Linda's profile

The memoirs, November 19, 2009

When aspiring author Harriet Mahoney signs on to write the memoirs of Isabel Krug, whose lover was shot by his wife while they were in flagrante delicto, she's ready for a change, and that's exactly what she gets. Isabel has fled to Cape Cod to escape notoriety, and leads an unconventional life in an unconventional house, with her husband Kostas, a disgraced artist. After a few days, Isabel and Harriet warm to each other, becoming friends as well as collaborators.

What I liked:

A la the Seinfeld television series, IB is essentially a novel about not very much. The central theme is the relationship between two women, one excessively conventional and the other… Read more

Serendipity, November 16, 2009

For recently widowed Bernie Cullen, the arrival of Kate Robinson into her life comes as a blessing. Kate is touring Ireland on her own, trying to soothe her depression over recent losses of her own. Kate is not planning to stay, but the next bus out isn't due for a week. Bernie introduces her to her lace making group, and Kate, much to her surprise, finds her interest stimulated and engaged for the first time in months. Lacemakers is a novel of transformation, in which Kate, Bernie, and company assist each other in coming to terms with the difficulties in their lives. Its plot relies heavily upon coincidence (Kate hasn't done step dancing in years, yet wins the local competition hands… Read more

The illuminated Haggadah, November 13, 2009

People of the Book is not a page turner, a suspense novel, or an adventure story. Author Brooks has taken what little is known about the Sarajevo Haggadah, with a focus on a few tiny artifacts evidently left behind, inadvertently, by some of the people who handled it in the past. The skeleton of the story hangs upon the stabilization of the book by Hanna Heath, a book conservationist working in the 1990's. As she discovers such minutia as a feather, a stain, and an insect wing, the author inserts compelling chapters in which their presence might be explained. It is these chapters, which begin during the second world war and gradually regress to the early medieval period, that make People… Read more