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Reviews by Cathryn Conroy

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The Dictionary of Lost Words
by Pip Williams

If You Love Words, You'll Love This Book! (4/14/2023)

If a book were your favorite comfy sweater, this would be it. It's a slow, steady, and quietly fascinating read about the men and the very few women who were involved in the making of the venerable Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

It's also a book about linguistic …more

Sag Harbor: A Novel
by Colson Whitehead

A Trip to the Beach Like None You've Ever Had! The Writing Is Brilliant, but the Plot Crawls (4/14/2023)

This is the power of reading: It will take you places you can never go in real life. Exhibit A is this book.

This is a coming-of-age story about a nerdy and awkward 15-year-old, prep school-educated black boy, who is spending the summer of 1985 at his family's beach house …more

Garden Spells
by Sarah Addison Allen

A Delight to Read! An Enchanting Love Story Infused with a Touch of Magic (4/14/2023)

If you need a summer escape from the real world, just open this delightful book by Sarah Addison Allen. It’s the literary equivalent of a bundle of fresh, colorful flowers.

This novel is written in the genre of magical realism, so you must be able to suspend your belief ( …more

Call Your Daughter Home
by Deb Spera

Emotionally Searing and Difficult to Read, but It’s One of the Best Books I’ve Read (4/14/2023)

This is a story about the deep South. This is a story about the indelible bond and incredible courage of women. But most of all, this is a story about our shared humanity. This is a story that will stay with me for a long time.

Magnificently written by Deb Spera, this novel …more takes place in and near the swamps of South Carolina in the 1920s just after a boll weevil infestation destroyed the cotton crops and the livelihoods of countless people rich and poor. The book is written in the first person by three women:
--Annie is wife of a powerful man who has lost everything but quickly switches from growing cotton to tobacco on his plantation that still has empty slave cabins on the property.
--Gertrude is a poor, white woman with an abusive husband, four daughters, and no money.
--Retta is the black maid for Annie’s family. Happily married to Odell, the couple still grieve for the only child they lost when the little girl was eight years old.

The lives of these three women intersect in surprising ways, beginning when Retta rescues Gertrude and her daughters and takes them in, much to the disapproval of her black neighbors. But evil and dark, ugly secrets are lurking in the swamp and on the plantation, and when the three women figure out something so horrible, so wicked, so reprehensible, they have very different reactions as to how to tame it. Together, these women and mothers have a power they wouldn’t have alone.

The writing is brilliant with each woman’s voice so distinctive, so nuanced, so razor-sharp that the chapter headings listing the narrator’s name don’t even need to be there. You will know who it is by the style, which is quite a literary accomplishment.

Like the swamp around which the novel is set, this story will suck you in. The last third of the book is so compelling—actually, explosive—that it’s nearly impossible to stop reading. But the book is a tough one emotionally. The plot is unerring and relentless, exploring age-old taboos and physical abuse that hit me hard in the heart. Just know this going into it. A happy, carefree beach book it is not. Instead, it is emotionally searing. But isn’t that true of a lot of great works of literature?

This is an extraordinary book and one of the best I have read. (less)

A Fine Imitation: A Novel
by Amber Brock

Entertaining! A Fun ChickLit Escape Read with a Well-Crafted Plot That Has Several Clever Twists (4/14/2023)

This book is a ChickLit escape read. Take it to the beach. Read it curled up in front of the fireplace during a snowstorm. It will keep you entertained for hours. But like most ChickLit, it’s all plot without the enduring depth of literature. That said, we all need books …more

All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
by Tiya Miles

A Brilliant Melding of the Scholarly and the Personal. Quite Simply, This Is Essential Reading. (4/14/2023)

It’s just an old cotton seed bag. But it is truly priceless.

Sometime in the 1850s, Rose, an enslaved woman in Charleston, South Carolina, gave the bag to her nine-year-old daughter, Ashley, on the eve of her being sold away from her family to another South Carolina …more

Summer: Seasonal Quartet #4
by Ali Smith

A Literary Delight with Exquisite Writing, but Despite the Title, It’s Not a Beach Book (4/13/2023)

Despite the title, this is a not a light and romantic romp at the beach. This is a serious book about serious subjects—from the horrors of Nazi brutalities to the isolation of the Covid pandemic—but the story had me riveted.

Written by Ali Smith, this is the fourth in her …more seasonal quartet that officially begins with "Autumn: A Novel," but can be read in any order, since the stories are not related to each other. That said, I would advise—just for the fun of it—reading them during the season for which each is named. The author’s purpose for the four books is daunting: Each book is topical about current news events as they were happening when she was writing. (Novelists don’t do that! Except Ali Smith did. And pulled it off. Somehow.)

