The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

The book opens with a friendly fan letter to Hannah, an Australian author, from Leo, a would-be writer who lives in Boston.  The two have apparently been corresponding for some time, and he hopes to visit her in a few months.

The next section introduces Freddie—short for Winifred—a young Australian author who has a fellowship that allows her to come to Boston to write her novel.  She’s in the Reading Room of the Boston Public Library, sitting at a table with three strangers, when they all hear a woman scream.  Security swoops in, and after a check, assures everyone that it was a false alarm.  The three strangers, bonded by the shared experience, exchange names and begin talking. It turns out they are all writers of one sort or another. Things take a darker turn when, some hours later, Freddie hears on the news that the body of a woman has been found at the library.

This is followed by a letter from Leo, excitedly discussing the chapter of Hannah’s new book set in Boston and offering her his insights and insider information about the city that she can use in her novel.

It sounds very confusing but it isn’t, really.  I have been telling people that it’s like having a picture of a woman looking at a picture of a woman looking at a picture. It’s well written, keeping the reader involved in both storylines, and there are some wonderful twists and turns as the stories go along. While at first I found it a bit distracting to be pulled out of Hannah’s novel into a different reality, I admire the way the author shows you some of the tricks of her trade, all the while having another card up her sleeve.

There’s a good sense of place and well defined characters along with the fine writing. It’s almost as if the reader is getting a peek behind the scenes at how an author works along with a very intriguing storyline. One reviewer compared it to the unpeeling the layers of an onion, and I would agree. The book is very well paced, enticing the reader to keep those pages turning to see how the plots will be resolved.  

Nevermore: We Carry Their Bones, The Woman in the Library, Miss Jane Pittman, No Better Friend

 

Reported by Garry

 

We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys by Erin Kimmerle is the unflinching inside story of the recovery of dozens of remains of young boys from the grounds of the Arthur G. Dozier Boys School in Florida. Established in 1900 as a reform school for children, some as young as six years old, many of the children were Black and were hired out to local farmers as indentured labor by the management of the school. After the school shut down in 2011 after years of reports of cruelty, abuse and murder, forensic anthropologist Kimmerle stepped in to locate the school’s graveyards, both official and unofficial. Despite threats and intimidation by locals, Kimmerle continues to search for not only the remains of the children, but their relatives in order to reunite the deceased with their families. Our reader said that this book, while harrowing, is an interesting read and a real indictment of the reform school system both past and present.  CD

                                                             

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill. A quiet morning in the Boston Public Library is shattered by a woman’s scream. Security locks down the building and four strangers pass the time sitting around a table in the reading room. Friendships begin and each member has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room at the time – except that one of them is a murderer. This book was reviewed by one of our readers who typically doesn’t go for such fare, but who was really taken with the twists and turns that Gentill works into her stories, and who thought that the final result was: “Not bad!”  SC

 

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines depicts the life and times of a 110-year-old Black woman born into slavery, who lived through both World Wars and the Civil Rights era of the late 1960s. Even though this book is a fictionalized account, the author went to great lengths to ensure that the voice and history of Pittman and others in the book were true to life. When the novel was initially published in 1971, many people believed that the book was non-fiction. Famously, the novel was turned into a groundbreaking television movie in 1974 starring Cicely Tyson. Our reader states that this book is very moving, useful, and a beautiful depiction of the human soul.  AH

 

No Better Friend: One Man, One Dog, and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage and Survival in WWII by Robert Weintraub is our feel-good book for the week. Judy of Sussex was an English pointer, born in China during World War II. Initially guarding boats on the Yangtze River, Judy became part of the crew and even accompanied them to a Japanese prisoner of war camp for three years when the team was captured. Judy placed her own life at risk many times during their internment, intervening when the soldiers were being beaten or tortured by their captors. Once freed, Judy and Fran Williams (who had the strongest bond with Judy) travelled the world as part of the Royal Air Force. To date, Judy remains the only official canine POW of World War II. This heartwarming story of fierce, unconditional love, and loyalty moved our reader deeply and she highly recommends it to anyone who has been lucky enough to know the love of a dog.  KM

 

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Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks and a Writer’s Life by Kathleen Norris

The Thread Collectors by Shaunna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths

Haven by Emma Donoghue

The Chaos Machine:  The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World by Max Fisher

The Bad Angel Brothers by Paul Theroux

Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships by Nina Totenberg

The Shadow of the Empire (A Judge Dee Investigation Book 1) by Qiu Xiaolong

Hollywood Horrors: Murders, Scandals, and Cover-Ups from Tinseltown by Andrea Van Landingham

Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley