Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia of To Be Continued, where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday currently is on tour, and this month’s host is I totally paused!.
Here’s what I received over the past couple of weeks:
The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan — my birthday gift from Serena and family (Thank you all so much!)
Shanghai, 1912. Violet Minturn is the privileged daughter of the American madam of the city’s most exclusive courtesan house. But when the Ching dynasty is overturned, Violet is separated from her mother in a cruel act of chicanery and forced to become a “virgin courtesan.” Half-Chinese and half-American, Violet grapples with her place in the worlds of East and West — until she is able to merge her two halves, empowering her to become a shrewd courtesan who excels in the business of seduction and illusion, though she still struggles to understand who she is.
Back in 1897 San Francisco, Violet’s mother, Lucia, chooses a disastrous course as a sixteen-year-old, when her infatuation with a Chinese painter compels her to leave her home for Shanghai. Shocked by her lover’s adherence to Chinese traditions, she is unable to change him, despite her unending American ingenuity.
Fueled by betrayals, both women refuse to submit to fate and societal expectations, persisting in their quests to recover what was taken from them: respect; a secure future; and, most poignantly, love from their parents, lovers, and children. To reclaim their lives, they take separate journeys — to a backwater hamlet in China, the wealthy environs of the Hudson River Valley, and, ultimately, the unknown areas of their hearts, where they discover what remains after their many failings to love and be loved.
Spanning more than forty years and two continents, The Valley of Amazement transports readers from the collapse of China’s last imperial dynasty to the beginning of the Republic, and recaptures the lost world of old Shanghai through the inner workings of courtesan houses and the lives of the foreigners living in the International Settlement, both erased by World War II. A deeply evocative narrative of the profound connections between mothers and daughters, imbued with Tan’s characteristic insight and humor, The Valley of Amazement conjures a story of inherited trauma, desire and deception, and the power and obstinacy of love. (publisher’s summary)
Project Darcy by Jane Odiwe — from the author for review
It is high summer when Ellie Bentley joins an archaeological dig at Jane Austen’s childhood home. She’s always had a talent for “seeing” into the past and is not easily disturbed by her encounters with Mr. Darcy’s ghost at the house where she’s staying.
When Ellie travels into the past, she discovers exactly what happened whilst Jane danced her way through the snowy winter of 1796. As Steventon Rectory and all its characters come to life, Ellie discovers the true love story lost in Pride and Prejudice — a tale which has its own consequences for her future destiny, changing her life beyond imagination. (publisher’s summary)
The Pursuit of Mary Bennet by Pamela Mingle — from William Morrow for review
For most of her life, Mary, the serious and unpolished third daughter of the Bennet family, has been overshadowed by her sisters — beautiful and confident Jane and Elizabeth, and flirtatious and lighthearted Lydia and Kitty. But with nearly all of her sisters married and gone from the household, awkward, unrefined Mary has blossomed into an attractive young woman with a quiet poise of her own.
When a very pregnant Lydia unexpectedly returns to the Bennet home and scandalously announces she’s left Wickham, Mary and Kitty are packed off to visit Jane and her husband, Charles Bingley, in Derbyshire. Yearning for the solitude of home, Mary is dismayed to discover Bingley’s handsome and eligible friend Henry Walsh everywhere she turns. Unschooled in the game of love, Mary finds Henry’s warm attentions confounding. Is his interest genuine or does she foolishly mistake friendliness for something more? With her heart and her future at risk, Mary must throw caution to the wind to find the truth — a journey of discovery that will teach her surprising lessons about herself and the desires of her heart. (publisher’s summary)
Wake by Anna Hope — from Random House for review
Wake: 1) Emerge or cause to emerge from sleep. 2) Ritual for the dead. 3) Consequence or aftermath.
Anna Hope’s brilliant debut unfolds over the course of five days, as three women must deal with the aftershocks of World War I and its impact on the men in their lives.
