Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith is a virtual vacation to one of my favorite places in the world. Years ago my parents rented an Umbrian villa to celebrate their 40th anniversary with their children and grandchildren, and reading this sumptuous novel recalls the savory meals, the ancient villages, and the gorgeous northern Italian countryside, albeit with a murky past.
Hugh Fisher is mourning the double loss of his wife and then his Italian mother when he returns to Valetto to claim his inheritance. The only hitch is Elisa Tomassi, an award winning chef from Milan, is squatting in the cottage where young Hugh had spent happy summers with his enigmatic mother. His grandfather joined the resistance and disappeared during World War II, leaving ambiguities about his crumbling estate. To resolve their competing claims on the small cottage, Hugh and Elisa must convince their elderly relatives to share their traumatic secrets, all while consuming copious amounts of hand rolled pasta, foraged fungus, grated cheese, and of course, vino rosso.
I brought Return to Valetto to an island cottage near my home in Maine, and it was exactly the right type of vacation reading: an engrossing story with moral ambiguities in a lovely setting with a touch of romance. Although the author is a man, the strongest characters are women who steer the narrative. The history professor protagonist is just along for a ride, literally letting everyone else drive him around and feed him like a child, until the atrocities of the past prod him out of his lethargy. Loyal Hugh is a sympathetic character, but his lack of engagement and agency is tiring to the other characters and to the reader. That was my only criticism of this otherwise well crafted tale about how much the past can overshadow the present.
The best character of all was the crumbling village itself. The vivid description of a stairway left dangling into a ravine after an earthquake destroyed half the town was so convincing that I was surprised to discover that Valetto didn't exist beyond the pages of this novel. The author is Australian American and not Italian, but Dominic Smith seems to have done his research well. Return to Valetto tasted like the wild truffles of Umbria at a fraction of the cost.
Reviewer's Disclosure: The publisher sent me a galley in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed it so much I bought a copy from Book Culture to send to my dad for Father's Day since I inherited my love of Italy and fine dining from him. Return to Valetto was published in the USA yesterday.
To celebrate Hanukkah, my family lights the menorah for eight nights; my husband makes the most delicious latkes (potato pancakes), and I have always given our children books. When shopping for books by diverse authors this holiday season, remember to include Jewish writers. Their stories aren't just for Hanukkah. We can all learn so much about the world by reading about other cultures and key moments in history.
One of my favorite Jewish writers is Alice Hoffman, the author of more than thirty books, many of them national bestsellers. In her 2019 novel, The World That We Knew, a twelve-year-old girl flees Nazi Germany to France with the help of a golem, a magical creature whose existence is as much a blessing as a curse. Despite this touch of magical realism, the mostly realistic narrative doesn't stray far from the facts of history.
What I found most interesting was the exploration of mysticism and female agency within the Jewish faith. I loved how Hoffman adapted patriarchal practices to give her observant female characters more freedom and power. There are also strong male characters, both Catholic and Jewish, but women and girls drive the narrative. The female golem made me rethink what it means to be human and a mother. The magical elements enhanced the story without detracting from the heroism of the French Resistance nor the horrors of the Holocaust. The writing was sublime.
Although The World That We Knew was written for adults, most of the characters are teenagers and the narrative is fast-paced and hopeful so it would crossover well to younger readers. My one and only criticism is the title is way too vague. This unforgettable book deserved a title easier to remember so write it down now. Thanks, Cathy at Main Point Books, for the book recommendation!
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If you loved All the Light We Cannot See as much as I did, you'll be delighted to hear that Anthony Doerr will be releasing a new and equally epic novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land, on September 28th. His latest book is structurally more complex as it is narrated in multiple voices from antiquity, the recent past, and the future. It’s an ode to ancient texts, to libraries, and most of all, to readers.
The historical storyline follows two teenagers on opposite sides of a walled city during the 1453 siege of Constantinople. Anna is an orphan who should be embroidering birds and flowers for Christian priests but instead sneaks off to learn how to read Greek. Beyond the fortified walls, Omeir is more concerned in the wellbeing of his oxen than in the plunders of war. A birth defect makes it easier for him to win the love of animals than of people outside his family, but of all the characters, Omeir is the least bitter and the most capable and generous.
