ability to bring her characters to life on the page.... This wonderfully readable work about family life will have you eagerly turning pages to find out what happens to characters about whom you really care. —Leslie Patterson, Rehoboth, MA
Library Journal


With each chapter, Juska takes readers into the life of a different family member, honoring the individuality that blossoms even amid the strong bonds of a family's deep love. She draws intimate and detailed sketches of each of these characters, but the ultimate portrait is of the Blessing family as a whole.
Booklist


Juska’s story is like leafing through an old family photo album, where typically unremarkable moments are captured in black and white. What makes the album unique isn’t its contents but the way each photo abuts or overlays the next.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
(The following questions were written by Rachelle Nocito from the Haverford Township Free Library in Havertown, Pennsylvania. Thank you, Rachelle!)

1. Do you think it is symbolic that the author used the surname Blessings? Does the name reflect any aspects of the story?

2. Do you think John Blessings death was significant? How would the story have evolved if another character had died instead?

3. Why does the author jump back and forth in time? How does this narrative device impact your experience of the story?

4.  Are there equally strong female and male characters among the Blessings?

5.  Dave has a meltdown during his turn with the Town Watch group. What caused this meltdown and why did the author put this scene in the novel? Does Ann understand the depth of Dave’s meltdown?

6.  Did Helen’s move to the Senior Living Community make things easier like the kids thought it would? Did Helen have regrets over the move?

7. For her school project Megan asks her grandmother to remember events in her life and tell her story. What do you think of Helen’s life assessment? Do you agree that she has little to offer her granddaughter with her memories?

8.  How would you describe the relationship and the family lifestyle of Margie and Joe?  Are they living the family life that John Blessing may have had if he lived? Where did Margie and Joe go wrong in their marriage and how do you think their secret affected their lives?

9. Over the course of the book, the story transitions from grandparents to parents and then grandchildren. How does the passing of time and the sense of growing up and getting older evolve among the Blessings grandchildren—Elena, Abby, Stevie, Megan and their peers?
(Questions courtesy of Rachelle Nocito, Haverford Township Free Library, Havertown, PA. .)

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Blessings 
Anna Quindlen, 2002
Random House
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345468697


Summary
Blessings, the bestselling novel by the author of Black and Blue, One True Thing, Object Lessons, and A Short Guide to a Happy Life, begins when, late at night, a teenage couple drives up to the estate owned by Lydia Blessing and leaves a box.

In this instant, the world of the estate called Blessings is changed forever. The story of Skip Cuddy, the Blessings caretaker, who finds a baby asleep in that box and decides he wants to keep her, and of matriarch Lydia Blessing, who, for her own reasons, decides to help him, Blessings explores how the secrets of the past affect decisions and lives in the present; what makes a person, a life, legitimate or illegitimate, and who decides; the unique resources people find in themselves and in a community.

This is a powerful novel of love, redemption, and personal change by the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer about whom the Washington Post Book World said, “Quindlen knows that all the things we ever will be can be found in some forgotten fragment of family.” (From the publisher.)

Author Bio 
• Birth—July 8, 1952
• Where—Philadelphia, PA, USA
• Education—B.A., Barnard College
• Awards—Pulitzer Prize for her New York Times column
• Currently—New York, New York


Anna Quindlen could have settled onto a nice, lofty career plateau in the early 1990s, when she had won a Pulitzer Prize for her New York Times column; but she took an unconventional turn, and achieved a richer result.

Quindlen, the third woman to hold a place among the New York Times' Op-Ed columnists, had already published two successful collections of her work when she decided to leave the paper in 1995. But it was the two novels she had produced that led her to seek a future beyond her column.

Quindlen had a warm, if not entirely uncritical, reception as a novelist. Her first book, Object Lessons, focused on an Irish American family in suburban New York in the 1960s. It was a bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book of 1991, but was also criticized for not being as engaging as it could have been. One True Thing, Quindlen's exploration of an ambitious daughter's journey home to take care of her terminally ill mother, was stronger still—a heartbreaker that was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep. But Quindlen's fiction clearly benefited from her decision to leave the Times. Three years after that controversial departure, she earned her best reviews yet with Black and Blue, a chronicle of escape from domestic abuse.

Quindlen's novels are thoughtful explorations centering on women who may not start out strong, but who ultimately find some core within themselves as a result of what happens in the story. Her nonfiction meditations—particularly A Short Guide to a Happy Life and her collection of "Life in the 30s" columns, Living Out Loud—often encourage this same transition, urging others to look within themselves and not get caught up in what society would plan for them. It's an approach Quindlen herself has obviously had success with.

Extras
• To those who expressed surprise at Quindlen's apparent switch from columnist to novelist, the author points out that her first love was always fiction. She told fans in a Barnes & Noble.com chat, "I really only went into the newspaper business to support my fiction habit, but then discovered, first of all, that I loved reporting for its own sake and, second, that journalism would be invaluable experience for writing novels."

• Quindlen joined Newsweek as a columnist in 1999. She began her career at the New York Post in 1974, jumping to the New York Times in 1977.

• Quindlen's prowess as a columnist and prescriber of advice has made her a popular pick for commencement addresses, a sideline that ultimately inspired her 2000 title A Short Guide to a Happy Life Quindlen's message tends to be a combination of stopping to smell the flowers and being true to yourself. Quindlen told students at Mount Holyoke in 1999, "Begin to say no to the Greek chorus that thinks it knows the parameters of a happy life when all it knows is the homogenization of human experience. Listen to that small voice from inside you, that tells you to go another way. George Eliot wrote, 'It is never too late to be what you might have been.' It is never too early, either. And it will make all the difference in the world."

• Studying fiction at Barnard with the literary critic Elizabeth Hardwick, Quindlen's senior thesis was a collection of stories, one of which she sold to Seventeen magazine. (From Barnes & Noble.)

Book Reviews 
Anna Quindlen is America’s Resident Sane Person. She has what Joyce called the common touch, the ability to speak to many people about what’s on their minds before they have the vaguest idea what’s on their minds.
New York Times

A well-told story of love and redemption, one that is not based on the passion of a man for a woman but on the affection and understanding that develops between people of very different backgrounds who are brought together by a baby named Faith and a house called Blessings.
Washington Post Book World


Quindlen finds a wealth of material in the juxtaposition of two very different lives, moving between lush descriptions of a faille dress in a Park Avenue club library and the incongruous smell of baby wipes in a dive bar. These satisfying details heighten the reader's emotional stake in Skip and Lydia's subtly drawn relationship.
Vogue


The writing is lovely, and some of the insights into human nature are breathtaking. But when the real world does finally intrude and the tranquillity of Blessings is broken, Quindlen sends her characters down improbable paths; suddenly they are acting, reacting and speaking in ways that seem oddly out of sync with the personalities she has developed. Still, there are great pleasures to be had in reading this novel, particularly its lambent prose.
Book Magazine


Venturing into fictional territory far from the blue-collar neighborhoods of Black and Blue and other works, Quindlen's immensely appealing new novel is a study in social contrasts and of characters whose differences are redeemed by the transformative power of love. The eponymous Blessings is a stately house now gone to seed, inhabited by Mrs. Blessing, an 80-year-old wealthy semirecluse with an acerbic tongue and a reputation for hanging on to every nickel. Widowed during WWII, Lydia Blessing was banished to her socially prominent family's country estate for reasons that are revealed only gradually. Austere, unbending and joyless, Lydia has no idea, when she hires young Skip Cuddy as her handyman, how her life and his are about to change. Skip had promise once, but bad companions and an absence of parental guidance have led to a stint in the county jail. When Skip stumbles upon a newborn baby girl who's been abandoned at Blessings, he suddenly has a purpose in life. With tender devotion, he cares secretly for the baby for four months, in the process forming a bond with Mrs. Blessing, who discovers and admires his clandestine parenting skills. A double betrayal destroys their idyll. As usual, Quindlen's fine-tuned ear for the class distinctions of speech results in convincing dialogue. Evoking a bygone patrician world, she endows Blessings with an almost magical aura. While it skirts sentimentality by a hairbreadth, the narrative is old-fashioned in a positive way, telling a dramatic story through characters who develop and change, and testifying to the triumph of human decency when love is permitted to grow and flourish.
Publishers Weekly


Quindlen's short, sentimentally sweet new novel is ultimately unsatisfying. The wealthy and reclusive 80-year-old Lydia Blessing lives in the eponymous "Blessings," the country estate to which she was banished by her family after the death of her husband in World War II. Two events conspire to change the remaining years of Lydia's life: she hires twentysomething Skip Cuddy as a handyman, and a baby is abandoned on her doorstep. Skip, whose friendship with some local lowlifes led to a stint in jail, tries to hide the existence of the baby from his prickly and critical employer, to no avail. Both Skip and Lydia fall in love with the baby, whom they name Faith, and in spite of their misgivings come together as a makeshift family. But after four months, their secret is revealed, and Faith is taken away. Quindlen's talent for realistic dialog can't overcome the melodramatic plot and one-dimensional characters. Of course, her fans will want to read this, but don't go overboard on the number you purchase. —Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle
Library Journal


Fourth adult novel from Newsweek columnist Quindlen, a story of lost souls redeemed by love. A friend of Lydia Blessing's once told her that there was a secret at the heart of every family and-predictably-it's revealed that the Blessing family had dark secrets to spare. Eighty years old when the story begins, Lydia lives more in the past than present, haunted by memories. Her handsome, ne'er-do-well, secretly homosexual brother Sunny was a shotgun suicide; and Lydia's long-ago marriage to Sunny's best friend Ben Carton was a sham (madly in love with Sunny, Ben obligingly married his sister, though she was pregnant by another man, then conveniently died in WWII). Her charming father had evidently married her cold and disapproving mother mostly for money, and it turns out that Ethel Blessing, to all appearances a staunch Episcopalian, was actually Jewish. The family shuttled between Blessings, the enormous house on the vast New England estate that her father called his gentleman's farm, and a Manhattan townhouse. Lydia and her brother attended the right schools, wore the right clothes, socialized with the right people, etc. Hoping to conceal the true paternity of her redheaded granddaughter (no, Ben really couldn't manage sex with a woman), Ethel packed Lydia off to the Blessings, where she raised her daughter Meredith more or less alone and otherwise observed the rules and routines of upper-class WASPs. And so the decades rolled by and now Lydia makes do with the company of her cranky Korean housekeeper and the estate caretaker, Skip Cuddy, a drifter with a heart of gold who lives in the shabby apartment over her five-car garage. Nothing much changes—until a newborn baby is left on the doorstep. The caretaker moves her to his dresser drawer, figures out how to feed her, and names her Faith. And Lydia is shaken out of her genteel torpor at last. As soap-opera-parable with old-fashioned contrivances: comfortable, not Quindlen's best.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions 
 1. Blessings is a title that holds a great deal of meaning for this book, as the name of the Blessings’ house, but also in the metaphysical sense of the word. Before reading the book, what did the title Blessings suggest to you? Did it create any expectations or shape the way you reflected on the book as you read? When you finished the book, what meaning did you take away from the title "Blessings"?

2. The Washington Post has said of Anna Quindlen’s work, “Quindlen knows that all the things we ever will be can be found in some forgotten fragment of family.” Family seems to be connected to many of the fundamental and important themes of the novel. How might this tribute be applied to Blessings?

3. The formation and preservation of family, traditional or not, is one of the prominent, underlying themes of the novel, and Quindlen introduces us to several families throughout. Describe some of these families, their relationships, and the ways in which these families function as such. How are they similar? Different? What effect do these similarities or differences have on the characters and the story as a whole? Is one individual important in each group, if so, how?

4. How does Quindlen show the evolution of what is typically considered “family” over the course of the book? Do you think that Skip, Lydia, and Faith have formed a genuine family? If so, why, and if not, why not?

