Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Robin Sloan, 2012
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250037756
Summary
A gleeful and exhilarating tale of global conspiracy, complex code-breaking, high-tech data visualization, young love, rollicking adventure, and the secret to eternal life—mostly set in a hole-in-the-wall San Francisco bookstore.
The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a San Francisco Web-design drone—and serendipity, sheer curiosity, and the ability to climb a ladder like a monkey has landed him a new gig working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after just a few days on the job, Clay begins to realize that this store is even more curious than the name suggests.
There are only a few customers, but they come in repeatedly and never seem to actually buy anything, instead “checking out” impossibly obscure volumes from strange corners of the store, all according to some elaborate, long-standing arrangement with the gnomic Mr. Penumbra.
The store must be a front for something larger, Clay concludes, and soon he’s embarked on a complex analysis of the customers’ behavior and roped his friends into helping to figure out just what’s going on. But once they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, it turns out the secrets extend far outside the walls of the bookstore.
With irresistible brio and dazzling intelligence, Robin Sloan has crafted a literary adventure story for the twenty-first century, evoking both the fairy-tale charm of Haruki Murakami and the enthusiastic novel-of-ideas wizardry of Neal Stephenson or a young Umberto Eco, but with a unique and feisty sensibility that’s rare to the world of literary fiction.
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is exactly what it sounds like: an establishment you have to enter and will never want to leave, a modern-day cabinet of wonders ready to give a jolt of energy to every curious reader, no matter the time of day. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Robin Sloan grew up in Michigan and now splits his time between San Francisco and the Internet. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Irresistible.
Newsweek
Wonderful.... I had a great time reading [Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore], flew through it in one sitting.... The reader gets that deeply satisfying feeling of entering a wholly created world, and looking on in wonder as that world gets created by the author’s fearlessness and disregard for convention.... It’s a lot of fun, a real tour de force.
George Saunders - Blip Magazine
Sloan's debut novel takes the reader on a dazzling and flat-out fun adventure, winding through the interstices between the literary and the digital realms....From the shadows of Penumbra's bookshelves to the brightly lit constellation of cyberspace to the depths of a subterranean library, Sloan deftly wields the magicks (definitely with a "k") of the electronic and the literary in this intricate mystery.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Related to the word “umbrella,” Mr. Penumbra’s last name can refer to an area of partial illumination (especially in astronomy) or something that serves as a shroud. What makes his bookstore a source of light, even though it operates in the shadows?
2. What were your initial theories about the bookstore’s mysterious patrons and their project? What did you predict Manutius’s message would be?
3. At the heart of the novel is the collision of old-world handwork and the automated digital age. How do Clay and Mat build a bridge between these two worlds?
4. Discuss Clay’s pursuit of love. What makes Kat attractive to him? What does it take to win her over?
5. The characters remind us that fifteenth-century technologies of the book—from punch-cutting to typesetting—were met with fear and resistance, as well as with entrepreneurial competition and the need to teach new skills. How does this compare to the launch of e-books? If you try to picture what literacy will look like five hundred years from now, what do you see?
6. If you were to file a codex vitae, capturing all you’ve learned throughout your life, what would it contain?
7. As Clay and the team of Google decoders take on the same challenge, what do they discover about the relative strengths of the human brain and technology?
8. Neel’s financial backing makes it possible for Clay to outwit Corvina and the Festina Lente Company, despite its many lucrative enterprises. In this novel, what can money buy, and what are the limitations of wealth?
9. Clay’s literary idol, Clark Moffat, was forced to make a choice between the Unbroken Spine project and his commercially successful fiction. If you had been Moffat, which path would you have chosen?
10. Are Penumbra and his colleagues motivated only by a quest for immortality? If not, what are the other rewards of their labor-intensive work? Can books give their authors immortality?
11. How did you react to Gerritszoon’s “message to eternity,” revealed in the closing passages? How can his wisdom apply to your life?
