DCL Book Chat

Ten years ago forensic archeologist Ruth Galloway helped uncover an Iron Age henge at the Saltmarsh on the Norfolk coast of England. Now she has been asked by DCI Harry Nelson to assist when bones are found in the marsh. Are they the bones of a girl who has been missing for ten years or are they another Iron Age find like the henge?

Griffiths deftly describes the harsh and lonely Saltmarsh which Galloway now calls home. She has also created very personable characters and an intriguing plot. This is the first in a series and is followed by The Janus Stone and The House at Sea’s End.

Griffiths won the 2011 Edgar Allen Poe: Mary Higgins Clark award for The Crossing Places.

Allison

Cornell professor emeritus Liam Connor’s mysterious leap to his death puzzles his daughter Maggie and his research partner Jake Sterling. But soon it becomes evident that Connor’s clandestine research into bioweapons is the key to whoever drove Connor to his death. Jake and Maggie are forcibly drawn into a race to find out who is after the professor’s secret research. A compelling, irresistible story that will appeal to fans of Michael Crichton.

Jill

This is a wonderfully atmospheric historical mystery set in 1780s England, at the time of the anti-Catholic riots. When Harriet Westerman finds a dead body on her Sussex estate, she enlists the help of her neighbor, Gabriel Crowther, to find the killer. Crowther happens to be a retired doctor who studies corpses, and pretty soon he has plenty of them to study in Sussex. The dead all seem to be connected to another Sussex estate, Thornleigh Hall, and there are many suspects. Meanwhile, Alexander Adams, the heir to Thornleigh Hall, is murdered in London. It seems likely that the killings are related, but who arranged for them?

Jill

In a small Pennsylvania town in 1968, Lynnie, a developmentally disabled young woman, and Homan, a deaf African-American man, fall in love at The Pennsylvania State School for the Incurable and Feebleminded. Determined to escape the horrific conditions at the Home, they run away and seek refuge at the home of Martha, a retired schoolteacher.

When the school officials catch up with them, Homan escapes into the woods; just before Lynnie is captured and returned to the school she gives her newborn daughter into Martha’s keeping with the words, “Hide her.”

So begins the forty year journey of Lynnie, Homan, Martha and baby Julia as each has to overcome incredible challenges.

Readers who loved The Help will find the same rich and well defined characters plus insight into the deplorable conditions at some institutions in the 1960s. Rachel Simon is the author of the book Riding the Bus With My Sister that was made into a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. It was based on her own story of her life with her developmentally disabled sister so this topic is very near to her heart.

This is one of those books you can give to anyone who says, “I just want a good book to read.” Your book club will want to read this one!

Dedra

As with her previous novels including Luncheon of the Boating Party and Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Susan Vreeland gives the reader a well-researched glimpse into a personal facet of art history in Clara and Mr. Tiffany. Louis Comfort Tiffany employed unmarried women in his New York glass studio supposedly because of their dexterity in working with small pieces of glass, but also to protect the company from strikes by the all-male unions during the 1890s. Clara Driscoll, a young widow, was the artist in charge of the women’s cutting department. She is also the one who is thought to have come up with the idea for the leaded stained-glass lampshades that won Tiffany awards at the World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893 and the Paris Exhibition Universelle of 1899.

Vreeland does an excellent job describing Clara’s pent up desire for recognition of her work and as an artist in a man’s world along with the many sacrifices she and the other “Tiffany Girls” make in their personal lives to stay employed and make a living. The reader also gets an understanding of the many changes happening in New York and the world at the turn of the nineteenth century. The book offers many topics for discussion and would be a good choice for book groups.

Allison

Edward Feathers is a well-regarded judge who has returned to England from Hong Kong to enjoy his retirement. Outward appearances suggest that Edward has led a staid and rather boring life, but as we learn more about his past we discover just how complex and fascinating his life has been. Like Kipling, Edward was a Raj orphan, one of a whole generation of children of officials serving in the far reaches of the British Empire. Very competent in his professional life, Edward must now come to terms with his past, readjust to life in England and deal with aging.

Don’t be put off by the title. Old Filth is actually Edward’s quirky, very British nickname and stands for Failed in London, try Hong Kong. If you like British literature, Jane Gardam is a gem. She’s created a wonderful, rich character and brought to life a little-known piece of British history.

Marsha

If you’re in the mood for an exciting legal thriller, look no further than Law of Attraction. With murder, intrigue, courtroom drama, compelling characters, a touch of romance and featuring a green, Harvard educated Assistant U. S. Attorney who prosecutes misdemeanor domestic violence cases, it has something for everyone. The author’s background as a Harvard educated former sex crimes prosecutor shows in all the details.

Dedra

Parrot and Olivier in America, double Booker Prize-winning author Peter Carey’s eleventh book, is a rollicking, rambling, rakish look at unexpected friendship, art and burgeoning democracy.

Loosely based on Alexis de Tocqueville (but don’t let that scare you away) Carey has created the character of Olivier de Garmont, a young, effete French noble still reeling from the slaughter of the revolution, and has paired him with Englishman, John Larrit (known at Parrot for his uncanny ability to mimic), a grizzled former printer’s devil, as his unlikely servant. From alternate points of view we discover America from their vastly different perspectives as we also learn about their vastly different histories. Uniting the two in their reluctant partnership is the looming presence of the Marquis de Tilbot, the one-armed tour-de-force who commandeers both characters in sometimes subtle and oftentimes profound ways. Also uniting the two colorful characters is a love of art, as well as the love of feisty portraitist Mathilde. As they negotiate the daunting new country of America, under the guise of Olivier writing a study of America’s prisons, both men discover as much about themselves as they do about this new democracy.