Book of the Week: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Succinctly reviewed by curious reader, and friend of the shop, Pia 🙏
”By some estimates, ‘trad wife’ is one of the fastest growing niches in the US$250 billion social media creator economy (yes, you read that number right).
Caro Claire Burke’s much talked about debut, Yesteryear, has a delicious plot: a trad wife social media star (who, incidentally, bears more than a passing resemblance to Hannah Neehleman of Ballerina Farm fame), wakes up one morning in her home but a version that is set in the 1850s, devoid of electricity and running water.
The plot twist is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea but the acidity of the writing (‘…this was the world I was born into: a world where good Christian women moonlighted as crises managers for their good Christian men’ or ‘In the world I came from, divorce was a German word that translated loosely into a lifetime of destitution and misery followed by an eternity in Hell’) makes for a thoroughly entertaining read.”
Happy reading!
Book of the Week: A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike
Excellently and succinctly reviewed by Pia Eisenhardt, avid reader and friend of Books & Company.
”Take an early Tudor England ragtag bunch of misfits, add a protagonist whose beguiling voice is wholly original and you’ve got a delightful caper (of sorts), in turn humorous and suspenseful with some moments of genuine dread thrown in for good measure.
Above all, this is a tale that speaks to humans’ yearning for safety and belonging, and it will make your heart sing and your spirit soar.”
Well, this sounds like the perfect start to your reading week!
Happy Reading!
Book of the Week: The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman
Enthusiastically reviewed by our own Franca, currently on exchange in Bristol 🇬🇧
“It’s here! Hooray! The fifth Thursday Murder Club book is finally here and let me tell you it does not disappoint. The Impossible Fortune picks up a year after we left Joyce, Elizabeth, Ibrahim and Ron. Elizabeth, still grieving, is finally starting to come out of her shell a little and agrees to attend Joyce’s daughter’s wedding.
Here, she is approached by a man named Nick Silver, who is certain someone is trying to kill him and believes Elizabeth is the only one who can help him. Elizabeth has never been one to say no to a bit of a challenge and it seems that maybe, just maybe, the gang might have her back.
This book is exactly what you’d hope it would be. It’s funny, heartwarming, sad, exciting and just an absolute joy to read. It’s a murder mystery, of course, with everything that entails: blood, guns, bombs and an enormous amount of money. But it is also, as always, a love story. It’s about friendship, about loneliness, about grief, and most importantly about healing.
Richard Osman makes me cry one page and laugh out loud the next. A truly remarkable writer. I cannot recommend this enough! May the Thursday Murder Club never die. Seriously. That would break me.
10/10”
Book of the Week: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Wonderfully reviewed by our own Rebecca.
“Growing up in America, my first encounter with Denmark was reading Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars as a little girl. Number the Stars is about the rescue of the Danish Jews that happened right after Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) in 1943. On the eve of this year’s Rosh Hashanah, I thought there would be no better time to share one of my all-time favorite children’s books (one that, coincidentally, was just re-released in a “children’s classics” edition!).
Number the Stars is centered on Annemarie, a 10-year-old living in wartime Copenhagen. Through Annemarie’s eyes, we see the insidiousness of Germany’s occupation of Denmark. Annemarie and her sister miss having real sugar and new shoes, and are bothered by the German soldiers interrupting their walk home from school. But Annemarie’s best friend, Ellen, is Jewish, and soon Annemarie realizes just how dangerous the situation is.
Unbeknownst to her, Annemarie’s parents are part of the underground Danish resistance movement, and they are risking everything to help Ellen’s family escape to Sweden. Now Annemarie is old enough to be involved as well, and she must lie to help her friend survive. I’ve re-read this book a few times as an adult, and my heart still pounds every time the family is confronted by Nazis and have to use their quick thinking to evade them and protect Ellen.
There has long been criticism of Holocaust novels that center non-Jewish characters, but I think that Number the Stars shows readers the importance of allyship and using one’s privilege to protect and support those in marginalized positions. It takes bravery to resist complicity with a fascist regime, something that is unfortunately relevant once again in the 21st century. Number the Stars shows how easy it is to be a bystander, and how remarkable it is that Annemarie’s family chose not to be, at the risk of their very own lives. The rescue of the Danish Jews is an incredible part of Denmark’s history, and it is one that we can all learn from and be inspired by.”