12. Discuss the physical traits of your copy of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. Do you have a hard copy or an e-book, and where did you buy it? How does the design of the book enhance your reading experience?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
A Shower of Roses
Tom Milton, 2010
Nepperhan Press
177 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780982990414
Summary
Eva’s mission in life is to help people by doing little things for them, instead of performing great heroic acts. She is a pediatric nurse at a hospital in New York, and things are going well for her when she meets Marek, a Polish exile, and falls in love with him.
Marek ostensibly works for a large international bank, but that is a cover for his role as a CIA agent with the mission of fomenting a popular uprising against the communist government of Poland. At the request of the CIA the bank transfers him to London, where the story opens in April 1981, shortly after Poland announced that it would be unable to repay its foreign debt and the Solidarity movement emerged in the port of Gdańsk.
Eva had never dreamed of marrying a man like Marek, but she responds to his need for love, and she devotes her life to him. She is fully aware that his work is dangerous, and every time he goes to Poland she worries that he will be arrested by the secret police. Though he drags her into a world of political intrigue and tests her love by subjecting her to increasingly painful experiences, she keeps her promise to love him no matter what he does, until she confronts the truth about him—and about herself. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—April 3, 1949
• Where—St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
• Education—Ph.D., Walden University, M.A. University
of Iowa (Writers Workshop), B.A. Princeton University
• Currently—lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
Tom Milton was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. After completing his undergraduate degree at Princeton he worked for the Wall Street Journal, and then he was invited to the Writers Workshop in Iowa City, where he completed a novel and a master’s degree. He then served in the U.S. Army, and upon his discharge he joined a major international bank in New York. For the next twenty years he worked overseas, initially as an economic/political analyst and finally as a senior executive. He later became involved in economic development projects. After retiring from his business career he joined the faculty of Mercy College, where he is a professor of international business. Five years ago he found a publisher for his novels, some of which are set in foreign cities where he lived (Buenos Aires, London, Madrid, and Santo Domingo). His novels are popular with reading groups because they deal with major issues, they have engaging characters, and they are good stories.
His first published novel, No Way to Peace, set in Argentina in the mid-1970s, is about the courage of five women during that country’s war of terror. His second novel, The Admiral’s Daughter, is about the conflict between a young woman and her father during the civil rights war in Mississippi in the early 1960s. His third novel, All the Flowers, set in New York in the late 1960s, is about a gifted young singer who gets involved in the antiwar movement because her twin brother joins the army to prove his manhood to his father. His fourth novel, Infamy, set in Madrid in 2007, is about the attempt of security agents to stop a terrorist attack on New York City that would use weapons of mass destruction. His next novel, A Shower of Roses, set in London in the early 1980s, is about a young nurse who is drawn by love into an intrigue of the Cold War. His next novel, Sara’s Laughter, set in Yonkers, NY in 1993, is about a woman in her mid-thirties who wants a child but is unable to get pregnant. And his latest novel, The Golden Door, is about a young Latina woman in Alabama whose future is threatened by a harsh anti-immigrant law that the state passed in 2011. (From the author.)
Book Reviews
“Do we have a purpose?” “Are we capable of unconditional love?” “What is God’s role in our lives?” These are the types of questions Tom Milton explores in his fifth novel A Shower of Roses. But perhaps Milton’s most pressing question is, “Can womankind save mankind (because he’s surely not going to save himself)?”
Set primarily in London in 1981, the story follows the life of Eva Ostrowski. Eva is the daughter of Polish parents who escaped the onslaught of the Germans and the Russians during World War II. She is married to a man named Marek whose name can be loosely translated as “a severe brand of Pole.” Marek, like Eva’s parents, is also a transplanted Pole who now works for the CIA. He often travels back and forth to Poland (disguised as a banker) in an effort to aid the Solidarity movement’s attempt to overthrow Poland’s communist government.
To fully develop Eva’s character, Milton intersperses the storyline with insightful passages about Eva’s past. Eva was raised in a tightly-knit Polish community in St. Paul, Minnesota. Catholicism and polka music were the two most important ingredients in the glue that held this community together. During her fifth-grade year, Eva’s favorite nun gave her a book called The Story of a Soul by St. Therese of Lisieux. Through this book, Eva came to understand that in a world dominated and controlled by men, her greatest contribution would be myriad small acts of kindness and the spreading of happiness through unconditional love for others.