5. At the heart of Blessings is the issue of legitimacy. By traditional standards, both Meredith, Lydia’s own daughter, and Faith would be deemed “illegitimate” children. When Faith’s mother emerges, and seeks custody of her child, issues of the legitimacy of Faith’s life with Skip are raised. What makes a person legitmate, or illegitimate today, or for you? Who decides, or who should decide?

6. In a society and a world that is constantly changing, is there such a thing as a “normal” family? What makes the “family” of Blessings—Skip, Lydia, and Faith—either normal or unusual, and what allows them to function as a family unit?

7. Love as a natural process is a prevalent theme in Blessings, and Quindlen shows it to be both instinctual and learned. Where do we see love as a natural instinct, and where do we see it as a learned quality? How do these differences in abilities and capacities for love shed light on the various characters? What do these emotional variations ultimately say about the nature of love and loyalty?

8. All of the main characters, including Faith, have histories that haunt them. Lydia harbors the memory of her brother, and Skip finds himself constantly trying to escape an unwarranted but poor reputation. In Blessings, how does the past become an influential part of the present? At what points does memory affect characters’ actions in the present, or change the way in which a specific event is played out? Do either Lydia or Skip ever fully escape their pasts, or must they embrace them in order to lead fuller, more productive lives in the present?

9. The narrative structure of Blessings provides a literary framework that is important to the story and to our ability to connect with its characters. Describe the book’s narrative structure. What effect did it have on your experience as a reader? Did the time-present/time-past structure of Lydia’s story, interwoven with the day-to-day story of life at Blessings, allow her to be a more sympathetic character? How does the narrative structure of the novel parallel, tap into, and connect with some of the book’s themes?

10. The notion of individuality figures prominently into Blessings, and brings up questions about the individual’s place in the community, and the advantages and disadvantages of social conformity. Give some examples of scenes or situations from the book where the beliefs of an individual are challenged by the value system of a community. The situation which comes to the forefront of this issue is Skip’s ultimate decision to return Faith to her birth-mother, so she can be raised in a more traditional family. Do you agree with Skip’s decision? Were you satisfied with this conclusion? If not, how would you have liked to see it end?

11. Several characters discover a sense of redemption by the close of the novel. In what ways did you, as a reader, sense Skip and Lydia had been redeemed, and what were the causes of that process? The redemptive power of love is prevalent throughout. In what other characters do we see this change?

12. Quindlen uses dialogue as a tool not only to explain what a character is thinking or doing at the moment, but to provide insight into what moves and compels his or her actions and emotions. Through dialogue, Quindlen allows the reader to really get into the mind of a character. Discuss the nuances of the dialogue used throughout the book. How do speech patterns and thought patterns differ, and how do these differences influence your view and understanding of a given character?

13. Avid readers of Quindlen’s work may be familiar with her non-fiction writings and journalism. As a Quindlen fan, was there anything about Blessings that reminded you of Quindlen’s journalistic perspective–aspects such as astute observation of people, story-telling ability, etc.–that called to mind the skills of a good reporter?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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The Blind Assassin 
Margaret Atwood, 2000
Knopf Doubleday
544 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385720953


Summary
Winner, 2000 Booker Prize

Margaret Atwood takes the art of storytelling to new heights in a dazzling new novel that unfolds layer by astonishing layer and concludes in a brilliant and wonderfully satisfying twist.

For the past twenty-five years, Margaret Atwood has written works of striking originality and imagination. In The Blind Assassin, she stretches the limits of her accomplishments as never before, creating a novel that is entertaining and profoundly serious.

The novel opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister drove a car off the bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister Laura's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental. But just as the reader expects to settle into Laura's story, Atwood introduces a novel-within-a-novel. Entitled The Blind Assassin, it is a science fiction story told by two unnamed lovers who meet in dingy backstreet rooms. When we return to Iris, it is through a 1947 newspaper article announcing the discovery of a sailboat carrying the dead body of her husband, a distinguished industrialist.

Told in a style that magnificently captures the colloquialisms and cliches of the 1930s and 1940s, The Blind Assassin is a richly layered and uniquely rewarding experience. The novel has many threads and a series of events that follow one another at a breathtaking pace. As everything comes together, readers will discover that the story Atwood is telling is not only what it seems to be—but, in fact, much more.

The Blind Assassin proves once again that Atwood is one of the most talented, daring, and exciting writers of our time. Like The Handmaid's Tale, it is destined to become a classic. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—November 18, 1939
• Where—Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• Education—B.A., University of Toronto; M.A. Radcliffe; Ph.D., Harvard University
• Awards—Governor General's Award; Booker Prize; Giller Award
• Currently—lives in Toronto, Canada

Book Reviews 
An absorbing new novel, of all the author's books to date, The Blind Assassin is most purely a work of entertainment—an expertly rendered Daphne du Maurieresque tale that showcases Ms. Atwood's narrative powers and her ardent love of the Gothic.
Michiko Kakutani - New York Times

The Blind Assassin has enough mysteries to keep even a casual reader engaged, and with respect to solutions, it is less scrupulously committed to ambiguity than Ms. Atwood's 1997 novel, Alias Grace. As with all of Ms. Atwood's recent fiction, The Blind Assassin, despite what sounds like a romantic plot, has been scoured free of any trace of sentimentality. There is a steely quality to Ms. Atwood's writing that's a bit scary but also exhilarating; no one gets away with anything, especially not her female narrators—and they know better than to try.
Laura Miller - Wall Street Journal

You'll be hooked 'till the whole tragic story finally comes to rest in the most surprising place...How goofy to repeatedly interrupt this haunting novel with episodes about the Lizard Men of Xenor. And yet, what great fun this is —and how brilliantly it works to flesh out the dime-novel culture of the 1930's and to emphasize the precarious position of women.
Ron Charles - Christian Science Monitor


Iris Chase is a brilliant addition to Atwood's roster of fascinating fictional narrators. Not only is she her story sinuously complex, but she is entertaining company. Her comments on her story are crotchety and amusing. She is also frank about her occasional evasions: "I know it's wrong, not because of what I've set down but because of what I've omitted. What isn't there has a presence, like the absence of light." This inexorable bubbling up of the unspoken makes The Blind Assassin unforgettable.
Paul Gray - Time Magazine


Family secrets, sibling rivalry, political chicanery and social unrest, promises and betrayals, "loss and regret and memory and yearning" are the themes of Atwood's brilliant new novel, whose subtitle might read: The Fall of the House of Chase. Justly praised for her ability to suggest the complexity of individual lives against the backdrop of Canadian history, Atwood here plays out a spellbinding family saga intimately affected by WWI, the Depression and Communist witch-hunts, but the final tragedy is equally the result of human frailty, greed and passion. Octogenarian narrator Iris Chase Griffen is moribund from a heart ailment as she reflects on the events following the suicide in 1945 of her fey, unworldly 25-year-old sister, Laura, and of the posthumous publication of Laura's novel, called "The Blind Assassin." Iris's voice—acerbic, irreverent, witty and cynical—is mesmerizingly immediate. When her narration gives way to conversations between two people collaborating on a science fiction novel, we assume that we are reading the genesis of Laura's tale. The voices are those of an unidentified young woman from a wealthy family and her lover, a hack writer and socialist agitator on the run from the law; the lurid fantasy they concoct between bouts of lovemaking constitutes a novel-within-a-novel. Issues of sexual obsession, political tyranny, social justice and class disparity are addressed within the potboiler SF, which features gruesome sacrifices, mutilated body parts and corrupt, barbaric leaders. Despite subtle clues, the reader is more than halfway through Atwood's tour de force before it becomes clear that things are not what they seem. Meanwhile, flashbacks illuminate the Chase family history. In addition to being psychically burdened at age nine by her mother's deathbed adjuration to take care of her younger sibling, naive Iris at age 18 is literally sold into marriage to a ruthless 35-year-old industrialist by her father, a woolly-minded idealist who thinks more about saving the family name and protecting the workers in his button factories than his daughter's happiness. Atwood's pungent social commentary rings chords on the ways women are used by men, and how the power that wealth confers can be used as a deadly weapon. Her microscopic observation transforms details into arresting metaphors, often infused with wry, pithy humor. As she adroitly juggles three plot lines, Atwood's inventiveness achieves a tensile energy. The alternating stories never slacken the pace; on the contrary, one reads each segment breathlessly, eager to get back to the other. In sheer storytelling bravado, Atwood here surpasses even The Handmaid's Tale and Alias Grace.
Publishers Weekly


(Audio version.) Once again, Atwood has written a compelling novel with many different layers of interpretation. At first glance, these tales are a collection of disjointed short stories; yet upon further examination, they are the reminiscences of an old woman named Iris, with death appearing to be the unifying thread connecting them. At the same time, these stories comprise the Chase family history, and Iris uses them to describe her life, beginning with her parents' marriage and ending with the deaths of various relatives. Margot Dionne renders an acceptable reading, but it is far from outstanding. The story-within-a-story format permits the listener to stop and start without losing his or her train of thought. The sound volume is consistent. This program will be in demand by Atwood fans; recommended for public libraries. —Laurie Selwyn, San Antonio P.L.
Library Journal

Atwood's skillfully woven tenth novel is her most ambitious and challenging work to date, and a worthy successor to her recent triumph, Alias Grace. It tells two absorbing stories that cast an initially enigmatic, ultimately pitilessly revealing light on each other. The central one is octogenarian Iris Griffen's bitter reminiscence of her life as the privileged daughter of a prosperous Ontario family, the Chases, and later as wife to Richard Griffen, the businessman who effectively inherits and firmly directs the Chase fortunes. The counterpart story, The Blind Assassin, is a strange futuristic tale that dramatizes in unusual (faux-Oriental) fashion a nameless woman's obsession with a science-fiction writer whose imaginings blithely mirror and exploit his "power" over her. This latter tale is published as the work of Iris's younger sister Laura, whose death in a 1945 automobile accident is judged by all who knew the sisters "as close to suicide as damn is to swearing." Newspaper items reporting notable events in the lives of the Chases and Griffens over a period of more than sixty years further enrich a many-leveled, smartly paced narrative that gradually discloses the nature and root causes of Laura's unconventionality and "madness," the full extent of Richard's compulsive aggrandizement and isolationism, and the price exacted from Iris for the "convenience" of her marriage. Intermittent echoes of Forster's Howards End sound throughout this bleak saga of political, social, and gender conflict. And Atwood keeps our attention riveted by rendering her increasingly dramatic story in a fluent style distinguished by precise sensory description ("the thin, abstemious rain of early April") and thought-provoking metaphor ("Laura was flint in a nest of thistledown"). Furthermore, a bombshell of a climactic surprise (which we probably should have seen coming) lurks in the stunning final pages. Boldly imagined and brilliantly executed.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions 
1. Laura and Iris spend their childhood in Avilion, "a merchant's palace," and, like princesses in a fairy tale, are virtually untouched by the outside world. What other elements reinforce the fairy-tale-like quality of their lives? What role does Alex Thomas play within this context? Does Iris's depiction of her life as an old woman also draw on the conventions of fairy tales?

2. How accurate is Iris's declaration, "Long ago I made a choice between classicism and romanticism. I prefer to be upright and contained—an urn in daylight" [p43]? How was this "choice" affected by the distinctions Iris and Laura's parents made between the two girls when they were children? What incidents show that Iris has ambiguous feelings about the roles she and Laura assume as children? What signs are there that Iris has a romantic side she keeps hidden from the adults? What cost does this exact?

3. Throughout her life, Laura is considered a special, unusual person, more sensitive than most. How does Laura exploit the impression she makes on other people? Are her motives and intentions always as innocent as people assume? Iris says, "[Laura's] cruelties were accidental—by-products of whatever lofty notions may have been going through her head" [p301]. How does the language Iris uses shed light on the complicated emotions Laura stirs up in her?

