On Fox 6

History—ancient and more recent—woven into fiction and straight up factual is what we’re reading right now.

 

The Watery Part of the World (Algonquin)

by Michael Parker

In this really cool book, Parker takes two historical facts and weaves them into a novel. First is that Theodosia Burr, daughter of vice president Aaron Burr, disappeared in 1813 while en route by schooner from South Carolina to New York. Second is the fact that in 1970 two elderly, white sisters and their black caretaker were the last townspeople to inhabit a small barrier island off the coast of North Carolina. Spanning many generations, Parker brings these two events together in an altogether satisfying story of pirates and slaves, treason and treasures, and love and its limits.

 

The Taste of Salt (Algonquin, publish date Sept. 27)

by Martha Southgate

This moving novel captures the struggles of living with alcoholic family members. The family in this book, the Hendersons, is pushed to its limits by a cycle of addition that spans two generations. Josie Henderson is trying to build a life for herself as the only senior-level black scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. But the one thing she can’t seem to move past is her own family’s difficult history. The book centers on a delicate topic, and Southgate approaches it in a straightforward and elegant way that will touch readers and stay with them long after they turn the last page.

 

All Our Worldly Goods (Random House, publish date Sept. 9)

by Irene Nemirovsky

Here’s another pitch-perfect novel about families torn apart by war from the author of the international bestselling Suite Francaise. All Our Worldly Goods is set in France between 1910 and 1940, and it was first published in France in 1947 (five years after the author’s death in Auschwitz). Pierre and Agnes marry for love against his parents’ (and more importantly, his tyrannical grandfather’s) wishes. The marriage provokes a family feud that lasts for generations. This luminous novel, in many ways, prefigures Nemirovsky’s masterpiece Suite Francaise, making it an extraordinary must-read for her fans.

 

The Landmark Arrian:  The Campaigns of Alexander (Pantheon)

edited by James Romm with Robert Strassler

This immense book is a highly authoritative account of one of the world’s most brilliant military leaders. During 12 years of continuous campaigns, Alexander conquered an empire that stretched from the shores of the Adriatic to the edge of modern India. Arrian’s history of these conquests is the most reliable and detailed account to emerge from the ancient world. Drawing on Ptolemy’s memoirs and other sources that have not survived antiquity, Arrian, who served as a high Roman official with command of an army, draws a portrait of Alexander that is notable for its accuracy and immediacy. This book is nicely illustrated and richly annotated, and it features an engaging and eloquent new translation by Pamela Mensch.

These books originally appeared in the September issue of Birmingham magazine.

Comments

[Neila Bucklew]

I am trying to find the book you reviewed on FOX 6 last weekend. It was a mystery set in Jamaica. I can't remember the title, something about Goat Island I think.