The contemporary storyline is set in Idaho and alternates between a troubled youth, Seymour, who befriends a threatened owl, and an 86-year-old Korean War veteran, Zeno, who is struggling to translate fragments of an ancient Greek text. I found it interesting that the "contemporary" storyline was set in February 2020, right before the pandemic. Perhaps to avoid its absence from the narrative? Some savvy editor or perhaps the author himself might have adjusted the dates right before the galleys were printed. I'm guessing that the pandemic will divide literature like World War II did in the last century.
The futuristic story is narrated only from the perspective of Konstance, a teenage girl on an arklike spaceship to save humanity from the climate crisis. To avoid spoilers, I won't say much about this storyline other than it was the most compelling and had a brilliant plot twist that took even a seasoned reader like me by surprise. My only criticism was I would have liked to have learned more about Konstance's future. The other storylines were better resolved, but all three were woven together well.
Cloud Cuckoo Land was brilliantly crafted. Although the galley was 618 pages and covered equally weighty material, it was a fast read with short cliffhanger chapters and alternating narratives. I read most of it over one weekend, and it was a welcome escape from the current worries of the world, even though it dealt with many of them. Like Harry Potter and the Seraphina series, Cloud Cuckoo Land brought me back to the childhood joy of getting lost in the alternative universe of a book. Although Doerr's novel was written for adults, it would crossover very well to teenagers.
With its time hopping stories and linked motifs, Cloud Cuckoo Land reminded me of David Mitchell’s masterpiece, Cloud Atlas (was the "cloud" in the goofy title an homage?) The environmental themes were also similar to The Overstory by Richard Powers. Following a book through time reminded me of another favorite, People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. Even so, Cloud Cuckoo Land was original and will appeal to all book lovers.
"Each of these books, child, is a door, a gateway to another place and time. You have your whole life in front of you, and for all of it, you'll have this. It will be enough, don't you think?"
To research a novel about Jewish refugees in the Dominican Republic during World War II, I've been learning Spanish. Unable to travel, I connected with a conversational partner in Spain through the language exchange website Mixxer. Salomé lives in Galicia in the northwestern corner of Spain. Like my rural state of Maine, Galicia's geographic isolation protected the large elderly population from the higher Covid infection rates of more urban areas. Our pandemic stats have been remarkably similar, even though I was fully vaccinated by May 1st, and Salomé was only able to receive her first dose today. Another key difference: 87% of Spaniards want to be vaccinated and only 4% are anti-vax.
Americans should learn about the benefits of universal health insurance from our European allies, who view health as a right of citizenship, not as a divisive political issue. Still, the pandemic dealt a hard blow to Spain too, especially at the start, and vaccine scarcity has created additional challenges. During these stressful times, Salomé and I have found that learning another language has been an excellent diversion.
We also share a passion for books. I recommended that Salomé read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, a Pulitzer prize winning novel set in a fictional version of my coastal town. For our bilingual book club, I've been reading The Carpenter's Pencil by Manuel Rivas, a Galician classic about the Spanish Civil War. This short (166 pages) historical novel was written in Galician/gallego, a regional language which is more similar to Portuguese than to Spanish. Galician was banned under Franco and become the language of the resistance but returned to the school curriculum after the dictator's death.
Nearly trilingual Salomé read the book in Galician, but I needed the English and Spanish translations. Both were excellent, but the Spanish version was closer to the original and had interesting footnotes to explain the history. Salomé gave me more context and found photos to illustrate the narrative. I'm learning as much history and culture as grammar and vocabulary from our two hour weekly video chats. Our international friendship has been the silver lining of the pandemic.
The old prison island in Ría de Vigo, Galicia reminds us of Alcatraz in San Francisco.
The Carpenter's Pencil shows the brutality of the Spanish Civil War from the perspective of prison guard Herbal and his political prisoner, Doctor Daniel de Barca, whom he is ordered to kill. Fortunately, the spirit of a murdered painter gets inside Herbal's head, educating and manipulating the guard. Herbal represents the harsh sensibility of the Franco regime while Dr. Barca is nearly a saint in his selfless efforts to minister to the physical and emotional health of his fellow prisoners. From inside prison walls, we can best understand the horrors of the Franco regime of 1936-1975. To balance the darkness, there is a lovely romance between Barca and Marisa, a rebel with a cause, whom Herbal secretly adores.
