The Door by Magda Szabo

Never in a million years would I have read this book if it hadn't been chosen by one of my book groups. Szabo is an award winning Hungarian author but I had never read anything by her.  This book she describes as "thinly veiled personal history".  Struggling author Magda hires a housekeeper named Emerence.  It is the relationship between Magda and Emerence that forms the core of the story.  It turns out to be a connection of hard earned trust and ultimate betrayal.  A short intense book that generated a deeply personal book group discussion.

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

Based on a real spy network, the story spans WWI and II.  When Mrs.St Clair takes her daughter Charlie to Europe, hoping to take care of an unwanted pregnancy in Switzerland, she has no idea that Charlie has another plan.  Charlie hopes to find her cousin and good friend Rose who seems to have disappeared in France during WWII.  Charlie manages to connect with Eve  - a member of the "Alice" spy network during WWI.  Together with Eve's charming but war damaged driver Finn, they being the search for Rose.  It is also a journey of self discovery for the three of them. A story of great courage and history that was all new to me.

Gentleman from Moscow by Amor Towles

In 1922, Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov is placed under house arrest for being a member of the former aristocracy and authoring a "dangerous" poem.  His "house" is the Metropol Hotel - a grand world unto its own directly across the street from the Kremlin.  Banned from his elegant suite, he continues life in the servants quarters in the hotels upper floor.  But Rostov is the least isolated person imaginable.  Observant, thoughtful, wise in so many ways, and friends to the hotel staff as well to the Metropol's visitors of importance - he is the person you would most want to share a table with in the fine dining rooms of the Metropol or share a chat in the second chair of his "suite" both of which can be completely imagined thanks to the rich detail provided by Towles.  With humor and frequent philosophical insights - reading this book is chance to ponder both history and life with one of the most engaging of gentlemen.  On my list of favorites.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

As a young girl, Li-Yan gathered tea with her family in the hill country of China just north of what was then Burma.  As members of the Akha minority, they were both isolated from and victims of the changes in 20th century China.  The Akha people are ruled by the stern hand of tradition - traditions that force Ahka out of her village and on a long journey to the cities of China and eventually to the United States in search of a daughter she thought might have been lost forever.  As much as this is Li-Yan's story it is also about the tea - ancient tea cakes that carry the history of the owner as well as the finest flavor in the leaves.  There may be a few too many coincidences to make this completely believable but it reads like a fascinating multi-layered family history of a part of China we rarely hear about.

Hamilton by Ron Chernow

This is a chunk of a book but since I was getting a chance to see the amazing Broadway version of this history, I vowed to read it first.  I figured I was going to be schooled but I was not prepared to be both enlightened and disturbed by our early history and to see the weaknesses in the early thinking of the founding fathers so eerily played out today. Worth every minute and every page.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

When Mai and her daughter Pearl rent a house from the Richardson family, Mai promises Pearl that this is a place they will stay.  Shaker Heights, a Columbus suburb, seems idyllic in a Stepford Wives kind of way. Neither family has any idea how intertwined their lives would become.  The Richardsons are a successful family - beautiful house, three perfect children and the fourth, Izzy, a challenge unwilling to fit the mold.  Mai is an artist, whose nomadic thrift store existence has contributed to the confidence of her intelligent daughter Pearl.  For all the teen-agers in both families, the grass is always greener in someone else's "perfect" home. This is a story about what it means to be a family, the nature of motherhood, adoption - many things any book group might want to discuss. 

Celine by Peter Heller

This is a mystery frosted in great characters and sprinkled with humor.  Celine Watkins, New England blue blood turned crusty Brooklyn PI, isn't sure being 70 is cause for retirement. When Gabriela Lamont calls her and begins to share her story, Celine and her partner in crime husband Peter think that they may take at least one more case.  Over 20 years ago, Gabriela's father, a famous photographer for National Geographic, was supposedly killed by a bear just outside of Yellowstone.  This made Gabriela a wealthy woman but she never believed her father was actually dead.  She begins a search on her own but eventually hits a wall and contacts Celine. Skeptical at first,  when Gabriela's research file disappears, Celine's instinct kicks in and the search begins.  There  is a lot of interesting back story to both women's lives and Peter is a delight. Gotta love 70 and still up for adventure.