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Monthly Archives: September 2019

A Necessary Evil (book 2) by Abir Mukherjee

30 Monday Sep 2019

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in detective, Fiction, mystery

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assassination, British occupation 1765-1947, detective, history, India, investigation, Kolkata, mystery, princes

I just discovered this detective murder mystery series.  Once I finished the first book, A Rising Man, I had to rush to read this second one immediately and am anxiously waiting my turn on the wait list for the third, Smoke and Ashes.  That’s because Captain Sam Wyndam, former Scotland Yard detective, and Indian born, Sergeant Banerjee are quite the pair and it all takes place in post WW I India where there are still elephants, palaces, jewels, opium, temples, maharajas, harems, etc. It is a delectable read!

“Brilliant. Wyndam is an intriguing protagonist, offering crisp narration that’s sometimes slightly arrogant, sometimes amusingly self-effacing. Add in clever dialogue that’s laden with double entendre, and what more can a hardcore whodunit fan ask for?”- Bookpage (Top 10 Mystery of the Year)

“Mukherjee is adept at multifaceted, slow-burn plot manipulations. Packed with incident and intrigue, yet never in a way that sacrifices historical verisimilitude or character development for the sake of a thrill. At its heart, the novel and its prequel, A Rising Man, take the buddy-cop formula and turn it on its head in endless rotations. From the cars to the flowers to the moth-eaten flags, Wyndham sees empire for the lie that it is. This makes him an intriguing embodiment of the intricacies and hypocrisies of the period―especially in Mukherjee’s hands.”

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The Mold in Dr. Florey’s Coat: the Story of the Penicillin Miracle by Eric Lax

21 Saturday Sep 2019

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in History, Non-fiction

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history, penecillin

This is the first selection for the Non-Fiction Book Discussion Group this September 2019 at the Weston Public Library.

“Beautifully researched and written, alive with scientific and human insight, Lax’s fine book likely will become the classic account of penicillin’s true medical beginnings.” ―Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Admirable, superbly researched . . . perhaps the most exciting tale of science since the apple dropped on Newton’s head.”—Simon Winchester, The New York Times

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The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames

13 Friday Sep 2019

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction

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immigrants, Italian families, Italian-Americans, sisters

“’The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna’ achieves what no sweeping history lesson about American immigrants could: It brings to life a woman that time and history would have ignored.” (Washington Post)

“If you’re going through Elena Ferrante withdrawals, this is the book for you. A rich, sweeping tale of an Italian-American family and their long-buried secrets.” (Harper’s Bazaar)

“Epic in scale and richly detailed…. Grames holds the reader under a spell from start to finish as she constructs a puzzle of identity formed against convention…. Grames’s clear and compassionate voice lets the figures of her heritage move freely.” (O, the Oprah Magazine)

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The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer

06 Friday Sep 2019

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Biographical fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction

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France, Jewish refugees, Varian Fry 1907-1967, World War II 1939-1945

Her previous novel, The Invisible Bridge, is one of my all-time favorites. This one is based on the diaries of Varian Fry and again Orringer brings to light another WWII inspiring episode of history where Fry attempts to save the works and lives of Jewish artists.  Part history, part love story drenched in the glorious backdrop of 1940’s Marseille – superb.

“No book this year could possibly compare with The Flight Portfolio: ambitious, meticulous, big-hearted, gorgeous, historical, suspenseful, everything you want a novel to be.”
—Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Less

“Sympathetic and prodigiously ambitious…scrupulous… Her landscapes regularly rise to a Keatsian sensuousness.  Her Marseille breathes as a city breathes…a thriller.”
—New York Times Book Review, cover review

“Varian Fry lit a small, bright lamp in a world of darkness, and in the deft hands of Julie Orringer—under the spell of her masterful prose, her feeling portraiture, her classic spy-thriller plotting and her vivid recreation of that beautiful and terrible world—I found the radiance of Fry’s courage, flawed humanity, and steadfast resistance shedding an inexhaustible light on our own ever-darkening time.”—Michael Chabon

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