The barely-there plot begins in February 2020 just as people around the world are learning about a vicious and highly contagious virus. The story focuses on a handful of people—from a 13-year-old boy who is brilliant but somewhat delinquent to a 104-year-old man whose memories are more real to him than his daily existence. While the core of the story takes place in winter, many of the characters remember a summer that was special to them.

This is how it begins: On the beach in Brighton, Robert, age 13, does something truly mean and dangerous to his older sister, Sacha. Charlotte and Art (characters from "Winter"), who are wandering on the beach in the dead of winter, offer her assistance, accompanying her home. It is there that they meet the children’s mother, Grace, along with Robert (who hilariously falls madly in love with Charlotte), and the five of them—strangers who become like family—go on an unlikely journey together. From this barebones plot the story branches out so we learn the detailed backgrounds—some filled with joy, some with tragedy—of these and other characters. And the tie that binds these disparate people together is…summer.

Each of the four books in the series features a Shakespeare play, a Charles Dickens novel, and a contemporary artist. In "Summer," we have "A Winter’s Tale," "David Copperfield," and Italian filmmaker Lorenza Mazzetti. Yes, it’s an intellectual book about summer!

This final book in the seasonal quartet is far less political than "Autumn" (Brexit) and "Spring" (immigrants who are detained illegally) and more focused on the human psyche with characters so vivid, complex, and real that they just pop off the page.

The writing is exquisite, and it was this more than anything else, that kept me turning the pages. This book is a literary delight. (less)

The Daughters of Erietown: A Novel
by Connie Schultz

A Bit of a Soap Opera Plot, but It’s a Captivating Story That Brilliantly Captures a Bygone Era (4/13/2023)

As much as this is the story of a marriage, it is even more a story of a bygone era when men were the ones who went to work, women were housewives, races and ethnicities lived in separate neighborhoods, and Dad’s word—no matter how unfair—ruled. This is a story that will …more

Anxious People
by Fredrik Backman

Read This Book! It's Brilliantly Plotted, Heartwarming, and Hilarious (4/13/2023)

This is the story of a bank robber who botches the job and then inadvertently takes eight people hostage, all of whom are viewing an apartment for sale in a small town in Sweden the day before New Year's Eve. It's also the story of the two police officers—a father and a son— …more

Homegoing
by Yaa Gyasi

Fierce and Triumphant: A Historical Novel/Family Epic That Will Sear Your Heart and Soul (4/13/2023)

This a historical novel/family epic masquerading as the most creative collection of short stories I have ever read.

The premise: It is the summer of 1775 on the Gold Coast of West Africa. (The Gold Coast was a British Crown colony until its independence in 1957 when it …more

Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel
by Shelby Van Pelt

A Summer ChickLit Delight: An Endearing Novel About Death, Grief, and the Power of Love to Heal (4/13/2023)

It could happen! Well, maybe. OK, never. But that doesn't mean this book—a summer ChickLit delight—won't tug at your heartstrings and make you smile. It is an endearing novel about the tragedy of death, the anguish of grief, and the power of love to heal. And it's partly …more

Catherine House: A Novel
by Elisabeth Thomas

A Gothic Mystery, Thriller, and Coming-of-Age Novel That Is Both a Page-Turner and a Slog (4/13/2023)

The best way to describe this unusual novel by Elisabeth Thomas is: Peculiar. It's strange, odd, and weird. It's also creepy and eerie.

This Gothic mystery, thriller, coming-of-age novel is both a page-turner and a slog. How can it be both? The twisted, mysterious, and very …more dark plot makes it tempting to binge-read the book, but the novel just drags on and on and on.

It takes the first 60 pages to set up the story, so if you're the kind of reader who gives a book 50 pages and then calls it quits if it's not enticing enough, don't bother with this one. Then it takes the next 60 pages for something to really happen. Eventually, it picks up quite a bit, but it can still get bogged down in parts and then crawl to a sloooooow read before picking up again. Where was the publisher's editor in all this?

