The Chanel Sisters: A Novel
A sweeping story of two women who overcome destitution to create an iconic French fashion brand. “People thought they were buying Chanel, glamour, Parisian sophistication. But what they were really…
Category: Washington Independent Review of Books
Battling Bias Complicity
How Yi Shun Lai advocates for marginalized voices. Yi Shun Lai is a writer, editor, columnist for the Writer magazine, an MFA program instructor at Bay Path and Southern New…
The Garden Secret
A dogged heroine struggles to untangle herself from the mysterious Vine. In her debut novel, Daughters of the Wild, Natalka Burian crafts a tale of magical realism mixed with a woman’s determination to…
Review of THE LOST AND FOUND BOOKSHOP by Susan Wiggs
A Celebration of Books, Bookstores, and the Meaning of Happiness Deep into Susan Wiggs’ The Lost and Found Bookshop, a character declares: “A bookseller is the link between the stories…
Memory Markers: What I Was Reading When
Books, like people, make such good companions. Getting us through the bad times and helping us celebrate the good times. Making us calmer or piquing our energy. It’s amazing what…
Bibliotherapy in the Time of Covid-19
Everyone needs some magic for the soul. I love books. After my family, they are the center of my universe and always have been. I can’t imagine my life without…
Review of HUNTING WHITEY by Casey Sherman & Dave Wedge
Deconstructing the legend of a “noble” cold-blooded murderer. The 50-year murderous reign of infamous Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger ended on an oily parking-garage floor in Santa Monica in 2010.…
THE SHAPE OF FAMILY – A Novel by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Will tragedy bind a husband, wife, and their kids together, or rip them apart? The contour of a family is a fragile, fluid thing — tragedy can change its lines…