4. Regarding her father's role in arranging her marriage, Iris writes, "He was only doing what would have been considered--was considered, then—the responsible thing. He was doing the best he knew how" [p227]. In light of Norval's character and his previous treatment of Iris, is this explanation too facile? Was he motivated by reasons Iris doesn't allow herself to acknowledge?

5. Is Iris purely a pawn in a plan conceived by the men, or does she have reasons of her own for agreeing to marry Richard? In what ways does the marriage fulfill Iris's conception of herself and her approach to life?

6. Iris comes under the influence of three very different women in the course of the novel: Reenie, Callie Fitzsimmons, and Winifred Griffen Prior. How does each of these women affect Iris's view of herself—and of womanhood in general? How do their lives and attitudes represent the social environment and class structure of the times?

7. Several childhood experiences foreshadow Laura's ultimate fate, including her plunge into the river [p150] and her accusation that Mr. Erskine sexually molested her [p165]. What do these incidents indicate about Laura's personality? To what extent is she shaped by circumstances beyond her control?

8. Is Iris responsible for Laura's death? At what points could she have changed the course of events?

9. How do the newspaper articles advance the unfolding of the plot? Do they serve as an objective record of the events in the characters' lives?

10. How does the science fiction story constructed by the unnamed lovers mirror the story of the lovers themselves and the circumstances surrounding their affair? In what ways does it parallel events in Iris's life, both as a child and as an adult?

11. Atwood has said that the form of The Blind Assassin was influenced by early twentieth-century collages, in which newspaper excerpts were glued onto canvas and then painted around and over—thus framing two ways of representing reality, each of which contradicted the other but also complemented it. How many "kinds" of writing are in The Blind Assassin, washroom graffiti included? What purpose does each form of writing serve?

12. The era of the Great Depression was also an age of extreme fashion-consciousness among the wealthy. What role do clothes play in The Blind Assassin, in both the historical and the contemporary sections of the book? What do they reveal about the characters, and what do they conceal?

13. What are the various meanings of the title The Blind Assassin? Which characters act as blind assassins by uncomprehendingly causing the demise of other characters?

14. How do the multiple levels of The Blind Assassin interact with one another? Do they unfold in concert, shedding light on one another, or is the relationship among them only apparent at the end of the book? What does the use of this narrative technique reveal about Atwood's methods of storytelling?

15. If you have read other books by Atwood (particularly The Handmaid's Tale and Cat's Eye), how does The Blind Assassin echo and extend themes she has previously explored? What new themes are developed?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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The Blind Astronomer's Daughter 
John Pipkin, 2016
Boomsbury USA
480 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781632861870


Summary
A transporting new historical novel from the acclaimed author of Woodsburner.

In late-eighteenth-century Ireland, accidental stargazer Caroline Ainsworth learns that her life is not what it seems when her father, Arthur, throws himself from his rooftop observatory.

Caroline had often assisted her father with his observations, in pursuit of an unknown planet; when astronomer William Herschel discovered Uranus, Caroline could only watch helplessly as unremitting jealousy drove Arthur to madness.

Now, gone blind from staring at the sun, he has chosen death over a darkened life.

Grief-stricken, Caroline abandons the vain search, leaves Ireland for London, and tries to forget her love for Finnegan O’Siodha, the tinkering blacksmith who was helping her father build a telescope larger than his rival's.

But her father has left her more than the wreck of that unfinished instrument: his cryptic atlas holds the secret to finding a new world at the edge of the sky. As Caroline reluctantly resumes her father's work and confronts her own longings, Ireland is swept into rebellion, and Caroline and Finnegan are plunged into its violence.

This is a novel of the obsessions of the age: scientific inquiry, geographic discovery, political reformation, but above all, astronomy, the mapping of the solar system and beyond. It is a novel of the quest for knowledge and for human connection—rich, far-reaching, and unforgettable. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1967
• Where—Baltimore, Maryland, USA
• Education—B.A., Washington & Lee University; M.A., University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill;
   Ph.D., Rice University
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in Austin, Texas


John George Pipkin is an American author of historical novels, who holds a PhD in British Romantic Literature from Rice University in Houston, Texas, an MA in English from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and a BA from Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. His first novel, Woodsburner, published in 2009, won the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Massachusetts Center for the Book Fiction Prize, and the Texas Institute of Letters Steven Turner Award.

Woodsburner revolves around a little-known event in the life of Henry David Thoreau: in 1844, Thoreau accidentally set fire to 300 acres of woods around Concord, Massachusetts, and Pipkin imagines the impact of that fire upon Thoreau, as well as three other characters.

The Blind Astronomer's Daughter, published in2016, concerns astronomical discoveries in the 18th century and, in particular, a fictional astronomer who commits suicide and his daughter who struggles to resume her father's work in scientific discovery.

In 2010, Pipkin was named writer-in-residence at Southwestern University, and was awarded the Dobie Paisano Fellowship from the Texas Institute of Letters. He teaches writing at Southwestern University, at the University of Texas at Austin, and in Spalding University's Low-Residency MFA Program.

Pipkin has been awarded a 2016 MacDowell Colony (New Hampshire) Residential Fellowship for ongoing work on his third novel. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and children. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 1/19/2017.)

Book Reviews
The novel's far-flung peregrinations give it a certain shapelessness, but its power lies in its vibrant and arresting imagery, resonant themes and sense of intellectual ferment. In his extraordinary ability to convey his characters' emotions as they take in the universe's immensity, Pipkin captures our own awe and sense of puniness as we look at the skies and the "implacable cartwheeling of worlds slow and indifferent.
Katherine A. Powers - New York Times Book Review


The Blind Astronomer’s Daughter is a tour de force of characterization and historical narrative . . . No matter how small, the characters and the time come alive in narrative that is rich, intense and meticulously rendered that it often comes across as lyrical or philosophical"
Historical Novel Review


[E]xquisitely crafted...a sensitive recounting of Ireland's travails..., a riveting description of the passion of discovery in the late 18th century, and a brilliant examination of such age-old themes as the longing for permanence and belonging. —Cynthia Johnson, formerly with Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, MA
Library Journal


[P]anoramic... [T]he second half, dominated by the bloody Irish uprising of 1798, never really gels with the first. Still, a fascinating look at the particular manias and obsessions of those who study the stars amid turmoil on Earth.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. Compare and contrast the experiences of Caroline Herschel and Siobhan Ainsworth. Both women are considered outcasts due to their gender and physical disabilities. How do they each overcome their disadvantages? Explore the many similarities in their stories and how their common experiences shape them as women and as scientists. In what ways does Caroline Herschel serve as a foil for Siobhan?

2. Pipkin delves into the struggle and invisibility of women in science by examining the true story of Caroline Herschel and the fictional accounts of Siobhan Ainsworth and the Seven Sisters. How were each of these women erased and/or celebrated by their male counterparts? Discuss the irony of the Seven Sisters’ world-renowned mirror business and what it exposes about the industry of science. In your opinion, has society’s attitude toward female scientists changed or continued to be exclusionary?

3. Each section of the novel is named for a stage of planetary orbit. When cautioning Arthur, McPherson notes that “The past is a mirror to the future” (78). Explore how the cyclical movement of a planet in orbit can be found metaphorically throughout the novel. How do Finn and Siobhan seem to orbit each other? Are there other characters who fall into orbit with one another? How do locations such as New Park serve as the focal point of multiple orbits? Provide an example of how a section title serves to foreshadow or describe the chapter’s events.

4. In order to pass his time in Dublin, Finn begins to serve the helpless by fashioning aids for their ailments. His prized possession is the elaborate brace he devises to revive Siobhan’s weak hand. At first, Siobhan would have nothing to do with Finn’s invention because it brought back traumatic memories of being experimented upon in childhood. Refusing to wear it, she resolves that “she would not have [Finn] regard her as a damaged clockwork ... she would fit herself to no man’s design” (359). And yet, the brace improves her movement so well that it becomes a prized possession. In your opinion, is Finn’s compulsion to fix Siobhan a harmful or generous quality? Can it be both?

5. Discuss the novel’s treatment of order and randomness. Herschel thinks, “There is no randomness to it, just as there is nothing random in the slow turn of night and day. To the well-prepared mind, he tells them, the world presents no accidents, only patterns yet to be recognized” (60). Lord Camden is lauded for his commitment to governmental order, Mr. McPherson is fiercely defensive of the order of power, and Caroline and Siobhan are both taught to take precise and orderly calculations of the stars’ movement. But randomness prevails as well: Finn’s random letters miraculously reach Siobhan, and astronomers still rely on a serendipitous moment of discovery. In your opinion, does the novel argue that the universe is guided by order or randomness? Are there moments in the novel where randomness is embraced, and when?

6. Discuss William Herschel’s theory: “... every object of mass throughout the universe not only draws other bodies to itself, but repels what it attracts. This repulsive power is just as necessary for the survival of matter as is the force of attraction. Without the latter . . . we would not be, and without the former, we would not be as we are” (223). Throughout the novel, Finn and Siobhan manage to both attract and repel each other—each at times pulling the other close and then being swept away. How does this adversity impact them? Are they ever discouraged? Why or why not? Explain the meaning of Herschel’s last line. How are repulsive powers necessary for survival? How do the forces that attract you make you who you are?

7. Two of the novel’s greatest struggles are rooted in the concept of ownership. Arthur Ainsworth drives himself mad with jealousy and defeat when he cannot find the planet he has already named as his own. Ireland is plunged into warfare over the dispute between who rightfully owns its soil. Owen hears the mantra: “Let these English landlords stare at the heavens all they want, for they will no longer possess the land beneath our feet” (160). What are the parallels between these disparate types of ownership? How does the desire to claim ownership cause conflict throughout the book? Are there characters who seek to own nothing? If so, who?

8. Explore the significance of maps and atlases throughout the novel. James is convinced that “ ... no man would ever trust a map drawn by one who has never set his foot where he has cast his eye” (429). Compare James’s quote with the ideology of Arthur’s father: “Men who watch the sky ... do so only to convince us that things are not as they appear” (24). Arthur’s blind sketches appear manic, but together they become the atlas that leads Siobhan to the furthest edge of the known universe. James’s drawings, though thinly informed, convince Siobhan to select him as a travel companion. Are maps purely objective, or can they be informed by one’s experience? Do maps of the sky ruin its beauty or enhance it?

9. Arthur, Siobhan, and Caroline all believe they can see the ghosts of their loved ones reflected in the sky. Explore the significance of these apparitions. Who appears to each character, and why? What do these ghosts help illuminate about each astronomer’s motive for searching the skies? In your opinion, what is similar about a ghost and a star?

10. Finn is a natural fixer. He is fascinated by “how each part turn[s] in concert with the others,  large and small, no piece indispensable, nothing useful on its own” (234). Forced to flee from New Park with his ailing parents, Finn is finally given the opportunity to master the art of mending and open up his sidewalk business in Edinburgh as the “FIXER OF SMALLOBJEX.” How does Finn’s interest in minutia mirror or compliment Siobhan’s interest in astronomy? Unexpectedly, his talents lead him to an interest in the controversial science of galvanic energy. To an outsider, it seems as if he can resurrect the dead. How does Finn use this power to his advantage and how to does it change the course of his life?

11. Driven insane by the desire to see as far into the depths of the universe as possible, Arthur Ainsworth blinds himself by aiming his powerful telescope at the sun. While Siobhan is horrified, Arthur is strangely at peace. He muses, “They would not understand if he told them that with his eyes extinguished he sees more now than they can imagine ... the ghosts and phantoms of things still to be discovered and understood and mapped” (7). Considering Arthur’s arduous career as an astronomer, discuss his motives for blinding himself. Is it purely jealousy? What kinds of things does Arthur believe he can see better now without the distraction of sight? If Arthur feels more content in darkness, why would he kill himself?

