Anne Hart

Is it better to grow up poor and then become rich or grow up rich and become poor?  In The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel, it is better to be poor and then become rich.  If you are born poor you’ll know how to survive, whereas if you’re born rich and then become poor you won’t know how to feed yourself.  The Last Rose is about the Japanese occupation of Shanghai in WWII.  The story starts with an American filmmaker in a hotel in Shanghai in 1980 Shanghai, China meeting the millionaire businesswoman Aiyi Shao.  Aiyi then tells the filmmaker the story of Shanghai housing many Jewish refugees who fled from German-occupied Europe during WWII.  Before the occupation, Aiyi is a wealthy heiress running a jazz club.  Then she meets Ernest Reismann who is one of the penniless Jewish refugees.  He’s a piano player and connects with Aiyi through music.  Aiyi makes multiple complex decisions that have consequences for a lot of differen...

Do you know a couple you think of as the perfect couple?  There is no such thing as a perfect marriage even if their Instagram is perfect.  In The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, we meet the Bishops.  They aren’t a “golden couple” as at the start of the book we see them going to a counselor.  Avery Chambers (D.C.’s Maverick Therapist) claims she fixes you in 10 sessions . I loved her methods of seeing how her clients acted out in the real world.  I liked how she took actions including being a whistleblower to the FDA for one of her clients who worked at a pharmaceutical company.  So when Marissa and Mathew Bishop go to Avery you’re not very sympathetic to them with their amazing careers  ( a lawyer and boutique owner), beautiful house, and 8-year-old son.  Marissa has cheated on Matthew though.  Marissa’s past isn’t that dramatic but she does have weaknesses.  It turns out her best friend growing up, Tina, wa...

What is your favorite sister relationship portrayed in a book?  My old-time favorite was the sisters in Little Women.  Recently it was the sisters in The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth.  I love sister stories so I was excited for False Witness by Karin Slaughter.  I’ve read a few of her books but this one felt different.  I loved Leigh and Callie with their complicated sister relationship.  Callie is a drug addict employed part-time at a vet surgery.  She works there so she can get drugs.  Leigh is a criminal defense attorney.  While Leigh’s work is inundated with face masks or hand sanitizer, it’s as if they don’t exist in Callie’s.  Yet Callie is still suffering the after-effects of The virus.  There’s a constant internal dialogue going on because their past has come back to haunt them.  Callie was brutally raped and beaten by a monster named Buddy.  The times the scene is repeated in the book feels like hundreds....

Have you ever stood up for someone at work?  In When Darkness Comes by John Anthony Miller one of the main characters, Rachel does this not just to her boss but also to the French Police and the Nazi officers!  (the epic scene is on page 122) And she’s only 16!  I loved this historical fiction set in France during WWII.  Several things set this book apart from all the other historical fiction WWII books.  First, the dynamic duo cousins named Paul and Claire.  Not many books celebrate cousins and this one beautifully portrays their familial love from the time they were children romping in the fields to adults fighting the Nazi occupiers in France.  Second, not many books give you the perspective of the “bad guy” yet in When Darkness Comes we meet the astute businessman Julian Junot.  This deeply layered character will have you in tears.  Third, the strong heroine Rachel shows not just self-sacrifice but self-love.  She reminded me ...

The intrigue with words and how one simple word can change a story had me from the start.  In PANDORA’S JAR, @nataliehaynesauthor  takes a historical look at 10 women featured in Greek mythology.  I loved her book A Thousand Ships and I’m hoping the research in this book on Medusa inspired Natalie Haynes to write a book featuring the snake-headed femme fatale.  Thank you, Partner  @bibliolifestyle @harperperennial   Synopsis: In Pandora’s Jar, the broadcaster, writer, stand-up comedian, and passionate classicist turns the tables, putting the women of the Greek myths on an equal footing with the men. With wit, humor, and savvy, Haynes revolutionizes our understanding of epic poems, stories, and plays, resurrecting them from a woman’s perspective and tracing the origins of their mythic female characters. She considers Helen of Troy, whose marriage to Paris “caused” the Trojan war—a somewhat uneven response to her decision to leave her husba...