A little of everything
History and mystery, an examination of reading and a political scandal, this week.
From Sand And Ash Author: Amy Harmon
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing, fiction
THE role of the Catholic Church in saving Jews during World War II has been documented historically. This is author Amy Harmon’s fictional take on it, wrapped in a doomed romance. That the love between Eva Rosselli and Angelo Bianco is complicated is a given: she’s Jewish and he’s Catholic. Despite being brought up like family when they were children, a romance between people of two different faiths in the 1940s is unlikely to happen. And sure enough, Angelo chooses the church over Eva and becomes a priest.
But when the German tanks roll in and Eva has nowhere to turn, Angelo steps up and hides her in the walls of a convent, where Eva is amazed to discover that she isn’t the only one avoiding the Nazis there.
Books For Living Author: Will Schwalbe Publisher: Knopf, nonfiction
WHY are you reading this page? Why are you interested in books? To learn, to be entertained, to escape reality for a while? Will Schwalbe – author of the bestselling The End Of Your Life Book Club (Knopf, 2012) – reads for all those reasons and also to make sense of the world. In his latest book, he takes readers along as he searches out those books that can help make sense of this modern world; he explains how he came across these titles – that span centuries and genres (including cookbooks!) – what associations they have for him, and how they relate to questions we all have about life.
Below The Belt (Stone Barrington #40)
UNORTHODOX “legal counsel” and ex-cop Stone Barrington is finding peace in Santa Fe when he receives a call for help he can’t ignore. An old friend is in trouble and needs Stone’s particular brand of stealth and subtlety to get him out of an explosive mess. But the mess also includes a big time mover and shaker, a man on a very determined path to the top, and soon, Stone finds himself knee-deep in shady characters and power brokers.
Different Class Author: Joanne Harris Publisher: Touchstone, suspense
THE author of the whimsical romance Chocolat (Doubleday, 1999) – that was made into a celebrated movie starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp in 2000 – has since made a name for producing dark, twisty plots set in England. In Different Class, she sets up a mystery in St Oswald’s Grammar, a boys’ school where tradition has ruled for 500 years. Latin master Roy Straitley has been there forever and has seen all sorts of boys pass through his classroom. One boy, though, sticks in his mind. A boy who was involved in the school’s darkest hour 20 years ago. A boy who has returned to head Roy’s beloved institution. And a boy that Roy is certain is capable of terrible things.
Difficult Women Author: Roxane Gay
Publisher: Grove Press, short stories
ROXANE Gay’s latest collection of short stories features women, all sorts of women, from all imaginable walks of life. They are poor and rich, happily married and miserable, haunted by crimes or suffering from emotional blackmail. There are the sisters who are inseparable until they have to figure out how to live together while one gets married; there’s a stripper putting herself through college who has to deal with an obsessed customer; a black woman trying to leave her past behind who has to deal with merciless white curiosity. This is a peek into the very varied lives of many types of women.