Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too!
Great reads for adults and children!
The Living and the Lost by Ellen Feldman on BookBub. From the author of Paris Never Leaves You, Ellen Feldman’s The Living and the Lost is a gripping story of a young German Jewish woman who returns to Allied Occupied Berlin from America to face the past and unexpected future “A deeply satisfying…
— Read on www.bookbub.com/books/the-living-and-the-lost-by-ellen-feldman
Another review of this title
Sorry. This could not be forwarded to the blog but readers can find it on the Criminal Element site.
#LetsTalkBaby #NetGalley Pub Date 14 Oct 2021
This book offers adults the chance to encourage their baby’s verbal development by introducing simple sounds. This title begins with some advice for adults about how to help a child’s vocal development. These seem quite sensible and intuitive.
I am not a speech pathologist so cannot vouch for how well this book will do its job. I can say that it has adorable illustrations, repetition and simple sounds.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.
A reading from The Heron’s Cry at Braunton Great Marsh, where part of the book is set.
New York Times bestselling author Ann Cleeves returns with The Heron…
— Read on m.youtube.com/watch
#TheBookLoversGuidetoLondon #NetGalley Pub Date 30 Nov 2021
If ever a book was written that could combine two of my favorites, London and books, this is surely it! This title can be enjoyed by those in London or by armchair travelers. Divided by geographic areas, as for example, Central London or West London, readers can organize their read or walk to spend time where they most wish. The end of the book lists all of the writing included in the book and also contains a bibliography.
I was drawn to so many areas in my reading. I went to Soho, Charing Cross, Hampstead Heath, Belgravia and many more. Just a few of the authors about whom I read were Dickens, Virginia Woolf, and Sylvia Plath. There are many others. The reader’s fictional journey is enhanced by the many photographs that are part of this book.
So, book lovers, take a look when this one comes out. It is a fun read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.
#TheHeronsCry #NetGalley
The Heron’s Cry is the second novel in the series featuring Matthew Venn. It follows on The Long Call. In that first novel, readers learn Matthew’s history. He was raised in a strict religious group where his sexual orientation and desire to work in the police force were in conflict with the values of those around him. Doing what was right for him has taken something out of Matthew. Luckily, his husband Jonathan offers support and love along with a different way of looking at the world.
Matthew’s current case takes place in a small community. There are several deaths. How are they connected? How will those around the victims cope and live their lives from this point on? Those characters are farmers, artists, pub owners and others with intersecting lives.
The first victim is Nigel Yeo. Was his death a personal vendetta or was it related to work that he was doing for an organization called Patients Together? How is the death of an artist related to this? And what about the cause of death of a third victim?
What Ann Cleeves does well:
-She creates a strong sense of place with her descriptions of the book’s settings.
-She forms a world filled with characters whose lives collide. All of these characters come alive. There are those who are present in this novel and also the recurring police characters and Matthew’s mother and husband. I enjoyed spending time with them.
-She raises an important social issue but it may require a trigger warning for some readers as the subject relates to suicide.
More than halfway into the novel, Matthew and Jonathan (his husband) see a heron. Watch for this and how Jonathan connects that bird to Matthew and his way of looking at the world. It seemed quite apt.
I was delighted to receive this ARC from NetGalley. I have read all of the Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez novels by this author and recommend them highly. When Ms. Cleeves announced that there would be no more Perez novels, I knew that I would miss them. The Matthew Venn novels are just a scintilla less engaging to me but I do recommend them. I hope that before long there will be a third Matthew Venn story.
Four stars
The Living and the Lost, the new novel by Ellen Feldman, follows on last year’s excellent title, Paris Never Leaves You. Each of these books is about the resonance that WWII has had for its’ characters. I highly recommend both.
This novel offers a vivid sense of place, object, plot and character. In particular, watch as protagonist Millie goes to the train station in Berlin on a number of occasions. In terms of objects, consider the breakfront. Think of what the word break means; it can be something shattering and a front can be the face that is shown to the world. What is the importance of this article of furniture in the novel? What do readers learn about protagonist Millie through it?
Millie grew up in Germany, made it to the U.S. (at great cost) and returns to Berlin to work post war. In today’s words, readers will identify Millie as having PTSD. This makes her life challenging. Millie’s brother David is her family. In what ways are they the same? Different?
Another important character is Harry. Millie works for him and readers watch as they get to know him. Where will their paths converge? What will their contact offer to each of them?
Throughout the novel, there are scenes of post war Berlin. Who are the victims other than the obvious ones? Will there ever be progress? Will anyone’s family be found post concentration camp?
What was it like to be a survivor in the U.S. during the war? How was it to know that this critical confrontations was not even fully in the awareness of some of the American Jewish characters? What does it mean to have the burden of surviving when others did not?
Think about the title of this novel, The Living and the Lost. While you may assume safely that you know who the living are,wonder, too, about the lost. To me, they are not only those who are dead but also those who have not found their way (yet) in post-war life.
The Living and the Lost is a complex, thoughtful work. I highly recommend it. It would be an excellent book club choice.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Five stars
Two Women in Rome is the latest novel by Elizabeth Buchan. I have read and enjoyed many of her earlier books.
Two Women in Rome is a dual time line story set, as one would expect from the story’s title, in Italy. In the present, Lottie has recently married Tom and has gotten a job as an archivist. In the past, Nina has led a very complex life that she has had to carefully balance. Her story takes place around the time of Moro’s kidnapping, a rather unsettled time for Italians.
It is difficult to review this book as I don’t want there to be any spoilers. Readers will enjoy the slow burn of the novel as they find out what happened to Nina, a gardener, painter and a person with another job as well. They will also learn that Nina had a forbidden love affair. It is described with a sense of how important that relationship was to her.
In the present, Lottie has access to an archive with many documents relating to Nina. She wants, for many reasons, to understand Nina’s life. As often happens in dual time stories, the two narratives will intersect.
I very much enjoyed spending time with these two women who lived in Rome. I hope that readers will as well.
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 