Reviews by Julia E. (Atlanta, GA)

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Strong Passions
Strong Passions: A Scandalous Divorce in Old New York
by Barbara Weisberg
Labored telling of a Juicy Scandal (11/25/2023)
This very thoroughly researched book covers in thick (and often irrelevant) detail a scandalous divorce which enthralled New York Society during the 1860s. Given the topic and deep research, this could have been a delicious page-turner for all who love Downton Abbey. Alas, …more
The Wren, the Wren
The Wren, the Wren: A Novel
by Anne Enright
Intricate,Skillful Novel By Booker Prize Winner (8/2/2023)
The seventh novel by noted Irish writer, Anne Enright, whose novel, The Gathering, won the Man Booker Prize (2007) is no beach read, The Wren, The Wren merits close attention from demanding readers who will savor her understated poetic novel as she explores the complex …more
The Montevideo Brief
The Montevideo Brief: A Thomas Grey Novel
by J. H. Gelernter
Excellent historical spy novel (4/3/2023)
The Montevideo Brief is the well-written, fast-paced third novel in J.H. Gelernter's series of historical spy novels featuring British international spy, Thomas Grey. Taking place in the first decades of the 19th century, the tale details Grey's adventures as he thwarts …more
Exiles
Exiles: Aaron Falk Mystery #3
by Jane Harper
Splendid Crime Novel (8/9/2022)
The fifth crime novel by multiple-awarding winning Australian, Jane Harper, will be greeted with cheers by all who loved the first four. This time set in the flourishing wine country of South Australia, she again captures small-town Australia, with its strong, hard-working …more
Fencing with the King
Fencing with the King: A Novel
by Diana Abu-Jaber
Fascinating Family Saga (12/1/2021)
Fencing With the King is an absorbing fictional saga inspired by members of award-winning author, Diana Abu-Jaber's, paternal roots. Her father descends from upper-class Jordanians, and the society and culture of late 20th century Jordon inspire the characters and structure …more
The Lost Notebook of Edouard Manet
The Lost Notebook of Edouard Manet: A Novel
by Maureen Gibbon
Fascinating Novel Glimpsing into Fraught World of French Impressionism (6/29/2021)
A fact-based fictional account covering the final three years of Edouard Manet (1880-83) , who many regard as the father of French Impressionism..Lightly wearing a deep knowledge of Manet and his circle, Maureen Gibbons depicts the twilight of this syphilis-ridden painter …more
The Personal Librarian
The Personal Librarian
by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray
Intriguing Historical Fiction (1/31/2021)
The Personal Librarian is the little-known tale of Belle Da Costa Greene, the early twentieth-century woman who was Personal Librarian to financial titan JP Morgan. Widely admired for her knowledge, charm and shrewdness, Greene greatly shaped Morgan's vast book and …more
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie
by Marie Benedict
Skillful Historical Fiction (11/27/2020)
As avid Agatha-Christiephile's are aware, Christie's mystery novels still sell nearly as many copies as The Bible or works of Shakespeare. The library about this mystery novelist continues to expand as well. This cleverly structured, well-researched, fast-paced, skillfully …more
The Thirty Names of Night
The Thirty Names of Night
by Zeyn Joukhadar
Parts Greater Than Its Sum (9/4/2020)
Covering three generations of a Syrian-American family, this exquisitely written novel offers a welcome voice to the American immigration experience. There are many brilliantly rendered scenes for the reader to savor. One feels, however, that the author is more of a poet …more
The Voyage of the Morning Light
The Voyage of the Morning Light: A Novel
by Marina Endicott
Interesting Historical Fiction (5/30/2020)
Set primarily in the first decade of the 20th Century, this historical novel by award-winning Canadian writer, Marina Endicott, describes the experience of a young Canadian woman who accompanies her sister, and her sister's husband, the ship's captain, on a commercial cargo …more
Daughter of the Reich
Daughter of the Reich: A Novel
by Louise Fein
Well-researched debut novel (3/10/2020)
Daughter of German Jews who escaped to Britain in the early 1930's, Louise Fein's debut novel features the first-person thoughts and experiences of a German girl whose ambitious father is a rising star in Nazi circles. When she falls in love with a childhood playmate, an …more
Actress
Actress
by Anne Enright
Exquisite (10/30/2019)
Man Booker Prize-winning author, Anne Enright, adds another exquisitely-written, cunningly crafted novel, to her growing shelf of superb work. In Actress, Edwards explores the fictional biography of a once famous, now faded, movie and theater star, whose life encompassed …more
Courting Mr. Lincoln
Courting Mr. Lincoln
by Louis Bayard
Exquisitely Written Historical Fiction (1/29/2019)
As a quick skim through American history could show, it's often tough being First Lady; your husband's opponents are vicious while you are alive, and historians even more damning once you are dead. This is certainly true of Abraham Lincoln's wife, Mary.
The Mary Todd Lincoln …more
When We Left Cuba
When We Left Cuba
by Chanel Cleeton
Fitting Fodder For Fans of Historical Romance (12/13/2018)
Set in Florida just after Fidel Castro's 1959 takeover of Cuba , this historical novel features Beatriz Perez, the beautiful, strong-minded daughter of an exiled Cuban patrician family. A quick, fast-paced read: the women are beautiful, the men squared–jawed, the plotting …more
Clock Dance
Clock Dance: A Novel
by Anne Tyler
Clock Dance Whirls Gracefully (7/21/2018)
A beautifully written, largely Baltimore-based, novel by Anne Tyler. After decades of passively accepting what life puts in front of her, the 60ish central character blossoms forth when she finds herself embraced by a community that truly needs and values her. A warm, …more
The Gypsy Moth Summer
The Gypsy Moth Summer
by Julia Fierro
The Nasty Days of Summer (4/21/2017)
Set in an a factional American coastal island in the early 1990's, Julia Fierro's second novel is written with a spritely skill that keeps you engaged despite its two-dimensional characters, murky story-telling, and difficult engagement with Big Themes. One is tempted to …more
The Essex Serpent
The Essex Serpent
by Sarah Perry
A Most Engaging Tale (2/12/2017)
A smash 2016 best-seller in Britain, The Essex Serpent should be equally popular in its American edition. Though set in the late 19thth century, Cora Seaborne, the novel's central character, is engagingly modern: independent, opinionated , forever striding off for ten mile …more
Manderley Forever
Manderley Forever
by Tatiana de Rosnay
Readable Uncritical Tribute (12/3/2016)
In the preface of this biography of Daphne du Maurier, author Tatiana de Rosnay states that Du Maurier's most famous work, Rebecca, had profoundly effected de Rosnay's development as young writer; indeed, she signed her early work Tatiana du Maurier as homage. Her …more
The Tea Planter's Wife
The Tea Planter's Wife
by Dinah Jefferies
Engaging Chick-lit Beach Book (7/8/2016)
The central character in Dinah Jefferies' The Tea Planter's Wife says of a novel she is reading: "It's so vivid, and exciting, you really think you're there." Another character replies: "A little unrealistic though." To which our heroine replies: "True, but I like to lose …more
The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins
The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins
by Antonia Hodgson
A Worthy Sequel (12/30/2015)
Editor in Chief of Little, Brown UK, Antonia Hodgson, follows her award-winning debut mystery novel, The Devil in the Marshalsea, with an equally-enjoyable sequel. The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins continues the tale of Tom Hawkins, now out of the notorious Marshalsea …more
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