London, 1920. The city prepares to observe the two-year anniversary of Armistice Day with the burial of the unknown soldier. Many are still haunted by the war: Hettie, a dance instructress, lives at home with her mother and her brother, who is mute after his return from combat. One night Hettie meets a wealthy, educated man and finds herself smitten with him. But there is something distracted about him, something she cannot reach. … Evelyn works at the Pensions Exchange, through which thousands of men have claimed benefits from wounds or debilitating distress. Embittered by her own loss, she looks for solace in her adored brother, who has not been the same since he returned from the front. … Ada is beset by visions of her son on every street, convinced he is still alive. Helpless, her loving husband has withdrawn from her. Then one day a young man appears at her door, seemingly with notions to peddle, like hundreds of out-of-work veterans. But when he utters the name of her son, Ada is jolted to the core.
The lives of these three women are braided together, their stories gathering tremendous power as the ties that bind them become clear, and as the body of the unknown solider moves closer and closer to its final resting place. (publisher’s summary)
A Star for Mrs. Blake by April Smith — from Knopf for review
An emotionally charged, brilliantly realized novel set in the 1930s about five American women — Gold Star Mothers — who travel to France to visit the graves of their soldier sons buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery near Verdun: a pilgrimage that will change their lives in unforeseeable and indelible ways. This timeless story set against a footnote of history is little known but unforgettable.
Although Americans fought for just over a year in World War I, there were 116,516 soldiers killed and more than 30,000 were buried in U.S. cemeteries in Europe. In 1929, the U.S. Congress, responding to widows and war mothers lobbying for compensation of their loss, passed legislation to fund travel for mothers of fallen soldiers to visit their sons’ graves in France. During a three-year period, 6,693 mothers made the trip. (publisher’s summary)
“And Who Can Be in Doubt of What Followed”: The Novels of Jane Austen Expanded by Alexa Adams — contest win from the author
Have you ever wondered how Caroline Bingley learned of Mr. Darcy’s engagement to Elizabeth Bennet, what Colonel Brandon did to win Marianne Dashwood’s heart, or who discovered Mr. Elliot and Mrs. Clay in flagrante? Alexa Adams seeks to answer these questions and more, delving into the details at which Jane Austen only hinted to develop the unspoken underbelly of her six major novels. (publisher’s summary)
The Art of Secrets by James Klise — a surprise from Algonquin Young Readers
When Saba Khan’s apartment burns in a mysterious fire, possibly a hate crime, her Chicago high school rallies around her. Her family moves rent-free into a luxury apartment, Saba’s Facebook page goes crazy, and she starts (secretly) dating a popular boy. Then some quirky art donated to a school fundraising effort for the Khans is revealed to be an unknown work by famous outsider artist Henry Darger, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and Saba’s life turns upside down again.
Should Saba’s family have all that money? Or should it go to the students who found the art? Or to the school? Greed, jealousy, and suspicion create an increasingly tangled web as adults and teens alike debate who should get the money and being to question one another’s motivations.
Through monologues, journal entries, interviews, articles, and official documents, characters reveal how they see what happened. How readers interpret the truth of this thoroughly engrossing and often ambiguous tale will depend on their own ideas about empathy, generosity, and the dakrer corners of human nature. (publisher’s summary)
The Summer of Letting Go by Gae Polisner — a surprise from Algonquin Young Readers
Summer has begun, the beach beckons — and Francesca Schnell is going nowhere. Four years ago, Francesca’s little brother, Simon, drowned, and Francesca’s the one who should have been watching. Now Francesca is about to turn sixteen, but guilt keeps her stuck in the past. Meanwhile, her best friend, Lisette, is moving on — most recently with the boy Francesca wants but can’t have.
At loose ends, Francesca trails her father, who may be having an affair, to the local country club. There she meets four-year-old Frankie Sky, a little boy who bears an almost eerie resemblance to Simon, and Francesca begins to wonder if it’s possible Frankie could be Simon’s reincarnation. Knowing Frankie leads Francesca to places she thought she’d never dare to go — and it begins to seem possible to forgive herself, grow up, and even fall in love, whether or not she solves the riddle of Frankie Sky.
Readers of realistic teen fiction by Sarah Dessen, Jenny Han, and Sarah Mlynlowski will gravitate to this story in which tragedy and loss exist side by side with heart and hope. (publisher’s summary)
What books did you add to your shelves recently?
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