This most original novella has more depth than books twice its length. It took me 6 weeks to finish only because I read very slowly in my third language. Although I can now understand Spanish newspapers and podcasts, the more literary language of novels is still beyond my intermediate level of instruction. Every night, I read a few pages in English and then again in Spanish. Now that I've finished, I'm listening to the Spanish audiobook to cement my comprehension and to appreciate the beauty of the language. I now understand why young children often want the same bedtime story over and over again! I'd recommend The Carpenter's Pencil to everyone in any language since its empowering message transcends translation. Me encantó esta novela histórica, y recomiendo que todos la lean.
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Although Small Island is now one of my favorite historical novels, I was so disappointed by how one character treated other people that I quit reading for several years. Abandoned by her white father and Black mother, Hortense was raised in Jamaica by relatives who nourish and educate her but skimp on love. Seeking a better life, Hortense steals her best friend's boyfriend, a dashing Royal Air Force veteran, to immigrate to London. Her husband, Gilbert Joseph is hardworking and ambitious too, but his patient kindness and good humor stands in sharp contrast to her judgemental pride. Their struggle against racism is a fresh spin on the classic British World War II novel.
In 1948 Hortense sails into London and discovers a dirty, bombed out city and a shabby husband that fail to match her dreams. The narrative then rewinds to the backstories of the four central characters. The Josephs' white landlady, Queenie, is a delightfully irascible character who dares to rent rooms to people of color when her racist husband, Bernard, fails to return home from war. In many ways Bernard's miserable story is the most poignant of all, surprising me. A masterful storyteller can make you feel empathy in unexpected places.
Author Photo by Angus Muir
The child of Jamaican immigrants in England, author Andrea Levy has so much compassion for all of her characters. Their personal histories help the reader understand how childhoods circumscribed by misfortune, poverty, racism, and/or lost love have shaped these flawed characters. They frequently misunderstand each other, but the reader can piece together their true intentions by knowing the full story.
The titular "small island" is Jamaica or Great Britain, but it is also a metaphor for how people can isolate themselves by their own prejudices. This realistic novel shows how systemic racism corrupts and hurts everyone in its path. The heavy theme is lightened by a full cast of quirky Dickensian characters. If you can get past the abrasive opening chapters, this brilliant book builds momentum as the characters make mistakes but slowly learn to be a bit more tolerant and forgiving. By the end, we are left with hope.
As a writer, I received a second gift: inspiration. When crafting an historical novel it's hard to decide when to start the novel. The contemporary reader may need more background to situate themselves in an unfamiliar time period, but starting with backstory and historical context can bog down the narrative. Although two of the main characters of Small Island are from Jamaica, it made more sense to open in London because the book is about immigration. The best known example of this narrative structure, in medias res, would be the Odyssey. If starting in the middle of a journey worked for Homer and Levy, maybe it could work for me!
There's also a BBC adaptation with an all star cast: Naomie Harris (mom from Moonlight) as Hortense, Ruth Wilson (Rose from Downton Abbey) as Queenie, David Oyelowo (MLK from Selma) as Gilbert, and Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) as Bernard.
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This historical novel by Nobel Prize author Mario Vargas Llosa is absolutely brilliant in content, craft, and (dare I say) execution. The Feast of the Goat (La fiesta del chivo en español, 2000) recounts the events leading to the 1961 assassination of Rafael Trujillo, the dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic for thirty-one brutal years. This political thriller not only describes what happened, but by getting inside the head of Trujillo and his assassins, we start to understand his motives and how an authoritarian leader can maintain control by psychological manipulation as much as by force.
Not only did Trujillo imprison, torture, and frequently murder any Dominican who opposed him, he was also responsible for the Parsley Massacre of 1937 that killed around 20,000 Haitian residents, including women and children. Trujillo escaped global condemnation by being the leader of the only country to welcome extra Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany (the subject of my work-in-progress).
It's one thing to abuse your enemies, but Trujillo was also cruel to his most loyal supporters, the Trujillistas. In return for prestige and wealth, he destroyed their integrity and dignity. He even slept with their wives and daughters. People tolerated his abuse in return for the economic prosperity and political autonomy that brought their country out of a near colonial relationship with the USA. All this is true.
