Book Review
The Lamplighter
by Karen Rigby
A girl in a whaling village investigates several disappearances in Crystal J. Bell’s mesmerizing historical novel "The Lamplighter". Even as self-reliant eighteen-year-old Temperance mourns her father, who was hanged, she takes up his...
Book Review
The Song of Sourwood Mountain
by Karen Rigby
A woman has another chance for love in Ann H. Gabhart’s nostalgic romance novel "The Song of Sourwood Mountain". In 1910, Mira is a schoolteacher. She was once in love with a classmate, but he died of tuberculosis. Resigned to being...
Book Review
In the Garden Behind the Moon
by Karen Rigby
Alexandra A. Chan is an archaeologist, and her eloquent, inventive memoir "In the Garden Behind the Moon" chronicles her search through her family’s history, which woke her to new ways of seeing. The book begins with a riveting account...
Book Review
How Would You Like Your Mammoth?
by Karen Rigby
Pithy and enchanting, Uta Seeburg’s "How Would You Like Your Mammoth?" covers the advent of cookery in prehistoric and ancient civilizations, showing how food directs people and illuminates societies. Seeburg asserts that food is a...
Book Review
Little Ships
by Karen Rigby
Grandmothers’ lives change when they gather to care for their grieving family members in the moving novel "Little Ships". Grief has an illuminating effect in Sandra Scofield’s affecting multigenerational novel "Little Ships". After...
Book Review
The Exiled Queen
by Karen Rigby
An intriguing, expectations-defying heroine pushes the boundaries of her world in the rewarding fantasy novel "The Exiled Queen". In Roxana Arama’s lavish fantasy novel "The Exiled Queen", a memorable princess proves her resilience...
Book Review
Redneck Riviera
by Karen Rigby
Recounting the stages of a couple’s cross-country move, "Redneck Riviera" is an amiable, humor-filled novel. In James Hooker’s reflective novel "Redneck Riviera", a couple flees Silicon Valley for North Carolina’s coast. In 2002,...
Book Review
Elly Robin: Bird in a Gilded Cage
by Karen Rigby
Focused on labor struggles and class differences, the alluring historical novel "Elly Robin: Bird in a Gilded Cage" positions its scrappy heroine for further adventures. In P. D. Quaver’s invigorating historical novel "Elly Robin: Bird...