Bela's Story: A Brave Journey Through Unforgiving Times
Rita Schinnar and William A. Meis Jr., 2016
Fallen Bros Press
177 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780997672817
Summary
Born into a family of modest means in a small village in eastern Hungary, Adalbert Izsak—or Bela as everyone called him—might have expected to encounter some hurdles in life, but he hardly expected any great adventures.
As things turned out, the deck was stacked against him from the start and Bela’s life became a dramatic journey constantly endangered by forces beyond his control. The political struggles in Europe that brought on wars, persecution, perils, and dislocation affected Bela directly, and being Jewish created experiences that were doubly challenging.
There were occasions when Bela miraculously escaped certain death and other occasions when hopelessness caused him to lose faith in life and almost end it by his own doing. There was a desperate time following the loss of his beloved mother and his first wife, then a fortuitous time when Bela found a new love.
Each time when Bela’s dream to be in charge of his own life was realized, circumstances intervened to prevent this. Bela was forced into a cycle of building a new life and then having it taken away from him. He was forced to move to new places, from Europe to the Middle East to the US. He was forced to adjust to new cultures. He was forced to be resilient and brave, and accept with amusement, but never with complete resignation, that, “Man proposes and God disposes.”
Bela’s life took many wild turns, some comical and some sad. In the end, despite the challenges and hardships, despite the disappointments and heartaches, Bela overcame these with grit and the force of his personality. He lived to enjoy a comfortable and loving old age by retaining a joyful spirit that sought out and embraced new friendships.
Bela’s story is also a sad reflection on the senseless arbitrariness with which political regimes treat their populations and the capacity of humans to cause unbearable suffering. But ultimately, Bela’s story is a testament to the human spirit than can overcome adversity. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Rucharest, Romania
• Raised—Israel
• Education—B.A., State University of New York-Buffalo; M.P.A., University of Pittsburgh
• Currently—lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Rita Schinnar moved from Romania to Israel when she was a toddler. After completing her high school education and two years of studies at Levinsky College of Education in Tel Aviv, she moved to the U.S. to pursue further university studies. She started at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, majoring in psychology, with a minor in European History, and transferred to the State University of New York at Buffalo where she earned her BA degree in psychology. She also earned a MPA degree in public administration from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and completed her doctoral studies except for a dissertation, also from GSPIA.
After graduating from college, Rita Schinnar began a long career working at the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Perlman School of medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. She learned epidemiology and research methods on the job and worked on numerous epidemiologic and pharmacoepidemiologic studies, co-authoring papers in scientific journals, contributing chapters to a book and textbook in pharmacoepidemiology, teaching research methods to fellows and medical students, and serving as managing editor for a journal in the field.
In retirement since 2014, Rita Schinnar is a writer of travelogues, short stories, and this first memoir. Her hobbies include photography and films.
William A. Meis Jr., co-author, is an editor, novelist, poet and publisher of Fallen Bros Press catalogue of fiction, essays and memoirs. He was the co-founder of the journal, New Perspectives Quarterly and a long-time Director of Publications for the Witers Guild of America (west). He holds an MFA degree from Goddard College, and lives in Southern California. (Author bios from the authors.)
Follow BelaStory2016 on Facebook.
Discussion Questions
1. How do the principal characters change over time?
2. How would you have handled the shocking discovery that a spouse thought to be long-deceased reappears into your life and complicates your current life?
3. Why is it easier to open-up one’s inner thoughts and feelings in a correspondence compared to talking about these things face-to-face?
4. How have you been helped by one or more friendships over your life time
5. What might explain the transformation in the principal character, from a mostly angry man in his mid-life (because of guilt? struggles?) into a funnier, easy-going person in his later years?
6. How to understand a dominant trait in the principal character, described as “generously offering to help and share with virtual strangers what limited resources he had”? Is it more likely to be an innate trait or pay-back for feeling guilty or feeling lucky?
