Friday at the Branches: The Color of Tea

The Colour of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe

Grace Miller moves with her husband to the tiny, busy island of Macau feeling lonely and depressed. A dream of having a family has been shattered with the news that she is infertile. Her relationship with her husband is strained and she becomes detached and distant. As she struggles to find some meaning in her life, she decides to use her love of baking to open her own café, specializing in the delicate French macaroon cookies.

This new venture brings new friends and challenges into Grace’s life as she deals with past issues with her mother and present issues with her husband.  Grace comes to realize that there are different relationships outside of biological families which encompass family life. This is Hannah’s first novel. I enjoyed the story and the creating of macaroon names at the beginning of each chapter.

Fiction Pick of the Week: The Violets of March

The Violets of March by Susan Jio 2011

Those who enjoy the works of Rosamunde Pilcher or Nicholas Sparks might enjoy The Violets of March. This first novel by Susan Jio is a romance, mystery and historical novel all rolled into one. Writer Emily goes to Bainbridge Island to stay with her aunt after her husband leaves her for another woman. The discovery of a diary from the 1940s sets Emily on a path to unravel secrets of the past that ultimately concern her. Along the way, a couple of handsome men show interest in our heroine and help her move on from her heartbreaking divorce. Will Emily find the answer to this decades-old mystery? Will she find true love along the way? You’ll have to read The Violets of March to find out. Named a Library Journal Best Book of 2011 in the Women’s Lives category, this one will keep you guessing until the very end!

Fiction Pick of the Week: Midwife of Venice

The Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich 2011

Hannah is a skilled midwife living in the Jewish ghetto in 16^th century Venice. Her husband has been captured at sea and is living as a slave in Malta. She is desperate to bring him home, but with no money, she is unable to do so. One evening, against her Rabbi’s wishes, she agrees to help a Christian woman during a difficult birth. Hoping to pay her husband’s ransom, she has been offered a great deal of money by the woman’s distraught husband. What ensues becomes a fast-paced historical thriller, where Hannah is running for her life from people who think nothing of destroying her life and the lives of her family. Great choice for historical fiction readers.

Fiction Pick of the Week: The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 2010

Erin Morgenstern describes all of her works as “fairy tales in one way or another”, and The Night Circus certainly can be seen as a dark and fantastical fairy tale. The story centres around two magicians and archrivals, Prospero and Alexander. For many years they have been playing a dangerous game which involves teaching their arts to protégés to determine who will come out the winner. The Night Circus takes place at the turn of the 20^th century, and the magicians have taken on a boy, Marco, and a girl, Celia, to play their game once again. The players don’t know the rules or even who their opponents are, but the game challenges them to create illusions and magic the likes of which no one has seen before.

Morgenstern studied theatre and is a visual artist, and this clearly comes out in her first novel. The descriptions of the magic, the costumes, and the circus are works of art themselves and you can clearly visualize the scenes. The book starts off more slowly but speeds up to an almost thriller-like pace by the end. Beautifully written for those who are willing to suspend belief!

Fiction Pick of the Week: The Imperfectionists

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

The Imperfectionists are a group of people who work for, or are affiliated with, an English-language newspaper based in Rome. Each chapter presents a different character - Arthur, the lazy obituary writer, Kathleen, the imperious editor-in-chief, and Lloyd, a rather pathetic has-been, just to name a few. The individual stories and relationships intertwine, giving the reader an understanding of the many facets of human relationships. Taken together, these vignettes present a fascinating, poignant, sometimes humourous, sometimes painful, picture of 50 years in the life, and eventual death, of a newspaper. The author worked as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press in Rome and as the editor at the International Herald Tribune in Paris, so he is well acquainted with newsroom politics and human foibles.

This is a first novel by Tom Rachman and it received excellent reviews.

Also available as an e-book!

Fiction Pick of the Week: Juliet

Juliet by Anne Fortier 2010

This first novel is an original blend of historical fiction and contemporary intrigue. It will keep you riveted in both its historical tale that formed the basis of Shakespeare’s play, and its modern tale as we travel with Julie in search of her family history.

In alternating chapters, we relive the tragedy of Romeo Marescotti and Guileitta Tolomei in medieval Siena, Tuscany and are caught up in the mystery of Julie and Alessandro, descendants of the star-crossed lovers. Despite the engaging wit of our modern heroine, the danger is as real as Juliet faced, and Julie is never sure who can be trusted. There are lots of twists and turns before that ancient curse can be put to rest.

Fiction Pick of the Week: Girl in Translation

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok 2010

Narrated by an eleven-year-old girl, this is the inspiring story of Kimberly and her mother who make the move from Hong Kong to New York City in the 1990s. They are leaving Hong Kong before China takes over and incorporates communist rule. However, they are not prepared for the impoverished living conditions of New York City after leaving a comfortable lifestyle back home. Her mother ends up working in a textile sweatshop and has trouble learning the language and customs of the city. Kimberly must assume a leadership role in her small family to protect her mother and to get ahead in her education. We follow Kimberly’s progress as she masters the language and excels in school. Her journey is not always easy and is heartbreaking at times, but her strong spirit helps her to overcome the obstacles to succeed.
Compelling coming-of-age fiction which would be interesting to teens as well as adults.

