Nadine Feldman, Author

celebrating strong female characters and whatever else strikes my fancy

women's fiction

Book Review: All That Shines and Whispers

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I’ve been lost in folktales and 19th-century Scotland for a long time now. I decided to take a break and visit a very different era and location. All That Shines and Whispers by Jennifer Craven is set in Switzerland and Austria during the time of the Nazis.

We meet Marlene and her doctor husband Gerald in Switzerland after their escape from Nazi-held Austria. There they are working hard to re-establish their lives with their many children, from 18-year-old Lara to baby Erich. Marlene is a loving stepmom who has managed to soften Gerald’s hard edges. There are a few gentle nods to The Sound of Music, though this is a very different story.

The loving family is hiding a big secret, one which I will not reveal here. I will say, though, that the book worked better for me once I found out what was going on. Up until then I struggled with it a bit. After, though, I was hooked.

The strengths of this story lie in the family relationships and willingness to stick together. The love of a parent knows no bounds in this story, even when that parent makes a poor decision out of that love.

Book Review: The Lost Apothecary

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In this stunning debut by Sarah Penner, The Lost Apothecary weaves the reader between present day and the late 18th-century London. Part mystery, part women’s fiction, part history, I found this to be a page-turner. Particularly intriguing is the apothecary herself, Nella, who provides poisons to women whose men done ’em wrong. Her body is rebelling against her, in large part, she believes, because of her guilt about her work. Basically, Penner turns a serial killer into a sympathetic character, which is no easy feat.

Caroline, the protagonist of the present-time story, has arrived in London for what would have been her tenth anniversary…but arrives alone. Like many women, she allowed life and marriage to take over and forgot her own dreams. On an outing, she finds an apothecary bottle that awakens her interest in history. Soon she is sleuthing the past to learn more about the woman who owned that bottle.

Nella keeps a record of every woman who came to her shop, including their name, the person who is to be poisoned, and the substance used. It is her way of keeping these women from disappearing entirely. Yet she herself was to disappear before Caroline rediscovered her.

As a side note, my upcoming novel, The Factory Girl and the Fey, also tells of a woman who disappeared from history, and is my attempt to give her the recognition she deserves. Perhaps that is why this story intrigued me so much, the pain of having women fall into obscurity.

I could not put this book down. Enjoy!

If you enjoy this blog, please consider purchasing one or more of my books. The Factory Girl and the Fey, a historical fantasy, is coming this fall, so stay tuned for more details! For more info on my contemporary women’s fiction, click here.

Starting in June, I’ll add a second blog post about topics not related to book reviews. Stay tuned!

Book Review: Joyous Lies

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A former commune, now organic farm, is at the center of Joyous Lies by Margaret Ann Spence as a group of aging hippies is forced to confront what’s next in their lives. The catalyst is the arrival of a documentary film crew, approved by the group’s charismatic leader Neil but objected to by his partner Johanna. As filming commences, old hurts and jealousies arise.

Meanwhile, granddaughter Maelle is struggling to finish her Ph.D. thesis about plant communication. Raised on the farm, she has a strong connection to the land. When Neil’s parents (who owned the land) die, and his siblings want to sell the land, many questions are raised. If the land is sold, the pristine environment would be razed for expensive real estate. If it isn’t, how can a group of old hippies, now beset by arthritis and other age-related problems, continue to support themselves?

The commune was not as idyllic as presented, and author Margaret Ann Spence unspools secrets, denials, hypocrisy, and lies. There is a huge chasm between the ideals of the commune, set up by hopeful young draft dodgers, and the harsh reality of survival.

I saw this novel as being, in part, about reflecting on one’s earlier life and choices. Are there regrets? Did we do the right thing? How can we face the big mistakes we made without being utterly destroyed by them? In other words, people are complicated…something young, idealistic Maelle will need to learn.

Thanks for reading! Starting in June, I will be adding a second blog post per week about other topics, and I hope you’ll join me! I invite you to subscribe to my blog.

Also, please consider purchasing one or more of my books. The Factory Girl and the Fey is coming this fall, so stay tuned for more details! It’s a historical fantasy, quite different from my other books. For more info on my contemporary women’s fiction, click here.

Book Review: My Boring Life

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Many of the books I’ve read recently have been well-known and best sellers. This week, I explore the work of emerging author Kerry Chaput and her recent release, My Boring Life.

