UmbrellaBook

 

Spring showers mean rainy days ahead … which means more time for reading. Here are some new books coming out this April. And where better to start than April in Paris…

LOVERS AT THE CHAMELEON CLUB, PARIS 1932
By Francine Prose

9780061713781

The author begins by telling the reader she was inspired by a particular photograph by Brassai. Its history was a springboard for her to research the sparkling high society and the seedy underbelly of Paris between the wars. And she brings to life this seething restlessness in the narrator’s voice:

It was Armand who, in a sober moment, taught me how to drive and gave me, as a belated wedding gift, the beautiful Rossignol sedan that I still treasure and occasionally take for a spin, thought usually now with a driver. Even then, when I went out with friends, I preferred to have a chauffeur. I felt obliged to keep up with some world-class drinks. And the cocktails at the Chameleon Club were notoriously strong. ~Pg. 138

Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Harper (April 22, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061713783
ISBN-13: 978-0061713781
Product Dimensions: 1.4 x 5.5 x 8.2 inches
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FALLOUT
By Sadie Jones

9780062292810This book is from the author of THE UNINVITED GUESTS, which I quite liked. Her newest effort is a completely different sort of story. Set in the about-to-be mod London theater scene, it follows the friendship of a playwright, his producer and his wife. The three set about changing the stage, but must grapple with their own pasts.

The set was a collapsing works-yard or factory; non-existent walls and irregular perspective. The three men revealed as the curtain opened were arguing as they waited for someone to arrive. … Their words fell into an abyss. The actors were looking for their lines, helping one another out and the audience was completely silent. For fifteen minutes, longer with Luke at her side, vibrating with horror, it was as if there was nobody watching the actors at all, is if they were playing to an empty theatre. ~Pg. 269

Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Harper (April 29, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0062292811
ISBN-13: 978-0062292810
Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
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UNDER A SILENT MOON
By Elizabeth Haynes

9780062276025Haynes launches a new series with this book. She is still working in the police procedural genre, but here the reader can look at pieces of evidence (witness statements, text messages, memos and notes) along with the investigators. The result is a rather high-tech mystery/thriller.

By the time Flora got back to Hermitage Farm, it was almost dark. The halogen lamps that lit up the main farmyard showed the yard was glossy in the way that meant it was turning to ice. It would be slick as a skating rink tonight. ~Pg. 105

ISBN: 9780062276025
Imprint: Harper
On Sale: 4/15/2014
Format: Hardcover
Trimsize: 6 x 9
Pages: 368; $25.99
Ages: 18 and Up


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THE MANOR
By Mac Griswold

9781250050205This nonfiction offering traces the history of an early – American home, on its own island near Long Island, that was a slave owning planation. History tends to create a thick line between the North and the South, but Griswold uncovers a more complicated past — one that the owners (and direct descendants) didn’t even know.

Some weeks later, Bob [Hefner] finished the first stage of his technical examination of the structure. Now he has prepared a preliminary report, which he hands to me as we stand outside the front door in the sun. He has scrutinized the building inside and out. Besides lifting floorboards, prying out panels, and sawing through sections of corner-post casings, he has also calculated how many Atlantic white cedar shingles it would take to cover the outer walls — and then discovered an entry for exactly that many shingles in an account book in the vault. ~Pg. 272

My only complaint with this book is that the author continues to insert herself into the story, rather than letting the discovery be the main character.


Picador

4/1/2014
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 9781250050205
ISBN10: 1250050200
6 x 9 inches, 480 pages, Includes one 8-page full-color insert, 43 black-and-white photographs, 7 maps, and 1 family tree