Review of The Cassatt Sisters, by Lisa Groen

Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

The Cassatt Sisters

A Novel of Love and Art

by Lisa Groen

Black Rose Writing, 2025. 260 pages.
Review written November 5, 2025, from my own copy, ordered via Amazon.com
Starred Review

Full disclosure: The author of this book is a friendly acquaintance of mine. She was a regular customer back when I worked at Sembach Air Base Library in Germany, and we became Facebook friends, and I read and enjoyed her first book, The Mother’s Book of Well-Being.

So when I heard that she’d written a novel about the Impressionists, of course I preordered a copy!

Now, I didn’t know a lot about the Impressionists except having been thrilled to enjoy their work in Paris at the Musée de l’Orangerie and the Musée d’Orsay – which together are my favorite museums in Paris, or, yes, in the world. So I enjoyed finding out more – and especially about Mary Cassatt, the only American woman among the Impressionists.

This book covers her life beginning in 1877. Mary Cassatt had already been living in Paris, working to establish herself as an artist, living with her sister Lydia and her parents. They had settled in Paris as well, to support her. Mary’s close relationship with Lydia is a primary thread all through this book. Lydia was her muse, and often the subject of her work.

But the book begins with her admiring the work of Edgar Degas, meeting him, beginning to work with him – and starting a romantic relationship.

Now, honestly, if that were all there was to it, the book might have been a little trite. Let’s just say the relationship doesn’t last, and Mary coping with that – while grappling with who she is as an artist – deepens and enriches the book.

And life as an artist wasn’t the same for Mary as it was for the male Impressionists. Nor was it the same as for Berthe Morisot, who was a mother. This story of Mary Cassatt’s life, work, loves, and ambitions, makes the reader think about women and our place in the world – and how things have changed and not changed in 150 years.

I did laugh when Mary called Monet’s Water Lilies glorified wallpaper – apparently an actual comment of hers. The book included black-and-white reproductions of the specific paintings that got mentioned, which added richness to the narrative, since art was such an important part of Mary’s life. Another thing I thought was funny was when Mary used her nieces and nephews as models – and then her mother wouldn’t let her “sell the grandchildren.” She was more limited than the men in whom she could use as models – and then her mother didn’t want her to sell the paintings of family. What’s a woman to do?

By the end of the book, I felt like I’d spent time in Paris – only in such a way that I really need to go back as soon as possible. I will look at the Impressionists’ art with new eyes, now feeling like they are interesting individuals with personalities, instead of one big group. This book, as happens with the very best historical fiction, made these great artists of history come alive in my mind.

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Review of That Self-Same Metal, by Brittany N. Williams, read by Patricia Allison

Historical, Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

That Self-Same Metal

by Brittany N. Williams
read by Patricia Allison

OrangeSky Audio, 2023. 10 hours, 31 minutes.
Review written August 4, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

That Self-Same Metal is a historical fantasy set in the time of Shakespeare, in fact, among Shakespeare’s acting company, The King’s Men. This book happens in 1605, shortly after King James has taken the throne – and the patronage of Shakespeare’s company. Our heroine is Joan Sands, a Black girl with a magical ability to manipulate metals, a gift given to her by her Head Orisha, Ogun. She not only makes swords for the company, but she stages their swordfights. Her twin brother James is an apprentice with the players, taking women’s roles, because of course it’s illegal for women to perform on stage.

Joan and James, as followers of the Orisha, have always been able to see when the Fae are among them, because they give off a glow under their skin. But they know that Fae cannot harm humankind. However, Joan’s godfather tells her that he needs to renew the pact between the Fae and the new king – and then he is arrested. The pact is not in effect, and Fae very much begin to harm people.

When Joan defends herself and others using blades she’s coated in iron, she makes some powerful enemies, both among the Fae and in the royal court. Can she protect her family and those she loves from these enemies?

It’s all played out in a well-drawn historical setting, with Shakespeare himself one of the characters, and his plays going on in the Globe theater. It turns out the characters from A Midsummer Night’s Dream are based on actual Fae, but they are quite different than he portrayed them. Joan’s adventures include needing to step in and act when James is injured, hoping no one will notice the difference, and watching another play with the queen and her ladies, who treat her like an exotic pet. And she’s not sure what to make of her attraction to one of the handsome players as well as to a mysterious girl who asks for her brother’s help.