Vargas Llosa's novel is told in three alternating points of view; only the first one is fictional. Urania, the daughter of a loyal minister, has returned to the island 35 years after Trujillo's death to confront the ghosts of her traumatic past. She's a 49-year-old successful lawyer who lives alone by choice in New York City. Vargas Llosa occasionally interrupts her third person limited point-of-view narration with a second person voice (you/tú) to balances her accusatory perspective, like a conflicted conscience. This shift in voice and sophisticated vocabulary made the book too difficult for me to read in the original Spanish so I switched to the excellent translation by Edith Grossman.
The second point-of-view is Trujillo on the final day of his life, reflecting back on his past glories and challenges. Vargas Llosa is at his best getting inside this Machiavellian mind. Trujillo is not interested in acquiring wealth beyond using it to maintain power to achieve his goals. He has a love-hate relationship with the USA: he credits being the strong leader he is to his training as a US Marine but would fight to the death should the Americans try to re-occupy his country. He wants to purge Haitians from the Dominican gene pool, and yet his grandmother was part Haitian, and he is attracted to mulata women. As an antagonist, Trujillo is multidimensional and well-developed, a most intriguing villain.
The final point of view is a chorus of assassins, all of them real people with mostly true backstories. These loyal supporters one-by-one turned on Trujillo. They are willing to sacrifice everything to regain their freedom. As they wait in a car to ambush Trujillo, they recall their past trajectories. Every assassin has a uniquely horrific story, and by sharing it, we learn about the history of the regime and the personal nature of Trujillo's control. El chivo/the goat was the popular nickname for their evil leader.
"Trujillo had also killed with a method that was slower and more perverse than when he had his prey shot, beaten to death, or fed to the sharks. He had killed him in stages, taking away his decency, his honor, his self-respect, his joy in living, his hopes and desires, turning him into a sack of bones tormented by the guilty conscience that had been destroying him gradually for so many years." (p90)
"...Trujillo había matado también, de manera más demorada y perversa que a los que liquidó a tiros, golpes o echándolos a los tiburones. A él lo mató por partes, quitándole la decencia, el honor, el respeto por sí mismo, la alegría de vivir, las esperanzas, los deseos, dejándolo convertido en un pellejo y unos huesos atormentados por esa mala conciencia que lo destruía a poquitos desde hacía tantos años." (p124, es más lírico en español.)
Read The Feast of the Goat to understand the danger of authoritarianism, a lesson all Americans need to learn right now. We cannot take democracy for granted. Also, this historical novel is fun to read, more like a political thriller than a textbook, but as full of facts. The author brings Trujillo back to life before killing him and destroying his legacy. I'd strongly recommend this book to everyone. I really want to see the film adaptation with Isabella Rossellini playing Urania!
Bruny Rivera, gracias por recomendarme leer esta novela maravillosa.
Greetings from snowy Maine!
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To get inspiration for my work-in-progress about Jewish refugees in the Dominican Republic during World War II, I've been binge-reading historical novels. Last year, I was blissfully browsing in a New York bookstore, when I got in a conversation with a woman whose favorite genre was historical fiction. She recommended We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter, a novel based on a true story about a Jewish family's escape from Nazi occupied Poland. The author's grandfather was the luckiest one. His harrowing journey to Brazil and the opportunities he found there reminded me of my great grandfather's mission to help bring Jewish refugees to the Dominican Republic.
The scope of We Were the Lucky Ones was surprisingly broad given the focus on one family. The five siblings and their parents in Poland scattered to Vichy France, Siberia, West Africa, Italy and Brazil. A family tree and chapters labeled by character, date, and location helps the reader keep track of the sprawling narrative. The Kurk family experienced a wide range of possible outcomes and witnessed a multitude of atrocities.
As a Jew, I would have found We Were the Lucky Ones hard to read without the promise that at least this family would survive. Even so, the mostly true story is an emotionally charged page-turner. My only criticism is that I wish there had been more chapters about Addy in Brazil since his story provides much needed light. However, debut author Georgia Hunter does a great job of humanizing history without minimizing tragedy and still manages to leave the reader with hope.