Set in 1969, the novel centers around Gavenia, a young woman whose first year at Barnard has not gone well, and she’s on the verge of flunking out. She must complete several assignments during the summer to try to earn her place back.

As she returns home to lick her wounds and ponder her future, she faces her brother who has been wounded in Vietnam, a sister who lives at home and spends her days protesting the war, and two parents who are both hilarious and clueless. The family emigrated from Great Britain, with Gavenia being the only child born in the U.S., and there’s a parade of British food and customs, whether Gavenia likes them or not.

Simon, a crush from Gavenia’s younger days, reappears and sparks fly. But will he distract her from her schoolwork?

With humor and heart, My Boring Life explores a turbulent time in history that brought back many memories for me. Chaput uses music, television shows, and other imagery to anchor readers to that time period. Though the tone is light, she does not gloss over the seriousness of the issues she explores, including PTSD, the anger over the war, and Gavenia’s own dilemmas. After all, when someone is coming of age, their problems loom as large to them as any on the national stage.

I found myself wondering what the characters would be like today, decades later. Gavenia would be a few years older than I am, and I wanted to know how she ended up. That’s not a usual response for me.

This is a small press book, and there are a few editorial/proofreading glitches in the book (though I can usually find some in nearly everything I read these days). But the story is wonderful, and I hope we see a lot more of Ms. Chaput’s work.

Book Review: The Henna Artist

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Lakshmi ran away from her abusive husband and used her artistic talents to become a henna artist to wealthy women. Clever and quick-minded, she built a successful business over the years, earning enough money to build a house of her own. Her life is about to be upended, though, with the appearance of a younger sister Radha, who she didn’t know she had, and her estranged husband. In The Henna Artist, author Alka Joshi transports us to 1950s India, where old cultural traditions make life difficult for women.

The Henna Artist has been a hugely successful book that has justifiably earned praise from Reese Witherspoon’s book club, so it doesn’t need the endorsement of a little book blogger like me. However, if I love a book I’m going to recommend it, so here we are.

Lakshmi’s emotional journey is absorbing. After all, how does an already successful businesswoman, making her way in a society that is suspicious of unmarried and childless women, grow? Yet Rahda, as an emotional and precocious teenager, becomes a catalyst for the big changes in Lakshmi’s life.

The details of Indian culture, from food to the societal rules, held my interest. And though the story is set in what for us is an exotic locale, there is much for women to relate to in terms of the challenges we face and how we survive.

There is a level of predictability in the story, and some of the resolution seemed a bit too pat for me. It builds beautifully but seems to wrap up too quickly. Also, there were a number of editorial and proofreading errors that I found disappointing. However, the story of the two sisters is brilliant overall, and it’s a wonderful, enjoyable read.

TRIGGER WARNING (NOTE: CONTAINS SPOILER)

If you have an aversion to abortion, you may not want to read this book.

Please feel free to subscribe to my blog below. I review books on Wednesday and starting in May will have a second post during the week on other topics.

If you enjoyed this review, please consider purchasing one of my books. Details can be found here.

A Truly “Delicious!” Book

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The reading gods are continuing to smile upon me as I work through a trove of novels that are absolutely wonderful! I don’t often get a streak like this, and many times so-called must reads don’t flip my button at all.

This week’s selection is Delicious! A Novel by Ruth Reichl. This is her first novel, but she’s written a lot about food in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and more. She’s published non-fiction books as well, and I’m now eager to read all of them! So it makes sense that her first novel would be about, well, food.

Billie Breslin is a young woman with a perfect palette who doesn’t cook. We don’t know why, though I promise, all will be revealed. She has dropped out of college to take a job at Delicious!, a food magazine.

As Billie struggles to create a life for herself far from family, she builds a friendship with Sal and his wife Rosalie, making his cheese shop her second home. Then there’s Sammy, the eccentric and fabulous travel writer, and Jake, the owner of the magazine. Oh, and let’s not forget Mr. Complainer, a regular customer of Sal’s!

It’s hard to write more without adding a lot of spoilers, so I’ll just add that there’s a whole subplot devoted to certain letters addressed to James Beard, who in this novel once ran Delicious!. These letters, and the story that is revealed from them, are in my opinion the meat of the book.

Billie’s past will break your heart. But along the way, there is a lot of joy, friendship, and community, plus the smells and tastes of food that will make you hungry while you read. Yes, there are recipes at the end.