Reviews by Lesley F. (San Diego, CA)

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The Stolen Child
The Stolen Child: A Novel
by Ann Hood
A Storyteller's Great Gift to Readers (4/13/2024)
The Stolen Child by Ann Hood clearly was written by a very good author and great storyteller. Storytellers are a gift to humanity. The title comes from a poem by W.B. Yeats, some of the characters have a connection to Pablo Neruda - the story is told so poetically that one …more
Do Tell
Do Tell: A Novel
by Lindsay Lynch
Gossip Columnist Gossips (6/25/2023)
Interesting gossip could make a great page-turner. This book is written in the first person - one gossip columnist working in old Hollywood - like Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. The information shared about actors, directors, who was with whom, and so on, is great fun to …more
The Montevideo Brief
The Montevideo Brief: A Thomas Grey Novel
by J. H. Gelernter
Historically Fascinating Spy Novel Set in Napoleonic Times (4/1/2023)
In the Prologue, we learn of eight U.S. "marines" from the new U.S.A.'s tiny navy who successfully land on "the shores of Tripoli" and complete a daring raid from the U.S.S. "Constitution" led by Stephen "Decatur" to free the harbor of Barbary pirates!

A few pages into …more
Two Storm Wood
Two Storm Wood: A Novel
by Philip Gray
The Battlefields of the Somme (12/1/2021)
This is the best thriller I have read in quite some time. A woman goes to the battlefields of the Great War to search for her fiance, missing and presumed dead - an unthinkable thing for her to do in 1919. She witnesses the horror of the the war in its aftermath - then …more
Everybody
Everybody: A Book about Freedom
by Olivia Laing
Bodily Freedom (5/8/2021)
In my life I have enjoyed a great amount of white privilege and at the same time felt the struggles involved in trying to feel that my body was important and acceptable to "my tribe". This book has explained to me the other side of the reported current events over the last 1 …more
Appleseed
Appleseed
by Matt Bell
Appleseed (3/17/2021)
In his acknowledgements, author Matt Bell thanks Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire, for his recounting of the legend of Johnny Appleseed which sparked this imaginative post-apocalyptic story. I have read that book and understand the thanks Bell gave. It planted …more
Big Girl, Small Town
Big Girl, Small Town
by Michelle Gallen
A Wee Touch o' th' Irish (10/30/2020)
An astounding story from Northern Ireland after the Troubles have recently ended. A wee touch of the feelings surrounding a not-American problem. 400 years of Catholic - Protestant difficulties should show Americans another kind of prejudice long ingrained in a culture. A …more
The Smallest Lights in the Universe
The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir
by Sara Seager
Small Lights Ringing Bells (7/4/2020)
OMG A memoir. Not another memoir. I wasn't crazy about the last one I read. But wait...
After discussing Elderhood by Louise Aaronson in another group, Ms. Seager's descriptions of the hospital and the doctor where Mike was treated, rang a bell. After losing family members …more
The Paris Hours
The Paris Hours: A Novel
by Alex George
In Search of Lost Time (2/18/2020)
Proust would have liked the connection. Midnight in Paris came to mind immediately because again those famous folk drift by. Four souls searching for something lost - time (or people) - after WWI, are each introduced chapter by chapter and then we revisit for more detail. …more
Welcome to the Pine Away Motel and Cabins
Welcome to the Pine Away Motel and Cabins
by Katarina Bivald
A Motel of Mysteries (12/5/2019)
"Welcome to the Pine Away Motel and Cabins" by Katarina Bivald is wonderful. Special kudos go to Alice Menzies whose work in translating from Swedish needs to be recognized and lauded! Many books have been written lately with the timeline going back and forth, chapter after …more
Yale Needs Women
Yale Needs Women: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant
by Anne Gardiner Perkins
Yale and Women (7/8/2019)
Here is a bit of history that has been a long time coming - rather like the speed at which Yale took care of the co-education issue. Thanks to Anne Gardiner Perkins then, for finally bringing it all to light and all the women who shared their stories.
All women need to read …more
The Night Tiger
The Night Tiger: A Novel
by Yangsze Choo
Night Tiger - A Great Asian Mystery to Solve (12/5/2018)
This book was so good. I read almost straight through. Well, enough to be late for a couple of appointments! I really want to read Ms. Yangsze Choo's first novel, The Ghost Bride!
Night Tiger is mystery and magic realism in 1930s Malaysia - or Malaya as it was known - the …more
A Ladder to the Sky
A Ladder to the Sky: A Novel
by John Boyne
A Ladder to the Sky: Wow! THIS is a horror story. (9/6/2018)
This author wrote The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. John Boyne can flat-out tell a story. This one is frightening if you have ever contemplated writing a story, or your story, or someone's story. Boyne draws you in slowly but as you follow this story of Maurice you begin to …more
The Summer Wives
The Summer Wives
by Beatriz Williams
Summer Wives Excellent Summer Read (4/27/2018)
This is the third of Beatriz Williams novels for me. Cocoa Beach and A Certain Age came before Summer Wives, therefore I knew just what a great storyteller Ms. Williams is. She makes very sure to do her historical research before beginning a new novel. F. Scott Fitzgerald …more
Mothers of Sparta
Mothers of Sparta: A Memoir in Pieces
by Dawn Davies
Pieces of a Life (9/14/2017)
These essays put into book form make a loose memoir of this woman's life. I have not read anything as brutally honest as this. I laughed out loud, cried, and recognized some of the pain and could not put it down. It is an amazingly laid-bare tale. The essay in the middle re: …more
The People We Hate at the Wedding
The People We Hate at the Wedding
by Grant Ginder
Siblings at Their Worst(Best) (4/16/2017)
This isn't I Love Lucy funny nor is it Bob Hope funny. Maybe it's George Carlin funny or Richard Prior funny. If you get THAT reference and are interested, then you will likely enjoy this seriously dysfunctional family. Anyone from Gen-X through the Millennials will …more
The Essex Serpent
The Essex Serpent
by Sarah Perry
No, 5-PLUS! How it Feels to Be Living in Victorian Times (2/12/2017)
What a delicious pleasure to read. Not only do you feel that you have stumbled on an authentic antique-of-a-story written just before the turn of the last century, you are able to identify with each of the various characters, who, central or peripheral, are all slowly …more
Before the War
Before the War
by Fay Weldon
Have I Got a Story for YOU! (11/10/2016)
This story was a great deal of fun, once I caught on to the idea that the "author" was telling this story to ME, NOW. These days, many authors are playing with time and characters to tell a story from different angles. This was fresh! - straight from the horse's mouth, so …more
The Tea Planter's Wife
The Tea Planter's Wife
by Dinah Jefferies
Not Quite MY Cup of Tea (8/11/2016)
If you are a fan of Jane Austen's stories or romance novels, read no further. You KNOW you will love it!

The story takes place in colonial Ceylon from 1912 through 1934 - nearly the same timeline as Downton Abbey - as a young bride from England comes to her new husband's tea …more
The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins
The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins
by Antonia Hodgson
The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins (12/19/2015)
Antonia Hodgson has written a really fine mystery around a young man accused of murder and heading to the gallows in the London of 1728. As he is taken by wagon to the hanging place outside the city, he worries about receiving a last minute royal pardon for having kept his …more
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