O Caledonia, by Elspeth Barker, takes you into the mind and heart of a girl growing up in the wilds of Scotland long ago. If a poem could leap from the page and come to life – a swirl of…
Fiction
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My British friend observing my state of mind encouraged me to hurkle durkle this weekend. I took her excellent advice on Saturday morning. I drowsed with the pups, in and out of dreamland, in and out of peaceful music –…
The First Gentleman, by Bill Clinton and James Patterson, imagines a woman we recognize in the White House. She’s tough and savvy, with a sharp tongue and a sharper mind. Her husband, the First Gentleman, is a charmer who helps…
Sybil Van Antwerp – our heroine – is the kind of neighbor you might like, or might not. She’s smart, retired, divorced, and keeps to herself. When her past comes calling – stalking, really – she can’t ignore it this…
I thought I had possibly read enough novels about World War II. I stand corrected. One of my book clubs selected The Director, by Daniel Kehlmann – originally published in German in 2023, and in English translation in 2025 –…
Seems like everyone I know is buzzing about Theo of Golden by Allen Levi or The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. They’re on my list! But today, I’d love to tell you about a stirring novel I recently read with a…
We don’t really know anyone else’s heart or mind. Or what they might be capable of. We know this – right? – if we’ve lived long enough. Ian McEwan’s new novel What We Can Know conveys this truth. The joy…
The language is not hard to understand – not difficult at all – the ground says I will catch you if you – when you – fall. The language is not hard to understand – not difficult at all –…
“Oh, Mary!” begins at a fever pitch – loud, over the top, brassy – and stays that way. Imagine Mary Todd Lincoln as a frustrated cabaret dancer and her husband as a frustrated gay man, each part played to comic…