A long year ago, I wondered if I'd be up to the task of portraying a world-wide tragedy that would change the course of history, and now at the end of 2020, I can imagine that darkness. Nazi Germany and the Holocaust were far worse than our pandemic, but I can relate to the constant stress of a global catastrophe coupled to shocking attacks on democracy and scapegoating of the most vulnerable. Worse than any virus is the epidemic of fear, prejudice, and xenophobia.
There is no vaccine for hate, but we can learn how to avoid the mistakes of our past by studying history. Also a scientific study has shown that reading literary fiction increases empathy. On top of that, novels allow us to escape the confinement of our homes and to meet new people without any risk. This year my family won't be gathering in person, and we will be giving books as gifts.
My to-be-read stack of historical fiction: The Feast of the Goat (La fiesta del chivo) by Mario Vargas Llosa, Suite Française by Irene Némirovsky, Small Island by Andrea Levy, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, and the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante.
Do you have any other mid 20th century historical novels to recommend to me?
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Who else is dreaming of traveling to Italy? I Give It to You is a most appropriately titled book for a virtual vacation. Even better for escapism, Valerie Martin's new novel is set in the past: the 1980s and World War II Tuscany. Like in her classic Property, Martin offers us an unreliable narrator, but this one is a novelist instead of a slave owner. The protagonist is both guest and parasite.
I Give it to You is a writer's novel that questions the boundary between author and subject. Is the story there to be plucked like a fruit or are there limits, especially when fictionalizing personal history? The protagonist, Jan, is a midlist author has been offered the dream fellowship to research a novel in Italy. She has rented the sunny limonaia at an old estate in rural Tuscany. The architecture is as well rendered as the characters:
"Parallel to the gate, the charming limonaia stands with its back to the wall. Glass and verdigris copper doors glint beneath the shelter of the rafters, which extend over a small stone terrace. Artfully placed hip-high pots of rosemary and lemon trees create a cool and semiprivate sitting area."
From her sunny patio, Jan observes the aristocratic family in the main villa. The glamorous Beatrice shows her around the countryside, and as a friendship develops between the two middle aged professors, Beatrice shares the story of her family's struggles under Mussolini. Oddly enough, we learn nothing about Jan's past or family. This narrative approach succeeded in creating plot tension and mystery, but at the expense of the protagonist, who was the least developed and most unlikable character. Jan is prone to prejudices against psychiatry and offensive ethnic stereotypes. She judges others with impunity but is defensive when they judge her in turn.
The old villa is both a stage for family drama and a metaphor for decay of the aristocracy. As a reader, we grow to love Villa Chiara as much as Beatrice does. Even its rustic failings like bad plumbing become plot points to increase tension amongst the extended family. The chapters alternate between the 1980s and flashback chapters to Beatrice's childhood during the War and afterwards as a graduate student in Massachusetts. Sometimes the past and present chapters overlap so that the narrative becomes a bit repetitive. What brings the story to life are all the well-developed secondary characters who have hidden motives and agendas of their own.
Although the photos in this post are from my last trip to Tuscany nine summers ago, I Give it To You will be released in the USA tomorrow (8/4/20). I'd recommend it to anyone who craves a vacation in Italy and to writers who enjoy a well-crafted book. I wonder if our current pandemic will divide history as much as World War II did. Will there be a new genre of post-pandemic literature since the world has fundamentally changed?
In 1960 Julia Alvarez was ten-years-old when her family fled the Dominican Republic for the USA. The SIM military police had uncovered her father's involvement in a plot against General Trujillo's authoritarian regime. That same year in the DR, three of the four Mirabal sisters were murdered. Their deaths were made to look like an accident but everyone knew the truth. Those brave young women, code-named the Butterflies (las Mariposas in Spanish), were the beloved symbols of the resistance. Author Julia Alvarez reimagined their story in her gorgeous historical novel, In the Time of the Butterflies. Although the book was first published 26 year ago, this tale of a narcissistic dictator and the brave young women who dared to defy him feels all the more relevant today.
