When The Angels Left the Old Country

When The Angels Left the Old Country, a debut novel written by Sacha Lamb.

If you like Jewish fiction and mystical fantasy you will love this book.  At the beginning I kept wondering how this book ended up in my town's public library.  I live in a small NH town and though we are more diverse than we were 30 years ago, this book seems to fit a very small genre and area of interest for readers.  It is also targeted for aa Young Adult audience, but I think it will appeal to adult audiences

If you know the story of the two angels that sit on your shoulders, each of them trying to influence you. They represent the eternal struggle of the "Yetzer ha-tov" and the "Yetzer ha-ra"--the good and evil urges that compete within each of us.  I can image them  like a little angel and an imp who hover over each  shoulder, arguing over my head...

This is the story of an evil demon, Little Ash, the youngest son of Ashmedai, the demon king.  He is known as ‘Little Ash’ to distinguish himself from his homonymous father and all his brothers who are named after the king perhaps in an effort to stymie the Angel of Death or perhaps because he cannot think of any other names.  His companion is an Angel, who takes on a name according to the activity it is involved in at the time.   They sit everyday in the back corner of the synagogue in the Polish village called Shtetl.  It is so small and out of the way it has no other name. They have been there for two hundred years studying Talmud. 

But the world is getting darker and Little Ash and the Angel overhear that a young girl left the village to travel to America and now her father has not had a letter in weeks and is worried something happened to her.  Little Ash sees the changing times and knows America is the place he wants to go, so convinces the Angel who he names, Uriel to do the mitzvah of finding, Essie, the missing daughter.

On the ship to America they meet Rose who is also a young girl traveling alone and they become companions.  They all have secrets they are carrying, some they know and some they do not fully understand.  Little Ash and the Angel can take on human characteristics, and in  addition Little Ash can see and hear the demons and spirits of the dead.

When they reach America there are obstacles they need to overcome, getting through Ellis Island and the medical tests and challenging the corrupt officials.  To achieve their goal of finding Essie and helping the Jewish immigrants they will fight crime bosses and sweatshop owners.  

Using a mix of real and mythical characters, Lamb examines the nature of human and gender identity. It quietly presents topics of  coming of age, self discovery, friendship and how love can change and endure.

The subjects of anti-semitism, the pogroms and mistreatment of Jews in Eastern Europe along with the immigrant experience and labour issues as the Jews arrived in New York are also detailed.

The Hunt

 Kellerman has written another good mystery about Peter Decker and Rina  Lazarus and their family and the young people who attach themselves to the family because Peter and Rina are so warm and welcoming.  The mysteries are still well written and intriguing and the characters are like friends now.  The plots still hold your attention... Kellerman is going strong with this now this 27th book in this series.

This novel brings together some unfinished business for Peter and his team.  There is a body found int he woods in New York where previously a man went missing.  Now there seems to be a trail of  blood leading to people missing from an assisted living home Peter and his partner have figure out.

Then there is the adopted son, Gabe, who Peter and Rina took into their home years ago.  His mother couldn't take care of him and his father is a notorious crime boss.  This novel takes Peter back to Los Angeles and Las Vegas to find Gabe's mother, Teresa in danger, involved in a messy divorce from a second marriage.  Gabe's half siblings get entangled when they are kidnapped and  Gabe calls in a favor from his father, Christopher Donatti, a former hit man from a known criminal family who’s now a millionaire in Nevada.   Everyone is working together to find the children but it means that Peter and Gabe may have sold their souls to the devil in an effort to do a good deed.

Always fast paced, with a little Jewish ethics and practice thrown in.  Another fun read.

The Late Show

 Michael Connelly has been writing the Harry Bosch detective series for a long time.  Connelly says he was ready for a change and The Late Show is the newest series in his repertoire .

This time Renee is the star detective.  A first for Connelly making a woman the main character.  Bringing her into the police department and putting her on the overnight shift.  He has fashioned this character on the woman who has been there to answer all his questions about police procedures for years. 

Renee is a feisty, assertive young woman, who is willing to risk everything for a worthy cause. Especially for herself.  It is suggested that she is being sexual harassed and when she submits a complaint she is bumped to the overnight shift.  But she does shrink back she stands firm and works hard.

Eventually she really enjoys the routine, work at night, take her van to the beach in the morning after picking up her dog from daycare. Jump in the ocean and surf , then  set up a tent on the beach and sleep.

