In the flashes and black shadows / of July / the days, locked in each other’s arms, / seem still ~ William Carlos Williams
Enlightenment
by Sarah Perry
from the publisher: Thomas Hart and Grace Macaulay have lived all their lives in the small Essex town of Aldleigh. Thomas develops an obsession with a vanished nineteenth-century astronomer said to haunt a nearby manor, and Grace flees Aldleigh entirely for London. Over the course of twenty years, by coincidence and design, Thomas and Grace will find their lives brought back into orbit as the mystery of the vanished astronomer unfolds into a devastating tale of love and scientific pursuit.
I really, really wanted to love this but I just didn’t. Perry’s Essex Serpent was brilliant, and I was hoping for something in that vein. Unfortunately, this was closer to Melmoth, though it was more coherent. It just didn’t have the balance of impressionism and narrative structure that the novel needed to make any real impact.
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Publisher: Mariner Books (June 4, 2024)
Language: English
Hardcover: 384 pages
ISBN-10: 0063352613
Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age
by Kathleen Sheppard
from the publisher: During the so-called Golden Age of Exploration, there were women working and exploring before Howard Carter discovered the tomb of King Tut. Before men even conceived of claiming the story for themselves, women were working in Egypt to lay the groundwork for all future exploration.
In general, a compelling exploration of lesser-known names in the important work of Egyptology. The author makes a convincing case for not only their right to be in the history books but credits their work with creating the only records, sketches, and documents for some discoveries, making them invaluable to historians today.
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Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (July 16, 2024)
Language: English
Hardcover: 320 pages
ISBN-10: 125028435X
Nicked
By M.T. Anderson
from the publisher: The year is 1087, and a pox is sweeping through the Italian city of Bari. When a lowly monk is visited by Saint Nicholas in his dreams, he interprets the vision as a call to serve the sick. Enter Tyun, a charismatic treasure hunter renowned for “liberating” holy relics from their tombs. For the humble price of a small fortune, he will steal the bones of St. Nicholas and deliver them to Bari, curing the plague and restoring glory to the fallen city.
Theft of holy relics was once a common occurrence, so the basic narrative is surprisingly plausible. The novel is clever and amusing, but not as whip-smart funny as it could have been. Based on the description, I was hoping for more sword fights and sarcasm.
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Publisher: Pantheon (July 23, 2024)
Language: English
Hardcover: 240 pages
ISBN-10: 0593701607
Guilty Creatures
By Mikita Brottman
from the publisher: Mike and Denise Williams had a tight knit, seemingly unbreakable bond with childhood friends, Brian and Kathy Winchester. The two couples were devout, hardworking Baptists who lived perfect, quintessentially Southern lives. Their friendship seemed ironclad. That is, until December 16, 2000, when Denise’s husband Mike disappeared while duck hunting on Lake Seminole. But things took an unexpected turn when, within five years of Mike’s disappearance, Brian Winchester divorced his wife and married Denise. It took another twelve years for the truth to come out—and when it did, it was unimaginable.
Brottman’s investigations into a previous strange-but-true crimes have left me fascinated but this one was less absorbing. All of the elements are there but the ultimate solution (and resolution) are fairly benign. Of course, it’s true crime, and the author can’t be blamed for relaying what really happened, but the final third of the book is less gripping than the rest.
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Publisher: Atria/One Signal Publishers (July 23, 2024)
Language: English
Hardcover: 288 pages
ISBN-10: 166802053X