The story itself was compelling, but what made me fall in love with In the Time of the Butterflies were the well developed characters, the gorgeous writing, and the interesting narrative structure. The chapters alternate between the perspectives of the four sisters, following them from their privileged girlhood to a revolutionary adulthood under the tyranny of Trujillo's reign. Each voice was unique. The eldest sister was the most cautious due to her overbearing husband. The second sister was a dedicated revolutionary, who secretly suffered under the burden of heroic expectations. The third sister was motivated by religious passion and family loyalty. The baby sister disclosed too much in her diaries, admitting her infatuation with the revolutionary men more than the cause, making her delightfully human. Every reader could identify with one of the sisters. It felt so real and relatable, this focus on their family life and the villainy of Trujillo, more than on the polemic of the revolution. However, the trajectory of their tragic lives clearly illustrates the horrors of authoritarianism.
A Blue Morpho butterfly with shut wings is well camouflaged. The spots look like owl eyes to scare predators.
In the "Postscript," Julia Alvarez explains why she decided to reimagine the personal life of the sisters: "As for the sisters of legend, wrapped in superlatives and ascended into myth, they were also finally inaccessible to me. I realized, too, that such deification was dangerous, the same god-making impulse that had created our tyrant. And ironically, by making them myth, we lost the Mirabals once more, dismissing the challenge of their courage as impossible for us, ordinary men and women."
This might be the treacherous mountain range that the Mirabal sister crossed to reach Puerta Plata.
Read In the Time of the Butterflies to find the courage to fight for change and to remember how to feel hope for a brighter future. The Butterflies will remind you to appreciate family and democracy and to take nothing for granted. I read the book to research my own historical novel about Jewish refugees in the Dominican Republic under Trujillo, and I feel all the more inspired. To practice my Spanish I'm also reading Alvarez's children's delightful Tía Lola series, which I'd recommend to 8-12 year-olds in either English or Spanish. Alvarez is a master of her craft and one of my favorite authors.
¡Vivan las Mariposas!
The gorgeous Blue Morpho butterfly near the end of her short life.
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Inspired by her Dominican mother,Angie Cruz decided to write a realistic novel about immigration and assimilation. Dominicana is a quiet story of savory dishes, simmering passions, and the twisted bonds of family. Although this 2019 novel was written for adults, it would crossover well to teens.
In 1964 fifteen-year-old Ana Canción is wed to Juan Ruiz, a man more than twice her age. Her desperate family is struggling to make a living in the Dominican Republic. Juan and his charismatic brothers are working in New York but still operate a restaurant business back home. The brothers have an eye on the Canción farmland for expansion. Juan also wants a Dominican wife to start a family in New York City. Their homeland is in turmoil, and this union could bring both families more economic security and the salvation of chain migration.
Dutiful Ana pretends to be eighteen to fly to NYC. She arrives to shocking cold and isolation, unable to speak the language or to deal with city life. Her new husband is abusive and demands that she stay home alone, but Ana schemes to start a business and to learn English while Juan is back in the DR. And then there is Cesar, Juan's younger brother, who reminds her how to laugh again....
Dominicana's gorgeous cover caught my eye at Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick. I'm taking Spanish at Bowdoin College and reading Dominican American authors to research a new book. I started with nonfiction, but you can learn so much more about a culture by listening to its music, tasting its food, and reading its stories. Angie Cruz, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Junot Diaz have taught me slang I won't learn at school and a deeper appreciation of Dominican culture. They are phenomenal writers who create unforgettable characters in tough settings. Cruz's literary style with strong imagery evokes a sensory reaction. You don't just read Dominicana, you experience Ana's struggles as your own and hope for a better future. A deeply personal and realistic story such as this will engender empathy for immigrants and for victims of abuse or prejudice. I'd recommend this book to anyone.
Like Angie Cruz, a true family story inspired me to write historical fiction. During World War II my great grandfather, Arthur Lamport, helped to set up a farming settlement in the Dominican Republic for Jewish refugees. Other nations imposed strict quotas on Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, but the Dominicans opened their country to about 850 Jewish settlers. One small nation of only 1.5 million residents saved near three thousand more lives through visas. Most people, even other Jews, have never heard of Sosúa.
Last month I visited the Dominican Republic to practice Spanish and to see what remains of the Jewish settlement in Sosúa. I found a beautiful beach, their old synagogue, and more to share later.