12. “Sometimes he feels certain that if men could but be made to hold still and think at length on the vast incomprehensibility of creation, wars would cease altogether” (60). Discuss the significance of this quote throughout the novel. Why would reckoning with the universe bring about peace? Conversely, what statement is Herschel making about the cause of war? Discuss the relationship between this quote and the Irish rebellion. How could the philosophy of astronomy quell the distress of Ireland’s disenfranchised?

13. Time is precious for astronomers. William Herschel is furious whenever he feels that his time has been wasted. To him, “Time lost to pointless delay can never be regained. It is the most reprehensible kind of theft” (61). Arthur and Siobhan battle time as well: he seeks to “secure fame’s immortality” (5) in order to outlast his short life, and by the time Siobhan reaches Rome, she is convinced that a minor miscalculation has caused her to mistake the new planet’s orbit, making it unviewable until 1972. How does each astronomer balance the urgency of his or her discoveries with the incomprehensibly vast lifetime of the galaxy? How does their unique relationship to time set them apart from ordinary citizens?

14. When Finn is swept up by the Irish resistance, Siobhan is entirely certain that he will return  and together they will find the planet her father had hunted for so long. She thinks, “... there had never been any chance that they might have done otherwise, for no single body—no matter the force of will—can resist the pull of the universe” (364). But although Finn has the opportunity, he never returns from the battlefield. When deciding whether to go into the deadly battle of New Ross, he “tells himself that he will not. And then he does” (344). In your opinion, what overrides Finn’s desire to return to Siobhan? How does his decision complicate Siobhan’s understanding of their destiny and the strength of a greater power? Discuss how Finn’s presumed death challenges the novel’s commitment to order and orbit.

15. Though James and Siobhan consider each other to be unlikely companions, they are more similar than they might believe. At the end of the novel, they find themselves in Italy, having traveled hundreds of miles from their comfortable lives in pursuit of disparate dreams: Siobhan hopes to finally glimpse the planet her father fervently sought, and James is finally fulfilling his goal of escaping Ireland. In what ways are they similar or different? In what ways are their personalities complimentary? Do you consider them to be an unlikely pair? Discuss how Caroline Herschel has influenced both of their journeys.
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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Blind Sky 
Kerry S. Gordon, 2014
Biblio Publishing
395 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781622491742


Summary
Faith is her Ultimate Weapon.

After brutal slayings in her home town and her mother’s murder, Sky enlists with Logue, a recruiting agency that trains assassins to kill enemies of Australian government.

And on assignment to locate Lars, a head sector in division 19, a division separate from all other divisions in Australia and one bounded by secrecy, Sky embarks on a treacherous operation and soon finds herself as the prey and becomes a target on everyone’s wanted list.

Those belonging to Division 19 live in a world with no diseases, guaranteed vitality, youth and unspeakable power and anyone threatening exposure has to be removed, and they will stop at nothing to make sure their secrets are protected.

Watch the book trailer.

Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Kingston, Jamaica
• Education—B.A., Rollins College
• Currently—Central Florida, USA


Kerry Gordon is a freelance writer for Demand Media Studios, worked twelve years in administration, management, security surveillance, and briefly as a secretary in immigration law.

She is the author of Blind Sky (2014), enjoys tea, reruns of Sex and the City, Marvel Comic book movies, yoga, trying foods from different cultures, and would like to travel more, as her destinations so far include Bonn and Cologne Germany, and Paris France.
 
The inspiration for Blind Sky came after watching a program on the History Channel about the Lost City of Atlantis, with many scholars, researchers and historians speculating centuries of myths, mysteries and stories of this highly advanced civilization which has been debated to exist, but suddenly disappeared and possibly underwater, fostering the birth of Blind Sky, a concept of an advanced group of citizens living on earth in a world of prestige, unimaginable power and vitality and supreme technological advancement all under immense secrecy. (From the author.)

Visit the author's website.

Book Reviews
Excitingly delicious!! One of this genre's best upcoming talents... Kerry S. Gordon is definitely one to look out for. Her writing style is crisp and unique in not only delivery but how she also reels you into her world...keeping you longing for more. It was an intense ride to say the least. I rather enjoyed myself and feel as though I know her a little better now having this experience. I wish her the very best.
~triniucf - Networx4us
 

Exhilarating, captivating and exciting. Kerry S. Gordon is definitely a unique writer, her style is one that captivates and keeps you wanting more. I enjoyed the intense, thrilling and exciting ride.This should be made into a movie...Awesome!!!
Cutie Sellier-Amazon
 

I like the high-intensity back story, depicting Sky’s days as a newly minted assassin. Whether we're in the present or the past, it seems there's always the potential for conflict. The author does a nice job of setting up sharp contrasts between the various members of the agency. It would be easy to have them all depicted as soulless killers or hyperactively aggressive, but she definitely lends each a sense of nuance that goes beyond there deadly vocation. Nicely done!
Paul Toth-Authonomy Review
 

Kerry’s writing is wonderful, and she does a great job jumping right into the story and the action. Everything is done so well!!!
D. Anastasia Paul- Writer

Discussion Questions
1.Describe some of the reasons Sky decides to join Logue agency, and consider why Sky keeps this a secret from her dad. Do you think it’s in Sky’s father’s best interest that she keeps this secret from him? And how does this affect their relationship?

2.How does Sky and Derek’s friendship/relationship change throughout the story?

3.What role does Galen play in helping Sky, and why does Galen’s father Herrin have a problem with Galen helping her? Are Herrin’s reasons justified as a father?

4.What are some of the confinements and regulations citizens of division 19 are subjected to? Do you find these to be morally right and acceptable?

5.Who do you think is behind or orchestrated Sky’s mother’s murder?

6.How has Sky’s, introduction into Galen’s division and revelation about Lars and her mother influence their relationship? In what ways has Sky changed or influenced the way Galen later views his division?

7. Who is the best guy for Sky, Derek or Galen? And why?

8. Sky’s view and faith changed after dealing with death. Has a life event or situation made you change or question your faith? If so, explain why your views or faith changed, and whether or not you found your way back to your faith or not.

9.Considering citizens in division 19 live in a society with no disease, vitality, immense wealth, and just about anything at their disposal (i.e. food, luxury, and technology) are the restriction, hormone regulation, and secrecy placed by the sectors and leaders justified?  Is a society like this appealing to you? Why or why not? And in general, do you believe we all have to sacrifice and give up something to sustain a certain lifestyle? (An example can be taking a job with a greater salary, but time away from family, or relocating to another city or country that you don’t like, but will for the money).

10.Were you surprised, shocked, or angry at the way things ended for Sky, or the ending in general?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)

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Blindness 
Jose Saramago, 1995
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780156035583


Summary
A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and raping women.

There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers—among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears—through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing.

A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century, Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayal of man's worst appetites and weaknesses-and man's ultimately exhilarating spirit.

The stunningly powerful novel of man's will to survive against all odds, by the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—November 16, 1922
• Where—Azinhaga, Santarem, Portugal
• Death—June 18, 2010
• Where—Lanzarote, Spain (Canary Islands)
• Awards—Noble Prize; Portuguese PEN Club Award

Jose Saramago was a Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, playwright and journalist. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor.

His books have been translated into 25 languages. He founded the National Front for the Defence of Culture (Lisbon, 1992) with Freitas-Magalhaes and others. A proponent of libertarian communism, Saramago came into conflict with some groups, including the Catholic Church.

Early Life
Saramago was born in 1922 into a family of landless peasants in Azinhaga, Portugal, a small village in the province of Ribatejo some hundred kilometers northeast of Lisbon. His parents were Josede Sousa and Maria de Piedade. "Saramago," a wild herbaceous plant known in English as the wild radish, was his father's family's nickname, and was accidentally incorporated into his name upon registration of his birth. In 1924, Saramago's family moved to Lisbon, where his father started working as a policeman.

A few months after the family moved to the capital, his brother Francisco, older by two years, died. Jose spent vacations with his grandparents in Azinhaga. When his grandfather suffered a stroke and was to be taken to Lisbon for treatment, Saramago recalled, "He went into the yard of his house, where there were a few trees, fig trees, olive trees. And he went one by one, embracing the trees and crying, saying good-bye to them because he knew he would not return. To see this, to live this, if that doesn't mark you for the rest of your life," Saramago said, "you have no feeling."

Although Saramago was a good pupil, his parents were unable to afford to keep him in grammar school, and instead moved him to a technical school at age 12. After graduating, he worked as a car mechanic for two years. Later he worked as a translator, then as a journalist. He was assistant editor of the newspaper Diario de Noticias, a position he had to leave after the political events in 1975. This is the darkest period of his life. While assistant editor, he fired 24 journalists who demanded more pluralism in the editorial line of the newspaper.

After a period of working as a translator he was able to support himself as a writer. Saramago married Ilda Reis in 1944. Their only child, Violante, was born in 1947. From 1988 until his death in June 2010 Saramago was married to the Spanish journalist Pilar del Río, who is the official translator of his books into Spanish.

International Acclaim
Jose Saramago didn't achieve widespread recognition and acclaim until he was sixty, when his publication of Baltasar and Blimunda brought him to the attention of an international readership. This novel won the Portuguese PEN Club Award.

He became a member of the Portuguese Communist Party in 1969 and remained so until the end of his life. Saramago was also an atheist and self-described pessimist. His views have aroused considerable controversy in Portugal, especially after his publication of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ. In 1992, the Portuguese government, under Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva, ordered the removal of The Gospel from the European Literary Prize's shortlist, claiming the work was religiously offensive. Saramago complained of censorship and moved to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, Spain, where he resided until his death.

His Noble Prize came as a surprise to Saramago. As his Portuguese editor, Zeferino Coelho, recalled: "When he won the Nobel, Saramago said to me, 'I was not born for all this glory.' I told him, 'You may not have been made for this glory, but I was!'" He used his Nobel lecture to call his grandfather Jeronimo "the wisest man [he] ever knew." Despite the award, though, he remained a divisive character in Portugal, both criticised and praised.

Death
Saramago died on 18 June 2010, aged 87 in Lanzarote, Spain. Described by the Guardian (UK) as "the finest Portuguese writer of his generation," while Fernanda Eberstadt of the New York Times said he was "known almost as much for his unfaltering Communism as for his fiction." Saramago's translator, Margaret Jull Costa, paid tribute to him, describing his "wonderful imagination" and calling him "the greatest contemporary Portuguese writer."

Saramago had continued his writing until his death. His most recent publication, Cain, was published in 2009 ( English translationin 2010).

Portugal declared two days of mourning. There were verbal tributes from senior international politicians: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Brazil), Bernard Kouchner (France) and Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spain), while Cuba's Raul and Fidel Castro sent floral tributes. l'Osservatore Romano, a newspaper run by the Vatican, used its Sunday editorial to label Saramago "an anti-religious ideologue" and "populist extremist".

Funeral
Saramago's funeral was held in Lisbon on 20 June 2010, in the presence of more than 20,000 people, many of whom had travelled hundreds of kilometres, but also notably in the absence of right-wing President of Portugal Aníbal Cavaco Silva who holidayed in Azores as the ceremony took place. Silva, the Prime Minister when Saramago's name was removed from the shortlist of the European Literary Prize, said he did not attend Saramago's funeral because he "had never had the privilege to know him."

