
THE THIRTEENTH PRINCESS is a re-telling of THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES. Set in a place which sounds vaguely German in a time that sounds vaguely like the Middle Ages, we meet Zita, […]
THE THIRTEENTH PRINCESS is a re-telling of THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES. Set in a place which sounds vaguely German in a time that sounds vaguely like the Middle Ages, we meet Zita, […]
THE MIDNIGHT DANCERS is a retelling of THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES set in contemporary times. Paul is a soldier who saves an older man’s life in a situation that sounds just like […]
Author Shauna Roberts knows how to tell a story. Within pages we meet the two protagonists (Princess Nindalla and farm-boy Ur-Sag-Enki) and know that these two strangers will become important to one […]
West Kensington, London October 1913 I don’t know what to do. People are talking about me, saying I was married before I married Spencer. They say that I left my family, my […]
As in the last book, THE GRAVE’S A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE, Flavia is growing up. Unfortunately, (or fortunately) this means that she is not quite the smarty-pants of yore, learning to […]
As so many readers do, I love Flavia, so was very happy to get hold of this volume. I heard it on audiobook, so my experiences may have been a little different […]
I don’t know when I first started reading the Kinsey Millhone series, but I was hooked by A IS FOR ALIBI, and have enjoyed the subsequent series enormously. It takes a lot […]
“Caroline.” Father stood in the doorway of his study holding The Baltimore Sun, as I arrived home. “I was right all along, not letting you stay at university. It is no place […]
Before I review Jodi Picoult’s sixth novel, I want to register a COMPLAINT with RECORDED BOOKS. It simply ISN’T right to cut the tape in such a way that there is NO […]
Like MERCY, Jodi Picoult’s fourth novel, THE PACT, her fifth, is about a vulnerable man who kills the woman he loves at her request. Unlike MERCY, Chris Harte in THE PACT has […]
“I loved the elaborate descriptions of all the places in this book. This is the kind of book that shows instead of just telling.
I also loved the historical setting and how the everyday situations were described. The novel is set in Berlin, in the middle of the two wars, so the Nazis are obviously an important factor in the story.
The characters are very well-developed and interesting to read about. Angelina is a fascinating character, as is Grace. Along the duration of the book, Grace learns a lot about herself. I was amazed by her quiet yet vibrant personality, and her brilliant talent.”
“This intriguing tale explores the hopes, plans, and struggles of Angelina, the stubborn youngest daughter of a troubled Italian-American family, and her two daughters. A widow, Angelina became a “fallen woman,” acting as a mistress over the years in an attempt to earn her own money, and the story opens just as her life begins to change.
The author has clearly done a great deal of historical research into the time, filling the story with details about the clothes, buildings, and passersby, to where readers can enjoy an immersive experience. The dialogue similarly seems to fit, with some lines in Italian and then translated into English to give the feel of the characters and the way they’ve kept their heritage alive.”
“The author…adeptly summons the era in all its manners and details with her descriptive prose…Her omniscient, third-person narrator effectively flits through the heads of various characters, offering momentary glimpses of their inner lives.”