Eva’s marriage to Marek is the embodiment of the theory that opposites attract. He is an atheist. His sole mission in life is to effect the political balance of power on the world stage, and he is unconvinced anyone is capable of unreserved love. Eva is everything he is not, and it is through this relationship that Milton presents the reader with his theories regarding some of life’s most profound issues.
A Shower of Roses is provoking and engaging. The story takes its time developing the central theme of finding and defining one’s place in the grand scheme of things, but once it hits its stride, Roses is hard to put down. Eva’s struggles and insights take place in a world seemingly designed by Emmanuel Kant and Virginia Woolf, a world in which the desire for power and control at all costs meets the belief that unconditional love can save a soul from the “darkness of unending night.”
Can a price be placed on a human life? Is there a limit to the amount of love one can give? A Shower of Roses takes its audience to dark places in its search for answers to these questions, but by the end of the story, after encountering these issues for herself, Eva “knelt down and thanked God for revealing the truth to her.”
Chris Fisher - Foreword Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Why was Eva attracted to the mission of helping people by doing little things for them?
2. Why did Eva respond to the discovery of her father’s infidelity the way she did?
3. What do Eva and Ramona have in common other than the fact that they are pediatric nurses at the same hospital?
4. What does Eva learn by sharing with Ramona her discovery about her father?
5. How does Eva’s experience with her father make her susceptible to Marek’s appeal in the Recovery Room?
6. What makes Eva believe that she can love Marek no matter what he does?
7. What do Eva and Juliana have in common other than the fact that their husbands are involved in international banking?
8. What important insights about herself does Eva gain from her conversations with Juliana?
9. In one conversation with Juliana, Eva talks about the Jungian concept of reconciling the past and the future. Why is Eva unable to do this?
10. What do Eva and Francis have in common other than the fact that they are both taking the same course at the University of London?
11. What important insights about her husband does Eva gain from her conversations with Francis?
12. Did Marek’s personal needs jeopardize his political mission?
13. Why does Eva trust Marek and believe everything he says?
14. Is Eva’s commitment to her mission compromised by her devotion to her husband?
15. While Marek is testing Eva’s love for him, is he also testing her faith in God?
16. Who do you think betrayed Marek?
17. Do you think what happens to Eva supports the notion that in spite of all the advice we get from other people, we can learn only from our own experience?
(Questions courtesy of author.)
The Age of Desire
Jennie Fields, 2012
Penguin Group USA
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780143123286
Summary
They say behind every great man is a woman. Behind Edith Wharton, there was Anna Bahlmann—her governess turned literary secretary, and her mothering, nurturing friend.
When at the age of forty-five, Edith falls passionately in love with a dashing younger journalist, Morton Fullerton, and is at last opened to the world of the sensual, it threatens everything certain in her life but especially her abiding friendship with Anna. As Edith’s marriage crumbles and Anna’s disapproval threatens to shatter their lifelong bond, the women must face the fragility at the heart of all friendships.
Told through the points of view of both women, The Age of Desire takes us on a vivid journey through Wharton’s early Gilded Age world: Paris with its glamorous literary salons and dark secret cafés, the Whartons’ elegant house in Lenox, Massachusetts, and Henry James’s manse in Rye, England.
Edith’s real letters and intimate diary entries are woven throughout the book. The Age of Desire brings to life one of literature’s most beloved writers, whose own story was as complex and nuanced as that of any of the heroines she created. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—July 25, 1953
• Where—Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Illinois; M.F.A,
Iowa Writers' Workshop
• Currently—lives in Nashville, TN
Jennie Fields is an American novelist. Her fourth novel is The Age of Desire, based on the life of American writer Edith Wharton.
Fields had a successful career in advertising, starting as a copywriter in Chicago, and going on to become a creative director at several international advertising agencies in Chicago and New York. Her advertising credits include McDonald's jingles (while at DDB Needham), including "Menu Chant", which was sung by, among others, Carl Giammarese of The Buckinghams, the "We're All Connected" campaign for New York Telephone (while at Young & Rubicam), and the Lunesta Moth campaign (while at McCann Erickson) for which she won an Effie award.
