Allison Epstein has done a wonderful job fleshing out the character of "Oliver Twist('s)" Jacob Fagin. If you enjoy books like Sarah Miller's "Marmee" or modern retellings or additions to the Jane Austen stories, "Fagin the Thief" may fill several happy hours of reading.

Epstein begins her imagining of Fagin when he is six years old. She skips around throughout the book but each chapter head includes the date, so it is easy to follow the plot.

Along with Fagin, the author also expands on the lives of Dodger, Nancy, Oliver Twist, and Bill Sikes, as well as Sike's dog, Bullseye. The story moves quickly. It is so well-written that I really did feel as if I was reading a part of Dickens I'd never found before.

"Fagin the Thief" was a joy to read and I highly recommend it.

If you're looking for a book with car chases, explosions, and double agents, you're not looking for "The Seven O'Clock Club." If you'd feel at home with a book about four strangers who have each endured a tragedy from which they can't seem to heal, Amelia Ireland has written the perfect story for you.

Genevieve is a therapist who has developed a technique to help people get back to wholeness and functioning. Freya, Mischa, Victoria, and Callum are the suffering souls invited to join this group. If they accept, they commit to at least four sessions.

It isn't easy. At the first meeting, Genevieve asks everyone to recount a happy experience from their childhood. It's heart-wrenching how difficult this is for some.

Then the twist comes-- one of the biggest I've encountered in a novel. The conclusions I'd reached no longer made sense. The story became all the more compelling and I read chapter after chapter to learn what might happen to these characters.

"The Seven O'Clock Club" is Amelia Ireland's first novel. It is so well written that the characters seem to jump off the page. I strongly recommend it.

Thank you to BookBrowse for allowing me to read this book. This is my honest review.

Trouble at work? Difficult child? Nakagyo Kokoro Clinic for the Soul might have just what you need: a cat to take home for two weeks.

"We'll Prescribe You a Cat" is a charming set of vignettes about people who end up at a difficult-to-find clinic and find themselves carrying home a four-legged prescription. Imagine their surprise! When difficulties begin to resolve, the "patients" are even more incredulous.

The clinic itself is surrounded by mystery. Things are not necessarily as they seem.

This is a sweet story that tugs at the heartstrings. I hope Ishida will write a sequel.

Taylor Brown has written a compelling historical novel about the Battle of Blair Mountain, West Virginia. Although the largest battle on US soil since the Civil War, it's probably fair to say that many outside the region are not familiar with it.

The pivotal character in the book is Dr. Domit (Dr. Moo) Muhanna, a Lebanese man who came to Kentucky to go to medical school and who stayed to care for mine workers and all who needed his care. He is based upon the author's great-grandfather, who also came from Lebanon to attend medical school in Kentucky.

The year was 1920, and joining the union warranted harsh treatment -- often at gunpoint--in the minds of the coal bosses. If a man joined the union, he and his family lost their company housing and, near Blair Mountain, were moved to a tent city at the top of the hill. Contrast that to the mansions enjoyed by the mine executives.

Much of the book deals with the battle between the bosses' hired enforcers and the miners who just wanted to feed their families and house them decently. Some had just returned from fighting in World War I, and employed strategies they had learned there. Still, the Battle of Blair Mountain sounds as if it was an excruciating fight, with victory never assured for one side over the other.

The action moves quickly. Not only was the book hard to put down, it was hard to stop thinking about when I wasn't reading. I recommend "Rednecks." Taylor Brown brings history to life. I was also impressed by the book's bibliography.

I was first drawn to "The Funeral Cryer" by the title. I've been interested in the use of the "sin-eater" in Appalachian culture and wondered if the Chinese figure might be at all similar.

Wenyan Lu's "The Funeral Cryer" is the moving story of a woman who supports herself and her husband by singing and crying at funerals. The writing is spare but evocative and describes a bleak existence in a village in China. I didn't notice any dates in the book, but the nameless main character does use bus and taxi transportation when she goes to a neighboring city, as well as getting a ride on a moped.

Not only is the main character nameless; all the characters are nameless. Her husband is the husband. Her adult daughter is the daughter. A local married woman who associates with a number of men is called Hotpot.

