I don’t review every novel I read, and I especially don’t review novels just to be negative. There’s nothing to be gained in setting out to bash somebody else’s work, not for me, or you, or them. If I do decide to post about a novel that doesn’t work for me, the reason is usually that I see a big...
Beverly Swerling calls her latest epic about the early history of Manhattan "a novel of war and desire," but it contains a lot more desire than war. In fact, war is pretty far down its list of ingredients -- below pirates, prostitutes, runaway slaves, Chinese gangsters, man-eating rats, kidnappin...
I'm so glad this was good because it's very long and has very tiny type. Sometimes when it takes me this long to read a book, I feel like I'm stuck in it and all I can think about is what I want to read next. I almost didn't want this one to end. It was all so interesting and well-written. I love...
Beverly Swerling did a very good job of making history interesting in this book. The plot was complicated enough to keep me reading, which is usually hard, and kept me from guessing exactly what would happen next; I did occasionally get the feeling of "oh-no-I-know-what-this-character-is-going-t...
“HE SAID THAT THE Jews had a treasure belonging to his father,” Samson Simson whispered. “Where would he get such an idea, if not from you?” “Don’t hardly know him,” Hannah said. “Likes o’ him don’t discuss his private business with the likes o’ me.” &nbs...
She never closed the curtains—there was an office building across the road, and no one was there after business hours, so she felt no need for privacy. The reflection of ground-level neon and streetlights faded to a pale grayness by the time it reached her third-story window, but it was enough to...
Her bosom was fuller and her middle thickened, but there was so much fabric in the skirts of her fashionable suits that once she let out their waists and moved the buttons of the short fitted jackets that had always flattered her, the sort Harper’s Bazaar referred to as a cuirass basque, she was ...
Turner. I thought it time I came to see for myself.”Tobias Grant was obviously winded by his climb up the four flights of stairs. Nick gave him a few moments to catch his breath and look around. No point in hiding anything and he hadn’t tried. It was inevitable that sooner or later the director w...