She has a complicated past that leads to this unusual lifestyle.  The story as it develops throughout the novel intermixed with the cases she is solving keeps the reader glued to the page.  One the overnight shift she and her partner are really  only supposed to provide immediate help and then pass the case onto a daytime team, but she is so dedicated she works overtime to follow her cases.

This is set to be an interesting and addictive series.

The Man Who Loved his Wife

The  Man  Who  Loved  His  Wife is  a  book  of  short  stories  written  by  Jennifer  Ann  Moses.  Short stories  are  a  little harder to write than a novel. The author must capture the reader’s attention quickly,  keep  their  attention  while  building  the  plot  of  the  story,  then  reach  a  conclusion  in  a limited  amount  of  time  and  pages.  Enticing  the  reader,  making  them  feel  emotions  for  the characters and stay engaged with the storyline is something that Moses does very well throughout this book.Each of the stories uses a dark comedic style to show the real lives of Jewish people living in many locations; New Jersey, Israel and the southern United States. Stories of immigrants and survivors. The stories grab the reader, pulling them into the character’s lives and end leaving the reader with an uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty of what happens next in the protagonist's life. Adolescent love, marriage and infidelity, true love are all scrutinized. Jewish rituals and customs are explored through stories of funerals and sitting shiva. A Jewish family on Sabbatical in England travels around Europe. The mother has been diagnosed with cancer. She wants to experience as much as possible before she cannot travel anymore. When the family encounters a German man, she convinces him to give heryoung son his socks because her son’s socks are wet. Her husband, father of the young boy, is mortified and cannot believe she did that. Here the story explores subjects of family dynamics, a reaction to a cancer diagnosis and the  German,  Jewish  interaction.  Each  short  story  integrates  multiple  challenges,  similar  to  a person’s actual everyday existence. This story is titled, “The Story of My Socks.”A family’s experience  during the Holocaust is presented in the way an elderly man assuages his guilt  by  connecting with his dog. In the opening story, “The Uncircumcised,” Felder, now an elderly  man  was  able  to  escape  death  during  the  Holocaust  because  his  parents  never  had  him circumcised.  Now  his  adult  daughter  has  brought  him  a  dog  to  keep  him  company  in  his one-bedroom apartment.  He  renames  the  dog  Esther  after  his  sister  who  died  at  Bergen-Belsen.  

He believes that her spirit has come back to spend time with him through the dog. The dog speaks to him in Yiddish and they tell each other about their experiences during the years they were apart.Family dynamics are presented in all the stories. The reader can either identify with the someone in  the  story  or  as  an  onlooker  may  judge  the  family  members  in  the  stories.  The  relationship between  parents  and  children.Some of the plots are about young children. “The Fire” tells the story of a family that moves to Long Island to a new larger house with a fireplace.  In thiscoming of age tale, the nine-year old son decides to take advantage of the recent fire the familyhad while learning to use the fireplace to attract a girl at his new school. As his imaginative stories grow he embellishes his life at home and eventually the story gets him in a heap of trouble when the police come to school to find out if there is really trouble at home.Annie just wants her mother to die in the next story, “Next of Kin.” Some of the stories explore the relationship between adult children and their elderly parents. Sometimes parents do not know how  to  relate  to  their  children  and  as  they  all  age,  the  relations  are  strained.  But  watching  your spouse or parent get old and die is always difficult. Annie’s mother does not recognize her anymore even though Annie does not think they had a good relationship even when she was growing up.  Her mother was stubborn and difficult. Now she doesn’t know who she is and sometimes thinks she is a witch.  Annie is also dealing with her own health issues and feels the weight of life pressing in.  Her  husband  brings  out  the  picture  albums, reminding  Annie that  as  they  are aging, he  also doesn’t remember much from their children’s childhoods. Annie realizes it's true,  she does  not remember  the  feel  of  a  baby,  what  it  was  like  to  nurse  or  kiss  a  child  goodnight.  It  is  hard  to remember what your children wore to school or their prom or on their wedding day.In the title story, “The Man Who Loved His Wife,” Martin is so in love with his wife that when she is dying she asks him to give her a Christian burial. Even though she is Jewish, she thinks in the weeks before she dies that Jesus came to her and she has accepted him as her personal savior. To soothe his angry in-laws, he arranges to have both a Rabbi and a minister perform the funeral. Because, Martin said, “I loved her more than I loved my own life.”Thirteen stories in all, which in the Jewish religion is a lucky number, but in other situations can have a sinister connotation. Difficult topics dealt with in unusual dark humorous ways that leaves the reader unsettled. The range of emotions these stories bring out for the reader are like a roller coaster ride. 

