Mary Modern
by Camille DeAngelis
ISBN: 9780307352583
Shaye Areheart Books
$24.00 Hardcover
July 2007
|
|
 |
|
|
The Blood of Flowers
by Anita Amirrezvani
ISBN: 9780316065764
Little, Brown and Company
$23.99 Hardcover
Available
|
|
 |
|
 |
What's It About? |
|
After her father dies and her dowry is gone, a young Persian woman must work for her rug merchant uncle and make her way in this novel set in the 17th century.
|
|
Who's Talking About It? |
|
"It is a feat to bring off a serious, historically-set novel where the history doesn't overwhelm the human story, nor does the human tale simply use the history as furniture. This most impressive, captivating debut--a novel of a young woman finding her way into life in 17th century Iran--is one that does justice to both story and history."--Rick Simonson, The Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA
“An engrossing, enthralling tale of a girl's quest for self-determination.”--Emma Donoghue, author of Landing and Slammerkin
“Sensuous and transporting.”--Geraldine Brooks, author of March
“With journalistic clarity, Amirrezvani describes how to make a carpet knot by knot, and then sell it negotiation by negotiation, guiding readers through workshops and bazaars. Sumptuous imagery and a modern sensibility make this a winning debut.”--Publishers Weekly
“Readers will not be able to put this book down, from the once-upon-a-time beginning to the well-crafted end.”--School Library Journal
“…the main character is as complex and interesting as the patterns she weaves.”--Library Journal
The Blood of Flowers is this month's #1 Book Sense Pick.
|
|
Who's Going to Read It? |
|
Fans of Tracy Chevalier's Girl Girl With a Pearl Earring and Anita Diamant's The Red Tent will find The Blood of Flowers is an engrossing story that illuminates a woman's life in a little-known place and time.
|
|
From The Blood of Flowers: |
|
I sat behind the loom as I had seen the men do at the royal rug workshop, my design in my hand, and tried to call out the colors at just the right moment. Every day, we worked from mid-morning until it was time to eat, and then resumed again until the middle of the afternoon. I made sure they had plenty of tea and sweetmeats, so they would work with ease: and at midday, we all ate together. I suspected it was the only meal they could be sure of. It made me feel good to help them, for I had once felt the ache of hunger myself. |
|
Salt
by Jeremy Page
ISBN: 9780670038688
Viking Books
$24.95 Hardcover
July 2007
|
|
 |
|
|
What's It About? |
|
Years after being fathered by a World War II German soldier who abandoned her mother, Lil emerges from a strange and tragic childhood in the Norfolk marshes to give birth to her own son, Pip, who struggles within his isolated and mute world to make sense of their family history and his growing feelings for a neighbor.
|
|
Who's Talking About It? |
|
“This remarkable first novel by British script editor Page elevates a tragic family history to the level of myth…. Page has reinvented the fairy tale with this disturbing and magical saga.”--Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Page brilliantly evokes [Norfolk's] bleakness, the harsh round of the season. With Salt, the regional novel has recruited a powerful new voice.”--Rachel Hore, The Independent
“Brilliant description of the changing, yet unchanging, Norfolk landscape… so singularly drawn it appears almost a separate country”--Guardian
“Seasoned with local dialect… the brusqueness of the people is most authentic, providing a neat counterpart to Page's loquacious lyricism”--Observer
|
|
Who's Going to Read It? |
|
Armchair travelers can go back in time and learn what life in rural England was really like after World War II. Fans of John Banville and Marilynne Robinson will also feel right at home with Salt.
|
|
Why Should I Read It? |
|
“Salt is a family saga that explores the relationship between people and the landscape in which they live. Atmospheric and lyrical, Jeremy Page's debut novel is revelatory in its use of language…. Salt signals the introduction of a significant writer.”
|
|
|
|
What's It About? |
|
When a steamy romance with her high-powered New York boss goes bad, Natalie jumps at the first job she sees, packs her bags, and heads south to start a new life. If her new surroundings don't kill her, the humidity just might.
|
|
Who's Talking About It? |
|
“Despite some tough subject matter, Gayle has written a very appealing first novel with an engaging heroine and a cast of very believable secondary characters.”--Library Journal, starred review
“Natalie's dilemmas are perfectly played, and Gayle's economical prose is peppered with sharp sentences and clever fish-out-of-water observations.”--Publishers Weekly
"In this finely crafted debut novel, Gayle evinces a superb mastery of character development, rendering Natalie's various crises of faith with empathic authenticity, endearing humor, and enviable grace.”--Booklist
|
|
Why Did She Write It? |
|
“Nearly all my stories come out of the left field of my imagination. This is not to say they have no basis in truth or my life, but that, more often than not, I don't experience something and think 'I'm going to write about that.' My characters emerge, muddy and half-formed, asking for something to do. Sometimes I gift them with an experience or conflict I've had, but often I make them endure a new conflict. It's more fun to watch.”
|
|
From My Summer of Southern Discomfort: |
|
Today is Monday. The calls do not come as before. Weeks elapse between them, and when I answer the phone there is no overlap of voices, only my mother's. She spends much of the conversation avoiding mention of the pink elephant trumpeting in the middle of the room.
The pink elephant would be my defection to Georgia. When I telephoned with the news of my imminent relocation my father asked, "Georgia, as in the Republic of Georgia by the Black Sea, or Georgia as in the Peach State?" He hoped I meant the former because that Georgia promised unique opportunities to advance the democratic cause of justice. What could Georgia, former land of the Confederacy, offer?
|
|
|
