The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker

Book description:
When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion.

This book, about one daughter's quest to find her father, is a truly engrossing read. During the first few pages, I felt Julia's confusion and feelings of dislocation; after that, I (like Julia) was too caught up in the story to question it from a logical perspective. The writing is fluid and the feeling of Burma, especially Burma in the 1950s, shines through. This is an odd book in some ways, a tale of the past that has only a nominal connection to the present, but surprisingly it works. As the true story of Tin Win and Mi Mi unfolds, the reasons for Julia's father's abrupt departure from his life in NY become clear and even understandable. Though the book does not answer how he could have so easily abandoned his daughter, Julia is really ony a peripheral character so her pain and her story are never as compelling as that of Tin Win and Mi Mi. Well written and engaging, this book was impossible to put down once I started reading.

The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen

Book description:
Four friends, recent college graduates, caught in a terrible job market, joke about turning to kidnapping to survive. And then, suddenly, it's no joke. For two years, the strategy they devise-quick, efficient, low risk-works like a charm. Until they kidnap the wrong man.

Now two groups they've very much wanted to avoid are after them-the law, in the form of veteran state investigator Kirk Stevens and hotshot young FBI agent Carla Windermere, and an organized-crime outfit looking for payback. As they all crisscross the country in deadly pursuit and a series of increasingly explosive confrontations, each of them is ultimately forced to recognize the truth: The true professionals, cop or criminal, are those who are willing to sacrifice . . . everything.

The premise of this book was creative and compelling- four college buddies turn to intelligent kidnapping when their liberal arts degrees prove useless in today's job market. Unfortunately, that interesting hook is quickly lost in the shuffle of idiotic decisions, inexplicable violence, and the complete collapse of the structure of their long-term plans. I couldn't root for the criminals because their actions seemed wildly out of character for the way they were initially presented. The police and FBI also failed to capture my support because their odd sexual tension seemed unnecessary and undermined their appeal. By the last third of the book, I felt like I was just slogging through to make it to the end; turning the page was a chore not a thrill. Ultimately, I found this book a disappointing read with shallow characters that I have no desire to meet again.

The Cottage at Glass Beach by Heather Barbieri

Book description:
Married to the youngest attorney general in Massachusetts state history, Nora Cunningham is a picture-perfect political wife and a doting mother. But her carefully constructed life falls to pieces when she, along with the rest of the world, learns of the infidelity of her husband, Malcolm.

Humiliated and hounded by the press, Nora packs up her daughters—Annie, seven; and Ella, twelve—and takes refuge on Burke's Island, a craggy spit of land off the coast of Maine. Settled by Irish immigrants, the island is a place where superstition and magic are carried on the ocean winds, and wishes and dreams wash ashore with the changing tides.

Nora spent her first five years on the island but has not been back to the remote community for decades—not since that long ago summer when her mother disappeared at sea. One night while sitting alone on Glass Beach below the cottage where she spent her childhood, Nora succumbs to grief, her tears flowing into the ocean. Days later she finds an enigmatic fisherman named Owen Kavanagh shipwrecked on the rocks nearby. Is he, as her aunt's friend Polly suggests, a selkie—a mythical being of island legend—summoned by her heartbreak, or simply someone who, like Nora, is trying to find his way in the wake of his own personal struggles?

Just as she begins to regain her balance, her daughters embark on a reckless odyssey of their own—a journey that will force Nora to find the courage to chart her own course and finally face the truth about her marriage, her mother, and her long-buried past.

When Nora needed a place to escape the spotlight shining on her husband's infidelity, she retreated with her daughters to the island where she was born, the island she and her father left when she was just five years old after her mother disappeared. There Nora finds an aunt who loves her, a cottage that was once a home, and the still unanswered questions about her mother's disappearance. Woven through the story is Irish mythology and a deep and abiding love of the sea.

This was a book that once I started, I couldn't put down. The writing style is wonderful, as is the way the author weaves in old fairy stories with ease. Maire and Nora are great characters, and the Annie and Ella are precocious and intelligent children trying to deal with a crumbling family and a new-found love of the sea. I would have given it five stars if more of the questions about Maeve's disappearance has been answered- at the end I still had too many questions about that to be fully satisfied with the narrative. That said, this was a truly enjoyable read; I will certainly pick up other books by the author.

Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear

Book description:
Early April 1933. To the costermongers of Covent Garden—sellers of fruit and vegetables on the streets of London—Eddie Pettit was a gentle soul with a near-magical gift for working with horses. When Eddie is killed in a violent accident, the grieving costers are deeply skeptical about the cause of his death. Who would want to kill Eddie—and why?

