The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer (published in 1962) features a “nearly perfect” gentleman as the main romantic catch. That title, “Nonesuch,” refers to someone who is athletically successful (also called a Corinthian), good at a variety of things, comports himself admiringly, and is generally the best one, the guy everyone looks up to. The female
What if Elizabeth Bennett accepted Mr. Darcy’s first proposal? This is what author Lara S. Ormiston asks in Unequal Affections: A Pride and Prejudice Retelling (published 2013). The story of this Elizabeth Bennett begins immediately after Mr. Darcy finishes saying his proposal, which, as any readers of Pride and Prejudice know, had offended the original
Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Flexner (published 1974) is a one-volume abridgement to Flexner’s comprehensive four-volume biography about our first president. I did not find this volume wanting in anyway, and I found both the writing and the content to be straight-forward and relevant as I learned about Washington’s life. The stories in Flexner’s
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See (Scribner, 2019) is the story of questioning fate tied into friendship, war, survival, betrayal, and ultimately forgiveness. Two girls from different backgrounds, Mi-ja and Young-sook, become friends in the 1930s, and their friendship story alternates between their growing-up years and 2008 “modern-day” Young-sook, who is a bitter
The titular character in Vaino: A Boy of New Finland by Julia Davis Adams (published 1929) faces war as his country declares independence from Russia, which is in the midst of a revolution itself. With his cleverness, Vaino is helpful to both his mother and his older siblings as they join the rebels (“Whites”) from
Because of inheritance law, Major Hugh Darracott is now the heir of the Darracott home in The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer (published 1959), even though his domineering grandfather Lord Darracott has never met him. After the recent death of his oldest son and oldest grandson, now Lord Darracott must invite this unknown grandson into
Dry by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman (Simon & Schuster for Young Readers, 2018) is futuristic dystopian young adult novel, but it portrays what could be real life in the Western United States. Water becomes a scarce commodity in California when neighboring states turn off access to their water reserves. When the “Tap-Out” begins, the whole
When I was younger, I read the first six (or so) books from The Work and the Glory series by Gerald Lund, which tells a fictionalized account of one family who lived during the first years of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now the series is complete with nine books, and I
Pran of Albania by Elizabeth Miller (published 1929) is a Newbery Honor book about a teenager in Albania whose world is changing as war comes to her region. After the author gives us a glimpse into the unique lifestyle of mountain-dwelling people, Pran and her family become refugees as the women and children flee the
The titular character in the Regency novel Frederica by Georgette Heyer (published 1965) is not looking to get married. Ever since her father died, Frederica Merriville has been the guardian of her family, and even beforehand she was the principal person to run the household, since her mother has been gone for years. Now she
If you love Beverly Cleary’s books, then you’ll love reading about the author herself in the picture book Just Like Beverly: A Biography of Beverly Cleary by Vicki Conrad (illustrated by David Hohn; Little Bigfoot, 2019). My daughter, who is one that is knows Cleary’s books backwards and forwards, was delighted to learn about the
It is perfect timing to discuss the history of authoritarianism in the world! On Tyranny: Twenty lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder (first published in 2017) is a brief overview of the things that have happened in the past century that led to the regimes with totalitarian leaders, including the events in Nazi
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