7. What challenges confront new immigrants in a country that is vastly different from the country they escaped from?
8. Why can’t societies change? Why can’t humanity advance beyond base impulses and behaviors such as bigotry, wars, harsh ruling by governments? Why does history have to repeat itself? What must change in humans to hope to transcend the conditions of human misery?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
A Very Special Year
Thomas Montasser (transl., Jamie Bulloch), 2016
One World Publications
166 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781780748665
Summary
It’s not true that booksellers look after books; they look after people. A Very Special Year is a declaration of love to the guardians of literature and book doctors all over the world—an absolute gem. — Nina George, bestselling author of The Little Paris Bookshop
When young businesswoman Valerie takes over the bookshop owned by her aunt—who has vanished without trace—her intention is to bring some order to the chaos, and then sell the business.
But she has underestimated the power of this little store. As she spends her days in an old armchair, losing herself in books by Italo Calvino and Gustav Flaubert as well as Jonathan Safran Foer and Shahriar Mandanipour, she finds herself in thrall to the life of a bookseller—including the resident bookstore rat (yes, rat, not cat) and the chaotic shelving system.
One day she stumbles upon a mysterious book with an unfinished ending. Valerie thinks it must be a defective copy, but when a customer turns up searching for that very book, her view of the shop—and world—is never the same. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Author Thomas Montasser is a poet and novelist. He founded Montasser Media Agency with his wife twenty-five years ago, and it is now one of the leading literary agencies in Germany. Thomas is a self-confessed bibliophile, and lives in Munich, Germany, with his wife and three children.
Translator Jamie Bulloch studied modern languages at Bristol University and obtained an MA in Central European History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) as well as a PhD in interwar Austrian history. His recent literary translations include Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes (MacLehose Press), which has been long-listed for the 2016 IMPAC award. He lives in London with his wife and three daughters. (Author bios from the publisher.)
Book Reviews
A slim love letter to books and their transformative powers…. Warm writing, an obvious adoration of the subject matter, the cozy setting, and a tiny splash of magic will charm readers, who will find Aunt Charlotte’s bookshop irresistible.
Booklist
A magical journey ... captivating and moving.
Elle
Discussion Questions
1. Why did the author title the book A Very Special Year?
2. What did you think about the use of magic in the book?
3. Would you have been able to close the bookshop, as Valerie intends to do at the outset?
4. What do you think is the greatest lesson Valerie learns in the end?
5. Who was your favorite character? Why?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The Girl from the Savoy
Hazel Gaynor, 2016
HarperCollins
448 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062403476
Summary
Sometimes life gives you cotton stockings. Sometimes it gives you a Chanel gown...
Dolly Lane is a dreamer; a downtrodden maid who longs to dance on the London stage, but her life has been fractured by the Great War. Memories of the soldier she loved, of secret shame and profound loss, by turns pull her back and spur her on to make a better life.
When she finds employment as a chambermaid at London’s grandest hotel, The Savoy, Dolly takes a step closer to the glittering lives of the Bright Young Things who thrive on champagne, jazz and rebellion. Right now, she must exist on the fringes of power, wealth and glamor—she must remain invisible and unimportant.
But her fortunes take an unexpected turn when she responds to a struggling songwriter’s advertisement for a ‘muse’ and finds herself thrust into London’s exhilarating theatre scene and into the lives of celebrated actress, Loretta May, and her brother, Perry. Loretta and Perry may have the life Dolly aspires to, but they too are searching for something.
Now, at the precipice of the life she has and the one she longs for, the girl from The Savoy must make difficult choices: between two men; between two classes, between everything she knows and everything she dreams of. A brighter future is tantalizingly close—but can a girl like Dolly ever truly leave her past behind? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 16, 1971
• Where—Yorkshire, England, UK
• Education—B.A., Manchester Metropolitan University
• Awards—Cecil Day Lewis Award for Emerging Writers
• Currently—lives in County Kildare, Ireland
Hazel Gaynor is an author and freelance writer in Ireland and the UK and was the recipient of the Cecil Day Lewis Award for Emerging Writers. The Girl Who Came Home: A Novel of the Titanic is her first novel. Her second novel, published in 2015, is A Memory of Violets: A Novel of London's Flower Sellers.
Hazel is a regular guest blogger and features writer for national Irish writing website for which she has interviewed authors such as Philippa Gregory, Sebastian Faulks, Cheryl Strayed, and Mary Beth Keane.
