March roars in like a lion with many new books. There should be something for everyone to enjoy and here are just three to tempt you.
Adriana Trigiani continues her strong Valentine Roncalli series with Brava, Valentine. Valentine is the last of a long line of shoemakers in New York City and she has been struggling to keep the family business afloat. Design trips to Italy bring the handsome Gianluca into her life and another business trip to South America is a discovery of long forgotten family history. The Roncalli clan proves to be their usual flamboyant and tough selves. Val can count on them to be her rock of strength or the bane of her existence. Like family, Brava, Valentine creates a pleasant, humorous and warm environment to return too.
Another lioness appears in the historical fiction of Gabrielle Burton’s Impatient with Desire. This re-telling of the Donner family, their history before and during the fateful trip, is related through a fictional journal of Tamsen Donner. Tamsen and her husband and their five daughters are again placed in the center of a tragedy which took place in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the winter of 1846-1847. As the author thoughtfully puts it,”the story of the Donner Party may be the best-know, least substantiated tale” of westward migration. Impatient with Desire is filled with joyful expectations, mundane existence and horrifying brutality, and it is also filled with Tamsen’s emotions and suffering. The author also includes a short bibliography of resources, should you wish to explore further.
Now, for an amusing take on the old curmudgeon, read Major Pettigrews Last Stand by Helen Simonson. Major Pettigrew retires to the quintessential small English village, Edgecombe St. Mary and the population of wacky, wonderful characters adds the salt and spice to his days. An unexpected friendship with the shop owner, Mrs. Jasmina Ali, brings new life to Major Pettigrew, but can they and the village survive the changes of modern times? Brew yourself a cup of tea and read the latest gossip from Edgecombe St. Mary.
May March go out like a lamb.
Enjoy the reading.
Janet
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