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Stacey Lee is one of my favorite authors because she imagines vibrant characters to recreate the forgotten chapters of American history. Her latest young adult novel, The Downstairs Girl tells the bittersweet story of an elderly Chinese immigrant and his adopted daughter in 1890s Atlanta. Although Old Jin and 17-year-old Jo Kuan are fictional characters, their historical context is true to life in the segregated South.
As the Author's Note explains, The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prohibited Chinese immigration to the USA until 1943. Immigrant laborers, who had been shipped in from China to replace the freed slaves, were thus permanently separated from their families back home. Work conditions were terrible, and those who ran away to the cities faced further isolation. Where should a person who is neither black nor white sit on a segregated trolley car, and what landlord would rent to them?
Unable to find affordable housing, Old Jin and 17-year-old Jo squat in a secret basement that used to be part of the Underground Railway. By good fortune, the oblivious Caucasian family that lives above them runs a liberal newspaper. Jo educates herself in English by eavesdropping on their conversations. When Jo learns that their newspaper might fold, she starts writing an anonymous agony aunt column to increase circulation. Jo's job as a lady's maid is helpful for etiquette tips, but she can't resist writing about hot topics like racism and women's rights. Her column is as witty as it is controversial. All of Atlanta wants to know who "Miss Sweetie" is, but Jo knows she must hide her identity or risk expulsion from the only home she knows. Although legal residents, Chinese Americans were not citizens.
With a bit of romance, snippets of Chinese culture, and a horse race, this engaging story takes the reader for a fun ride. Jo is a marvelous, kind-hearted but frank character who breathes life into history. This recently published novel has a lovely sense of place and time, enhanced by whimsical imagery:
"The cold seems to have crystallized into a freezing dust. It's as if the winter dragon were salting the earth liberally for its supper. Lucky Yip told me that season dragons can be jealous, producing weather extremes to prevent the next season's dragon from moving in."
I highly recommend The Downstairs Girl to all readers ages twelve and up. Although there are some sexual references in the story, the content is very tame for young adult fiction. The fascinating history and strong writing would crossover well to an adult audience too. This gorgeous book, with its rare cover image of a Chinese American girl in 19th century period dress, would make an excellent gift. I also enjoyed Lee's two other historical novels for teens: Under a Painted Sky and Outrun the Moon. I hope she writes more.
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My Aunt Diane and I have a tradition of exchanging books as holiday gifts. This year I was delighted to receive the new biography of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Jane Sherron De Hart. When RBG joined the Supreme Court as the second female justice, I was one of few women studying Political Science at M.I.T. In the new Millenium, M.I.T. has worked to correct its gender bias and the Supreme Court has increased female representation, however Roe v. Wade is under direct attack. Why now? The answer can be found in De Hart's biography of the person who has devoted her life to gender equality.
Ruth was born to impoverished Jewish immigrants and needed a scholarship to get to college. Even though Ruth graduated first at Columbia Law School (tying with a man), she faced double discrimination as a Jew and as a working mother. No corporate law firm would offer her a job. A judge only agreed to hire her as his clerk when a Columbia Law professor promised that a male classmate would take Ruth's place if she failed.
Ruth found a more welcoming work environment in academia and at the ACLU. To promote equality as a gender-neutral concept, Ruth often argued cases representing men in traditional female roles such as dependent widowed caregivers in Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld. In winning this Supreme Court case unanimously in 1975, she created legal precedent to protect women from discrimination as well. The goal of feminism is gender equality, which is no more radical than civil rights. Although Ruth was a successful lawyer, she realized that she would be more effective on the other side of the bench. Having a like-minded husband, who was willing to help with childcare and do all the cooking, allowed her to pursue her dream.
In 1993 Ruth Bader Ginsburg was considered a moderate judge when President Bill Clinton nominated her to the Supreme Court, but now she is considered a liberal. De Hart makes a convincing argument that RBG's legal views have remained consistent while the Court has shifted conservative, contrary to the more liberal population. Her biography was published before the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh and the avalanche of state laws banning abortion, but the author predicted this attack on women's rights. As the Court swings, RBG remains the steady voice of reason. Her genius was in building consensus and reframing legal questions to get more progressive rulings. May she keep ruling!