Mourners, who questioned Silva's absence in the presence of reporters, held copies of the red carnation, symbolic of Portugal's democratic revolution. Saramago's cremation took place in Lisbon, with his ashes scattered in his birthplace of Azinhaga and in Lanzarote, his home until his death. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)

Book Reviews 
This year's most propulsive, and most profound, thriller.
Village Voice

A bold piece of work — almost biblical in scale and style, hauntingly sustained.
Independent (London)

More frightening than Stephen King, as unrelenting as a bad dream, Jose Saramago's Blindness politely rubs our faces in apocalypse. Its detailed history of an unaccountable epidemic of "white blindness" that inundates the nameless inhabitants of a nameless country makes you fear for your own sight: Have the corners of the pages dimmed ever so slightly? Saramago won the 1998 Nobel Prize for literature, and at 76 his powers have not dimmed: This fable is so unsettling, so limitlessly allegorical—the Holocaust, AIDS and Bosnia come to mind—that it feels infinite. "The whole world is right here," one character tells another. Blindness merely amplifies everyone's fundamental helplessness and interdependence and makes plain the lies they tell themselves to get through the day. As a blind ophthalmologist puts it, his useless expertise an emblem of the surplus with which we all burden ourselves, "Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are."
Jesse Barrett - Salon

Saramago's chilling thriller about an epidemic of "white blindness" that affects everyone in its path is a truly remarkable tale of loss and a metaphor for the horrors of humankind. With such a large and varying cast of characters including young children, a mother and an elderly man, narrator Jonathan Davis gives a truly rousing performance and displays his wide-ranging ability. Each character is original and believable in the face of this unbelievable epidemic. Davis's reading puts his audience in a bright white place, where little is visual save for the listeners' imaginations running wild. Davis's voice paints a vivid portrait.
Publishers Weekly

To describe as allegory this story of unnamed characters in an unnamed city who are struggling with an undiagnosed epidemic of "white blindness" is both too simple and too complex. Beyond any emblematic purpose, the characters act out life with all its paradoxes and hidden truths. Ultimately, the greater meaning here is the simple story of human frailty and community in the modern world. In searing prose, both complex and minimal, all this and nothing more is revealed. No wonder Saramago won the 1998 Nobel prize.
Library Journal

The embattled relationships among the people of a city mysteriously struck by an epidemic of blindness form the core of this superb novel by the internationally acclaimed Saramago, the Portugese author of, most recently, The History of the Siege of Lisbon. A driver stalled at a busy intersection suddenly suffers an attack of 'white blindness' (no other color, or any shape, is discernible). The 'false Samaritan' who helps him home and then steals his car is the next victim. A busy ophthalmologist follows, then two of his patients. And on it goes, until the city's afflicted blind are 'quarantined' in an unused mental ward; the guards ensuring their incarceration panic and begin to shoot; and a paternalistic 'Ministry' runs out of strategies to oversee 'an uprooted, exhausted world' in a state of escalating chaos. But then, as abruptly as the catastrophe began, everything changes in a wry denouement suggesting that what we've observed (as it were) amounts to an existential test of these characters' courage and mutual tolerance. But Blindness never feels like a lesson, thanks to Saramago's mastery of plot, urbane narration (complete with irreverent criticisms of its own digressiveness), and resourceful characterizations. All the people are nameless ('the girl with the dark glasses,' 'the boy with the squint'), but we learn an enormous amount about them, and the central figure, the ophthalmologist's wife, who pretends to be blind in order to accompany her husband, is triumphantly employed as both viewpoint character and (as a stunning final irony confirms) 'the leader of the blind.' Echoes of Orwell's 1984 and images hinting at Holocaust experiences enrich the texture of a brilliant allegory that may be as revolutionary in its own way and time as were, say, The Trial and The Plague in theirs. Another masterpiece.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions 
1. What is Saramago's purpose in presenting the doctor's wife as the only person not afflicted by the white blindness? In what ways, and in what stages, does she grow in terms of both political and moral authority? What roles does she assume? How may we explain, in particular, her assumption of responsibility as guide and protector? Why does she experience a feeling of intense, unbearable loneliness at just that moment when the others begin to regain their sight?

2. What is the purpose of Saramago's use of proverbs, folk sayings, and cliches throughout the novel? How does the characters' new reality affect their former habits of expression and create new habits of expression? What are the implications of the narrator's later comment that "if sayings are to retain any meaning and to continue to be used they have to adapt to the times"?

3. As the white blindness spreads, the Minister of Health decides on the necessity of quarantine "both from the point of view of the merely sanitary aspects of the case and from that of the social implications and their political consequences." What "social implications" and "political consequences" do you think the minister has in mind? What social and political consequences does the quarantine itself have?

4. Waking to her second day in the mental hospital, the doctor's wife thinks, "what fragile walls we'd make" against our enemies. What "fragile walls" are erected, demolished, or made useless by the blindness? What fragile walls in your life and community would be threatened by a catastrophe similar to the white blindness?

5. "The whole world is right here," the doctor's wife says to her husband on the morning of theirfourth day in the hospital. In what ways does the mental hospital contain "the whole world"? To what extent may we read Blindness as a commentary on the excesses and horrors of the world of the twentieth century?

6. What meanings can we attribute to the white blindness? To what extent does it represent ignorance, political ineptitude, the absence of per-sonal and social morality, and the failure of imagination? What other meanings can you suggest? How does the "harsh, cruel, implacable kingdom of the blind" differ, if at all, from our everyday world?

7. Why does Saramago provide no names for his characters and their city and country? What are the effects of this namelessness?

8. In what ways do the central characters' experiences lead them to a new kind of interdependence and, at the same time, a new awareness of the human potential for selfishness and cruelty? How do both contribute to the emergence or re-emergence of tenderness and love?

9. What pattern emerges in respect to the breakdown of order and of the various systems that we all take for granted—civic, social, political, and so on? How do individuals, identifiable groups, and institutions of authority contribute to that breakdown? How does the structure of society itself alter to fit a world in which virtually everyone is blind?

10. How do the women in the novel differ from the men in their attitude toward the blindness and the resulting conditions of life? What moral, emo-tional, psychological, and imaginative capacities do the women possess that the men lack?

11. Variants of the phrase "when the beast dies, the poison dies with it" recur in the novel. And we are told that "the mind suffers delusions when it succumbs to the monsters it has itself created." What beasts and monsters, actual and delusional, are the subjects of this novel?

12. In response to the newly interned old man's report on conditions out-side the hospital, the doctor comments, "Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are.... People, too, no one will be there to see them." In what ways might this be true, and to what degree?

13. At the very end of the novel, the doctor tells his wife: "I don't think we did go blind, I think we are blind, Blind but seeing, Blind people who can see, but do not see." What does he mean? How is this judgment related to the first blind man's report to the doctor that his going blind was "More like a light going on"?

14. How does the novel illustrate the doctor's wife's observation that "what is right and what is wrong are simply different ways of understanding our relationships with others"?

15. One reviewer has noted that Blindness conveys "the disturbing notion... that full humanity is achieved only through suffering." Do you agree or dis-agree with this statement, in respect to both Saramago's novel and actual life? Which characters achieve a fuller humanity because of their suffering?
(Questions by publisher.)

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Blonde 
Joyce Carol Oates, 2010
HarperCollins
752 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780061774355


Summary
In her most ambitious work to date, Joyce Carol Oates boldly reimagines the inner, poetic, and spiritual life of Norma Jeane Baker—the child, the woman, the fated celebrity and idolized blonde the world came to know as Marilyn Monroe. In a voice startlingly intimate and rich, Norma Jeane tells her own story of an emblematic American artist—intensely conflicted and driven—who had lost her way.

A powerful portrait of Hollywood's myth and an extraordinary woman's heartbreaking reality, Blonde is a sweeping epic that pays tribute to the elusive magic and devastation behind the creation of the great twentieth-century American star. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—June 16, 1938
• Where—Lockport, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Syracuse Univ.; M.A., Univ. of Wisconsin
• Awards—National Book Award for Them, 1970; 14 O. Henry
   Awards; six Pushcart Prizes
• Currently—lives in Princeton, New Jersey


Joyce Carol Oates is one of the most influential and important storytellers in the literary world. She has often used her supreme narrative skills to examine the dark side of middle-class Americana, and her oeuvre includes some of the finest examples of modern essays, plays, criticism, and fiction from a vast array of genres. She is still publishing with a speed and consistency of quality nearly unheard of in contemporary literature.

A born storyteller, Oates has been spinning yarns since she was a little girl too young to even write. Instead, she would communicate her stories through drawings and paintings. When she received her very first typewriter at the age of 14, her creative floodgates opened with a torrent. She says she wrote "novel after novel" throughout high school and college— a prolificacy that has continued unabated throughout a professional career that began in 1963 with her first short story collection, By the North Gate.

Oates's breakthrough occurred in 1969 with the publication of Them, a National Book Award winner that established her as a force to be reckoned with. Since that auspicious beginning, she has been nominated for nearly every major literary honor —from the PEN/Faulkner Award to the Pulitzer Prize—and her fiction turns up with regularity on the New York Times annual list of Notable Books.

On average Oates publishes at least one novel, essay anthology, or story collection a year (during the 1970s, she produced at the astonishing rate of two or three books a year!). And although her fiction often exposes the darker side of America's brightest facades—familial unrest, sexual violence, the death of innocence—she has also made successful forays into Gothic novels, suspense, fantasy, and children's literature. As novelist John Barth once remarked, "Joyce Carol Oates writes all over the aesthetical map."

Where she finds the time for it no one knows, but Oates manages to combine her ambitious, prolific writing career with teaching: first at the University of Windsor in Canada, then (from 1978 on), at Princeton University in New Jersey. For all her success and fame, her daily routine of teaching and writing has changed very little, and her commitment to literature as a transcendent human activity remains steadfast.

Extras
• When not writing, Oates likes to take in a fight. "Boxing is a celebration of the lost religion of masculinity all the more trenchant for its being lost," she says in highbrow fashion of the lowbrow sport.

• Oates's Black Water, which is a thinly veiled account of Ted Kennedy's car crash in Chappaquiddick, was produced as an opera in the 1990s. (Author bio from Barnes & Noble.)

Praise for Oates from the UK
• One of the female frontrunners for the title of Great American Novelist.— Maggie Gee, Sunday Times

• A writer of extraordinary strengths...she has dealt consistently with what is probably the great American theme— the quest for the creation of self...Her great subject, naturally, is love.—Ian Sansom, Guardian

• Her prose is peerless and her ability to make you think as she re-invents genres is unique. Few writers move so effortlessly from the gothic tale to the psychological thriller to the epic family saga to the lyrical novella. Even fewer authors can so compellingly and entertainingly tell a story.—Jackie McGlone, Scotland on Sunday

• Novelists such as John Updike, Philip Roth, Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer slug it out for the title of the Great American Novelist. But maybe they're wrong. Maybe, just maybe, the Great American Novelist is a woman. —The Herald

Book Reviews
Oates's achievement is remarkable because the immediate, visceral impact of Monroe's image is so very much a phenomenon of film, defying the inward-looking, speculative mind of literature.... If a novel can't deliver Monroe's beauty, a force that profoundly shaped how people behaved toward her, it can, better than any film, give us her interior world.
New York Times Book Review


Grimly compelling...a portrait of Hollywood as terrifyingly hallucinatory as Nathaniel West's The Day of the Locust.
Wall Street Journal


Blonde is one mighty, tremendous book...Oates has become most like William Faulkner. Every novel is a newly invented form of language, a deepening vision of America. No writer today has today has delved into the mysterious circumstances of being alive at this time in America—explored our entire social strata—to the extent that she has. Oates is perennially mentioned for the Nobel Prize. Blonde, one hopes will be the book that will convince the Swedish academy.
The Nation


(Audio version.) Will our fascination with celebrities never cease? Over the past few years, there has been a proliferation of Marilyn Monroe biographies. Oates, at least, is not focused on the celebrity but on the frightened, orphaned Norma Jean, a figure perfectly in keeping with other lonely outsiders who populate her fiction. Writing in short sections that carry over extremely well to audio, she's able to achieve segues that add depth to the life being explored and fabricated. Details, images, thoughts, and feelings abound, so credible we forget such insights could not have been known to any biographer. And as to facts, Oates explains in an illuminating interview (included on tape six) that, as a fiction writer, she's able to simplify, combining "several" abortions into one, merging various characters. True, there is no suspense in this audiobook, narrated by Jayne Atkinson: none of the haunting stream-of-consciousness Oates so masterfully placed into Mary Jo Kopechne's mouth in her novella Black Water, but these tapes have much to offer. Considering the book is 768 pages, even die-hard Oates fans might appreciate this adeptly abridged audio version. Recommended, especially for larger collections. —Rochelle Ratner, formerly with Soho Weekly News.
Library Journal

Discussion Questions 
1. For always there was the Fair Princess. For always the Dark Prince," writes Joyce Carol Oates on the first page of the chapter entitled "The Kiss." Who is Norma Jean's Dark Prince? Her true love? Her father? Death? Do you think that romance fiction and movies have led women to hope for a prince to fulfill their dreams? If so, what might be the consequences of expecting that...and what were they for Norma Jean?