It’s all woven together in a way that hooked me, and the narrator’s British accent is a delight. The author clearly did her research – naming the characters who were actual people at the end of the book.

My one word of warning is that there are some excessively gory scenes, so you may not want to listen if you get squeamish easily. They did establish that the stakes were very high.

There is a reversal at the end, and yes, I will want to read or hopefully listen to the next installment.

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Review of Song of a Blackbird, by Maria van Lieshout

Graphic Novel, Historical, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Song of a Blackbird

by Maria van Lieshout

First Second, 2025. 256 pages.
Review written October 27, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

This historical teen graphic novel is set in Amsterdam in 1943 and 2011, with maps on the endpapers showing important buildings in the city at both time periods. Notes at the back tell how the author took actual historical people and incidents to craft this story of Annick’s grandmother, who learns when being tested for a bone marrow match that the people she thought were her siblings aren’t related to her at all. Annick sets out to learn her grandmother’s background, using a series of prints of buildings in Amsterdam to lead her to the truth.

And we get a parallel story of a young woman in 1943 Amsterdam who learned that Jewish people were being deported, possibly to their deaths, and got involved with a group who were saving children from this fate. And then she got involved with a group of printers who were forging documents, because a priest wouldn’t take one more boy unless they had more ration cards.

There are more adventures in 1943, including a bank heist (based on an actual heist), but also some executions. In 2011, Annick follows the pictures to find out what really happened to her grandmother during the war.

It’s all skillfully done. A blackbird narrates both time periods, representing hope and art. Maria van Lieshout uses actual historical photographs of buildings in Amsterdam in the 1943 sections. And she makes you care about the children and about those who risked their lives in the resistance. The author goes back and forth between time periods smoothly, and helps us understand that the story plays out in the same city, in the same buildings, almost 70 years apart.

This graphic novel is a stunning work of art that makes a powerful statement.

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Review of The Book Club for Troublesome Women, by Marie Bostwick

Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

The Book Club for Troublesome Women

by Marie Bostwick
read by Lisa Flanagan

Harper Muse, 2025. 11 hours, 10 minutes.
Review written October 13, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I loved this one. In many ways it’s a standard story of four women bonding through the ups and downs of life because they’ve come together in a book club. But this book adds something special because they begin meeting in the early 1960s, and the first book they read together is The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan.

So the book isn’t simply about enduring friendships through life’s difficulties. It’s also about a woman’s role and society’s expectations for women.

The setting is a fictional suburb in northern Virginia called Concordia – that fits right in with the suburbs found here today. The four women of the book club are chafing under the expectations of running a home and caring for their husband and kids. One wants to be a writer, another wants to get her art into galleries, another wanted to be a veterinarian – but got married and dropped out of school shortly before getting her Bachelor’s in order to help establish her husband’s practice. And the fourth is a former combat nurse who now has six kids – and gets pregnant because she wasn’t able to get birth control pills without her husband’s permission, and he hadn’t gotten around to coming to the appointment yet.

A couple of the women have good relationships with their husbands, despite some ups and downs and working things out. A couple of them have very bad relationships with their husbands. The writer gets a job writing a column for a women’s magazine – but they only want her to write fluff pieces. The high point of the book is when she decides to write an honest essay about what The Feminine Mystique and the book club have meant to her.

I loved listening to this book right from the start. It got me thinking about my life and my mother’s life. My mother got married at the end of 1960, and I, her third child, was born in 1964 – so she was navigating marriage right in this time period. My mom did not achieve the perfect house and family – she had way too many kids to keep up (ending up with thirteen) – but she desperately wanted to. My mom would decidedly not have joined this book club, being staunchly against feminism, and despite the fact she didn’t meet society’s expectations for a housewife, she did pass those expectations on to me. So something else I had to deal with after I got married was realizing I couldn’t afford to be a stay-at-home mom even if I wanted to be. And keeping a clean house and good meals? An always failing proposition. In so many ways it was crazily liberating when my husband left me – because it pretty much threw out all those expectations, and I got to find out how truly wonderful a meaningful career can be.