Hazel has appeared on TV and radio and her writing has been featured in the Irish Times and the Sunday Times Magazine. Originally from Yorkshire, England, Hazel now lives in Ireland with her husband, two young children and an accident-prone cat. (From the author.)
Visit the author's webpage.
Follow Hazel on Facebook.
Book Reviews
The Girl from the Savoy is a satisfying, thoughtful novel that delves into the lives of people living in Great Britain during the 1920s. For Downton Abbey followers, the stories of the upstairs workers and the downstairs entitled folks are entertaining and informative. This is a perfect book for a summer read—or an anytime read.
Examiner.com
The echoes of the First World War influence every character of Gaynor's latest novel, set in 1923 London.... Dolly dreams of a life on the stage.... [Her] path toward stardom and the secret that's been haunting her help push this historical novel toward a thoroughly satisfying ending.
Publishers Weekly
The wide-ranging effects of the war lend a realistic atmosphere without diminishing the hopeful mood.... and these details make the 1920s come alive. —Emily Byers, Salem P.L., OR
Library Journal
Gaynor once again brings history to life. With intriguing characters and a deeply absorbing story, her latest is a fascinating examination of one city’s rich history and the often forgotten people who lived in it.
Booklist
A spunky young woman dances her way up from a job as a chambermaid at London's grandest hotel to a chorus girl and beyond during the Roaring '20s.... Though the book more than teases with romance-novel tropes...the only real romance here is between Dolly and the stage.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The novel is set in the years just after the Great War when social boundaries were changing and women, especially, were fighting for greater independence. What did you enjoy about this period? Was there anything that surprised you?
2. Dolly’s position as a chambermaid gives her access to the less well-known side of iconic hotels like The Savoy. What did you enjoy about the chapters where we go "behind thescenes" at the hotel?
3. The novel has a large cast of principal and supporting characters. Who was your favoritecharacter, and why?
4. The working classes were often taken advantage of by their superiors during this period. What was your reaction to the scene between Dolly and her employer’s nephew, and to the incident between Dolly and Larry Snyder?
5. The shame of an unwanted pregnancy and of being an unmarried mother was a very real issue in the 1920s. Were you surprised to learn about Dolly’s pregnancy and her time at the Mothers’ Hospital? What was your reaction when she discovers that Thomas is her child?
6. Perry and Dolly’s relationship crosses the social divide and is unconventional in its nature. What were your thoughts as their relationship develops?
7. Loretta has everything that Dolly longs for and yet they both have secrets and are fighting their own private battles. Who were you rooting for, and why?
8. Loretta is an iconic star of the stage, adored by legions of fans everywhere she goes. How different do you think her experience of fame was from that experienced by female celebrities today?
9. There are many female friendships in the novel: Dolly and Clover, Dolly and the girls at the hotel, Dolly and Loretta, Loretta and Bea. Which was your favorite friendship to see develop? Why do you think female friendships were so important during this era?
10. Teddy returns from the war suffering from a severe form of shell shock, a very misunderstood condition during and after the Great War. What surprised you the most about Teddy’s condition and treatment? How did the discovery that Dolly was Teddy’s "nurse" affect your connection with them both?
11. The final scene at the train station in many ways mirrors the opening prologue. Did you want Teddy to stay at the end? What was your reaction when Dolly finds the book on the bench and reads his letter?
12. Ultimately, Dolly leaves for America without any romantic attachment in order to chase her dreams, and the epilogue offers an insight into her future. What would you like Dolly to have done in the intervening years?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The Children
Ann Leary, 2016
St. Martin's Press
256 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250045379
Summary
The captivating story of a wealthy, but unconventional New England family, told from the perspective of a reclusive 29-year-old who has a secret (and famous) life on the Internet.
Charlotte Maynard rarely leaves her mother’s home, the sprawling Connecticut lake house that belonged to her late stepfather, Whit Whitman, and the generations of Whitmans before him.
While Charlotte and her sister, Sally, grew up at "Lakeside," their stepbrothers, Spin and Perry, were welcomed as weekend guests. Now the grown boys own the estate, which Joan occupies by their grace—and a provision in the family trust. When Spin, the youngest and favorite of all the children, brings his fiance home for the summer, the entire family is intrigued. The beautiful and accomplished Laurel Atwood breathes new life into this often comically rarefied world. But as the wedding draws near, and flaws surface in the family’s polite veneer, an array of simmering resentments and unfortunate truths is exposed.