2. Joyce Carol Oates didn't give names to some characters, such as the Ex-Athlete and the Playwright. Why? Who are some of the other unnamed characters? Especially, who is the Sharpshooter? Do you think that his role in Marilyn's death is metaphorical...or is Joyce Carol Oates joining those who suggest that Marilyn Monroe was murdered?

3. Norma Jean as Marilyn Monroe has been called a mythic character—or perhaps more accurately a cultural icon. What attributes made her a symbol? Are those qualities still idolized today?

4. Was Norma Jean promiscuous or a nymphomaniac, as some people charged? What would you say about her sexual experiences? Can you build a case that what she nearly always experienced was rape, not consensual sex?

5. Can you speculate why the author found this woman so compelling? What do you think makes Norma Jean/Marilyn Monroe such a fertile subject for fiction and nonfiction, film and print, even decades after her death?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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Blood & Beauty: The Borgias
Sarah Dunant, 2013
Random House
528 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780812981612


Summary
With an exceptional talent for breathing life into history, Sarah Dunant turns her discerning eye to one of the world’s most intriguing and infamous families—the Borgias—in an engrossing work of literary fiction.

By the end of the fifteenth century, the beauty and creativity of Italy is matched by its brutality and corruption, nowhere more than in Rome and inside the Church.

When Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia buys his way into the papacy as Alexander VI, he is defined not just by his wealth or his passionate love for his illegitimate children, but by his blood: He is a Spanish Pope in a city run by Italians. If the Borgias are to triumph, this charismatic, consummate politician with a huge appetite for life, women, and power must use papacy and family—in particular, his eldest son, Cesare, and his daughter Lucrezia—in order to succeed.

Cesare, with a dazzlingly cold intelligence and an even colder soul, is his greatest—though increasingly unstable—weapon. Later immortalized in Machiavelli’s The Prince, he provides the energy and the muscle. Lucrezia, beloved by both men, is the prime dynastic tool. Twelve years old when the novel opens, hers is a journey through three marriages, and from childish innocence to painful experience, from pawn to political player.
 
Stripping away the myths around the Borgias, Blood & Beauty is a majestic novel that breathes life into this astonishing family and celebrates the raw power of history itself: compelling, complex and relentless. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—August 8, 1950
• Where—London, England, UK
• Education—B.A., Cambridge University
• Awards—Silver Dagger Award for Crime Fiction
• Currently—lives in London, England

Sarah Dunant is a writer, broadcaster and critic. She was a founding vice patron of the Orange Prize for women's fiction, sits on the editorial board of the Royal Academy magazine, and reviews for the Times, Guardian, and Independent on Sunday. She teaches creative writing at The Faber Academy in London and biennially at Washington University in St. Louis in its Renaissance studies course. She is also a creative writing fellow at Oxford Brookes University. She has two daughters and lives in London and Florence.

Early career
Dunant was born in London. She attended Godolphin and Latymer School and studied history at Newnham College, Cambridge, where she was heavily involved in theatre and the Footlights review. After a brief spell working for the BBC she spent much of her twenties traveling (Japan, India, Asia and Central and South America) before starting to write. Her first two novels, along with a BBC television series, were written with a friend. After this she went solo.

Since then she has written ten novels, three screenplays and edited two books of essays. She has worked in television and radio as a producer and presenter: most notably for BBC Television where for seven years (1989–1996) she presented the live nightly culture programme The Late Show. After that she presented the BBC Radio 3 radio programme Night Waves.

Books
Dunant's work ranges over a number of genres and eras. Her narratives are hard to categorise due to their inventive treatment of time and space, and a favoured device of hers is to run two or more plot strands concurrently, as she does in Mapping the Edge. A common concern running through her work is women's perceptions and points of view, with other themes included.

Her first eight novels were broadly written within a thriller form. Their setting was contemporary and allowed her to explore such themes such as the drug trade, surrogacy, terrorism, animals rights, cosmetic surgery and sexual violence.

Then in 2000 an extended visit to Florence rekindled her first love: History. The novels which followed—The Birth of Venus (2003), In the Company of the Courtesan (2006), and Sacred Hearts (2009) were extensively researched historical explorations of what it was like to be a woman within the Italian Renaissance. The trilogy looked at marriage, the culture of courtesans and the life of cloistered nuns. They were all international best sellers and were translated into over 30 languages.

Her 2013 novel Blood & Beauty centers on a depiction of Italy's Borgia dynasty. It sets out to offer a historically accurate vision of a family who have been much maligned by history. Dunant states in her afterword that she plans to write a second, concluding novel, about the family. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 9/22/2013.)

Book Reviews
In Blood & Beauty, Dunant follows the path set by Hilary Mantel with Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. Just as Mantel humanized and, to an extent, rehabilitated the brilliant, villainous Thomas Cromwell and the court of Henry VIII, Dunant transforms the blackhearted Borgias and the conniving courtiers and cardinals of Renaissance Europe into fully rounded characters, brimming with life and lust.... Dunant illuminates the darkened narrative of the Borgia record, reviving stained glass with fresh light, refreshing the brilliance of the gold and blue panes history has marred without dulling the blood-red that glows everywhere around them.”
Liesl Schillinger - New York Times Book Review
 

[Dunant’s] depiction of passionate people obsessed by the idea of a dynasty that will outlive them is not only intelligent and restrained but also lit by an affecting streak of lyricism. . . . Like Hilary Mantel with her Cromwell trilogy, Dunant has scaled new heights by refashioning mythic figures according to contemporary literary taste. This intellectually satisfying historical saga, which offers blood and beauty certainly, but brains too, is surely the best thing she has done to date.”
Miami Herald
 

Hugely enjoyable....an old-fashioned rollercoaster of a story.... [Dunant] triumphs, like all good novelists...in a deft, shrewd, precise use of killer detail.
Guardian (UK)
 

[Dunant] is in her element.... She brings fifteenth-century Italian cities vividly alive.... [Blood & Beauty] is an intelligent and passionate book that will no doubt thrill Borgia-lovers.”
Sunday Times (UK)
 

British author Sarah Dunant is the reigning queen of the historical novel set in Renaissance Italy.... This novel will be most rewarding for those with a keen taste for history and a willingness to stick with a lengthy story with no real heroes but plenty of fascinating and really bad behavior.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
 

Another achievement for Dunant is her ability to re-imagine history. Although the Borgias are often called the most notorious family in Italian Renaissance . . . Dunant manages to show different facets of their personalities. If history has left some blanks in this regard, Dunant fills them. The members of this close-knit family emerge as dynamic characters, flawed but sympathetic, filled with fear and longing, and believable.”
Seattle Times


A brilliant portrait of a family whose blood runs ‘thick with ambition and determination’ . . . The Machiavellian atmosphere—hedonism, lust, political intrigue—is magnetic. With so much drama, readers won’t want the era of Borgia rule to end. (Four stars.)"
People


Perfect for readers who love danger, romance and lots of palace intrigue, Blood & Beauty is a triumph on an epic scale. Dunant takes us deep into this gorgeous but often deadly world, and we never want to leave.
BookPage


[A] highly dramatic period in papal, Italian, and even European history as the Borgia family—the pope and his bastard children, two sons and one daughter, unhidden as such—extend their influence well beyond the confines of ecclesiastical matters.... For those who find Hilary Mantel’s brilliant Tudor novels too deep and demanding, Dunant offers less rigorous, more comfortable historical fiction. —Brad Hooper
Booklist


(Starred review.) The big, bad Borgia dynasty undergoes modern reconsideration in [Sarah Dunant’s] epic new biofiction.... Dunant’s biggest and best work to date, this intelligently readable account of formative events and monster players has Hilary Mantel–era quality best-seller stamped all over it.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. Discuss the novel’s title, Blood and Beauty. Why do you think the author selected this title?

2. Sarah Dunant has trained as a historian and says that it is very important for her to get the facts right for the story to work. When you are reading the novel does it matter to you one way or another if it is “true” to history? Or is the fact that it is a good story more important?

3. How much do you think Lucrezia changes from the beginning of the novel to the end? Do you think she ultimately lost her love for—and her faith in—her family? Do you feel she truly found herself by the end of the book?

4. Lucrezia and Cesare have a very fraught relationship. At one point, Cesare comments: “[Lucrezia] is struggling to hate me as much as she loves me.” (322) Do you believe there is ever a time when they truly hate each other? Do you think Cesare acts out of love for Lucrezia—that he actually believes he is serving her best interests—or that he uses loving her as an excuse to carry out his own agenda? Do you think he might’ve been a better politicial if he could’ve let his feelings for her go?

5. Do you believe it’s true that in the Borgia world, kindness was equated with weakness? Why or why not?

6. Michelotto, Cesare’s trusted guard, is one of the most enigmatic characters in the book. He happily kills on command, but reaps no clearly visible benefit. What do you think his motivation was? Do you think he simply enjoyed being a part of each move on Cesare’s chessboard?

7. There are various examples of marriage, romance and sexual relationships in this novel. Based on your reading, what do you make of the attitudes about marriage during this time? What about attitudes regarding fidelity, sex and love? Do you think a woman’s main source of power at this time came from how well she could manipulate her marriage (or sexual relationship) to her own advantage?

8. At one point Cesare says to Jofre, “But remember. You have to know when to step out of the way, before you sink the dagger into the bull’s neck.” (214) This is a very interesting statement, given that the bull is the Borgia family symbol. Do you think in some ways, Cesare was acting against his family members (especially his father) under the guise of furthering the Borgia name? That not being his father’s favored child made him wish to take revenge as much as it made him want to win approval?

9. Do you believe it was Cesare who arranged for Juan’s death? Why or why not?

10. Sancia and Lucrezia were both in somewhat similar situations (thrust into marriages based foremost on the political advantages the matches offered their families), yet their reactions to their circumstances were quite different. Do you think this strengthens or weakens their bond? Consider also that both women fell for the other’s brother in your discussion.

11. In your opinion, who was the true master in the political maneuverings of the Borgia family, Rodrigo or Cesare? Why?

12. How do you think each member of the Borgia family viewed God? For a family whose power came from the Church, were you surprised by their seeming lack of piety? Or do you think they truly believed God was behind them in their goal to unite Italy under their banner?

13. What did you think of the conclusion of the novel? Did it turn out as you expected? Were you satisfied?

14. At the close of the novel, Burchard reflects, “ ‘The Pope ran from window to window to see her. Because he misses his daughter so.’ That is what those who saw it will say about the moment . . .” (500) Do you think that much of what we consider historical fact has been shaped by impressions, by gossip, by what people believed—and said—about a particular moment, rather than what was actually true? If so, how accurate do you think our image of the Borgia family is today? And how do you feel differently having read the novel?

15. There has been a great deal written about the Borgias, not to mention television shows, movies and even video games centered around them. What do you think is so fascinating about this particular family and the era in which they lived? Was there anything in the book that surprised you?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West
Hampton Sides, 2006
Knopf Doubleday
624 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781400031108


Summary
In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route to invade and occupy the Western territories claimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology of “Manifest Destiny,” this land grab would lead to a decades-long battle between the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistant rulers of a huge swath of mountainous desert wilderness.

