This is my first Jayne Anne Phillips book and I've definitely become a fan. The way she develops the characters is magical, making it clear why she has received numerous awards for her previous works. Phillips' patient, careful illumination of each character's thoughts leads smoothly and easily to the often surprising relationships between them.

The settings are created through the eyes and narration of the characters: a young soldier in the Korean War, his pregnant bride, named Lola, living in the southern U.S., and her two children, Lark and Termite who live with Lola's sister, Nonie, in another part of the south.

Termite was born with water in his brain and is unable to walk or communicate, but he is given a voice that is a strong thread through the story. Lark is his patient teenage caretaker. The story is woven together as each character is given a voice in each chapter, so the scenes are created through their different eyes.

I can't praise this book enough. The writing style took me a few pages to connect with, but once I did I couldn't put it down.
~Spring

As many of you know by now, the staff of Queen Anne Books compiles a list of their favorite books every December. By assigning point values to each book, the "Queenie Award" is then given to our favorite book of the year. For 2008 that book was The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway and we are so excited to welcome Mr. Galloway to the store this month!

The Cellist of Sarajevo is an eloquent and compelling novel set during the Siege of Sarajevo which lasted from 1992 to 1996 where it is estimated 10,000 people were killed and 56,000 injured. This novel was inspired by a local cellist who played Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor at the site of a mortar attack which resulted in 22 deaths and wounded many more (and was witnessed by the cellist).

I vividly remember watching the news about the Bosnian war and the Siege of Sarajevo but what I actually remember are the labels given to the different peoples: Muslim, Croat, Bosnian, Serb. Those labels not only confused me, but they depersonalized the war and tragedy by making it seem so foreign. And that is one reason Galloway's novel is so powerful. He removes the labels instead referring to 'Sarajevans' and 'the men in the hills' who are sniping at the city dwellers. He brings the war to a personal level by writing about a young woman who has taken the name Arrow and who has become a skilled sniper. By writing about a baker, who is so grateful for his job which provides some food, but who everyday must dodge sniper fire just to get to work. By writing about a young father who must make a dangerous journey across town, including 'sniper alley,' just to find potable water. And by writing about a cellist who uses the magic of his music to honor just of few of the innocent victims of war.

Beautifully written and now out in paperback, please join us in welcoming this talented and thoughtful writer.
~Patti

In the mood for a great English country house mystery in the tradition of Agatha Christie? This classic, originally published in 1934, has just been republished by Sourcebooks. I've just spent quite a while online trying to see if this is part of a series, since it features a gentlemanly Inspector Harding of Scotland Yard who seems a likely recurring character. As yet, my investigations lead to just this one, but what a mystery it is!

The action takes place during a week at The Grange, the country house of General Sir Arthur Billington-Smith, a retired army man with quite a temper, and his lovely young second wife, Fay. The weekend's entertaining brings together an unlikely household: Miss Dinah Fawcett, Fay's fantastically smart and straightforward sister; the flirtatious Camilla Halliday and her long-suffering husband Basil; poetic son Geoffrey and his flamboyant cabaret-dancing Mexican fiancée Lola de Silva; Fay's loyal but frustrated lover-from-afar, Stephen Guest; the playboy nephew; the stodgy local clergyman and his wife; the matronly divorcée neighbor; not to mention the restrained butler and overdramatic servant girl.

Heyer’s lively characters, snappy dialogue, and hard-to-guess whodunnit make this an easy book for me to recommend. One chapter, in which the third person narration follows each person during preparations for dinner, was particularly striking as a cinematic and humorous literary masterstroke. I’m so excited to find a “new” classic author to follow who has more titles coming back to print. (Heyer also has delightful Regency romantic novels for fans of Jane Austen, so that’s something else to add to my must-read list.
~Tegan

I didn't expect to enjoy this non-fiction book, but Cahill's straightforward, honest style drew me into the story of Dominique Green, a man put on death row in Texas at age 18. I found myself going through a slew of emotions: compassion, anger, shame, joy and sadness as Cahill moved from Green's early life into his prison life. This young man drew people together from around the world in his attempts to prove his innocence and save his life. Desmond Tutu, Italian religious figures, high profile lawyers, media and everyone in between came to love and be moved by Mr. Green. He also created an atmosphere of camaraderie and peace among death row inmates which is unprecedented. After the first chapter, I couldn't put this book down. ~Spring

This is the story of Savannah, a shallow teenager who couldn’t care less about school, or much of anything, really, except boys and prom and clothes. You get the idea. Then her sister steals her boyfriend. Well, steals might not be the right word for it. The sister and the boyfriend are perfect for each other, after all, but now Savannah doesn’t have a date for the prom! Lucky for her she has a fairy godmother, Chrissy Everstar. The problem is that Chrissy doesn’t care much for Fairy Godmother School. All she thinks about is shopping, etc… so she’s just a fair godmother. When Savannah tries to use her three wishes to land a true prince charming, she finds herself transported to the way-too-real world of a few famous fairy tales. At first I thought, “this is too silly to be good,” and then, “I can’t believe I’m reading this,” but it only took a chapter or two to be hooked on this completely fun twist on the Happily Ever After story.
~Lillian

Shelf Awareness is an email newsletter "dedicated to helping the people in stores, libraries and on the Web buy, sell and lend books most wisely" (www.shelf-awareness.com). The news is timely and the reviews are always thoughtful, so I was very interested when Marilyn Dahl, the book review editor, explained how Water Ghosts (under the title Locke 1928) was first published by a small publishing house and reviewed by Marilyn in December 2007 where an agent saw the review and was duly impressed. He then contacted the author and learned there was an opportunity to resell the novel to another publisher. Penguin Press bought those rights and Water Ghosts goes on sale (again) April 20th. After all that -- I had to read the novel!

Water Ghosts starts with a kernel of truth. Locke, California is a town founded in 1915 by Chinese workers who worked the asparagus farms and pear orchards along the Sacramento River. The novel focuses on Richard Fong, the manager of the town's gambling parlor and the women he loves or who love him. Poppy See is the owner of the town's brothel and is also a seer. One of her "girls" is Chloe Howell, a young white teenager who showed up on her doorstep about to give birth. Poppy loves Richard, Richard loves Chloe. Already a little muddled, but their lives get a whole lot messier when the boat-women show up.

One afternoon, in the middle of the Dragon Boat Festival, a heavy mist comes up over the river. As the town watches the mist get closer to shore, a small boat is sighted carrying three women. The women appear ghostly -- half dead. And once ashore, one of the women asks for Richard for she is his wife who he left behind in China ten years before.

The story moves back and forth in time, between China and Locke; from 1908 to 1928. It is a window into an unknown piece (for me) of Chinese-American history. The writing is exquisite, mesmerizing, magical and disturbing. It is a book I had a very hard time putting down and which I highly recommend.
~Patti