The Age of Acquiring: A Portrait of Etta and Claribel Cone by Mary Gabriel is a lush portrait of the burgeoning world of modern art, especially in Paris, in the early 20th century. If you love Paris, if you love Matisse, Degas, Picasso, Cezanne and other giants of the time, and if you have always …
History that reads like a thriller
Compliments of Hamilton and Sargent: A Story of Mystery and Tragedy on the Gilded Age Frontier by Maura Jane Farrelly is a perfect book for someone who revels in the process of researching a story, over and above being swept up in the story itself. It is set in the late 19th century, the closing …
Refugees and our nation’s soul
After the Last Border by Jessica Goudeau should be required reading for people who fear or loathe strangers coming to the United States to avoid persecution, war and chaos in their home countries. The author tells of two such women, weaving between their alternating stories the history of immigration and refugee resettlement in this country. …
A mystery and a period piece
Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford is a quickly unspooling, cinematic mystery set in the fictional city of Cahokia, during the 1920’s. (The real Cahokia had vanished by 1200 C.E., leaving behind only mounds of grass-covered dirt in Illinois, near the meeting of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.) The population of author Spufford’s Cahokia is divided …
A Vietnamese novelist captures troubled history
The Mountains Sing , a first novel by Vietnamese poet and author Nguyen Phan Que Mai, is a saga about the Tran family, against the backdrop of 20th century Vietnamese history, is told from two perspectives. First is that of grandmother Dieu Lan, telling her family story to her granddaughter Hu’o’ng, nicknamed Guava. Dieu Lan, …
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Donald Trump: Now he’s gone too far!
Every day, the 45th President of the United States finds a new low to which he can drag down the country, whether in eviscerating the rule of law, subverting our international relations, wantonly pandering conflicts of interest, or rapaciously using his presidency for unbridled personal gain. Every day, the headlines pummel us into submission, as …
The Black Panthers humanized in stirring fiction
Kingdom of No Tomorrow by Fabienne Josaphat is a powerful piece of historical fiction told in the third person through the eyes of Nettie Boileau, a Haitian-born young woman whose father had been killed by dictator Papa Doc Duvallier’s thugs, the Tonton Macoute. Her father, a gentle rural doctor, was also a revolutionary. Orphaned at …
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The story behind the score: Handel and history
Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel's Messiah by Charles King is a delicious mix of history and music, against the backdrop of 18th century England. George Frideric Handel had grown up in Halle, Germany, worked for a while in Italy and moved to England, where he eventually became a citizen. …
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Literary fireworks for the July 4th holiday
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is one of the most captivating works of fiction I’ve read in a long time. (I thank my reliable source Beth G. for the recommendation.) Set in rural England, this is a story of youthful passion, class differences, family loyalty, secrets, crime, coverups, abiding love, wrong decisions, their consequences, …
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An accomplished journalist’s candid memoir
Lost and Found: Coming of Age in the Washington Press Corps by Ellen Hume captures the idealism of a young reporter, from her early days as a cub in California, moving to the L.A. Times and its Washington Bureau, and her intuitive skills in ferreting out the truth behind the headlines and press releases. As …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 