Fiction Pick of the Week: Factory Voice

This past Tuesday marked International Women's Day, so we thought it only appropriate to showcase some of our works on womens' issues. The first is a novel about four women working in a military aircraft factory during World War II.

The Factory Voice by Jeannette Lynes 2009

This story has something for everyone: strong female characters, Canadian setting, fast-moving plot, aviation and engineering, war time, fugitives, a cranky old pilot, romance and intrigue. It is fun!

With a wad of bills stuffed into a cherry jar, Audrey runs away from her parents and the threat of marriage to a boy she calls, Clabber-face. With a one-way ticket to Fort William-Port Arthur, she folds herself into a train seat near a lady with spectacles poring over some papers on her lap. Little does Audrey know they are both going to the same place and will one day become important in each other’s lives. Along with wire-haired Audrey, the reader meets Ruby, Jimmy, Florence, Reggie and others. They all converge at the factory where airplanes are put together for the war effort, and the newsletter, The Factory Voice tells their stories. Amongst the trivial newsletter stories of life on the factory floor are stories of betrayal and intrigue impacting the lives of the main characters.

What is also a joy about this book is the colloquial language, the idioms, the research into the products used, the songs on the radio, fashions of the late
1930s/early 1940s. No, we didn’t have Lucky Strikes in Canada during those years, but we can forgive a small lapse of research as Jeanette Lynes has brought us a light-hearted story of some of the most interesting characters to come along in a while. I hope Lynes keeps on writing – she has a swinging style that captivated ......at least this reader!

Fiction Pick of the Week: Poison

Poison : a novel of the Renaissance by Sara Poole 2010

The setting for this first novel by an American author is 1492 in Rome. Francesco is the heroine, employed by Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia to protect his family. She is a poisoner, educated in the art of both producing and preventing poisoning, the weapon of choice in these dangerous times.

This is a fascinating tale of the notorious Borgia family that keeps the reader spellbound with the treachery reaching from the Jewish ghetto to the Vatican. As Francesco pursues her father's killer, she tries to protect the Borgias from numerous enemies and stop a diabolical plan of widespread destruction already in the works.

Excellent characterization, a compelling plot, and the first person narration by Francesco gives the story a credible immediacy. It is impossible to set down and needs a sequel soon.

Fiction Pick of the Week: Secret Daughter

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda 2010

An unimaginable sacrifice creates an intertwined story of loss, discovery and acceptance. Gowda’s first novel, Secret Daughter, is a vibrant story about the ties that bind. In the 1980s, in a small village in India, a woman gives birth to her second daughter. Knowing the fate of the child being born a girl, the mother secretly makes a long and tiring journey on foot to have the baby put in an orphanage. The novel follows the child Asha and her adoptive family in the United States as well as her biological family. The narrative shifts between several key characters allowing the reader to be fully immersed in each character’s personal struggles as they deal with the repercussions of their decisions. A flowing and powerful novel, Secret Daughter has remained on the Globe and Mail’s Best Sellers List for several months. I think it would appeal to readers who liked Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, and The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.

Fiction Pick of the Week: Stay

Stay by Allie Larkin 2010

Reviewers call Allie Larkin "an irresistible new voice" and I agree. This first novel makes great light reading, and it will make a dog-lover out of you, even if you aren't that way inclined. Savannah Leone is maid-of-honour at her best friend's wedding. The only problem is that she is in love with Peter, the groom, whom she dated in college. For consolation, she orders "Joe" from an international website. Her puppy arrives fully grown with instructions, since he is trained only in Slovakian commands.
Set in Rochester, and narrated in the first person with emotional honesty and wit, this novel sorts out love and friendship. The huge black dog is the source of the healing; he starts out as the object of Van's misplaced affection for Peter and then he introduces her to Alex, the local vet.

Fiction Pick of the Week: Top Producer

Top Producer : a novel of dark money, greed, and friendship by Norb Vonnegut 2009

Vonnegut’s debut novel is a winning financial thriller as it puts the cutthroat world of Wall Street’s best stockbrokers, or top producers, on display. O'Rourke, the narrator, is a top producer at a NY boutique investment bank. As a good friend, a fund manager, is murdered, events lead him deeper and deeper into a labyrinth of deceit. As fallout from his friend’s death and dealings start to taint O’Rourke, the sharks, inside and outside his own firm, smell blood and begin to circle. The author is a veteran fund manager, who handles the terminology and Wall Street very deftly. A great first novel and very hard to put down!

Fiction Pick of the Week: Come Thou Tortoise

Come Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant 2009

Fast-paced, easy to read, and a little quirky, Jessica Grant’s Come, Thou Tortoise employs wonderfully witty wordplay while taking advantage of a uniquely Canadian setting. Where else would you find references to the political significance of orange, an appreciation of the value of Canadian Tire money and a lack of surprise at the operations of Air Canada? As Audrey (aptly nicknamed “Oddly”) Flowers returns to St. John’s to deal with a family tragedy, she tries to solve one mystery but winds up discovering another. Her pet tortoise, Winifred, also lends her voice and perspective to provide insight into the events that have shaped Audrey’s journey home.

