The Broken Teaglass Emily Arsenault
Fresh out of college, Billy Webb becomes an editor for a dictionary publisher in a small town, where he struggles with learning to live as a 'real adult' and enduring his stultifying job. When coworker Mona shares an oddity she finds in the reference citations, the two follow clues to a mystery secreted in the dictionary's archive. Verdict Debut author Arsenault is being compared with Jasper Fforde and Marisha Pessl; while she is less playful than Fforde, she shares his love of wordplay and metafiction. Like Pessl, Arsenault focuses on smart characters who don't realize they are in a mystery until it is almost too late. A good read for anyone who loves puzzles wrapped around a solid story and appealing protagonist.
Library Journal Review; September 2009.
In This Way I Was Saved
Brian DeLeeuw
DeLeeuw's debut novel is a riveting exploration of the dark side of self. Six-year-old Luke is playing in a park when he discovers a new friend, whom he names Daniel. Although no one else can see Daniel, he is not imaginary. He lives with Luke and his unstable mother, Claire, in a luxury apartment in New York. Daniel's existence waxes and wanes, depending on whether Luke needs a companion or is the recipient of his mother's sporadic attention. But after Claire attempts suicide when Luke is a teenager, he allows Daniel to be a stronger presence in his life. Through the end of high school and on into college, Daniel pushes Luke to experiment with drugs and alcohol, to have sex before he's ready, to frighten people, and to cheat and steal. Luke struggles to retain control over his own life while also trying to keep Claire from succumbing to her own doppelganger.
Library Journal Review; June 2009.
Bryant & May on the Loose
Christopher Fowler
Fowler's unique blend of the comic and the grotesque is on full display in his excellent seventh Peculiar Crimes Unit mystery (after 2008's The Victoria Vanishes). With the special police unit shut down, Arthur Bryant is feeling withdrawn and depressed while his partner, John May, is considering PI work. When a former team member stumbles on a beheaded corpse in the heart of London's King's Cross neighborhood, May artfully uses the discovery to gain the PCU another lease on life. He persuades the higher-ups that unsolved gang crimes in the area could threaten the economic benefit anticipated from the 2012 Olympics. Given one week to solve the case, without any official sanction or access to police resources, May pulls Bryant out of his doldrums and reassembles the unit. To May's dismay, his colleague is more interested in reports that a man wearing a stag's head has been seen in the area. The pacing, prose, planting of clues and characterizations are all top-notch.
Publishers Weekly Review; August 2009.
Emily’s Ghost
Denise Giardina
William Weightman's arrival in Haworth to serve as curate in Patrick Bronte's parish thrusts him into the life of the Bronte family as well as the broader community. Charlotte considers Weightman a potential husband whose clerical advancement could take them away from the district's poverty. However, his determination to work with the poor springs from both spiritual and political commitment. Slowly, he draws close to another sister, Emily, who shuns drawing-room flirtations in favor of tramping the moors and caring for animals. Yet she can't deny her growing attraction to Weightman. Giardina masterfully weaves biographical facts into the plot, including brother Bramwell's addictions and dissipation, Anne's work as a governess, and Charlotte's flirtations with a married professor. In the end, what engages readers are not these details but the imagined conversations and encounters, the developing romance, and the hope that somehow history might change.
Library Journal Review; June 2009.
It’s Beginning to Hurt
James Lasdun
This accomplished poet, novelist, and story writer's collection packs a devastating punch. Lasdun peels back the facades of middle-aged, middle-class types through their run-ins with cancer, infidelity and loss that lead them to deal with unexpectedly large and often ugly recognitions. The title story is less than three full pages, but generates near-boundless futility and regret as a businessman, having just attended the funeral of a long forgotten former lover, can't help falling back into the old habit of lying to his wife about how he's spent the day. 'The Incalculable Life Gesture' builds to a climax of relief as an elementary school principal, feuding with his sister, follows through a series of tests that indicate he has lymphoma--until a specialist reveals the truth of his ailment. In 'Peter Kahn's Third Wife,' a sales assistant in a jewelry boutique models necklaces for a wealthy wine importer who brings in a series of successive wives-to-be over the years. Jewels of resignation and transformative personal disaster, these stories are written so simply and cleanly that the formidable craft looks effortless.
Publishers Weekly Review; June 2006.