Maisie Dobbs' father, Frankie, had been a costermonger, so she had known the men since childhood. She remembers Eddie fondly and is determined to offer her help. But it soon becomes clear that powerful political and financial forces are equally determined to prevent her from learning the truth behind Eddie's death. Plunging into the investigation, Maisie begins her search for answers on the working-class streets of Lambeth where Eddie had lived and where she had grown up. The inquiry quickly leads her to a callous press baron; a has-been politician named Winston Churchill, lingering in the hinterlands of power; and, most surprisingly, to Douglas Partridge, the husband of her dearest friend, Priscilla. As Maisie uncovers lies and manipulation on a national scale, she must decide whether to risk it all to see justice done.

In this latest installment in the series, Maisie is hired by the costermongers of her childhood to investigate the death of one of their own. What seems like a simple task eventually reveals a conspiracy involving the highest levels of society. While the mystery itself is not that complicated, the appeal of this books lies in Maisie's efforts to reconcile the girl she was with the woman she has become. She wrestles with questions of morality and independence, juggling the expectations of others with her dreams for herself. I enjoy watching her struggle to deal with her new-found affluence, attempting to help those in her life that are less fortunate without creating resentment or hostility.

This series is a masterful look at England in the post-WWI years, and has given me a much better perspective on the war-weariness that made so many willing to turn a blind eye to the dangers of the rise of the Nazi party in Germany. Following as they do the struggles of women in this period, these books highlight the sad realities of a generation of women faced with a shortage of men to marry and forced to make their own way in a world not yet ready to accept that necessity.

Up From the Blue by Susan Henderson

Book description:
Tillie Harris's life is in disarray—her husband is away on business, the boxes in her new home aren't unpacked, and the telephone isn't even connected yet. Though she's not due for another month, sudden labor pains force Tillie to reach out to her estranged father for help, a choice that means facing the painful memories she's been running from since she was a little girl.

Though this book opens with Tillie in labor in 1991, the vast majority of the story takes place in 1975, the year Tillie turned eight and the year her mother was consumed by depression. Tillie doesn't understand the trouble her mother is having though the reader will easily recognize the signs; Tillie just wants her family to be happy. With a dad in the military focused on the development of smart bombs, and a mom who doesn't get out of bed for days on end, Tillie and her brother Phil are left to fend for themselves often enough for the neighbors on base to have concerns.

When the family moves to DC so Tillie's father can work at the Pentagon, Tillie stays behind for two weeks before rejoining a family that no longer includes her mother. As Tillie wrestles with making friends and a new school, her father refuses to discuss her mother and remakes their home into a sterile military barracks with chores and schedules designed to remove chaos from their lives. The story has some surprising twists but ultimately the ending seems inevitable.

I found this book a powerful read- I picked it up just to read a few pages over lunch and found myself unable to put it down. Tillie's story is heartbreaking and you can feel her pain as she fumbles through a life where everything she knows seems somehow wrong. 1975 marked the end of innocence for Tillie and Phil, and scarred their entire lives. I also came to feel back for Tillie's father, a man clearly out of his depth who tried (and failed) to keep his family intact in the face of mental illness. Well-written and emotionally gripping, this book is a must read.

And She Was by Allison Gaylin

Book description:
On a summer afternoon in 1998, six-year-old Iris Neff walked away from a barbecue in her small suburban town . . . and vanished.

Missing persons investigator Brenna Spector has a rare neurological disorder that enables her to recall every detail of every day of her life. A blessing and a curse, it began in childhood, when her older sister stepped into a strange car never to be seen again, and it’s proven invaluable in her work. But it hasn’t helped her solve the mystery that haunts her above all others—and it didn’t lead her to little Iris. When a local woman, Carol Wentz, disappears eleven years later, Brenna uncovers bizarre connections between the missing woman, the long-gone little girl . . . and herself.

With a main character who has a bizarre medical condition that is both a blessing and a curse- Brenna can remember any situation, any moment in time, but she can be thrown into those memories involuntarily by a smell or a snippet of conversation that acts as a trigger. She has been this way ever since her older sister got into a car one day and disappeared. Now Brenna searches for other lost people, hoping all the time to somehow unlock the key to finding her sister.