NInteen Minutes

 

Every time I think I will not read anymore Jodi Piclout novels, I read one and love it. She really does a great job with every subject she takes on. She builds the plot expertly, creates compelling dialog and makes the reader really care about the characters. 

This story of a school shooting is so well developed that even if you start the novel thinking you know how you feel about guns, shooters and schools..in the end you are rethinking, open to a conversation and caring about every character on all sides of the argument. Nor a new book but still relevant... and a banned book.

We read this for my banned book club and it created a great discussion ..

always a good twist at the end that makes the reader really rethink the viewpoint they had before reading the book.  

Mad Honey

 Definitely a Jodi Picoult novel..her hands are all over this story.  Lots of suspense, good twists, and a story that makes you think.  I came away from this novel a more enriched and knowledgeable person about transgender.  Cannot give it higher praise than that.

This is definitely a moving, intriguing plot about teens and their relationships and the tragedy that happens.  So well written that the reader is introduced to Olivia McAfee, a bee keeper and single mother of teenage son, Asher.  Then the story is also told from the perspective of Lily Campanello, who is a young woman, finsihing her last year of high school in a new school.   She and her mother, Ava, a park ranger have moved to this small town, Adams, New Hampshire for a new start. 

This is a story of secrets and second chances.  Each character in this novel has a secret or two they do not want to share.  They are all hiding something that may change how people see them.  It is a love story, the risks and lengths people go to be the people they want people to see.  It is also the story of who we trust and who we think we know.  Do we really  know the people closest to us?

Year of Wonders

 An early novel by Geraldine Brooks, Year of Wonders.  This is a book I read years ago when it was first published.  The plot and a few individual events from the book have stayed with me all these years.  This book made a lasting impression on me when there are books I have read a month ago that I really cannot remember well.

Also I will say I am not someone who likes to reread books, there are so many new books coming out that it is hard to take time away from reading new books.  But I did reread this book to lead a book discussion about it. IT has definitely stood the test of time.  It is now even more relevant than it was when it was originally written.  It also is still a fascinating story to read about.

It is a story of life in a small English village in the 1660s.  Based on a true account by the clergyman of the town.  This plot sets out the story of Anna Frith, who is a young widow with two young sons.  When a new  tailor commes to town and needs a room to rent, Anna offers him a room in her small house.  They  never really know how the plague came to the village of Eyam, but it is thought that a delivery of cloth from London starts the plague that after taking the life of the tailor, starts to spread like wildfire through the villagers.  

This is a story of strength, love, loss and how to stay strong through devastation.  Anna, the Rector, Mr. Michael Mompellion and his wife Elinor are the strongest members of the village and they try  to help the community members  through the illness, death and to keep the peace as they villagers get more and more belligerent as the Black Palgue continues to affect their family members and friends.

So well written, a compelling novel.

Lucy By The Sea

 This is the second book I have read that recounts back to us the life we have just recently been living..lockdown during a pandemic.  

This is a sweet story of Lucy and her ex-husband, William giving up their New York City apartments and living in a small remote cottage in Maine as the pandemic breaks out in the United States.   This is how they live in the isolation of the world shut down.  They are able to re -evaluate their relationship.  A second chance to come together , even through the things they never liked about each other, around to being friends again. 

Their adult daughters are both married and one is in Brooklyn lock downed in the apartment and the other leaves with her husband for Connecticut.   Their lives also are changed by the circumstances.  This is how they balance their relationships with their spouses and their parents.

This story is how life continues as the lockdown and pandemic continue way longer than anyone thought. But it is also just how lives interact day to day...the pandemic did affect so many  things but some things just happen also.

A World of Curiosities

 Today I am jealous of those who have not yet read A World of Curiosities .  You  have something to look forward to and  I have the long wait until Louise Penny writes her next novel in the Armand Gamache series.  It is a little like binge watching a series on television.  You  start watching and get so caught up in the program that you start watching as many episodes as you can and become immersed in it until you cannot stop and then you realize you have watched them all and it is over.   You emerge from the darkened room and face the real world again, dishes in the sink, work to get done...no more imaginary world.