Since some call the main character "Big Sister," I will as well. Big Sister's husband was fired from a job and has many excuses as to why he cannot get another job. She dutifully supports them both and tolerates being called stupid and ugly by her unemployed husband. He is quick to take the money she earns though!

Funeral cryers are thought to be cursed and to carry death around with them. The only person who treats Big Sister like a worthwhile person is the barber.

And that is the heart of the story. I recommend "The Funeral Cryer."

Thank you to BookBrowse and to NetGalley for the review copy of this book.

"Wild and Distant Seas" is the story of four generations of women who have some involvement with the men in "Moby Dick." Added to that is the fact that each woman has a specific magical talent. One can see your recent thoughts and another can make you forget something, for example.

I enjoyed "Wild and Distant Seas," and would recommend it, especially if you like "Marmee," "March," and other works that expand a character's life beyond what appears in the original work. This book reminds me of the best of the "fan fiction" stories based on the Jane Austen novels.

Each woman in "Wild and Distant Seas" tells her story in a different section of the book.

Tara Karr Roberts has taken an appealing idea for a story and made it work to perfection. I highly recommend "Wild and Distant Seas" and look forward to reading other books by this author. Thank you to Book Browse for the advance reader copy.

It is the stuff of nightmares. Clemence Michallon begins her debut thriller by describing the life of a woman who has been held captive by a man-- a man who is liked by everyone in his "other" life.

He tells the woman her name will be "Rachel." He mistreats her in about every way imaginable.

The Quiet Tenant tells the story of the horrors this young woman endures and what she comes to know about other women in this man's other life.

I read The Quiet Tenant in one day. I will look forward to future books from this author. This one was amazing.

What a wonderful story about such a devastating event! In "King of the Armadillos," 15-year-old Victor Chin has just been diagnosed with Hansen's disease (formerly known as leprosy). He must go to live at the government facility in Carville, LA, for treatment and stay until he is declared cured. Victor learns that some of the patients never leave.

The author's father was a patient at Carville and Wendy Chin-Tanner has drawn on his experiences in writing this book. Set in the 1950s, the characters seem like real people, and the situations that occur between Victor's fellow teenage patients ring true. This painful disease is the villain in "King of the Armadillos." I rooted for all the patients and admired the dedication of the healthcare staff and the school teachers.

I highly recommend this book and think it would be popular with book clubs. Older teens might enjoy it as well.

I've read several of Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie series and have enjoyed them, in large part due to Chet's (the dog) narration of the story. So when I saw that Quinn had written Mrs. Plansky's Revenge, I requested the ARC from Book Browse.

Mrs. Plansky is a business-savvy 71-year-old widow with a lot of spunk. She and her husband made a lot of money with an invention they developed. Sadly, all of that is threatened due to her falling for a phone scam. Here's where the spunk comes in: Mrs. Plansky decides to remedy her situation. What she comes up with forms the groundwork for an exciting story.

Mrs. Plansky is a wonderful character and I think it would be great if she had her own series. If you're in the mood for a grandma-in-jeopardy story, this just might be the book for you.

Whether or not you believe in psychics or mediums, "Some of It Was Real" is an entertaining book. Sylvie, the psychic/medium, gets a visit from Thomas, a journalist who wants to expose her as a fraud.

Sylvie is an orphan who remembers none of her life before her adoptive parents. Thomas grew up with his mother following a car crash that killed his father and brother. From his preparation for his article about her, he also knows more about Sylvie's past than she does.

Sylvie doubts herself. She doesn't know how much of her success is due to the research she does about her subjects before each show and how much has its origin in her unusual abilities. She has given remarkably accurate predictions at times-- without any preparation.

Thomas wants to dislike Sylvie. Sylvie doesn't want to lose her livelihood. Both become convinced that Sylvie needs to learn what happened in her forgotten first six years of life.

Nan Fischer tells the story from both Sylvie's and Thomas's viewpoints, alternating chapters to do so.

Fischer lets the reader make up his/her mind about mediums and psychics. The rest of the main characters' stories may be at least equally important anyway.

The good news is that I did finish the book. The other news is that the first chapter was so full of long, adjective-peppered sentences that I initially despaired of doing so.

Fortunately, the storytelling improved. I was totally unfamiliar with the life of Sylvia Beach and her contribution to the publication of James Joyce's Ulysses. I am glad to have learned about this episode in literary history.