The Butterfly Cabinet : a Novel
Kirkus Reviews Like an IrishUpstairs Downstairsbut much darker, McGill's first novel examines the events surrounding a child's death in 1892 from the point of view of both her aristocratic mother and a young housemaid. The premise of the novel, based on an actual case, is straightforward: Harriet Ormond, the mistress of Oranmore, locks her 4-year-old […]
Coming Up For Air
Kirkus Reviews An affecting Southern tale about second chances and banishing the ghosts of regret. Ellie is devastated when her mother Lillian suddenly dies. Theirs was not a perfect relationship—Lillian was one of those moneyed Southern Belles devoted to perfection and protocol—but Ellie was a faithful daughter nonetheless. Cleaning out her mother's closets, Ellie comes […]
Portrait of a Spy
Library Journal: While enjoying a day in London with his wife, antiterrorist expert Gabriel Allon spots a man he believes to be a suicide bomber and follows him into Covent Garden. Alas, undercover police knock him down before he can intervene, and carnage ensues. Afterward, the CIA asks Gabriel to track down an American-born cleric […]
Rules of Civility
The New York Times – Liesl Schillinger With this snappy period piece, Towles resurrects the cinematic black-and-white Manhattan of the golden age of screwball comedy, gal-pal camaraderie and romantic mischief…
Only Time Will Tell
Library Journal Internationally best-selling British storyteller Archer (A Prisoner of Birth) launches his most daunting literary project—a five-volume, semiautobiographical, multigenerational epic. In 20-year segments sweeping through the 20th century and into the 21st, Archer's creative page-turner features the precocious Harry Clifton, an intellectually gifted youth from the Bristol dockyards mingling in the grand estate of […]
The Submission
The New York Times – Claire Messud With the keen and expert eye of an excellent journalist, Waldman provides telling portraits of all the drama's major players, deftly exposing their foibles and their mutual manipulations. And she has a sense of humor: the novel is punctuated with darkly comic details…Elegantly written and tightly plotted, The […]
The Buddha In the Attic
The New York Times Book Review – Alida Becker In the Japanese art of sumi-e, strokes of ink are brushed across sheets of rice paper, the play of light and dark capturing not just images but sensations, not just surfaces but the essence of what lies within. Simplicity of line is prized, extraneous detail discouraged. […]
The Leftovers
The New York Times Book Review – Stephen King: Perrotta has delivered a troubling disquisition on how ordinary people react to extraordinary and inexplicable events, the power of family to hurt and to heal, and the unobtrusive ease with which faith can slide into fanaticism. The Leftovers is, simply put, the best "Twilight Zone" episode […]
The Most Dangerous Thing
Library Journal Gwen, Mickey, Sean, Tim, and Gordon spent their childhood summers exploring the lushly wooded forest of Leakin Park. The five of them were inseparable until they encountered a run-down cabin deep in the woods and the mysterious man who lived there. From this chance encounter comes a tragedy that impacts their lives as […]
Spellbound
Kirkus Reviews The second installment of The Books of Elsewhere (The Shadows, 2010) is a by-the-book fantasy follow-up. Olive has yet to find a solution to the last plot thread left over from the first volume—Morton is trapped, unable to rejoin the world outside of the McMartins' enchanted paintings. Meanwhile, the Linden Street setting is […]