Mistress of the Ritz by Melanie Benjamin
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A pleasing number of dramatic twists and a central, intriguingly complex marriage.
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It’s a Mystery: “Those that know the most must mourn the deepest”
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An exquisitely crafted, stunning novel, set in a strange, ancient, beautiful place.
Read MoreMatilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior by Catherine Hanley
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Hanley’s assessment of the various roles Matilda filled in her life is uniformly thought-provoking.
Read MoreCari Mora by Thomas Harris
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The first book to follow a phenomenon, and a conscious attempt to shed that phenomenon.
Read MoreErnesto: The Untold Story of Hemingway in Revolutionary Cuba by Andrew Feldman
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Andrew Feldman has here shaped his sources into a Hemingway who feels like a new acquaintance.
Read MoreAlex Rider: Secret Weapon by Anthony Horowitz
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The Alex Rider books have always required a rather hefty suspension of disbelief, and they’ve always rewarded it.
Read MoreUpheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis by Jared Diamond
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Can 30 pages be enough to do more than skim the surface of any of these epic events?
Read MoreBirthday by César Aira
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Aira’s lack of a larger schema ultimately makes Birthday an unsatisfying venture.
Read MoreAuthor interview: Alison Weir
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In Anna of Kleve, Weir crafts an intriguingly multifaceted portrait of this oddest of all English queens. Open Letters asked her some questions about the challenges of this latest installment in the “Six Tudor Queens” series.
Read MoreThe Shadow King: The Life and Death of Henry VI by Lauren Johnson
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An immensely readable popular biography of Henry VI, warmly sympathetic to the tormented figure at its center.
Read MoreIt’s a Mystery: We run away from what scares or hurts us--or from what holds us captive
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A skillfully crafted, beautifully written thriller with an unforgettable heroine.
Read MoreSherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Japan by Keisuke Matsuoka
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Meiji-era Japan is an appealingly exotic setting for a Holmes adventure.
Read MoreGilded Youth: Privilege, Rebellion and the British Public School by James Brooke-Smith
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Gilded Youth is woven through with a sure knack for storytelling and eye for vivifying detail.
Read MoreBored, Lonely, Angry, Stupid by Luke Fernandez and Susan J. Matt
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Are iPhones, iPads, GPS, and the Internet exacerbating negatives and simultaneously eroding the positives?
Read MoreOur Man by George Packer
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The fact that this book captures the man as no book is ever likely to do again is an accomplishment and also a precaution.
Read MoreAmerican Eagle: A Visual History of Our National Emblem by Preston Cook
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Dedicated to the mage that has been synonymous with the United States since before the United States formally existed.
Read MoreGropius: The Man Who Built the Bauhaus by Fiona McCarthy
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McCarthy is a wonderfully sympathetic biographer, and her reading and research in these pages is vast.
Read MoreChaucer: A European Life by Marion Turner
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Turner reminds her readers that the father of English literature was a traveling man.
Read MoreThe Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
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Whitehead constantly plays off optimistic idealism against cynical trickery.
Read MoreThe War for Gaul translated by James O'Donnell
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A fluid, confessional thing unlike any other English-language Caesar.
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