My friend Kate bought this book at the airport for her trip to Edmonton and handed it on to me when she was done. I devoured it the day after she headed home.
That a scientist had to resort to becoming a television cooking instructor to make a living in the early 1960s should hurt everyone’s heart a little. That she can affect change in so many incremental ways on everyone she connects to is glorious. I was smitten with the Asperger-ry couple and delighted with the overlay of feminist themes onto a time frame that my mother had to navigate, which had me rethinking the recent past through a new lens, even as I was enjoying what felt like an effortless, frothy read.
It’s this sort of book that raises the bar. I have since bought four or five copies to hand to my friends and children, saying, “Here, just read it.” The TV series was great, but do yourself the favour of reading it, anyhow. Thank you, Kate, if I forgot to mention it.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • Meet Elizabeth Zott: a “formidable, unapologetic and inspiring” (PARADE) scientist in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show in this novel that is “irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel. It reminds you that change takes time and always requires heat” (The New York Times Book Review).
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Oprah Daily, Newsweek, GoodReads
"A unique heroine ... you'll find yourself wishing she wasn’t fictional." —Seattle Times…
I bought this on impulse in a bookstore in Wexford, Ireland. It’s a spare wee book without a wasted word. After I finished reading it, I don’t think I moved for an hour; I just let it ripple through me.
Because her mother is once again pregnant and life is too much for her parents, a young girl is sent away for the summer to live with her mother’s cousin and her husband, who recently lost a son. Afforded attention and care, she blossoms in teeny, tiny, heartbreaking ways.
This is a writer who believes in the intelligence of her readers, allowing us to make inferences that are quietly understated but that create such an enormous effect. They made a movie of this, called The Quiet Girl, which is also beautiful. I then went out and read everything else by Keegan, which is all wonderful, but this book is luminous.
** Adapted into the Oscar-nominated film adaptation, An Cailin Ciuin / The Quiet Girl **
From the author of the Booker-shortlisted Small Things Like These, a heartbreaking, haunting story of childhood, loss and love by one of Ireland's most acclaimed writers.
'A real jewel.' Irish Independent
'A small miracle.' Sunday Times
'A thing of finely honed beauty.' Guardian
'Thrilling.' Richard Ford
'As good as Chekhov.' David Mitchell
It is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A girl is sent to live with foster parents on a farm, not knowing when she will return home. In the strangers' house, she finds…
I thought I was rereading this, but obviously, I read a highly expurgated version in my youth. Victor Hugo has to be one of the greatest and most idiosyncratic writers ever. He has nudged my beloved Dickens out of his spot in my personal pantheon.
This is the story of Jean Valjean, who was jailed for stealing a loaf of bread and hunted down by a zealot of a police officer for not reporting to the parole board once he had been released from prison. It is the story of good and evil, of revolution and the Republic, and of the manner in which morality or immorality imbues the soul. I reveled in the Paris Hugo painted; adored the grating, glorious, humbling humanity of his characters; and even trudged along as he sidelined the story to rant on about his hobbyhorses.
I also am going to have to give Hugo credit for inspiring my new mystery series—like he needs my adoration, ha! This is a superb translation, and toting the book will also develop your biceps; it’s 1300 pages long and very, very heavy. But reading the footnotes is illuminating, so it’s better in person than with an e-reader.
This is a brilliant new translation by Christine Donougher of Victor Hugo's thrilling masterpiece, with an introduction by Robert Tombs. The Wretched ( Les Miserables) is the basis for both the longest running musical on the West End and the highly-acclaimed recent film starring Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway. Victor Hugo's tale of injustice, heroism and love follows the fortunes of Jean Valjean, an escaped convict determined to put his criminal past behind him. But his attempts to become a respected member of the community are constantly put under threat: by his own conscience, and by the relentless investigations of…
Randy (Miranda) Craig has been hired to research and create a kickass web presence for Rutherford House, a historic site on campus, home of the first President of the University of Alberta. It’s not lecturing, but it will pay the bills, and it should be a quiet gig.
But during a mystery dinner event there, one of the wait staff is killed, and Randy’s fella, Steve Browning, is the detective in charge of the investigation. When Randy discovers an unsolved mystery linked to the House in the Alberta Archives and the bodies begin to pile up, Randy can’t help but wonder if her modern-day troubles are linked to the intrigues of the past.