Fields has published four novels: Lily Beach; Crossing Brooklyn Ferry; The Middle Ages; and The Age of Desire. Her first novel Lily Beach (1997), is the story of a young artist in the 1960s, struggling to find her place in a rapidly changing world. Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, (1997) is the story of six people who live on the same street in Brooklyn, and what happens to them over the course of a year. Her third novel, The Middle Ages (2002,) tells the story of an architect who only finds the life she's really seeking when she loses her job.
In 2012, Fields published The Age of Desire ( 2012) based on the life of American author Edith Wharton. The novel centers on Wharton's illicit affair with journalist William Morton Fullerton and that affair's effect on both her unstable husband, Edward R. "Teddy" Wharton, and her close friendship with her lifelong friend and confidant, her literary secretary Anna Bahlmann. Until recently, little had been known about Bahlmann but Fields was one of the first to have access to over 100 previously unknown letters from Wharton to Bahlmann that were auctioned in 2009. The letters are now in the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University and form the basis of another 2012 publication, My Dear Governess: The Letters of Edith Wharton to Anna Bahlmann by Irene Goldman-Price.
Fields' books have been published in Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
Somewhere between the repressiveness of Edith Wharton’s early-20th-century Age of Innocence and our own libertine "Shades of Grey" era lies the absorbingly sensuous world of Jennie Fields’s The Age of Desire.... Along with the overheated romance and the middle-age passion it so accurately describes, The Age of Desire also offers something simpler and quieter: a tribute to the enduring power of female friendship.
Boston Globe
Delicate and imaginative.... Fields’s love and respect for all her characters and her care in telling their stories shines through.
Publishers Weekly
Fields supplements the story with fascinating excerpts from Wharton’s actual letters and includes appearances by other authors of the period...to re-create the exciting literary landscape of Paris and New York in the first decade of the 20th century.... The novel should...appeal to those who enjoyed Paula McLain’s The Paris Wife.
Library Journal
Fields bases her perceptive novel on Wharton’s own diaries and letters.... The Age of Desire sheds welcome light on the little-known private life of a famous woman and her closest relationships in early-twentieth-century Europe and America.
Booklist
One doesn’t have to be an Edith Wharton fan to luxuriate in the Wharton-esque plotting and prose Fields so elegantly conjures..
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Have you read any of Edith Wharton’s books? How has reading this book altered your perception of her or her work? If you’ve not read any of her novels, has this book made you want to? Why or why not?
2. Lucretia Jones, Edith’s mother, is stern with her husband and her daughter. What aspects of Edith’s life and personality in this book might possibly be a result of Lucretia’s parenting? Does Edith put any effort into overcoming her mother’s influence?
3. How might it have been possible for Edith and Teddy to reach some sort of equilibrium in their marriage? Was it poisoned from the beginning? Why do you think so?
4. Edith ignores her friends’ warnings about Morton. Even as evidence mounts that he has a lot of skeletons in his closet, Edith continues to ignore the facts. What is the root of her denial? What are other aspects of her life that elicit denial? How else does denial wreak havoc in her life?
5. If you had been Edith’s friend, would you have warned her against getting involved with Morton? Would knowing her reaction toward Anna influence your decision? Would you try to intervene if one of your close friends today were to fall for someone he or she shouldn’t?
6. Why doesn’t Anna like Morton? What are some selfish reasons behind her dislike? What are the more justifiable reasons? What do you think of him?
7. What is Edith hoping to gain from the affair with Morton? Does she succeed? What about Morton? What do you think he’s after? In what ways did Edith benefit from the affair? In what ways did it have a negative impact?
8. At what point in the novel is the affair between Edith and Morton over? When does Edith finally realize it?
9. Fame is a recurring theme in the book. When Anna sails on the Amerika, she’s surprised that no one recognizes the name of her famous employer. When Edith hears any news of her books’ success, she is buoyed. But fame always comes at a price. What are the consequences of fame in this book?
