Because I've always been intrigued by old black and white pictures of cozily wrapped patients lying on sunny winter porches in beautiful mountain areas, I grabbed Andrea Barrett's book the minute it arrived. I soon learned the terribly reality of tuberculosis sanatorium care in 1916 before the advent of antibiotics. At Tamarack Lake the focus is on the sick. Wealthy tubercular patients live in private cure cottages; charity patients, mainly immigrants, fill the large sanatorium on the hill. Patients are advised to heal the mind and the body..."no talking, no smoking, no laughing, no singing, no reading and no writing." The mostly European immigrants have few material goods but a common generosity of spirit, welcoming Leo Marburg into the fold, despite his personal oddities - in particular an inclination to keep his own counsel. To provide stimulation, an enterprising patient initiates a weekly discussion group. When his well-meaning efforts lead instead to a tragic accident and a terrible betrayal, the war comes home, bringing with it a surge of anti-immigrant prejudice and vigilante sentiment. This novel abounds with memorable, yet disparate characters and is set in a period of great progress in science and medicine. As one reviewer wrote, "[Barrett] is a magician at blending the excitement of science with brilliant storytelling."

Winner of the British Costa Award (formerly Whitbread) The Tenderness of Wolves sweeps the reader forward in this suspenseful and exhilarating thriller set in 1867 in Canada. The story opens with a dead body and a missing son. When the main character, Mrs. Ross, discovers the body of a local trapper Laurent Jammet, and her son becomes the prime suspect, it falls to her to find the killer. Over the next few days, we learn about several of the people who live in the settlement, and those who travel to and from it. We learn that this is not the first untimely death or accident that the inhabitants have experienced: some years ago, two young girls out picking berries went missing and never returned. Doc Wade, the local physician, was found drowned in Dove River and now Francis, Mrs. Ross' son has vanished, yet his father seems distant and unconcerned. As the Costa Award committee wrote, "We felt enveloped by the snowy landscape and gripped by the beautiful writing and effortless storytelling. It is a story of love, suspense and beauty. We couldn't put it down."

How would you like to be a well-known restaurant critic who must don a variety of disguises and adopt different personas in order to give a fair restaurant review? When Ruth assumed the job as the food critic for the New York Times she realized that she needed to transform herself into a variety of characters as most restaurateurs were familiar with her face from her years as a food critic in California. Reichl transforms herself into Molly Hollis, a retired high school teacher from Michigan, and is ignored, mishandled and condescended to by the high powered staff at Le Cirque. Whenever her identity is discovered, Reichl creates a new disguise and persona. Happy hysteria follows. Her previous books, Comfort Me with Apples and the hilarious Tender at the Bone, are not to be missed.

This is the most entertaining and delicious book about the political scene of the decade. If you love history, this is for you. For most of his adult life, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. dutifully recorded his experiences and opinions in journals that, until now, have never been seen. With wit and humanity, these entries offer an intimate history of postwar America, from Schlesinger's days on the Adlai Stevenson campaign team to his years in JFK and RFK's inner circle through to the election of George W. Bush. They contain his candid reminiscences about many of the most important events of our time -- The Bay of Pigs, the assassinations of the 60's, Vietnam, Watergate, the fall of the Soviet Union, Bush v. Gore. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. was a renowned American historian, winning the Pulitzer twice and the National Book Award. In 1998 he was awarded the prestigious National Humanities Medal.

I can't believe that this is the fifth in the Maisie Dobbs series! For all of you who have not read any of the Maisie Dobbs books, lucky you! What a treat you have in store. Set in England right after WWI, this series is rich in period detail and filled with memorable characters. In her latest, the psychologist/detective is called upon by an old friend to clear the way for a land purchase in Kent. Maisie goes to Kent during the hop-picking season and finds that there is indeed something sinister afoot. Mysterious fires erupt in the village with alarming regularity, and a series of petty crimes suggests a darker criminal element at work.

I loved this memoir/chronicle of the true story of Elinore Pruitt Stewart who set out to prove that a woman could, indeed, run a ranch in Wyoming at the turn of the century. She is a joy and her book is a gem. The print is larger than in many books and makes this a grand gift for an older person.

If you are a fan of mysteries with more than a touch of conspiracy and populated by well-drawn characters, you are in for a treat. For the first time in decades, it's snowing in Rome, and in the Pantheon a body is found naked lying in a da Vinci's Vitruvian Man position. This book is packed with memorable characters, intrique, action and twisted plots. Loved it!

Away is the epic and intimate story of young Lillian Leyb whose family is destroyed in a Russian pogrom. Soon after Lillian makes her way to America she learns that her daughter, Sophie, might still be alive. Lillian embarks on an odyssey that takes her from the world of the Yiddish theater to Seattle's Jazz District and up to Alaska, along the fabled Telegraph Trail toward Siberia. Told with sharp wit and an amazing cast of characters, Lillian's journey will be with you for a long, long time.

This is the book I would suggest for those who love Italy. A memoir written only for Kinta's family, the book chronicles 70 years of Italian history and the Beevor family (British ex-pats of sorts) through WWI up to the 1960's -- including the evolution of the Italian wine business. Great characters and a fine memoir.

This is a wonderful collection of ten short stories from the author of The Madonnas of Leningrad. Dean worked as an actor in New York before becoming a writer and teacher at the University of Miami, and many of these stories are about actors. In the title story, a woman writes to her former husband years after the death of their only child and their breakup, to apologize for blaming him for the fatal car accident. In another story, a couple's lives are changed by a foiled apartment break-in. "The Bodhisttava" describes the feelings of a woman who runs into her former psychotherapist who had stopped seeing her when it appeared that she had fallen in love with him. Authentic voices, describing encounters with the vagaries of life. . .

Two enormously interesting and likeable characters are the main characters of this mystery set in Berlin in the 1920's. Esther, a scarred ex-Romanov servant who works as a secretary for nightclub owner "Prince" Nick Protrovskov and the very decent Police Inspector Schmidt. Berliners are suffering from hyper-inflation, shame arising from their defeat in World War I and are about to begin a love affair with Hitler. There is a hectic, Cabaret-esque mood to the town and Jews are just beginning to realize that they may be the scapegoats for the dismal situation in Germany. Two questions drive the plot: Did one of the Czar's daughters survive the massacres of the royal family at Ekaterinburg? And who is the hulking murderer slaughtering women in the German capital? I loved this mystery and feel that Franklin paints a vivid picture of Germany and its people during a time of aggressive nationalism.

Haven’t you ever wondered what a ghost writer’s job is like…and who would take such a job? Well, Jennie Erdal has given us a vastly entertaining story of her days as a ghost writer for a foreign language publisher in a trendy London publishing house. She refers to her employer as “Tiger”. He is wealthy, extravagant, bejeweled and high strung. Extravagant in his tastes, Tiger decides that he wants to add authorship to his accomplishments, and Erdal becomes his gifted and loyal ghostwriter. This is a mind-blowing story. Not only does it reveal a kooky, opulent and audacious world, it’s also an exquisitely composed confession that calls into question everything readers passionate about literary creativity hold dear. The book caused a scandal in London where Tiger (Naim Attalah) is well known. Ghosting is penetrating, very, very funny and just a huge treat.