B Reviews / Book Reviews1960s / 1970s / activism / non-fiction / prisoner of war / Vietnam / War / Military2 Comments
The true story of the fierce band of women who battled Washington—and Hanoi—to bring their husbands home from the jungles of Vietnam. On February 12, 1973, one hundred and sixteen men who, just six years earlier, had been high flying Navy and Air Force pilots, shuffled, limped, or were carried ... more >
B- Reviews / Book Reviews1970s / child heroine / England / Portugal / second chance at love2 Comments
At Edmund Brooke’s insistence, his ten-year-old daughter, Vitorina, leaves the closed world of her old and strait-laced great-aunts and their Portuguese mansion—complete with chapel—and journeys to a boarding school in England. Edmund readily accepts the offer of a golfing acquaintance to act as chaperone for Tory. Once on the train, ... more >
A Reviews / Recommended Reads#metoo / 1970s / books and reading / community / Humor / Literary fiction / Northern Ireland / rumors / Violence10 Comments
Dear Ms. Burns, Your novel, Milkman, recently won the Man Booker Prize. That and a rave review from Sunita convinced me to read it. Milkman has been called “experimental fiction” because it’s written in stream-of-consciousness narration conveyed through long sentences and paragraphs, because the narrative goes on long tangents, and ... more >
B Reviews / Book Reviews1970s / classical music / fathers and daughters / opera / Opera Singer / Warrender Saga2 Comments
Lindley Harding was a singer nearing the end of his career; Laurence Morven was a new star-and rival-coming up over the horizon. And Lindley’s daughter Natalie, who loved them both, found herself torn two ways as the bitterness grew between the two men. Was the situation going to ruin her ... more >
B Reviews / Book Reviews1970s / 1980s / 1990s / autobiography / British / diplomat / non-fiction4 Comments
This is the personal story of a diplomat’s wife which spans a thirty-five year period from the start of her husband’s career as the most junior member of an embassy’s staff ending many years later as an Ambassador. This is told from the wife’s point of view, writing with insight ... more >
B Reviews / Book Reviews1960s / 1970s / 1980s / autobiography / female writers / feminism / Hollywood / non-fiction / television / widow4 Comments
Rita Lakin was a pioneer a female scriptwriter in the early 1960s when Hollywood television was exclusively male. For years, in creative meetings, she was literally “the only woman in the room.” In this breezy but heartfelt remembrance, Lakin takes readers to a long-forgotten time when women were not considered ... more >