The story here revolves around another missing child and a recent murder that seems linked to that long ago disappearance. The plot is tight, the writing wonderful, and the end a complete surprise. Brenna's family story and her interactions with others make her an incredibly engaging character. In combination with the strength of the underlying plot, this book is certainly a must-read for any fan of mysteries and thrillers.

Highly recommended.

The Good American by Alex George

Book description:
It is 1904. When Frederick and Jette must flee her disapproving mother, where better to go than America, the land of the new? Originally set to board a boat to New York, at the last minute, they take one destined for New Orleans instead ("What's the difference? They're both new"), and later find themselves, more by chance than by design, in the small town of Beatrice, Missouri. Not speaking a word of English, they embark on their new life together.

Beatrice is populated with unforgettable characters: a jazz trumpeter from the Big Easy who cooks a mean gumbo, a teenage boy trapped in the body of a giant, a pretty schoolteacher who helps the young men in town learn about a lot more than just music, a minister who believes he has witnessed the Second Coming of Christ, and a malevolent, bicycle-riding dwarf.

A Good American is narrated by Frederick and Jette's grandson, James, who, in telling his ancestors' story, comes to realize he doesn't know his own story at all. From bare-knuckle prizefighting and Prohibition to sweet barbershop harmonies, the Kennedy assassination, and beyond, James's family is caught up in the sweep of history. Each new generation discovers afresh what it means to be an American. And, in the process, Frederick and Jette's progeny sometimes discover more about themselves than they had bargained for.

This multi-generational immigrant story tells the complicated and enduring tale of one family's life and loves. After Frederick and Jette flee Hanover to start a new life, they end up in the small town of Beatrice, Missouri not because of any plan but rather because of a series of small choices that end up having a lasting impact. The story of their love, the family they create, and the subsequent generations is tied together by music; from opera to jazz to barbershop quartets, music is the constant thread that binds this family (and this story) together. The characters are real and leap off the page, and the writing has a quiet beauty that pulls you into this novel. There are times when I laughed, and times when I cried, but never a time when I wanted to put this book down.

I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson

Book description: Wales, 1974. Petra and Sharon, two thirteen-year-old girls, are obsessed with David Cassidy. His fan magazine is their Bible, and some days his letters are the only things that keep them going as they struggle through the humiliating daily rituals of adolescence—confronting their bewildering new bodies, fighting with mothers who don’t understand them at all. Together they tackle the Ultimate David Cassidy Quiz, a contest whose winners will be flown to America to meet Cassidy in person.

London, 1998. Petra is pushing forty, on the brink of divorce, and fighting with her own thirteen-year-old daughter when she discovers a dusty letter in her mother’s closet declaring her the winner of the contest she and Sharon had labored over with such hope and determination. More than twenty years later, twenty pounds heavier, bruised by grief and the disappointments of middle age, Petra reunites with Sharon for an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas to meet their teen idol at last, and finds her life utterly transformed.

I actually expected this novel to be lighter and fluffier than it was given the subject matter- the story of a teenage crush on David Cassidy doesn't sound like it's going to be particularly deep. Once I began reading though, it became clear that Petra had unexplored depths, and that her obsession with David Cassidy filled a deep void in her life. Petra's awkward attempts to maintain her place in her friend group while dealing with a disapproving yet beautiful foreign mother who told her she didn't look so bad is poignant and authentic. The revelations about where exactly all those facts about David Cassidy that Petra and her friends (and millions of other girls) collected like pearls was amusing and yet also sad; I was delighted that Bill worked his was back into the modern-day section of the story in the end.

Well-written, both funny and heartbreaking in places- this novel is a wonderful way to spend a weekend afternoon. Trust me- if you ever nurtured a deep and lasting love for any pop star, you will see at least a little bit of yourself in Petra and her friends.

Come In and Cover Me by Gin Phillips

Book Description:
When Ren was only twelve years old, she lost her older brother, Scott, to a car crash. Since then, Scott has been a presence in her life, appearing as a snatch of song or a reflection in the moonlight. Now, twenty-five years later, her talent for connecting with the ghosts around her has made her especially sensitive as an archaeologist. More than just understanding the bare outline of how our ancestors lived, Ren is dedicated to re-creating lives and stories, to breathing life into those who occupied this world long before us. Now she is on the cusp of the most important discovery of her career, and it is ghosts who are guiding her way. But what do two long-dead Mimbres women have to tell Ren about herself? And what message do they have about her developing relationship with a fellow archaeologist, the first man to really know her since her brother's death?

