The Photographer's Wife

The Photographer's Wife by Suzanne Joinson is a novel set in 1920's Jerusalem and 1937 England. The protagonist is not actually the photographer's wife, but rather 11 year old Prue, daughter of an English architect living in Jerusalem. Seventeen years later, she is an artist living by the English seaside with her young son, when memories of her childhood in Jerusalem come back to haunt her.

A beautifully written book, almost like a dream, yet lacking in depth and character development. It is a story of Colonialism and the horrors that can accompany it, seen through the eyes of a child. An ok read, I would like to read Joinson's earlier novel, A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar.

The Turner House

The Turner House by Angela Flournoy is a novel about a big American family with thirteen kids from Detroit and the house they all grew up in.

They are grown now, and the oldest brother Cha-Cha is seeing a psychiatrist because he believes he has been seeing a ghost, or a haint, as they are called down South where his parents are from. The house is empty now and in what's become a bad neighborhood in the city. Most of the siblings gather to decide whether to try to save it, or finally let it go.

This is a wonderfully written novel, memorable, full of well developed characters, linked together through history, family, place, desires. A great debut.

Untwine

Untwine is the new novel by Haitian author Edwidge Danticat. Set in Miami, it is the story of two identical twin sisters, born holding hands. Sixteen years later, one wakes up in a hospital room unable to speak or move and tries to piece together the tragedy that just befell her family.

A beautifully written novel; a heartbreaking story about loss and finding yourself again. However, I kept hoping something else was going to happen in the story, and when it didn't, I just felt sad at the end of the book. I enjoyed Breath, Eyes, Memory, one of her earlier novels, more.

The Dovekeepers

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman is historic fiction set at the time of the fall of Jerusalem (70 C.E.) to the Romans, specifically the Jewish stronghold of Masada where over 900 Jews committed mass suicide rather than be taken as slaves by the Romans.

Hoffman tells the story through the voices of four different women who came to Masada and became the dovekeepers there. The language is mesmerizing; she beautifully weaves their stories, their lives, their voices together as if they are rising up from the past. This is a brilliant novel, taking the reader into the desert, into another time and place where we can hear from those few who survived this massacre.

An extraordinary novel, highly recommended.

Fingersmith

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, is such a well plotted, suspenseful novel, with so many twists and turns, I kept having to go back to see what I had missed. Set in 1860's London, amongst a group of petty thieves, known as fingersmiths, a plot is hatched to make them all rich, or is it?

Waters is a master of her craft. Hers is a dark world to enter into, but even so, almost impossible to put down. Paying Guests remains my favorite of her novels, but this one is still  worth a read.

Winter Sea

If you like time travel, historic fiction or romance novels, you will love Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsly. Set on the coast of Scotland in present day and 300 years ago during a Jacobite uprising, a writer rents a small cabin only to discover she is reliving her ancestors memories and her life beings to parallel that of the past.

Kearsly has beautifully crafted the story. A great book to escape into, I was transported to Scotland past and present and didn't want to leave. A well written and thoroughly enjoyable read.