The twisted, mysterious, and dark plot: Catherine House is an elite college nestled in the woods of a small town in Pennsylvania. Students study there for three years, including the summers. Every student is given a full ride with absolutely no expenses. Sound good? There are also the creepy requirements and rules that all students must obey: The college is walled in by a fence. No one may leave. Students are totally isolated from the outside world—no news, no music, no phone calls. They may not have any contact whatsoever with family or friends until after graduation. They can't even wear their own clothing; the college provides everything they will need from jeans and white T-shirts to shampoo. But this is no convent or monastery. The college encourages students to drink LOTS of wine (all provided free) and to have rampant casual sex and out-of-control parties. An initiation and weekly "sessions" make this very much a cult-like experience. The academic work is rigorous in all disciplines, but this is especially so in the "new materials" concentration, where faculty and students are experimenting with a substance called plasm. This mysterious material can heal physical wounds and psychic disorders. But something nefarious, sinister, and top secret is going on in those labs. The main character is Ines Murillo, a mediocre, lazy student concentrating in art history. After the unexplained death of her roommate and other weird things she notices, Ines tries to crack the mystery of the plasm labs.

With more astute editing to create a more succinct storyline, this novel could have been far better. It's a shame it's not. (less)

The Prophets
by Robert Jones Jr.

The Prose Sings Like Poetry, but It's a Difficult Read—a Real Sucker Punch to the Heart (4/13/2023)

This literary novel is so beautifully and powerfully written that the prose sings like poetry, demanding that readers stop and reread not only paragraphs but also entire pages.

Masterfully written by Robert Jones Jr., this is the story of the forbidden love between Samuel …more

Walking on Eggshells: Navigating the Delicate Relationship Between Adult Children and Parents
by Jane Isay

Valuable Tips on How to Parent Grown Up Children Without Conflict (or Shut Up and Wear Beige) (4/13/2023)

When my oldest child was engaged to be married, a dear friend asked me, "Do you know the most important job for the mother of the groom?" I eagerly replied, "Do tell!" She quipped, "Shut up and wear beige." After I stopped laughing, I realized that this is spot-on advice …more for not only being the mother of the groom, but also being the mother and mother-in-law of grown children male or female. Keep your opinions to yourself unless you are asked and stay in the background.

Even if you are blessed with a good relationship with your grown children and their spouses as I am, there will still be times of conflict. That is the point of this book by Jane Isay: Tips on navigating these relationships now that everyone is an adult and you, the parent, have lost your parental authority. We all must learn and master new roles, and this can be tricky at times. After all, when we experience conflict with our grown-up children, it can be unnerving at best and extremely hurtful at worst. Our advice is not appreciated and can even be resented. So parents must relearn how to parent.

Most of the book's advice is given through real-life examples of parent/grown child relationships, some of which are nearly off the rails but most of which are very solid with just some bumps of conflict. How these various conflicts started, what happened during the conflict, and how the conflict was resolved—or not—is the crux of the book. Some readers may find this quite helpful, especially if they see themselves in one of the examples, but others may not find value in something that doesn't mirror their own situation. Still, there is value in realizing you're not alone, as well as that others have it far worse than you do!

Some of what you will learn in this book is:
• How to foster a peer relationship between the generations with love and understanding. This requires more change and growth on the part of the parents than it does on the grown children.

• How to better communicate with your grown children, especially when they aren't living up to your expectations, hopes, and dreams for them.

• Find out THE most difficult task for parents of adults, but if you can do this and you are almost ensured of relationship success.

• Find out a lot more, including how to deal with divorce, stepfamilies, the challenges of giving/loaning money to grown children, and those emotion-packed holiday get-togethers. (less)

My Brilliant Friend
by Elena Ferrante

A Literary Novel Filled with Wisdom, Wit, and Insight About a Deep and Abiding Friendship (4/13/2023)

I read this extraordinary book by Italian author Elena Ferrante with a bit of trepidation. Two of my bookish friends whose opinions I greatly value have wildly different views of this novel. One friend loves it so much that this is her go-to book to give as a gift; it is so …more important to her that she simply must share it with many people. The other friend is vehement in her dislike, going so far as to tell me, "I hated the book!!!" (Yes, with three exclamation points.)

I fall somewhere between the two. The colorful characters just drew me in to their insular working-class world of 1950s Naples, Italy. The streets came alive, I could feel the crowded apartments, and I could always sense the underlying current of anger and violence that filled the hearts of so many of the men. It just seemed so real. And, oh, the writing! It's simply exquisite.

