Once upon a time, it was de rigueur for society misses to be presented to the queen, an event which marked their entrée into society and the beginning of their Season, during which they would hopefully find a marriageable prospect. By 1957, the concept is seen as fairly antiquated, and is ready to be phased…
Aster Glenn Gray’s Honeytrap is a compelling and unique story that charts the development of the unlikely relationship between an American FBI agent and a lieutenant in the Red Army (and possible KGB agent) over a period of around thirty-five years. It’s extremely well-written, and the author does an amazing job of exploring the cultural…
COVID-19 has made us more aware than ever of the importance of the spaces we call our own. That makes this the perfect moment to read the uncanny, absorbing Mexican Gothic, a tale about the kind of location in which you most definitely wouldn’t want to shelter in place. Wealthy socialite Noemí Taboada had planned…
The charming writing of Amy Sue Nathan and the even more charming heroine she gives us deflect all of The Last Bathing Beauty’s sins. Though the plot has some predictable points, the utterly disarming story is a page turner and a great summer read. In the summer of 1951, eighteen year old Betty Stern is…
New York’s infamous Chelsea Hotel has been the scene of a lot of scandals, triumphs, joys and heartbreak over the years. Hazel Ripley and Maxine Mead are just two of the women who’ve passed through its iconic red brick façade, and they have problems bigger than the ghosts haunting the hotel’s walls to contend with….
Set during the Korean War and the years beyond it, Crystal Hana Kim’s If You Leave Me explores both the split between duty and romantic desire and the way choices can echo through the generations for years to come. Lee Haemi is a sixteen year old refugee from South Korea living in a camp by…
I’ve been intrigued for years by things I’ve heard about Beatriz Williams’ work, but it wasn’t until I picked up her latest novel, The Summer Wives, that I realized what a master storyteller the author really is. Reading this book has been one of the high points of my summer, and I can’t wait for…
In Anne Tyler’s Clock Dance, readers follow Willa Drake from the ages of eleven to sixty-one and watch her make difficult decisions at every turn, choosing between broadening herself or shrinking herself to please others. As a child gamboling around the streets of 1950s Lark City, Pennsylvania, with her best friend Sonya, Willa must deal…
I love early twentieth century history and am delighted whenever I find a book set during that era. Pride and Passion, part of the Decades: A Journey of African-American Romance series, takes place during the 1950s and looks at a crucial period during the Civil Rights Movement. All Decades novel are standalone books, so you…
Our immigration system is a hot topic in the news lately and it seems like personal accounts of success and failure by people who come to this great land are broadcast by our media on a regular basis. Bury What We Cannot Take is a story of immigration which moves the issue to a historical…