But of course it’s all more complicated than can be put into a paragraph. Or an essay. But a novel – that’s a wonderful format to explore how attitudes were changing for women in the early 1960s and all that could mean for individuals.

And besides all that thought-provoking stuff, these characters were so much fun to get to know and spend time with. Troublesome women can be very entertaining! Highly recommended!

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Review of A Tangled Web, by L. M. Montgomery

Fiction Review, Historical, Old Favorites, Starred Review 0

A Tangled Web

by L. M. Montgomery

Bantam Books, 1989. Originally published in 1931. 257 pages.
Review written June 20, 2025, from my own copy.
Starred Review

Back in 2019, I got to visit Prince Edward Island, and attempted to reread all of L. M. Montgomery’s books in the order she published them before I did. I did not finish that project, but I did reread fourteen of her twenty novels. However, it’s only now in 2025 that I got back to that project with the joy of rereading A Tangled Web as the perfect diversion on a flight that ended up much longer than planned because of storms.

A Tangled Web begins some of L. M. Montgomery’s more mature novels. Technically, it was published for adults, and the characters featured are almost entirely adults and young adults. But as with all of her books, there’s a wide appeal from preteens through adults, and you’d better believe that in 1931, she would not have written any sexual content.

A Tangled Web is about two large entwined (by intermarrying) families, the Darks and the Penhallows, living on Prince Edward Island. Aunt Becky is the owner of the famous clan heirloom, the Dark jug. She has gathered all the clan as she knows her time is coming – to tell them who will inherit the old brown jug.

All the family comes. Either because they’re desperate to own the jug, or because they want the entertainment of watching Aunt Becky make everyone squirm with all the secrets she knows about everyone. Well, she makes hints and threats – but announces that they will have to meet again on a certain day more than a year away, when the one family member who can keep a secret will announce who gets the jug.

And almost no one in the family is unaffected by the meetings and the jug. The book covers several of those life-changing events. This book reminds me greatly of L. M. Montgomery’s short story collections – but the stories are tangled together by somehow relating to the family jug.

And I’m afraid Maud Montgomery seems more cynical than in her youth. Yes, there is some love at first sight – some that even works out in the end – but there’s a theme running through of the wisdom of taking a second look at your passions to see if they stand the test of time. (And some do, some don’t.) Yes, there are a bunch of happy marriages that happen in this book – but there are also some painful course corrections for the people involved. And I love that at least one happily ever after happens when the course correction goes away from marriage. And that at least one legacy from Aunt Becky brings great good to a couple people who richly deserve it.

But you absolutely cannot go wrong with L. M. Montgomery. She is a master of making quirky characters come alive and revealing the vagaries of human nature. If you haven’t read her books yet, this isn’t necessarily the one I’d start with – but anyone who’s read and loved any of her books will be happy to find out there’s more.

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Review of Pedro and Daniel, by Federico Erebia

Historical, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Pedro and Daniel

by Federico Erebia

Levine Querido, 2023. 425 pages.
Review written July 28, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review

The author gives us a hint of what we’re in for in an Introduction:

This novel is a work of fiction based on my memorable relationship with Daniel, my brother. Other characters, and some scenes, are composites, and/or fictional. All other names are fictional.

We know from the start how the book will end:

After Daniel’s death in 1993 at age thirty, the seeds of this novel were planted within the fertile grounds of the controlled chaos of my mind, where they germinated – constantly calling out for the light of day, to be written down, to be shared with others.

Yes, this is the story of two brothers, Pedro and Daniel, close in age and close in spirit. They have a frighteningly abusive mother, who especially targets Pedro with her physical and verbal abuse.

I’m going back and forth thinking whether this book is an epic tapestry of the lives of two brothers, or if it’s a slightly self-indulgent set of memories that were only partly shaped into a novel. It’s interesting that it’s marketed for young adults, because there’s more about the brothers’ childhood and after-college years than the time they spent in high school and college, when they were separated.

But as I reflect, I’m leaning more toward thinking of it as an epic tapestry. I remember how I eagerly began, but bogged down in the middle where it got a little slower, a little more meditative. We feel their bond, and the different ways the two of them approach life. Both are gay, though Pedro took longer to admit it to himself. Daniel wants to be a priest, and Pedro wants to be a doctor. This becomes poignant when Daniel contracts HIV which progresses into AIDS, and Pedro knows medically what he’s going through, but still didn’t have any effective treatment to help him.