In Blood and Thunder, Hampton Sides gives us a magnificent history of the American conquest of the West. At the center of this sweeping tale is Kit Carson, the trapper, scout, and soldier whose adventures made him a legend. Sides shows us how this illiterate mountain man understood and respected the Western tribes better than any other American, yet willingly followed orders that would ultimately devastate the Navajo nation.

Rich in detail and spanning more than three decades, this is an essential addition to our understanding of how the West was really won. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio 
• Birth—1962 
• Where—Memphis, Tennessee, USA
• Education—B.A., Yale University
• Awards—PEN-USA for Nonfiction
• Currently—Santa Fe, New Mexico

Hampton Sides is an American historian and journalist. He is the author of Hellhound on His Trail, Ghost Soldiers, Blood and Thunder, and other bestselling works of narrative history and literary non-fiction.

Sides is editor-at-large for Outside magazine and has written for such periodicals as National Geographic, The New Yorker, Esquire, Men's Journal, and the Washington Post. His magazine work, collected in numerous published anthologies, has been twice nominated for National Magazine Awards for feature writing.

Ghost Soldiers (2001), a World War II narrative about the rescue of Bataan Death March survivors, has sold slightly over a million copies worldwide and has been translated into a dozen foreign languages. Esquire called the book "the greatest World War II story never told." The book was the subject of documentaries on PBS and The History Channel, and was the basis for the 2005 Miramax film, The Great Raid. Ghost Soldiers won the 2002 PEN USA Award for non-fiction. The book's success led Sides to create The Ghost Soldiers Endowment Fund, a non-profit foundation dedicated to preserving the memory of the sacrifices made by Bataan and Corregidor veterans by funding relevant archives, museums, and memorials.

Sides' Blood and Thunder (2006) focuses on the life and times of controversial frontiersman Kit Carson, and his role in the conquest of the American West. A critic for the Los Angeles Times described Blood and Thunder as "stunning, haunting, and lyrical," while the Washington Post called it "riveting, monumental...authoritative and masterfully told." Blood and Thunder was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2006 by Time magazine, and was the subject of a major documentary on the PBS program American Experience.

Hellhound on His Trail (2010) is about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the largest manhunt in American history to capture James Earl Ray, who pled guilty in 1969 and served the rest of his life in prison. Sides, who is a native of Memphis, is the first historian to make use of a new digital archive in Memphis, called the B. Venson Hughes Collection, which contains more than 20,000 documents and photos, many of them rare or never before published. Sides’ research forms much of the basis for PBS’s documentary "Roads to Memphis" which originally aired May 3, 2010, on the award-winning program, American Experience.

Sides has appeared as a guest on such national broadcasts as American Experience, the Today Show, Book TV, History Channel, NPR's Fresh Air, CNN, CBS Sunday Morning, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Colbert Report, Imus in the Morning, and NPR's All Things Considered.

A native of Memphis with a BA in history from Yale, Sides lives in Santa Fe with his wife Anne Goodwin Sides, a journalist and former NPR editor. They have three sons. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)

Book Reviews
Like a Cinemascope western, Blood and Thunder abounds in colorful characters, bristles with incident and ravishes the eye with long, lingering pan shots of the great Southwest…as the title suggests, [it] resounds with war whoops, rifle fire and hoofbeats. Many scalps are taken, by both sides, and Carson dies on cue, with a jaunty farewell on his lips. In other words, the story always moves. In this case, that may be enough.
William Grimes - New York Times

The truth of history is often fickle and difficult to determine, and Sides demonstrates his awareness of this with a riveting narrative focus. Like the authors of many other recent works of popular history, Sides dispenses with footnotes but offers an exhaustive bibliography that underscores the scope of this monumental undertaking. Not only does Blood and Thunder capture a pivotal moment in U.S. history in marvelous detail, it is also authoritative and masterfully told.
Jeffrey Lent - Washington Post

Although delivering little in the way of new information, Sides, an Outside magazine editor-at-large and bestselling author (Ghost Soldiers), eloquently paints the landscape and history of the 19th-century Southwest, combining Larry McMurtry's lyricism with the historian's attachment to facts. Inevitably, Sides's main focus is the virtual decimation of the Navajo nation from the 1820s to the late 1860s. Sides depicts the complex role of whites in the subjugation of the Navajos through his portrait of Kit Carson an illiterate trapper, soldier and scout who knew the Native Americans intimately, married two of them and, without blinking, participated in the Indians' slaughter. Books about Carson have been numerous, but Sides is better than most Carson biographers in setting his exploits against a larger backdrop: the unstoppable idea of manifest destiny. Of course, as counterpoint to the progress of Carson and other whites, Sides details the fierce but doomed defense mounted by the Navajos over long decades. This culminated in their final, desperate "stand" during 1863 at Canyon de Chelly, more than a decade after a contingent of federal troops operating under a commander whose last name of "Washington" seems ironic in this context killed their great leader, Narbona.
Publishers Weekly

Two related but not interdependent epic themes run through this book: the wresting of the Southwest and California away from Mexico to make them a part of the United States and efforts by the Navajo to protect their territory from inroads by Mexico and the United States. Outside magazine editor Sides (Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission) does not give readers much guidance as to which is the principal theme or what his exact intent is here. It appears that he began with the Navajo resistance and kept adding interesting stories as he came upon them, without considering how they related to the dual theme. But he does know how to tell a good story, drawing on a wide variety of published sources. Academic libraries already have analytical works that cover all these topics. However, little has been written for the general reader on either theme, so this book fills that gap and will be useful for public libraries. —Stephen H. Peters, Northern Michigan Univ. Lib., Marquette
Library Journal

Kit Carson versus the Indians-and everyone against everyone else in the Hobbesian world of the newly conquered American West. Whereas Bernard De Voto, Wallace Stegner and latter-day historian David Roberts were and are concerned with the ideas and social trends behind historical facts, this author's chronicle mostly blends just-so stories with human-interest sketches: Americans stream west into Spanish-speaking lands as James Polk ("possibly the most effective president in American history-and likely the least corrupt") urges them to empire; the Navajo people, a case study in the terrible collision of nations, fight well even though they are culturally indisposed to draw blood; and few in the war between Mexico and the United States are inclined to play by the rules, leading to such little-sung moments as the Battle of San Pasqual, which should make no gringo jingoist proud. Sides (Ghost Soldiers, 2001, etc.) has studied the historical literature diligently and turned up some engrossing tales, from the fate of mountain man Bill Williams to the exploration of the Great Basin to the circumstances of Carson's first marriage; if the details of native customs and the wealth of future senators are sometimes repetitive, his attention to what motivates people to act is refreshing, and Sides has a fine way of complicating his heroes and villains so that they emerge as flawed humans rather than misty figures of legend. And the flaws are endless, as with one fellow, for whom more than a few points on the map are named, who writes back to Washington following the death of a Navajo leader, "I very much regret that I had not procured Narbona's cranium, as I think he had the finest head I ever saw on an Indian."Popular history in the Alvin Josephy vein. Sides works material well-known to historians, but less so to general readers, into an unchallenging but informative narrative.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions 
1. Were you familiar with the Navajo wars before reading Blood and Thunder? How do the book’s historical details compare with what you previously believed about the West?

2. The contradictions in Kit Carson’s personality make him an alluring figure. How was Carson able to embrace so many aspects of Native American culture, even marrying two Indian women, but nonetheless lead campaigns that crippled them? To whom (or what) was he most loyal?

3. What was John Fremont’s essential quest in exploring the West? What spurs all explorers to pursue risky journeys?

4. What do the biographical details in chapter six indicate about James K. Polk? What might have stoked his determination to claim the West? How did he manage to keep military leaders motivated, despite Polk’s ambiguous leadership style?

5. Is American literature’s love of the “noble savage,” inspired by characters such as Fremont and his pathfinder Carson (chapter nine), a thing of the past? Who are the heroes in new fiction of the twenty-first century?

6. How did the post-colonial unrest in Mexico affect U.S. attempts to purchase and conquer the West? What racial hierarchies were in place among Hispanic and Indian populations there? What is the current legacy of these conflicts?

7. Is the underlying concept of Manifest Destiny still used to justify violence around the world? What did Carson’s words and actions reveal about his understanding of divine will?

8. What does Carson’s illiteracy, paired with his knowledge of numerous languages, say about him? What distinguishes the power of the written word from the power of the spoken word,as evidenced by Carson’s enthusiasm for an epic poem by Lord Byron? Is a society truly literate if its members are not versed in more than one language?

9. Did the Texas Confederates believe they were different from (or even superior to) the Confederates fighting closer to the Mason-Dixon line? What were the stakes for both sides as the Civil War played out in the West? How did the reasons for this war compare to the reasons behind Native American warfare and raids (such as the Comanche raids on dwindling Pecos resources at the end of chapter seventeen)?

10. Why was Carson able to scorn generalizations and see Native Americans as individuals? What made him resistant to the hubris of men like General Carleton? How would you have responded if you had been a witness to both the death of Navajo chief Narbona (which closes chapter thirty-two) and the brutalization of Ann White (depicted in chapter thirty-five)?

11. In what way was the landscape a “warrior” in Blood and Thunder (as in the Washington Expedition’s encounter with Canyon de Chelly, depicted in chapter thirty-four)? How have various populations perceived the landscape of the West, from ancient populations to modern-day tourists?

12. Discuss the promises that were made to Mexicans and Indians by Americans such as General Kearny. Why did so many of the treaties and pacifist proclamations prove to be hollow? How was this lack of concern for credibility justified?

13. What did Carson seek in a wife? What prevented him from being more involved in the lives of his children? Did his first child, Adaline, fare better or worse than his other children, who were raised with less structure?

14. How did you react to the scorched-earth tactics that forced the Navajos to begin their doomed migration? How would you categorize these tactics of war? Why has the Navajos’ Long Walk, until now, been less well-known than the Cherokees’ Trail of Tears?

15. The book’s title is derived from the rousing “blood-and-thunder” pulp novels that made Kit Carson a caricature. Were fictionalized versions of his life harmful? Is exaggerated storytelling a necessary component of most cultures? Why have some Native Americans rejected historical and linguistic evidence for their global migrations, preferring to maintain dramatic myths instead?

16. Why did Kit Carson die in poverty? What does it say about Carson that his estate comprised considerable debt–owed to him by others? What are the appropriate means of measuring a life’s accomplishments?

17. What was the ultimate fallout of the history contained in Blood and Thunder? Where do Indian and American identities now stand in response to each other?

18. How would Kit Carson advise contemporary America on diplomacy and fighting terrorism? How did he balance the need to win allies with the need to be perceived as a fearsome warrior?

19. How did Kit Carson’s ideas about American Indians evolve over the course of his life?

20. Do Americans still have an emotional investment in believing that the “winning” of the West was a glorious, even heroic endeavor? How does the real story of Western conquest differ from the one we were taught in grade school?

21. During its first war of foreign aggression, the United States seized many thousands of square miles of territory from Mexico. How should this historical fact shape the current debate over Mexican immigration–especially considering that the states most keenly affected by the immigration controversy (California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas) are the very states the United States appropriated from Mexico?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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Blood Line 
John J. Davis, 2014
Simon & Winter
251 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780990314417


Summary
If your family is a target, you have to be a weapon.

A Granger Spy Novel, Blood Line, is a high-voltage debut spy thriller and the first in a series about a family with killer talents. A father who is a former one-man kill squad for the CIA, a mother who is a past assassin for the Mossad, and a daughter coveted by both agencies. The Grangers are a blood-loyal clan—it’s how they stay alive.
 
When a simple home invasion turns out to be not so simple, Ron Granger must put aside his quiet rural life and return to the Central Intelligence Agency to take on international arms dealers.
 