With remarkable wit and insight, Ann Leary pulls back the curtain on one blended family, as they are forced to grapple with the assets and liabilities—both material and psychological—left behind by their wonderfully flawed patriarch. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1962
• Where—Syracuse, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Emerson College
• Currently—lives in Connecticut
Ann Leary is the author of the memoir An Innocent, A Broad (2004) and three novels, Outtakes From a Marriage (2008) and The Good House (2013), and The Children (2016).
She has written fiction and nonfiction for various publications and media outlets, including New York Times, Ploughshares, National Public Radio, Redbook, and Real Simple, among other publications
Leary was born in Syracuse, N.Y., but moved around with her family, living in various parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Wisconsin. She finally landed in Marblehead, Massachusetts, where she graduated from high school.
With short-lived friendships in so many places, Anne turned to books early on. She especially loved stories about animals—A Jungle Book, Black Beauty, Lassie come Home, My Friend Flicka, and all the Black Stallion books (her love for all things equestrian continues to this day).
She believes that the first non-animal book she ever read was while babysitting at age thirteen, when she picked up Anais Nin's Delta of Venus. From that point she switched her allegiance from books about four-legged creatures to books about two-legged ones, in particular inspiring stories about beautiful, opium-addicted nymphomaniacs!
Leary attended Bennington College in Vermont for two years then switched to Emerson College in Boston. It was there that she met her to-be husband, actor-comedian Dennis Leary, who was teaching a comedy-writing course. The two married in 1989 and have two now grown children.
Leary competes in equestrian sports and has been a volunteer EMT. She and her husband live with dogs, cats, and horses on their farm in northwestern Connecticut. (Author bio adapted from the publisher and Freshfiction.com.)
Book Reviews
A witty, touching, unputdownable novel.
Good Housekeeping
A fast-paced, darkly funny novel.
Popsugar
[Leary’s] characters are a delightful blend of strong personalities, all with their own little touch of delicious evil, and her darkly comic send-ups of New England wealth, nouveau riche, and Internet culture should keep readers absorbed until the final, most shocking secrets are revealed
Publishers Weekly
A read-in-one-sitting romp, Leary’s wry and searing satire of affluence and elitism comically yet steadily builds to a sobering and malevolent finale.
Booklist
(Starred review.) In this deeply satisfying novel about how unknowable people can be, intrigue builds with glass shards of dark humor toward an ending that is far from comic.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
The Stranger
Harlan Coben, 2015
Penguin Publishing
480 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780451414137
Summary
Harlan Coben's most shocking thriller yet, proving that a well-placed lie can help build a wonderful life—and a secret has the same explosive power to destroy it.
The Stranger appears out of nowhere, perhaps in a bar, or a parking lot, or at the grocery store. His identity is unknown. His motives are unclear. His information is undeniable. Then he whispers a few words in your ear and disappears, leaving you picking up the pieces of your shattered world.
Adam Price has a lot to lose: a comfortable marriage to a beautiful woman, two wonderful sons, and all the trappings of the American Dream: a big house, a good job, a seemingly perfect life.
Then he runs into the Stranger. When he learns a devastating secret about his wife, Corinne, he confronts her, and the mirage of perfection disappears as if it never existed at all.
Soon Adam finds himself tangled in something far darker than even Corinne's deception, and realizes that if he doesn't make exactly the right moves, the conspiracy he's stumbled into will not only ruin lives—it will end them. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—January 4, 1962
• Raised—Livingston, New Jersey, USA
• Education—Amherst College
• Awards—Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony Awards
• Currently—lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey
Harlan Coben is an American author of mystery novels and thrillers. The plots of his novels often involve the resurfacing of unresolved or misinterpreted events in the past (such as murders, fatal accidents, etc.) and often have multiple plot twists. Both series of Coben's books are set in and around New York and New Jersey, and some of the supporting characters in the two series have appeared in both.