10. Anna says that Edith mustn’t have had any choice, that the affair with Morton was inevitable. When looking back at unpleasant truths or impetuous behavior, it’s sometimes a comfort to believe we had no choice in the matter. What do you think of Anna’s assessment of Edith’s actions? What are some situations in the book where someone truly didn’t have a choice in his or her fate?
11. If Anna and Edith’s friendship were to dissolve, who has more to lose? Why? Which of the two would be more likely to thrive?
12. How do you think the story would have played out if communication were more instant, similar to the way it is today? What if, instead of waiting for a letter, Edith was anticipating a text message? How has modern communication affected romance?
13. There are several moments in the novel where characters could take charge of their own lives and pursue happiness. Edith could have left Teddy. Anna could have confessed her love to Teddy. What stopped them?
15. The quote at the beginning of the introduction suggests that the closest friendships are the ones most likely to be compromised. Do you agree? What are some experiences you’ve had with close friendships that were neglected?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
In His Stead (A Father's War)
Judith Sanders, 2012
Ironword Press
325 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781938573835
Summary
In His Stead explores the tension, devastation, strength, and love of service families during wartime through the story of one man, Retired Army Ranger Thomas Lane, as he attempts to make the greatest sacrifice for his son.
Lane once burned for the taste of gunpowder and thrill of the battle. But as he struggles to cope with his own PTSD and the death of his eldest son who was killed by an IED in Afghanistan, Lane learns that the price of war is far too dear. Now the National Guard is calling on Lane’s youngest son to serve. Consumed with sorrow, Lane knows he will do anything to save his child—even if it means going in his place.
In His Stead follows the tumultuous battle of Thomas Lane as he navigates the United States Army, its JAG corps, a vengeful officer, the very son he is desperate to save, and his own wife, who has the Solomon like choice of losing either a husband or a son. Capturing the essence of family life in wartime—the good, the bad, and the hopeful—In His Stead explores what it means to be a father and a man. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Judith Sanders was born in 1942 in central New Jersey, received her BS from Graceland College and worked as a registered nurse for many years, including serving the military as a civilian nurse in Maryland and Texas. Sanders, a mother of three boys, now makes writing her full time career and divides her time between her homes in New Hampshire and North Carolina. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
As lovers of books, don’t you wish there was some way, we had the time and could read each and every book on our TBR and Wish lists? I know I do. And this is one of those books.
Cmashlovestoread.com
Sanders rich rendering of Civil War law validated in the 21st century to save Thomas Lane's son is rare and spellbinding. The humanity linking the pages...will pierce you like a sword.
Hugh R. Overholt - Retired Judge Advocate General of the US Army
Discussion Questions
1. Did you learn something you didn’t know before? Were you aware of America’s history in forming our army? What do you think about conscription, the militia (now the National Guard), substitution, and bounty and bonus money?
2. How would you describe Thomas Lane—his personality traits, motivations, and inner qualities? Can you think of someone you know that is like Thomas Lane? Perhaps one of your own parents?
3. Did you think that Tom’s actions were justified, realistic? Do you admire or disapprove of them? What do you think of Tom and his wife Christine’s relationship with each other and their children?
4. Of the characters you met in the novel, whom would you invite for dinner, meatloaf Thursday? What would you like to talk to him/her about?
5. What main ideas—themes—does the author explore? Is the title a clue to the novel’s theme? Do you think there is moral justification for Tom’s actions? What makes Donnie refuse to go along with the exchange? Why does Donnie change his mind? How is Donnie altered through the novel if at all?
6. What passages strike you as insightful, even profound? Where there comments or dialogue that you especially enjoyed, found humorous, or that encapsulated the characters or theme?
7. If you could ask the author a question, what would you ask?
8. The plot of In His Stead brought up the issue of an all volunteer military. What are your thoughts about military service—the draft vs. volunteers? If we had the draft today how would war be different?
9. Both men and women now serve equally in the military. Could you imagine the main character as a mother, one of our many female warriors, instead of the father? What would be different?
