The Violin Conspiracy

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb was a fast moving plot like the fingers across the strings of a violin.
A story of family dynamics, the music business and the high level of competition
in music amplified by the discussion of race.

Another theme of the book was the history of slaves and the treatment of current free black people in our society... with touching moments and descriptions of horrific violence toward people you do not know or understand.

When we meet Ray he is a young black musician with a incredible talent playing classic music on the violin. He is heading off to the Tchaikovsky competition, the coveted position of most famous violinist in the world.  He has been playing violin from a young age on a rental instrument at great disadvantage compared to his fellow classmates.  But he inate talent has come through and he wins an all state competition.  There his talent is recognized by a college talent scout and he recruited .  Janice becomes his mentor and advocate.  His talent reaches new heights .  His grandmother gives him a family heirloom of a violin played by his great grandfather as a slave in the south.  

Controversy ensues when the violin is discovered to be extremely valuable.  Now his aunts and uncles don't want Ray to have it and another family comes forward to lay claim to it.  Ray stands firm spending all his waking hours practicing for the competition.  

Wonderfully told with a little bit of mystery thrown in. So many more themes and ideas are covered in this story..it makes for a lively book discussion.

The Many Mothers of Ivy Puddingstone

 I love Randy Susan Meyers...she is one of my favorite authors.  This is her newest novel. One that a woman of my age can really relate to .. especially coming to Boston for college in the 1970s ..a novel about trying to make a difference as the world was changing.  Vietnam, school busing, women's rights.  It was the time of commune living and getting back to nature, eating healthy and finding yourself.  Meyers writes about it so clearly and perfectly.

This is the story of Ivy , who is born into a house on Mission Hill Boston to parents who are sharing child care and everything else with three other couples.  Growing up with so many parents taking care of the many children living together as their parents work in a variety of charitable jobs that they all feel are going to help save the world.  Working on intergrating the schools, the neighborhoods and trying to help with getting black citizens voting rights.  Helping people with food and always ready to go to a protest march. 

A well paced novel that brings back memories of recent history with a twisty well written plot that moves the story along.

Knife Skills for Beginners

 A first novel for Orlando Murrin, Knife Skills for Beginners, was a quick entertaining mystery novel. 

When Paul loses his partner he is depressed and goes into hiding.  But one day an old friend Christian runs into him on the street and asks a favor.  This leads to Paul taking over the teaching job Christian cannot do while he recovers from a broken arm.

Paul show up at the Chester Square Cookery School.  There in the kitchen are the students for the week's session ready to learn the basics of being a chef.  Along with the unusual group of students we meet Rose, who owns the school and Suzie who is the new helper, running errands, washing up the dishes and serving the meals.  

Following all the characters and their strange habits keeps the reader guessing as to who the killer could be.  In their own way each of the students could be the guilty party.  Thrown in are recipes which always make a mystery novel more fun

To Die In Secret

 To Die in Secret, is the newest work of Haviva ner David.  Reading this novel after October 7th makes me wonder how it would be different if the author, an American Israeli, would have changed things with the information she has now.

This novel brings us to the home of Jude, dead with her son in their large farmhouse in a town outside of Salem Massachusetts.  Nomi the younger sister is flying home from a kibbutz for the first time in forty years.  She ran away from home after fighting with her parents and never came back.

Nomi has lost her Israeli husband and her mother is a dementia patient in a local nursing home. Jude left everything to Nomi.  She comes "home" to settle affairs, thinking she will return to the kibbutz.  Though she has never really felt at home there, she is cautious about coming back to Massachusetts.

As she finds out what her sister has been doing for the last forty years, helping others and making amends with the mother who was so unkind, Nomi starts to see that she could also make a difference for others and maybe come to terms with the anger, fear and unhappiness that has followed for her adult life.

This is a story of finding yourself, doing mitzvot and forgiveness, and finding a way to closure and moving forward.  Hope and faith can be wonderful ways to find peace.

Western Lane

 Western Lane, by Chetna Maroo, a short quick read.  A coming of age novel about a young girl who losses her mother at a young age.  Her mother's dath leaves behind a father who cannot get over his grief and three young daughters.  

The father at a loss takes his daughters to the squash court and teaches them to play.  Gopi shows the most promise on the court.  She starts to train for a competition going to practice everyday after school. She starts to practice with a young man at the club, Ged.  They are both training for the tournament.  

This is a story of family relationships, love, innocence and the closeness of sisters. Beautifully told in a slim novel that covers so much in a few words.

The Storyteller's Death

 The Storyteller's Death woke me up last night and as I thought about what the ending could possibly be, I had to get out of bed and go finish the book before I could fall back asleep.

This is the story of a young girl who lives between New Jersey and Puerto Rico.  Every summer she and her mother go back to her mother's family in Puerto Rico though her mother never seems to enjoy the trip. When her father is dying her mother starts to leave her with the family for the summer alone.  After her father's death she is sent by plane to spend summers with her relatives by herself.  She never feels at home in either location.

There is a very large extended family in Puerto Rico and when she reaches eighteen she starts to see visions of the elderly relatives as they pass on.  She realizes that she is a keeper of their stories.  Her relationship with her mother has been strained for years and she has no one to discuss her visions with.

As she starts to try and play detective and find out more about the family history, she encounters a handsome young man who works for the family, and some of the older men who had worked for the family in the past.  

A coming of age novel, learning about family, love, and the difference in status between those with and those without. Coming to understand who she is and what she feels is important in life.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

 If you are looking for an entertaining novel to pass some time between all the stresses of the day try The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.  This is another book I even enjoyed as a re-read a few years apart.  

Evelyn Hugo is an old world Hollywood movie star.  Once the glamorous star of Hollywood, now a recluse in her dotage she decides she is ready to write her tell all biography.  She chooses Monique Grant,  a new young up and coming, unknown magazine reporter just starting out.  Grant arrives thinking she will get a n exclusive magazine article to launch her career, instead Hugo tells her she wants her to write her life story.  She will share just with Grant the story of her career, all the husbands she married along the way and why. 

Grant is surprised and shocked, why her? Each day Monique listens to Evelyn weave her tale of ambition, fame, unexpected friendships and great love.   Monique grows close to Evelyn as she spins her story out. The mystery of why she was selected to write the book and their connection intensifies as the book progresses.

The reader gets a great feel for the lives of such great movie icons as Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Judy Garland.  Childhood and innocence lost to the tough, competitive world of Hollywood.