Fiction Pick of the Week: Under this Unbroken Sky

Under this Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell 2009

Under this Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell is a character rich historical novel set during the Great Depression in Alberta. Teodor Mykolayenko has returned to his family of wife and five children after he served one year in jail for a minor theft. His wife and children have been living in a tiny 2 room cabin with Teodor’s sister and her family of three.

What I liked about the novel was the rich detail that was presented about the living conditions during the Great Depression in the Prairies. Another redeeming feature was the rich and vivid characterization that was featured in the book. The main character, Teodor was a hard working yet stubborn Ukrainian farmer who risked all to feed his family on his sister’s small farmstead. Teodor’s sister Anna was a tragic figure who was so depressed that she disconnected herself from the people who truly loved her. Some of the descriptions in this book are violent and graphic, yet they are effective in presenting an amazing snapshot of the struggles that immigrants faced in the Prairies in the late 1930s.

Fiction Pick of the Week: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan C. Bradley 2009

It is hard to believe that this debut mystery author and winner of the British Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award so convincingly evokes the British manners and setting of the 1950s when the author , a Canadian, admits that he had "not set foot in England until 2007"!

More surprisingly, most of the sleuth work is done by one Flavia de Luce – a precocious eleven year old girl who has as much passion for chemistry as she does disdain for her two older sisters' tiresome preoccupations with all things feminine. That the author and his protagonist make use of their local library to do their research makes this cozy mystery all the easier to recommend! We cannot wait for the sequel!

Fiction Pick of the Week: Child 44

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith 2008

When war hero Leo Stepanovich Demidov, a rising star in the MGB, the Russian State Security force, is assigned to look into the death of a child, he is annoyed, first because this takes him away from a more important case, but, more importantly, because the parents insist the child was murdered. Set in the Soviet Union in 1953, this debut novel from British author, Smith, offers a sadly convincing portrayal of Russia under Stalin, a paranoid society based on ruthless domination under the guise of perpetuating 'the collective good.' This amazing first novel by a British author has already garnered many “starred reviews". It is totally original, frightening and chilling and has moved onto my all-time memorable reads list!

Fiction Post of the Week: The Echelon Vendetta

The Echelon Vendetta by David Stone 2007

The Echelon Vendetta by David Stone introduces Micah Dalton, a new hero on the spy-thriller scene - I might suggest a comparison to Jason Bourne in the Ludlum series. He’s a CIA "cleaner," the guy who wipes away the mess after something goes wrong in the field. As Dalton follows a trail from Tuscany to London then to CIA headquarters and the Rocky Mountains, he encounters government spooks, Native American mysticism, hallucinogens, and gruesome violence with which he seems creepily comfortable. Stone not only knows the espionage scene but also how to plot a complicated, fast-paced thriller. David Stone is a pseudonym for a former military intelligence officer. A very strong debut!

Fiction Pick of the Week: The Best of Men

The Best of Men by Claire Letemendia

This first novel of almost 700 pages is a spellbinding story of England in the mid 17th Century. Claire Letemendia gives the reader remarkable pictures of the intrigue of war, his Majesty, King Charles’s court, what it was like to be scholar at Oxford, and a world where loyalties were tested, passions betrayed, and life precarious. Wonderfully developed characters like the captivating Isabella Savage, the exotic Spanish gypsy Juana, the elderly Dr. William Seward of Oxford and of course the irresistable Laurence Beaumont who is sucked back into espionage after returning from his war experiences in Europe fill the pages. In the end Letemendia provides a complete and very satisfying tale rooted in historical fact and detail.

Tuesday's Pick: Tomato Girl

Tomato Girl by Jayne Pupek


Had I gotten this book a week earlier, it would have been one of my picks for Beans 'n' Books: new novelist. The theme of this story would have reflected that of Mudbound and Sweet Treats: family dysfunction, secrets and deception within families, and desperate love. I need to treat myself to some children’s fantasy stories for a while!

Told in the first person of Ellie Sanders, this story quickly takes the reader into Ellie’s nightmarish life with her mother and father. Ellie’s absolutely frightening mother terrorizes Ellie daily: will mama be good and nice or will she turn into that other woman?

With her mother so unstable, Ellie leans heavily on her father for normalcy. It takes awhile for Ellie to understand that the tomato girl, who brings produce to the store, brings more than that to her father. Tess is that young woman; she runs away from her abusive father and finds comfort with Ellie’s father. But her solace becomes everyone else’s grief. Ellie watches horror-struck as her beloved father brings Tess into their house, and slowly his character turns from a loving family man to someone Ellie begins to fear. Ellie’s tortuous life as a young girl almost brings her to the edge of madness. Read Tomato Girl, and you’ll know why!!