10. The author is passionate about protecting all children from the ravages of war. Is there something one person can do to bring peace during conflict like the one in Afghanistan?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
The Mirrored World
Debra Dean, 2012
HarperCollins
256 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780061231452
Summary
A breathtaking novel of love, madness, and devotion set against the extravagant royal court of eighteenth-century St. Petersburg, Russia.
Xenia is an eccentric dreamer when she falls in love with a charismatic singer in the Imperial choir. Though they adore each other, their happiness is overshadowed by the demands of the royal court, and by Xenia's obsession to have a child. When a tragic vision comes true, she withdraws into grief and undergoes a profound transformation, giving her possessions to the poor. Then, one day, she vanishes.
Years later, dressed in the tatters of her husband's mil-itary uniform, Xenia is discovered tending the paupers of St. Petersburg's slums. Revered as a soothsayer and a healer, she is feared by Empress Catherine, who perceives her deeds as a rebuke.
In this elegant tale, Dean reimagines the life of Xenia of St. Petersburg, one of Russia's most mysterious and beloved holy figures. It is an evocative exploration of the blessings of long and loyal friendship, the limits of reason, and the true costs of loving deeply. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1958-1959
• Where—Seattle, Washington, USA
• Education—B.A., Whitman College; M.F.A.,
University of Oregon
• Awards—Nelson Bentley Prize-Fiction
• Currently—lives in Miami, Florida
Debra Dean worked as an actor in New York theater for nearly a decade before opting for the life of a writer and teacher. She and her husband now live in Miami, where she teaches at the University at Miami. (From the publisher.)
More
Debra Dean was born and raised in Seattle. The daughter of a builder and a homemaker and artist, she was a bookworm but never imagined becoming a writer. “Growing up, I read Louisa May Alcott and Laura Ingalls Wilder, Jane Austen, the Brontes. Until after I left college, I rarely read anyone who hadn’t been dead for at least fifty years, so I had no model for writing books as something that people still did. I think subconsciously I figured you needed three names or at the very least a British accent.”
At Whitman College, she double-majored in English and Drama and graduated in 1980. “If you can imagine anyone being this naïve, I figured if the acting thing didn’t work out, I’d have the English major to fall back on.” After college, she moved to New York and spent two years at The Neighborhood Playhouse, a professional actor’s training program. She worked in the New York and regional theatre for nearly a decade and met her future husband when they were cast as brother and sister in A.R. Gurney’s play The Dining Room. “If I’d had a more successful career as an actor, I’d probably still be doing it because I loved acting. I understudied in a couple of long-running plays, so I was able to keep my union health insurance, but the business is pretty dreadful. When I started thinking about getting out, I had no idea what else I might do. What I eventually came up with was writing, which in many ways was a comically ill-advised choice because the pitfalls of writing as a career are nearly identical to acting. One key difference, though, is that you don’t have to be hired first before you can write. Another big advantage is that you don’t need to get facelifts or even be presentable: most days, I can wear my ratty old jeans and t-shirts and not bother with the hair and make-up.”
In 1990, she moved back to the northwest and got her MFA at the University of Oregon. She started teaching writing and publishing her short stories in literary journals. “Everyone told me I needed to either get a PhD or write a novel, and logically they were right, but —well, as I’ve mentioned - I have no instinct for doing the smart thing.” The Madonnas of Leningrad, it turns out, was begun as a short story and when she realized that the short form wouldn’t contain the story, she put it back in the drawer for a few years.
“In retrospect, I’m very grateful for my circuitous journey, that I wasn’t some wunderkind. I like to think I have more compassion now and a perspective that I didn’t have when I was younger.” (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
In Debra Dean’s skilled hands, history comes alive.... Though the world she creates is harsh and cold at times, it is the warmth at its center—the power of love—that stays with you in the end.
