A dozen years ago, Olive Senior's Gardening in the Tropics was on my list of favourite books for that reading year. Insomniac Press, 2007 Afterwards, I read some short stories (Discerner of Hearts is wonderful), but I lost track of her work, and hadn't even realized the extent of it
Originally published almost exactly 32 years ago, the events depicted in "Dulse" could have taken place 32 years prior and will, likely, still ring true 32 years hence. Lydia is a woman alone, not freshly alone -- for she has been divorced for nine years -- but self-consciously alone. Something
So Iris' Dutch Lit month was in June, right? Many of you likely participated during June. Which, of course, was the point: a shared celebration of Dutch Lit. I was planning to do that too. And I did have my copy of Hella S. Haasse's The Tea Lords well ahead
Acts of violence and devotion, rape and worship, funerals and betrothals, love-scenes and convent-life, adultery and illness: this medieval saga has so many facets to it that I was not expecting. Not the least of which being that it gripped my attention more tightly than any of the contemporary novels
Ann Patchett's works have long had the attention of the Orange Prize juries. The Magician's Assistant was shortlisted for the 1998 Orange Prize, and Bel Canto won in 2002; it wasn't surprising to see State of Wonder make the jury's shortlist in 2012. The most striking element of the novel is its
