Svetlana's Reads and Views

  Title of the book: The Unfit Heiress; The Tragic Life and Scandalous Sterilization of Ann Cooper Hewitt  Author: Audrey Clare Farley  Publisher: Grand Central Publishing Publishing Date: 2021 ISBN: 978-1-5387-5335-4 Summary: At the turn of the twentieth century, American women began to reject Victorian propriety in favor of passion and livelihood outside the home. This alarmed authorities, who feared certain "over-sexed" women could destroy civilization if allowed to reproduce and pass on their defects. Set against this backdrop, The Unfit Heiress chronicles the fight for inheritance, both genetic and monetary, between Ann Cooper Hewitt and her mother Maryon. In 1934, aided by a California eugenics law, the socialite Maryon Cooper Hewitt had her "promiscuous" daughter declared feebleminded and sterilized without her knowledge. She did this to deprive Ann of millions of dollars from her father's estate, which contained a child-bearing stipulation. When a sensat...

  Title of the book: The Treeline; The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth  Author: Ben Rawlence  Publisher: St. Martin's Press Publishing Date: 2022 ISBN: 978-1-250-27885-2 Summary: In the tradition of Elizabeth Kolbert and Barry Lopez, a powerful, poetic and deeply absorbing account of the "lung" at the top of the world. For the last fifty years, the trees of the boreal forest have been moving north. Ben Rawlence's The Treeline takes us along this critical frontier of our warming planet from Norway to Siberia, Alaska to Greenland, to meet the scientists, residents and trees confronting huge geological changes. Only the hardest species survive at these latitudes including the ice-loving Dahurian larch of Siberia, the antiseptic Spruce that purifies our atmosphere, the Downy birch conquering Scandinavia, the healing Balsam poplar that Native Americans use as a cure-all and the noble Scots Pine that lives longer when surrounded by its family. It is a journey of...

  Name of Book: Silver Pebbles Author: Hansjorg Schneider  ISBN: 978-1-913394-62-2 Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press  Part of a Series: Prequel to The Basel Killings  Type of book: 1990s, Switzerland, thriller, chase, diamonds, Basel, life, control, drug mules, Rhine, work, sewer work, cashier, relationships,   Year it was published: 2022  Summary: A hunt for drug gang diamonds is keeping Basel Inspector Hunkeler on tenterhooks. Basel, nestled at the border of Switzerland with Germany and France, has been hammered by a huge snowstorm, cars and trams can barely move, trees are groaning under the weight of the recent snowfall, the cathedral and city roofs are smothered.  An elegant young Lebanese man carrying diamonds in his bag is on the train from Frankfurt to Basel, a drug mule on the return journey. At the Basel train station, Inspector Hunkeler is waiting for him after a tipoff from the German police. The courier manages to get to the station toile...

 Name of Book: The Scent Keeper  Author: Erica Bauermeister  ISBN: 9781250200136 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Type of book: isolated islands, isolated childhood, scents, single father, decisions, contemporary, magic, capturing scents, contemporary life, magical realism, pet, needs, hearts, stories, growing up, coming of age, decisions  Year it was published: 2019 Summary: Erica Bauermeister, the national bestselling author of The School of Essential Ingredients, presents a moving and evocative coming-of-age novel about childhood stories, families lost and found, and how a fragrance conjures memories capable of shaping the course of our lives. Emmeline lives an enchanted childhood on a remote island with her father, who teaches her about the natural world through her senses. What he won’t explain are the mysterious scents stored in the drawers that line the walls of their cabin, or the origin of the machine that creates them. As Emmeline grows, however, so too d...

  Name of Book: The Family Chao Author: Lan Samantha Chang  ISBN: 978-0-393-86807-4 Publisher: Norton Type of book: Wisconsin, drama, relationship, contemporary, immigration, Asian American and Chinese community, murder, mystery, trial, relationships, motives  Year it was published: 2022 Summary: One of Literary Hub's and The Millions' Most Anticipated Books of 2022 A Goodreads Readers' Most Anticipated Mystery of 2022 An acclaimed storyteller returns with “a gorgeous and gripping literary mystery” that explores “family, betrayal, passion, race, culture and the American Dream” (Jean Kwok). The residents of Haven, Wisconsin, have dined on the Fine Chao restaurant’s delicious Americanized Chinese food for thirty-five years, content to ignore any unsavory whispers about the family owners. Whether or not Big Leo Chao is honest, or his wife, Winnie, is happy, their food tastes good and their three sons earned scholarships to respectable colleges. But when the brothers reunite ...

