Anne Patchet has another best seller!
590329
Another winner by Anne Patchet. She was able to follow three families because of divorce. The development of these blended families were fascinating.  With no help from the parents the six children became close. I would recommend this book for anyone interested and in family development.
280611
Thanks to Anya Seton's expert style of recreating history in a captivating tale, this book vividly describes the ninth and early tenth century developments in the British Isles preceding the Norman Conquest in 1066, the colonization of Greenland and early Viking and other incursions along the east coast of North America.  With vividly drawn characters and beautiful landscapes a story of courage, treachery, intrigue and redemption unfolds. Woven into the fabric of every event is the influence and evolution of the Catholic monasteries and nunneries. I have been a fan of Anya Seton for over fifty years and my only complaint is that she did not write MORE!!  The good news is, her books read a second and third time or more as the years go by!
417221
Just finished Stephanie Lehmann's latest novel, ASTOR PLACE VINTAGE and this book is quickly jumping to the top of my highly recommended books. It's enchanting, rich with historical detail and tells the story of two women from different time periods that will have you rooting for them all the way. I couldn't put it down! This one is a real winner!
3931814
Ann Patchett is a masterful  storyteller and provides an insightful view of the impact of divorce on children!
2966759
Miss Read has a wonderful way of taking everyday life in a small village and making the reader care and be interested in all of the characters. Thrush Green sounds like an idyllic place. It's a small village in the English Cotswold's and everyone knows one another and all of their family. Most of the residents were born there and secrets are difficult to keep.

In this story, we have an elderly and wealthy lady who enjoys shoplifting! Her sisters are very embarrassed, but, can't seem to stop her. Two of the former residents are visiting, Miss Fogerty and Miss Watson. They had both taught in the village school and are respected and admired by everyone. The town has a new school headmaster, but his wife seems to have a big problem and the villagers know that something is wrong.

Once you read a Miss Read book, you won't forget it!  The author's real name is Dora Saint and she's written more than 30 stories. This book is also embellished by the touching illustrations of John S. Goodall.
4768691
I'm a long-time fan of Anne Stuart's, and this is one of her very best.  It's funny, it's charming, the people have more layers than an onion, and I LOVE the hero being a jester.  Great job, Ms. Stuart.  Thank you for a  wonderful read!
1137749
I think I have read everything Patchett has ever written, and I've never been disappointed.  Commonwealth wasn't my  favorite of her novels, but as always her prose is effortless and illuminating, even as she takes on the poignancy and complexities of family and being human.
2429453
I just finished Anne Bront's 2nd novel and I found it an absolute page turner...Anne's reputation as the lesser Bront sister seems very unfounded and I guess Charlotte started that ball rolling back in the day with "the gentle Anne" stuff and saying this novel was a "mistake" , hardly!

I feel like an unknown Bront novel just fell out of a cupboard at the Parsonage , yet it's been in plain sight all along !

Anne was a real Bront and let me just say, "gentle Anne" stayed in an outside job years and years  longer that any other Bront off spring ever could. Anne was tough. There was grit in that gentleness, that's the best kind .

Like all Bronts, Anne's  dialogue is so modern and fast moving! I'm going to have to read it again to see what I missed in my haste!  It's not Jane Eyre...but it can stand next to JE in pride...and how many novels can say that?

Many miss a good read passing it by and it's a shame. Reading this excellent book also now makes, to me, Anne's passing at 29 an even keener tragedy. One becomes more aware of  world's untimely loss; not just of more Anne Bront books, but of  Anne Bront

Anne Bront wanted to make a mark before leaving this world.

 Well Anne, you did
2403871
Patchett has again created a rich and magical world of vivid , unpredictable characters.  There is a sense of wonder that the author shows you on each page of this great adventure.  The natives, the doctors , the researchers all blend together to immerse you in a world that is hard to pull yourself out of after you have read the last page.
566590
Once again Lisa Wingate spins a wonderful story that not only was delightful to read but filled with interesting information.  So well researched.  I can hardly wait for her next book!
717723
I have read all of Ellen Marie Wiseman's books and she never disappoints.  Her research is phenominal and historical novels are my favorite and once I start one of her books, I can't put it down.  This one was no exception!  I'd give her 10 stars if I could.  Thank you, Ellen for your wonderful and informative stories!  I look forward to your next book!
3470454
Ann Tatlock's books always have a fascinating twist, and Once Beyond a Time is no exception. Ann has created a wide variety of characters with depth and compassion. I don't want to go into too much detail because half the fun on this book is discovering the basic premise.