The Calligrapher’s Daughter
Eugenia Kim
This debut novel, inspired by the life of the author's Korean mother, is a beautiful, deliberate and satisfying story spanning 30 years of Korean history. The tradition-bound aristocratic calligrapher Han refuses to name his daughter because she is born just as the Japanese occupy Korea early in the 20th century. When Han finds a husband for Najin (nicknamed after her mother's birthplace) at 14, her mother objects and instead sends her to the court of the doomed royal Yi family to learn refinement. Najin goes to college and becomes a teacher, proving herself not only as a scholar but as a patriot and humanitarian. She returns home to marry, but her new husband goes without her to study in America when she is denied a visa. As the Japanese systematically obliterate ancient Korean culture and the political climate worsens, so do Najin's fortunes. Her family is reduced to poverty, their home is seized and Najin is imprisoned as a spy while WWII escalates. The author writes at a languorous pace, choosing not to sully her elegant pages with raw brutality, but the key to the story is Korea's monumental suffering at the hands of the Japanese.
Publishers Weekly Review; June 2009.
A Long Long Time Ago & Essentially True
Brigid Pasulka
Pasulka's delightful debut braids together two tales of old and new Poland. The old is the fairy tale love story of the Pigeon, a young man so entranced by village beauty Anielica that he builds her family a house to prove his devotion. When war comes to Poland, the Pigeon works for the resistance, guarding the town and his Jewish sister-in-law with creativity and bravery. After the war, he and Anielica get engaged and the Pigeon brings his family to Krakow, but the fabled promises of the golden city and the glories of communism prove hollow. The new tale is about Anielica and the Pigeon's granddaughter, Beata, whose plainness has earned her the nickname Baba Yaga. Now living in a much-changed Krakow, Beata is a bar girl with no hopes of love or plans for the future. When tragedy strikes and Beata uncovers family secrets, she brings together the old and new to create her own bright future. Pasulka creates a world that's magical despite the absence of magical happenings, and where Poland's history is bound up in one family's story.
Publishers Weekly Review; April 2009.
The Girl with Glass Feet
Ali Shaw
Combining magic realism, the conventions of a romance novel, and a British sense of practicality, this charming first novel creates a new fable. After visiting a family friend on a remote island, Ida Maclaird finds herself strangely and literally turning to glass. When she returns to try and find the mysterious scientist who may have an answer, she stumbles on old love triangles and Midas, a lonely young man trying to find a way to heal his own mysterious pains. As Ida and Midas try to unravel mysteries from the past generations, they also try to unravel the mystery of Ida's affliction and slowly find a connection to each other.
Booklist Review; October 2009
Library Journal Review; September 2009.
In This Way I Was SavedBrian DeLeeuw
DeLeeuw's debut novel is a riveting exploration of the dark side of self. Six-year-old Luke is playing in a park when he discovers a new friend, whom he names Daniel. Although no one else can see Daniel, he is not imaginary. He lives with Luke and his unstable mother, Claire, in a luxury apartment in New York. Daniel's existence waxes and wanes, depending on whether Luke needs a companion or is the recipient of his mother's sporadic attention. But after Claire attempts suicide when Luke is a teenager, he allows Daniel to be a stronger presence in his life. Through the end of high school and on into college, Daniel pushes Luke to experiment with drugs and alcohol, to have sex before he's ready, to frighten people, and to cheat and steal. Luke struggles to retain control over his own life while also trying to keep Claire from succumbing to her own doppelganger.
Library Journal Review; June 2009.
Bryant & May on the LooseChristopher Fowler
Fowler's unique blend of the comic and the grotesque is on full display in his excellent seventh Peculiar Crimes Unit mystery (after 2008's The Victoria Vanishes). With the special police unit shut down, Arthur Bryant is feeling withdrawn and depressed while his partner, John May, is considering PI work. When a former team member stumbles on a beheaded corpse in the heart of London's King's Cross neighborhood, May artfully uses the discovery to gain the PCU another lease on life. He persuades the higher-ups that unsolved gang crimes in the area could threaten the economic benefit anticipated from the 2012 Olympics. Given one week to solve the case, without any official sanction or access to police resources, May pulls Bryant out of his doldrums and reassembles the unit. To May's dismay, his colleague is more interested in reports that a man wearing a stag's head has been seen in the area. The pacing, prose, planting of clues and characterizations are all top-notch.
Publishers Weekly Review; August 2009.
