Karen Rigby, Book Reviewer

Book Review

Maria La Divina

by Karen Rigby

Jerome Charyn’s bracing biographical novel is about Maria Callas’s transformation from a New York daughter of Greek immigrants to a world-famous opera soprano. When she’s a teenager, Maria’s ambitious mother brings her to Athens.... Read More

Book Review

Prague

by Karen Rigby

One of Europe’s most visited centers is illuminated in Cynthia Paces’s erudite history book "Prague". Prague, Franz Kafka’s birthplace, has been called “the mistress of all Bohemia.” Here, this riverside site of political... Read More

Book Review

The Tree That Was a World

by Karen Rigby

A work of unusual wisdom, Yorick Goldewijk’s story collection "The Tree That Was a World" introduces a tree and the creatures surrounding it. In these pithy fables, a spider resists consuming flies, dismayed that its perfect webs never... Read More

Book Review

The Extremities!

by Karen Rigby

Chronic pain and psychosomatic maladies jar a reporter in Samantha Kimmey’s brooding novel "The Extremities!" While Kim, a journalist, reports on a wildfire whose smoke permeates her coastal town, her hands throb with pain, limiting... Read More

Book Review

Thereafter Johnnie

by Karen Rigby

A Black family’s traumas are the focus of Carolivia Herron’s rending novel "Thereafter Johnnie", in which a bereaved daughter examines her origins. At first, Johnnie is a solitary “light,” condemned to haunt a former Carnegie... Read More

Book Review

Wethersfield Road

by Karen Rigby

A young woman who once felt broken morphs into a self-sufficient woman with good boundaries in the warm, inviting novel "Wethersfield Road". Anna Binder Reardon’s affecting novel "Wethersfield Road" is about a woman’s recovery from... Read More

Book Review

Turkish Odyssey

by Karen Rigby

For intrepid travelers looking to knowledgeably connect with Turkey, keeping its multilayered history in mind, "Turkish Odyssey" is an invaluable guide. Serif Yenen’s invigorating culture and travel guide "Turkish Odyssey" presents one... Read More

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