I don't know how accurate the elements of the story that touch on the Mimbres pottery and archaeology are, but they certainly read as well-researched and quite interesting. Unfortunately, to me those were the most engaging parts of the book. I found Ren a diffcult character to relate to and never fell that engaged or involved with her as a person. Scott seemed two dimensional at best and there was certainly no reason I could see for the two of them to fall in love, if indeed what they had was love. The flashbacks to the lives of the Mimbres artists who haunt Ren and her dig sites were again more engaging than the lives of the supposed main characters which made this book something of a slog to get through.

What Happened to Hannah by Mary Kay McComas

Book Description:
As a teenager, Hannah Benson ran away from home in order to save herself. Now, twenty years later, the past comes calling and delivers life-changing news: her mother and sister have passed away, leaving Hannah the guardian of her fifteen-year-old niece.

Returning home to bitter memories and devastating secrets, Hannah must overcome her painful past to pave a future with her niece, the last best chance at a family for both of them. She begins to create a new, happier life with her niece and rekindles a relationship with Grady Steadman, one of the few people she’s ever called a friend.

But she can’t forget what she cannot forgive, or lay to rest those ghosts that will not die. Will love and trust—and the truth—give her the strength to stand her ground and fight for what she deserves?

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book which managed to stay realistic and engaging while dealing with a complicated and potentially far-fetched plot. Out of the blue Hannah gets a call from Grady (her high-school sweetheart turned town sherriff) calling her back to the town she ran away from when she was seventeen years old. Her mother and sister are dead, and she has a teenage niece who needs a guardian now that the rest of her family is gone. The book tells the story of Hannah's return to her hometown and the house she grew up in, and also slowly reveals the story of her childhood and the eventful night when she finally escaped.

The book was excellent- in fact I would have given it 5 stars if not for the way the relationship between Grady and Hannah develops (no spoilers but I didn't like the power play he made or her response to it). Hannah herself is a well-drawn character who carries the novel, though her niece Anna is a quiet rock who helps anchor the story. It is impossible not to feel for these two girls forced to adapt to the realities of a life no one would choose; watching their relationship develop is the best part of the book.

Find Me by Carol O'Connell

Book Description:
On Route 66, as word travels that children's grave sites are being discovered along the road, the parents of missing children form a silent caravan. They are being shepherded by NYPD Detective Kathleen Mallory, who seeks a killer like none she has ever known-and a child unlike the others: herself.

I've been working my way through the entire Kathy Mallory series after a recommendation here on LT, and have to admit that I enjoy them because the characters are so interesting; the mysteries to me are secondary. That said, I am getting a little tired of stories that open somewhere in the middle with characters gradually dropping details throughout the book to flesh out the essential background- it is very frustrating feeling like everyone else knows something you don't (and I don't mean in terms of the clues to solve the mystery, I mean like why Mallory is on Route 66 in a new car being tracked by her partner in the opening paragraphs). Perhaps if I wasn't reading them all so close together, this annoying characteristic of these novels wouldn't be so obvious, but I am so it is.

Still, this is a complex and layered mystery that reveals a lot of interesting details about Mallory's past that help inform her current behaviors, and hold out a hope that there might be shifts coming in her psyche as some old wounds are healed. In the end, I was satisfied with the story and the character development, but all through the read, I was battling irritation at the piecemeal revelation of crucial facts. 3.5 stars.

I am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

Book description:
It’s Christmastime, and the precocious Flavia de Luce—an eleven-year-old sleuth with a passion for chemistry and a penchant for crime-solving—is tucked away in her laboratory, whipping up a concoction to ensnare Saint Nick. But she is soon distracted when a film crew arrives at Buckshaw, the de Luces’ decaying English estate, to shoot a movie starring the famed Phyllis Wyvern. Amid a raging blizzard, the entire village of Bishop’s Lacey gathers at Buckshaw to watch Wyvern perform, yet nobody is prepared for the evening’s shocking conclusion: a body found, past midnight, strangled to death with a length of film. But who among the assembled guests would stage such a chilling scene? As the storm worsens and the list of suspects grows, Flavia must use every ounce of sly wit at her disposal to ferret out a killer hidden in plain sight.

This fourth novel featuring aspiring chemist-cum-sleuth Flavia De Luce is a wonderful addition to the canon with more focus on Flavia than on the murder mystery. Though the mystery of a world-famous actress cruelly killed while prepping to film a movie at cold and crumbling Buskshaw over the Christmas holiday is never really that engaging, it was the insights into Flavia and her relationships with her friends and family that are revealed which kept me reading late into the night. Flavia, determined to use science to capture Father Christmas, is a charming blend of naivete and experience, a mini-adult in some ways still struggling to come to terms with her childhood in others. Flavia is growing up and asking questions, revealing in the process a compelling vulnerability and emotional depth that was less evident in the earlier books. Heck, she didn't even try to poison anyone this time around!