I enjoyed the Dichos that Daniel loves – Mexican proverbs. They’re given throughout the book, with translations. An index at the back is fun to read through. I have to say that he caught many biblical references, but I did find four biblical proverbs that were listed as “Origin unknown.” Oh well, if Daniel had been the one writing the book, he probably would have known.

This is not an action-packed novel. It’s a literary novel that covers the boys’ entire lives, with plenty of social commentary along the way. They were born about the same time as me, and I appreciated the little details that reminded me of my very different childhood. Give this to teens who like to read and think deeply. And I hope that gay boys who read it will find kindred souls in Pedro and Daniel.

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Review of James, by Percival Everett, read by Dominic Hoffman

Audiobooks, Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

James

by Percival Everett
read by Dominic Hoffman

Books on Tape, 2024. 7 hours, 49 minutes.
Review written September 2, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I put James on hold shortly after reading the graphic novel Big Jim and the White Boy, by David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson. And then, when my hold was only a couple weeks away from coming in, I accidentally canceled the hold when I meant to cancel a different hold – and then had several more months to wait. Anyway, that gave me more time between the two books, which are essentially doing the same thing – retelling the story of Huckleberry Finn, this time from the perspective of Jim.

I honestly enjoyed Big Jim and the White Boy a little more. It was more light-hearted and cast Jim as essentially a superhero, telling something of a tall tale about his exploits. A lot of fun to read.

“Fun” isn’t the word I’d use to describe James. Though it was certainly more realistic, and gave you some insights about what would happen if a slave ran away with a white boy and floated south down the Mississippi River.

In both books, James doesn’t talk in the ridiculous way Mark Twain portrayed him talking. In this book, it’s quite a theme that among themselves, slaves speak “proper” English, but deliberately sound ignorant and childlike if any white people are around. James knows how to read and has spent hours in Judge Thatcher’s library reading philosophy. He dreams about people like Voltaire and has discussions with them about their defense of slavery. Throughout the book, it’s just plain comical how disconcerted white folks are if they hear Jim speaking without using slave speech. There’s a funny scene where the elders are teaching kids how to speak to white folks. The trick is to always play dumb and let the white folks figure things out for themselves.

Mostly the book is a series of adventures and tight spots, some with Huck and some without. James wants to be free and wants to purchase the freedom of his wife and daughter. And along the way, he acquires a pencil and also wants to write his story. There’s plenty of insight and commentary on slavery in the days just before the Civil War began. A very powerful and moving story that does shine light on an evil time in our nation’s history.

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Review of My Father, the Panda Killer, by Jamie Jo Hoang

Historical, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

My Father, the Panda Killer

by Jamie Jo Hoang
read by Quyen Ngo

Listening Library, 2023. 10 hours, 17 minutes.
Review written November 3, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

My Father, the Panda Killer is the story of Jane, an American teen living in San Jose in 1999, the daughter of Vietnamese refugees. Jane’s mother left their family four years before, leaving Jane to go through high school as the mother of her little brother, then three years old. As well as giving her the responsibility to spend most of her time helping her father run their family convenience store. And bearing the brunt of her father’s unpredictable wrath and violent beatings.

Now it’s the summer after Jane’s senior year. She’s been accepted to UCLA, but doesn’t know how her father will respond to the news that she’s leaving. And she doesn’t know how to even begin to tell her brother that she won’t be there any longer to shepherd him through life and protect him from their father.

But alongside Jane’s story, we also hear the story of her father’s harrowing journey as a 13-year-old refugee from Vietnam. That part of the story is horrific with lots of death and life-threatening situations. But as Jane pieces together her father’s history, including a trip to Vietnam where she meets her grandparents for the first time, she begins to understand him better. As she understands her father better, she’s better able to understand herself and her heritage.

One little problem with this? I’m not sure I actually wanted Jane to come to terms with her father’s abuse in that way. I was reminded very strongly of the nonfiction book What My Bones Know,, by Stephanie Foo, and her C-PTSD and journey to come to terms with it through therapy as an adult. This book implies that even calling it abuse is a violation of Vietnamese culture. It left me feeling uneasy.

