B Reviews / Book Reviews18th-century / 19th century / class differences / classic literature / Deception / fathers and daughters / First-Person / gambling / Historical / Russia / Russian literature / War / Military3 Comments
A dazzling new collection of Pushkin’s fiction, in definitive translations by the acclaimed Anthony Briggs As complex as they are gripping, Pushkin’s stories are some of the greatest and most influential ever written. Foundational to the development of Russian prose, they retain stunning freshness and clarity, more than ever in ... more >
B Reviews / Book Reviews19th century / Agent/Spies/Undercover / anti-Semitism / France / Historical / Jewish characters / Jewish-faith / Peninsular-War / prejudice / Regency / road trip / second chance at love / strong heroine / trad regency11 Comments
Having refused the man her parents chose for her, Miriam Jacobson opts to travel the Continent assisting her physician uncle, but when her uncle dies, she finds herself smuggling gold across Napoleon’s France to Wellington in Spain, accompanied by two attractive young men, both of whom detest her—and each other. ... more >
B- Reviews / Book ReviewsAmerican historical / djinn / Fantasy / found family / golem / Historical / Historical Fantasy / Historical fiction / immigrant / Jewish characters / Jewish-faith / Middle East / New York City / POC / turn of the 20th centuryNo Comments
In this enthralling historical epic, set in New York City and the Middle East in the years leading to World War I— the long-awaited follow-up to the acclaimed New York Times bestseller The Golem and the Jinni—Helene Wecker revisits her beloved characters Chava and Ahmad as they confront unexpected new ... more >
B- Reviews / Book Reviews1920s / abortion / bisexual / class differences / Dark Fantasy / Historical / horror / immigrant / Jazz Age / LGBTQIA / literary adaptation / New York City / POC / POC author / racism / social privilege4 Comments
Immigrant. Socialite. Magician. Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society—she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age. She’s also queer and Asian, a Vietnamese adoptee treated as an exotic attraction by ... more >
B Reviews / Book ReviewsAmerican historical / convict / criminal charges / dentist / Historical / inspirational romance / law / second chance / turn of the 20th century5 Comments
Five years in a New York state reformatory have left a blemish on Hazel’s real name. So when she takes a job as Doctor Gilbert Watts’s lady in attendance in 1898, she does so under an alias. In the presence of her quiet and pious employer, Hazel finds more than ... more >
B- Reviews / Book Reviewsanimals / dinosaurs / Historical / metaphor / moral lesson / POC author / science / Speculative-FictionNo Comments
All the years of human civilization represent an infinitesimal fraction of the time since life first burgeoned on planet Earth. How likely is it, then, in those great depths of time, that humanity alone benefitted from the spark of intelligence which gave rise to culture? This is the question posed ... more >