All in all a great addition to any library; certainly a wonderful idea for a gift this holiday season!

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert Massey

Book description:
Born into a minor German noble family, Catherine transformed herself into Empress of Russia by sheer determination. Possessing a brilliant mind and an insatiable curiosity as a young woman, she devoured the works of Enlightenment philosophers and, when she reached the throne, attempted to use their principles to guide her rule of the vast and backward Russian empire. She knew or corresponded with the preeminent historical figures of her time: Voltaire, Diderot, Frederick the Great, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Marie Antoinette, and, surprisingly, the American naval hero, John Paul Jones.

Reaching the throne fired by Enlightenment philosophy and determined to become the embodiment of the “benevolent despot” idealized by Montesquieu, she found herself always contending with the deeply ingrained realities of Russian life, including serfdom. She persevered, and for thirty-four years the government, foreign policy, cultural development, and welfare of the Russian people were in her hands. She dealt with domestic rebellion, foreign wars, and the tidal wave of political change and violence churned up by the French Revolution that swept across Europe. Her reputation depended entirely on the perspective of the speaker. She was praised by Voltaire as the equal of the greatest of classical philosophers; she was condemned by her enemies, mostly foreign, as “the Messalina of the north.”

Though the heft of this book is daunting when you first pick it up, persevere. It only takes a few pages before you lose track of time and find yourself transported into the past. I read almost half the book in one sitting without even realizing it because the narrative was just so engaging. This is an excellently researched and well-drawn portrait of a truly fascinating woman who transformed herself from a pawn to the Empress of Russia. Massie's writing style is accessible and the characters he reveals through his prose create a deep well of interest and empathy. I knew very little about Catherine the Great before picking up this book, and was stunned by how she seized control of her own destiny to save herself and her adopted country.

Highly recommended, 5 stars.

Irma Voth by Miriam Toews

Book description:
Nineteen-year-old Irma lives in a rural Mennonite community in Mexico. She has already been cast out of her family for marrying a young Mexican ne’er-do-well she barely knows, although she remains close to her rebellious younger sister and yearns for the lost intimacy with her mother. With a husband who proves elusive and often absent, a punishing father, and a faith in God damaged beyond repair, Irma appears trapped in an untenable and desperate situation. When a celebrated Mexican filmmaker and his crew arrive from Mexico City to make a movie about the insular community in which she was raised, Irma is immediately drawn to the outsiders and is soon hired as a translator on the set. But her father, intractable and domineering, is determined to destroy the film and get rid of the interlopers. His action sets Irma on an irrevocable path toward something that feels like freedom.

It only took a few pages for me to be completely hooked by this compelling novel- the spare prose and complicated characters make for a wonderful read. The story is told from the point of view of Irma, a 19 year old Mennonite girl in Mexico haunted by family secrets and the decisions she has made in life. When a strange film crew shows up to make a movie about her community, Irma is catapaulted into a new reality, one where she has new choices to make which have far-reaching consequences.

Watching Irma's torment as she tries to come to terms with her relationships with family and with God, I was unable to put this book down. The writing is bare bones which is disconcerting at first but quickly come to highlight the spare lifestyle Irma lives within the confines of her community. As the story of her past unfolds, it is impossible not to feel for Irma as she tries to correct her mistakes.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Book Description:
What if you only had one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all: looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it turns out to be her last.

The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. Living the last day of her life seven times during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death—and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.

This book is young adult fiction at its best- a serious message presented as an incredibly engaging story. Sam is one of the queen bees of her high school- pretty, popular and seemingly perfect. And then she dies and she can't figure out why. As she relives the last day of her life over and over, trying different tactics to change the ultimate outcome, she reveals an astonishing depth of character and understanding for both her family, friends and those outsiders whose lives have touched on hers. It is difficult to go into much detail without spoiling this wonderful story, but trust me that once you start this book, you won't be able to put it down.

Samantha has an incredibly authentic voice, one capable of speaking to adults and teens alike. Her revelations about bullying, eating disorders, sex, and peer pressure are sure to strike a chord with any reader. This engaging novel also shares some powerful insights into the sometimes heartbreaking realities of teen life. Highly recommended- the best young adult book I read all year!