Name of Book: Antoinette's Sister Author: Diana Giovinazzo  ISBN: 978-1-5387-2012-7 Publisher: Grand Central Publishing  Type of book: sisterhood, family, relationships, strong women, dominate, 1765-1814, chances, constitution, kingdoms, Europe, Italy, Austria, France, Marie Theresa, Marie Antoinette, Marie Carolina Charlotte, ruler, queendom, heiresses, strength  Year it was published: 2022 Summary: As Marie Antoinette took her last breath as Queen of France in Paris, another formidable monarch—Antoinette’s dearly beloved sister, Charlotte—was hundreds of miles away, in Naples, fighting desperately to secure her release from the revolutionaries who would take her life. Little did Charlotte know, however, that her sister’s execution would change the course of history—and bring about the end of her own empire.   “You are the queen. You are the queen that Antoinette wanted to be.”   Austria 1767: Maria Carolina Charlotte—tenth daughter and one of sixteen children ...

Name of Book: Goodbye Again Author: Mariah Stewart ISBN: 978-1542033084 Publisher: Montlake  Part of a Series: An Invincible Summer prequel  Type of book: contemporary, small town, modern times,healing, work, bookstore, second chances, questions, art, Massachusetts, beach, summer to fall, repair, fixing, vision, slow, tender, relationships, secrets  Year it was published: 2022 Summary: A woman strives to move beyond her devastating past in an uplifting novel filled with hope and second chances by New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart. In the wake of her daughter’s unexplained suicide and her husband Jim’s sudden abandonment, Liddy Bryant is determined to move on and make some positive changes in her life. In her hometown of Wyndham Beach, the neglected and shuttered bookstore is also in need of renewal, and Liddy recognizes an opportunity to get herself and the bookshop back on track. With a little help from her friends, she’s well on her way. Local contractor ...

  Name of Book: The Strange Case of the Dutch Painter Author: Timothy Miller  ISBN: 978-1-64506-042-0 Publisher: Seventh Street Books Part of a Series: The strange case of Eliza Doolittle  is first in series  Type of book: 1890, impressionism, Vincent Van Gogh, France, Paris, forgeries, gentleman, clues, death, suicide, lack of John Watson, caretaker, talent, gender, mysteries, haystacks, North America, rigging, money  Year it was published: 2022 Summary: Paris, 1890. When Sherlock Holmes finds himself chasing an art dealer through the streets of Paris, he’s certain he’s smoked out one of the principals of a cunning forgery ring responsible for the theft of some of the Louvre’s greatest masterpieces. But for once, Holmes is dead wrong. He doesn’t know that the dealer, Theo Van Gogh, is rushing to the side of his brother, who lies dying of a gunshot wound in Auvers. He doesn’t know that the dealer’s brother is a penniless misfit artist named Vincent, known to few...

Good news is that I finally got the upcoming Bryn Turnbull new novel, as well as a few awesome treasures like THE FAMILY CHAO by Lan Samantha Chang, which is a sort of a retelling of THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by Fyodor Dostoevsky ( nope, hadn't read original and due to the anti-Judaic instances, I have no interest in touching it with a ten foot pole...) as well as NEVER COMING HOME by Hannah Mary McKinnon ( love her novels all!) But yes still some other treasures are also awaiting for me to sink into. Without further adieu, here they are:  Possible reads:  The room on rue Amelie by Kristin Harmel  The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout  Nine inches by Tom Perrotta  That which remains by C.F. Yetmen  Vladimir by Julia May Jonas  The last grand duchess by Bryn Turnbull  Silver pebbles by Hansjorg Schneider  Killing time by Brenna Ehrlich  On a night of a thousand stars by Andrea Yaryura Clark  The basel killings by Hansjorg Schneider ...

Fencing with the king- Diana Abu-Jabar SR: February 28th, 2022 FR:    The shadow of memory- Connie Berry SR: February 19th, 2022 FR:  February 28th, 2022 The family Chao- Lan Samantha Chang  SR: February 1st, 2022 FR: February 12th, 2022 Antoinettes sister- Diana Giovinazzo SR: January 25th, 2022 FR: February 12th, 2022 Vladimir- Julia May Jonas SR: February 12th, 2022 FR: February 19th, 2022 Never coming home- Hannah Mary McKinnon SR: January 30th, 2022 FR: February 12th, 2022 The jack of ruin- Stephen Merlino SR: February 28th, 2022 FR:  The STRANGE case of the Dutch painter- Timothy Miller SR: January 25th, 2022 FR:  February 1st, 2022 Silver pebbles- Hansjorg Schneider  SR: February 12th, 2022 FR:  February 19th, 2022 Fires of Edo - Susan Spann SR: February 12th, 2022 FR: February 19th, 2022 The last grand duchess- Bryn Turnbull SR: February 19th 2022 FR: Nonfiction: The UNFIT heiress- Audrey Clare Farley SR: February 19th, 2022 FR: February 2...