MixedUSA TodaySome of the characters and situations in [Simonson’s] first novel, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, seem a tad contrived. The major of the title is a 68-year-old English widower, highly literate but unpretentious, with impeccable manners and a knack for discerning virtue, or the lack of it, in others. The perfect romantic hero for thinking women of a certain age, he finds an ideal match in the elegant, conveniently widowed Mrs. Ali, 58, a local shopkeeper who loves Kipling … But Simonson invests her grown-up love story with such warmth and charm that it succeeds despite its shortcomings — and in part because of them. By drawing her tale in neat, predictable strokes, the author guarantees a reassuring conclusion. From the moment that Major Pettigrew and Mrs. Ali bond over a pot of tea and a shared sense of loss, we know they will prevail in the ways that really matter.
M.L. Stedman
RaveUSA TodayIn The Light Between Oceans, a stoic, fiercely principled, rather solitary man, recently returned from serving in World War I, meets an effervescent young woman who desperately wants to be a mother ... She has just buried their dead child when another baby literally washes up on their shore, accompanied by her lifeless father ...is at once elegantly rendered and emotionally manipulative. Following the involved parties — including the baby girl, who grows into a precocious toddler — through a string of tormenting and sometimes predictable twists, you may suspect that the author practices heart-wrenching as a kind of craft ... The relationship between Tom and Isabel, in particular, is beautifully drawn ... By letting neither her readers nor her characters off the hook easily, Stedman creates a bond that makes her book tough to shake off.
Claire Messud
RaveUSA TodayAn extended adolescence certainly can have its perks. Then again, it might mean ending up 30 years old and unemployed … That The Emperor's Children unfolds in the months leading up 9/11 only adds to the sense of time encroaching on these and other characters .. . All the characters, in fact, take on intriguing nuances as Messud satirizes and challenges perceived notions of culture, class and social mobility. Her vivid, juicy writing ensures an exhilarating read throughout, but it also demands that we continually scrutinize and reconsider the details. Everyone and everything is not as it seems on the surface.
Jeremy McCarter and Lin-Manuel Miranda
PositiveUSA TodayThere is pride, reverence and humor in accounts of the mutual admiration Miranda has established with cultural A-listers, from historian Ron Chernow — whose biography Alexander Hamilton inspired the musical — to Questlove and Stephen Sondheim ... No one could tell Hamilton's story more comprehensively than the man who conceived it, and for that reason Revolution is a must-read for admirers — whether you've scored a ticket or not.
Anne Tyler
MixedUSA TodayTyler seems fairly uninterested in provocation, or in spinning the story forward much. The characters in Vinegar Girl — the latest installation of Hogarth Shakespeare, a series that invites celebrated authors to adapt the dramas — are decidedly of our time, and they're invested, predictably, with warmth and unpretentious humor. Still, Tyler embraces more clichés than she challenges.
Adam Johnson
RaveUSA TodayFeel-good stories? Not exactly. But as part of Adam Johnson’s haunting, harrowing new collection, Fortune Smiles, they will burrow their way into your heart, leaving you shaken but also exhilarated and enriched ... Johnson’s writing is as rich in compassion as it is in invention, and that rare combination makes Fortune Smiles worth treasuring.