Miami Herald
In her excellent second novel, The Mirrored World, Debra Dean has composed a resonant and compelling tale.... Dean’s writing is superb; she uses imagery natural to the story and an earlier time
Seattle Times
In her second novel (after The Madonnas of Leningrad), Dean returns to Russia to reimagine the intriguing life story of St. Xenia, as seen through the eyes of the fictional narrator, Dashenka. A terrible fire in 1736 in St. Petersburg forces a young Xenia; her sister, Nadya; and their mother to seek refuge in Dasha’s childhood home. The girls grow up together and are ushered into society the same year. Soon after, Xenia falls in love with Col. Andrei Petrov and the two wed. Dasha is not so lucky, but is kindly welcomed into Xenia’s house, where she witnesses Xenia unravel, first over her difficulty in conceiving, then the deaths of her only baby and husband. When an unstable Xenia begins to relinquish her worldly possessions, Dasha becomes concerned, and Xenia suddenly disappears, only to resurface years later as a saint to the poor—much to the chagrin of the royals. For those familiar with the story of St. Xenia, this is a gratifying take on a compelling woman. For others, Dean’s vivid prose and deft pacing make for a quick and entertaining read.
Publishers Weekly
Xenia, a patron saint of St. Petersburg, is the inspiration for this melancholy novel depicting the lives of three girls in the 18th-century "Venice of the North." Nadya marries an older suitor and lives a stuffy, bourgeois life. Dasha, the narrator, marries a musico, an Italian eunuch who performs in the Imperial choir. Their life is unconventional and sad. Xenia marries Andrei, a handsome officer who sings in the same choir. Their grand passion ends abruptly with his death in a drunken fall. In her grief, Xenia becomes a Holy Fool living on the streets and ministering to the poor and afflicted. Verdict: Dean made a skyrocketing literary debut with The Madonnas of Leningrad and follows up with a meditative spiritual saga that honors its subject with an artful recreation of Xenia's era. Subtle period details and dramatic facts of the 18th century enliven this fictional biography though the stories move along at a stately processional pace. —Barbara Conaty, Falls Church, VA
Library Journal
Dean’s novel grows more profound and affecting with every page.
Booklist
From Dean (Confessions of a Falling Woman, 2008, etc.), a lightly fictionalized retelling of the life of the Eastern Orthodox St. Xenia, who left her comfortable home in 18th-century Russia to live as a "holy fool" among the poor. Xenia's cousin, Dasha, who grew up with Xenia and her older sister, Nadya, narrates Xenia's history. From an early age, Xenia clearly has an independent spirit. She is an eccentric who cannot help showing her often-passionate feelings about the world around her without restraint. She also has dreams that are particularly vivid and can "see" what others cannot.... The novel follows the factual particulars, but Dasha's narration remains at such a formal remove that readers never experience what makes Xenia tick as a saint or a woman.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The novel opens with a striking dream. What is its portent?
2. Talk about Xenia as a child, a wife, and a widow. What adjectives would you use to describe her? Was she too sensitive for the difficulties of the material world? How does Xenia compare to her sister, Nadya and her cousin, Dasha?
3. Talk about Xenia's relationship with her husband, Andrei. Can someone love too much? Is love itself a form of madness?
4. What about Dasha and Gaspari's relationship? What are the most important components of a successful marriage? Is passion necessary?
5. What are your impressions of life in eighteenth-century Tsarist Russia? How does Debra Dean bring this time and place to life?
6. After Andrei's death, Xenia tells Dasha, "I have let people starve that I might wear that lace. But I shall be naked before God." Was Xenia right to feel guilty over her privilege while so many of her fellow citizens starved?
7. Is Xenia blessed by God, or is she mentally disturbed, driven mad by inconsolable grief? Is it "crazy" for a person to give up all material possessions as she did?
8. Was there anything that Dasha or anyone could have done to help Xenia or was her transformation the true purpose of her life? Do you think Xenia found peace in her transformation?
9. Compare the Tsarist Russia of Xenia's time with our world and our own society. Despite the obvious differences, do you see any similarities?
10. How would a person like Xenia be viewed today? Is most of the modern world too cynical to believe in miracles? Do you believe in miracles? Xenia has become one of Russia's most revered saints. What makes someone a saint? What do you think of Xenia?
11. What are the challenges and rewards of long friendship? Have you had a friend who changed dramatically, and how did you handle that?
(Questions issued by publisher.)