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: a Life is not a fast read, unless you are my mother, who devoured my gift in under a week while recovering from back surgery. At 723 pages (150 of those are endnotes) it was too heavy to hold for long or to carry in a handbag. For months, I read a section every night before bed. Although written for the general reader, the style is more academic than commercial, but RBG's personal story humanized the text. I related to her struggles as a working mom and as a Jew, but sometimes De Hart's prose became a bit too flowery when recounting personal details as if the author was more comfortable with summarizing legal briefs. RBG is a few years older than my mother, and reading this biography brought home how much the world has changed in their lifetime and how grateful I am for their generation (my mom was at Smith College with Gloria Steinem) who fought for the rights that are now under threat once again. Read this New York Times bestseller book and be inspired to keep fighting for gender equality.
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Several friends recommended The Hare with the Amber Eyes to me, given my interest in both Japanese art and Jewish history. This nonfiction paperback from 2010 reads like a mystery. When artist Edmund de Waal inherited a collection of 264 Japanese carvings, he decided to trace these netsuke through five generations of his family's tumultuous history.
The Ephrussis were once influential bankers and art patrons, like the Rothchilds, but after two world wars, little remained of their vast collections beyond the netsuke. De Waal travelled from his home in England to Paris, to Vienna, to Japan and to Odessa, collecting photos and documents, and interviewing survivors. Like a detective, he pieced together the clues to learn about his collection, the collectors, and how the Nazis nearly obliterated his Jewish family. Old photos illustrate his narrative, taking us back in history. His book was well written and very original.
While reading The Hare with the Amber Eyes, I had the opportunity to visit the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, which has netsuke on display. The tiny figurines were designed as toggles for purses hanging off traditional Japanese garments since kimonos didn't have pockets. Carved of wood or ivory, the netsuke are small enough to hold in hand but are exquisitely detailed. Their often grotesque humor reminded me of gargoyles. The netsuke were invented in the 17th century and were popular until 1868, when Japan was opened to the West. I loved the story of how the Ephrussi collection returned to Japan, and how these small artifacts survived so much history. I wish the museum would let visitors hold their netsuke in hand.
While in California visiting my son at UC Berkeley, I took the train 15 hours south to meet Barrie Summy in San Diego. Although we've been crit partners for years, this was our first time meeting in real life. We talked enough for all that missed time. It was so much fun! I'm so grateful to Barrie for hosting this wonderful book review club for more than a decade and for connecting all of us through our shared passion for books and blogging. Thanks, Barrie!
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Transcription by Kate Atkinson (2018) is a feminist remix of John le Carré with a touch of P.G. Wodehouse. In 1940, eighteen-year-old Juliet Armstrong is recruited to spy on Nazi sympathizers in London. Her cohorts try to take advantage of her naivety, but clever Juliet has an agenda of her own. A decade later Juliet is working for the BBC on children's radio programming when her murky past catches up with her. The narrative flips back and forth between the two time periods, building tension.
I read Transcription whilst visiting family in England over the holidays, and it was the perfect travel book. On the train I listened to the audiobook so I could watch the matched view and then switched to the hardcover on the plane home. The page-turner plot made the journey fly. Period details grounded the story in history without slowing the pace.
Kate Atkinson is very good at portraying the subtle nuances of social class differences and how that shapes character and motives. The focus on female spies in the British homefront felt fresh and true to the gender-limits of that time. This novel wasn't as original as Life After Life, Atkinson's time-bending masterpiece, but it was so much fun to read.
I enjoyed Atkinson's descriptions of radio programming as much as the espionage. My British husband, who is writing an academic book on the BBC, found those scenes well portrayed. Who knew there was a revolving door between MI5 and the BBC?
Transcription would appeal to readers of all ages. Juliet's witty narration laced with sarcasm often made me laugh. Given the age of the protagonist, the story would cross over well to teen readers. It reminded me of my favorite historical young adult novel, Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity, but even though Transcription was written for adults, it was not as dark.
I would strongly recommend Transcription (and Code Name Verity) to anyone who enjoys unreliable narrators, historical fiction, or British spy novels. I love the cover art on the American edition too. The photo is of my nephew and my daughter after thrift shopping in the medieval town of Wallingford. They reminded me of characters from the book.
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