This, the first of a quartet of books about the lifelong friendship between Lila Cerullo and Elena Greco, focuses on the girls' childhood and adolescence—that emotionally volatile time when girls make decisions about their grownup lives while wondering all the while how they could be so ugly and stupid and inept. Who would ever love them? Where will they work? Who will they BE? Although the book is narrated by Elena, the real star is Lila. Naturally brilliant, Lila is forced to quit school at age 12 and work in her father's shoe repair shop along with her angry brother, Rino. Her best friend, Elena is allowed to go to the private middle school and high school, and Lila does her best to keep up with Elena by actually teaching herself Latin and Greek on her own. They are smart and bookish in a world that wants them to just be pretty, silly, and marry young. Still, both girls are caught up in the little neighborhood's social scene, learning to dance, meeting boys, and falling in love. Their friendship is truly based on love for each other, but like adolescent girls from time immemorial, they have deep conflicts and complicated lives, which take very different paths by the book's end.

This is a literary novel about a deep and abiding female friendship that relies on characters instead of plot to propel the story. I was captivated by the novel, delighting in the wisdom, wit, and insight of Lila and Elena as they navigate growing up and becoming young women. (less)

The Arrivals: A Novel
by Meg Mitchell Moore

Selfish, Whiny, Entitled Characters No Plot = A Boring Book (4/13/2023)

This is summer ChickLit with a big ol' helpin' of whining and complaining. Enough already!

Written by Meg Mitchell Moore, this is the story of William and Ginny, sixty-somethings who are happily retired in Burlington, Vermont on the shores of picturesque Lake Champlain and …more still living in the home in which they raised their three children. Those three now-grown kids each have problems they think are so insurmountable that they rush home to Mom and Dad. But here's the weird part: The kids show up on the doorstep one-by-one, but it takes seemingly forever for each of them to actually reveal to the others why they are there and why they are suffering so.

• Lillian is living in a beautiful home near Boston with husband Tom and their two children Oliva, 3, and Phillip, three months. The home is decorated from the pages of a Pottery Barn catalog. Soon after baby Phillip's birth, Tom has a drunken one-night stand with his very young secretary at an out-of-control office party, and of course someone immediately calls Lillian to squeal. In a fit of anger, she flees with the kids, yelling at Tom not to contact her—ever again.
• Stephen, a mediocre freelance editor lives in a tony New York City loft apartment with his MBA-credentialed wife, Jane, who makes the big bucks. Jane is pregnant and very moody, so Stephen decides the best way to cheer her up is to whisk her off to his family's home for a long weekend. This is puzzling because Jane and Ginny are like oil and water. THIS is going to cheer up the moody pregnant wife? But then there is a medical emergency, and Jane is ordered to bedrest in Vermont for 10 weeks.
• Rachel, who just broke up with her live-in boyfriend because he won't marry her, is failing at her job as a casting agent for one reason only: She has given up trying. Meanwhile, she can't afford the rent on her New York City apartment since the boyfriend walked out. Instead of trying to make the job work out, she flees to Vermont in emotional and financial distress.

That's the set-up. Everyone is home in Vermont in a house that isn't big enough for all of them. Chaos ensues. There is much rage and resentment. The problems take a long, long, long time to come to light before they resolve, which only happens because Ginny and William finally have had enough and force the "kids" to act like the adults they are. (But first they blame themselves that their children are so unhappy. Sigh.)

What bothered me the most about the book—in addition to nothing happening except a lot of noise and laundry—was the unrealistic expectations and actions of every character. They are all wrapped up in their own little world and can't see past themselves to reach out and help the ones they love the most. Instead, they just whine and complain. I had little patience for the characters because they were ALL so selfish, spoiled, and entitled. The result? A boring book. (less)

Booth
by Karen Joy Fowler

Original, Imaginative and Ingeniously Plotted: A Riveting Story That Is Also a Warning for Our Times (4/13/2023)

A warning. That is what this book is. A chilling, daunting and, perhaps, prophetic warning. And you don't even have to be a particularly astute reader to see that.

This is the personal life story of one of the most despised and reviled assassins in American history, but …more instead of being told from the point of view of John Wilkes Booth, it is told from the perspective of three of his siblings. This is a brilliant and compelling historical novel that is firmly grounded in prodigious research and sweetened with an imagined rendering of the Booth family daily lives, thoughts, and conversations.

Written by Karen Joy Fowler and longlisted (as of this writing) for the prestigious 2022 Booker Prize, this is the story of one American family that mirrors the divisions and hatreds that consumed our nation in the mid-1800s. Junius Brutus Booth is a highly revered and hugely popular Shakespearean actor. Even without the benefit of mass media, he is a celebrity. Junius is harboring a big, dark secret, so he moves his wife, Mary Ann, and their children—eventually there are 10 children, although four die in childhood—to what he considers a secret farm in Bel Air, Maryland. Junius is away touring with his theater troupe nine months of the year, leaving the family on their own and often without money. The ninth child in this brood and the obvious favorite of everyone is John Wilkes. He is charming, brave, and daring.