Coben was born to a Jewish family in Newark, New Jersey, but was raised and schooled in Livingston, New Jersey with childhood friend and future politician Chris Christie at Livingston High School. While studying political science at Amherst College, he was a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity with author Dan Brown. After Amherst, Coben worked in the travel industry, in a company owned by his grandfather. He now lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey with his wife, Anne Armstrong-Coben MD, a pediatrician, and their four children.
Career
Coben was in his senior year at college when he realized he wanted to write. His first book was accepted when he was twenty-six but after publishing two stand-alone thrillers in his twenties (Play Dead in 1990 and Miracle Cure in 1991) he decided on a change of direction and began a series of thrillers featuring his character Myron Bolitar. The novels of the popular series follow the tales of a former basketball player turned sports agent (Bolitar), who often finds himself investigating murders involving his clients.
Coben has won an Edgar Award, a Shamus Award a Smelly Award (for writing about New Jersey) and an Anthony Award, and is the first writer to have received all three. He is also the first writer in more than a decade to be invited to write fiction for the New York Times op-ed page. He wrote a short story entitled "The Key to my Father," which appeared June 15, 2003.
In 2001 he released his first stand-alone thriller since the creation of the Myron Bolitar series in 1995, Tell No One, which went on to be his best selling novel to date. Film director Guillaume Canet made the book into a French thriller, Ne le dis à personne in 2006. Coben followed Tell No One with six more stand-alone novels. His 2008 novel Hold Tight became his first book to debut at No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. Although this is another stand-alone novel, Coben commented on his official website that certain key characters from The Woods will make brief appearances. His 2009 novel, Long Lost, featured a return of Myron Bolitar and also debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. Caught, also a stand-alone thriller was published in 2010. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
Bestseller Coben continues to turn out thrillers that put highly original spins on a current trend or problem, and while this standalone lacks the nail-biting suspense of his best, it's clever enough to be thoroughly entertaining.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Coben can always be relied on to generate thrills from the simplest premises, but his finest tales maintain a core of logic throughout the twists. This 100-proof nightmare ranks among his most potent.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
These Questions were prepared by Jane Ferko who has generously shared them with LitLovers. Thank you, Jane!
1. What was Adam’s reaction to the Stranger and his story? Did he believe it at first?
2. We are only told about Adam’s feelings throughout the book. Why did the author not let us in on Corrine’s thoughts or feelings at all?
3. When the men from the soccer team came to Adam and told him Corrine had taken the money from the soccer fund what was his reaction?
3. The author, Harlan Coben, was asked in an interview why he wrote about ordinary people whose live change in a few dramatic moments. What do you think?
4. Have you ever known someone who faked pregnancy (other than on TV soap operas)? Why did Corrine do this? Why did Suzanne do it? Were their reasons the same?
5. Kuntz killed Heidi because she wouldn’t tell him anything that would lead him to the Stranger and Ingrid. Why was he so desperate to find out? Why did he need money so badly? Would the average person be able to justify killing someone for this reason?
6. What was the premise Chris (the Stranger) used to justify what they did? Why did they ask for money? Did this mean their cause wasn’t as moral as they initially felt it was? Did you notice that they called the people they approached their VICTIMS? What does that indicate?
7. Why did they not approach Corrine before they told Adam and try to get money from her? Were you surprised when Chris revealed the truth about why they did not?
8. The story took a big turn when Adam learned what really happened to Corrine and why. Do you believe someone would be capable of such a thing against someone who was suqpposed to be a friend (Corrine)? How would you feel if your friends conspired against you in this way?
9. What do you think happened to Mr and Mrs Rinsky? Did they have to leave their home? Were you disappointed we were not told?
10. Is the Tracker App that Corrine put on their phones a good thing? How could it be used for good or bad purposes? Would you want a family member to put one on your phone without telling you?
11. Joanna became a heroine to Adam when she rescued and helped him setup Tripp’s murder as a suicide. What motivated her to help Adam go after the Stranger?
12. How did killing Tripp affect Adam—how was it changing his life?
13. What one word would you use to describe the story? Use one word to describe the writing style.
14. Overall, does the book live up to the standards of a good mystery or crime story? Explain your reason for saying yes or no.
(Questions developed by Jane Ferko. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution to LitLovers...and Jane. Thanks.)