That is what it is like to finish a Armand Gamache novel.  It is like you have traveled to Three Pines the small village in Canada where Armand lives with his wife, Reine Marie , Jean-Guy Beauvoir , his second in command and son-in-law.  There are the villagers , who play a recurring role in the series.

All these characters grow and develop as each book is published.  So many readers say the same things I have been saying, it is like Three Pines is a real place and the characters could be their friends.  While I am reading one of the mystery novels I can almost picture myself sitting in the bistro near the fireplace eating one the delicious meals being described. Actually wishing I could go in and order the meal myself it sounds so mouthwatering.

This time is no exception, the plot for the mystery is compelling.  You do not want to put down the book because you are trying to follow along carefully and help Gamache find the murderer.  Then there are the misdirects that both you and the Suerte police are fooled by.  The shifty  character that you are sure is the real killer and then at the last minute Gamache realizes he went in the wrong direction and now they are almost too late.  

Penny has kept the Three Pines a favorite place for so many readers for eighteen books now.  All the members of the village are waiting for us to return in her next novel.  We are ready and looking forward to visiting again even though we just came home...

A Truth to Lie For

 Ann Perry has written another book in the Elena Standish series, A Truth to Lie For.

I am continuing to read  this series of mystery novels about Elena Standish during World War II because I feel dedicated to follow through, but I will say that they are not as compelling as they should be.  They  are easy to put down and hard to pick up and finish.  

Ann Perry has long been a favorite author of mine.  I really enjoyed the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series and I have read some of the Hester and William Monk series but this time there is not enough of a mystery to each novel to make it exciting.  These novels take place during WWII . They are about the secret services of England trying to spy in Germany.  Each time there is a spy who has infiltrated a different department of war in Germany and is now compromised in some way and needs to get out of the country.  Elena is sent as a young woman who should not call attention to her herself and can help the person in question escape. Of course there are always complications.  

It is interesting that Perry as made a young woman the protagonist in this series, though her grandfather and her boss are also quite important to the story lines and their friendship always factors into the plot. It is still worth taking some time to read.

Belonging

 Belonging by Nora Krug, the study of a a young German looking into her family history and discovering her ancestral roots.

The description of the book intrigued me.  The idea of a young girl of German decent wondering what her family's role was during the Holocaust.  She talks to her parents who were children during WWII to try and find out what they knew about the war and their parents roles in the army during that time.  Interestingly her parents seem to know very little and it was not discussed with her grandparents at all.  Now Nora goes back and traces her history and meets long lost relatives to get answers to her questions. 

I was intrigued to read this book, because it would be fascinating to find out how Germans lived through the war and what weighs on their conscience now.   It seems that Nora has similar thoughts and questions.  Nora did not get answers but in the end found a peace with what she did find out.  

I did not find all the answers I was looking for in this book. I also found some of the graphics confusing. This is presented as a graphic novel  There were collage style artwork of family pictures and letters.  There were what seem to be  general German artifacts, pictures and postcards that were scattered through the book. 

The Twist of the Knife

 Anthony Horowitz has don it again.  The Twist of the Knife another fun, entertaining mystery novel that is written from his personal point of view as himself.  He is again working with private detective Hawthorne and solving a murder.  This time he is the the prime suspect.  

The crossing of this line between author and character, between the novel and reality is so amazing and Horowitz stretches it as tight as he can and still stay on the tightrope.  There are so many references to the real life he leads, writing novels and television scripts.  He talks about his wife and coming back to the home they share.  He mentions real people and characters in the book so seamlessly that I have to Google many references to see if they are real or imaginary.  

The plot also is so much fun, a play he has written is opening on a London stage.  The critics are in the audience on opening night and one even comes to the cast party at a restaurant after the show.   The actors decide to have a nightcap back at the theatre before going home for the night.  When the first negative review comes through everyone is upset.  But one person is more upset than the others and the critic is found dead the next morning.

Horowitz is arrested when all the evidence points to him as the killer.  After a night in jail he is finally able to convince Hawthorne to take the case and help him try to prove his innocence.

There are so many characters and all have very complicated backstories .. it gets more and more difficult to figure out who could have done it.