This novel is told through the eyes of three of John's siblings: sisters Rosalie and Asia and brother Edwin. The siblings are so different from each other! Rosalie is a slightly physically deformed spinster, growing more bitter by the years. Asia is beautiful but can be coldhearted and even cruel. At one point in the book, she is described as "all ice and iron." Edwin is the only one in the family who makes money, but he is a raging alcoholic. The family eventually move to Baltimore, and when Junius's deep, dark secret is revealed, it causes a scandal for the entire family. The children grow up, and Edwin and John become actors. Edwin rises to fame and a bit of fortune; John is mediocre. But John has passionate feelings about the South's position in the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln—feelings that horrify his family. These feelings eventually consume him until he assassinates the president during a stage performance at Ford's Theater on April 14, 1865.

Interspersed throughout the book are snippets about Lincoln—what he is doing at the same point in time, as well as brief excerpts from his speeches and letters. It's a subtle and tragic reminder of what's to come.

Even though we all know how this story ends, the novel is still a captivating read. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a page-turner—sometimes Fowler gets bogged down in the historical minutiae—but it is original, imaginative, and ingeniously plotted. Because we know John Wilkes Booth only through his siblings' eyes, we see him as a real human being. His sisters and brothers loved and adored him so it's hard for readers not to do the same—except when we remember his evil, murderous deed.

But this is more than history transformed into story. It is also an unnerving and prescient allegory for today's divisive politics that spark hatred, fear, and dissension both within our own families and our communities. And that hatred, fear, and dissension are what lead to tragedies.

This is not only a good book, but also it's a warning. (less)

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story
by John Berendt

A Bizarre Cast of Characters, a Baffling Murder, and Excellent Writing Make This a Must-Read Book! (4/13/2023)

This book is nonfiction. And that's a good thing because it's too unbelievable to be fiction. But…wow. It's (mostly) true.

Ostensibly, this is about the baffling May 2, 1981 murder of a 21-year-old out-of-control, drunk, drug-addicted, kid with a history of violence named …more Danny Hansford by millionaire Jim Williams. Was it a cold-blooded shooting of the boy or self-defense? I say the book is "ostensibly" about this because the murder doesn't occur until just before the halfway point of the book. Until then, author John Berendt gives us a character-driven travelogue of upper- and lower-class Savannah, Georgia circa the early 1980s. And what characters they are!

In addition to Danny, whose violent rampages and extensive sexual conquests with both men and women are enough to give Savannah matrons the vapors, we have:
• a voodoo priestess who wears purple glasses, talks to the dead, and puts curses on the living—for a fee;
• a man who hoards a poison potent enough to kill most of Savannah if he ever dumped it in the water supply (which he sometimes threatens to do);
• a black drag queen named Lady Chablis, who reveals secrets of the drag queen trade that readers will likely find humorous or revolting—or both;
• a man who is (legitimately) paid to "walk" a dog that has been dead for 20 years;
• a professional squatter, who doesn't live in downtrodden, abandoned buildings but rather in unoccupied mansions. And he isn't quiet about it. He opens the mansion for tourists who pay admission for a tour and lunch!

But back to the point of the book: the murder of Danny Hansford. Jim Williams, who owned Mercer House, one of the grandest old mansions in the city that he filled with priceless antiques and paintings, was a bachelor in his 50s who made his fortune as an antiques dealer. He was an outsider who successfully climbed the Savannah social ladder. Many admired him for this accomplishment, especially because he hosted the most incredible parties, but others were envious and even outraged. Williams says he hired Danny because he thought he could help him. Danny had a habit of repeatedly getting so incensed over almost anything that he vented his anger by storming through Mercer House destroying random contents. The reality is that he kept Danny around as a sexual partner, a fact that came to light in his first trial and truly shocked those aforementioned Savannah matrons. Williams was eventually tried four times for this one crime, a record in Georgia.

Just so you know, the title of the book refers to something the voodoo priestess told the author: "Dead time lasts for one hour—from half an hour before midnight to half an hour after midnight. The half hour before midnight is for doin' good. The half hour after midnight is for doin' evil."