I didn't want to put this book down. The story races along, and the end of each chapter is so compelling that I just HAD to read the next one to find out what happened. This book links historical and contemporary fiction genres in a masterful way!

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in either genre. It is a wonderful story of love, forgiveness, and self discovery.
417162
As much as I love stories about Anne Boleyn, we know the ending is always (unfortunately) the same...so I've been waiting for a book like Olivia's to come along.  Between Two Kings is a beautiful reimaging of what Anne's life might have been like had she escaped her dreadful fate at the business end of a French sword.  I was surprised and delighted by the journey the author set Anne off on and I thoroughly enjoyed the important role that Francis I played.  Olivia's love for the French Court is evident and it's clear that she did her research! The scenes are filled with rich details that bring the sixteenth century alive and the author's version of Anne is complex and sympathetic without being portrayed as a saint.  I appreciated the well-rounded characterization of Mary Boleyn and Jane Seymour and found myself hungry for more from their perspective.  Olivia's debut is a breath of fresh air and I eagerly await her next offering to see how this marvelous story plays out!
4593846
Even being a fast reader, I whipped thru this book in no time for one reason -- I could not put it down. Having just enjoyed the preceding book, Shield of Three Lions, I was still surprised by how good this sequel was. As with all novels that walk the corridors of palatial power, you have to suspend some inner questioning and just "believe", but once again knowing so little of King Richard and his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, I found it remarkably easy to accept it all on face value. Not only was this continuing tale of Alix of Wanthwaite captivating in its own right, but also a strong theme on the prevailing attitudes towards and interactions with medieval Jews was both fascinating and illuminating. For fans of historical fiction, this is highly recommended!
4124200
Readers will likely recognize the author's name from her previous novels, including Bel Canto, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award, and The Patron Saint of Liars, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Readers also may recognize Ann Patchett from her articles that appear in such publications as Gourmet, the New York Times Magazine, and the Paris Review. No doubt, some readers will recognize Patchett's friend, Lucy Grealy, as the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, Autobiography of a Face.

Truth & Beauty is the story of the friendship shared by Lucy Grealy and Ann Patchett. It is at once tender, heartwarming, heartbreaking and complex. Truth & Beauty is neither the story of Lucy nor the story of Ann, but of the parts of each life that were shared. What one lacked, the other offered for the relationship. What one shared, the other reached out to receive.

Ann and Lucy met in the early 1980s while attending college. At the Iowa Writers' Workshop, they began a friendship that would become a lifelong process. This is no ordinary friendship. It is one riddled with emotional upheaval, creative successes and disappointments, health crises, and ultimately the lecherous hold of drug abuse.

This is a phenomenal look at the way in which two exceptionally creative people lived, loved, wrote, and grappled with the realities of life. It is also an extremely sensitive description of the way a woman wrought with illness, despair and depression can one minute create beauty and the next minute search for ways to destroy herself.

Truth & Beauty is the story of two friends who loved one another through the best and worst of times. It is a portrayal of loyalty and devotion over more than twenty years of friendship, and a haunting, heartbreaking portrait of the belief in the invincibility of one who lives so largely despite their diminuitive size. Only to find that no one is invincible...no one.

by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
1096537
Antonia Fraser's book, Faith and treason, is one of the best written and most compassionate books I've ever read.  Her detail seems always a deeper part of the ongoing narrative. And also (methinks) there seems never an unnecessary word, and the tale is exciting, but never melodramatic!  Where else in English history do you get those secret passageways with their desperate hideaways holed up within?  Her vivid, but always concise telling  has rarely been equalled in other comparable history books, excellent in their various ways. And I've been reading  several current books on Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, etc. I think Lady Fraser should have won a prize for this book!
1668522
Ann Patchett is a fantastic author, and does a masterful job of creating characters that you cannot get out of your mind. Tis book was no different. The middle was a bit slow but the ending was totally unexpected.