Emily’s GhostDenise Giardina
William Weightman's arrival in Haworth to serve as curate in Patrick Bronte's parish thrusts him into the life of the Bronte family as well as the broader community. Charlotte considers Weightman a potential husband whose clerical advancement could take them away from the district's poverty. However, his determination to work with the poor springs from both spiritual and political commitment. Slowly, he draws close to another sister, Emily, who shuns drawing-room flirtations in favor of tramping the moors and caring for animals. Yet she can't deny her growing attraction to Weightman. Giardina masterfully weaves biographical facts into the plot, including brother Bramwell's addictions and dissipation, Anne's work as a governess, and Charlotte's flirtations with a married professor. In the end, what engages readers are not these details but the imagined conversations and encounters, the developing romance, and the hope that somehow history might change.
Library Journal Review; June 2009.
It’s Beginning to HurtJames Lasdun
This accomplished poet, novelist, and story writer's collection packs a devastating punch. Lasdun peels back the facades of middle-aged, middle-class types through their run-ins with cancer, infidelity and loss that lead them to deal with unexpectedly large and often ugly recognitions. The title story is less than three full pages, but generates near-boundless futility and regret as a businessman, having just attended the funeral of a long forgotten former lover, can't help falling back into the old habit of lying to his wife about how he's spent the day. 'The Incalculable Life Gesture' builds to a climax of relief as an elementary school principal, feuding with his sister, follows through a series of tests that indicate he has lymphoma--until a specialist reveals the truth of his ailment. In 'Peter Kahn's Third Wife,' a sales assistant in a jewelry boutique models necklaces for a wealthy wine importer who brings in a series of successive wives-to-be over the years. Jewels of resignation and transformative personal disaster, these stories are written so simply and cleanly that the formidable craft looks effortless.
Publishers Weekly Review; June 2006.
The Calligrapher’s DaughterEugenia Kim
This debut novel, inspired by the life of the author's Korean mother, is a beautiful, deliberate and satisfying story spanning 30 years of Korean history. The tradition-bound aristocratic calligrapher Han refuses to name his daughter because she is born just as the Japanese occupy Korea early in the 20th century. When Han finds a husband for Najin (nicknamed after her mother's birthplace) at 14, her mother objects and instead sends her to the court of the doomed royal Yi family to learn refinement. Najin goes to college and becomes a teacher, proving herself not only as a scholar but as a patriot and humanitarian. She returns home to marry, but her new husband goes without her to study in America when she is denied a visa. As the Japanese systematically obliterate ancient Korean culture and the political climate worsens, so do Najin's fortunes. Her family is reduced to poverty, their home is seized and Najin is imprisoned as a spy while WWII escalates. The author writes at a languorous pace, choosing not to sully her elegant pages with raw brutality, but the key to the story is Korea's monumental suffering at the hands of the Japanese.
Publishers Weekly Review; June 2009.
A Long Long Time Ago & Essentially True Brigid Pasulka
Pasulka's delightful debut braids together two tales of old and new Poland. The old is the fairy tale love story of the Pigeon, a young man so entranced by village beauty Anielica that he builds her family a house to prove his devotion. When war comes to Poland, the Pigeon works for the resistance, guarding the town and his Jewish sister-in-law with creativity and bravery. After the war, he and Anielica get engaged and the Pigeon brings his family to Krakow, but the fabled promises of the golden city and the glories of communism prove hollow. The new tale is about Anielica and the Pigeon's granddaughter, Beata, whose plainness has earned her the nickname Baba Yaga. Now living in a much-changed Krakow, Beata is a bar girl with no hopes of love or plans for the future. When tragedy strikes and Beata uncovers family secrets, she brings together the old and new to create her own bright future. Pasulka creates a world that's magical despite the absence of magical happenings, and where Poland's history is bound up in one family's story.
Publishers Weekly Review; April 2009.
The Girl with Glass Feet Ali Shaw
Combining magic realism, the conventions of a romance novel, and a British sense of practicality, this charming first novel creates a new fable. After visiting a family friend on a remote island, Ida Maclaird finds herself strangely and literally turning to glass. When she returns to try and find the mysterious scientist who may have an answer, she stumbles on old love triangles and Midas, a lonely young man trying to find a way to heal his own mysterious pains. As Ida and Midas try to unravel mysteries from the past generations, they also try to unravel the mystery of Ida's affliction and slowly find a connection to each other.
Booklist Review; October 2009
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