In many ways this is a love letter to a historic Southern city by a transplanted New Yorker. It is one of those rare nonfiction books that I couldn't put down. It is a bizarre, strange, peculiar, curious, and incredibly compelling to read. (less)

That Old Cape Magic
by Richard Russo

Classic Richard Russo! A Literary Treasure Filled with Life-Truths, Hilarity, and Heartbreak (4/13/2023)

Oh, this book! This is classic Richard Russo: a really good story written with wit, verve, and so many life-truths that I was nodding my head in wonder when I wasn't laughing out loud or reaching for the tissues. There is a reason this gifted writer won the Pulitzer Prize …more for Literature (for "Empire Falls").

This is the story of a year in the life of 50-something Jack Griffin, bookended by two summer weddings—the first in Cape Cod, Massachusetts where his parents vacationed every summer when Jack was a child and the second on the coast of Maine where his wife's family vacationed when she was a child. Griffin, as he is called throughout the book, is a former Hollywood screenwriter of B-list TV shows and movies who is now teaching screenwriting in a B-list liberal arts college in New England. He is bitter, deeply unhappy, and incessantly questioning his life choices. As he and his wife, Joy, go the Cape Cod wedding of their daughter Laura's best friend, he plans to scatter his father's ashes on the cape. (He's been toting them around in the trunk of his convertible for almost a year.) But the ghost of memories, centering largely on his dysfunctional parents and childhood, echo all around him, dredging up previous hurts that have the unsettling effect of unraveling his marriage of 34 years. The following summer is his daughter's wedding, and it is here that Russo's writing chops are on full display. The scene of the rehearsal dinner where half the guests end up in the emergency room is worth the price of the book alone!

In typical Russo style, the characters own this story far more than the plot. They seem so real, so authentic, and so human that I just couldn't wait to rejoin them each day. This really is an introspective and highly entertaining novel about the meaning of life—what we inherit from our parents, what makes us truly happy, what cuts us to the bone with heartbreak, and how we handle it all to wake up another day and start all over again.

An aside: In 2018, I had the privilege of hearing Richard Russo speak at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., and he mentioned that "That Old Cape Magic" started out as a short story, but when he finished writing it, it was a novel. I'm so happy it turned out that way because this novel is a literary treasure. (less)

Horse: A Novel
by Geraldine Brooks

A Masterpiece! Truly Imaginative, Multilayered Story That Is a Gripping, Can't-Put-It-Down Read (4/13/2023)

A book about a racehorse from the 1850s? Well, that doesn't interest me. But a book by Geraldine Brooks? That I cannot resist. She is one of my favorite authors, and this novel is yet again a reason why.

Quite simply, this is a masterpiece. It's a truly imaginative, …more multilayered story that is a gripping, can't-put-it-down read.

The book is several stories in one, but the common thread is the true story of Lexington, a powerful, legendary racehorse in the 1850s that transformed the sport. With Lexington as the centerpiece, Brooks has crafted multiple stories, each of which is riveting:
• Lexington, Kentucky, 1850: Jarrett, an enslaved young man in Kentucky, has a special talent for training horses. At a young age, he is given responsibility for Lexington, and the two develop a special bond that is never severed. One night during the Civil War, Jarrett's courage and passion are supremely tested.

• Lexington, Kentucky, 1850: Thomas J. Scott is an itinerant painter specializing in horses. His chapters are written in the first person just as he would have spoken.

• New York City, 1954: Martha Jackson is one of the very few female art dealers. Although she specializes in modern art, she comes across an oil painting of Lexington of mysterious origin.

• Washington, D.C., 2019: The unlikely pair of Jess, an Australian bone specialist with the Smithsonian who finds Lexington's preserved skeleton in a Smithsonian warehouse attic, and Theo, a Nigerian American PhD student in art history at Georgetown University who finds one of Scott's paintings of Lexington discarded in a curbside junk pile, meet and develop both a professional and personal relationship.

But this is more than a horse story. Throughout the book, Brooks deftly deals with racism—from the cruelty and inhumanity of slavery to the piercing and hurtful racial microaggressions that taunt Blacks today. How Jarrett and Theo feel and how they are treated is as important a part of the story as what they do.

The chapters bounce back and forth in time and place, but Brooks, the consummate storyteller, always has it under control so it's never confusing or disjointed. Rich historical detail, complex characters, and writing that is pitch-perfect together make this an extraordinary novel—even for those of us who know nothing about racehorses.

An aside: The dedication made me cry. Truly. So much that I couldn't turn the page right away. (less)

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The Husbands
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Becoming Madam Secretary
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