Aided by his beautiful wife, Valerie, and resourceful teen daughter, Leecy, Ron must quickly decide who to believe—the calculating opportunists, shrewd criminals, or the power-hungry rival intelligence agencies. Any ally could be fatal—all of them are racing to possess the technological breakthrough that will forever change the face of modern warfare. But when Leecy is kidnapped, Ron and Val must choose between the mission and a rescue.
 
Facing an impossible decision, with time running out, Ron only knows one thing:  When you can't trust anyone else, trust your family.

Author Bio
John J. Davis is the author of the Granger Spy Novel series, including Blood Line (2014)and  Bloody Truth, (Spring 2015).
 
Davis grew up in the Southeastern US and after university traveled extensively in North America during his career as a regional sales rep and independent broker for leaders in the transportation, shipping and pharma industries. His years sitting in lobbies and airports honed his skill for human observation and fed his talent for writing fast-paced, character-driven stories.
 
His inspiration for the Granger family-of-spies comes from the people he has known and his family roots in the Carolinas—the extraordinarily strong and gentle women and men, whose lives are defined by the love, trust and respect for family. Currently at work on the third Granger Spy Novel and a screenplay, Davis lives near Atlanta with his wife, daughter and two dogs.

Visit the author's website.
Follow John Davis on Facebook.

Book Reviews
Blood Line is compelling, with accelerating pace, surprising twists and a spectacular ending—readers will be eager for the sequel, coming soon!
Alan Rinzler, Consulting Editor


A story that gets deeper and more complex as you read…an original thriller.
Goodreads Review
 

This is a family to be reckoned with. Blood Line is non-stop, it holds you right from the first paragraph…well written and impossible to put down. John J. Davis has an immense imagination and I want to read more of his work.|
Goodreads Review
 

Brilliant and riveting book…throwing the reader straight into this dark fantasy. This is one good read…action, suspense, infant history and romance all in one boom!
Goodreads Review
 
 
Detailed, utterly intriguing and electrifying. The story blasts off and just keeps getting better and better. I couldn't put it down.
Goodreads Review
 

The first book in a series of novels about the Granger Family, and the way this book ends guarantees that I'll be picking up a copy of the next book in the series as soon as it's released!
Goodreads Review
         

…absolutely marvelous escapism a true beach read. With action and intrigue, there is a little stuff for the conspiracy theorist in us all.  I look forward to the next in the series.
Goodreads Review


Davis sets a solid foundation for more adventures. Sharply written, starring characters readers will be happy to meet again.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. How would you describe the Granger family dynamic? How would you describe each character—Ron, Valerie & Leecy? Do you think Ron and Valerie have a close relationship?

2. Who do you feel is the main character in Blood Line? Which character do you relate to the most?

3. If you were Leecy's parents, would you have waited to tell her the truth about her family and family history? Why or why not? Would you make the same choice Leecy made to follow in her parent's footsteps?

4. Normal marriage partners and families don't reveal every last detail; they have surprise parties and events, for example. How would the Granger's deal with this side of family life?

5. Do you have a favorite quote or scene from the book?

6. This book is the start of a series, so it was necessary to include a lot of background information. Do you feel the background gave you a better understanding of the family?

7. John wanted the women in the book—Valerie, Leecy and Wakefield—to come across as strong, independent women. Did you get a sense of this underlying theme throughout the book? What scenes really cemented in your head their strength?

8. The second novel will launch in the spring of 2015. What do you think the Grangers should do next?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)

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The Blood of Flowers 
Anita Amirrezvani, 2007
Little, Brown & Co.
378 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316065771


Summary
At the age of fourteen, a young woman in 17th-century Persia believes she will be married within the year. But when her beloved father dies, collapsing in the field where he works with the other men from their village, there is no hope for a dowry. Alone and penniless, she and her grieving mother are forced to sell the brilliant turquoise rug the young woman has woven,meant, of course, for her married life, to pay for their journey to Isfahan.

There they will work as servants for her uncle Gostaham, a rich rug designer in the court of the Shah, and be lorded over by Gostaham's wife. Despite her lowly station, the young woman blossoms as a brilliant weaver of carpets, a rarity in a craft dominated by men.

But while her artistic gift flourishes, her prospects for a happy marriage grow dim. Forced into a secret marriage with a man who will never take her as his first wife, the young woman is faced with a daunting decision: forsake her own dignity, or risk everything she has in an effort to maintain it.

Amirrezvani infuses her story with lush detail, brilliantly bringing to life the sights sounds and life of 17th-century Isfahan: The dazzling architecture; the exotic Persian foods; the breathtakingly beautiful rugs. A sweeping love story, a powerful coming-of-age story, and a luminous portrait of a city, this is a universal tale of one woman's struggle to live a life of her choosing. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—November 13, 1961
• Where—Tehran, Iran
• Raised—San Francisco, California, USA
• Education—B.A., University of California-Berkeley; M.F.A,
   San Francisco State University
• Currently—lives in San Francisco


Born in Tehran, Anita Amirrezvani was raised by her mother in San Francisco following her parent's divorce. By the time she was 13, she was visiting Iran to spend time with her father and his side of her family—complete with 11 cousins and two young half-brothers.

While visiting Tehran in 1979, the country became embroiled in the Islamic Revolution; her father, deciding the country was too dangerous, packed up his family, including Anita, and left the country, for what they hoped would be a short time. After two years at Vassar, Amirrezvani transferred to Berkeley in California, attaining her B.A. in English. After college, Amirrezvani worked as a journalist, spending 10 years as a dance critics and arts writer for two newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area. (From the publishers.)

More
Her own words:

It took me about five years to get to the end of the first draft, and I didn’t tell anyone I was working on a novel until then. As part of my research, I spent a lot of time reading about Iranian history and literature in university library stacks. I also asked my father and stepmother to take me to Isfahan on two separate occasions in order to be able to describe the settings in my novel. One of my fondest memories is sharing hot tea and cookies with them at a teahouse on one of Isfahan’s historic bridges while watching the river rush by. (From the author's website.)

Book Reviews
Anita Amirrezvani's first novel is about the costs and consolations of beauty, and is itself so picturesque that it often seems a striking variation on its own theme…The narrator recounts stories of women and children who spend years making knots until their limbs are twisted and their eyes worn out. "All our labors were in service of beauty," she muses, "but sometimes it seemed as if every thread in a carpet had been dipped in the blood of flowers." Is this art worth such sacrifice? Interestingly, the author, who is a former dance critic, argues most effectively for art's sake not through plot or character but through a series of artful tableaux: women congregating in a public bath; merchants haggling in the city's great bazaar; teeming slums and serene pleasure palaces; "turquoise and lemon domes basking in the morning light." Enduring and dynamic, these living pictures turn a conventional historical novel into a more rarefied object, like a fine old carpet.
Donna Rifkind - Washington Post


Anita Amirrezvani has written a sensuous and transporting first novel filled with the colors, tastes and fragrances of life in seventeenth-century Isfahan...Amirrezvani clearly knows and loves the ways of old Iran, and brings them to life with the cadences of a skilled story-spinner.
Geraldine Brooks


In Iranian-American Amirrezvani's lushly orchestrated debut, a comet signals misfortune to the remote 17th-century Persian village where the nameless narrator lives modestly but happily with her parents, both of whom expect to see the 14-year-old married within the year. Her fascination with rug making is a pastime they indulge only for the interim, but her father's untimely death prompts the girl to travel with her mother to the city of Isfahan, where the two live as servants in the opulent home of an uncle—a wealthy rug maker to the Shah. The only marriage proposal now in the offing is a three-month renewable contract with the son of a horse trader. Teetering on poverty and shame, the girl weaves fantasies for her temporary husband's pleasure and exchanges tales with her beleaguered mother until, having mastered the art of making and selling carpets under her uncle's tutelage, she undertakes to free her mother and herself. With journalistic clarity, Amirrezvani describes how to make a carpet knot by knot, and then sell it negotiation by negotiation, guiding readers through workshops and bazaars. Sumptuous imagery and a modern sensibility (despite a preponderance of flowery language and schematic female bonding and male bullying) make this a winning debut.
Publishers Weekly


This first novel by dance critic Amirrezvani is narrated by a nameless teenager whose life in 17th-century Iran is derailed by misfortune following her father's death. With no means of support, she and her mother move to the city of Isfahan to live as servants with relatives. There, despite the obstacle of gender, the young woman learns the art of carpet design. An even greater hurdle is her poverty; dowryless, she is pressured into a sigheh, or temporary marriage, in which the woman offers sexual favors in return for money. The story of the plucky narrator's rocky road toward independence is stirring and surprisingly erotic, as are the folktales narrated by her mother. The way these twin narrative strands eventually converge is especially satisfying. While some of the characters aren't as developed as a reader might desire (especially Fereydoon, the "temporary" husband) and the story doesn't always feel that it takes place 400 years ago, the main character is as complex and interesting as the patterns she weaves. Recommended for all libraries.
Evelyn Beck - Library Journal


Long ago, in distant Iran, a poor village girl with a gift for carpet-knotting suffered many setbacks on her journey to womanhood and self-fulfillment. Stories-within-the-story and richly colored glimpses of Isfahan society, both high and low, as well as much detail on the business of designing and creating carpets, swell the pages of Amirrezvani's novel, a devoted tale of ill fate as portended by a passing comet. The nameless teenage heroine, a favored only child in a tiny community, suddenly loses her father and then her dowry, forcing her to relocate, along with her mother, to the city, to live under the protection of a relative, Gostaham, who works as a master in the Shah's carpet-making workshop and permits his niece to watch and learn while he works, even though, as a female, she will never be able to take up a job alongside men. She catches the eye of Fereydoon, a wealthy horse-trader's son, but being too lowly to become his formal wife, is forced instead to accept a sigheh-a secret, three-month, renewable contract with him. Fereydoon is an indifferent lover until she learns to please him, but then the situation darkens when he takes for his proper wife her closest friend. The headstrong heroine, devoid of love, friendship and true security, decides to end the sigheh, but her rashness results in her and her mother's expulsion onto the streets. Hunger, illness and beggary follow, but the girl learns wisdom and responsibility, regains Gostaham's favor, becomes carpet-maker (with her own all-female workshop) to the Shah's harem and looks forward to finding another husband of her own choosing. A lavishly detailed debut, in which some of the simple values of a folktale are woven together with richer (and more modern) women-centered life lessons.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions 
1. What do you think is the significance of the novel's title? How does it work metaphorically, and in what ways does it reflect on the narrator and the story itself?

2. How would you describe Anita Amirrezvani's writing style, and what do you think this style contributes to the novel? Did you find anything striking or unusual about the way the story unfolds? Did it remind you of anything you have read before?

3. How much did you know about Iranian history and culture before reading this book? Did anything in the story strike you as completely unlike—or surprisingly reminiscent of—our lives today? What do you think you gain from reading about a period in history in a novel, as opposed to in a nonfictional, historical account?

4. The author decided to leave the narrator anonymous, as is the tradition in many folktales. When, if ever, did you realize that you didn't know the narrator's name? What effect did the anonymity have on you as a reader? Does it matter whether or not we know a character's name?

5. Why do you think the author chose to include a number of Iranian tales throughout the novel? What did these stories add to your understanding of the book and of Iranian culture as a whole? Which stories were the most powerful?

6. Though The Blood of Flowers is set in a time and place that may be very foreign to most readers, it is a universal story about a girl reclaiming her life and coming into her own. In what ways is this a familiar story? In what ways does this story differ from your own experience or from other coming-of-age novels you have read?

7. The Blood of Flowers explores many different relationships in the narrator's life—with her mother, her father, her uncle, her friend, and her husband, to name a few—all bringing out different sides of the narrator. Which relationship did you find the most compelling? Which did you find the most perplexing?

8. What is the meaning of the final tale, and why do you think the author chose to end the novel with this one? Is this the future you see for the narrator?

9. What would you say rug-making represents to the narrator aside from monetary benefit? What does the art of rug-making represent in the story itself?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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