However, it certainly gave you sympathy and understanding for Jane’s father. In view of the horrors he endured, you can understand his ways of coping much better. So I was left not wanting to judge – but I still don’t think the beatings his daughter received are okay. Understandable, but not okay.

Anyway, the author’s note at the end said that the next book will be about the little brother – and his mother. I definitely want to read more. The interweaving of the father’s journey with the daughter’s conflicts was a big strength of the book. The front of the book says, “THIS IS NOT A HISTORY LESSON,” but at the same time the author points out that there aren’t many narratives of the Vietnam War told from the perspective of the Vietnamese people. At the very least, this book is valuable for filling that gap.

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Review of Mattie and the Machine, by Lynn Ng Quezon

Historical, Teen Fiction Review 0

Mattie and the Machine

by Lynn Ng Quezon

Santa Monica Press, 2022. 264 pages.
Review written April 23, 2023, from my own copy, sent by the publisher.

I really enjoyed Mattie and the Machine. I think part of its appeal is that as a woman studying math in college, I did feel like I had to prove myself.

This novel tells the true story of Margaret Knight, a mechanic and inventor. She starts out the book working as a mechanic at a bag-making factory. But when she learns that the male mechanic – and all the men – are making more than her, simply because they’re men, she confronts the owner.

And a challenge is born. Mattie is challenged to make a new machine that will produce the new square-bottomed bags. But her machine has to do it more quickly than the male mechanic’s machine.

The challenge takes up the first half of the book. Once Mattie has her machine, she’s urged to get a patent. But there are obstacles all along the way, and no one wants to work with a woman. And then she gets betrayed and has to go to court to get credit for her invention.

The storytelling style in this book is old-fashioned and reminds me of books I read when I was a kid, though Mattie is fifteen. It’s a little slow-moving, but I was fascinated by Mattie’s quest to prove herself.

The book closes with a copy of Margaret Knight’s patent. I wish that there was an author’s note about what is fact and what is fiction and what she went on to do with her life. How many more patents did she get? Did she ever marry, and was it to someone who appeared in this novel? For that matter, how many of the characters in the novel were actual people. This book made me want to find a biography of her life to find out how much was true and what this amazing woman went on to do.

Wikipedia article on Margaret Knight
NgQuezon.wordpress.com
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Review of Austen at Sea, by Natalie Jenner

Austenalia, Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

Austen at Sea

by Natalie Jenner

St. Martin’s Press, 2025. 304 pages.
Review written August 25, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

Like the author’s wonderful earlier book, The Jane Austen Society, this book wasn’t so much a retelling of one of Jane Austen’s classics as it was a story about her legacy. In both books, something I loved was the characters discussing the fine points of Jane Austen’s novels as true aficionados. Other Janeites will enjoy that part as much as I did.

And we’ve also got Louisa May Alcott as a character in this book! That was a nice surprise. Here’s the set-up: In 1865, two sisters from Boston and two brothers from Philadelphia are on a ship crossing the ocean to visit the elderly Admiral Frank Austen, Jane Austen’s surviving brother. The two parties hadn’t known about each other, but both had written to the admiral about their love of Jane’s writings. And the admiral got some match-making ideas.

And another person traveling on the ship from Boston is Louisa May Alcott, accompanying an elderly friend to Europe to regain her health after the Civil War (as she in fact did). On the ship, the ladies decide to put on a theatrical production as a benefit to charity, with Lu in charge – as she had often done with her sisters, and as the characters do in Mansfield Park.

I was honestly a little disappointed that, although there is plenty of romance in this book, the admiral’s schemes don’t bear fruit. The book ends up being very much about women’s rights – and how women lost them when they married. Though it turns out that the laws were different on opposite sides of the Atlantic. But I’d never thought about what it meant that a woman marrying no longer had property rights.

So – I enjoyed the story, loved the characters (especially Louisa May Alcott!), delighted in the discussions of Jane Austen’s books and the visits to the places she lived, and learned things as well. This is definitely another good one for Jane Austen fans like me. (And do check out my Austenalia page while you’re at it!)

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